Six months after Monument residents elected a mayor and two new town trustees, the town remains in political gridlock.

The six trustees remain deadlocked on a temporary replacement for the town manager, who was placed on leave in February and parted ways with the town in June. They also haven’t chosen replacements for the town treasurer or town attorney, whom half of the board voted against reappointing in May.

A breakthrough, though, could be just weeks away – in a special election Nov. 6, voters will choose a replacement for the seventh trustee’s seat that Dan Wilson vacated when he was elected mayor.

The candidates are Kenneth Kimple, a member of the Monument planning commission; Jim Romanello, who serves on the board of directors for Village Center Metro District; and Ann Howe, a former New Hampshire state legislator who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in El Paso County Commissioner District 1.

Monument’s government descended into dysfunction after the municipal election last spring in which Wilson defeated another trustee, Jeffrey Bornstein, in the mayor’s race, and newcomers Ron Stephens and Laurie Clark were elected as trustees.

After the most recent town manager was suspended and eventually let go after a feud with the police chief, longtime town employee Pam Smith was appointed by the board in February to oversee the town’s day-to-day operations. She subsequently was not reappointed as town treasurer but has continued to perform the treasurer’s duties, presenting a draft budget to the board last week.

In September, town attorney Alicia Corley accepted another offer, Wilson said, after months of uncertainty about whether she would keep her job.

At its meeting last week, the board spoke with several potential candidates to replace her: Tim Flynn and Robert Huss, both of Denver, Joseph Rivera of Lakewood, and Patrick McDivitt of Colorado Springs.

The plan, Wilson said, is for each trustee to pick two finalists.

“They were all great applicants. I think it’s just going to be a matter of whether our individual preferences correlate with one another,” Wilson said. “I wouldn’t see a problem with that, but I didn’t see a problem arising with the interim town manager, either.”

The board came close to choosing an interim new town manager last month, Wilson said, but one trustee changed their mind.

The trustees on Sept. 4 voted 4 to 2, with trustees Greg Coopman and Clark opposed, to hire former Craig City Manager Mike Foreman, assuming a contract could be negotiated.

But, on Oct. 1, Bornstein said he no longer supported moving forward with negotiations with Foreman because he had learned that two other finalists for the position were open to working with the town, despite their limited availability. Bornstein, along with Coopman and Clark, expressed concern about information being withheld from them.

Trustee Kelly Elliot then accused them of “game-playing.”

“We are dead in the water now. No interim manager, not moving forward,” Elliott said at the meeting. “And it’s because we’ve got people who are changing their mind. We were all given the same information.”

Coopman said in an email to The Gazette that he felt other board members were making a “clear, coordinated effort” to stall the hiring process for the town manager, treasurer and attorney positions.

“I believe that these continued actions of few have been of great detriment to the town, created tremendous liability, have tarnished the spirit of our governmental process, and, most critically, have negatively impacted the great people of this community for years to come,” he said.

The other two finalists for the position are Malcolm Fleming, interim city administrator for Manitou Springs, and Jason Wells, interim town manager for Green Mountain Falls.

Fleming, who was hired by Manitou Springs last spring on a part-time, temporary basis, isn’t available to start the job soon, Wilson said. He has committed to continue working for the city through the beginning of December, said Manitou Springs Mayor Ken Jaray.

Wells told the board at its Oct. 15 meeting that his three-month contract with Green Mountain Falls has been extended indefinitely. He works there three days a week.

“It has never been explained to me why we are not going forward with the selection process on several unanimously chosen final candidates – which is an egregious result after all the time and effort so many put in to the process to help us achieve a successful solution,” Clark told The Gazette in an email. “As a trustee, I have not received equal information distribution nor am I privy to the board’s private discussions or even informed of their decisions made without my input. So I am in the dark on this matter among many other matters.”