Registration for recall election coming

Indian Hills residents have until July 1 to register to vote in a recall election scheduled for mid-July for Indian Hills General Improvement District members.

Douglas County Clerk-Treasurer Barbara Reed said the election is tentatively set for July 17 but that she won't be making it official until next week.

"I don't want to set a date yet because a couple of people have said they are going to challenge it in court and I don't want to give them a reason," she said. "Also, once the call is made, I have a certain amount of time before I have to hold the election."

The recall was sparked when Richard Fairfax, Renee Haskell and Joanne Riekenberg did not vote for building a community center near James Lee Park on the western edge of the community.

Fairfax resigned from the board and is not on the recall ballot.

In a written response to the recall effort, Riekenberg said she had the best interests of the district in mind.

"Take the community center, for example, we found that the cost of $1.5 million was not the bottom line," she wrote. "There would also be staffing, programs, maintenance and utility costs in addition to the $1.5 million. So as a board we decided to put it on the ballot in November, so you could all vote on it."

Haskell agreed with Riekenberg about the community center.

"I feel that all the residents of Douglas County should help pay for the community center, not just the residents of Indian Hills," Haskell wrote. "I never voted no to building the center, my concerns were how to pay for it without putting a burden on the district budget, and going into a long-term debt service on a loan of that size."

In her statement, Haskell said the recall petition is untrue.

"I would like to state that this recall petition is based on lies and misrepresentations, and I urge you to find out the facts for yourselves."