The Colorado Forward Party endorsed three candidates. Winners will be sworn in on May 4. The candidate recruitment team and I met with most of the candidates. Not all candidates requested an endorsement. As the local community organizer, I attended candidate forums and monitored local media. Fortunately, every Grand Junction City Council candidate scored well on the Restore the Balance questionnaires.
The Colorado Forward Party endorsed the following candidates:
- District A - Cody Kennedy WON
- District D - Laurel Cole WON
- District E - Randall Reitz
There were two initiatives on the ballot:
2A - Move Grand Junction Municipal elections to November PASSED
- The Mesa County Clerk's Office and the Colorado Secretary of State recommend holding elections in November.
- This change is expected to improve voter turnout.
- If approved, Council Members elected in 2023 with terms designed to end in April 2027 will serve until January 2028.
- For more details, consider this article: Council leans toward moving city elections to November.
2B - Salary increases for Council Members FAILED
- If approved, pay increases will begin in April 2027 or January 2028 depending on the outcome of 2A (above).
- No Council Member involved in putting this initiative on the ballot will receive a raise unless re-elected in 2025 or 2027.
- The current pay has not changed since 1999.
- Current monthly salaries are $750 for the Mayor (President) and $500 for Council Members.
- The ballot measure creates a benchmark related to the Area Median Income (AMI) for annual increases. 2024 Mesa County four-person household AMI is $94,200.
- If the measure had been in place in 2024, the salaries would have been as follows:
- $1,727 monthly for Mayor (President)
- $1,178 monthly for Council Member
Wendy Petry
Grand Valley Community Organizer