A to fill an Arvada District 1 council vacancy has been dismissed by District Court Judge Margie Enquist.
In her March 30 ruling, Enquist acknowledged that “the voting procedure may have violated the secret ballot provision” of Colorado’s Sunshine Law.
But she ruled in Arvada’s favor because the two-year-old law does not “expressly confer standing on every citizen for a violation of that provision” and that Arvada resident Russell Weisfield — who filed the lawsuit — couldn’t prove that he was personally injured by council’s hidden votes.
The lawsuit asked for Jerry Marks to be removed from the District 1 council seat and another election held. Arvada City Council members installed Marks on Jan. 10 when they marked unsigned pieces of paper four times to eliminate other candidates.
When Marks was the only finalist left after four other candidates had been eliminated, council voted openly to appoint him.
The position had been left vacant when to fill a state Senate vacancy created when Evie Hudak resigned rather than face a recall.
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729, abriggs@denverpost.com
