Fort Collins Election Preview: What’s on the Ballot?

We’ve been at this now for five weeks, and I’m very happy with the way our staff has responded to the unique challenge of launching an entirely new digital news agency. Our 16 Ramspondents are all working hard to report and edit stories here in the newsletter and on our social media. If you’re new to The Ramspondents, you might want to check out some of our past work at our website. 

We should be increasing our output of stories over the next several weeks as we get closer to Election Day. For being an off-year election, we’re going to make some big decisions here in Fort Collins between now and Nov. 4. We’ll elect a new mayor out of a field of seven candidates, and we’ll use rank-choice voting to do it. We’ll vote on representatives for Districts 1, 3 and 5, and we’ll vote on two ballot measures related to the old Hughes Stadium site that are causing quite a bit of confusion among voters (we’re working on a story that will tell you what happens if one passes, both pass or both fail). 

Do you have questions about the election or anything else happening in Fort Collins? We’d love to answer them for you. Send your ideas to us at [email protected] and we’ll gladly start asking questions to get those answered. 

Today, we’re taking a look at everything on the ballot. Starting Wednesday, we’re hoping to debut at least one story a day that examines the races for City Council and the various ballot initiatives we’ll decide on. 

Here’s to a good week, 

– Jake Sherlock, editor and instructor

Fort Collins has finalized its ballot for the 2025 election. Here’s what residents will be voting for. 

Ava Fricke
The Ramspondents

On Nov. 4, 2025, Fort Collins will be holding a municipal election. On this year's ballot, there are going to be mayoral and district city candidates up for election, as well as city ballot issues and county resolutions. 

There are seven mayoral candidates up for election this year; the current mayor, Jennifer Arndt, is not among them. The mayoral candidates are Tricia Canonico, Adam Eggleston, Emily Francis, Adam Hirschhorn, Shirley Peel, Jeffrey Shumway and Scott VanTatenhove (ScottyV).

There are three City Councilmember candidates running for District 1, which is the district encompassing the North-Eastern quadrant of the city. The candidates are Christopher Bramhall-Conway, Susan Gutowsky and Daisy Montgomery.

There are three candidates running for District 3, which is located south of Harmony Road and west of Interstate 25. The candidates are Joshua Fudge, Lance Smith and Stephen Yurash.

The final district with a Councilmember up for election is District 5, which is the district that includes Colorado State University and the surrounding area south of campus. The candidates are Amy Hoeven and Zoelle Lane.

There are also 10 ballot issues and questions that are going to be left up to public referendum. Many of the issues are focusing on amending the City Charter, which acts as the city's constitution, defining the government structure, the powers and responsibilities of officials, and how the city will be run. The rest of the ballot issues are regarding implementing ordinances, which are pieces of legislation that function as laws. 

The first ballot issue is a city referred ballot issue regarding the Community Capital Improvement Program, which is a bill focusing on renewing a previously passed tax money allocation bill. The city currently has 0.25% of the City sales tax allocated to “capital projects designed to serve the community as a whole.” This mainly funds city infrastructure and facilities. The bill is being put to a referendum to continue to allow these funds to be allocated for another 10 years. A “yes” vote on this bill would mean the voter agrees to continue the existing 0.25% tax for another 10 years to fund the proposed capital projects. A “no” vote on this bill would mean the voter does not agree with continuing the existing 0.25% tax for another 10 years.

The second ballot issue is a city-initiated proposed charter amendment. It corrects language related to local elections within the City. There are three parts to the amendment, firstly requiring a registered elector to notify the City Clerk before going after a court determination challenging the qualifications of a Council Member. The second part updates the bill language concerning recall petitions to match the new ranked choice voting process that was approved in November 2021. The third part updates the Charter language to give signature gatherers seventy-seven (77) days instead of sixty-three (63) days to gather signatures for an initiative petition. A “yes” vote indicates the voter agrees with updating the Charter language. A “no” vote indicates the voter does not agree with updating the Charter language regarding local elections.

The third ballot issue is a charter amendment that updates and removes provisions of the City Charter that city officials have said become “outdated, unnecessary, or redundant.” Deletions include “references to department heads appointed before 1985, tax provisions now provided in State law, and language guiding the transition from a Commission to a Council form of government that was completed in 1955.” The Charter Amendment will also modernize the language and syntax of the entire Charter. A “yes” voter agrees with updates and removes language in the Charter that does not serve a purpose and modernizes the language of the entire Charter. A “No” vote indicates the voter does not agree with the updates.

The fourth ballot issue is a charter amendment that would modernize requirements for adopting ordinances, including publication requirements, such as detailing the effects of late publication. The amendment also removes the option for a city councilmember to request that an ordinance be read aloud in its entirety at a City Council meeting. A “yes” vote on this issue agrees with updating and modernizing requirements to adopt ordinances. A “no” vote indicates that the voter does not agree with changing the requirements to adopting ordinances. 

The fifth ballot issue is a charter amendment that also has three parts, aiming to align with the City’s charter with state and federal laws. Currently, the Charter language does not allow city employees from contributing to City Council elections. Colorado state statutes state that local governments must allow employees to participate fully in political activity. The state law allows limits to put on political activities of public employees that have policy-making responsibilities. This amendment aims to align the Charter language about contributing to City Council elections with state and federal constitutions and statutes.

