Wellington (Colorado) voters on April 6 put a new mayor in office, electing Travis Vieira with 60 percent of ballots cast.

Voters also re-elected incumbent town board members Travis Stevens and Mike Steely and put a newcomer to town politics, Ernest Cienfuegos-Baca, on the board.

The 407 voters who cast ballots in the municipal election represented an 11 percent voter turnout. Wellington has 3,633 residents registered to vote.

Interviewed after the election, Vieira said his first priority will be to make the town’s transition to a new mayor go smoothly by meeting with town staff members and listening to any concerns.

He also wants to work on the stalled intergovernmental agreement between Wellington and Larimer County, he said. The IGA sets the stage for how Wellington and the county will review development plans as future growth occurs.

Vieira, who has served as a town board member for four years, tallied 246 votes to the 160 votes for two-term mayor Larry Noel. Vieira, 37, is assistant manager at Main Street Market. Noel, 54, is a real estate broker and developer. The election loss ends Noel’s 17 years of service on the town board.

Four candidates ran for the three open positions on the town board of trustees this year. Stevens, 35, an insurance agent, received the most votes with 299. Cienfuegos-Baca, 41, also an insurance agent, tallied 285 votes, and Steely, 63, owner of a trucking company, brought in 248 votes. Sullivan, 38, a first-time candidate for elective office, received 227 votes — not enough to win a seat on the board. Sullivan is an anesthetist at Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

The mayor and board members serve four-year terms. The mayor earns $1,300 a year. Town trustee is an unpaid position.

Vieira attributed his election success mostly to the discontent in Buffalo Creek Subdivision over the town board’s approval of a poultry processing plant in the light industrial zone east of the subdivision. More than a hundred people came to last summer’s public hearings to protest. Vieira voted to deny an application for conditional use while Noel voted in favor. The board as a whole voted 4-3 to allow the plant. The applicants, however, went out of business before breaking ground.

Subsequently, another applicant proposed a site in the industrial zone to the north, where poultry processing was a use by right. The town board unanimously supported that request.

Vieira said residents of other subdivisions also were concerned by industrial-type businesses that might be approved near their neighborhoods.

“Wellington residents think we’re not open, that we’re not going to consider what people have to say,” Vieira observed.

Another goal, Vieira said, is to get town residents involved in the community more frequently. “If they feel like they are participating and opinions are heard, I think they’ll participate more,” he said.

Those who would like to pass on suggestions to the new mayor may reach him by e-mail at VieiraTJ@co.larimer.co.us.

Wellington has a recent history of low participation in municipal elections. Two years ago, when board members only were on the ballot, 118 voters — 4 percent of those registered — cast ballots. Turnout was better for the previous mayoral election in 2006 when 586 voters went to the polls. In 2004, however, there were 67 voters, and 179 residents cast ballots in 2002, also a mayoral election.