RANGELY I Rangely Town Council member and Mayor Pro Tem Brad Casto submitted a letter of resignation from his position on the council last week. Casto had served on the council for seven years.
The Rangely Town Council will meet in the coming weeks to accept Casto’s resignation and determine how to move forward and fill the vacancy. According to the Rangely Municipal Code, the council can choose one of two options.
The first option is to seek letters of interest from those who would like to fill the position. The council would then hold a vote based on those candidates. Whoever is chosen would then sit on the council until April 2016, when they would have to seek public election.
The second option is to quickly hold a special election.
Town Manager Peter Brixius thinks it is unlikely the council will choose to go the election route for several reasons.
First, he said, this position would again be up for election in April 2016, meaning that whoever was elected would only sit in that position for a year before having to again be elected.
Brixius also said he believes the cost of running a special election makes it unlikely that the council would want to proceed in that manner. He said that in the past elections have cost between $5,000 and $7,000.
The Rangely Town Council will also hold a vote deciding who will take over mayor pro team duties from within the council.
Current council members include Joseph Nielsen, Dan Eddy, Lisa Hatch, Ann Brady and Andy Shaffer.
