City Council will have a second reading of the proposed ballot measure at the regular Wednesday meeting on Jan. 15 after public comment, then a final reading at the regular meeting on Feb. 5.

New city manager Mike Bennett started the workshop by explaining some of the background information and the pros and cons.

He indicated that in 2020 the Secretary of State’s Office recommended counties avoid participating in off-cycle elections, prompting the City of Grand Junction to conduct its own election. This decision increased costs significantly, from $66,187.59 when managed by Mesa County to $168,923.71 when run independently.

Staff reached out to Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross in June 2023, and she agreed to oversee Grand Junction’s April 2025 election, but she recommended the City Council consider moving future elections to November.

City Clerk Selestina Sandoval emphasized that continuing with April elections would demand substantial resources and could require the city to conduct its own elections if coordination with the county becomes unworkable.

Furthermore, Sandoval addressed facility needs for elections, saying, “There’s just a lot of unknowns, and to potentially rent a facility and set up all of the technology, all of the security, all of that, to take it down is just really hard. So, I think that if that’s the direction we move in, we really need to look at a permanent solution that we can keep up.”

Some of the pros listed were increased voter convenience, increased voter confidence, increased voter turnout and financial savings.

Some of the cons listed were that the change would limit the city to one annual opportunity for TABOR questions, and the possible perception that sharing ballot space with county and state issues minimizes city issues.

Council discussion

The city council discussed questions about voter turnout, cost and moving council members’ seating dates to January if voters passed the measure.

Mayor Pro Tem Randall Reitz indicated he is open to the possibility of moving the election to November and asked Gross what the division of duties would be between the city and the county.

Gross said the city would handle candidate petitions and certify the ballot. Then, the county would handle it from there.

Council member Scott Beilfuss addressed voter turnout, saying, “It was a little concerning that all we’re talking about is money on the cost of the elections, but we certainly want to increase turnout if at all possible. Democracies aren’t free, so we’re used to spending money on elections and reaching out to everybody.”

Beilfus then asked Gross and Sandavol about past voter-turnout numbers for the county and the city.

Gross indicated that in odd years voter turnout during fall elections is about 45 percent, and Sandavol could not recall the exact voter-turnout percentage for the city’s spring elections.

The staff report shows total turnout for the city’s special election in November 2022 for measure 2A was 29,184, while the total turnout in the following spring’s regular election was 18,322, a difference of about 37 percent.

Furthermore Gross said, “Studies have shown that participation is higher in November than it is in April elections, because people are used to November elections.”

Council member Cody Kennedy said, “The only comment I would have is that I’m supportive … We have a lot of information, so it seems to save us quite a bit of money, and I think it would improve voter turnout.”

Council member Anna Stout said, “I think that if it weren’t for cost I might have a stronger opinion about this. But from a simple numbers perspective, I don’t see any reason to lose the partnership with the county and increase our costs like this. I don’t see that it’s worthwhile to fight for April.”

Council member Jason Nguyen said, “I’m supportive of this change and would be supportive of putting it on to the voters in April.”

Mayor Abram Herman said, “I’m generally supportive of the change as well. I also feel like we don’t have much of a choice at this point, since the system keeps being changed in a way that somewhat prevents municipalities from running their own elections, even if we wanted to. But I think, by and large, it makes sense, and it certainly saves money.”

Herman proposed seating new council members in January instead of December if elections were moved to November, citing concerns about their lack of participation in the budget process.

Stout and Nguyen agreed and indicated it would be helpful for onboarding.

Council member Dennis Simpson disagreed and noted most of the budget was already complete by December.

City Election History

The City of Grand Junction has held its municipal elections in the spring since adopting its city charter on Sept. 14, 1909.

The last time the charter was amended was in 1925, and the charter currently reads:

“A municipal election shall be held in the city on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April, 1925, and on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April of every second year thereafter, and shall be known as the General Municipal Election. All other municipal elections that may be held shall be known as Special Municipal Elections.”