District 6 runoff scheduled for April 15

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

It will be Groundhog Day on Tax Day in Rio Rancho as a runoff election between incumbent Marilyn Salzman and challenger Kathy Colley has been scheduled for April 15.

Just like the Bill Murray comedy, the city hopes to recreate the same conditions for the first runoff election in city history. That includes the same polling places, same hours of operation and hopefully the same personnel, city clerk Roman Montoya said on Wednesday.

Colley, a retired investment banking vice president who is making her first try at elective office, received 672 votes in Tuesday’s general election, 40 more than Salzman. Colley’s total represents 31.8 percent of the total vote of 2,114 votes, well below the 50 percent plus one vote threshold established by voters in 2006.

It’s kind of “de ja vu all over again for Salzman, who received 29.9 percent of the vote on Tuesday. She defeated Todd Hathorne in 2004 by one vote, and a subsequent challenge and court case also took about six weeks before being resolved.

Hathorne finished third in Tuesday’s vote with 447 votes (21.1 percent), followed by former councilor Lonnie Clayton (195 votes, 9.2 percent) and Charles Smiroldo (168 votes, 7.9 percent).

Tuesday’s vote totals will be certified at a Board of Canvass meeting Friday at 1 p.m. at City Hall. Swearing in ceremonies for the successful candidates are traditionally  scheduled on the Monday following the election.

Debbi Moore, the CEO of the Rio Rancho Chamber of Commerce, said no time has been set for the ceremony.