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Boulder council cites city code limiting council action on foreign policy without prior policy
Summary
During open comment a resident criticized council statements on Gaza; Council Member Ventino read city code that limits council action on foreign or national policy issues without prior city policy and said council must follow that provision.
A portion of the Sept. 4 Boulder City Council meeting’s open-comment period turned to the question of whether the council may take action on foreign-policy issues such as Gaza.
Council Member Ryan Ventino read city code (Council Procedure XV.f) on the dais, reciting the provision that states the council “shall not act on a foreign policy or national policy issue on which no prior official city policy has been established by the council or the people unless sufficient time and resources can be allocated to assure a full presentation of the issue.” Ventino said he raised the code to clarify why the council does not routinely act on foreign-policy matters during regular council business.
Speakers during open comment raised strong views about Gaza and international issues; council members noted the code in responding to those remarks and emphasized process constraints rather than taking a position on the underlying international matters. The city attorney advised council that differing interpretations of code criteria are legally defensible when applied to land-use questions; the attorney declined to provide legal advice on foreign-policy matters from the dais.
No formal council action on foreign policy was taken. Council members said that when a prior official policy does not exist, the code requires sufficient time and resources be allocated before council would act on national or foreign policy questions.
