After months of division, electioneering and expense, preliminary results in the Oct. 3 Englewood recall election show District 1 Councilmember and Mayor Othoniel Sierra, District 2 Councilmember Chelsea Nunnenkamp and District 3 Councilmember Joe Anderson are positioned to keep their seats.
While recall proponents raised several issues in their push to remove the councilmembers, the controversy driving the effort centered on the councilmembers’ support for greater residential density in hopes of addressing the crisis of housing affordability and availability.
A tally released around 10 p.m. on Election Night by City Clerk Stephanie Carlile shows:
Sierra — 654 people voted to keep Sierra on the job while 465 voted to recall him.
Anderson — 988 people voted to keep Anderson in his post while 734 voted to remove him.
Nunnenkamp — 593 people voted to keep Nunnenkamp in her seat while 564 opposed keeping her on the job.
Sierra, who prevailed 58-42 in the recall election, said he is thankful to the citizens of Englewood who voted to keep all three councilmembers in office and have shown support of the council for the last several months.
“You all agreed that all three members of council should not have been subjected to this recall and agree it was a waste of $137,000 in taxpayer dollars,” Sierra said. “I’m also happy to see the citizens across Englewood agree with our approach to tackle the biggest issues facing not only Englewood, but the issues facing the entire metro area.”
Kurt Suppes, a Recall and Restore Englewood organizer, didn’t comment on the preliminary results when questioned by the Englewood Herald except to say “there is still work to be done.” Fellow Recall and Restore Englewood member Sandra Kettlehut didn’t respond to inquiries from the Englewood Herald.
Carlile said the results will be certified on Oct. 25.
Sierra and Anderson said they will continue to campaign for reelection in the Nov. 7 general election.
Anderson, who prevailed 57-43 in his campaign to keep his job, said he feels great about the initial results of the recall.
“This recall may have started out focused on zoning issues, but it quickly turned into a referendum for the soul of Englewood,” Anderson said “Do we care enough to give homeowners flexibility to adapt for the future, or are we the kind of city that loves keeping everything comfortably the same at our neighbors’ expense? Will we listen to the most frightened voices, or will we plan for our future?”
Anderson is excited for the future of Englewood and he said he will continue to focus on bettering the community.
“I am happy District 3 has chosen to look for the truth and look to the future and I’m looking forward to bringing Englewood together to focus on the exciting prospects for the future of the city — reimagining our CityCenter, bolstering our infrastructure and growing our community life,” Anderson said.
Nunnenkamp, who appears to have kept her seat in a 51-49 squeaker, will likely remain in her post until 2025 and while the results are not yet official, she said she is “encouraged that the majority of Englewood voters appear to have rejected this recall effort.”
“I hope our community can now move forward recommitted to working together to find real solutions that serve the city we all love,” Nunnenkamp said.
Carlile said the cost of the recall was around $138,000 and the voting was managed by a third-party company, Community Resource Services of Colorado.
Sierra said he is hopeful the city can “return to a healthy level of discourse over the issues.”
“We all need to keep an open mind that there are many that aren’t able to make the meetings on Monday nights, so the opinions we hear frequently aren’t the opinions of the majority of the citizens we serve,” Sierra said.
Affidavits to recall the council members were initially submitted in April and included former At-Large Councilmember Cheryl Wink, who resigned abruptly on July 17 as council prepared to schedule her recall election. She was replaced by PJ Kolnik, who was appointed in a split vote by council in August to serve through the Nov. 7 election. He is not running for election to a full term.
The recall efforts followed the council’s consideration of a proposal to allow multifamily residences in single-family zoning areas, a plan that was shelved indefinitely even as other parts of the CodeNext zoning overhaul moved forward.
Suppes said those in support of the recall continued their efforts due to concerns regarding CodeNext.
The council gave a final 4-3 vote approving CodeNext in a meeting on Sept. 25 despite months of protests from residents.
Sierra, Nunnenkamp, Anderson and Kolnik voted in favor of CodeNext while District 4 Councilmember Steve Ward, At-Large Councilmember Rita Russell and At-Large Council Member Jim Woodward voted no.
To view the results and for more information on the recall visit https://www.englewoodco.gov/government/election-information/2023-recall-special-election.