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Vickery tosses his hat in ring

John Colson

Incumbent Councilman Jake Vickery has decided to seek election for the seat he gained by appointment two years ago.

Vickery confirmed Thursday evening that he will be on the streets today gathering signatures on a petition for one of two City Council seats that are up for election on May 4.

Aspen’s city election goes into its final phase starting next week, when the roster of candidates will be known and the campaigning will begin in earnest.



Plus, Monday, April 5, is the last day to register to vote in the election. Anyone interested in registering should stop at the City Clerk’s office at City Hall between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The deadline for candidates to turn in their petitions, which must contain the signatures of at least 25 qualified local electors, is today at 5 p.m.




As of Thursday afternoon, only three candidates had turned their petitions in – former County Commissioner Helen Klanderud, for mayor, and political newcomers Tony Hershey and Bruce Meyer, who are seeking council seats.

According to City Clerk Kathryn Koch, she had handed out a total of nine petition packages as of Thursday afternoon, including the three that have been turned in. The other petition packages went to incumbent council member Rachel Richards and another political newcomer, Michael O’Sullivan, both for the mayor’s job; and to council candidates Tom McCabe, Tim Semrau, Roger Haneman and Steve Felt.

Koch also said she had just this week mailed out 4,333 “election information” pamphlets, outlining two of the ballot questions that voters will face in the polling booth on election day.

The pamphlets, she said, were mailed to every household in the city where at least one of the city’s 5,607 registered voters lives.

The two questions outlined in the pamphlet ask voters to approve a $13,894,000 bond issue for recreation facilities, and to approve extension of the city’s .45 percent affordable housing/day-care sales tax for another decade.

The city solicited remarks from “persons in favor of or opposed to” the two questions, and Koch has condensed them into a series of “bullet” statements.

Regarding Question 1, the revenue bond question, the pamphlet lists 23 statements in favor of the question, and seven against.

Concerning Question 2, about the sales tax extension, the pamphlet lists 12 responses in favor of the question, and only one against.

Koch said many of the remarks sent in to City Hall were repetitive and had to be combined. She said she used the “bullet” format because she felt it was the clearest and easiest way to transmit the information to the voters.