Any Commerce City citizen-candidates out there?

Six City Council seats including the mayor’s will be on this November’s municipal ballot. Yet, only one City Council incumbent so far has formally filed for reelection.

Mayor Pro Tem and Ward II council member Jennifer Allen-Thomas’ four-year term ends this year, and she has filed her candidate affidavit and the registration form for her candidate committee for a run to retain her seat on the November ballot.

That doesn’t mean the other incumbents aren’t going to seek reelection, of course; there’s still time to turn in the needed petitions by the Aug. 28 deadline. But it will be interesting to track who does file for another run for their office as well as who else in the community might seek those seats. 

The latest edition of City Hall’s monthly newsletter is encouraging citizens to throw their hats in the ring and published details of how to do that. To better inform the public, we’ve recapped some of it below.

Councilors are elected to serve four-year terms. …

Residents interested in elected office must meet the following requirements: 

Citizen of the United States.

18 years of age or older.

City resident for at least 12 months preceding appointment.

Resident of ward (not applicable for at-large seats) for 25 days immediately preceding appointment.

Cannot be serving a felony conviction (including probation or parole).

To become a candidate, residents must file a notarized candidate affidavit with the city clerk within 10 days of publicly announcing their intent and either accepting a donation or expending funds in support of their candidacy. To be placed on the ballot, candidates must submit a completed nomination petition, signed by at least 25 registered electors within the ward or city, by 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 28. Nomination petitions are available starting Monday, Aug. 7 at 8 a.m. in the City Clerk’s Office at the Civic Center, 7887 E. 60th Ave. 

Find more helpful information about running for a council seat, read July’s Commerce City Connected newsletter. You can sign up for the newsletter at: c3gov.com/Subscribe