Marcia Martin, Longmont’s Ward 2 representative to city council, during Tuesday’s meeting announced she will be resigning effective Dec. 31.
Martin, who ran unopposed in 2021, has been participating in meetings virtually from New York since May while she cares for her daughter who is experiencing a mental health crisis.
“During this difficult time, I’ve done my best to serve my constituents,” Martin said in her address to residents and council. “Now I hope to surrender my office as seamlessly as possible.”
Martin’s decision to resign comes after council motioned in July to end her ability to participate in meetings remotely effective Dec. 2. The date was significant, and intentional. The city charter dictates council must call a special election if a vacancy occurs when more than a year remains in a term. Council’s deadline left a year and three days in Martin’s term — but her official resignation date misses this window, meaning council will have to appoint a replacement.
“Holding a special election would have cost the city an amount running to six figures,” Martin said. “I wanted to make sure that [council] had the time to do the process right, and undertake that trust to the city.”
Council has 30 days after Martin’s resignation date to appoint a replacement for Ward 2. The new council member will need a 4-2 majority vote with only six sitting members of council remaining.
Concerns from members of council and residents about her extended absence and the standard it sets for future council members created controversy in the last few months of Martin’s tenure.
“She set a precedent that no other council would put up with,” councilmember Sean McCoy said in a phone call with Boulder Weekly.
Council unanimously approved a motion in May to allow Martin to participate in meetings remotely until she is able to return. The subsequent motion to impose the Dec. 2 deadline on her virtual attendance came after she revealed to council she had signed a lease in New York.
“This council has been very compassionate to councilor Martin’s situation,” Mayor Joan Peck said during a July 23 meeting. “[B]ut when she told me that she had signed a 13-month lease in New York, that brought up a lot of questions about residency and representation of Ward 2, including her intent to return.”
At the time of this motion, several council members, including McCoy and Diane Crist, advocated for an earlier deadline to align a potential vacancy with the General Election in November. But Martin’s experience was seen as too valuable an asset to lose as the city approached its 2024 budget review. “We need her vote,” Peck said in the July meeting.
Martin’s absence wasn’t without its hiccups. During a brief return to in-person participation for several days in October, Martin called Longmont City Police to an Airport Advisory Board meeting in response to a series of minor decorum breaches from public attendees.
“In my opinion, the decorum breaches were somewhat frustrating, but they did not disrupt the functioning of the meeting and they were not threatening to any of us,” board chair Harrison Earl wrote in a letter to Peck, obtained by Boulder Weekly.
“I do not believe that Councilmember Martin's actions were appropriate or necessary given the circumstance. … I believe they unnecessarily raised tension in the room for the remainder of the meeting and that her actions were counterproductive.”
Several members of the public expressed gratitude for Martin in recent months. After her announcement Tuesday, Longmont resident Dan Sorrells called Martin a “tireless advocate for making the city a much better version of itself, and for more and better housing opportunities for everyone.”
There have been six appointments to Longmont city council since the creation of Longmont’s city charter, according to city attorney Eugene Mei. This will be the first vacancy since the 2022 vote to replace Joan Peck after she was elected mayor.