As Douglas County’s home-rule election gets underway, the battle is already red hot. Here’s what’s at stake.

Douglas County is trying to do something no other Colorado county has done in nearly years adopt home-rule authority that would give the conservative bastion south of Denver more autonomy and powers of self-governance But the road to that reality has been anything but smooth with a rally last week in Castle Rock decrying the move a tense town hall meeting at county headquarters that ended in shouts and jeers and a lawsuit attempting to shut the whole thing down Meanwhile ballots started hitting mailboxes less than a week ago for the June special vote If voters back the idea the vote would kickstart the drafting of a home-rule charter by a -member commission A second vote in November would then seek final approval for the charter itself Local control has become a mantra of sorts across Colorado in latest years with cities and counties lashing out even taking legal action against a state executive they accuse of overreach in matters of local concern The resistance ranges from the Second Amendment sanctuary county movement of six years ago which conservative counties launched in response to new gun control laws to last month s lawsuit against the state and Gov Jared Polis by Aurora and five suburban cities They were attempting to block two current land-use laws aimed at increasing housing density Commissioner George Teal one of the chief proponents of home-rule authority for the county of nearly announced the time has come for Douglas County to assert its independence from a state legislature that has shifted decidedly to the left over the last decade Home-rule authority Teal explained will give Douglas County greater legal standing to take on state laws that its leaders believe go too far It will represent a shifting of the burden onto the state requiring authorities to come after the county if the state believes its authority is being usurped rather than the other way around Douglas County has sued Colorado twice in recent months over disagreements involving property tax valuations and the level of cooperation local law enforcement can give federal immigration officials The county lost both cases We will be an independent legal entity under state law and we are not that as a statutory county Teal commented Home rule is the very mechanism of local control Opponents operating under the Stop the Power Grab banner say the run-up to this month s balloting has been anything but transparent and open They accuse the commissioners of quietly concocting the home-rule plan over a series of more than a dozen meetings starting late last year and then rubber-stamping the decision at a residents hearing in late March That meeting lasted mere minutes What this has brought out in us is the question of why now revealed Kelly Mayr a nearly three-decade resident of Highlands Ranch and a member of Stop the Power Grab Why are they rushing it If this is a good idea for the county why would we not take our time Three Douglas County residents including state Rep Bob Marshall and former Commissioner Lora Thomas sued the Board of County Commissioners in April alleging multiple violations of Colorado s open meetings laws They required the court to stop the June electoral process from going forward But a judge sided with Douglas County last month saying he didn t see evidence that the board violated open meetings laws and ruling that a preliminary injunction to stop the voting would sacrifice the citizens s right to vote Marshall a Democrat who represents Highlands Ranch says the fight is not over and he expects to prevail in the court matter at the appellate level In the meantime he is in the running as one of candidates vying to fill the seats on the commission that would be tasked with drafting Douglas County s home-rule charter assuming voters give the OK to the idea on the same June ballot All three Douglas County commissioners are also running for the charter commission If elected my main goal will be to ensure transparency Marshall stated The Denver Post There has been none in this process as yet The June electoral contest is projected to cost Douglas County around A Vote No on Home Rule sign is seen on the northbound side of Interstate near the Happy Canyon Parkway exit in Castle Pines on Thursday June Photo by Hyoung Chang The Denver Post Weld Pitkin first to adopt home rule The state first approved home-rule powers for municipalities in and it extended the same authority to counties in Until then counties were considered a statutory creation of the legislature and had to follow state law without exception Sixty Colorado counties still do Just two at the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum took advantage of the new designation in the decade after the law passed Weld and Pitkin Denver and Broomfield though have de facto home-rule status because of their combined city-and-county structure First to take up the home-rule mantle in Colorado was Weld County in County Attorney Bruce Barker noted its three districts had essentially balkanized around that time each running its own citizens works department and making its own purchasing decisions The goal was to make things more efficient Barker commented about the effort behind the switch The new charter included a one-of-a-kind five-member Weld County Council separate from the Board of County Commissioners The body sets salaries of elected county officers and fills commissioner vacancies It can also suspend an elected official who has been criminally charged or indicted and it reviews conflicts of interest between county officers appointees and employees Remember there was a complete distrust of cabinet after Watergate Barker stated of the era They required to have this County Council as a watchdog group Pitkin County made its transition to home-rule governance in largely in response to concerns about rapid population increase and the desire to conserve threatened natural habitat in the Roaring Fork Valley explained