Key facts
- The town of Hartman, Colorado, has been declared abandoned.
- The abandonment followed the resignation of all local public leaders.
- A severe drinking water crisis, including a lack of chlorine and a months-long boil-water order, was a primary factor.
- The town was unable to hold elections or maintain its water infrastructure.
- Colorado's secretary of state granted the abandonment request, citing health hazards and legal limbo for residents.
- Infrastructure responsibility will transfer to Prowers County.
The small southeastern Colorado town of Hartman has been officially declared abandoned after all of its local public leaders resigned amid a severe drinking water crisis. Colorado's Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced the town's fate on July 29, following a written notification that Hartman had lacked chlorine in its water for over a month, rendering it undrinkable and malodorous.
Hartman resident Jessie Simmons had also informed the secretary of state's office that the town had been under a boil-water order for months. Public documents revealed that Hartman had no board of trustees or town clerk, was unable to hold local elections, and its critical water treatment and delivery infrastructure would, barring a successful appeal, become the responsibility of Prowers County.
The Denver Post described Hartman's administrative failure as unprecedented in recent state history, attributing it to a combination of political infighting, accusations of fraud, a physical altercation at a board meeting, and the escalating water crisis. The town's water tower had been in disrepair for years, with feuding among officials reportedly deterring potential water operators from assisting.
Simmons formally requested Hartman's abandonment on June 17. In granting the request, the secretary of state's office stated that not declaring the town abandoned would leave residents in further legal limbo during a health hazard, without authority to conduct business, hold elections, or fix their water infrastructure. The order emphasized that abandonment was the only legal mechanism in Colorado law to provide residents with a path to clean water.
Despite the dire conditions, some residents objected to the abandonment. Shawna Casey stated, "Hartman is not a failed town. Hartman is a town that was failed by the systems designed to protect it."