Dillon Town Council will seek a new councilor after Steve Milroy announced his resignation Tuesday at the new council’s first meeting.

The council will have 60 days to appoint a replacement. It plans to make the appointment at either its June 7 or 21 council meeting. If it fails to select a new councilor by June 21, the council will hold a special election between Tuesday, July 26, and Tuesday, Sep. 13.

The council will have an in-depth discussion about appointing Milroy’s successor at its next work session May 17. It will finalize its procedures at that day’s council meeting.

Milroy’s seat is not up for reelection until 2024. Whoever the council appoints will hold the seat until then.

Personal matters have guided Milroy and his family to a new home in Denver. He will continue to reside in Dillon for part of the summer, but decided now was the best time to step down.

Mayor Carolyn Skowyra said Milroy informed her of his plan to resign on April 20, the day after the council’s last meeting. The council officially accepted Milroy’s resignation May 3.

Town attorney Nick Cotton encouraged the council to wait and not appoint someone at its May 17 meeting, “because the procedures that I’m going to suggest involve outreach to the public through notice and an offer for submission of letters of interest from interested members of the public who might like to serve on the council.”

He went on to suggest the council should conduct interviews at its June 7 meeting, after it receives letters of interest.

“I think it should be openly discussed who voted for who,” he continued. “Keeping the process as transparent as possible, I think is in the council’s interest.”

No matter the council’s course for finding a new councilor, the new appointee will require a majority from the remaining six council members.

“We’ve already been getting emails about potential candidates,” Skowyra said. “It’s important that we say potential, because we don’t yet have a process that we’re going to use.”

After the meeting, Milroy said he had informed a few close contacts about his plans to move and resign as a matter of courtesy to them.

As a word of advice to councilors, Skowyra said, “If you have already committed yourself to one person before you know who all does apply, then I don’t think you can be a part of a fair interview process.”

Skowyra thanked Milroy for his two years of service to the council.

“Don’t hesitate to stop by, even though you’re going to be a Front Ranger now,” town manager Nathan Johnson said.

One of Milroy’s notable initiatives over the past year included the passing of an ordinance banning plastic bags in Dillon. The law went into effect Aug. 1, joining Breckenridge, Frisco, Aspen, Steamboat Springs, Telluride and other municipalities across Colorado that have taken a stand against single-use plastic bags and other disposable items. Dillon’s law placed an outright ban on most businesses and restaurants from providing Styrofoam or plastic bags to customers.

The law mimics a state law that went into effect July 6, called the Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, which prohibits retailers and restaurants from providing single-use and polystyrene containers beginning Jan. 1, 2024. That state law plans to phase out the use of plastics over time, implementing a 10-cent fee for using paper or plastic bags starting Jan. 1, 2023.

Milroy also helped develop an incentive program to encourage more accessory dwelling units on existing properties to help create local workforce housing. The program was said to take effect sometime this year if it is approved by town council, according to a meeting in February. The idea is to help with the reimbursement of fees associated with water and sewer tap installation to units built on approved plots. The units would be deed restricted to only allow local workers to rent the apartments.

Helping the town navigate the pandemic also fell during Milroy’s tenure.