Petitioners have successfully initiated a recall against Colorado Springs City Councilmember Tom Bailey after the city clerk declared on Friday that the number of submitted signatures was sufficient.

Under the city’s charter, Bailey will face a recall election in the next 30 to 60 days unless he resigns by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Voters elected the former Air Force colonel and Air Force Academy educator in April after Bailey ran unopposed to represent District 2 on the city’s north side.

In a statement on Friday, Bailey did not signal whether he would resign or stand in the recall election. He said the certification announcement was disappointing but not surprising and that he will take time to determine his “best path forward.”

He claimed that the petitioners seeking the recall were “misusing” the process to do what they could not do in a regular election.

“This campaign has relied on misinformation and characterizations that erode trust in our local institutions for the sake of political convenience,” Bailey said in the statement. “This kind of divisiveness undermines the rules-based system of government that has long served our community and our nation.”

Organizers behind the recall effort said in a statement that it is the responsibility of citizens to “peacefully install new representation” if they are not adequately being represented.

Beginning their effort in October, organizers relied on volunteers going door to door to successfully gather the necessary 1,764 signatures, or 25% of the votes cast in April, according to previous reporting by The Gazette.

They initially fell short by 159 signatures in January, but reached the necessary number in the 30 days provided to amend or add signatures.

Filings by organizers cited Bailey’s support for the Royal Pines housing development and personal financial investments in the Ford Amphitheater as motivations to initiate the recall process, according to previous Gazette reporting.

Bailey joined all but one councilmember in voting to support the $60 million, 232-unit Royal Pines development in May that began construction in November.

“The people of District 2 voiced their concerns and signed the petition,” a statement from the petition’s organizers said of the certification of signatures. “It is now up to the people of District 2 to exercise their civic duty and vote to hold their elected representative accountable and install a new councilmember to listen to their voices and do their best to represent their interests.”

In his statement, Bailey characterized the petitioners’ “anti-growth” agenda as unrepresentative of the views of Colorado Springs residents. He also claims that they are asking taxpayers to spend an estimated $250,000 on a special election because they “opted out” of the last election when Bailey ran unopposed.

Petition organizers say the cost is necessary and “far less than the cost of not acting.” They suggested that if Bailey is concerned about the cost, he could “spare the taxpayers” by resigning, according to their statement.

If successful, the recall effort could be the first in 100 years. A spokesperson for the city previously told The Gazette that city staffers were unable to find any successful recall effort in that timeframe after conducting research with staff at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.

Conversely, there have been several unsuccessful recall election bids in the city’s recent history.

The last recall election was held in 2015 against then-District 4 Councilmember Helen Collins.

Petition organizers gathered 1,485 signatures after Collins voted against a stormwater project and maintained a close relationship with Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights organizer Douglas Bruce, according to previous Gazette reporting.

Collins was retained in the 2015 recall but lost her reelection bid in 2017.

In 2022, then-District 3 Councilmember Stephannie Fortune and At-Large Councilmember Wayne Williams faced recall petitions that did not lead to an election.

The effort against Williams did not reach the necessary signatures and organizers canceled the petition against Fortune when she announced her cancer diagnosis.

Williams later lost in a run-off in the 2023 mayoral election to now-Mayor Yemi Mobolade, the month after his term in office ended.