TC Res. No. 1994-34TOWN OF AVON
RESOLUTION NO. 94-34
SERIES OF 1994
A RESOLUTION OPPOSING AMENDMENT 12 ON
THE NOVEMBER, 1994 STATEWIDE BALLOT
WHEREAS, the Town Council of the Town of Avon,
Colorado, a home-rule municipality, wishes to officially oppose
Colorado's Amendment 12 which will be before the voters of the
state in the November 1994 election; and
WHEREAS, the Town of Avon firmly believes in
representative democracy and citizen participation in all forms
of .government ; and
WHEREAS, Amendment 12 is a long and confusing document
which will result in chaos in government and years of expensive
lawsuits designed to unravel the misleading and poorly written
language of Amendment 12; and
WHEREAS, Amendment 12 seeks to undermine the
effectiveness of local governmental decision-making by allowing
small groups of people to halt community decisions by placing
petitions on the ballot for a wide range of administrative and
policy issues; and
WHEREAS, the constitutional right of-, ever-y'ditizen to'
petition government will be weakened by„Amendment 12 which
proposes "a) no verifying-of names and-addresses of citizens
filing for petitions, potentially allowing for paid outside
interest.groups to petition government, and b) allowing a very
small percentage of the total population to petition solely for
the purpose of delaying community projects; and
WHEREAS, Amendment 12 will further reduce the pool of
qualified and competent citizens running for elected office due
to the excessive personal fines for elected officials if they are
sued for giving out information to citizens on critical community
ballot issues; and
WHEREAS, unbridled petitions on every conceivable
governmental decision can virtually cause government to grind to
a halt, resulting in the type of gridlock experienced in
California over the last ten years; and
WHEREAS, Amendment 12 would damage the impartiality of,
the judicial process because judges can now be recalled by a very
small percentage of citizens involved in losing a case;
WHEREAS, the Town Council of;the.Town of Avon supports
the basic tenants of Amendment One, the "Taxpayers Bill of
Rights," we acknowledge that-Amendment One has,also resulted in
more taxpayer money being spent on lawsuits,, lost opportunities
in borrowing money at favorable interest rates, and unfair
burdens on resort communities. While we support good government
and citizen input we fear that Amendment 12 goes far beyond what
is necessary for reasonable people to make informed community
decisions; and
WHEREAS, Amendment 12 allows filing of referenda
petitions to delay action on most public matters for up to two
years until an election can be held; and
WHEREAS, Amendment 12 will shift power to the wealthy
as there are no restrictions on campaign contributions by wealthy
-people to candidates or issues;
THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Town Council of the
Town of Avon encourages the citizens of Avon to oppose Amendment
12 this November.
Adopted this 11th day of October 1994.
ATTEST:
Patty Ne a t Town Clerk
TOWN COUNCIL
TOWN OF AVON, COLORADO
A/4
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