{"id":42419,"date":"2022-02-02T04:20:48","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T04:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/candidates-announced-for-dolores-town-board-election\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:06:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:06:59","slug":"candidates-announced-for-dolores-town-board-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/candidates-announced-for-dolores-town-board-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidates announced for Dolores Town Board election"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Solar
Solar panels have been installed on Dolores Town Hall. An electric car charging station was also installed. There is no cost to charge. (Courtesy Shaw Solar)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Dolores will have a mail-in election April 5 for mayor and three open Town Board seats, but only the mayor\u2019s seat will be contested.<\/p>\n

The candidates for mayor are Leigh Ann Reeves and Gerald \u201cJerry\u201d Whited, reports Town Clerk Tammy Neely.<\/p>\n

Reeves works at EsoTerra Ciderworks in Dolores, and Whited is a firefighter and EMT for Ute Mountain Ute Fire and Rescue.<\/p>\n

The winner will serve a two-year term and replace current mayor Chad Wheelus, who is finishing his second term.<\/p>\n

The candidates for the three open trustee positions are Ira \u201cTodd\u201d Andrews, Jeff Sand and Mark Younquist. Terms are for four years.<\/p>\n

They will replace outgoing board members Tracy Murphy, Jen Stark and Melissa Waters.<\/p>\n

The election will be held by mail, and ballots will be sent to voters in mid-March. They can be mailed back or dropped off at the ballot box in front of Town Hall, 420 Central Ave.<\/p>\n

Starting this year, elected board members will be paid $100 per month. The mayor is paid $150 per month.<\/p>\n

\"Beth
Beth Padilla, sworn in as a Cortez Municipal Court judge Nov. 18, also will serve as Dolores Municipal Court judge.<\/span>Courtesy City of Cortez<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Other town news<\/div>\n

The Town Board voted to hire Beth Padilla as Dolores Municipal Court judge at a rate of $80 per hour. She will replace Judge James Shaner, who has retired.<\/p>\n

Padilla is a licensed attorney with a practice in Mancos. She was appointed Cortez Municipal Court judge in November.<\/p>\n

Dolores Municipal Court is in session the last Wednesday of each month at 9 a.m. It typically handles its docket in about an hour, and special sessions may be scheduled as needed.<\/p>\n

The board appointed Tamara Woodbury and Beth Mitchell to serve on the Dolores Library District Board. They will replace board members Rysta Williford and Belinda Platts whose terms have expired.<\/p>\n

According to a letter of interest, Woodbury has owned a home on the West Fork of the Dolores River for 21 years and recently moved into town. She has worked in the social sector for 42 years, including 33 years as the CEO of the Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus Pine Council in Phoenix. Woodbury has also served as a board member and volunteer EMT for the Mormon Lake Fire Department in northern Arizona.<\/p>\n

Mitchell moved to Dolores in 2019 after having lived in La Plata County for more than 25 years. She also spent 12 years in Eugene, Oregon, where she worked as a director and practice manager for an animal hospital. During her career, Mitchell has served on numerous boards and community organizations.<\/p>\n

The Dolores Library board<\/a> also includes Sandy Jumper, Correen Becher, Jeanne Becker, Virginia Hernandez and Nicole Margeson.<\/p>\n

The meetings are held in the library\u2019s meeting room or over Zoom on the second Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

mayor\u2019s race is contested; town hires judge and appoints library board members<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[44,28,308,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-42419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores","tag-headlines","tag-local-elections","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85330,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42419\/revisions\/85330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42419"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=42419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}