City Manager-Palooza
City Council is interviewing candidates for the City Manager position this week. To kick things off, they took the candidates out to dinner last night. They will begin interviewing them today.
6:30-8PM The City is hosting a Candidate meet-and-greet tonight at the Community Center (map) so we citizens can meet the candidates.
Tomorrow from 7:30-8:30AM, the Chamber is hosting a forum with the candidates for the business community. Please register if you want to attend.
Here are the candidates:
- Heather A. Balser, current Interim Chief Resiliency Officer for the City of Greeley, Colorado, and former City Manager for City of Louisville, Colorado.
- Larry R. Dorr, current Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer for the City of Westminster, Colorado, and former Finance Director with the City of Lakewood, Colorado.
- Carolyn (Carly) G. Lorentz, current Interim City Manager, previously Deputy City Manager, for the City of Golden, Colorado, and former Assistant to the City Manager with the City of Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
- Scott Vargo, current County Manager for Summit County, Colorado with a background in health care, manufacturing, and the public sector.
This is a really important decision. The City Manager has tremendous power and latitude in making the rules that guide life in Golden. Once City Council hires a City Manager, every employee in the city reports to that person. City Council sets “policy,” but there’s an immense amount of interpretation that goes into rolling out those policies.
If all of that sounds ominous, it should inspire you to go to tonight’s meet and greet. Ask the candidates how they would handle your major concerns. Tell City Council who you think they should hire, and why.
Council is scheduled to have a special meeting on Thursday night, June 30th, to discuss the hiring decision. It’s an executive session, so no public and no cameras.
Virtual Events
6-6:55AM Virtual Dynamic Circuit
10-10:55AM All Levels Yoga Virtual
11-11:55AM Find Your Balance
2-3PM Active Minds Monday: O Canada!
4-4:30PM Kids Martial Arts Class
Real World Events
9:15-9:45AM Toddler Time @ Golden Library
10:15-10:45AM Let’s Dance @ Golden Library
2-3PM Jelly Fish Art with the Arvada Center @ Golden Library
6:30-8PM City Manager Candidates Meet and Greet @ Golden Community Center
6:30PM Downtown Development Authority Meeting @ City Hall
The DDA will discuss their agreement with the City for providing administrative support. They have the right to hire their own staff, but it’s cheaper to employ City staff part time.
They will hear from the Golden Visitors Center, Miners Alley Playhouse, and Foothills Art Center at the Astor House. All are hoping that the DDA will provide some funding support, as all three are major contributors to downtown’s economic vitality.
Staff will report on the need to buy still more fencing for the areas where the parking lane is being used as an extension of the businesses.
Starting this week on Wednesday at 8AM, the City is going to have a Special Event Review Committee. It will include staff, community members, and representatives from some commissions.
They will discuss a traffic study that considered alternatives to current traffic control. This included replacing traffic lights with stop signs, turning Washington into a pedestrian mall, and a few variations on those themes. They concluded that what we really need is higher-tech traffic lights.
The Miners Alley lighting project continues to be delayed for various reasons.
To learn more about any of these topics, see the meeting packet.
Golden History Moment
I’ve always wondered why Wood Mortuary bore that name for so long–even after the Olinger chain bought them in the early 2000s. Was it a multi-generational family business?
The answer is no. In fact, William Woods, who owned the business from 1913-1931, died without issue. Here’s the lineage of the business.
In 1880, Charles Ziegler decided to add a line of coffins to his furniture store. That fall, John C. Davidson bought the business–both furniture and funeral supplies–from Ziegler. At that time, the store was located in the Loveland block (where the Old Capitol Grill is). A year later, he moved to the east side of the 1200 block; in 1888, he moved to Ford Street and at some point in the next decade he moved to 1100 Washington Avenue.
By 1901, Davidson’s son, J. Lofton Davidson had joined the business. The son was a licensed embalmer, so he focused on the funereal side of things, while his father continued to make and sell furniture. In 1906, J. Lofton bought the building at 11th and Washington. J. C. Davidson retired in 1910 and sold his part of his business to his son. In 1912, J. Lofton hired someone to run the business (“a licensed embalmer, and a first-class upholsterer”) while he spent time on his businesses in Denver.
In the meantime, a new undertaking business had come to town–Woods & Sanders. They were located in the Dollison building, at 1114 Washington Avenue (currently occupied by Silver Horse). The two firms competed for a few years, but Davidson had moved to Denver by 1916, and in 1917 Woods & Sanders bought the 1100 Washington Avenue building.
Strictly speaking, the Davidson firm was not a predecessor to Woods; Woods & Sanders didn’t buy the business from them, but they did wind up occupying the same location and no doubt absorbed some of their market.
Billy Woods, of Woods & Sanders, was a kind and pleasant man, originally from Ireland. He did well in the undertaking business, and in 1914 he ran for county coroner–and won. He remained both an undertaker and a coroner until his death in 1931.
A new team–Saunders and Cline–bought the business after Woods’ death, but kept the “Woods Mortuary” name. In 1932, Saunders ran for coroner, and he also won. He stayed in the job, and continued to run the mortuary, until he decided to run for State Senator in 1948. He won that election, and sold the business that same year.
Another new team–Hawkins & Seal–were the next owners. A year later, Seal bought out his partner and became sole owner. Seal ran for coroner in 1950 and won. He ran again in 1954, but lost that time. In 1955, the business was sold again–this time to Paul Smith.
Smith broke the pattern and did not run for coroner. In fact, in 1974 he ran a large ad in the Transcript saying that he had been encouraged many times to run for coroner, but thought that being both a mortician as a coroner was a conflict of interest. “The reason is that a mortician-coroner faces a conflict of interest whenever there is any strange or unusual circumstances connected with a death. Should he work in the interest of the family or the state? Justice is not served when the course of action he chooses may be influenced by who is paying the most.”
However Smith did make the largest campaign contribution (by far) to the winning candidate for coroner.
That’s as far as I can track the ownership until the Olinger chain bought the Golden mortuary in the early 2000s. They too kept the “Woods Mortuary” name until they closed it in 2017. The building now has new owners, who plan to put two restaurants on the first floor and apartments on the second floor.
Thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!
