Mayor and city council recall, Walsenburg, Colorado (2022-2023)
| Walsenburg mayor and city council recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Greg Daniels Veronica Maes Nick Vigil Carmen Lara Ricky Jennings Don Martinez |
| Recall status |
Resigned (Bryant, Daniels, Lara) Did not go to a vote (Martinez & Jennings) |
| Recall election date |
| May 16, 2023 |
| Signature requirement |
78 (Jennings & Martinez) 75 (Vigil & Lara) 74 (Daniels & Maes) |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2023 Recalls in Colorado Colorado recall laws Mayoral recalls City council recalls Recall reports |
An election to recall City Councillors Veronica Maes and Nick Vigil was scheduled for May 16, 2023, in Walsenburg, Colorado. Both Maes and Vigil retained their seats.[1]
Mayor Charles Bryant and Councilmembers Greg Daniels, Carmen Lara, Ricky Jennings, and Don Martinez were also subject to a recall campaign. Bryant, Lara, and Daniels resigned in March 2023, while recalls against Jennings and Martinez did not qualify for the ballot.[1][2][3]
Recall vote
Ward 1 recall question
Veronica Maes recall, 2023
Veronica Maes won the Walsenburg City Council Ward 1 recall election on May 16, 2023.
Recall Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
Yes |
49.8
|
105 | |||
| ✔ | No |
50.2
|
106 | ||
Total Votes |
211 | ||||
|
|
Ward 1 replacement question
Voters were asked to select a candidate to replace Maes if the recall was successful.
General election
Special general election for Walsenburg City Council Ward 1
No candidate won the special general election for Walsenburg City Council Ward 1 on May 16, 2023.
Candidate | ||
| Ronald Stafford (Nonpartisan) | ||
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Ward 2 recall question
Nick Vigil recall, 2023
Nick Vigil won the Walsenburg City Council Ward 2 recall election on May 16, 2023.
Recall Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
Yes |
48.2
|
107 | |||
| ✔ | No |
51.8
|
115 | ||
Total Votes |
222 | ||||
|
|
Ward 2 replacement question
General election
The Ward 2 special general election was canceled after no candidates filed to run. If the recall had been approved, the city council would have appointed someone to fill the Ward 2 seat.[4]
Recall supporters
Two separate committees initiated recall campaigns. First, a group calling itself Positive Future for Walsenburg sought to recall the mayor and the six city council members. The grounds for the recall centered on water management in the city. Organizers said that the mayor and city council had not done enough to help residents with persistently inaccurate water utility bills. They also said that water usage restrictions in the city were the result of the officials' failure to address aging water infrastructure.[5]
Organizer Tyler Cunningham said about the campaign, “It’s the one issue across the board. ... People who only dislike the mayor, or only dislike Carmen Lara or only dislike Veronica Maes have all voiced their frustration over water and the issues that have not been fixed. ... It comes down to the frustration that people are facing and the constant back-and-forth that they see from the council members. ... We have community members who claim council members are inept or rude and other subjective terms. We’ve done our best to just take the facts. There was one water main break that cost $20,000 alone. That’s more than what a recall election is expected to cost."[5]
A second committee initiated a separate recall drive in December 2022, focused on recalling Mayor Bryant. The second group included City Councillors Greg Daniels, Carmen Lara, and Nick Vigil, in addition to residents Carolyn Robb and Mike Eberwine. The recall petition language against Bryant appears below:[6]
| “ |
Mayor Bryant has lost the respect and confidence of the people by failing to work productively with City Council. Instead of admitting his own shortcomings, he sought to have the entire City Council removed. He has failed to understand his role as Mayor of a STATUTORY CITY and engaged in conduct unbecoming a public official by:
Mayor Bryant’s actions in 2022 have ensured that rather than working together to find solutions, very little was accomplished despite the opportunity and funding. Left unchecked, Mayor Bryant will continue to promote his conspiracy to protect the special interests of his employers regardless of the costs and best interests of Walsenburg citizens.[7] |
” |
Recall opponents
Mayor Bryant gave the following comment to KRDO News.[2]
| “ |
The view that I have (and that is shared by many) is that the City of Walsenburg needs a hard reset. I feel that myself and Mayor Pro-Tem Jennings have been the only elected officials that have made an honest effort to reform the wayward nature of Walsenburg City Government. Our efforts to advance a code of ethics/conduct was struck down by our fellow board members after they had initially been in favor of it. Efforts to increase transparency within our organization have been met with great resistance from these same board members. City administration simply ignores CORA requests submitted by citizens. Our efforts to prevent our fellow board members from engaging in business with the very city that they serve have been dismissed/ignored by these same wayward elected officials. Currently two board members have active contracts with the city which is a clear conflict of interest given their lack of recusal when issues associated with these business arrangements are brought before the board. Our efforts to keep these board members from working outside of their statutorily defined responsibilities has been blatantly ignored. To say that they have a distorted sense of power is an understatement. A review of council meeting videos, minutes and local press coverage from the Huerfano World Journal document much of this dysfunction. While a scorched earth style recall like the one being suggested may seem drastic in the short term, I feel that it will only make Walsenburg stronger by empowering it’s citizens. Hopefully future municipal officials will come to the table that have a true desire to advance the community rather than themselves. Knowing that the public will not sit idly by as they have done for decades will be a strong motivating factor for future leaders.[7] |
” |
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Colorado
The first recall group, Positive Future for Walsenburg, initiated the recall process on November 15, 2022. Organizers were required to submit petitions within 60 days. They needed to collect 231 signatures for Charles Bryant, 74 signatures for Veronica Maes and Greg Daniels, 75 signatures for Carmen Lara and Nick Vigil, and 78 signatures for Ricky Jennings and Don Martinez.[5][2]
The city clerk's office announced that organizers had collected enough signatures for a recall election to be scheduled against Maes, Lara, and Vigil, and Daniels, who later resigned. However, organizers from Positive Future for Walsenburg did not submit enough signatures to recall Martinez, Jennings, and Bryant.[8]
The second committee initiated its recall drive in December 2022. They had until February 17, 2023, to submit signatures against Bryant.[8]
A recall election for Maes and Vigil was scheduled for May 16, 2023.[1]
See also
- Recall campaigns in Colorado
- Political recall efforts, 2023
- Political recall efforts, 2022
- Mayoral recalls
- City council recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 KOAA News5, "Mayor and three council members face recall in Walsenburg," March 9, 2023
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 KRDO, "Effort underway to recall the entire city council and mayor of a Southern Colorado city," November 15, 2022
- ↑ City of Walsenburg, "Minutes of the City Council Regular Meeting," March 21, 2023
- ↑ Ballotpedia staff, "Email communication with the Walsenburg City Clerk's Office," May 9, 2023
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 World Journal, "Group seeks recall of entire Walsenburg City Council," November 17, 2022
- ↑ World Journal, "Recall group thinks it has enough signatures to force vote against four Walsenburg councilmembers," January 19, 2023
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 World Journal, "BREAKING NEWS: Walsenburg City Council members Daniels, Maes, Lara and Vigil to face recall vote," January 23, 2023
