Dillon has scheduled a recall election for March 4 after town residents earlier this year filed petitions with the town seeking to recall three members of the Town Council.

The Dillon Town Council voted at its meeting Tuesday, Dec. 10, to schedule the recall election on the last available date allowed under state law. Council members Dana Christiansen, Renee Imamura and John Woods will face a potential recall in the election.

A five-member recall committee consisting of Dillon residents Barb Richard, Laura Johnson, Linda Oliver, Mary Ellen Gilliland and Shannon Fausel last month filed the petitions bearing the required 17 signatures of registered town voters with the Town Clerk’s Office.

The petitions state that the three council members failed to listen to constituents, have shown a lack of decorum and failed to uphold the town charter’s requirements that government be responsive to the needs of citizens.

At the recall election, Dillon residents will also vote on candidates to fill the remainder of the term of any council member voted out of office. Interested candidates can now pick up nomination petitions at the Dillon Town Hall.

Prospective candidates must collect the signatures of 25 registered Dillon voters and return nomination papers to the Dillon Town Hall by Dec. 23 to be eligible to run in the election, according to the Town Clerk’s Office.

Recall discussion

During the public comment section of the Dillon Town Council meeting Tuesday, some members of the public spoke in favor of the recall election, while others spoke out against it.

Silverthorne resident Jason Smith, who formerly lived in Dillon and served on the Town Council, noted that a recall election will cost the town money to put on, and said he believes the Dillon Town Council is representative of the town.

“It seems really fair to me,” Smith said. “But what’s not fair is when you don’t get your way it’s like one of my toddlers. ‘Well dad said no, so I’ll go ask mom and if I don’t get it, I’ll throw a fit.’ That’s what it looks like gang, and it’s embarrassing. It’s sad, and it’s incredibly immature.”

Summit Cove resident Robin Robson, who earlier this year helped circulate a referendum petition that led to the Oct. 1 referendum vote where Dillon residents overturned a major waterfront development, said the recall election is necessary.

Robson said that she attended the meeting earlier in the year when the Dillon Town Council approved the planned unit development for the project at 626 Lake Dillon Drive, which Dillon voters later overturned.

“I listened to a Town Council that did not listen to their constituents. They did not listen,” Robson said. “Everyone was here saying ‘Please listen,’ and they didn’t. They said ‘We know better than you.'”

Robson called on the Dillon Town Council to not make any “major decisions” until after the recall election.

Gilliland, one of the Dillon residents who was part of the the recall committee, asked that the Dillon Town Council schedule the election before March 4, which she said is an especially busy time of year for everyone in Summit County.

Council member Oliver Luck said that he would be interested in considering moving the recall election up a few weeks.

But council member Renee Imamura said that she and the other two members facing potential recall should have time to talk to voters about why they should retain their seat on the Town Council.

“While I am disappointed this is happening, it is the process,” Imamura said. “We need to have time to go out and talk to people.”

Imamura said that the town “has not had competitive elections,” including last spring, when the election was cancelled due to a lack of candidates. She said that she feels that the recall effort discourages people from running for office, when the town should be encouraging people to run.

Council members Christiansen and Rachel Tuyn agreed that those subject to recall should have time to talk to constituents.

Town Clerk Adrienne Stuckey said it would be difficult for staff to pull the election together any earlier than March 4.

The council voted 6-0 to set the recall election on the March 4 date. Christiansen abstained.

How the recall election will work

The March 4 recall election will be held via mail-in ballot, according to the Dillon Town Clerk’s Office. Ballots will be sent out to registered voters ahead of the election.

For each of the council members facing recall, there will be a question asking whether that individual should be recalled, the Town Clerk’s Office said. On the same ballot, Dillon residents will also be able to vote on the names of those who have been nominated to succeed anyone who is successfully recalled.

If the vote is such that one of the council members is recalled, the candidate who has received the highest number of votes will be elected to serve the remainder of the term, according to the Town Clerk’s Office. If more than one council member is recalled, then the candidate who received the highest number of votes would be elected to fill the longest remaining term.

Christiansen and Imamura have terms that last through April 2026, while John Woods’ term continues through April 2028.