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South Larimer Discussion Group
Contact South Larimer Discussion Group

Emphasizing issues of importance to citizens in southern Larimer County, the South Larimer Discussion Group began in 2017 as an informal meeting of members of the Larimer League of Women Voters who live in Loveland, Bethoud, Johnstown and neighboring areas.

The South Larimer Discussion Group focuses on citizenship through education, fact finding and advocating for LWV positions that impact our area. We actively pursue opportunities to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion in our part of Larimer County. We foster connections by our members with our local city, town, county, state and national governments.

The following are some of the diverse topics our group has covered, with an emphasis on south Larimer County: affordable housing, recycling and solid waste, health justice, behavioral health services, forest management and wildfire risk reduction in the Big Thompson watershed, Viestenz-Smith Mountain Park (naturalist tour), ballot issues presentations by League members, the challenges of TABOR and the Gallagher Amendment, various topics related to the Thompson Valley School District, the Youth Advisory Commission, and Loveland's Jumpstart program.

SLDG currently meets via Zoom. Our meetings are on the third Wednesday of the month, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Please check the "Calendar" page for more information on a specific meeting.

SLDG welcomes new members and values your input regarding our topics. As with all League meetings, SLDG discussions are non-partisan.

A Conversation with Loveland's Chief of Police, Tim Doran, January 17, 2024

Tim Doran became Loveland's new Chief of Police a year ago. In his presentation hosted by the League's South Larimer Discussion Group, Chief Doran highlights important issues facing the Loveland Police Force and his work to revise the culture of community policing to meet a new vision and mission for Loveland's policing needs. Watch Here

Upcoming Meetings

February 21: Recent Pro-Pollinator Activities & Advice for Planting a Functional Ecosystem
A panel will provide information on recent pro-pollinator action and advocacy in south Larimer County, the benefits of choosing hyper-local native species for your gardens and landscapes, the importance of host and keystone native plant species and which ones you should plant in your yard this spring.

March 14: Jean Wyrick, Professor Emerita of English at Colorado State University, will be presenting Daring Deeds: Our Courageous Foremothers' Fight for the 19th Amendment. This program will be a dramatic retelling of the American suffragists' fight for the vote during the heated 1913-1920 years of intense activism, culminating in the passage of the 19th Amendment and the founding of the League of Women Voters. The Berthoud Community Library and the League of Women Voters of Larimer County are co-hosting this Women's History Month event, which will be held at the Berthoud Community Library and livestreamed via Zoom. This is a free event open to the public. In-person seats are limited. Reserve your in-person seat NOW by calling the Library at (970) 532-2757. For virtual attendance, register via the LWVLC EVENT CALENDAR to get the Zoom link.

May 15: On May 15 (Wednesday), from 7 to 8:30 p.m., the South Larimer Discussion Group will present a discussion of Local News. Our guests will be editors from our local newspapers in south Larimer County, including John Vahlenkamp (Senior Editor, Loveland Reporter-Herald). We will talk about the current state and future of local news and the newspapers’ policies on misinformation and disinformation. There will be time for audience questions. Please sign up on the calendar to receive the Zoom link for the meeting.

2023 Meetings

January 4: Ranked-Choice Voting for Loveland Elections
This meeting was a follow-up to the November 16, 2022 meeting with Robbie Moreland and Jody DesChenes regarding their successful path to place Ranked Choice Voting on the Fort Collins November 2022 ballot. For convenience you can access those meeting notes using this link.
RCV Meeting Notes 11/16/22

February 15: Loveland Community Partnerships
Our speaker was Alison Hade, Community Partnership Administrator for the City of Loveland. Alison has served in this capacity for the past 12 years and shared information regarding the affordable housing needs in Loveland, as well as plans and projects for addressing those needs.

April 12: Thompson School District Update
School board Vice-President Dawn Kirk provided an update and overview of the current work of the Thompson Board of Education.

