Fruita councilor Andrea Downs resigns; council to open applications to fill vacancy

Mayor James Grama announced that Councilor Andrea Downs resigned from the Fruita City Council for personal reasons, saying the council and community will miss her contributions.

The city manager told the council that the city charter gives the council 60 days to fill the vacancy. The manager said the city will open a call for applications for about two weeks, schedule interviews in April and aims to appoint a replacement by the first council meeting in May.

Those steps matter because the council currently has five members and requires three for a quorum; the resignation reduces the standing membership until a replacement is appointed. The mayor asked the city clerk to conduct roll call after the announcement and noted the council will publish details about the replacement process soon.

City staff and councilors framed the replacement process as a short, administrative timeline rather than a policy decision. The city manager said, “By our charter, we have 60 days to fill that vacancy,” and outlined that the normal procedure is a two-week application window followed by interviews and appointment decisions.

Councilors present voted on routine agenda items during the meeting and discussed scheduling for interviews and public notice. The city manager said staff will post application details next week, place the notice in local media and on the city website, and return to council with candidate interviews in April so the council can decide by May to meet the charter deadline.

The resignation was acknowledged publicly during the meeting; councilors and the city manager thanked Andrea Downs for her service.