The initial unofficial results for Tuesday’s Town of Pagosa Springs election have been released by Town Clerk April Hessman.
Hessman told the SUN that “judges counted 252 ballots” from town voters by 7 p.m. on Tuesday night.
For the mayor’s seat, incumbent Shari Pierce ran unopposed and received 202 votes, according to Hessman.
Two council member seats were also up for election on the ballot, with incumbent Gary Williams, running unopposed, receiving 155 votes and incumbent Madeline Bergon, also running unopposed, receiving 180 votes, according to Hessman.
The election also placed two ballot questions in front of town voters.
Ballot Question A asked voters to amend the Home Rule Charter to bring maximum fines and jail sentences for violations of town ordinances in line with the state of Colorado’s max fines and sentences.
Town Manager David Harris called this “charter language cleanup” at a previous town council meeting.
Town voters approved Ballot Question A, with 149 votes in favor and 96 votes against the measure.
Ballot Question B asked the town’s voters to allow the town to take out a $3 million loan to pay for the remainder of its flood recovery efforts along the San Juan River in wake of the flooding event in October 2025.
This ask of voters came in the wake of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denying the town a request for funding river cleanup and recovery efforts.
Development Director James Dickhoff explained at previous meetings that the town was about $3 million short, after finding alternative funding programs mostly through the state, for its recovery efforts, which is why the town was asking voters to allow the town to go after a loan.
Dickhoff had described the potential loan as a way to focus flood recovery efforts around “public safety” in the river corridor ahead of the spring and summer river recreation seasons.
The ballot measure failed to pass, with 130 votes opposed to the measure and 122 votes in favor of the measure, according to Hessman.
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