About Home Rule

“Home Rule” is a form of government detailed in Article XX of the Colorado Constitution in which the local citizens are the ones who govern the town they live in, not the state legislature. The powers of a Home Rule municipality come from a charter or constitution, approved of by the residents in an election. This differs from how the Town of Superior is currently structured as a statutory municipality, meaning Superior needs state legislature approval to deal with “local and municipal matters.”

YOU as a Superior resident will have a greater say in “local and municipal matters” thanks to the creation and adoption of this charter.

About the Home Rule Charter Commission

A Home Rule Charter Commission comprised of nine elected or appointed members of the Superior community will be the ones who draft the charter for the Town of Superior. The 2023 special election saw that Superior residents not only wanted to approve the early process of adopting a Home Rule Charter, but saw the election of nine individuals to serve as Home Rule Charter Commissioners.

Below are the Home Rule Charter Commissioners elected in the November 2023 election.

• Dalton Valette, Chair

• Mike Foster, Vice Chair

• Jeff Chu

• Heather Cracraft

• Claire Dixon

• Clint Folsom

• Chris Hanson

• Ryan Hitchler

• Ryan Welch

These individuals worked together to write, edit, and craft the final Home Rule Charter document.

About the Home Rule Charter

The final draft of the Home Rule Charter can be found here.

As mentioned above, the Home Rule Charter Commissioners drafted the final Home Rule Charter document for Superior. This document is not meant to cover every issue which Superior has or will face in the future. Nor, as was the intent of the Charter Commission, is this document meant to overhaul what is working in Superior.

The Charter itself is just 35 pages long, with a Table of Contents and utilized language from other neighboring municipalities charter’s such as Boulder, Eagle, Erie, and Severance.

The overall philosophy of the Commission in crafting the Charter was to:

• Low disruption to existing town laws

• Add clarity

• Safeguard values

• Enshrine aspects of state charter into ours to hedge against state changes.