Mt. Crested Butte recall election set for February 13

Nomination petitions to run for office due December 11

By Kendra Walker

November has come and gone, but election season in the Gunnison Valley isn’t quite over. A special recall election to determine whether to remove council member Roman Kolodziej from office will take place on Tuesday, February 13, 2024. The election will be conducted by mail-in ballot only, and ballots will be mailed starting January 22. 

The Mt. Crested Butte town council agreed to the February date during their November 21 meeting. Town clerk Tiffany O’Connell and town attorney Gerald Dahl explained to the council that there will be two questions on the ballot. The first asks whether or not to recall Kolodziej from the town council. If the majority of the votes are in favor of Kolodziej’s recall, then the second ballot question will ask for the selection of his replacement. 

“If you are recalled, it’s an election effectively between the people who have chosen to file nomination petitions,” Dahl said to Kolodziej. “If the recall does not pass, then end of story,” and Kolodziej would remain on the town council. Kolodziej’s term expires November 2026. 

Those who wish to run for the council seat must pick up and return a nomination petition from the clerk’s office at the Mt. Crested Butte town hall, said O’Connell. Ten signatures are needed to run for office, and nomination petitions must be returned by 5 p.m. on December 11.

As of Tuesday, O’Connell told the Crested Butte News that one person has picked up a petition, but it has not been returned. She also noted that if someone has moved into Mt. Crested Butte, out of Mt. Crested Butte or within Mt. Crested Butte, they must update their physical address. “They can do this at GoVoteColorado.com. Or they can come by my office, or the Gunnison County Clerk and Recorder’s office in Gunnison,” she said. 

Background

The petition to recall Kolodziej began circulating in September in response to Mountain Express shifting the Columbine, Snodgrass and Summer Condo fixed bus routes to its new on-demand service, FirstTracks. Kolodziej serves on the Mountain Express board of directors, which in July approved the contract with the on-demand service provider Downtowner to implement the pilot program. 

FirstTracks began running last week in conjunction with the start of the winter CBMR season, and allows riders in the north Mt. CB service area to hail a minivan for transport throughout Mt. Crested Butte via a smartphone app.

Over the last several months, residents of Paradise Road and the surrounding neighborhoods have voiced their concerns about the service replacing their fixed bus route and said the change was not communicated to the public prior to the board’s approval and signing of the contract. 

The petition to recall Kolodziej was represented by Mt. Crested Butte residents Michael Jennings, Torrey Carroll and Rajiv Narayana and was turned into the town with 45 valid signatures.

A recall petition for council member and Mountain Express board member Dwayne Lehnertz also circulated this fall, but no petition has been turned in for Lehnertz to date. Lehnertz was one of two sitting council members who signed the recall petition, the other being council member Steve Morris. 

The February 13 election will be the first recall election in Mt. Crested Butte history. O’Connell said the recall election is estimated to cost the town between $10,000 to $15,000, which includes the ballot company, attorney’s fees, election judges and supplies.