Editing Orchard City, Colorado (section)

==Government and politics==
{|class="wikitable" style="float:left; margin:10px"
|+'''Mayors of the Town of Orchard City'''
|-
!The Honorable
!Term start
!Term end
!Term(s)
|-
|Jim Erickson
|
|
|
|-
|Tom Huerkamp
|April 2004
|April 2008
|1
|-
|Don Suppes
|April 2008
| align="center" |April 2016
| align="center" |2
|-
|Ken Volgamore
|April 2016
|incumbent
|current
|-
|}
The Town of Orchard City is governed by a council of six elected at-large trustees and an independently elected mayor. Together, the mayor and trustees, form the government of the Town of Orchard City. The Board of Trustees typically meets twice a month for a work session and meeting.

In 1912, the first election saw George Williamson elected mayor, and the trustees were J.P. Kettle, George Weyrauch, E.E. White, William Start, E.J. Coffey, and Charles Dixon. The first Town Clerk was Ernest Sudgen.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.orchardcityco.org/26/History|title=History of Orchard City|last=Benson|first=Preston|date=2009|website=Town of Orchard City|access-date=April 3, 2016}}</ref>

In 1993, the Town of Orchard City and the Field of Dreams build a baseball park with the help of Colorado Great Outdoors Funds. By 2000, controversy over finances and maintenance resulted in the town developing an enterprise fund to directly manage the park.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://extras.denverpost.com/news/news1124k.htm|title=Wrangling over W. Slope sports complex ends|last=Lofholm|first=Nancy|date=November 24, 2000|website=The Denver Post|publisher=The Denver Post|access-date=April 3, 2016}}</ref>

In 2004, the ACE Citizens Committee, which included E.J. Verdahl, Jack Chaffee, and Robert Denton, was successful in a petition drive that led to the recall of Orchard City Trustee Katie Benson Schuster Sickles.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/05/29/5_29_3a_Orchard_City_backlash.html|title=Recall attempt prompts backlash|date=May 29, 2006|work=The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, CO)|access-date=November 7, 2015}}</ref>

Prior to the recall election of April 2004, the Colorado District Court heard oral arguments in the case of ''Burgess v. Town of Orchard City'', which examined whether David Burgess, candidate running against Trustee Schuster, satisfied the residential requirements in order to run. Trustee Schuster alleged that Burgess should not be certified to run, because he did not live in the town. Town Clerk Gio Garver refused to certify Burgess' petition because the town was not 100% certain where he lived. Burgess was remodelling his home and lived in a temporary trailer outside the town limits. The court held that [http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/colorado?app=00075&view=full&interface=1&docinfo=off&searchtype=get&search=C.R.S.+31-10-301 Colorado Revised Statute 31-10-301] and the case of ''[http://law.justia.com/cases/colorado/supreme-court/1978/28085.html Theobald v. Byrns]'' in which the Colorado Supreme Court interpreted domicile as being left up to the individual to choose which address they would make as their domicile, thus Mr. Burgess’ voter registration could be used to help determine domicile. David Burgess was defeated in his re-election bid in April 2006.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/07/03/7_3_3A_Orchard_City_dogs.html|title=Orchard City Going to the Dogs|last=Harmon|first=Gary|date=July 3, 2006|work=The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, CO)|access-date=April 3, 2016}}</ref>

On December 12, 2006, Mayor Tom Huerkamp survived a special recall election in which Guy Cooper challenged the incumbent. Under the Huerkamp Administration, the town built a $1.3 million town hall, ended a Prohibition Era ban on the sale of alcohol in town, and renamed most of the town's roads, along with removing highway signs referencing the unincorporated communities of Cory, Eckert and Austin. During the mid-2000s, Orchard City's board of trustees meetings were emotional events that packed dozens of citizens into the gallery and typically ended with sheriff's deputies separating Huerkamp loyalists from detractors.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.denverpost.com/news/local/ci_4779350/rancor-incites-orchard-recall|title=Rancor incites Orchard recall|last=Lofholm|first=Nancy|date=December 5, 2006|newspaper=The Denver Post|access-date=April 3, 2016}}</ref> In April 2008, Mayor Huerkamp lost his re-election bid to then-trustee, Don Suppes.

In 2012, Trustee [[Matt Soper]], at age 27, was elected the youngest trustee in the town's 100-year history.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/palisade-trustees-youngest-to-serve-in-decades| author=M. Wiggins| title=Palisade trustees youngest to serve in decades| work=Grand Junction Daily Sentinel| date=April 25, 2012| access-date=May 11, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://montrosemirror.com/issue34.pdf|title='Soper Youngest Orchard City Trustee Ever'|date=April 17, 2012|publisher=Montrose Mirror|at=9|publication-place=Montrose, Colo.|access-date=May 13, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5MHXN_austin-city-limits?guid=4944bd69-920f-481b-b9fb-a1afe8135c21|title='Austin City Limits' ''GeoCaching''|date=February 8, 2015|publisher=GeoCaching|access-date=April 9, 2015}}</ref>

On April 6, 2016, Trustee Ken Volgamore, who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Trustee Soper, was elected mayor of Orchard City, defeating long time trustee, Jan Gage, 58% to 42%. The current Board of Trustees consists of Craig Fuller, Dick Kirkpatrick, Gynee Thomassen, Thomas H. Huerkamp (former mayor), Bob Eckels, and a vacancy created with the election of Trustee Volgamore to serve as mayor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CO/Delta/59220/163937/Web01/en/summary.html|title=2016 Delta County Municipal Election Results|date=April 5, 2016|website=Delta County Clerk & Recorder's Office|publisher=Election Department|access-date=April 5, 2016}}</ref>