About the Metro Mayors Caucus

Founded by mayors in 1993, the Metro Mayors Caucus (Caucus) is comprised of 39 mayors from the Denver region. The Caucus promotes cooperation, consensus and collaboration as means of effectively addressing complex regional issues. To this end, the Caucus provides a non-confrontational arena for the discussion of common issues and multi-jurisdictional challenges.

The Executive Committee is the primary agenda setting body for the Caucus. The Caucus is governed and represented by a Chair and two Co-Vice Chairs selected by members at the annual retreat. The 2010 Metro Mayors Caucus Officers and Executive Committe are as follows:

Officers:

• Bob Murphy, Lakewood — Chair
• Larry Harte, Glendale — Vice Chair
• Rick Pilgrim, Bow Mar — Vice Chair

At Large:

• Nancy Sharpe, Greenwood Village — Past Chair
• Chuck Sisk, Louisville – Past Chair
• Sue Horn, Bennett
• Paul Natale, Commerce City
• Jacob Smith, Golden
• Chris Cameron, Lafayette
• Jim Gunning, Lone Tree
• Dave Ferrill for John Hickenlooper, Denver 

The Caucus uses consensus based decision making and collaboration to reach agreement and address issues of mutual concern. This commitment to consensus, unique among regional organizations, has allowed the Caucus to reach consensus on issues that have divided the region in other forums. Our members reach consensus by listening carefully to each other’s opinions and concerns, exploring possible options and searching for solutions that reflect the needs and values of each of our members. 

Surveys are conducted annually to gauge member interests and concerns. For the past three years, the Caucus has focused primarily on water conservation and drought mitigation, energy conservation, FasTracks rail and bus transit implementation (www.RTD-denver.com), and affordable housing finance. However, the Caucus has dealt with many other issues in its 17 year history including youth violence, air quality, and telecommunications law and policy. 

The Caucus serves a number of functions for its members:

• Creates opportunities through dialogue for enhancing personal relationships among the chief elected officials in the region’s municipalities and building trust among the members.
• Develops consensus positions on key issues facing the metro area and advocates their adoption by other levels of government.
• Monitors policy at the local, regional, state and federal levels to keep members abreast of issues that affect their municipalities and the region.
• Is a voice for regionalism in a time of growing awareness of the need for regional approaches to challenges such as affordable housing and transportation planning and finance.
• Acts as a sounding board for actors and agencies from the private, non-profit and public sectors that seek to implement change at the local, regional and state levels. Provides a forum for the resolution of differences among the jurisdictions in the Metro Area.

The Metro Mayors Caucus is staffed by Catherine Marinelli and Peter Kenney of Civic Results (www.civicresults.org) in Denver, Colorado. Civic Results is a not-for-profit organization that assists governments, businesses and non-profit institutions to collaboratively plan and implement initiatives that create measurable change in the physical, social, civic and human infrastructure of communities and regions.

Frequently asked questions about the MMC

What is the Metro Mayors Caucus?
The Metro Mayors Caucus is a voluntary, consensus based organization of 32 mayors that work together on issues of regional importance. The Caucus was formed in 1993 by  then Mayors Margaret Carpenter (Thornton), Don Parsons (Northglenn), Susan Thornton (Littleton), Linda Morton (Lakewood), and Wellington Webb (Denver) who felt that a non-competitive forum was needed for the region’s elected officials to build relationships and discuss issues of common concern. The Caucus is unique in that it provides a forum for the discussion of issues that are critical to our members, individually as cities and collectively as a region.  In this forum, equal weight is afforded to the issues and positions of small and large member jurisdictions. 

How is the Caucus funded?
Since its inception, the Caucus has been dependent on the voluntary contributions of its members. In 1995 and 1996, the Caucus received a grant from the Department of Local Affairs. DOLA's primary interest was in helping to build the local capacity to address public issues and in expanding cooperation among local governments. Suggested member contributions are based on an annual per capita formula, currently .07¢. 

Why isn’t the Caucus part of the Colorado Municipal League (CML) or the Denver Regional Council of Governments  (DRCOG)? 
In 1994, John Parr and Peter Kenney (then with the National Civic League) approached the Denver Regional Council of Governments and the Colorado Municipal League to gauge their interest in providing the additional staff support requested by the members of the Metro Mayors Caucus.  At the time, neither organization was inclined to take on staffing responsibility for the Caucus. The issue has subsequently been raised on a number of occasions and the general consensus has been that the Metro Mayors Caucus should remain a separate entity. Because the Denver metropolitan region's issues and positions often differ from the broader statewide positions of the Colorado Municipal League, a separate and equally valid voice for the metro area is needed.  DRCOG is a close partner of the Metro Mayors Caucus and the two organizations' membership often overlap. However, the competitive nature of funding decisions at DRCOG as well as the variety of elected officials serving on the board have been viewed as obstacles to DRCOG's playing a role akin to that played by the Caucus as a regional consensus based body. 

Initially, part-time support was provided by the National Civic League, where John Parr was President.  In 1997, when John Parr and Peter Kenney formed the Center for Regional & Neighborhood Action (now known as Civic Results) the contract for Caucus support was transferred to the new not-for-profit firm. Catherine Kearney Marinelli, Program Director for the Caucus has provided staff support to the Caucus since 1996.

What issues does the Caucus focus on and how are they selected? 
The Metro Mayors Caucus strives to address issues of common concern among its members.  To this end, surveys are conducted to gauge member interests on an annual basis. The Caucus has dealt with many issues in its 17 year history including youth violence (1993), air quality (1995 – present),  and telecommunications (1998 – present).  See the attached PowerPoint for the 2010 overview.

How are leadership positions awarded within the Caucus? 
The Executive Committee is the primary agenda setting body for the Caucus. The Caucus is governed and represented by the Chair and two Co-Vice Chairs of the Caucus (selected by members at the annual retreat). The Chair is ordinarily a Co-Vice Chair from the prior year. The Immediate Past Chair is retained as an officer of the Executive Committee unless he or she has left office.