Court yet to rule on lawsuit against Weld commissioners

GREELEY — A court has yet to rule on a Weld County Council member’s claim that the county commissioners violated the county charter and the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights when it unanimously decided to approve a new county judicial center as part of downtown Greeley’s civic campus without letting Weld County voters have a say.

A second council member may also join the complaint, also as a private citizen and not a council member.

Elijah Hatch of Kersey sued the county commissioners in August as a Weld County resident, not in his role as president of the Weld County Council. Since then, motions before Weld District Court have sought to include another county council member, Terry DeGroot, as an additional plaintiff.

According to its website, the Weld County Council “is charged to review all aspects of County government and makes periodic written reports to the people. The Council invites Weld County citizens and employees to present their comments, ideas or concerns regarding Weld County government for the Council to review.”

Commissioners approved the judicial center as one unified project instead of being divided into three parts. The center, including a six-story core and shell, internal improvements and a parking garage, is part of a planned Downtown Civic Campus that would also include a new Greeley-Evans School District 6 Administration Building and a new Greeley City Hall. Ground was broken Monday for the school district building.

Hatch’s lawsuit claims “the project will cost approximately $490 million, yet Defendant has refused to seek voter approval despite clear mandates in both the Colorado Constitution and the Weld County Home Rule Charter. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (‘TABOR’) prohibits local governments from creating multi-year financial obligations without voter approval unless they have adequate present cash reserves irrevocably pledged to cover all future payments.”

Commissioners were told in June that the county’s share of the campus is estimated at $334.1 million, well above the spending limit established under Section 14-8 of the Weld County Charter. That provision limits capital expenditures to an amount equal to the revenue generated by a three-mill property-tax levy over three years, currently about $177 million.

Commissioners in May voted 3-2 to divide the judicial-center project into three phases so that no individual phase would exceed the charter threshold requiring voter approval. But in June, at a joint work session of the Weld County Commissioners and Weld County Council — which included Hatch in his capacity as an elected official — County Attorney Bruce Barker argued that state requirements governing judicial facilities supersede the charter provision because the county is legally obligated to provide adequate court facilities.

The county council then discussed a proposed resolution recommending that the county suspend work on the justice center until residents vote on the issue, but only Hatch and DeGroot supported the measure.

The two sides argued the case in competing motions before the court last week.

Weld County moved to dismiss the lawsuit, stating that “Hatch’s TABOR claim should be dismissed because, first, claims related to ‘plans’ to enter contracts are not ripe for review. … Second, Hatch’s TABOR claims regarding existing contracts fail as a matter of law because none of the County’s contracts create debt in the ‘constitutional sense.’

“Hatch’s Charter claim is not ripe because the County has not made any final decisions or appropriations for the Justice Center” that would trigger the voting requirement,” the county’s motion said.

Hatch’s attorneys responded that “the County has already completed multiple stages of the construction pre-planning process, has committed funds to the project, and intends to commence initial construction in early November. … Those expenditures, made without voter approval, are the very injury that TABOR and the Charter guard against, and nothing about that injury depends on future contingencies.”

Hatch alleged that the project is ongoing, the county has expended funds and intends to expend more, and that those expenditures will harm his rights under TABOR and Charter section 14-8.

Who will issue the final ruling in the case is unclear. Earlier in the proceedings, Judge Julie Hoskins, as chief judge of the 19th Judicial District, issued an order recusing the entire Weld County bench from hearing the case to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

Weld County plans to break ground Nov. 1 on the justice center’s parking garage.

The case is Elijah Hatch v. Board of County Commissioners of Weld County, number 2026CV30969. Filed Aug. 13 in Weld County District Court.

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