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referendum is a petition brought by the citizens to
<br />refer to the voters a piece of legislation that has been
<br />approved by the City Council. In addition to these
<br />two petitioning procedures, the City Council may
<br />refer matters directly to the voters in the absence
<br />of any petition. Initiative and referendum petitions
<br />must concern municipal legislation —as opposed to
<br />administrative or other non -legislative matters. By
<br />law the City Clerk is the official responsible for many
<br />of the activities related to a petition process, such as
<br />approval of the petition forms, review of the signed
<br />petitions, and consideration of protests and other
<br />matters. There are minimum signature requirements
<br />for petitions to be moved to the ballot; in Louisville,
<br />an initiative petition must be signed by at least five
<br />percent of the total number of registered electors. A
<br />referendum petition must be signed by at least two
<br />and one-half percent of the registered electors.
<br />The Public Hearing
<br />In addition to the opportunity afforded at each
<br />regular City Council meeting to comment on items
<br />not on the agenda, most City Council actions pro-
<br />vide opportunity for public comment through a
<br />public hearing process. For example, the City Char-
<br />ter provides that a public hearing shall be held on
<br />every ordinance before its adoption. This includes
<br />opportunities for public comment prior to initial City
<br />Council discussion of the ordinance, as well as after
<br />Council's initial discussion but before action. Many
<br />actions of the City are required to be taken by ordi-
<br />nance, and thus this device allows for citizen public
<br />hearing comments on matters ranging from zoning
<br />ordinances to ordinances establishing offenses that
<br />are subject to enforcement through the municipal
<br />court.
<br />Additionally, federal, state, and/or local law requires
<br />a public hearing on a number of matters irrespective
<br />of whether an ordinance is involved. For example, a
<br />public hearing is held on the City budget, the City
<br />Comprehensive Plan and similar plans, and a variety
<br />of site -specific or person -specific activities, such as
<br />annexations of land into the city, rezonings, special
<br />use permits, variances, new liquor licenses, and other
<br />matters. Interested citizens may provide comments
<br />during these hearings.
<br />Public Records
<br />Access to public records is an important aspect of
<br />citizen participation in government. Louisville fol-
<br />lows the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA), and the
<br />additional public records provisions in the City Char-
<br />ter. In particular, the Charter promotes the liberal
<br />construction of public records law, so as to promote
<br />the prompt disclosure of City records to citizens at
<br />no cost or no greater cost than the actual costs to
<br />the City.
<br />The City Clerk is the custodian of the City's pub-
<br />lic records, except for financial, personnel, and
<br />police records which are handled, respectively, by
<br />the Finance, Human Resources, and Police Depart-
<br />ments. The City maintains a public policy on access
<br />to public records, which include a records request
<br />form, a statement of fees, and other guidelines. No
<br />fee is charged for the inspection of records. No fee is
<br />charged for locating or making records available for
<br />copying, except in cases of voluminous requests or
<br />dated records, or when the time spent in locating re-
<br />cords exceeds two hours. No fees are charged for the
<br />first 25 copies requested, or for electronic records.
<br />Many records, particularly those related to agenda
<br />items for City Council and current Board and Com-
<br />mission meetings, are available directly on the City's
<br />web site at www.LouisvilleCO.gov. In addition to
<br />posting agenda -related material, the City maintains
<br />communication files for the City Council and Plan-
<br />ning Commission, which are available for public
<br />inspection at the City Clerk's Office, 749 Main Street.
<br />CORA lists the categories of public records that
<br />are not generally open to public inspection.These
<br />include, for example, certain personnel records and
<br />information, financial and other information about
<br />users of city facilities, privileged information, medical
<br />records, letters of reference, and other items listed
<br />in detail in CORA. When public records are not made
<br />available, the custodian will specifically advise the
<br />requestor of the reason.
<br />Citizens are encouraged to review the City's web
<br />site (www.LousivilleCo.gov) for information, and to
<br />contact the City with any questions regarding City
<br />records.
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