The second change to the Charter amendment updates the language to allow executive sessions for any matter authorized by the Colorado Open Meetings Law. The current Charter language allows the City Council to go into executive session to discuss specific topics confidentially, including “personnel matters, legal matters, water and real property acquisitions and sales by the city, or matters of competition for electric utility (including broadband) matters.” Third, this charter amendment updates the city’s records requirements to align with the Colorado Open Records Act. The current Charter language requires that city records be available for public inspection subject only to “reasonable restrictions.” A “yes” vote means that the voter agrees with the updates to language regarding aligning the charter with state and federal directives. A “no” vote means that the voter does not agree with updating the language. 

The sixth ballot issue is another charter amendment allowing the city to purchase property from a councilmember when the city needs the property for city purposes, as long as the property is purchased at fair market value. The amendment does not change the requirement that councilmembers must not participate in city decisions when they have financial or personal interest. The current charter of the city does not allow the city to buy real or personal property from a councilmember at all.  The amendment will specifically allow the city to rent city property to city employees when it is necessary for the employee’s position and it will be beneficial to the city. A “yes” vote means that the voter agrees with updating the charter to allow the city to manage city property as described. A “no” vote means that the voter would like the charter to stay unchanged.

The seventh ballot issue is a charter amendment addressing term limits. The current charter does not address term limits. Currently, councilmember term limits are decided by the Colorado Constitution provisions about local government term limits. The Constitution allows local governments to set their own term limits or choose to get rid of them. This proposal addresses term limits questions that arise when a person serves a partial council term in Fort Collins. The proposed amendment will lay out how the term limits apply to a partial councilmember term. The amendment dictates that “in the event of a person filling a vacancy, the time they serve on council in that seat counts as a ‘term’ for term-limit purposes if they serve at least half of the length of a full term.” The charter amendment also updates the process of filling vacancies on City Council. It will require the City Council to post a notice of vacancy and appoint a new councilmember within thirty-five business days. It will also require the council to appoint a qualified person for a full term if there isn't a qualified candidate on the ballot to fill an opening. A “yes” vote means that the voter agrees with how a partial term is calculated and the process of how a vacant seat is filled. A “no” vote means that the voter does not agree with these updates and would like the charter to stay the same. 

The eighth ballot measure is the last city referred measure, meaning it is the last measure that has been proposed by the City Council for public referendum. This measure is a Civic Assembly ordinance recommendation, which is an ordinance that was adopted by the City Council after going through an assembly of randomly selected citizens who are representative of the Fort Collins general population. The Fort Collins government described this measure as follows: “In 2025, the City used a facilitated ‘Civic Assembly’ process to engage the public on the future of the Hughes Site. After extensive preparations, 20 Fort Collins residents were selected by lottery to form the Civic Assembly, with the goal of representing a balanced cross-section of the community.” An initiative regarding the purchase by the city, zoning, and use of the former Hughes Stadium property was approved by 68.61% of the registered electors of Fort Collins at the regular city election on April 6, 2021. The ballot initiative required the city to rezone the former Hughes Stadium property as a Public Open Lands, acquire the property, and use it for "parks, recreation and open lands, natural areas, and wildlife rescue and education. In April and May 2025, the Civic Assembly met to receive information and then discuss and develop recommendations for the site's development and management. During a series of public meetings, they heard from various presenters and reviewed information from past outreach efforts, all of which focused on potential uses for the Hughes Site that align with its voter-mandated zoning as Public Open Lands.

This ballot measure adopted from the Civic Assembly dictates the use of the land as follows:

A “yes” vote indicates the voter approves of the use and management plans for the Hughes Stadium Site described in the measure. A “no” vote means the voter does not agree with these use and management plans. 

The ninth ballot measure is a Citizen-Initiated Ordinance, which means it is a citizen proposed bill, requiring at least 5,070 citizen signatures to appear on the ballot. This proposed ordinance would continue the City’s Open Space Sales and Use Tax for a period of 25 years. This tax has already been in place in Fort Collins since 2002. An initiative petition amending the terms of the original ordinance is also included in this bill.

The Fort Collins government describes the purpose of this bill as: In addition to removing the expiration of the Tax, the Initiated Measure amends the terms of the 2002 Initiative by:

A “yes” vote on this bill means that the voter agrees to remove the expiry on the tax and to amend the allocation of tax revenue. A “no” vote on this bill means that the voter does not agree to remove the expiry on the tax and to amend the allocation of tax revenue. 

The final ballot measure is another Citizen-Initiated Ordinance, also concerning the Hughes Property. As stated in the citizen-initiated ordinance: “Since the passage of the ballot initiative and subsequent purchase of the former Hughes Stadium property, public discussions and stakeholder processes have occurred regarding the specific allowable future uses of the former Hughes Stadium property. Some residents and elected officials have expressed confusion about the ballot initiative's intent related to the future uses of the former Hughes Stadium property during those discussions and stakeholder processes.” This ordinance's purpose is to “require that the Hughes property be designated and used entirely as a City Natural Area, considered by the initiative proponents to best reflect the intent of the 2021 ballot initiative.”

A “yes” vote means that the voter approves of the citizen-initiated ordinance requiring that 100% of the Hughes Stadium property be used as a City natural area. A “no” vote means that the voter does not agree with the proposed use of the Hughes Stadium property. 

Fort Collins residents who are eligible to vote can find their voter registration here.