The Steamboat Springs City Clerk’s office is reviewing complaints made against the Yampa Valley Housing Authority alleging the government agency improperly spent public funds in connection with the Brown Ranch annexation referendum scheduled for March 26.

Filed Feb. 5 by Steamboat Springs resident Ken Mauldin Jr., the election complaints claim the housing authority “engaged in paid advertising to advocate in support of a position on a ballot question related to the proposed Brown Ranch.”

There are two complaints. The first cites social media advertisements for a housing authority town hall event scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 28 at Colorado Mountain College. A photo of the advertisement included in the complaint lists the reason for the meeting as being “to discuss how YVHA and Brown ranch are helping solve our community’s affordable housing crisis.”

Additionally, Mauldin Jr.’s second complaint alleges the housing authority violated election rules by producing a fact sheet — titled “Brown Ranch Top 10 Facts” — because it “includes only positive attributes of the proposed argument.”

Under the city’s election code and the state’s Fair Campaign Practices Act, the expenditure of public funds in relation to elections is not allowed aside from some limited exceptions. For example, an elected body may adopt a public a resolution expressing a position on a ballot question.

Last month, City Council members moved to adopt a resolution in support of the Brown Ranch annexation. The housing authority board issued a resolution of its own in support of the ballot question at its meeting last week.

The election code also allows public funds to be spent “to dispense a factual summary” on a particular issue as long as the summary “includes arguments both for and against the proposal,” according to the rules.

Yampa Valley Housing Authority Executive Director Jason Peasley said in a statement that the housing authority has prepared a response to the complaints “that should prove there have been no violations by YVHA of the Fair Campaign Practices Act or the city’s election code.”

Peasley said the housing authority “takes very seriously our mandate to provide affordable and attainable housing, as well as to educate the public on what we do and how we do it since our housing developments are so different from market-rate housing.”

“Our community presentations focus on where we are planning housing developments, what they will look like, and how we leverage community funds, public and private grants, and tax credits along with private capital to deliver housing for our local workforce,” Peasley added.

City Attorney Dan Foote explained the clerk’s office will make an initial decision on the complaints within 10 business days of their receipt, followed by the potential for an additional 30-day review period before a complaint is either filed or dismissed.

“The clerk has 10 days to decide whether or not the complaint actually alleges a violation of the election code; if not, it can be dismissed after the 10-day period; if so, then there’s a decision to be made whether further investigation is required,” Foote told council members last week.

The March 26 referendum is being held after a successful citizens’ petition was certified by the city in the wake of a council decision last October to annex 420 acres of land, known as Brown Ranch, located west of downtown Steamboat Springs.

The land was purchased by the Yampa Valley Housing Authority on the wings of a $23 million anonymous donation, with a goal of constructing 2,264 affordable and attainable housing units on the property by 2042.

The plans have been controversial in the Steamboat community, with supporters pointing to a well-documented housing crisis affecting members of the local workforce and the businesses seeking to hire them and opponents arguing the plans are too big and too expensive.

Last week, the city clerk released campaign finance documents filed by two committees formed to advocate for and against the annexation vote.

The documents show House Our Community, which is campaigning in favor of the annexation, received a single $10,000 donation from The Michaels Organization on Dec. 15. The Michaels Organization is the nation’s largest privately held owner of affordable housing with 50 years of experience working in more than 39 states, and with $11 billion of assets under management.

Last summer, the housing authority selected the real estate developer to become its development partner for the Brown Ranch project dependent on the annexation agreement being approved.

The group had contributed an additional $10,000 to the House Our Community committee ahead of a successful November 2023 ballot measure which would allocate 75% of the city’s short-term rental tax revenue to the housing authority to fund the Brown Ranch project — but only if voters approve the annexation.

Financial filings made by The Citizens for a Better Plan committee, which is campaigning against the annexation, reflect a more grassroots fundraising campaign, with 20 different donors contributing a total of $12,520 between Dec. 12 and Jan. 26.

The committee’s organizer, Jim Engelken, said the money has so far been used to distribute yard signs and hire a local marketing consultant as he and other volunteers work to educate the community on the matter of the proposed Brown Ranch project.

“Our idea of a better plan is a plan that is considerably smaller than the 2,264 units envisioned to house 6,100 people,” Engelken said. “We think that all by itself is way too big; we envision a plan that goes much further to pay its own way. I am always amazed that people don’t know anything about this. It seems so darned important to me that everyone should know about it. We have got to get the word out because there are so many people who just don’t understand how this is going to impact the city.”