Public Hearing Set This Thursday For Three Possible Ballot Questions
Trevor Phipps
Even though this November is an off-year election contest, local governments are getting pretty aggressive when it comes to proposed ballot issues and special votes.
The city of Woodland Park became the latest entity to jump on the bandwagon by recently introducing a handful of ballot questions, which could be decided by the voters. Otherwise, the Nov. election in Woodland Park had the potential to become a real yawner, except for the contested showdown for WP RE-2 District Board seats.
During a recent meeting, the council passed three proposed ballot questions on initial posting. These will be considered this Thursday during a public hearing. Since the city wishes to change ordinances in the charter, they must ask voters to do so during an election.
After getting recommendations from the city’s charter review committee, the council voted last month to send three potential ballot questions to the debate stage at a public hearing slated for September 4. The city’s charter review committee sometimes suggests possible ballot questions, aimed at changing ordinances regarding the city charter, which was originally approved in the mid-1970s.
The pending questions run the gamut from changing how long someone must be a resident to run for mayor or city council, to altering term limit restrictions on the city’s numerous committees and boards, to extending clerk-mandated time limits for verifying signatures on a recall petition.
Public comment will occur on these issues on Sept. 4.
Proposed Change to Recall Process
The first ballot questioned proposed by Mayor Pro Tem Catherine Nakai and the charter review committee was written to ask voters to extend the time given to the city clerk to verify signatures on a petition to recall a city council member or mayor. Currently, the city goes along with the state requirements that if a recall occurs for a mayor or city council member, the city clerk has only five days to verify all of the signatures on the recall petition.
Due to an increase in the number of recalls at the city level, the charter review committee wishes to give the city clerk 30 days to verify signatures on a recall petition instead of just five days. Since Woodland Park is a home-rule municipality, the city council has the authority to changes some laws and make them vary from the state standards.
“I just wanted to point out that our charter severely restricts our city clerk in this situation,” Councilman Jeremy Geer said. In the past, recall petitions had several signatures denied because the people who signed weren’t Woodland Park residents.
Nakai said that even though what the committee is asking for is longer than state standards, there are other municipalities in Colorado that give their clerks 30 days to verify signatures instead of the five suggested by the state.
City Residency Question
Another proposed question has to do with how long residents think someone should live in the city before they can run for mayor or a city council position. Currently, the city only requires that people live within city limits for one year before they are eligible to apply to run for mayor or a seat on city council.
If the question makes it to the November ballot and passes, residents would have to live in Woodland Park for two years in order to run for city council or mayor. “A modest increase in the residency requirement will help assure that candidates and appointees have a greater knowledge of city and community issues and priorities than those with a mere 12 months of residence,” Ordinance No. 1501, Series 2025 states. “A residency requirement of two years for mayoral and council candidates and appointees, would in no way not prevent citizens with less than two years residency in the city from serving on various boards or commissions in the city, in order to become acquainted with city issues.”
Other Colorado cities also require two years of residency to run for leadership positions. “It has been an issue in the past for the community,” Case said. “It just gives us a little more experience and a little bit more of a commitment to the community I would say.”
Doing Away with Term Limit Restrictions for City Boards
Currently, the city’s charter states that every city position is limited to two four-year terms. If voters approve the ballot question offered, each board or committee will be able to have their own term limits established and approved by city council.
Case and Councilman Seth Bryant pointed out that some of the city’s commissions have their own requirements (like having an engineer or architect on the board) and at times certain specialized positions can be hard to fill. “These term limits have resulted in perfectly qualified persons being obliged to leave their public positions, while council confronts a shortage of potential appointees for these positions,” Ordinance No. 1502, Series 2025 states. “And, consequently, a more flexible system, in which the various boards and commissions decide what works for them, through their by-laws, better serves the public interest. The city council will retain oversight of these decisions by having to approve board or commission by-laws.
At the upcoming Sept. 4 meeting, residents will have a chance to speak on whether or not the proposed questions will snag a spot on the local ballot in November.
