Joe Anderson recall petition deemed su cient

BY ELISABETH SLAY ESLAY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A petition to recall Englewood District 3 City Councilmember Joe Anderson was deemed valid and sufficient by the city clerk’s office July 13.

According to City Clerk Stephanie Carlile, the petition was submitted July 7 and needed a total of 583 signatures to be determined valid and sufficient.

If there is no successful protest of the petition, Anderson would be subject to a recall election this summer or fall.

Anderson was elected to office in a landslide win over incumbent Laurett Barrentine in 2019. He is one of four councilmembers facing potential recall. The others are Mayor Othoniel Sierra of District 1, District 2 Councilmember Chelsea Nunnenkamp and At Large Councilmember Cheryl Wink.

A petition to recall Wink was submitted to the city clerk’s office June 28 and it was determined valid on July 6.

Earlier in June, recall petitions targeting Nunnenkamp and Sierra cleared the signature bar, with the Nunnenkamp petition needing 342 valid signatures and the Sierra petition needing 458 valid signatures.

The efforts to recall the four councilmembers began over their consideration of a proposal to allow multifamily residences in single-family zoning areas.

The multifamily proposal has been shelved as the city prepares to create an affordable housing task force. Wink is under additional scrutiny for her attendance record at city meetings.

The City of Englewood’s Rules and Regulations for Recall Elections states there is a 15-day protest period for petitions, during which any registered elector with the ability to vote for a successor to the official can file a written protest statement with the city clerk, which must include clear reasons for the opposition of the recall petition.

“The City Clerk will promptly mail a copy of the protest to the committee and the official, together with a notice of hearing on the protest,” the document reads. “The hearing will be held within five days after the filing of the protest, and the protestor, the committee and the official shall all have the opportunity to be heard and present evidence.”

According to the document, the burden of proof falls onto the protestors as they must prove that an element or elements of the recall petition are in violation of the mandated standards.

“If multiple protests are filed, the city clerk may consolidate all protests into one hearing,” the document states. “Based on the evidence and testimony presented at the hearing, the city clerk will determine whether the petition meets the requirements of § 34 of the City Charter and these Rules and Regulations.”

Following the protest period, if a protest is not filed, the petition will be presented to the city council at its next meeting.

At that meeting, the council will receive the proposed ordinance setting the ballot title for a special election.

They will then determine the date of a recall election, which must be held no less than 60 days and no more than 120 days after the petitions are filed, according to the city’s Rules and Regulations for Recall Elections.

Ballots would ask Englewood voters a yes or no question of whether Anderson, Sierra, Wink and Nunnenkamp should be recalled, and if the majority votes yes then those seats would be deemed vacant.