Lora Thomas's SPOTLIGHT 25-16
- Stop the Power Grab
- May 8
- 2 min read
This section is copied from former Commissioner Lora Thomas's Newsletter dated 5-5-25, #25-16
Teller County Commissioners Address Resident Questions Concerning Home Rule--and Explain Why It's Not for Them
On April 24, a Teller County resident brought up county Home Rule to commissioners Bob Campbell, Eric Stone and Dan Williams (Nice to see that some counties are still receptive to and value citizen comment!). The video of the conversation is available here, and I applaud these commissioners for taking the time to explain this complicated topic with their resident and why it is NOT the panacea he thinks that it is. It seems the impetus for this resident's question stems from the recent efforts of Douglas County Commissioners to make their county the third home rule county in the state. Some highlights:
At 1:00:00 Commissioner Williams explains that "there is not a lot of advantage with home rule."
At 1:03:55 Commissioner Erik Stone explains research he's done and his realization that home rule doesn't accomplish what some seem to think it does.
At 1:07:30 to 1:10:03 Commissioner Bob Campbell explains that he has "two large notebooks" that a previous commissioner put together while researching home rule, and she determined it was not a solution. Campbell says, "It doesn't fix a whole lot of things" and "It's doesn't change the power of the county" in regard to the state's power.
You will find all three of these commissioners willing to discuss home rule's inability to solve problems with the state in a respectful manner with a citizen while being clear about the misconceptions of home rule.
Most Important Fact about Home Rule
One of the many pieces of misinformation coming from the proponents of county home rule is their denial of the applicability of the above-cited Colorado Supreme Court decision from just a few months ago pertaining to home-rule Weld County. Proponents of Douglas County home rule have repeatedly--and ERRONEOUSLY--stated that this recent case is very distinguishable because Weld County would have been fine if it had addressed commissioner districts in its home rule Charter. The plain truth is that in the mid-70s when Weld County grassroots activists were writing the Weld Charter, they included information about how the boundaries of county commissioner districts were to be drawn and those guidelines were followed for almost 50 years. The problem came when the General Assembly adopted new specific requirements for commissioner districts, and the Weld County guidelines were in conflict.
As such, the Colorado Supreme Court determined this February that House Bill 21-1047 that prescribes how commissioner boundaries were to be drawn superseded the Weld County Charter.
Proponents of Douglas County home rule have likened a county's home rule charter to a "constitution." It is NOT, nor can it be, a "constitution." A constitution is the foremost and fundamental instrument of the organic law of a government. It can be changed/amended, but cannot be superseded by other law. This recent case clearly demonstrates that a home rule Charter is NOT constitutional in nature, but more akin to a corporate charter, emphasizing structure/organization. In fact, the Colorado home rule statute states that home rule counties are corporate in nature.
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