Letter: Residents should elect mayor

By not supporting the petition, you are telling the voters of Castle Rock: "No! You do not have the right to vote for your mayor and we do not want to give you that right. It is OK for all the other municipalities in Douglas County to vote for their mayor but not Castle Rock residents."

Not broke? Don't fix it? Really?

Our current system of town council selecting our mayor is definitely broken. The attempted recall of Paul Donahue proves the system doesn't work. People wanted Paul out as mayor but only a single district could vote to recall him - the whole town didn't get a vote. I lived in Castle Rock in 1987. Perhaps - 30 years ago and with a population of only 8,000 - an appointed mayor might have been the proper way to elect our mayor. But today, with over 60,000 residents, our town deserves an election for mayor.

I find it interesting that the people who speak to me in opposition to the petition do not actually live here in Castle Rock. They live in communities that elect their mayor: Parker, Castle Pines, even Larkspur. An elected mayor is not a new idea, and I first proposed the concept of a townwide election for our mayor in 2009. By the way, I served four years at Metro Mayors and I can tell you, there is - absolutely - a different level of respect among those mayors who are elected as opposed to those (few) who are appointed by their councils.

Please support this petition to let the people of Castle Rock decide if they want to elect their mayor or continue to allow the town council to select for us. Please don't tell them no. Let them decide if they want to elect their mayor or not.

Randy A. Reed

Former mayor of Castle Rock