City moves to enforce ordinances, hires part-time officer

A longtime Boulder area resident and former state trooper will soon help the city of Boulder to encourage compliance with the city’s nuisance and beautification ordinances after the City Council voted unanimously Monday evening to hire the former trooper, Mike Zufelt, as a part-time code enforcement officer.

The ordinances the city aims to enforce address things including barking dogs and abandoned vehicles on properties. City leaders had expressed their desire to hire someone with law-enforcement experience as a city code enforcement officer since at least June 2021, when the city began pursuing a contract with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement in Boulder after the last remaining officer in Boulder’s now-defunct police department resigned. The city entered into an agreement with the county last year.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Rusty Giulio said that he and City Councilman Bear Taylor and City Clerk Ellen Harne interviewed Zufelt for the position. Taylor said that “during the interviews, Mike shared a lot of the same opinions and views the council had when we created our beautification ordinance.” City Council President Drew Dawson said that “I would just reinforce the approval of Mike as code enforcement officer. I think he will do a terrific job.”