Future Recall Vote Could Replace Councilwoman Carrol Harvey
Two Additional Petitions Fall Short of Reaching “Valid Signature” End Zone
Trevor Phipps
*Update: On May 13, Councilwoman Carrol Harvey resigned instead of forcing the city to hold a special recall election.*
After months of controversy surrounding the school-related city sales tax, the results are now in for the first round of recall efforts that target nearly all members of the Woodland Park city council, with an official decision rendered on three initial petition drives.
And this could just be the beginning in a rather complex process, as more action is expected on the town’s citizen petition front in upcoming weeks.
As talk was coming up at city council meetings to strip away the voter-approved 1.09 percent sales tax given to the Woodland Park RE-2 School District for a number of years, a group of citizens pulled petitions to recall council members Teri Baldwin, Jeffrey Geer, Carrol Harvey and Steve “Smitty” Smith due to their vocal stance in favor of eliminating the sales tax and comments pertaining to actions taken by the RE-2 School Board and administration.
Baldwin resigned the same day the council decided to axe the sales tax shortly after her recall effort started. But that left a wide-open path for the petitioners to collect autographs from valid Woodland Park voters on several other targeted council members. The citizens had until April 29 to collect the proper number of signatures to force a recall vote. Since the recall included several council members who were elected during different elections, the numbers of needed signatures varied.
On April 29, Jeffrey Cole, Richard Caviness and Warren Dickenson turned in recall petitions for council members Geer, Harvey and Smith. The petitions contained 802 unverified signatures for Smith and Geer and 755 for Harvey.
This total was recorded prior to the official signature verification process, done by the city clerk’s office, which tossed out a number of petition autographs.
As a result of this scrutiny, the recall petitions for Smith and Geer were deemed insufficient because the city clerk only verified 657 signatures for Geer and 649 for Smith. Geer and Smith both needed 721 verified signatures for a recall vote to take place.
But the city clerk was able to verify 630 signatures on Harvey’s petition, which had a much lower threshold, only needing 577 signatures The petition to recall Councilwoman Harvey was therefore deemed sufficient and the next steps involved in establishing a potential recall election will soon occur.
First the city will accept applications from residents to fill Harvey’s seat. The prospective council members will have to get signatures on a petition to be placed on the ballot for the special recall election.
During the special election that the city has yet to announce a date for, citizens will be asked whether to remove Harvey from her city council position. They will then be asked whether she should be replaced by the candidates who garner enough signatures to qualify for a spot on the ballot.
But the recall process won’t necessarily stop with just a future vote on whether to keep Harvey as a member of the council. After petitions were filed to recall the first four council members, petitions were also pulled to recall Mayor Pro Tem Catherine Nakai, Councilman George Jones and Mayor Kellie Case. This occurred after the sales tax to benefit the school tax was taken away by a unanimous council vote, following a public clash between WP Council and RE-2 School Board leaders.
On May 5, David Illingworth and Richard Caviness turned in petitions to recall Mayor Pro Tem Nakai that contained 627 unverified signatures. The city clerk was then given five business days to verify and validate the signatures with the deadline being set for May 12.
The citizens need 577 verified signatures to successfully recall Nakai. Therefore, if the city clerk rejects more than 50 signatures, her recall petition will be deemed insufficient. If less than 50 signatures are denied, Nakai will join Harvey in the special recall election.
At press time, the two recall petitions for Councilman Jones and Mayor Case were still circulating. The citizens have until May 12 to turn in petitions for the two remaining members of city council.
However, since the first recall petitions started, political insiders believe the recall effort was a move to prevent the school-related sales tax increase from getting axed. But this preventive action was thrashed when the council decided to immediately remove the sales tax by passing an emergency ordinance during a special emergency meeting. City leaders took this action because they learned of an upcoming school board meeting regarding the sale of a school facility, if the sales tax was removed. They viewed this as a questionable and underhanded tactic. But on the other side of the coin, many school supporters were outraged that the council axed a tax that was approved by the vote of the people on two occasions.
Seth Bryant Joins City Council
In an unrelated action, the city versus the school battle further intensified regarding the selection of a new council member.
After Councilwoman Baldwin resigned last March, the Woodland Park City Council chose to open up the vacant council seat for applications from the community. Applications for prospective councilmembers were accepted for about a month and in the end, the council was tasked with interviewing a total of nine residents vying for the open council seat.
Shawn Marie Nielsen, Mary Ward, Levente Racz, Blaine Miller, Seth Bryant, Derrick Rodriquez, Don Hoying, Don Dezellem and Joy Pickett all turned in applications to fill the open council seat. On April 17, all of the applicants were interviewed by the city council during a work session that took place before the regularly scheduled council meeting.
During the subsequent council vote at their regular session, Seth Bryant was given the position after receiving four votes from council members Nakai, Harvey, Smith and Geer. Councilman George Jones voted for Shawn Marie Nielsen and Mayor Case picked Joy Pickett.
Bryant isn’t a new voice to the community as he has previously spoke up at city council and school board meetings and stressed the need for school district transparency. Bryant isn’t new to local politics either as he previously ran for a seat on the Woodland Park School Board. In November 2023, Bryant narrowly lost a school board position to School Board President Mick Bates by less than 100 votes.
Bryant has lived in Woodland Park for the last four years and works in the information security industry. “Really, I want to be a good neighbor and that’s kind of why I’m here,” Bryant told the council during his interview. “I think that leading a community takes a lot of different perspectives, opinions and life experiences and that with diverse groups the best outcomes are had. And I want to be a part of that diversity.”
