George Jones Sworn-In as New Mayor; New Council Seat in Question
Veteran Elected Leader Bids Farewell with Emotional Speech
Trevor Phipps
The official “changing of the guard” occurred recently in Woodland Park, an emotional scenario capped by farewell comments made by a departing, veteran leader and the swearing-in of a new mayor and other council members.
At the same time, the council now must grapple with the reality of picking another replacement to fill a vacant spot, created by the election of Mayor George Jones.
As part of her formal good-bye, departing Mayor Kellie Case made a tribute to Clarke Becker, another well-known mayor who sat on the dais over 30 years ago. Becker, who also served as a Teller County commissioner, ended his stint as mayor of Woodland Park in 1995. According to Case, he challenged her to open the meeting with a phrase he coined over three decades ago.
“Live from Woodland Park it is the Woodland Park City Council meeting of April 16, 2026,” Case said in Becker’s honor. “He did that because it was the very first live broadcast of the city council meeting. Which we do all the time, and we record them and they are all over the place now. But I just wanted to do that in honor of Clarke because he is a wonderful, wonderful man.”
Once the city clerk announced the (April 7 municipal) election outcome, Case was invited to address her peers and the audience with her final goodbye.
Case worked as the city’s finance director for nearly 20 years before running for city council. Case then served as a city council member for six years before she was elected as mayor in April 2024. Then after two years at the head of the council table, Case was term-limited and couldn’t seek the mayoral seat again. Although only serving as mayor for two years, Case gained a reputation as an extremely active head leader for Woodland Park who was visible at virtually every city and community function.
As a part of her farewell, Case gave a few remarks, but she got extremely emotional and often fought back tears. “When I first stepped into this role, I carried a clear purpose: to help guide our city toward fiscal responsibility, strengthen the foundation of our local government and position Woodland Park for a future of thoughtful growth and opportunity,” Case said in her farewell speech to the council. “Together with my fellow council members, dedicated staff and this engaged community, we have made meaningful progress toward these goals. We faced challenges, some expected others not. Through it all, we worked to make decisions grounded in stewardship, accountability and an assured belief of the potential of this city.”
After Case’s speech, George Jones was then sworn in as the city’s new mayor. Jones has been deeply involved with the city for several years, serving as a council member since April 2024.
The city clerk then swore in incumbent city council members Catherine Nakai and Seth Bryant to four-year terms. Newly elected Councilman Don Dezellem was also sworn in for a four-year term, while incumbent Councilman Jeffrey Geer started a two-year term.
For the next order of business, the council was tasked with voting on a mayor pro tem to serve as a backup to Jones. Since she has held the role for the past two years, Councilwoman Nakai was voted unanimously to the mayor pro tem position again.
“I believe Catherine (Nakai) has functioned as a great mayor pro tem,” Councilman Seth Bryant said. “She definitely has an eye for procedure and how things should be run.”
Who Will Become the Sixth WP Council Member?
Now that George Jones has officially become the new mayor, his city council seat will now be vacant. The council now has a few options of how they could go about filling the vacancy. But during its inaugural meeting, the new council refrained from discussing the topic.
However, the issue was brought up during the public comment portion of its April 16 meeting. In fact, two residents asked the council to appoint Mary Sekowski to the remaining council seat. Sekowski lost her bid for a council seat earlier this month after receiving the lowest number of votes (870) out of the five candidates vying for the four open positions.
Woodland Park resident Rhonda Roberts, said she wanted the city council to appoint Sekowski because she is admired for her “compassionate, humility, integrity, leadership and hard work.” “I have heard Mary’s story of how it was she came to Woodland Park, and I understand that she truly loves this ‘City above the Clouds.’” Roberts told the council while choking up and getting emotional. “She is one of the most positive people I know with a heart for the people of this city and the issues that affect their lives. I have seen Mary research issues, ask questions and search out solutions to problems.”
The council basically has the authority to appoint whoever they want to the position, as long as the person meets certain criteria. But to date, the council has not taken any action regarding filling this vacancy. When these situations arose in the past, the council often opened the position up for applications and then interviewed the top candidates before making a formal decision on the open seat at a regular meeting.
But another option is to pick a recent council candidate who failed to secure enough votes to gain a seat on the dais. The council sometimes took this direction in the past, especially when the appointment process occurred shortly after a regular election.
The final option is a special election, a scenario that once occurred in recent years when the council couldn’t reach a majority decision on who to pick. However, the council tries to avoid calling for a special election due to the relatively high costs involved.
The new council then closed their first meeting with a standing ovation for Case. In early May, the council must tackle several city issues, including making a decision on how to fill the open council seat.
