The city of Edgewater will ask voters to revise the city charter this November to change the way vacancies are handled on the Edgewater City Council.
Three ballot questions related to the charter will go before the Edgewater electorate on Nov. 5. The Edgewater City Council signed off on the ballot language Aug. 15.
Most of the changes clean up language, rename the city treasurer to “finance director” and remove references to the fire department, which dissolved this year with Edgewater’s inclusion in the Wheat Ridge Fire Protection District.
Mayor Bonnie McNulty said the most significant proposals, found in Ballot Question 1, come in response to the resignation of Councilman Devon Barclay earlier this year.
Barclay tendered his resignation May 1, six months before he faced re-election. At the time of his departure, he had not attended a council business meeting since Jan. 3.
The remaining council members appointed Janka Flaska on June 6 to complete Barclay’s term. To keep the seat, she will have to run in the Nov. 5 election, five months after her appointment.
McNulty said the goal of the council amendments is to make the appointment process work more smoothly and eliminate the “awkward” situation in which the council found itself with Barclay.
If approved, the ballot measure would define dereliction of duty — one of the ways a council seat can become vacant — as failing to attend 30 percent or more of regularly scheduled council meetings during a 12-month period.
“We had citizens say, why is he still getting paid? He’s not here,” McNulty said. “There were several months where he did not attend and we considered it a dereliction of duty.”
If a council member resigns, or the seat becomes vacant for another reason, the next steps would depend on how much time had passed since his or her election.
During the first six months, the process would not change, and the next top vote-getter in the last election would be automatically appointed to the seat, if willing.
After six months, the council would get the choice of either filling the seat by appointment or holding a special election. If the council did not appoint someone by majority vote within 90 days of the application deadline, a special election would be triggered, unless there’s a regular election in the next 120 days.
The last change would come in the three months preceding a regular election. If a council member resigns within 90 days of the next election, the position could not be filled via appointment and would instead go to the next top-vote getter in the election.
Edgewater elects council members at large, with candidates winning seats in rank order based on their vote total and the number of open seats.
“We’re trying to make it make sense and not be doing interviews and appointing someone right in the middle of an election cycle,” McNulty said.
She added: “This is part of trying to make it work better and be more fair. How do we make it easier? How do we make it better? How do we make it so the people are represented?”
To read the full ballot language, go to
Emilie Rusch: 303-954-2457, erusch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/emilierusch
