Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs School District is without a superintendent, and as of Thursday, there were no candidates for School Board either.

Three of the five School Board seats are up for grabs in the November election. The board recently voted to buy out Superintendent Donna Howell's contract and is in the process of seeking an interim superintendent. But the newly elected School Board likely will be responsible for hiring Howell's permanent replacement.

School Board Vice President Jeff Troeger is completing his four-year term, and board members Jerry Kozatch and Char Rusk, both of whom were appointed to the board in the past year, also are up for election in November.

Troeger, Rusk and Kozatch all have indicated they plan to run, but none has filed a candidacy petition, said Ann Muhme, assistant to the superintendent. No challengers have filed petitions either.

The deadline to file a petition is 5 p.m. Aug. 31.

Troeger said Thursday he plans to pick up a candidate packet sometime today. Rusk and Troeger were unavailable for comment.

"I guess my motivation is to continue on volunteering," Troeger said. "There are a lot of things we got started that I want to follow through with."

Kozatch, who was appointed to finish the term vacated when Tom Miller-Freutel resigned in September 2006, has previously said he plans to run for election. Rusk, who was appointed in June to finish the term vacated when Pat Gleason resigned, also has said she plans to run.

Kozatch represents District 5, which includes most of Old Town. District 2, represented by Troeger, includes south Steamboat, while Rusk's District 4 includes parts of Old Town and areas west of downtown Steamboat.

As of Thursday, few candidates had stepped forward to fill the two open School Board seats in the Hayden School District or the five open School Board seats in the South Routt School District.

South Routt Superintendent Kelly Reed said four potential candidates have picked up petitions, but no one has officially filed. Reed wouldn't say whether any of the four potential candidates are current School Board members up for re-election.

The five open South Routt School Board seats are District 1 (Oak Creek), District 4 (areas northeast of Oak Creak), District 5 (south of Yampa), District 6 (Yampa) and District 7 (Oak Creek).

Hayden School District Finance Director Janell Lin-sacom said District B, which is held by School Board Vice President Jody Camilletti, and District D, which is held by Troy Wertenberger, are up for election. Both Camilletti and Wertenberger were first elected in 1999 and were re-elected to four-year terms in 2003.

Although candidates must run for a seat in the district they live in, all Steamboat Springs, Hayden and South Routt voters will vote on every open School Board seat in their school district.

To qualify for the School Board, a candidate must be a registered voter for the past 12 consecutive months in the district they are seeking to represent. The candidate cannot have a sexual offense conviction, and must also gather 50 signatures from registered voters in their director districts.

For more information about running for School Board seats, contact Muhme in Steamboat at 879-1530, Reed in South Routt at 736-2313 or Linsacom in Hayden at 276-3864.

- To reach Mike McCollum, call 871-4208 or e-mail mmccollum@steamboatpilot.com