FOES OF BROOMFIELD MED-POT SHOP BAN TURN IN 1,600 SIGNATURES

If All Names Valid, Ordinance Will Be Suspended

Organizers of an effort to overturn Broomfield's ban on medical
marijuana businesses are confident they have collected enough
signatures to force City Council to reconsider the measure.

Pam Gianola, who led the effort against Ordinance 1928, on Thursday
turned in petitions signed by about 1,600 registered Broomfield
voters to the Clerk and Recorder's Office. Clerk's office staff will
verify that the signatures are valid, and if more than 1,282 are, the
ordinance banning medical marijuana dispensaries and grow operations
will be suspended.

The deadline to turn in petitions was 5 p.m. Thursday, but Gianola
was able to turn them in with hours to spare and without sending
collectors into the field Thursday.

"We felt confident enough last night," she said.

Clerk and Recorder Russ Ragsdale said staff will immediately begin
checking signatures and likely will finish sometime Saturday.

The addresses petition signers gave will be checked against the voter
registration database. Each signature will be checked.

"We only want to do it once and do it right," Ragsdale said.

The office wants to have everything verified before a special City
Council meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday. Council added the
meeting to its calendar so it can talk about what steps to take if
the petition effort succeeded.

If enough signatures are valid, the ordinance will be suspended. City
Council has the option of repealing it or creating a ballot question
that would ask voters to ratify the ordinance. If council chooses the
latter course, it will have to approve language for a ballot question
by Sept. 3 in order for it to appear on the Nov. 2 ballot.

If the petitions to do not contain enough valid signatures, ordinance
opponents will have 10 days to collect more, Ragsdale said.

City Council and the elections office will have to figure out how to
proceed if the petition effort succeeds on a second try, but
signatures are submitted too late for City Council to approve a
ballot question.

"We're going to deal with it whatever it is, and I think City Council
will be able to, too," Ragsdale said.

A special election using only mail ballots would cost about $53,000,
Ragsdale said.

Gianola does not think the extra time will be needed.

"We're trying to avoid the cure period. It will save everybody a lot
of time and money and headaches," she said.