Election results: Victor has a new mayor; familiar names win in Cripple Creek
In Cripple Creek and Victor, there were few surprises in election results Nov. 2, with incumbents triumphing — with the exception of the mayoral race in Victor — in still unofficial results.
City of Victor
Victor residents have a new mayor, voters decided. Brandon Gray, a local business owner with a real estate and auction company defeated incumbent Mayor Bruce Davis, a veteran, according to still unofficial results.
Gray said before the election he would prioritize a review of Victor’s municipal code and an upgrade of the town’s water treatment plant. Victor residents have a wide range of views, and he was looking forward to representing them.
“We’re excited,” he said. “We’re very excited.”
Gray won 120 votes to Davis’ 53 in preliminary results.
Write-in candidate Clark R. Eastin claimed the uncontested opening for town clerk and treasurer, while Connie Dodrill claimed the uncontested Ward 2 city council seat.
Dodrill grew up in Victor and graduated from high school in Cripple Creek, and she has run the city’s parks department for 27 years, a role she plans to continue in.
“I’d like to bridge Cripple Creek and Victor together and tap into all the resources I’m aware of,” she said.
She said she didn’t consider running for the open council seat until shortly before the deadline to file paperwork, after she was encouraged by a friend to run.
“I’m not a prepared politician. I’m a worker bee,” she said.
Efforts to contact Eastin, the new town clerk and treasurer, were not successful.
Returning councilman Byron “Buck” Hakes was uncontested in retaining his Ward 1 seat.
Cripple Creek school board
In Cripple Creek-Victor RE-1, according to unofficial results from the Teller County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, incumbent Mary Bielz retained her seat on the school board, one of three at-large openings. She was the top vote-getter with 26% of the tally, or 837 votes.
Joining her on the board will be Stanley Conley with 752 votes, or 23.3%, and Donna Brazill, with 627 votes, or 19%.
Conley is a Cripple Creek native, RE-1 graduate and rancher who said he wants to improve transparency and bring stability back to the district.
Brazill was involved with recalling one board member in November 2019, a movement that led to two other board members resigning before they were presented for recall.
All Cripple Creek-Victor candidates mentioned concerns about staff shortages, ensuring a new vocational training shop gets off the ground, and improving communication and transparency, among other issues they want to work on.
Cripple Creek council
In Cripple Creek, incumbent council member Melissa Trenary defended her seat against local businessman Lester Batson in the race for Ward 5.
Before being elected to the council in 2017, Trenary, who has lived in the town for over 25 years, served on the Historic Preservation Commission and covered city council for a Teller County newspaper.
She is employed full-time in the maintenance department of the Double Eagle Hotel and Casino.
Before the election, she said she would prioritize making housing more affordable. “I also want to keep pushing for more ‘family friendly’ activities and businesses,” she said.
Mark Green, 69, claimed the unopposed Ward 4 seat. Last month, he said he will bring his experience in community service and as a businessman to the seat formerly held by Meghan Rozell.
After careers in the Army, real estate and the commercial tire industry, Green retired to pursue photography and open his own studio. He is secretary of the Teller Rifle Group and vice-president of the Two-Mile High Club, a donation-funded group that cares for and supports the (seasonally) free-ranging Cripple Creek donkeys.
Brandon Gray
Mary Bielz