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Boulder oversight panel plans outreach events, student recruitment and discusses sociocratic option for co-chair elections
Summary
Panel members outlined plans to partner with city outreach programs and local venues, said student recruitment is open through Jan. 31, and debated using a sociocratic process for selecting co-chairs.
Panel members discussed community outreach plans, student recruitment and the upcoming co-chair election during the January Boulder Police Oversight Panel meeting.
Panel members said they had contacted city community-engagement staff about partnering on outreach, and proposed experimenting with “monthly circles” and pop-up hours at local venues to gauge public interest in oversight work. Panel members discussed being present at community events such as an MLK event at the Jewish Community Center on Jan. 19 and outreach to neighborhoods east of Belmont (San Juan area). The group also discussed working with the library, the Boulder Housing Authority and Human Services to promote the panel’s work.
The panel’s student recruitment campaign is live through Jan. 31; members said they would staff a boards-and-commissions open house at the Penfield Tate Building (4:30–6:30 p.m.) to talk with prospective student applicants. Panel members asked other panelists to help cover the event and to forward recruitment outreach to potential candidates.
On governance, panel member Milin proposed considering a sociocratic-style election for the co-chair positions to broaden candidate consideration and encourage quieter members to be nominated. Milin said the approach is consent-based, requires defining role duties (already in the bylaws) and may need modification due to the panel’s secret-ballot rules. Multiple members expressed interest in further discussion and requested Milin circulate a short presentation and a link to sociocracy resources ahead of a deeper discussion at the February meeting.
Context and next steps: members agreed February would be an in-person meeting to accommodate exit interviews for departing members and to finalize leadership elections. Panel members volunteered to staff the open house and to meet by email to continue planning community outreach.
Ending: the panel asked staff to circulate logistics and volunteers for outreach events and to provide the sociocracy materials in advance of the next meeting so members can review and decide whether to adopt the proposed selection method.
