When Bette Maurer attended a Ouray City Council candidate forum on July 24, she did so with the intention of helping others understand the ins and outs of the job she’s spent six years doing. She hadn’t planned on seeking re-election.

But sometime between then and mid-August, when candidates could begin circulating nomination petitions, Maurer changed her mind. She saw unfinished business she wanted to tend to, namely with the city’s efforts to build a new wastewater treatment plant and a...