Longmont City Council vacancy will take months to fill

Nov. 27—It may not be possible to conduct a special election to fill a currently vacant Longmont City Council seat until late next March or early next April at the soonest, according to the City Clerk's Office.

That tentative timetable would depend on Longmont's ability to contract with a private vendor to conduct that election, since the Boulder and Weld counties' clerks' offices elections units —which normally would handle a special election for Longmont, since the city crosses the boundary between the two counties — will be tied up on other tasks much of next year, including their responsibilities for conducting the 2022 primary and general elections for county government, state legislative and federal offices that'll be on next year's ballots.

The Boulder and Weld counties' clerks' offices could conduct Longmont's special City Council election simultaneously with next November's 2022 general election, but that would mean leaving the council seat vacant in the meantime, according to a report to the council from City Clerk Dawn Quintana and the city staff.

At issue, and to be discussed at Tuesday night's council meeting, is when to hold a special election to the at-large council seat formerly occupied by Joan Peck. Peck won election to Longmont's mayor's post on Nov. 2. Peck resigned from her council seat and was sworn in as mayor on Nov. 8.

Peck had originally been re-elected to her at-large seat in 2019, for a term ending in November 2023, and Longmont's municipal charter now requires that a special election be held to elect someone to fill the unexpired two-year remainder of that term.

However, "the City of Longmont is not equipped nor staffed to administer elections due to our long history of coordinating with (Boulder) County," staff wrote the council for Tuesday night's meeting.

Staff said it "favors coordinating elections with the County because of Boulder County's reputation and proven track record of safe, secure, and accurate elections, but staff also understands that council may prefer to fill the vacancy sooner and that residents have an expectation of representation in their local government" in the months the seat remains empty.

Currently, and until the winner of a special election can fill the at-large seat, what normally would be a seven-member Longmont council is down to six members: Mayor Peck, Councilman Tim Waters, Councilwoman Susie Hidalgo-Fahring, Councilwoman Marcia Martin, Councilman Aren Rodriguez and Councilwoman Shiquita Yarbrough.

"For many years, the City of Longmont has administered City Council elections by contracting with or coordinating with the Boulder County and the Weld County Clerk and Recorder offices. However, this is not an option for a special election early in 2022 and staff is requesting council direction for when to hold the special election and how to administer it," staff said in its memo for Tuesday night's discussion.

Colorado's county clerks are in the process of changing their election precinct maps to comply with the new congressional and state legislative district maps adopted by independent state redistricting commissions and approved by the Colorado Supreme Court to comply with population data from the 2020 U.S. Census.

Those new county maps must be implemented by county clerks across the state in the early portion of 2022 to be prepared for the primary election on June 28, 2022. Thus, the counties are not available to coordinate a special election for Longmont in 2022, city staff wrote council, "due to the heavy lift to ensure all the redistricting changes are implemented and systems are ready to go for the primary and Fall elections."

Even if Longmont were to contract with a private special election vendor, Colorado law "provides various date bumpers around elections to help avoid voter confusion," staff said. A special election may not be scheduled 32 days before or after a primary, general, or congressional election and no election may be scheduled 90 days preceding a regular election.

Since a statewide primary election is scheduled for June 28 and a regular election scheduled for Nov. 8, "we would not be able to schedule a special election between May 27 and July 30, 2022, nor after Aug. 10, 2022," staff said.

Staff said other important factors impacting the timing of the special election are:

— A mail ballot plan must be approved by the Secretary of State 90 days before the election.

— Council candidates would have to submit nomination petitions between the 91st and 71st days prior to the election.

— An election vendor must be available. Staff said one potential vendor the city has spoken with indicated that because special districts will hold their elections on May 3, 2022, it would be necessary to avoid late April and early May; that vendor suggested Longmont look at dates in late March or early April.

"Taking all these factors into consideration, staff recommends that if council decides upon this option, that the date be set no sooner than late March or early April," staff said.

Rather than contracting with a private vendor to conduct the special election, Longmont could follow its past practice or arranging for Boulder and Weld counties' clerks to handle it as part of their procedures for preparing for and conducting next November's general election, something staff noted "the city has done for many years. However, this option would leave council with a vacancy for many months."

If you go:

What: Longmont City Council regular meeting

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Civic Center Council Chambers, 350 Kimbark St., Longmont

Agenda: tinyurl.com/4vzhxkax