January 22, 2025

By Steven Altschuler
As submitted to the Longmont Times Call
Regarding the Longmont City Council

Last year Longmont City Council member Marcia Martin decided to move to New York and care for her ill daughter. Cannot fault her for that as family should always come first. She rented a unit in N.Y. for over a year and in the spring of 2024 almost all of her council meetings were done by Zoom. However, there is a City Council requirement that any council member needs to be a resident of Longmont and of the Ward for which they were elected. 

There is also a requirement that if a council member resigns, or is no longer able to perform their duties, and is forced to step down, then that member needs to be replaced. If that member is gone with MORE than 1 year left on their term, then the city needs to hold a special election. If the member leaves with less than 1 year left, then the remaining board members must appoint someone to take the members place for the duration of that term.

Here is where I feel the corruption came into play. On July 23rd, 2024 (way more than 1 year before the next election) City Council members called Marcia on her lack of residency and said she must step down. However, after over 30 minutes of checking calendars and dates and schedules, they decided to NOT make her removal official until the 3rd of December. Thereby allowing the remaining Liberal board members to appoint a replacement of their choice, instead of allowing the residents to vote. 

In the next 5 months Marcia attended only 2 in-person meetings, then on December 3rd gave her notice effective December 31st 2024. 

This past Saturday, prior to the "appointment" process, Mayor Peck, reportedly told people at the Coffee with Council meeting that any appointee must "agree with Envision Longmont" and be open to being "Educated" by the other council members. These are NOT requirements for anyone who chooses to run for City Council. In fact, since we live in a Republic, the biggest requirement is that anyone elected to the position should be responsive to the citizens in the Ward that they serve. Even if that Ward does NOT want more Low-income, high-rise growth, more traffic, a homeless shelter, even if that Ward does NOT want Smart Meters or even if that Ward is against having all natural gas appliances removed from Longmont, as Mayor Peck and other Council members desire. 

This is not the America that I grew up in. Citizens are supposed to have a vote and a voice, entitled to have an opinion and their "elected" official has an obligation to speak for the electorate.

Having a "representative" of someone else's choosing, is not the American way, it is not moral and, in my opinion, shouldn't be legal.

For the opinion section:
Written by Steven Altschuler
I am a retired businessman, who loves American history, our Constitution and our country.