May 17: Special Districts, Metro Districts, and You
The South Larimer Discussion Group of the League of Women Voters of Larimer County hosted a panel of Local Government experts to discuss the ins-and-outs of residential and commercial special and metro districts and how they can impact developers, government entities, and local residents differently. Our panelists included John Henderson from Coloradans for Metro Reform and Christina Manthey and Fayre Ruszczyk, who are members along with John on LWVCO's Local Government Group of the Legislative Action Committee. Local news articles related to this topic have been appearing frequently in recent years and this was an opportunity to learn more about it.
You can learn about special districts with this Denver Post guest commentary published on April 23, 2022.  DP Special Districts Commentary
Here is more information about metro districts from the May 9 edition of Denver Gazette.
Denver Gazette Metro Districts Article
You can watch the May 17, 2023 presentation here:  Watch Here
Chat Link Passcode: VX5C3f@A

Note: "Kristi" in the chat is the executive director of Metro District Education Coalition and represents the industry.

September: Loveland's Homeless Youth Shelter

In September, SLDG hosted Nicole Armstrong, Executive Director of The Matthews House, and her team from the Poudre and Thompson School Districts. The discussion centered around Loveland's Homeless Youth Shelter.

There are 800 youths in the Thompson School District who do not have a steady place to sleep every night. This can include those who are couch surfing, bouncing between friends' or relatives' homes, staying in shelters or hotels, or living in unsuitable trailers or homes.

The need for a youth shelter has been known for quite some time, but there was not a suitable building available until the Monroe Early Childhood Center moved to Peakview Academy at Conrad Ball, which opened this school year. The tentative opening date for the shelter is Fall of 2024.

The project is a collaboration between the state, Larimer County, the Thompson School District, Poudre School District, City of Loveland, CSU, and the Matthews House, which will operate the facility.

November: Update on Amendments to Loveland's Land Use Code
Kerri Burchett, a Principal Planner at the City of Loveland, joined the Discussion Group to share the 6 major amendments to the city Land Use Code and the impact they will have on future housing developments in Loveland. These amendments were approved 9-0 by the City Council in August 2023 and went into effect September 19, 2023.

2022 Meetings

February 16: The topic of February's SLDG program was diversity, equity, and inclusion in Loveland. Our guest was Amy Phillips. Amy is the Manager of the Adult and Technical Services departments at the Loveland Public Library. She described the steps the library has taken to understand Loveland’s current culture, needs and hopes around equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). The goal of the library's work in this area is to develop programming and provide support to foster greater awareness about EDI. For a wrap-up of this meeting, read our blog HERE.

March 23: The South Larimer Discussion Group of the League of Women Voters of Larimer County presented an educational and fact-based panel presentation titled: Fracking and Its Effects on Our Loveland Community: Facts, Rules & Regulations; Economic Factors; Health Impacts & Environmental Impacts.

April 20: Grace Gardens at Derby Hill was the focus of the SLDG discussion on April 20. Grace Gardens is an affordable housing land development partnership to create 167 affordable housing units in southwest Loveland. Grace Gardens began with the donation of a parcel of land from Loveland’s Grace Community Church to Habitat for Humanity. Forty-seven Habitat-built homes serving 35-69% AMI and 120 affordable apartment units serving 30-60% AMI are planned for the space. This collaborative development is made possible by the partnership of Grace Community Church, Loveland Habitat for Humanity, and the Loveland Housing Authority. The partnership includes many other public and private entities, including the City of Loveland, Calvary Derby Hill Baptist Church, Pinkard Construction, Ward Construction, Galloway Engineering, BHA Design and Brinkman Development.

September 21: SLDG welcomed Caitlin Wyrick and Veronica White at 7:00 on Zoom. Caitlin Wyrick is the Executive Director of Heart and Sol, a BIPOC community that promotes ethnic and cultural diversity in Loveland. Veronica White is teacher on special assignment with the Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Department for Thompson Schools.

November 16: SLDG hosted an online conversation about the ins-and-outs of starting and sustaining RCV campaigns in Loveland and the other interested communities south and east of Fort Collins. The leaders of the Fort Collins RCV efforts described how their efforts began, how they consistently sustained it, and what the pitfalls South County communities should be aware of along the way. These RCV leaders shared what they learned from their experiences to help South County citizens determine their path forward.

December 7: Loveland is in the midst of the Redistricting at the city level! Redistricting will change the borders of Loveland's four Wards and may impact in which Ward you live and who will represent you in the City Council after the next city election. The South Larimer Discussion Group of the League of Women Voters of Larimer County hosted a citywide Town Hall and Community Conversation to foster governmental transparency, learn about Loveland's Redistricting process, and to offer an opportunity for attendees to share their comments and suggestions focused on redistricting with Mayor Marsh and the City Council members. Our invited guest presenter was be Delynn Coldiron, Loveland City Clerk, who is well versed in the statutory requirements and City Council Charter which provide the guideposts that the redistricting process must follow.

