DENVER — Voters decided on Tuesday to recall and replace two city councilmembers in Dacono.
Michelle Rogers and Tony Cummings will take the seats held by Jackie Thomas and Jim Turini, who were two of the four members of city council who abruptly fired Dacono's city manager in February.
A.J. Eukert was fired in the same meeting that Mayor Adam Morehead thanked him for his decades of service, coming as a surprise to the community and the remaining two city councilmembers.
The firing not only led to heated city council meetings in the months since, but it also prompted the recall election for Thomas and Turini. The other councilmembers who voted for the city manager's termination, Kathy Wittman and Danny Long, were not part of the recall as Wittman's term ends in the fall and Long has not been on council long enough to be recalled.
"Dacono has spoken with a loud and clear voice to say this type of behavior is not tolerated," Morehead said in a statement to 9NEWS. "This vote shows how Dacono wants their city to run -- with transparency."
The town's mayor and police chief asked the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into what happened. The CBI determined there was evidence that councilmembers who voted to fire Eukert violated Colorado meetings laws by discussing city business without notifying the public.
Turini has previously said the councilmembers discussed citizen concerns like "lack of growth and high paid city officials," but not "city business" in a meeting flagged by the CBI.
In a city council meeting in April, Turini blamed the mayor and the ex-city manager for standing in the way of growth. He also thought the city manager made too much money, which is why he said he voted to fire him.
Thomas said she voted to fire Eukert because she "wanted to do something good for the city," which she described as "stagnant."
"I can tell you from my heart there wasn't any collusion," she said. "Change is hard and I think we're seeing that."
As of Tuesday evening, about 920 people, or 24% of eligible voters, returned their ballots, though other ballots still need processing.
The new members of city council will be sworn in during a meeting on July 10.
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