Pages

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Cancellation of Regular Election...?

I went to Manitou Springs City Hall yesterday and found a notice on the front window....




 What is very interesting about this notice is that I had heard no news previously that they were looking for candidates at all! I read the Pikes Peak Bulletin every week. The Pikes Peak Bulletin is the local newspaper that has all of the city government news, as well as a police blotter, strange news stories and middle school/high school sports coverage.

If there had been more coverage of the need for a candidate, I know of many people who would like to run for the position, and they would have been able to do so. Unfortunately, the election was cancelled two months prior and there is now a candidate elected with no votes or knowledge from the community. I have nothing against Randy R. Hodges, don't get me wrong. He owns a beautiful Bed & Breakfast right next to the Manitou Springs Public Library and he is very nice, at least when I pass him on the street. However, I wonder why there was so little news coverage about this.

Manitou Springs Street News will attempt to stay on top of this, but if things keep coming in after the fact, we're going to have a little trouble.

3 comments:

  1. It would probably be wise for people who intend to run for office to figure out the legalities as soon as the urge strikes. It's easy to see where confusion can arise. Since we just had an election in November, the majority of citizens may not have realized that a seat on the Manitou Springs City Council was open again this April.

    Communications failures such as this are something we hope to address. While a person may say, "It's all there if you go to city hall," it's important to remember that a lot of us don't spend all that much time there. Aside from water bills and Council Sessions on issues that people personally care about, annual community functions like Thanksgiving are the only thing that bring a lot of us down.

    We'll do our homework and provide a how-to on running for City Council, Mayor, and any other elected positions in the city.

    We can't seem to find a person on the street who doesn't hold a political office who actually knows the City Council election cycle in Manitou Springs. We will do our best to remedy that as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So, the Manitou Springs Municipal Code can be found at http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientID=16474&stateID=6&statename=Colorado , and Chapter 3 is about elections.

    "3.1 - Municipal Elections. permanent link to this piece of content

    (a)

    General Municipal Elections shall be held on the first Tuesday in November in odd numbered years.

    (b)

    Special Municipal Elections shall be held when called by resolution of the Council, or by ordinance, at least forty-five (45) days in advance of such election, or when required by this Charter or Statute. The resolution calling a special election shall set forth the purpose of such election. Any Council Member elected at a special municipal election shall take office at the first Council meeting following the Special Election.

    (c)

    All special and general municipal elections of the City shall be non-partisan.

    (Amended by voters, November 2008)

    3.2 - Laws Governing Elections.permanent link to this piece of content

    Except as otherwise set forth in this Charter and in ordinances not inconsistent with this Charter, the Municipal Election Code of 1965, as may be amended from time to time, and as currently set forth in Article 10 of Title 31 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, shall apply to all elections held in the City, and the Uniform Election Code of 1992, as may be amended from time to time, and as currently set forth in Title 1 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, shall apply to all elections coordinated with El Paso County.

    (Amended by voters, November 2008) "

    Is the full body of the chapter. We'll dig around and find out how exactly to run for offices, and we'll share that here.

    It didn't really cover the April Election part there, but it will probably be in the chapter on Council. We'll dig it up and try piece together a public how-to for running for office in Manitou Springs, Colorado.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just a thought not everyone that cares about our political system has a legal degree or comes close to understanding the Statutes therin why not write the legal information pertaining to these types of things in a manner that is understandable to those of us that grow up in normal semi-broke america and Ill bet you turnouts and votes would double almost immediately but everything is written in the manner that it is for the sole purpose of the average person not really knowing what is going on so that there can be elections that we dont get to vote on and many other things of that nature.

    "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!!!"

    ReplyDelete