Lambert named superintendent of Littleton Public Schools

Ends 5-month search

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Todd Lambert will be the new superintendent of Littleton Public Schools, following approval from the Board of Education on Feb. 23. is decision came after a vemonth search to ll the position of Superintendent Brian Ewert, including a robust application and interview process and several opportunities for community feedback.

Lambert, who is currently the superintendent in the Warrick County School Corporation in Boonville, Indiana, has 29 years of experience in education. Prior to his current role, he served as a curriculum instruction and assessment director, assistant superintendent of elementary school and interim superintendent in Poudre School District in Fort Collins. During the meeting, board members spoke about how quickly Lambert learned about the district, connected with sta and community members and addressed the board’s questions with experience, an announcement from the district said. Board members said it was a challenging decision due to nalist Melissa Cooper’s successful career in the district and outstanding qualities, the announcement said. Board members recognized how well-respected she is in the community, her leadership and work ethic and her care for sta and students.

e board’s decision, which was expected in early March, came earlier than anticipated. Members reached

1,355 people, based on 2020 U.S. Census data.

In reality, the number of required signatures would be 5% of registered voters, not a percentage of residents. Based on an estimate from City Clerk Colleen Norton of the number of registered voters in the upcoming election, petitioners would need approximately 1,780 signatures for petitions to count, about 400 more than the postcard implied.

Colorado Community Media did not hear back from Katie Kennedy, the registered agent for Citizens for Fair Elections, before publication to speak about this discrepancy.

Another postcard, distributed by a group called REVision Littleton that supports the ballot measure, stated that passing it would “align the city charter with state law” by providing “the same petitioning requirements of 5% as other Colorado cities.”

It is true that some Colorado cities have signature thresholds at 5%, but it is not uncommon for cities to have higher requirements, as Littleton does.

“When I hear the argument that the city isn’t complying with state laws, that’s not true,” City Attorney Reid Betzing said. “We’re complying with state law… because we have the ability to set (the signature requirement) how we want.”

Colorado’s municipal code requires petitions that aim to add new laws or challenge ordinances to collect at least 5% of the registered electors of the municipality. State law, however, also gives cities the right to alter this percentage within their own jurisdictions.

Municipalities may require signatures from up to 10% of registered electors for petitions that oppose ordinances and up to 15% for petitions that propose new laws.

In addition to Littleton, Englewood, Centennial, Sheridan, Golden, Castle Rock, Castle Pines, Parker, Arvada, Westminster, Thornton and Aurora require higher signature thresholds than 5% for some petitions. Other municipalities, including Greenwood Village, Lone Tree and Lakewood have thresholds at or below 5%.

John Marchetti, an active citizen in REVision Littleton, said Littleton’s decision to have a higher threshold makes it more difficult for citizens to petition their government.

“The city has the right to do whatever they want to do, and they will do whatever they want to do in this day and age,” Marchetti said. “It’s the citizens against the city council and the city, and that’s unfortunate.”

Betzing said the city’s percentages for petitions that aim to create new laws or challenge ordinances have been in place for over 50 years.

How many special elections could be held per year?

The Citizens for Fair Elections postcard stated that, if the measure passes, special interest groups could force elections “every other month.”

Littleton’s current city charter limits special elections to one per year, Norton said. If ballot question 300 passes, she said this explicit limit would be repealed, opening the door for more special elections each year. In this case, however, special elections would not be unlimited.

The number of permitted special elections per year would instead be constrained by state timeline rules based on when petitions are deemed sufficient and when other elections are scheduled. The rules would prohibit special elections 90 days before a regular election or within 32 days before or after a primary, general or congressional vacancy election.

According to these rules, Betzing said it would be impossible to have special elections every other month for 24 consecutive months because there are times in the state and municipal election schedules that would prevent them. But there are periods of years where special elections could potentially be held every other month, he said.

“For a few months of the year, that probably is possible to have (special elections) every other month,” Betzing said. “But it’s also going to be frozen a few times in that year too.”

He added that the timing of special elections is largely dependent on other factors, including how many petitions are being circulated at a given time and when they are turned in, certified and brought to council.

REVision Littleton’s postcard said the ballot measure would “clarify special election timeframes so they can’t be postponed for up to two years.”

Littleton’s current city charter states that elections based on petitions must be held at either a special election or the next general election, depending on whether the petition is to make a new law or challenge an ordinance.

Although there is no set timeframe for when special elections must be held in most cases, the furthest out an election could be pushed is to the next general election, Betzing said. At most, this could be two years away.

But pushing an election two years out would only happen in a “doomsday scenario,” for example, if petitioners didn’t submit their ballot until very late in a general municipal election year, Betzing said.

If ballot item 300 passes, special elections will be required to be held within 60 to 150 days of the petition being determined sufficient.

What’s it all about?

For Marchetti, this election is about having citizens’ voices heard after he and other community members felt their petition and votes were ignored regarding the rezoning of a shopping center called Aspen Grove for new housing last year.

“We can increase our ability to be heard by the city council through changes in the percentage of signatures required on a petition,” he said.

Matt Duff, a member of a proaffordable housing group called Vibrant Littleton, said he relates to some of the problems proponents of 300 are bringing up. He said he agrees that citizens deserve to have their voices heard, that representatives should meet with their constituencies and that developers should be held accountable to better serve their communities.

Even so, he said he does not believe question 300 is the correct approach – largely because of the impact it could have on housing.

“It’s almost impossible for us to build anything meaningful, because we let opposition stop most of the things from being built,” he said. “We have, right now, a dynamic where people complain about every apartment building going up and they also complain about the homeless people on the corner. And for some reason, they’re not able to connect those two dots.”

Marchetti said REVision Littleton is not anti-growth, but instead in favor of “gentle growth” in Littleton.

“Growth is going to happen,” he said. “It doesn’t have to happen in such a fashion that it becomes overwhelming to the city’s infrastructure and to the citizens that came to Littleton because of what it was.”

Duff said working to create solutions the community likes, instead of just pushing against ideas, is going to be the way forward.

“Let’s get together, as two groups, and very vocally work with our representatives to clearly define what we want to see more of, instead of only fighting against the things that we don’t want to see,” he said.

“Let’s paint a clear picture of what we do advocate for not just opposing things at every turn.”