How the city plans to pay for Pueblo recall election

KRDO NewsChannel 13 is finding out how the city plans to pay for an estimated $32,000 recall election for Councilwoman Ami Nawrocki.

City manager Sam Azad said the $32,000-$35,000 projected expense will come from next year’s budget.

“We have budgeted $70,000 for next year’s general election so we’ll go ahead and take that money from that line item,” Azad said.

Nawrocki said she does not plan to resign but had no other comment.

“I feel that in the long run, this is a very small expense compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that will be wasted in the next three years by irresponsible decisions by Councilwoman Ami Nawrocki,” said Becky Cortese, who organized the recall with her husband, Frank.

City clerk Gina Dutcher said the election would likely be an all mail-in ballot election, and will be held on January 27, 2015. Dutcher said the county would run the majority of the election because of equipment availability. Only those who live in district 1 are eligible to vote.

The city clerk’s office validated 1,848 signatures last week for a recall election.

During Monday night’s council meeting, city manager Sam Azad outlined a plan for selecting a replacement for Sandy Daff, who resigned last Friday.

Azad said Daff’s district 4 seat must be filled by Dec. 30. Council will accept applications for the position until 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21. The top candidates will be interviewed on Dec. 8. Azad said council should wait to see how many applications it receives before determining how many candidates will be interviewed.