Lakewood City Council faces a decision on a complicated issue that could spur a lawsuit from a sitting member of the council.
The issue at hand is whether Ward 1 Councilwoman Ramey Johnson should be allowed to run for another term starting in 2017 after serving a two-year term when Councilwoman Vicki Stack vacated her seat in 2011. Johnson won a four-year term in 2013.
Lakewood councilors are limited to two four-year terms, and the city’s charter considers serving “at least one-half a term” as a full tenure. Anyone who sits on the council less than two years would be allowed to run for another term. Johnson and her attorney are arguing that her “two-year” term was actually three days short so she should be able to run again.
The council discussed the matter at a contentious Jan. 23 study session and will revisit the issue at its regular hearing Feb. 6.
Johnson — — believes the timing of examining this issue is suspect and political in nature.
“I support changes if they need to be made. But don’t do it when an election is in place,” said Johnson, who has already filed to run this upcoming year. “Itap not by accident, itap political. Itap disappointing, but it is what it is.”
Paul and several members of council maintained at the study session that there is not a political motive and spoke highly of Johnson’s service during her tenure.
“Itap unfortunate that itap being framed in that matter. We are being put in an awkward position,” Paul said. “It is clear that I and our council hold our charter in great regard. It makes it quite challenging to interpret that, especially when it deals with a member of our body.”
The Lakewood charter does not give a day length to a half of a term, however, a court decision regarding a Colorado state senator is being used by Johnson’s attorney, Chris Murray, as precedent. In that matter from 2006, District Court Judge Catherine Lemon disagreed with Attorney General John Suthers, who had determined that State Senator Joan Fitz-Gerald, who was elected to a two-year term, had served a full half of a term. Lemon overturned that decision and ruled that the term should be based on a count of days within two years, not the length of the session.
In Lakewood, Johnson was sworn in for her two-year term on Nov. 28, 2011, and that term expired on Nov. 25, 2013, a total of 728 days. A full two years from her swearing-in date would be 731 days — 2012 was a leap year.
The council has not discussed changing the language of the charter and will receive more legal advice at the Feb. 6 meeting. Council members did talk about the possibility of a citywide vote on amending the language or asking an independent judge to make a decision.
Murray argued that any change to the charter, however it is decided, should have no bearing on Johnson’s status as a candidate for the upcoming election.
“The horse is out of the barn. If itap really about good governance, you need to leave Councilor Johnson to her own wits and put in an ordinance that it is not applicable to current members of City Council,” he said.
Councilors expressed discomfort about having to decide something that would directly impact a fellow council person. Councilman Scott Koop said he would not feel comfortable voting on something that would directly affect Johnson, however, he did feel that her first term constituted a full two-year term, as other possible two-year terms in previous years could have left Johnson a few days over the two-year mark on the calendar.
Councilman David Wiechman said he believed the council should revise the charter language and not count days but also that Johnson should be allowed to run for another four-term, citing her experience.
“We should be erring on side of inclusion,” he said. “We should side with experienced legislators who can bring their knowledge to council.”
Johnson believes that there has been tension on the council since the 2015 mayoral race. She also criticized City Attorney Tim Cox for not briefing the council earlier on the matter.
“Itap a mayor who wants his former opponent off the dais. Itap not good for honest governance. Itap awkward,” she said.
Paul has maintained that this is simply a strange situation where the charter does not provide perfect clarity.
“We very rarely get to see this,” Paul said. “We’re trying to be judicious, to be fair and most of all for our city attorney, to be impartial. I think he did a wonderful job of laying out the facts.”