HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Election Code Committee - 03/21/2022 -
City of Fort Collins Page 1
March 21, 2022
ELECTION CODE COMMITTEE MEETING
12:00 PM
COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT: Arndt, Canonico, Ohlson
STAFF PRESENT: Kyle Stannert, Rita Knoll, Ryan Malarky, Tammi Pusheck, Carrie
Daggett, Anissa Hollingshead
CITIZENS PRESENT: Robbie Moreland, Jody DesChenes
1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
2. ROLL CALL
3. PUBLIC COMMENT
Robbie Moreland spoke about regulation of independent expenditures and requested that the threshold
for requiring registration for independent expenditures be set at $1,000 rather than $5,000. She also
posed the question of whether there is a need to have both political committees and independent
expenditure committees.
Jody Deschenes expressed support for Robbie’s comments.
4. PUBLIC COMMENT FOLLOW-UP
City Attorney Daggett stated, at the state level, there are political committees that are allowed to
coordinate with candidates, and there are independent expenditure committees which are required to
be independent. The City has political committees and issues committees, neither of which can
coordinate with candidates, and independent expenditures which are reported but not required to
register as committees and file reports; however, any entity formed in order to participate in an election
or who are receiving contributions must register as a committee under the current requirements. She
stated the independent expenditure relates to entities that are spending their own money and which
were perhaps formed for another purpose and happen to be participating in an election. Those entities
are technically not supposed to be receiving contributions for election purposes.
City Attorney Daggett discussed the current independent expenditure thresholds and stated a
suggestion was made to set an amount which would trigger the requirement for the entity to register as
a committee.
Councilmember Ohlson stated campaign finance reform is his main priority; however, he does not yet
have enough information to respond to the three suggestions made during public input. He stated he
would like to keep discussing the issue moving forward. Mayor Arndt concurred.
5. CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL OF THE FEBRUARY 28 AND MARCH 7, 2022, COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
Councilmember Ohlson made a motion, seconded by Mayor Arndt, to approve the minutes of the
February 28 and March 7, 2022, committee meetings. The motion was adopted unanimously.
6. REVIEW OF POTENTIAL BALLOT QUESTIONS BEING PRESENTED AT THE MARCH 22, 2022,
WORK SESSION
City Clerk Hollingshead presented information related to election preparation for a coordinated election
in November, a possible April 2023 election, and possible ranked choice voting implementation. She
stated the information planned to be discussed at the work session is all related to previous committee
discussions.
City of Fort Collins Page 2
City Attorney Daggett noted a variety of City Code changes would be required to implement ranked
choice voting should it be approved by voters.
Councilmember Ohlson stated other Council members should be made aware the committee has
agreed to recommend November elections, to place ranked choice voting on the ballot, though it has
yet to be determined if that would take effect in April. Mayor Arndt agreed summarizing the committees
work is important for the work session. Chair Canonico also requested the trade-offs with various
options are outlined.
7. REVIEW OF POTENTIAL CAMPAIGN FINANCE CODE AMENDMENTS
Chief Deputy City Clerk Knoll presented a list of potential campaign finance code amendments which
have either been discussed by the committee or noticed as possibly beneficial changes during previous
elections.
City Attorney Daggett suggested the committee may want to consider some type of amendment related
to campaign contributions from entities that may be seeking a contract with the City as the current
regulation states an entity cannot make those contributions but does not prohibit a candidate from
taking those contributions. Mayor Arndt questioned whether a new candidate for Council would know
whether or not to accept a given contribution; she stated the standard of knowledge is too high given
the low contribution limits in Fort Collins. She stated the only thing she would support would be a fine
no greater than the contribution amount. City Attorney Daggett suggested a solution would be to
require a candidate to return a contribution once they are made aware of a potential conflict.
Mayor Arndt and Chair Canonico questioned how far past an election this would apply and Mayor Arndt
stated she believes the regulation would be too ambiguous.
Councilmember Ohlson concurred and suggested the best approach could be just to require a
candidate to return a contribution with no associated penalty. Mayor Arndt concurred.
Chief Deputy City Clerk Knoll discussed other possible election related Code amendments, including
the possibility of eliminating write-in candidates or changing the deadline for write-in candidates. Mayor
Arndt supported leaving them in but changing deadlines to better work for the timeline.
Chief Deputy City Clerk Knoll outlined additional suggested Code amendments.
Members discussed the order of ballot issues and Councilmember Ohlson suggested citizen-initiated
items should be placed above City-initiated items.
Chief Deputy City Clerk Knoll outlined additional Code amendments that may be beneficial.
Councilmember Ohlson commended the history of the City Clerk’s Office handling of elections. Mayor
Arndt and Chair Canonico concurred.
8. PROPOSED TIMELINE
9. OTHER BUSINESS
10. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned by unanimous consent at 1:05 PM
MINUTES APPROVED AT THE APRIL 18, 2022 ELECTION CODE COMMITTEE MEETING