To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Sally Misare, Town Clerk
Title
Resolution: Regarding Conduct of Ballot Title Protest for Initiatives, Refernda and Referred Measures
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
At the June 2, 2015 meeting, Town Council will reconsider Ordinance No. 2015-09 as required by the Referendum Statute. If, during Town Council reconsideration of Ordinance No. 2015-09, Council chooses not to rescind the Ordinance and to present the question on the Referendum to the voters at a Special Election, the statute requires that Town Council "promptly fix a ballot titleĀ
".
Council will be presented with an Ordinance calling the Special Election, and setting the ballot question at its Special meeting on June 9 (first reading) and at the Regular meeting on June 16 (second reading). This will allow staff to certify the ballot language to the County no less than 60 days before the election, as required by the Town Charter and the proposed IGA with Douglas County.
C.R.S. 31-11-111(4) provides "any protest concerning a ballot title shall be conducted as provided by local charter, ordinance or resolution". The Town does not currently have a specified procedure in place for such a protest. However, Title 1, the Uniform Election Code, does specify a procedure whereby any protest to the ballot title is filed in District Court and requires the protest to be filed within five days after the ballot title is approved. The procedure is specially set up so as to provide for the swift determination of any controversies concerning the ballot title as set by the Town Council. Under the time frames provided in C.R.S. 1-11-203.5(2) the time for filing a protest, filing of a response by the Town, and a court hearing on the merits of said protest, is intended to take no more than a total of 20 days. This time period runs concurrently with the preparations for the election, allowing the election to stay on the approved timeline.
As a precautionary measure, staff recommends adopting a Resolution which states that the Town will follow the process as established in 1-11-203.5. This would provide the Town with a specific procedure to be used, and allow the Town to be in position to respond quickly should there be a protest against the ballot title as approved by the Town Council with regard to the Referendum on Ordinance No. 2015-09. If adopted, staff has set up the proposed Resolution to apply to any future Initiatives or referenda as well.
Proposed Motion
If Council agrees with Staff's recommendation, an appropriate motion would be:
"I move to approve A Resolution Regarding Conduct of Ballot Title Protests For
Initiatives, Referenda, or Referred Measures."
Attachments
Attachment A: Resolution.