Recall Election Success Stories

In January 2021, the homeowners living in Buckhorn Valley Metro District No 2 (located in Gypsum, Colorado) formed a committee to start the recall of all five directors serving on the District's Board. All five directors reported conflicts of interest serving on the Board.

The District is a slave district in a master / slave district structure where the "slave" district encompasses approximately 456 households and transfers substantial property tax revenue under an intergovernmantal agreement to the "master" district (Buckhorn Valley Metropolitan District No 1). The boundaries of the master district comprises one house owned by the land developer. The inter-governmental agreement was established when the developer controlled the directors serving on both the slave and master district boards.

Homeowners began gathering petition signatures in January 2021. At that time, there were approximately 680 registered voters living within the District. Homeowners needed to collect signatures from 40% (272) of the registered voters within 60 days from the date the petition forms were approved by the designated election official. The homeowners collected petition signatures from nearly 70% of all registered voters during the 60 day petition period. (Review the homeowners' recall election website HERE.)

The designated election official reviewed the petitions and then set the date for the recall election to occur in June 2021. Two directors resigned from the board and the remaining three directors were removed from the board as a result of the election where the majority of voter approved the recall of all three directors from the Board.

Since July 2021, the directors serving on the Buckhorn Valley Metro District No. 2 Board have been comprised of independent directors, all of who are homeowners and property tax payers of the District.

In March 2019, the homeowners living in the Buffalo Highlands Metro District formed a committee to start the recall of all five directors serving on the District's Board. All five directors reported conflicts of interest serving on the Board. Three of the directors were family members (husband, wife and son) and controlled the company that originally owned all of the land within the District. One director was an executive of Lennar Colorado, LLC which was under contract to purchase home lots from the land developer. One director was an attorney that worked for the land developer.

Two of the directors served together on the Amber Creek Metro District board and approved issuance of a $1.7 million 30-year bond to Lennar Colorado, LLC with a projected net effective interest rate of 39.4%. Homeowners living in Buffalo Highlands were concerned these directors would repeat such financially reckless actions while serving on the Buffalo Highlands Metro District board.

Homeowners began gathering petition signatures on May 27, 2019. At that time, there were 158 registered voters living within the District. Homeowners needed to collect signatures from 40% (64) of the registered voters within 60 days from the date the petition forms were approved by the designated election official. By June 9th (14 days later), the homeowners had gathered 81 signatures and submitted the petitions to the designated election official. The designated election official reviewed the petitions and then set the date for the recall election to occur on October 15, 2019. All five directors resigned from the Board in September and Commerce City Council appointed four homeowners (who were running for election to the board) to serve on the board and fill the vacancies left by the previous board.

Since September 2019, the directors serving on the Buffalo Highlands Metro District Board have been comprised of independent directors, all of who are homeowners and property tax payers of the District.

In September 2019, the homeowners living in the BNC Metro District No 2 (aka the Turnberry subdivision) formed a committee to start the recall of all three directors serving on the District's Board. All three directors reported conflicts of interest serving on the Board and were executives and/or employees of Catellus and/or various entities controlled by Catellus.

Prior to the recall election, the developer controlled three districts (BNC Metro 1, 2 and 3). BNC 1 was fully developed and encompassed 484 single family homes. BNC 2 was under development with approximately 70 of 337 planned homes constructed and sold. BNC 1 and BNC 2 shared boundaries and the residents of both districts shared in the cost of maintaining a community swmming pool. BNC 3 was comprised of undeveloped land and was located approximately 1/2 mile away from the other two districts.

While the developer's employees and executives served on all three district boards, all three districts entered into a cost share agreement where all three districts agreed to fund various public infrastructure projects located in each district. In summary, the cost share agreement was structured to require (1) BNC 3 to fund approximately $265,000 in public infrastructure projects located in BNC 2 and (2) BNC 1 and 2 fund approximately $2.23 million in public infrastructure projects located in BNC 3. The developer/directors provided no explanation why such a monetary exchange was reasonable or fair to the taxpayers of BNC 1 and 2. (In fact, the directors transferred a substantial amount of cash out of BNC 1 and 2 into the developer-controlled BNC 3 district a few weeks before the recall election was held.)

Homeowners began gathering petition signatures on January 04, 2020. At that time, there were 73 registered voters living within the District (most of the 337 homes were still under construction). Homeowners needed to collect signatures from 40% (30) of the registered voters within 60 days from the date the petition forms were approved by the designated election official. By February 19th (47 days later), the homeowners had gathered 44 signatures and submitted the petitions to the designated election official. The designated election official reviewed the petitions and then set the date for the recall election to occur on May 5, 2020. The recall of the directors was approved by the voters by a margin of 87% ("yes" votes) to 13% ("no" votes). 

Since May 2020, the directors serving on the BNC Metro District No. 2 Board have been comprised of independent directors, all of who are homeowners and property tax payers of the District.