Boulder City Council on Tuesday reviewed and endorsed a package of procedural changes designed to make ceremonial declarations, Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) scheduling requests and council “hotline” staff inquiries more consistent and transparent.

The recommendations, developed by the council process working group and city staff, cover how declarations are issued and read, deadlines and triage rules for CAC scheduling requests and the purpose, timing and format of hotline submissions to staff.

“This is really about clarity and predictability so that community members and council know how items will be processed and how the governing body uses limited meeting time,” City Council Program Manager Megan Valier said during the study session.

Why this matters: Council members said the changes should reduce meeting time spent on process issues, increase equity and transparency for community recognition requests, and create objective criteria for CAC and staff to manage incoming requests.

What council approved and directed

• Declarations: Staff proposed—and council endorsed—procedural changes to make all declarations issued on behalf of the full City Council (rather than distinguishing mayoral vs. council declarations), cap reading length at 250 words (roughly one page in the city template), limit live readings to two declarations per meeting by default, and formalize the existing alphabetical rotation for who reads requests (with limited flexibility for absences and swaps). Staff will create an intake form and maintain an annual calendar of recurring recognitions.

• CAC scheduling and appeals: The council set a standard request deadline for CAC consideration (staff recommended submissions be received by close of business on the Thursday before a CAC meeting) and endorsed criteria for CAC to prioritize items that align with council priorities or are time‑sensitive. Council members also supported adding a narrowly framed appeal path: if CAC declines to schedule a requested item, a council member may request that the topic be brought as a brief “matters” item to the full council for consideration; staff will draft limits to avoid perpetual relitigation.

• Hotline submissions: Staff recommended— and council accepted—updating hotline timing to better match the council packet cadence (requests tied to an upcoming council meeting should be submitted by the Tuesday before the meeting) and asked members to limit each hotline email to a single issue where possible. The council also agreed to codify language from the council handbook describing hotline’s intent: to notify colleagues and staff of upcoming questions, request clarifications and avoid surprises, not to replace formal research requests unless the body authorizes additional staff work.

Council reaction and next steps

Councilors universally praised the recommendations as governance improvements. Council member Tina said she “strongly support[s] all of this work,” and Mayor Brockett said the changes would “make the whole process much smoother, much more functional.”

Staff said several items (a formal declaration procedure amendment, CAC timing language and hotline changes) will be brought to council for formal adoption via consent agenda items before the end of the current council term. Staff will also draft the CAC appeal language and limits on relitigation for council review.

Limitations

• The appeal path will be narrow and subject to guardrails staff will draft; council asked staff to avoid an open‑ended relitigation opportunity while preserving a means for a council member to ask the full body to reconsider a denied CAC request.

• The recommended deadlines (Thursday for CAC submissions; Tuesday for meeting‑related hotline questions) include an emergency exception for genuinely time‑sensitive matters that arise after the deadline.

Byline: Reported from a Boulder City Council study session; staff and council discussed a package of process improvements. Ending: Staff will prepare consent items and proposed procedural language for the council to adopt in the coming weeks; a few changes will be implemented administratively while formal procedure updates are scheduled for council action.