PUEBLO — Former Pueblo City council member, Chris Nicoll, filed two ethical complaints against current members Friday.
Nicoll accuses Dennis Flores and Regina Maestri were unjust during the 'at-large seat selection process.'
"I'm very flabbergasted that he would do something like that because we known each other a long time, in fact, I always considered Nic a friend," said Flores.
"[Flores] let me know that he was not going to consider me or vote for me because of my involvement with the religious organization called forging Pueblo, it's a Christian organization," said Nicoll.
"I happen to be a Christian myself, so I'm wondering why I would ever discriminate against my own religion," said Flores.
Nicoll also accused Flores of nepotism because a family relative was in the race.
"Chuck Hernandez was selected for city council, he was actually a relative, allegedly a relative of councilman Flores, a cousin in some way within then," said Nicoll.
"I am not blood-related to Chuck Hernandez. . . [he] was my wife's second cousin," said Nicoll.
Nicoll withdrew from the running before the seat selection was announced.
"I don't think I can be an effective council member with corrupt officials in the body, they need to investigate it and purge those individuals and go back and start over if they need to," said Nicoll.
News5 wanted to dig into Nicoll's claims of corrupt officials on the council. I asked how many ethical complaints were filed against city council members by city council members, since the beginning of 2024.
The city's clerk wouldn't give me an answer, so I went to the mayor's office.
Mayor Heather Graham told me she's aware of one complaint against Maestri back in March.
We also filed an open records request to find out if more complaints exist. We learned the city council president is in charge of looking into those complaints.
"Do you believe that these complaints against you and Maestri will be dismissed," I asked Flores. "I see no reason why they would move forward."
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