13 Investigates: How Florence’s historical special election for city council will work
FLORENCE, Co. (KRDO) - The clock is ticking for more than a dozen Florence citizens gathering signatures to run for the six vacant city council seats.
13 Investigates learned that 16 Florence residents have pulled council petitions with interest in running after the entire city council resigned en masse telling 13 Investigates they could not get a third party to investigate corruption allegations.
Mayor Paul Villagrana is currently the only elected official in Florence. If he stays in his position, he will be the only elected leader in Florence for the next four months until a special election is held in August.
This means the elected body in Florence will remain in a state of limbo for another 116 days, and the August 2 special election will likely go down in the history books.
Florence citizens who would like to run for the city council will need to gather 25 signatures of registered voters in their ward. The City Clerk will determine their validity once the petition signatures are submitted.
Petition packets can be picked up from the Florence City Clerk at City Hall. All of the completed petitions must be turned in by 4:30 p.m. on Monday, April 25, according to Florence City Clerk Jessica Hill.
Not all resigned Florence council members who left the city had the same amount of time left in their term.
For the election, the candidate that receives the highest number of votes will fill the 4-year term, and the candidate with the second-highest number of votes will fill the 2-year term, according to Hill.
In the event of a tie, the City of Florence would hold a "lot drawing" to determine who fills the terms.
When it comes to qualifications to run, you must be a United States Citizen, at least 18 years old, a registered City of Florence voter, and have resided within the limits of the City of Florence for at least twelve consecutive months immediately preceding the date of the election.
The city says it will announce a polling location for the special election at a later date.
For complete information on how the Florence special election will work, click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.
