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Council sets ballot title for charter amendment tightening rules on sales/changes of open space (Resolution 146)
Summary
Council voted to set the ballot title and place Resolution 146 — a charter amendment that would change voting requirements and timing for sales or changes in use of parks and open space (section 13.4) — on the March ballot after legal counsel said the clerk had certified petition signatures and statute requires setting the title.
On Dec. 17 the Aspen City Council set the ballot title for Resolution 146, the citizen petition to amend section 13.4 of the Aspen Home Rule Charter, which the petitioners say would change the election process and voting thresholds for sales or changes in use of parks and open space.
City attorney Jim Mayer told the council the clerk certified the petition and that state constitutional Article 20 governs charter amendments; once signatures are certified the governing body must set the ballot title. Mayer summarized the proposed changes as creating a 60% threshold for certain sales or change-in-use actions and limiting the election windows to general elections or municipal general elections.
Councilors debated the public-process implications — several said they support letting the electorate decide while expressing discomfort that the petitions arrived amid the city’s multi-year entrance-to-Aspen process. After discussion council voted to set the ballot title and place Resolution 146 on the March ballot by roll call.