County Manager Jon Peacock His very role was created by Pitkin County s new home-rule charter The county home to ritzy Aspen requires under its charter a vote of the people before it issues debt as happened with a newest ballot measure that sought expansion of the county s landfill Home rule gives authority to counties to decide how they are going to organize to carry out the powers and responsibilities that are defined in state statute Peacock declared We cannot exercise authority that is not given to us by state law According to a briefing paper from the state s nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff home-rule authority in Colorado was designed to place several administrative functions under counties purview They involve finances and property debts and expenses and the powers and duties of authorities including elections terms of office and compensation In general home rule ordinances addressing local matters supersede state law the briefing paper states However in matters of statewide or mixed concern state laws may take precedence over conflicting home rule ordinances Weld County learned that the hard way earlier this year when the Colorado Supreme Court struck down a redistricting plan the county had put into play two years ago Authorities drew the boundaries of commissioners districts without adhering to a state law that required it to follow a different protocol The high court concluded that redistricting relates to the county s function not the county s structure And because the Colorado Constitution requires home rule counties to carry out statutorily mandated functions home rule counties like Weld must comply with the redistricting statutes the court ruled Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon left talks with Commissioner George Teal at Douglas County cabinet offices in Castle Rock Colorado on Tuesday March Photo by Hyoung Chang The Denver Post How much more power would the county get Metropolitan State University political science professor Robert Preuhs announced it s clear from the language of Colorado s home-rule statute and court cases on the issue that you re not getting much more framework latitude with home-rule status Broader issues like gun control and immigration enforcement and police cooperation with immigration functionaries are still going to be constrained by state law Preuhs noted You are still a creature of the state but with more internal flexibility although Douglas County seems intent on testing that Teal the Douglas County commissioner commented there are bills passed in the statehouse every legislative session that explicitly exempt home-rule counties from having to comply I would like that opportunity for the citizens of Douglas County to take advantage of these exemptions he reported And there are other laws that sit in questionable territory Teal mentioned Home-rule status gives us new tools in the tool belt At the very least it allows the county to challenge the state Related Articles Judge declines to block Douglas County s home-rule ballot says commissioners didn t violate open meetings law Lawsuit alleges Douglas County commissioners violated open-meetings law in effort to seek home-rule powers Would Douglas County s home-rule bid counter Colorado Democrats or is it the politics of defiance Teal stated he could see the county pushing back on Colorado s mandatory retail bag fee the way property assessments are calculated and limits that have been placed on law enforcement But first voters must weigh in As the campaign over home rule heats up with billboards and signs sprouting up along Interstate and other places in Douglas County the political temperature is rising as well At a May town hall Commissioner Abe Laydon laid out the stakes in front of or so people in the commissioners hearing room in Castle Rock Are we OK with how the state handled COVID- and the pandemic he demanded Are we OK with how the state has handled illegal immigration There was selected sympathy from the audience but others were skeptical When the hourlong session ended several people stood up and demanded that more of their questions on home rule be answered Each side accused the other side of fear-mongering What are you afraid of one attendant yelled as Laydon called for order Last week newly circulated campaign finance details stirred up a new angle of attack for home-rule opponents The Yes on Local Control committee raised from just five donors one of them Teal s wife Laura The bulk of the total came from just two developers By contrast Stop the Power Grab has raised just over from several hundred individual donors That has Marshall the state representative from Highlands Ranch questioning just how much grassroots sponsorship the home-rule movement has in Douglas County And layer on that a latest survey of nearly residents conducted for the county that manifested respondents opposing home rule by a to margin a few information including the survey s margin of error wasn t available Where is the outpouring of help for home rule the commissioners claim Marshall noted Amanda Budimlya who grew up in Colorado and has lived near Sedalia for a dozen years has been dismayed by the state s sharp turn to the left and supports the home-rule effort There will be two opportunities the June and November elections for residents to weigh in she explained giving everyone plenty of time to air out their concerns and grievances It gives us standing so we can try and put things in the charter that we want to protect like our liberty and rights she mentioned of home rule Budimlya explained it s rich that the opposition adopted the name Stop the Power Grab for their campaign in a state where political power has only drifted in one direction in up-to-date years There s already a power grab happening the governor the House and the Senate it s all Democrat-run she commented of Colorado s political makeup Any conservative voice is railroaded Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The 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