Ruling unseats Windsor mayor, who plans appeal to state high court

WINDSOR — Ousted as mayor of Windsor by a Weld County district judge, Barry Wilson says he plans to appeal the ruling to the Colorado Supreme Court.

In an 18-page ruling issued Wednesday, Weld County District Judge Shannon Lyons ruled Wilson’s April election and swearing-in to be null and void, determining that City Clerk Karen Frawley had misinterpreted the town’s charter provisions regarding term limits when she certified Wilson’s candidacy and eligibility to serve as mayor.

The judge’s ruling was in response to a complaint filed April 18 by James Cosner, who sued Wilson personally and Frawley in her position as town clerk. Represented by Thomas “Trey” Rogers of the Denver-based Recht Kornfeld law firm, Cosner’s complaint filed in Weld County District Court quoted the Windsor town charter provision that “the term of office for an elected official either as a board member or mayor, or a combination of both, shall be limited to two consecutive elected terms.”

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Wilson, executive director of Poudre River Trail Corridor Inc., was elected to four-year terms on the Windsor Town Board in 2018 and 2022. Halfway through his second term, he decided to run for mayor this spring and defeated fellow town board member Jason Hallett, 4,176 votes to 3,622, in the April 2 municipal election.

Four days after Cosner’s suit was filed, Wilson resigned from his unfinished four-year term on the town board and was sworn in for a four-year term as mayor.

The judge agreed with Cosner that Wilson’s election as mayor constituted a third term.

“Wilson was not eligible to run for a third consecutive elected term for any position on the Town Board,” Lyons wrote “It is immaterial that Wilson had yet to serve the entirety of his second consecutive elected term.”

Cosner had served on Windsor’s Downtown Development Authority and owns several properties in downtown Windsor.

“Rich, powerful developers don’t want me in office,” Wilson told BizWest on Thursday. “I spent $6,700 on my campaign, they spent $30,000, and they lost. Now they’re finding any technicality to get me out of office and bleed me dry.”

However, Rogers told BizWest that Cosner’s intent was to make sure the town followed its own charter’s requirements on term limits, and that Lyons’ ruling was correct.

“I thought it was a very thorough and thoughtful order,” Rogers said, “and we’re confident that if this goes to the Supreme Court, his order will be affirmed.

“I’ve seen Mr. Wilson say that he thinks the ruling does not honor the will of the voters,” Cosner’s attorney said, “but really it does honor the will of the voters when they passed the term-limits provision of the charter.”

Wilson said he might have to pay his own legal expenses to appeal Lyons’ ruling to the state Supreme Court because his resignation from the town board just before taking the oath as mayor means he’s not a member of the town government.

“The judge ruled I can’t go back to my seat” on the town board, he said.

Since she remains employed as town clerk, Windsor will continue to pay Frawley’s legal costs, Wilson said.

“The Town Board previously voted to pay my legal expenses” in a unanimous vote on May 13, “and then they held another executive session (on May 20) to discuss the appeal and whether they want to pursue this,” Wilson said. “I’m a little concerned that the town attorney and town manager aren’t responding to me right now. I thought I did everything right.

“If I knew what I know now, I wouldn’t have run

 for mayor,” said Wilson, noting that the job pays just $12,000 a year.

Under the charter’s provisions, Mayor Pro Tem Julie Cline will be acting mayor until the town board picks one of the board members to take on the mayor’s duties until the next municipal election. That selection must be by a two-thirds majority of the board members. No charter requirement exists to name Hallett to the seat even though he finished second in the election. In his complaint, Cosner had originally asked the district court to seat Hallett as mayor, but then withdrew that request.

Lyons made clear that the court finds no fault with any of the parties, that all had acted in good faith, and that the decision “is not a reflection on any person’s integrity or character or prior service.”

The case is James Cosner vs. Barry Wilson and Karen Frawley, town clerk, case number 2024cv030342 filed April 18, 2024, in Weld County District Court.