New judge search begins

VALLEY — The Twelfth Judicial District Nominating Commission will meet at the Alamosa Combined Court on June 22 to interview and select nominees for appointment by the governor to the office of district judge for the Twelfth Judicial District (Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande and Saguache counties). The vacancy, effective May 30, was created by the passing of the Hon. Patrick H. Hayes Jr.

To be eligible, the applicant must be a qualified elector of the Twelfth Judicial District at the time of investiture and must have been admitted to the practice of law in Colorado for five years. The current annual salary for this position is $163,303. The initial term of office of a district judge is a provisional term of two years; thereafter, the incumbent district judge, if approved by the voters, has a term of six years.

Application forms are available from the office of the ex officio chair of the nominating commission, Justice Melissa Hart, 2 E. 14th Ave., Denver, CO 80203; and the office of the district administrator, Christina Gallegos, 702 Fourth St., Alamosa, CO 81101. Applications also are available on the court’s home page at http://www.courts.state.co.us/Careers/Judge.cfm

The original, signed application and an identical copy stored as a PDF must be filed with the ex officio chair no later than 4 p.m. June 13. Late applications will not be considered. Any person wishing to suggest a candidate to fill the vacancy may do so by letter to be submitted to any member of the nominating commission, with a copy to the ex officio chair, no later than 4 p.m. June 6.

The members of the nominating commission for the Twelfth Judicial District are: Ryan Dunn of Del Norte, Gordon Bosa of Manassa, Carla Gomez of Center, Paul Motz of Alamosa, Armando Valdez of La Jara, and Terry Wetherill of Creede.

This commission currently has one vacancy.