Douglas County leaders uphold controversial change to citizen-led petition increasing board from 3 to 5

Tensions were high in the packed Douglas County commissioners' hearing room Thursday, as county leaders heard a protest petition filed against a recent resolution to change language on a citizen-led ballot question.

"If you want to interrupt this body again, then we will step out of the room," County Commissioner Abe Laydon said at one point to the audience.

The hours-long hearing saw commissioners trying to clear the room of spectators, pausing proceedings for nearly an hour and forcing vocal members of the audience to leave.

"Hey, knock it off," Douglas County Commissioner George Teal said to a petitioner, which was met by gasps and boos from the audience.

"The lady in the orange shirt, six rows back. That's who. Let's get her out of here, please," Teal said, as he directed sheriff's deputies to remove members of the public who had spoken. "Let's get the gentleman in the striped shirt out."

Multiple audience members flashed middle fingers toward the board before being told or choosing to leave.

"This is our government. We, as the people, have a right to speak, and we have been silenced by them so many times. They've taken away public, general public comment, and they gavel you down at any time you say something that they don't like," said Angela Thomas, 3 to 5 petition co-lead and protest petitioner.

The controversy stems from a citizen-led petition to increase the Board of Douglas County Commissioners from three to five members. That petition gained more than 20,000 signatures and was certified to be added to the November ballot by the Douglas County clerk.

The petition that was certified read: "Shall the membership of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners be increased from a three member board to a five member board."

Followed by a second question on how those commisisoners should be elected: 

"If the membership of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners is increased from a three member board to a five member board, by what method shall the Douglas County Board of Commissioners be elected.

1. Five commissioners resident in districts to be elected by the voters only by the voters resident in the district.

or

2. Three commissioners resident in districts to be elected by the voters only by the voters resident in the district and two commissioners to be elected by the voters of the whole county."

But last week, county commissioners added these words in front of the question:

"At an ongoing estimated annual expense of $760,000 to $1,300,000 from County revenue that supports public safety, transportation, and essential county services, shall the membership of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners be increased from a three-member board to a five-member board?"

The petition's supporters filed a formal protest of this action, saying those cost estimates were speculative and not required to be included unless the measure was set to raise or lower taxes, which it was not.

The petition organizers' calculations placed the cost of the two additional positions at around $500,000 annually, based on information from the county. Teal says the cost range in the new language comes from estimates made based on Adams, Arapahoe and El Paso counties.

"They didn't have the authority to do this, and the extraneous language was not acceptable and not legal to put into our measure," said Angela Thomas. "This measure is misleading. It says that public safety, transportation, and other essential services could be at risk because we're going to add commissioners. That is misleading."

The petitioners urged the board to allow the language that 20,000 people signed onto to be the language on the ballot.

"If you signed the petition because of the original language, will you please raise your hand now?" said Kim Carroll, 3 to 5 petition co-lead and protest petitioner, to the resolution.

The vast majority of the packed audience raised their hands.

"We thought it was the right thing to do to let the voters know. Listen, if you want to go to five commissioners, great, but this is the cost," said Teal.

The board said they wanted to eliminate confusion and let voters know how much the measure would cost.

"Is that not kind of prejudicial? Saying if you vote for this, you're taking funding away from public safety," CBS Colorado's Olivia Young asked George Teal.

"You know, we couldn't figure out any other way to say it that was not going — you know, every other way we could consider to say something like that was definitely going to be prejudicial," Teal responded. "On any given year, 80 to 90 percent of the budget of this county is either public safety or roads, transportation."

Commissioners voted unanimously to strike down the protest.

"And the motion passes. Petitioner's challenge is denied," Teal said to end the hearing, banging his gavel.

The announcement was met with raucous boos and calls of "Shame on you!" "Corrupt!" and "Cowards!"

The petition will still be in front of voters in November, but the language will reflect what was added by commissioners.

"This isn't about three commissioners. It isn't about five commissioners. It's about the people having a voice, and a citizen-led initiative is the absolute epitome of people having a voice," Thomas said. "We ran a home rule campaign to vote no, and we won 71% to 29%, and we will do it again."

In a separate referred measure last week, the board also added another question to the ballot, saying, "In the event the Douglas County Board of Commissioners is increased to five members, shall all registered Douglas County voters continue to elect all County Commissioners?"

The question was added despite the initial measure already providing two options for how the new commissioners would be elected.

"Why did you see fit to add that instead of just letting the ballot measure sit as the language that had been approved by petitioners?" CBS Colorado's Olivia Young asked George Teal.

"So under Colorado law, to go to five commissioners, there are actually four options that are out there. The petitioners, they chose two of those options, and that's OK. That is certainly their right. They're allowed to do that. We did think it was fair to put on that, what if the option would be five commissioners elected at large? Because it's what we do now," Teal said.

That measure has also been challenged. A hearing will occur at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 4, at the Miller Building, 100 Third St.

County Commissioner Abe Laydon shared the following comment on his individual behalf with CBS Colorado:

"Extreme left socialists want a seat on the Board of County Commissioners without telling our citizens the truth about what it is going to cost them. First, you don't solve problems by adding politicians; second, most DougCo citizens know we have ended homelessness, stopped wildfires, and kept Douglas County the healthiest and most prosperous in the state with only three commissioners. This is a solution in search of a problem that would only help those who want to make Douglas County like Denver."