Dan Gibbs officially resigned as Summit County commissioner Tuesday, leaving a vacant seat that will need to be filled by the Summit County Democratic Party within 10 days. Gibbs stepped down as commissioner after Gov. Jared Polis appointed him to head the state’s Department of Natural Resources last week.
Gibbs had won re-election for a third and final term as commissioner after running unopposed in November. He was sworn in to office this past Tuesday, Jan. 8, before Polis announced his cabinet appointment the next day. County manager Scott Vargo said that Gibbs sent a letter to the county submitting his resignation effective Tuesday, Jan. 15, just one week after he was sworn in.
State law gives central committees of the departing lawmaker’s political party — in this case, the Democrats — the power to fill the vacancy until the next scheduled election. The Summit County Democratic Party’s committee will choose a Democrat to be commissioner until the next election in 2020.
Summit Democratic chairwoman Patricia McLaughlin said that the vacancy committee would convene to appoint Gibbs’ successor on Wednesday, Jan. 23. Any eligible Democrat who wishes to run for the seat will need to sign and deliver a letter of intent to McLaughlin by 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 21. Letters of intent can be emailed to McLaughlin at patti.mclaughlin@hotmail.com.
As of publication, five locals have submitted letters of intent to run for commissioner — Gary Martinez, a former county manager; Erin Gigliello, current Town of Breckenridge councilwoman; Emily Tracy, longtime Breckenridge resident and former state senate candidate; Mark Burke, a business owner and former Town of Breckenridge councilman; and Kevin Burns, currently senior manager for mountain community affairs at Vail Resorts and former mayor of the Town of Dillon. A full list of candidates will be available after the Jan. 21 submission deadline.
At the moment, Burns’ eligibility to run for the vacant seat is in dispute. According to state Democratic Party rules, only adult Democrat residents of the district who have lived there for over a year are eligible, but state law does not proscribe any such residency requirement.
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McLaughlin said that District Attorney Bruce Brown has been consulted about whether Burns, currently a Dillon resident in County District 2, should be eligible to run for the District 1 seat previously held by Gibbs, and Burns’ eligibility is still pending. District 1 is made up of the south and southwest portions of the county, including the Town of Breckenridge, Town of Blue River and Copper Mountain.
The vacancy committee is made up of 43 members — two precinct committee members from each of Summit County’s precincts (or less if precincts do not have two committee members), county party officers who serve on the Summit Democrats’ executive committee, a district chair from each of the county’s four districts (due to one vacancy, there are currently only three district chairs), as well as all elected Democrats who live in Summit County, including current commissioners Thomas Davidson and Karn Stiegelmeier.
A quorum will be met at the meeting next week if 22 members are present. McLaughlin said that 36 members have already committed to being present at the meeting.
If quorum is met, the committee will convene and hear 5-minute speeches from candidates before voting. Any candidate who receives at least 50 percent plus one vote of members present will be appointed to the vacant seat.
If no candidate meets that threshold on the first vote, candidates with the least number of votes will be eliminated and another vote will take place. This runoff cycle of vote and elimination continues until a candidate meets the threshold. The candidate who wins the overall vote will be sworn in in the days following to serve as commissioner for the next two years.
In the event that the vacancy committee is unable to appoint a successor by Jan. 25, the appointment will be made by the governor.
The entire vacancy committee process will be open to the public to observe; however, only established committee members will be able to vote for a successor. Voting committee members will be required to print their names and sign the back of their ballots.
The vacancy committee will meet at the Summit County Community and Senior Center at 83 Nancy’s Place in Frisco at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 23, with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. All members of the public are welcome to observe the process as capacity allows.