Dear Mayor Quinn, City Councilmembers and City Staff:

We, the residents of Broomfield, are signing onto this letter to object to a total lack of transparency shown during the recent City and County Attorney public vote.

The candidate ultimately selected for this role was described as the Deputy City Attorney for the City of Aurora. The City failed to mention that she also served as Chief Police Legal Advisor for the Aurora Police Department since 2015. Why is this omission significant?

• The alleged wrongful death of Elijah McClain. Colorado was brought into the national spotlight and the nation saw that racial injustice is alive and well in Aurora. There are several investigations underway as to how the police and other first responders handled this situation, and the family has filed lawsuits over alleged misconduct which resulted in a tragic death.


• This past June, protesters and citizens gathered to play violins, using their constitutional right to peacefully assemble to raise awareness about the circumstances around Elijah McClain’s death. They were met by the Aurora police force in riot gear and were subsequently doused with pepper spray.


• On Nov 15, 2020, Channel 9 News reported that "In a civil lawsuit filed by the family of Elijah McClain, the defendants listed – which include the city of Aurora and about a dozen police and fire employees – deny any wrongdoing in the events leading up to the death of the 23-year-old in 2019." This recent update reminds us all that court cases and investigations into the handling of Elijah McClain’s death continue, and we do not know how the people involved in this case will be looked upon when this is all said and done.


• In August, members of the Aurora police force mistakenly held a black family including children, at gunpoint, putting them all in handcuffs and making them lie on hot concrete. This family was on their way to a nail salon to get their nails done. The police pulled their car over in a mix-up over license plate numbers.


• According to an article in the Colorado Sentinel published on October 18, 2020, which summarized a report made to a City Council Policy Committee, “Aurora police have used force against Black people more than their white or Hispanic counterparts in each of the past three full calendar years.” The data from this report also showed that police in Aurora used “pepper spray, dogs, Tasers and other injurious methods on Black people 75 more times than on whites in 2017, 148 more times in 2018, and 132 more times last year.”



By not revealing to the public this Candidate’s role within the City of Aurora and specifically, her direct involvement with a police force under heavy scrutiny, The City denied Broomfield Residents our right to question our elected officials about this candidate and to express any reservations that may exist around her hiring. By hiring this candidate without public engagement, Residents of Broomfield were unable to weigh in on whether we want our City to be associated indirectly, through this hire, with any of these controversial issues. This is unacceptable.




This omission cannot be overlooked and this Council must right this wrong.




We ask that this council vote NO on Resolution Number 2020-273 Appointing Nancy Rodgers as City and County Attorney and Authorizing and Approving the Employment Agreement and that the City restarts this process in an open and transparent way and allow Broomfield Residents to have a say in this critical hiring decision.

Sincerely,

Concerned Broomfield Residents