Five residents entered the race for four seats on the Estes Park Town Board by Monday’s deadline: Incumbents Bill Brown and Kirby Nelson-Hazelton along with newcomers Chris Eshelman, Aidan Rosenau, and Randy Welch.
Town Trustees are expected to adopt a resolution at tonight’s board meeting declaring Cindy Younglund’s seat vacant, creating a fourth seat open for election.
Until Younglund announced her resignation on Jan. 13, only three seats on the town board were slated to be filled through the election process. However, if the current town board adopts a resolution declaring a vacancy, the seat can be filled by the candidate receiving the fourth-highest number of votes in the upcoming election.
The final vote count will determine which candidate will complete the final two years of Younglund’s term.
Brown, an attorney with experience in business and tax law, has lived in Estes Park for six years. He was elected in 2024 to serve the remaining two years of Scott Webermeier’s term, after Webermeier died while in office.
Not long after graduating from Colorado College, Hazelton moved to Estes Park and joined the staff of Visit Estes Park. She has worked for the Estes Valley Public Library and is now an editor at Estes Park News. She is completing her first full four-year term as a trustee.
Eshelman currently serves as chairman of the Upper Thompson Sanitation District. A longtime resident of Estes Park, he was previously the Town of Estes Park’s water superintendent. He and his wife own and manage Fish Creek Storage.
A Colorado native, Rosenau graduated from Pikes Peak State College in Colorado Springs in 2019 and now works at Peak Flooring.
Welch is known locally for his musical talents and for his participation in Listening at the Legion at American Legion Post #119 and the Estes Park Chorale.
The municipal election will be conducted by mail on April 7. Anyone who missed Monday’s candidate filing deadline can be included in the race by submitting an affidavit declaring they are a write-in candidate by Feb. 2, which is also the last day for a candidate to withdraw from the election.
To obtain the latest information about whose petitions have been certified as valid and who will appear as candidates on the April 7 ballot, the Town Clerk’s office has established a web page that details information as it is received.
You must be logged in to post a comment.