The first City Council recall in nearly 30 years could be heading for Loveland ballots this November. On Wednesday, sponsors of a petition to recall Ward 1 representative Troy Krenning submitted more than 2,000 signatures to the Loveland City Clerk’s office and are confident they have met their threshold.

“It’s truly a bipartisan thing,” said Dave Clark, a former city councilor and one of the recall sponsors. “…This is not a political issue at all. It’s really that people are upset with what’s going on in the city.”

Krenning is nine months into his second stint on Loveland City Council, after beating three other candidates last November. He previously served with Clark during a single four-year term between 2013 and 2017.

Clark and co-sponsors Earl Sethre and Marvin Childers launched the recall effort in late June over actions by Krenning that they characterized as costly in the petition language, both in terms of money and in terms of Loveland’s reputation.

To support their argument, they cited the councilor’s involvement in prior lawsuits against the city, the City Council decision to reverse the Centerra South agreements and Krenning’s role in the departure of the city manager and city attorney earlier this year.

“The cost to the city is huge,” Clark said. “This isn’t about Krenning personally. This is about what he has done to our city.”

In a rebuttal statement that was also included on the petition, Krenning defended the council’s decision to replace the two city leaders, calling them “ineffective.” He also wrote that his legal actions have ultimately saved the city money by avoiding litigation.

Clark and his co-sponsors had until Wednesday to gather 1,615 signatures from Ward 1 voters, representing 25% of the votes cast in Krenning’s election last November.

Clark said after reviewing the petitions for duplicates and legibility, he believes around 1,800 of the signatures appear to be valid.

But those signatures will get closer scrutiny from city clerk staff over the next five days as they compare them against the Larimer County and Colorado voter rolls, said Deputy City Clerk Chad Thompson.

“Sometimes they’re not on the county register, so we check with the Secretary of State,” he said. “And that could be for many reasons — it could be inactive, it could be a different address that is listed on the petition. The address on the petition has to match the voter list.”

The deadline for verifying the signatures is Monday at 5 p.m. and Thompson expects the team to be busy through the weekend.

If the threshold of valid signatures is met, the question will be placed on November’s ballot, pending a routine ratification by Loveland City Council. At the same time, voters will also get a chance to vote on a replacement, should Krenning be recalled.

“I think it’s important to note though, that this is not going to cost the city anything, because it’s part of the regular November election,” Sethre said. “That’s why we chose this timing.”

Had a special election been triggered before or after the coordinated November election, the City Clerk’s office estimates it would cost up to $100,000.

Though the petition process went well, Clark said that he will sleep a little better now that the process is over and is looking forward to switching into campaign mode for the upcoming election.

“There was a lot of interest out there,” he said. “Now we just have to take the next steps forward.”

Originally Published: August 8, 2024 at 10:46 a.m.