A candidate for the Netherlands board is suing the mountain town in Boulder county for what he sees as a “model of political opposition”.

In the lawsuit, filed Friday in Boulder District Court, David Sites alleges that the Nederland board violated municipal code by not appointing him to a vacant directorship. The lawsuit asks a judge to order Nederland to put Sites on the board.

In April, incumbent administrator Julian Taylor was elected mayor, creating a vacancy on the board. Sites, who finished fourth in the election for three open director seats, says that means he should be named to the vacant post, according to the lawsuit.

Instead, the city chose to schedule a special election to fill the vacant seat.

“The board refused to seat Sites and instead ordered a second election amid a pattern of political opposition to Sites by board members,” wrote his attorney, the former Colorado secretary of state. , Scott Gessler, in the complaint.

The city council previously rejected Sites after he applied for the Nederland Downtown Development Authority – even though the organization had recommended the council appoint him, according to the lawsuit.

Additionally, Nederland’s decision to hold a special election on Aug. 23 is a “misuse of its past actions to fill vacancies,” the complaint says, noting that previous vacancies were filled without a separate election.

The vacancy on the board was created after Taylor was elected mayor in the April election. But after his election victory, Taylor announced he would only be mayor for a few months as he moves to the East Coast, according to Boulder’s Daily Camera newspaper.

Dutch voters will be asked to elect a new mayor and administrator in special elections in August.

Gessler and Sites were unreachable on Monday. A city representative declined to comment on the lawsuit.

After finishing fourth in the April election, Sites told the Daily Camera he was unsure whether to stand for re-election.