El Paso County Board of County Commissioners About CommissionWatch
CommissionWatch in El Paso County is a government transparency service operated by Civix IQ, LLC and delivered through the CivicPrinciples network. It scores the Board of County Commissioners — and every commissioner — against the same 15 principles of good governance applied to every government in the network.
What we cover
The El Paso County Board of County Commissioners — five commissioners, one elected from each district. We score more than eighty meetings since January 2025, and the record starts in January 2025.
The board sits most weeks, often more than once. Analysis is published as each meeting is processed, so the record grows meeting by meeting rather than in batches.
Why this county
County commissioners hold direct authority over rezonings, subdivisions, and development approvals across unincorporated land — decisions that reshape where people live and what gets built, often passed inside a consent calendar in under a minute. The board sits most weeks, which means far more decisions than a typical city council, and far less scrutiny per decision.
How a meeting becomes a score
Every meeting is transcribed from the official video. Agenda items and votes are identified, speakers matched to what they said, and each contested decision is evaluated against all 15 principles of good governance. Findings are classified Clear, Likely, or Potential, then weighted into a 0-to-5 Screw-O-Meter score for each commissioner and for the board as a whole.
The same rubric runs in every market. That is the point: a score in El Paso County means the same thing as a score anywhere else we operate. See AI, Transparency & Trust for what the automated steps do and where human judgment enters, and the Audit Policy for how scoring can be formally reviewed.
What we don't do
We do not endorse candidates, parties, or ballot measures, and we do not score campaign activity, private communications, or anything outside the official meeting record. A score assesses alignment with governance principles — not character, legality, or intent.
Corrections
If something looks wrong, tell us. We review every submission through Report an Issue and correct the underlying record when warranted.