Residents question Hughes civic-assembly survey and community‑guide process; staff says report will focus on themes

Several Fort Collins residents at the council meeting raised concerns about the civic assembly process used to gather public input on the Hughes property and asked that the city ensure the process is transparent and limited from outside influence.

Linda Hall, who identified herself as an “average citizen of Fort Collins,” told the council she had been selected as a community guide by Colorado State University’s Center for Public Deliberation (CPD) and asked that the city terminate the Hughes online survey because she believed the CPD process had been corrupted by participants with outsized influence. Patricia Babbitt, another resident who spoke during public comment, said she was worried the city’s online survey (which is available on the city project page) could be completed by people outside Fort Collins and by residents who lack the technology or language support to participate, and that the civic assembly process needed more transparency about community‑guide schedules and access.

Why it matters: The civic assembly and the Hughes survey feed into a process meant to gather community themes and perspectives around the future use of the Hughes property. Several speakers said they feared the process could undercount or misrepresent Fort Collins voters’ views if the survey was open broadly online or if community‑guide sessions were not sufficiently publicized.

Staff response and next steps Roopa Venkatesh, assistant city manager, said CSU’s Center for Public Deliberation selected 26 community guides to conduct conversations in the community. CPD will collate the guide‑led surveys and produce a report that focuses on themes and perspectives; staff said the CPD report will be published on the city project page and shared with the information committee that will vet what the assembly receives. Venkatesh emphasized that CPD’s role is to summarize themes rather than provide a volume count of survey responses.

Venkatesh also said the city made the same survey available on its public Citi page to allow the broader public to participate; the publicly available survey requires a unique login to reduce duplicate submissions. She said CPD had limited time to conduct guide‑led conversations and that opening those guided sessions to unlimited public sign‑up would exceed that capacity. Council members asked staff to follow up with residents who raised specific concerns so staff could address them directly.

Clarifying details recorded at the meeting - Number of community guides selected by CSU CPD: 26 (as stated by staff). - Public survey availability: the survey is available on the city project page and requires a unique login to submit responses to prevent duplicate entries. - Use of the results: CPD will collate and report themes; the report will be public and provided to the information committee for vetting before the assembly receives materials.

Ending: Council members asked staff to reach out to commenters who requested follow‑up and to publish the CPD‑collated report on the city project page after it is complete.