How Aspen plans for vacancy on city council

Current Aspen City Council Member John Doyle is running for Pitkin County Commissioner — raising questions for how the city will fill his seat if he were to win.

While the city cannot operate under any assumptions about the upcoming election — meaning, they cannot speculate or predict the outcome — City Attorney Kate Johnson confirmed there is a procedure for council seat vacancies set forth in Section 3.8 of the city’s charter.

“He cannot continue to serve as a city council member and an elected official for another governmental institute,” Johnson said.

Doyle was first elected to Aspen City Council in March 2021 and sworn in on June 8, 2021. He was reelected in a runoff election in April 2025. 

Aspen City Council members serve four-year terms, but in the event of a vacancy, the charter outlines that the seat may be filled by appointment of the remaining council members.

“The selection of the appropriate individual may be made through any selection procedure or method that the majority of the council deems appropriate, including but not limited to such election methods as approval voting or cumulative voting,” the charter states.

The selection must be completed within 30 days of the creation of the vacancy, both the charter and Johnson clarified. The individual appointed by council will serve until the next general municipal election.

If council by majority decided not to or fails to make an appointment within 30 days of the vacancy, the vacancy can be filled by Aspen voters. If the vacancy is filled by an election, the elected individual will serve the remainder of the vacated term.

This is not the first time the city had a potential vacancy. Aspen City Council Member Steve Skadron ran for mayor in 2013, according to previous reporting by The Aspen Times, winning the election and leaving the council seat vacant Council at the time ultimately chose Dwayne Romero to fill it.

Doyle is running for Pitkin County Commissioner in District 1 against Rob Ittner.