There’s a new sheriff in town. Well, not exactly ‘sheriff’ but in Pueblo, there is a new mayor. Last Thursday, former Pueblo city council president Heather Graham took the oath of office becoming the city’s first ever female chief executive.
For years, Pueblo ran under the city manager form of government changing only five years ago when voters decided a strong mayor might enhance the way city government ran. Mayor was more a ceremonial title, someone who cut ribbons or signed proclamations. But Graham, who has served as president of city council for two years, said she has no desire nor intention of simply being a figurehead. Pueblo, she said, can’t wait.
“In my time on city council,” she said, “I have been able to listen to concerns and put solutions into action. Now I can do that at a much greater level.” No issue in Pueblo, as well as in cities everywhere, is more pressing than crime.
Last year Pueblo experienced a record number of car thefts, and its homicide rate was also among the state’s highest per capita. Pueblo police reported 1,780 vehicles stolen in the city in 2023. It’s a rate that has more than doubled since 2019. The city reported 27 homicides last year.
Pueblo’s police force is struggling with hiring and retention of officers and finds itself down 60 officers from being at full strength. “In the city,” Graham said, “it takes a long time to become a police officer.” She wants to expedite the process which may include hiring veteran and trained cops from other jurisdictions as well as doing other things that might boost morale of those currently on the force, including hiking pay.
“A starting officer now makes more than in Colorado Springs,” Graham pointed out in a telephone interview. “We’ve also been working on recruitment for the last several months.” Pueblo has a full-time recruiter who works across the state and also travels out of state looking for potential new officers. The city also recently began paying for officers’ uniforms. “It’s a new tool,” she said, “because it’s extremely costly (for officers).”
While Pueblo remains a mecca for commerce in southern Colorado, Graham thinks it could become even more important to communities east of Pueblo and to the south and into the San Luis Valley with a little forward thinking, including figuring out a way for the government to lend a hand. Government, said Graham, is not the enemy.
“Just two years ago,” Graham shared, “I needed government assistance to help reopen my restaurant.” Like mil- lions of other business owners—Graham owns three businesses in the city—government loans during COVID kept her from shuttering her doors. “Working with city council and having a cooperative path forward and a strategic plan,” she believes, might also open the door to a new era for the city’s businesses.
The former city council president wants everyone to know that Pueblo is open for business. The city passed a half-cent sales tax in an effort to lure new businesses to Pueblo. Nearly as important, Graham says, Pueblo is a city that has the amenities that invite new families to give it a look.
“We have our own symphony, we have a hockey rink, a reservoir, an airport. We have a lot of stuff going on,” she proclaimed. And, Graham underscored, Pueblo’s diversity is a major sell.
It begins, she said, with a historic diversity, a diversity that began late in the 19th century when steel brought an influx of immigrants from around the world to work the mill and the coal mines that produced the fuel to fire the furnaces. “Diversity plays a huge part in what Pueblo has to offer,” she said.
Graham said her experience on city council the last two years has given her a vision for running the city. First, though, she wants to earn the trust of those who voted for her as well as those who may not have. To that end, she’s inviting Puebloans to come to city hall and meet with her and share their concerns, their hopes and even ideas for a better Pueblo.
When planning her official swearing in, Graham wanted it small and understated. Then, at another event, she encountered 11-year-old Ty Trujillo and her friend who asked for a picture. “I didn’t know if I wanted it (swear- ing in) to grow,” said the new chief executive, “but being approached by two little girls and seeing how excited they were to have a female (mayor)” changed everything.
The chance encounter gave her a whole new perspective. “I’m not here for me,” she said. While not an official duty, Graham said, serving as a role model for all the other Miss Trujillos’ is every bit as important as the rest of her official duties.
