Dolores elected five town board members and a mayor in Tuesday’s municipal election, according to unofficial results.
Candidates Isabel Boyce (108 votes), James Biard (102 votes), Robert Dobry (100 votes), Duvall Truelsen (97 votes), and write-in candidate Trevor Ince (31 votes) all won board seats. The new mayor is Santiago Lopez, who ran unopposed, and garnered 131 votes.
Dobry and Ince are the newest board members. The others candidates have been serving as appointed members. Boardmember Ginger McClellan-Swope’s term continues to 2018.
Ince, 23, is a carpenter at Rustic Style de Dolores Furniture and also works at the Riverfront restaurant. He campaigned on a platform of maintaining infrastructure, promoting events, and attracting businesses.
“I’m happy and looking forward to finding out how I can start helping out the town,” he said of his victory. “The fact that people voted me in is pretty cool.”
Ince has lived in the area his whole life. His “industrious nature” makes him a good fit for serving on the town board.
“Once I realized it’s not too difficult to get on town board, I became more willing to participate in this way,” he said.
Dobry, 35, is the Director of Corporate Support at the KSJD radio station. He also serves on the Dolores Planning and Zoning Commission.
He’s interested in updating the zoning code to fix inconsistencies, and would like commercial projects to be vetted more through planning and zoning board.
“My vision for the town is promoting an economically vibrant community where neighbors look out for each other,” Dobry said. “As a board member, I will support and encourage new, locally owned businesses to open in town.”
The election results are unofficial until the canvass next week. There is still time for five overseas ballots to arrive. Those ballots could change terms because top vote getters receive four year terms, and the others two-year terms.
Candidates will be sworn in later this month.
Participation for the town’s first all mail-ballot election was 156 ballots turned in out of about 500 active registered voters, or 31 percent turnout.
The closest race was between write-in candidates. Ince won 31 votes, edging out CPA Timothy Mueller who garnered 24 votes.
The election results were determined with the help of Montezuma County Clerk Kim Percell.
She said mail ballots elections are gaining in popularity, but have detractors as well.
“The mail ballots offer convenience for the voter without the pressure of feeling rushed at the voting booth,” Percell said. “Families are making it an event, sitting around the kitchen table with their ballots to discuss the candidates and issues.”