Manitou Springs Mayor John Graham could face a recall election before the end of this year. During a July 22 Open Space Advisory Committee (OSAC) meeting, Linda Morlan announced plans to launch a recall campaign.
“Today I started with the City the process of recalling Mayor John Graham because he has been working behind this community’s back for years,” said Morlan. “We have proof of it. We’re going to recall him.”
During the July 22 OSAC meeting, Ken Jaray noted that Morlan’s comments regarding the recall were not part of his group’s efforts.
According to a spokesperson for the City of Manitou Springs, the recall petition was approved on Aug. 1. Morlan and other supporters of the recall effort have until Sept. 30 to collect a minimum of 485 signatures. According to statute, once the petition and signatures are deemed sufficient, the city clerk will submit the petition to the city council. During that meeting, Council will set a date for the recall election to be held not less than 30 days nor more than 90 days from that meeting date.
The recall effort comes after efforts from Norwood developers Chris and David Jenkins to get Graham and City Council to accept a donation of 15 acres of privately-owned land. In exchange, the city would create a Ruxton Avenue access road and a parking lot. The proposal generated widespread concern and opposition from community members, who have banded together as the Friends of Ruxton Canyon.
Graham is taking the recall effort in stride. “You know you’re doing a fair job when half the people are mad at you for one reason and the other half are mad for exactly the opposite reason,” he said. “That’s kind of a balance in sort of a sardonic way.”
Graham notes that Jenkins’ efforts at developing the controversial tracts of land have been going on since Marc Snyder — who left office in 2016 — was mayor. A Colorado Open Records Act request showed that Graham was in contact with Jenkins and land-owner David Walton as early as February of 2024, months before a June survey sent to Manitou residents generated widespread concern about the project.
“It’s actually kind of ironic in that one of the things they seemed to complain about was that they [community members] didn’t have information,” said Graham. “They didn’t want me talking to the Jenkins. They didn’t have the information, and when the time came for Jenkins to present their information, they were already so spun up that they essentially scared the Jenkins off. They precluded their own ability to get the whole picture and to discuss it.”
Graham says his conversations with the Jenkins were just part of his duty as Mayor. “I think we shouldn’t be afraid of the future,” he said. “One of the things an elected official has to think about is the situation from various perspectives, and what a long-term solution is. There is the neighborhood, yes, that’s a concern. There’s the greater Manitou community, and there’s thought that this would have improved traffic flow, and you would have open space up there forever, and you wouldn’t be looking at houses — the viewscape would not be interfered with. For some of the rest of Manitou, it’s not as acute a pain, it’s not in their backyard, but it’s still kind of a community issue.”
Graham notes that his tenure as mayor, since 2020, has been about more than potential development deals. “I think we’ve been able to do good things,” he said. “We’re getting the library fixed — that’ll be maybe end of October, sometime in November, we should have that done. The new water tank. We’ve done a lot of rebuilding, refurbishing up at the water treatment plant, which is not really in anybody’s view. We take it for granted. We assume that the water will flow and be good, that the toilets will flush and be good and the government should deliver that. We would put a lot of money into playing catch up on the water treatment plant … Water, sewer, streets, public safety — which is police and fire — those I think are our fundamental business. If we do that well, we’ve met the first test of government.”