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a departmental action with tribal implications,” Lyon said. “So, no decision will be made on Mount Evans today and we won’t be discussing any of the pending proposals.”

Clear Creek County o cials and Native American tribe representatives said ursday that they wanted to wait to comment until they had more information about the request to defer a vote.

However, during the Colorado board’s meetings last fall to hear proposals on renaming Mount Evans, Northern Arapaho tribe members had advocated for Mount Blue Sky and Northern Cheyenne tribe members supported the name Mount Cheyenne Arapaho. Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board members had asked proponents of the name Mount Blue Sky if they had plans to meet with those who advocated for Mount Cheyenne Arapaho to negotiate an agreeable name.

“If we have two names, both with support from di erent Indian nations, is there any room for the two groups to discuss this further or do you want us to decide?” state Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, a renaming committee board member, asked during that November meeting.

A member of a coalition that gathered input from tribal representatives said the group tried many times to engage members of the Northern Cheyenne tribe in discussion, but were unsuccessful.

“I think the time is long past due for the acknowledgement that that is not an appropriate name,” Clear Creek County Commission Chairman Randy Wheelock said. He co-led, from November 2020 to March 2022, educational, public comment and deliberation meetings before Clear Creek County o cials recommended the new Mount Blue Sky name to the Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory board. He said he had no comment about the deferral, until he and other local o cials had more information.

“Generally speaking, my attitude was — and the board’s attitude was — that we were giving the biggest credence to the two indigenous proposals, and when they didn’t combine (and agree) on one proposal, we looked at the level of support that each of them had and there was much,