Ballot Question 2E
City-Initiated Proposed Charter Amendment No. 4
(Alignment with amended or further developed laws and removing inconsistencies – Ordinance 064, 2025 and Ordinance 109, 2025 (final ballot language))
Shall Articles II, IV, XIII of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins be amended to improve consistency with amended or further developed laws and removing inconsistencies, in order to minimize conflicts between the Charter legal developments, by:
- Changing Section 8 of Article II about contributions to City Council elections to:
- Specify which city employees are prohibited from contributing to Council elections for consistency with state law;
- Continue to prohibit a political party, public service corporations, and persons or entities with city contracts from contributing to any City Council election, while recognizing that some speech is protected by the U.S. or Colorado constitution;
- Adding definitions to Article XIII to correspond to the changes to Article II; and
- Adding language to Section 11 of Article II incorporating state law provisions regarding City Council executive sessions; and
- Clarifying language in Section 5 of Article IV that City records are available for public inspection and disclosure consistent with state open records laws?
______Yes/For
______No/Against
Summary:
This Charter Amendment has three parts, each aiming to better align the City’s charter with state and federal laws.
First, the current Charter language prohibits all City employees from contributing to City Council elections. Colorado statutes provide that local governments must allow employees to participate fully in political activity. The law allows limits on political activities of public employees with policy-making responsibilities. Other provisions address how the City may restrict political activity of those interested in City Council elections. This Charter amendment aligns the Charter language about supporting and opposing City Council candidates with state and federal constitutions and statutes.
Second, the current Charter language allows the City Council to go into executive session to discuss specific topics confidentially, including personnel matters, legal matters, water and real property acquisitions and sales by the city, or matters of competition for electric utility (including broadband) matters. This Charter amendment updates the language to allow executive sessions for any other matter authorized by the Colorado Open Meetings Law.
Third, the current Charter language requires that City records be available for public inspection subject only to reasonable restrictions. This charter amendment updates the City’s records requirements to coordinate with the Colorado Open Records Act.
What a “Yes” vote means:
A “yes” vote indicates the voter agrees with the updates to the Charter language to reflect legal developments in state and federal law, including regarding employee election contributions, permissions for City Council to go into executive session, and City records requirements.
What a “No” vote means:
A “no” vote indicates the voter does not agree with the updates would rather leave the Charter language as is, without regard to conflicting state and federal laws.