Colorado Town Declared Abandoned After All Officials Resign

The state of Colorado has formally declared the tiny town of Hartman abandoned after every elected official resigned, leaving its roughly 30 residents without local government and facing a deepening water crisis. The Colorado Department of State issued the determination on July 28, finding that the town had no Board of Trustees or town clerk, could not hold an election, and owned infrastructure critical for the treatment or delivery of water to residents.

A Government Collapses

Hartman, a statutory town incorporated in 1910 in southeastern Colorado, has been without a functioning government since January, when its last three trustees resigned a day after a physical altercation between four women following a board meeting. The mayor had left office months earlier. According to Fox News, former trustee Pam Packer said of the resignations: “Our safety was more important than having a government.”

The departures left no officials authorized to approve contracts, spend funds, appoint replacements, certify elections or make decisions about the town’s water system. The town’s bank account and post office box were closed, and records and keys were turned over to Prowers County.

The Water Crisis

The crisis came to a head over water. Resident Jessie Simmons filed an abandonment petition in June, alleging the town had no board or clerk, could not hold an election, and had lacked chlorine in its water for more than a month — water she said was not potable and “smells horrible.” The town had been under a boil-water advisory since approximately October 2025, and its storage tank was compromised and in need of repair or replacement.

State officials said the town could not act even with help available. The Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) had provided more than $1 million in reimbursement-based grants for the water system, but without town officials, no contracts could be signed to access the funds. At a July 13 hearing, DOLA’s Eric Bergman testified that the agency had been in Hartman more than 30 times since 2022 helping with elections, turnover, recalls, resignations, budgets, audits, and grant administration.

Deputy Secretary of State Andrew Kline, who signed the order, wrote that rejecting the petition “would leave the residents in further legal limbo during a health hazard, with no authority to conduct business, hold elections, or fix their water infrastructure.” He concluded: “Abandonment is the only legal mechanism in Colorado statute that creates an avenue for residents of the area to receive clean water.”

A New Legal Path

The finding was made possible by Senate Bill 26-157, signed into law in May, which created an expedited abandonment process for towns with no board of trustees or clerk, no ability to hold an election, and critical water infrastructure. Previously, Colorado law generally required five years without elections or government before a town could be declared abandoned. Newsweek reported that Hartman appears to be the first Colorado town dissolved under the new expedited process — and the first such case involving a town-owned water system.

In practice, the designation means Hartman’s streets, avenues and alleys, along with its water infrastructure, now vest in Prowers County. Residents do not have to leave; the community becomes an unincorporated part of the county. State Representative Ty Winter, who co-sponsored the bill, wrote that “abandonment” was simply the mechanism to allow another entity to take over the water system and prevent a health crisis.

Not all residents supported the move. One objector told the state that Hartman “is not a failed town, but that Hartman is a town that was failed by the systems designed to protect it,” according to The Denver Post. Resident Shawna Casey argued the new law assigns responsibility without providing funding or an operational pathway, leaving residents, including the elderly and disabled, to supply their own bottled water.

What’s Next

Prowers County is now searching for a water operator for Hartman. County Administrator Don Wilson told Newsweek that operators have been reluctant to take the job because of the town’s reputation; if none is found, the county may hire a private engineering firm. The long-term goal, he said, is the formation of a water district.

Under Senate Bill 26-157, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment can transfer up to $100,000 from a small-communities water fund to cover operation and maintenance of a failing system while an abandonment application is pending, as detailed in the bill text. For the people of Hartman, the immediate question is simpler: when clean, safe water will flow again — and whether a town that lost its government can find a way to rebuild.