Sierra recall petition clears signature bar

Election

Nunnenkamp, Joe Anderson and Cheryl Wink.

e petition to recall Sierra needed 458 valid signatures.

mandated standards, according to the document.

BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Although Englewood Mayor Othoniel Sierra’s position on the city council is up for election this November, residents in District 1 of Englewood may be asked sooner whether they want to remove him from o ce.

e Englewood City Clerk’s O ce determined that residents got enough valid signatures on the recall petition against Sierra, meaning a special election for District 1 may happen unless a valid protest to the petition is led.

Sierra, who was elected in 2018 to ll a vacant council seat representing Engewood’s District 1 and was reelected in 2019, is among four councilmembers facing possible recall, along with Councilmembers Chelsea ere is a 15-day protest period for the petition. According to the City of Englewood’s Rules and Regulations for Recall Elections, any registered elector entitled to vote for a successor to the o cial may le a written protest with the city clerk that includes a “clear statement of the grounds for the protest.”

“ e District 1 Recall Petition led with the City Clerk’s Ofce on June 16, 2023, has been reviewed and determined to be valid and su cient,” Englewood City Clerk Stephanie Carlile said via email on June 23. is is the second recall petition to be turned in and deemed valid, as the clerk’s o ce determined the petition to recall Nunnenkamp was valid on June 15. e deadline for the other petitions is July 6.

If that is done, a hearing may be held in which the protesting party must prove that an element of the petition violated the

If the protest period passes and there is not a protest led, then both Nunnenkamp and Sierra’s recall petitions will come before the city council at its next regular meeting, which is July 17.

During that meeting, the council will receive the proposed ordinance setting the ballot title for a special election, Carlile wrote. e council will then set a date for a recall election “to be held not less than 60 days nor more than 120 days after the ling of the petition,” according to the city’s rules and regulations.

According to the city’s rules and regulations, the ballot for District 1 in Englewood would ask voters the yes-or-no question of whether Sierra should be recalled from his position, and the ballot for District 2 would ask the same question as it pertains to Nunnenkamp.

If the majority of voters said yes, these positions would be deemed vacant and would likely be lled during the city’s general municipal election in November.