Superior voters will see a ballot question to consider the adoption of the home rule charter during a special election in December, after the town failed to include the question on the November ballot because of a clerical error.

The Board of Trustees unanimously approved setting a Dec. 10 special election during a special meeting on Tuesday. The special election is expected to cost $59,000. Town staffers said they will amend the 2024 budget to fund the special election.

Town Attorney Nicholas Hartman said the resolution approving the charter stated that an election for the home rule adoption must be held no more than 185 days after the town publishes the charter. Hartman said that luckily the town still had a window of time to conduct an election.

Mayor Mark Lacis explained that on Sept. 23, the board learned that ballot language for the home rule charter question was not submitted to be on the November ballot because of a clerical error. Lacis acknowledged it was a town staff error.

While the board and town staff worked to try to get the ballots reprinted to include the home rule charter adoption question, overseas ballots had already been mailed and it was no longer possible to include the adoption question.

“Rest assured, we will conduct a thorough investigation as to what failed,” Lacis said.

Lacis said the town is investigating what happened and setting up procedures to avoid this happening again. Multiple trustees expressed disappointment in the ballot error, but thanked the commission for its work on the charter.

Dalton Valette, chair of the Home Rule Charter Commission, said he joined the commission, because he saw it as a unique and rare opportunity to help shape and contribute to Superior. While he is disappointed the question will not be on the November ballot, he said that it is a mistake the town can fix.

“This is a surmountable obstacle,” Valette said.

He said that the commission worked hard to make the charter best suited for Superior, and he would rather go through the struggle of getting the ballot question out to voters than not have them vote on the question at all.

Valette also reiterated that the charter has not changed and will not change for the special election. The charter has been available for review at superiorcolorado.gov/community/home-rule-information since May.

Mike Foster, also on the Home Rule Charter Commission, said during public comment Tuesday that he hopes the investigation does not turn into a crusade to point blame at someone. He said that mistakes happen and said he hopes the investigation leads to the town developing guidelines to ensure it does not happen again.

“It’s also important to think about, in five, 10, 20 years, the cost (of the special election) is not even going to be discussed. What’s gonna be discussed is that we have home rule and that we have, as a town, the freedom to choose our own path and that we have local control,” Foster said.

Following the November 2023 election, the Superior Home Rule Charter Commission was elected and began working on a home rule charter draft twice a month, until the board approved the charter in May. If approved by voters, the charter is expected to give town officials more control over local issues, rather than having to strictly follow state statutes.