A special election will be held April 5, 2022 to fill an at-large seat on the Longmont City Council, vacated by Mayor Joan Peck after she won the mayor’s seat in November.
The special election will be conducted by an outside vendor at an estimated cost of $240,000, City Clerk Dawn Quintana told the council. April 5 is probably the earliest Longmont could find a qualified group to run the election, she said.
The city council voted unanimously for the April 5 date. The city shouldn’t wait until the general election in November 2022 to fill the seat, Coucilmember Susie Hidalgo-Fahring said.
“November is too late,” Hidalgo-Fahring said. “Let’s get it done as soon as possible.”
County clerks in Boulder and Weld counties cannot conduct the special election in 2022 because they will be too busy implementing redistricting changes in time for June primary elections, Quintana said.
“The clerks were very apologetic but they just can’t help us this time around,” she said.
Councilmember Tim Waters told the council he didn’t understand why the county clerks didn’t anticipate that redistricting would arrive at the same time as city elections.
“I am puzzled that another level of government simply decides that we are on our own,” Waters said.
A vendor probably won’t be selected until February, city officials told the council. Peck said she hopes the vendor could run the election before April 5.