2021 Meetings

March 17: In recognition of Sunshine Week, the South Larimer Discussion Group hosted "Transparency in Government" on March 17. The Discussion Group's guest was Jeffrey A. Roberts, Executive Director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. Prior to coming to the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition in July 2013, Jeff was with The Denver Post from 1984-2007 as a reporter, assistant city editor, and data journalism specialist on The Post’s projects team. He later spent four years at the University of Denver’s Center for Colorado’s Economic Future. Early in his career, Jeff was a reporter at The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University.

April 21: On April 21 the SLDG hosted Morgan Villnave, Community Engagement Manager at the Food Bank for Larimer County. Morgan's presentation highlighted the Loveland location of the Food Bank. Topics included the services provided by the Food Bank, how the pandemic has affected operations, and future plans and needs of the Food Bank.

May 19: SLDG discussed ranked choice voting (RCV) on May 19. Speakers were Linda Templin, Executive Director, and Emma Donahue, Political Director, of RCV Colorado. Loveland and Fort Collins have recently had plurality wins, but these wins do not necessarily reflect the will of a majority of the voters. Linda and Emma explained how RCV resolves this problem for some small municipalities in Colorado and how HB21-1071 (Ranked Choice Voting in Nonpartisan Municipal Races) allows the cities who opt to use RCV to contract with their counties to administer the elections. The League of Women Voters of Larimer County supports an alternative to plurality voting through its position on instant runoff voting (IRV) (which can be found on this website, in "Member Handbook" under "Member Info").

June 16: On June 16, SLDG toured the Loveland Water Reclamation Facility at 920 South Boise Avenue in Loveland. Since 1902, the City of Loveland has provided its residents with wastewater treatment services. Loveland's Wastewater Treatment Plant was expanded in 2019 and is now known as the Loveland Water Reclamation Facility. The Wastewater Treatment Plant Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) and Digester Improvements project evolved through the need to meet three main objectives: a reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus released to the Big Thompson River; an increase in capacity to meet population growth; and replacement of aging infrastructure. As a result of this recent expansion, Loveland Water and Power is positioned to meet the needs of a growing community and support regional water quality efforts for many years to come.

July 21: SLDG hosted a discussion via Zoom of the history, connections, and future of Lake Loveland. We admire Lake Loveland's beauty and proudly include it in Loveland publicity, but the lake can also be empty for months at a time. Why? Can anything be done? Water is one of the most important and complex challenges we face in Colorado; Lake Loveland brings those challenges home. The Discussion Group was informed by a panel of experts that included Mat Dinsmore (Wilbur’s Total Beverage), Richard Ball (Loveland City Council), Sean Rutledge (water attorney), Jeff Stahla (Northern Water), and Sean Chambers (Director of Water and Sewer for Greeley). The Zoom meeting was open to the public.

September 15: SLDG hosted Kelly Evans, Executive Director of Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) via Zoom. The mission of Neighbor to Neighbor is to open doors and advance lives from homelessness through homeownership by providing sustainable housing, supportive services, and education to the Larimer County community. Kelly addressed the services and role of N2N in Loveland. The Zoom meeting was open to the public.

Help Needed on Suffragist Project

Loveland artist Jane DeDecker has designed Every Word We Utter, a monument to the women's suffrage movement that lead to the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution granting women the right to vote. In December of 2020, President Donald Trump signed Congressman Joe Neguse's bipartisan bill allowing this sculpture to be placed in the Mall as Washington D.C.'s first outdoor monument honoring the suffragists and their cause.

Our own LWV-Larimer County is supporting this project. Since no federal funds may be used to pay for this monument, we are looking at ways to help raise the $1 million needed to make the statue a reality.

The mission of Every Word We Utter is to acknowledge the women’s suffrage movement and to inspire ongoing women’s suffrage education. If you are interested in advocating for this worthy cause, please contact Linda Mahan.

Contact Linda Mahan

Photo courtesy of Everywordweutter.com and Jane Dedecker.

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