VALLEY — Del Norte and Center are poised to have new mayors according to the initial results of Tuesday’s municipal elections.
Daniel “Archie” Gallegos was leading Center’s mayoral election, according to preliminary unofficial results released by the Town of Center.
Gallegos was a current trustee and decided to run for mayor against incumbent Anthony Tony Garcia in the April 2 election. Gallegos received 175 votes and Garcia received 140.
Four trustee seats were also before voters — three 4-year terms and one 2-year term. Incumbents Nivek Beiriger with 213 votes and Bill McClure with 159 and newcomer Paul Lopez with 220 votes were leading in the race for the 4-year terms. James Sanchez with 152 votes was leading in the 2-year term.
There could be some jostling in the trustee races as more votes are counted. Susan Gardea was fifth with 143 votes, followed by Natalia Judith Hernandez with 107 and Rogelio Aguilar with 101 votes.
Voters were also deciding Issue A, which creates a special economic development fund to be used for downtown revitalization and North 90 development. It received 175 yes votes and 126 no votes.
If approved, it takes .5 percent of the voter-approved 2 percent sales tax passed in 2020 to create the new economic development fund. The remaining 1.5 percent will continue to be used for capital improvements to town assets, public safety services, and park equipment improvements in the general fund.
Burnett leading in Del Norte mayor’s race
The Town of Del Norte woke up to change Wednesday morning April 3 as unofficial results were released late Tuesday night, April 2. According to the Town of Del Norte, Mayoral candidate Shelly Burnett was easily in front with 205 votes. Incumbent Mayor Chris Trujillo was next with 36 votes followed by mayoral candidate Shawn Goforth with 29 votes.
In the election for the three open trustee seats, Sarah A. White received the most votes with 211, followed by Louie Velasquez with 148 and Andrew Velasquez with 131. Bobbie L. Lopez came in with 123 votes and Jonathon Medina came in with 113 votes.
Crestone elects four trustees
Crestone voters elected four trustees from five candidates during their election Tuesday. The leading vote getters according to preliminary results from the Town of Crestone were Bejamin Byers with 40 votes, Armando Mendez with 36, Dennis Posluszny with 32 and Kimberly Martinez with 27. Dana Oglesby received 20 votes.
More ballots are being counted and verified. Official results will be announced when it is certified.
