Denver7 was at Wednesday's town hall, which featured home rule supporters and opponents. Read more in this story.
Wednesday night, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners will host a live town hall for voters to learn more about what becoming a home rule county would look like.
It's the next step ahead of a June 24 special election where voters get to decide whether to form a home rule charter commission.
The board said home rule puts more power back in the hands of the county and allows them to make governing decisions on local matters. Some examples would be limits on debt, taxes and use of parks and open space.
"My sense of it is we're in a better position to advocate for us and our community than we were as a regular old statutory county," Douglas County District Attorney George Brauchler said.
He's been a proponent of the efforts from the start, adding that it would put the county in a better place to provide the Douglas County Sheriff's Office with extra tools and support.
"I think this county is 100% invested in the idea that we want to be the safest community in the state of Colorado, if not the country, and part of that is ridding ourselves of the criminal element," Brauchler said.
Some people who are opposed to the proposal, though, say home rule would give more power to commissioners. Brauchler didn't disagree, but said the community would have a better "check" on the board versus the legislature.
"I would much rather have three commissioners that I see at breakfast or at lunch or in our supermarkets or at the malls or at the soccer fields, and be able to try to influence them than I have any hope of doing for those wingnuts in Denver and Boulder. No thank you," Brauchler said.
Last week, a judge ruled on a lawsuit against the board, accusing them of violating Colorado's open meetings law in their effort to become home rule.
The judge ruled there were no violations.
Representative Bob Marshall is one of the plaintiffs and told Denver7 in a statement that they have appealed the decision.
He said he's indifferent on home rule as a concept, but thinks Douglas County's process has been "very very bad."
“No one heard of Home Rule until the commissioners placed it on the ballot in a specially called meeting with only 24-hours notice where they spent less than 90 seconds discussing and then voting on the most important political decision a county could ever make," Marshall said in a statement. “They could have placed Home Rule on the ballot in a normal election year in 2024 or 2026 to ensure broad turnout and voter engagement, while also avoiding having to spend $500,000 on a Special Election. But they did not.”
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