The Montezuma County commissioners are considering letting voters decide whether to extend term limits on certain county offices.
At their workshop Monday, commission Chair James Candelaria said that positions such as the county clerk and recorder, treasurer, and assessor are “professional jobs where politics don’t come into play.” He noted that Lewis resident Dexter Gill had brought the issue to their attention during public comment at their Feb. 3 meeting.
State law limits elected officials to two terms unless local voters choose to change those limits.
Over the years, Montezuma County voters have expressed mixed opinions about term limits. In 2004, they said no to extending those limits for the clerk, assessor, treasurer, and sheriff, but they did decide to allow the county coroner to serve unlimited terms. However, in 2007 they did extend the terms allowed for the clerk, assessor, sheriff, and treasurer from two to three.
Then in 2010, they said no to allowing commissioners to serve three terms.
On Monday, Candelaria noted that although current county clerk Kim Percell is term-limited, no one has yet announced an interest in running for her job.
Candelaria said that people in such positions “are running everything by statute – they’re just career professionals.” He said when someone elected to those offices is doing a good job but comes to the end of their term limits, “they’re going to walk away” and if no one seeks that office, the commission has to appoint someone.
Current Treasurer Ellen Black and Assessor Leslie Bugg are coming to the end of their second terms.
Commissioners Kent Lindsay and Gerald Koppenhafer agreed that the jobs aren’t political.
Lindsay said, “We’ve got a lot invested in those folks and there’s a lot of training that goes to waste when they’re termed out.”
Koppenhafer said those officials aren’t making policy. He said for the assessor, treasurer, clerk, and coroner, “their jobs are set in statute for what they ought to do.”
He also said that at the end of the 12 years such officials serve, they are likely not going to be able to remain in those departments, “so their career is over at that office.”
The board agreed that they won’t seek to extend term limits for the commissioners.
Candelaria brought up the idea of changing term limits for the district attorney. Lindsay said that can’t be done without a vote in Dolores County, which is also part of the 22nd Judicial District.
Candelaria also said term limits don’t make sense for the county surveyor, which by state law is an elected office. Montezuma County’s surveyor is Rita Caffey.
The commissioners rejected the idea of extending limits for the sheriff. Current Sheriff Steve Nowlin, who was re-elected by a margin of almost 3 to 1 over his opponent in 2022, is nearing the end of his third term.
“ I think the sheriff [term limit] is more than adequate,” Candelaria said, adding, “We could move it back to eight years, just like the commissioners.”
He said that was just his opinion based on “what we’ve had to deal with, and around the state what’s going on.”
County sheriff is also a position required by state law to be elected. In contrast, municipalities can appoint their top law-enforcement officers and don't have to keep changing them. Roy Lane, for instance, served 39 years as Cortez's police chief, making him the longest-serving police chief in the state of Colorado.
They agreed to have county attorney Stephen Tarnowski look into possible language for the November ballot that would extend or eliminate term limits for the clerk, assessor, treasurer, surveyor, and possibly the DA.
