CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — The Douglas County Board of Commissioners have started the process to become a home rule county, but the final decisions will be up to voters.
A petition process is now underway for county residents interested in serving as commission members on the potential home rule charter.
Those petitions are due on April 24 and each candidate needs 25 voter signatures for their name to appear on the June 24 ballot.
"It’s about being able to choose our own path and really being able at the local level here, choose our own government," Douglas County Commissioner George Teal said.
Voters will see two questions on their special election ballot:
- Should Douglas County form a charter commission?
- Select 21 charter commission members.
If it passes, the new commission will meet within 30 days and draft up a home rule charter with 240 days of that first meeting, according to county leaders.
Then, voters will be asked to approve it during the Nov. 4 election.
"We think what we have going on here in Douglas County right now is working, and so my goal is to preserve what is working, preserve the things that we actually value, and capture that in our home rule charter, and honestly give us a means to fight back and push back against a legislature that is becoming more and more out of touch with the people of Douglas County," Teal said.
Home rule, according to Teal, puts more power back in the hands of the county and allows them to make governing decisions on local matters instead of defaulting to state law.
According to the Legislative Council Staff, charters can regulate a few things including administrative powers like the duties of officials, public services like hospitals and parks and building codes and zoning.
Teal listed four main reasons the board began considering the switch: their experience with COVID-19 precautions, gun regulations, taxation and immigration.
"Right now, we are just a statutory County. Our roles are in many ways, tightly defined, and there's a lot of things we can't do at the county level, and there's a lot of things we probably shouldn't do at the county level," Teal said. "Home Rule can help us work with the community to find out, what are those things you want from your county government? What is the what are those things you want your county government to do, or even just do better?"
Not everyone agrees this is the right move.
Former Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas posted on 'X' to try to clear up confusion.
"Home rule at a county level does not provide a process to opt out of state laws," Thomas said.
Kevin Bommer, executive director of the Colorado Municipal League said if voters approve the charter commission, "home rule counties are limited self-governance only on 'organizational and structural' matters."
If Douglas County voters approve the idea, the county of nearly 400,000 people would become only the third Colorado county to operate under home rule charters.
Pitkin and Weld are home rule counties. The City and County of Denver and City and County of Broomfield are home rule municipalities.
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