Candidate petitions have been submitted by all those looking to run for town councils across Summit County, with a mix of old and new faces looking to join their local governments.

Summit County’s municipal elections are slated for April 5, and all of the towns opted to hold them as mail ballot elections. While each town’s clerk will need to verify all of the candidate petitions before officially getting their names on the ballot, the towns have a better idea who will be running based on who submitted completed petitions.

The next step after petitions are verified will be to determine the order of names on the ballot, which is done by random selection.

Silverthorne will also have a question on the ballot asking whether the town should raise its lodging tax, and Frisco will have a question about implementing an excise tax for short-term rentals.

Blue River

The Blue River Board of Trustees has three four-year seats up for election with five candidates running:

• Heather Demovic
• Noah Hopkins
• Ted Pilling (incumbent)
• Bruce Queen
• Ted Slaughter

Town Manager Michelle Eddy said the town is planning to host an online candidate forum in February, but that the time and date have yet to be determined. In Blue River, elected trustees are paid $150 per month, while the mayor is paid $300 per month.

Breckenridge

The Breckenridge Town Council has three four-year seats up for election with 10 candidates running:

• Jay Beckerman
• Tom Day
• Alison Doolin
• Jason Libby
• Jennifer Loquasto
• Nathan Moorefield
• Todd Rankin
• Carol Saade (incumbent)
• Leonard Weisberg
• Mike Zobbe

Town Clerk Helen Cospolich said the town hasn’t hosted its own candidate forum in recent years to stay neutral in the election but that there could be an opportunity for local media outlets to host a forum. Breckenridge Town Council members are paid $1,000 a month, the mayor is paid $1,500 a month, and everyone receives full health benefits and a $500 recreation credit.

Dillon

The Dillon Town Council has three seats up for election as well as its mayoral seat, all for four-year terms. The only person running for mayor is incumbent Carolyn Skowyra, and five candidates are running for the three council seats:

• Jennifer Barchers (incumbent)
• Dana Christiansen
• Mark Cribbet
• Renee Imamura (incumbent)
• Tony Scalise

Town spokesperson Kerstin Anderson said Dillon is planning to hold a forum March 8, but a time and location have yet to be determined. Dillon council members are paid $500 per month, and the mayor is paid $1,000 per month.

Frisco

The Frisco Town Council has three four-year seats up for election with seven candidates running:

• Lisa Holenko
• John Hammett
• Elizabeth Skrzypczak-Adrian
• James Hayes Walsh
• Andy Held (incumbent)
• David Rolling
• Joe Buck Phillips

Town spokesperson Vanessa Agee said Frisco is planning to hold a candidate forum the evening of March 10 with the time yet to be determined. Frisco Town Council members are paid $600 per month, and the mayor is paid $1,050 per month.

Silverthorne

The Silverthorne Town Council has four seats up for election as well as its mayoral seat. The mayor and the three council candidates with the most votes will serve a four-year term, and the council candidate with the fourth most votes will serve a two-year term to finish out Tanya Shattuck’s term after she moved out of state. Incumbent Mayor Ann-Marie Sandquist is the only candidate for mayor, and seven candidates are running for the four council seats:

• Tim Applegate
• Kelly Baldwin (incumbent)
• Chris Carran
• Valerie Connelly
• Zach Kauk
• Tanecia Spagnolia
• Erin Young

Silverthorne spokesperson Kim Jardim said the town is planning to hold a candidate forum in March with details yet to be determined. Silverthorne recently increased its pay for Town Council, so council members whose terms started on or after April 2020 are paid $500 per month, and the mayor will be paid $1,000 per month.

The last time Silverthorne had a competitive election was 2016, and Town Manager Ryan Hyland said it’s great to see so many folks interested in serving their community.

“I don’t want to say it’s a thankless job, but it’s a tough gig, and so for people to be willing to put themselves out there and run and serve in that capacity is great,” Hyland said.

Officials from the town of Montezuma did not respond to a request for information about its April election.