STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO-November 28, 2023-The City Clerk has certified that the petition for referendum regarding City of Steamboat Springs Ordinance No. 2933 (Brown Ranch Annexation) submitted on November 17, 2023, has been examined and found to be sufficient.
The petitioners committee submitted 67 petition sections containing 2,016 signatures. The City Clerk examined the sections, rejecting 494 signatures and verifying 1,522 signatures, more than the required 1,133 signatures to force an election. The certificate of sufficiency can be found here.
Ground for rejection of a signature by the clerk’s office included:
- name on signature line not found in voter registration file,
- address on the signature line does not match the voter record,
- the signature is illegible,
- duplicate signatures,
- the date of signature was omitted,
- Steamboat Springs was omitted,
- Routt County was omitted,
- signature added after the date of the circulator’s affidavit (Petition Section No. 60), and,
- alteration to signature line.
With the petition containing the necessary valid signatures, the City Clerk will schedule a hearing before the City Council, which could occur in December or January. Council would decide whether to repeal the ordinance or schedule an election.
The Election Code provides an opportunity for any registered voter in the city to protest the validity of a signature or signatures prior to the City Council hearing on the petition. Each petition section is posted on the city's website for review.
A protest must be based on a violation of the City Charter or Election Code to be valid. If there is a protest, it would be referred to City Council for a formal public hearing at the next Council meeting following the protest. Council's decision could be appealed to the Routt County District Court.
If there is to be an election on the referendum petition, the City Charter requires it to be scheduled between 30 to 90 days from the Council’s determination that the petition is sufficient. This could set up a potential election date in March or April 2024.
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Contact
Dan Foote, City Attorney, 970.879,2060 or email
Julie Franklin, City Clerk, 970.879,2060 or email
Michael Lane, Communications Manager, 970.871.8220 or email