Municipal elections are being held today for Cortez, Dolores and Mancos.
Voters in Cortez will elect City Council members, and voters in Dolores will elect a mayor. Voters in Mancos will elect new Town Board members and decide on a ballot question about publishing legal notices.
Ballots must be dropped off at town halls by 7 p.m. It is too late to mail your ballot.
Four council seats are open for the Cortez City Council and nine candidates.
Councilors Robert Dobry and Matthew Keefauver will seek reelection. The other candidates are William “Bill” Banks, Lydia DeHaven, Sean Dolan, Houston Frizzell, Rafe O’Brien, Dennis Spruell, and George Tripp.
Mayor Mike Lavey, who was elected in 2018, and Orly Lucero, who has served two four-year terms beginning in 2014, will vacate their positions.
Justin Vasterling was a candidate, but informed the city of Cortez he decided to drop out of the race. Ballots have already been generated, so his name will still appear on the ballot.
Cortez City Clerk Linda Smith said 5,600 ballots were sent out, and by 10:30 a.m., 1,541 had been returned, which surpasses the previous voter turnout record. Election results are expected by 8:30 p.m. and will be posted at City Hall and online. City Hall will have an open house after the polls close to announce the results.
The Dolores election is for mayor and three open Town Board seats, but only the mayor’s seat will be contested.
The candidates for mayor are Leigh Ann Reeves and Gerald “Jerry” Whited. The mayoral term is for two years.
The candidates for the three open trustee positions are Ira “Todd” Andrews, Jeff Sand and Mark Youngquist. Terms are for four years.
Dolores Town Clerk Tammy Neely said more than 700 ballots were sent out and as of 10:30 a.m. 250 had been returned. Results are expected by 8:30 p.m. and will be posted at Town Hall and on the town website.
There are three open board seats for the Mancos Board of Trustees.
Terms are up for Mayor pro Tem Fred Brooks, Betsy Harrison and Brent McWhirter.
Brooks and Harrison are running again, and two new candidates join them: Nicholas Manning and Richard Tokar.
Mancos voters also will decide the following ballot question:
In order to reduce the financial burden with regard to publishing all expenditures in a newspaper of local circulation (by way of example, the Town of Mancos spent approximately $2,421.00 in such publication costs in 2021), shall the Town of Mancos, Colorado be released from publishing all payments of bills, approvals and approvers of the payments, the recipients of all payments and the awards of all contracts and rebates, as permitted under Colorado law, provided that the same will be available for review on the Town of Mancos website and the Mancos Town Hall?
