LAKEWOOD INFORMER

Lakewood Chief of Police Philip Smith with be the guest speaker at October’s Ward 4 meeting, Wednesday, October 16, 2024. 07:00 PM – 09:00 PM, October 16 Lutheran Church of the Master, 14099 W. Jewell Ave., Lakewood, CO, 80228 View Map Ward 4 meetings always include Q&A about a broad range of topics. All city residents are welcome.

A line item for an $800,000 expenditure was added to the 2024 budget to fix the lights on RTD’s bridge, apparently at the request of Council Member Shahrezaei, in defiance of normal council procedures. At the time in 2023, the official explanation was that the expenditure originated from the Public Works department. As explained in Lakewood Informer news, the only communications Lakewood disclosed were between Councilor Shahrezaei and RTD, not city staff. Individual Council Members are prohibited from directing city staff in any action, including adding items to the budget. A councilor must request a study session and get permission from the rest of Council before staff take any action. So how did these bridge lights make it into the budget? The bridge does not even belong to Lakewood. During the 2025 budget discussions, city staff are not so willing to claim they originated this item. Now, the city staff explain that the item is in the budget due to Ward 1 Councilors, not staff. The only Councilor that spanned both years is Councilor Shahrezaei. (Note: the 2024 budget was passed in Oct, 2023) Shahrezaei explained that the bridge lights were approved last year, as if that answered all questions. She failed to explain that the expense could still be removed today, before approving the 2025 budget. She also failed to explain how she got the item in the budget in the first place. Shahrezaei worked with RTD representatives through the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG). She is the...