Dacono welcomed two new city council members to town hall on Monday evening, when Michelle Rogers and Tony Cummings took their seats after beating out two incumbents who were recalled by voters last month.
The Dacono city government has been in disarray since February when four city council members — Jackie Thomas, Jim Turini, Kathy Wittman and Danny Long — abruptly fired the longtime City Manager without cause.
That move sparked a tumultuous chain of events for Dacono. City attorney Kathleen Kelly promptly resigned. Then allegations surfaced that Thomas, Turini, Wittman and Long had violated open meetings law by coordinating the firing behind closed doors. A state investigation documented several apparent instances of the four improperly conducting public business in private. Voters demanded — and successfully carried out — a recall election targeting Thomas and Turini.
In the meantime, a whole lot of city business wasn’t getting done. Continued infighting among city council members prevented the group from making any progress towards hiring replacements for the city manager and city attorney — leaving local government administrators without leadership or legal guidance.
Dacono seems to be turning a corner now that the two successful challengers, Michelle Rogers and Alan Cummings, have taken their seats.
At Monday’s meeting, the two were greeted on the dais for the first time. Roger’s mother, Melody Sullivan, was there with a big bouquet of flowers to witness her daughter take office, and she spoke during the public comments portion of the evening.
“She’s got a big heart, she works hard, and she’s a very good listener,” Sullivan said into the microphone. “You guys picked a very good person to replace the other ones. And Michelle: I’m very proud of you, honey.” The crowd cheered as she stepped up to the dais to give her daughter the flowers.
Other public comments suggest that the recent rifts in Dacono are still an ongoing concern. Recently ousted Jim Turini spoke angrily to the council, accusing the former city attorney and his former colleagues on the council of violating state law by neglecting to print bilingual ballots for the special election.
Colorado law does require some counties, including Weld, where Dacono is located, to provide multi-lingual ballots. However, that requirement does not hold for elections at the municipal level, like Dacono’s recent special election. That doesn't mean bilingual ballots would not be welcome. According to U.S.Census data, more than 30% of Dacono’s population is of Hispanic heritage, and more than 20% of households speak a language other than English.
Turini saved a particularly sharp barb for his former colleague, councilmember Doris Crespo, the only person of Hispanic heritage on the Dacono City Council.
“Doris, I’ve done more for … my Latino neighbors than your token Latino presence on the council has done,” he said, prompting gasps of disbelief from the audience.
Sentiments remain raw on the other side, as well. Dacono resident Megan Thornam, who successfully petitioned to recall Thomas and Turini, also spoke, directing her comments towards council member Danny Long. Long wasn’t targeted by the recall efforts, but only because at the time they were taking shape, he hadn’t held his seat long enough to be eligible for recall. Thornam pointed out that was no longer the case.
“I just wanted to remind Danny Long that it was not difficult to recall [Thomas and Turini] for a lack of transparency,” she said. “I’d encourage you to be on the up and up from here on out, because we’re watching.”
Although there are remaining tensions in the community, in matters of city government it appears Dacono may be on the road to recovery. During Rogers’ and Cummings’ very first meeting, the city council managed to do what had seemed impossible under the old council regime: They hired a new interim City Manager and a City Attorney.
The council voted 4 to 2 in favor of rehiring their former City Attorney, Kathleen Kelly, who had resigned a few months before, when all the turmoil began. They also voted to hire the current City Development Director, Jennifer Krieger, to the role of interim city manager. That vote was unanimous.
