To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Robert J. Slentz, Town Attorney
Title
Discussion Regarding the Call of a Special Election and Proposed Amendments to the Town of Castle Rock Home Rule Charter
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
Ordinances calling a special election and referring to the election ballot certain Charter amendments are presented for Council discussion and direction. These ordinances reflect the recommendations of the Citizen Advisory Committee made on January 9, 2018.
The date of the special election, should that ultimately be the Council decision, is not known at this time. Assuming that Douglas County is able to conduct the special election, a date will be set to accommodate the County election schedule. Although this is the preferred alternative, if the County is unable to conduct the election in a timely fashion, other options will be reviewed with Council as the ordinance is presented for formal consideration, which is anticipated to occur at the two Council meetings in February.
The Charter amendment ordinance refers two measures to the voters - a transition plan to the elected Mayor and six Councilmembers, and qualifications for Mayor, which mirror the Councilmember qualifications currently in the Charter. The ballot titles for the two measures read as follows:
Castle Rock Charter Amendment __:
In order to implement the November 7, 2017 voter-approved amendment to the Town of Castle Home Rule Charter which established a Town Council consisting of a Mayor elected at-large and six Councilmembers elected from districts, shall the Town Charter be further amended to (i) add a transition plan specifying the November 6, 2018 regular election as the date for election of the Mayor and two Councilmembers and the following regular election in 2020 as the date for election of four Councilmembers, (ii) authorize the Election Commission to timely establish the boundaries of the six Town Council districts in 2018, and (iii) make certain other conforming amendments to the Town Charter in accordance with Town Council Ordinance No. 2018-__?
____ Yes
____ No
Castle Rock Charter Amendment __:
Shall Section 2-4 of the Town of Castle Rock Home Rule Charter be amended to establish qualifications for the office of Mayor such that the Mayor at the time of nomination, election or appointment is a registered elector of the Town of Castle Rock, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the Town of Castle Rock for twelve consecutive months preceding election or appointment, in accordance with Town Council Ordinance No. 2018-__?
____ Yes
____ No
Proposed Motion
“I move to authorize noticing of the subject ordinance for first reading on February 6, 2018.)
Attachments
Attachment A: Ordinance - Call of Special Election
Attachment B: Ordinance - Charter Amendments