INFORMATION REGARDING THE REGULAR MUNICIPAL ELECTION
GENERAL INFORMATION
The Carbondale Municipal Election Day is Tuesday, April 2, 2024. This will be a mail ballot election. For convenience, a ballot box will be available outside Town Hall 24 hours a day/7 days a week from March 15 – April 2, 2024.
The Board of Trustees regular meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. There are work session (non-voting) meetings on the third Tuesday of each month. The meetings start at 6:00 p.m. and are held at Carbondale Town Hall, 511 Colorado Avenue.
Additionally, Trustees are expected to serve on various advisory committees. The Board will determine the committee representatives at a Board meeting in May.
A link to the agenda and packet material will be sent to the Trustee’s town-issued email on the Thursday before the meeting. The packet should be read before the Trustee meeting. The agenda and packet materials may also be found on the Town’s web page www.carbondalegov.org under “Government.”
The Trustees will be compensated at the rate of $900.00 per month. The Mayor will be compensated at a rate of $1,500 per month.
Electors Eligible to Hold a Municipal Office
Each Candidate for municipal office must be:
► A citizen of the United States for at least one year;
► At least 18 years of age;
► Have been a resident of the Town for at least one year;
► No person may be a Candidate for 2 municipal offices at the same election, nor hold 2 municipal offices simultaneously;
► No Board member shall be a salaried employee of the Town during their term of office, nor shall they perform personal services for the Town for which they are compensated other than their Trustee salary;
Term of Office
Three Trustee seats will be filled at the April 2, 2024 Municipal Election. All candidates will serve a four-year term. The terms will expire in April 2028. The newly elected Trustees will take their oath of office at the second regular meeting of April, Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
The term of any Trustee shall terminate when he or she no longer resides in the boundaries of the Town of Carbondale.
Duties of the Mayor
The Mayor shall preside at all regular, and special meetings of the Board of Trustees and shall be required to vote on all matters being considered by the Board of Trustees. The Mayor shall act as the ceremonial head of government of the Town. The Mayor shall execute and authenticate legal instruments, contracts, and documents requiring a signature on behalf of the Town. The Board of Trustees may, for specific and limited purposes, delegate certain non-legislative duties of the Mayor to the Town Manager or other employees of the Town.
Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees consists of one (1) Mayor and six (6) Trustees, who shall act as, and be considered as, a full member of the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees shall be the governing body of the Town and shall have all policy-making and legislative powers.
Procedure for Municipal Office Nomination
All Candidates for Trustee run “at Large,” which means they do not represent any specific district/precinct of the Town of Carbondale. Candidates for municipal offices shall be nominated, without regard to political party affiliation. Blank nomination petition forms are provided by the Clerk’s office. Each Candidate for municipal office must circulate or have circulated a nomination petition. Each nomination petition can only be circulated by one person. Nomination petitions cannot be left unattended by the circulator. The circulator must witness and certify by affidavit that each signature is the signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and that each signer has stated to the circulator that they are a registered elector of the Town.
The nominating petition must be signed by at least 25 registered electors who reside within the Town of Carbondale. It is recommended that the Candidate should obtain more than the required 25 registered elector signatures in the event that some signatures are not valid. The Clerk will verify signatures.
Nomination petitions can be picked up from the Clerk beginning Tuesday, January 2, 2024. Completed nomination petitions must be returned to the Clerk by 5:00 p.m., Monday, January 22, 2024.
Each nomination petition shall be completed with the name of the Candidate as they wish it to appear on the ballot, the Candidate’s place of residence, and the office being sought. Candidates may use a nickname on the ballot but may not use any title or degree designation with the business or profession of the Candidate.
A registered voter may only sign one nomination petition for each separate office to be filled in the municipality (e.g. if the Mayor is up for election, and two people are running, the registered voter may only sign one Mayor nomination petition. If three Trustee seats are up for election, the registered voter may sign up to three nomination petitions.).
Each Candidate must sign the Acceptance of Nomination and Affirmation of Qualifications on the back of the Nomination Petition. The Acceptance of Nomination shall contain the place of residence of the Candidate and the name of the Candidate in the form that the Candidate wishes to appear on the ballot. Each petition circulator must sign the Statement of Circulator at the bottom of the nomination petition. All statements must be notarized. The Town Clerk will not notarize nomination petitions.
Names are no longer placed on the ballot in alphabetical order. The position of names on the ballot is determined by lot (C.R.S. 31-10-902(2). The names will be drawn for placement on the ballot on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. in Meeting Room #1, for those Candidates and members of the public wishing to participate. It is not mandatory to be present for the lottery drawing.
Within 5 days after filing the nomination petition, the Clerk will notify the Candidate and/or the circulator(s) as to the sufficiency of the petition. An insufficient petition must be amended by Monday, January 29, 2024.
Withdrawal From Candidacy
Forms for withdrawing from candidacy may be obtained from the Clerk’s office. The deadline to withdraw from candidacy and have your name taken off the ballot is Monday, January 29, 2024.
Campaign Reform Act
If a candidate chooses to accept outside contributions for campaigning purposes (resources other than the candidate’s personal funds), he/she must comply with the Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA) (CRS – Title 1, Article 45). ALL Candidates must file a “Candidate Affidavit” pursuant to 1-45-110 of the CRS, within 10 days of becoming a Candidate or submit the affidavit with the Nomination Petition. Failure to do so “shall result in the disqualification of such person as a Candidate”.
Contributions and Expenditures
Attention – Those Candidates who receive contributions must meet the reporting and filing requirements set forth in the Fair Campaign Practices Act.
All contributions received by a Candidate committee, issue committee, political committee, small donor committee, or political party shall be deposited in a financial institution in a separate account whose title shall include the name of the committee. Bank records must be retained for 180 days following the election.
Independent Expenditure means an expenditure that is not controlled by or coordinated with any Candidate or agent of such Candidate. Expenditures that are controlled by or coordinated with a Candidate or Candidate’s agent are deemed to be both contributions by the maker of the expenditures, and expenditures by the Candidate committee. (Article XXVIII Section 2(9)).
Any person making an independent expenditure in excess of $1,000 shall disclose in the communication produced by that expenditure the name of the person making the expenditure and the specific statement that the advertisement of material is not authorized by any Candidate. Such disclosure shall be prominently featured in the communication. (Article XXVIII Section 5(2)).
The forms necessary to meet these requirements are included in this packet of information. NOTE: Candidates who do not receive contributions must file a Candidate Statement of Non-Receipt of Contributions and Non-Expenditure of Funds.
Candidates are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the FCPA and making the appropriate filings.
*DO NOT FILE FCPA FORMS ELECTRONCIALLY. All FCPA forms in this election are filed with the Town Clerk.
THE REPORT FILING DATES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Candidate Affidavit – Complete within 10 days of becoming a Candidate or submit with the Nomination Petition
1st Report of Expenditures & Contributions – February 2, 2024
2nd Report of Expenditures & Contributions – March 4, 2024
3rd Report of Expenditures & Contributions – March 18, 2024
4th and Final Report of Expenditures & Contributions – May 2, 2024
FCPA forms can be found here
More information about FCPA can be found here