Story by Isabel Henry and Michael Stella
The Associated Students of Colorado State University hosted 24 elected officials and 110 students at its annual Community Roundtable on Oct. 23, in what was the biggest turnout for the event to date.
In past years, this event typically hosted Fort Collins City Council members and occasionally Larimer County commissioners. This year though, the event was expanded, and invitations were sent to lawmakers at every level of government in Colorado.
Elected officials that attended the event included five of the seven members of Fort Collins City Council, all three Larimer County commissioners, one commissioner from Adams County, six members of the Colorado General Assembly (three of whom are part of the Joint Budget Committee), the state treasurer, the Larimer County clerk and recorder, the 8th Judicial District attorney, a former Fort Collins mayor, and representatives from the offices of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and 2nd Congressional District Rep. Joe Neguse. The annual Community Roundtable was the largest it has ever been in the six years the event has occurred.
Fort Collins City Council member Julie Pignataro, left, and State Rep. Cathy Kipp
Issues covered
When students registered for the event, they ranked the importance of the following issues: housing, transportation, environment and sustainability, general cost of living, higher education funding and management, infrastructure and public services. Students were then assigned to a table based on issues they were interested in discussing, where they found elected officials who had experience or information on that topic. At the tables, student facilitators from CSU’s Center for Public Deliberation moderated both officials and students in productive and respectful discussions.
While all topics were covered, one that continually popped up was the U+2 housing occupancy limit in Fort Collins. U+2 has been an area of concern for ASCSU for decades.
Given the Thematic Year of Democracy, the event took on even greater importance. ASCSU will host another Community Roundtable in the spring and similar events throughout the year.
