A tiny Colorado town with just a few dozen residents has officially been declared abandoned after every elected official resigned, leaving behind no functioning local government and no legal way to address a worsening drinking water crisis.
Hartman, located in southeastern Colorado near the Kansas border, was formally declared abandoned this week by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office following a public hearing that concluded the town no longer had the basic governmental structure required to operate.
With no board of trustees, no town clerk, and no ability to hold elections, Hartman found itself unable to conduct even the most basic municipal business. The situation became especially urgent because the town’s water system had deteriorated to the point that residents were facing an ongoing public health concern.
Deputy Secretary of State Andrew Kline said the abandonment designation was necessary because it provides the only legal path for another government entity to assume responsibility for Hartman’s infrastructure.
“Importantly, not determining that the Town of Hartman is abandoned as contemplated by § 31-3-201(1)(b), C.R.S. (2026), 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 so that clean water can be delivered to the town residents,” Kline wrote in the official order. “Abandonment is the only legal mechanism in Colorado statute that creates an avenue for residents of the area to receive clean water.”
The collapse of the town government followed years of turmoil. Hartman’s mayor resigned in October, and the remaining three trustees stepped down in January, one day after a physical altercation reportedly broke out among four women following a board meeting. The town had also experienced allegations of embezzlement, restraining orders, recalls, and persistent political infighting.
“Our safety was more important than having a government,” former trustee Pam Packer told The Denver Post.
With every elected official gone, the town effectively ceased functioning as a municipal government.
The abandonment process began in mid-June when Hartman resident Jessie Simmons petitioned the Secretary of State’s Office to intervene. According to Kline’s order, Simmons informed state officials that the town lacked elected leaders, could no longer conduct elections, and was unable to operate its own water system.
She also described alarming conditions involving the town’s drinking water.
“Ms. Simmons further asserted that as of time of her application, the Town of Hartman had lacked chlorine in its water for over one month and the water was not potable and ‘smells horrible.’ She stated that the Town of Hartman had been under an order to boil water for months,” Kline wrote.
During a July hearing, Eric Bergman, director of the Division of Local Government within the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, testified that state officials had spent years attempting to help Hartman remain operational.
According to the order, Department of Local Affairs staff had visited the town more than 30 times since 2022, assisting with elections, budgets, audits, recalls, grant administration, and training newly elected officials. Despite those efforts, every remaining trustee ultimately resigned earlier this year.
Without elected officials, Hartman could not approve contracts, authorize spending, appoint replacements, certify elections, or make decisions regarding its failing water system.
The water crisis only intensified the emergency. Hartman has remained under a boil-water advisory since October 2025, and officials testified that the system requires chlorine treatment, additional testing, and major repairs to its deteriorating water tank.
State agencies had previously approved more than $1 million in grant funding to improve the system. However, because those grants required contracts and reimbursement requests approved by local officials, the money remained inaccessible once the town government disappeared.
The abandonment order now transfers responsibility for Hartman’s public assets. Streets, avenues, and alleys not privately owned will pass to the Prowers County Board of County Commissioners. Ownership of the water infrastructure will also transfer to the county, which must then place it under the control of an organization dedicated to water treatment or delivery.
For Hartman’s residents, the abandonment designation is far more than a symbolic label. It represents the legal mechanism that allows another entity to step in, restore safe drinking water, and provide basic governance after a town government effectively ceased to exist.
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