Board of County Commissioners Minutes and Resolutions, 1862-2011

Series

Identifier: Series-183

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Records of the proceedings of the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners. These minutes and resolutions document all business brought before the governing body of the county. Minutes are recorded by the County Clerk, who serves as the Clerk to the Board, and include summaries of topics discussed during meetings as well as resolutions adopted. They are arranged chronologically in five sub-series:

Sub-Series I, Index Books, 1899-1976, contains indexes to bound volumes F through EE. Topics are indexed by personal, business or department name, and by subject. There are no indexes for available for minutes of 1862-1898.

Sub-Series II, Minute Books, 1862-1976, contains the bound volumes of handwritten or typed minutes.

Sub-Series III, Minutes and Resolutions, 1977-2011, contains minutes and resolutions in paper format, picking up where the bound volumes end. The files also include supplementary materials for agenda items, and Board of Equalization minutes and resolutions. Reports and other publications included with agenda items are listed with folder numbers in the finding aid. Various filing methods were used over time with records first grouped and labeled by month then later (in 2000) by individual meeting date. This variation in original order was maintained. However, duplicate copies of minutes were removed from the supplemental material (agenda items) which may cause gaps in page numbering sequence in those files.

Sub-Series IV, Clerk’s Files, 1902-1957, contains the Clerk to the Board’s files for meetings of the Board of County Commissioners. These are handwritten minutes taken at the meeting as well as notes and other supplemental materials for what is recorded in the bound volumes.

Sub-Series V, Resolutions, 1889-1993, includes paper copies of various resolutions contained in the bound volumes, numerically-ordered logs to the resolutions in paper format for the years 1977-1993, some supplemental materials accompanying certain resolutions, and Social Services Resolutions. Two random files labeled “Acceptance of Roads Resolutions” containing various years between 1969 and 1981 were found to be incomplete and were parts or duplicates of resolutions already included. These were either interfiled or duplicates disposed of.

Dates

Record Keeping: 1862-2011

Creator

Jefferson County (Colo.). Board of County Commissioners (Organization)
Jefferson County (Colo.). Clerk and Recorder. Clerk to the Board (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Archives collection material is non-circulating, requires staff retrieval and is available for use by appointment in the reading room.

Biographical / Historical

The Territory of Colorado

The Territory of Colorado was created by Congress on February 28, 1861. Earlier, a Jefferson Territory was organized and functioned from 1859 to 1861, although its existence was not ratified by Congress. Jefferson County was established in the Jefferson Territory, but a board of county commissioners was not included among its officers. The first Colorado Territorial Legislature established Jefferson County and 16 other counties on November 1, 1861, and directed the Governor to appoint three commissioners from each county to serve until their successors were elected and qualified. The three temporary commissioners appointed in Jefferson County were John M. Ferrel, S. C. Field, and George H. Richardson.

The First Commissioners

In the election held December 7, 1861 three commissioners were elected by 534 voters. The candidate receiving the most votes (Theodore Perry Boyd) won a three year term, the one receiving the next highest number of votes (Thomas C. Bergen) was elected for two years, and the candidate receiving the third most votes (David K. Wall) was elected for a one year term. All took office in January 1862, and thereafter one commissioner was elected for a three year term at each year's general election. The commissioners' term of office was increased from three to four years by a 1902 constitutional amendment. Since then, two commissioners have been elected every leap year and one commissioner two years later. Until 1978, vacancies on the board of county commissioners due to death, resignation, or removal were filled by appointment of the Governor. Under State law, vacancies now are filled by political party vacancy committees. Beginning in 1862, the Board of County Commissioners was authorized by the legislature to meet four times a year for up to nine days to conduct business. The commissioners' pay in 1862 was $3 per day for meetings plus 15 cents per mile for travel to and from the county seat. Today, the county commissioners serve full-time and receive an annual salary that is set by the Colorado Legislature.

Commissioner Districts

Each commissioner represents and must reside within one of three commissioner districts, although all are elected at large. The districts first defined by the county commissioners in 1862 were as follows: District 1 comprised roughly the eastern half of the county; District 2 the northwest quarter of the county; and District 3 the southwest quarter of the county. District boundaries are adjusted periodically to reflect changes in county population distribution.

Extent

80.78 Cubic Feet (37 Volumes and 106 oversized document boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically in five sub-series

Preservica Internal URL

Preservica Internal

Preservica Public URL

Preservica Access

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The Clerk’s files for meetings of the BCC were transferred to the Archives in 1998. The bound index and minute books were transferred in 2011 and the paper minutes and resolutions were transferred in 2013.

Processing Information

Processed by Ronda Frazier in 2016.

Name and Subject Index

Indexes to the minutes are available for the years 1899-1976. Topics are indexed by personal, business or County department name, and by subject. There are no indexes available for minutes of 1862-1898.