Pueblo City Councilwoman Ami Nawrocki talks about recall election

Pueblo City Councilwoman Ami Nawrocki said she welcomes an internal investigation into accusations she violated the Colorado Sunshine Law.

In August, Nawrocki and then-council members Sandy Daff and Chris Kaufman were accused of discussing city issues over email instead of inside council chambers, which led Kaufman and Daff to resign.

But Nawrocki said she won’t be the third. “I know for a fact that we did not do anything illegal or unethical,” she said in an exclusive interview with KRDO NewsChannel 13. “There was no serious discussion of actual public policy. It was a way of letting off steam.”

When the accusations first surfaced in August, KRDO NewsChannel 13 contacted a lawyer who specializes in communications law. Steve Zansberg, president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, said that the emails were a breach of state law.

“When three city council members (either all at one time, or in a series of emails) discuss ‘public business’ without providing notice to the public of that ‘meeting,’ and they also deny the public its right to ‘attend’ and observe that meeting, they are violating the Open Meetings Law. That is absolutely clear. No decision needs to be made in ‘meetings’ conducted via email; the fact that the council members are discussing public business outside of the public’s view is itself unlawful under plain terms of our state statute,” Zansberg said.

Nawrocki said she believes the current city council members are afraid to make unpopular decisions given the change of faces on council. “We’ve been rendered impotent in our ability to make any kind of a tough decision and that is really, really sad for the people who live here in this city.”

Frank and Becky Cortese, owners of C & C Disposal, are leading the recall effort. Nawrocki said Frank Cortese threatened to recall her earlier this year when she wanted to hire a trash consultant to study illegal dumping within the city.

“[Frank Cortese] told me if you don’t change your vote on that trash consultant, you’re going to end up just like [Angela Giron]. That is exactly what he told me. And if anybody thinks that I would ever take a vote on public policy out of reaction to that kind of bully-thug tactics, they’re wrong and they clearly don’t know me,” Nawrocki said.

Giron, a former state senator, was ousted from office last year for voting in favor of stricter gun legislation.

But Frank Cortese said he never made that comment about Giron to Nawrocki. “That’s a fabricated story,” he said.

City Clerk Gina Dutcher estimates the recall will cost taxpayers about $32,000. When asked how she’d respond to statements that she should resign to save the city money, Nawrocki said, “Frank and Becky Cortese don’t even live in the city. And they have forwarded an expensive proposition to the city taxpayers based on what exactly?”

Nawrocki said the responsibility for the cost of the recall should be placed on the Cortese family.

“I feel the burden’s on her back,” Frank Cortese said. “At any point in time, she can resign and save the city that money.”

The recall election will be Jan. 27. Only those who live in District 1 are eligible to vote. If Nawrocki is not recalled, she will be in office until the end of 2017.