Pueblo voters have decided to stick with the experiment begun just four years ago and remain a strong mayor governed city. By a nearly two-to-one margin, voters stood firm with the now nearly five year long experiment.
For decades the city of Pueblo, the economic engine of southern Colorado, operated under a city manager form of government. In good times and bad, it seemed to work.
But in 2019, after the better part of a century of operating under this form of government, Pueblo voters decided to tack in a different direction. A city manager form of government was not working, they said. A single voice, a strong mayor, as is in place in Denver and Colorado Springs, would serve the city better.
But voters can be fickle. After an initial blush with the change, city council voted to put the question to voters again and ask them if the 2019 decision was right. An affirmative vote on Amendment 2C would renew the city’s old governmental flame. They were wrong.
The landslide win for Amendment 2C, Mayor Heather Graham told reporters as results came in, affirms the 2019 change. “Pueblo spoke clearly,” said Graham. “We want to keep making progress.” The voters’ affirmation “means we retain our ability to advocate for Pueblo’s interests, create policies and procedures that make our local government more efficient and effective.”
Nearly two years after being defeated, former mayor Nick Gradisar still believes Pueblo made the right decision by changing its charter and going with a strong mayor.
In fact, Gradisar said he and Graham actually worked together to oppose Amendment 2C. “This form of government should continue,” he said. He blamed the rapid desire to return to a city manager form of government on a city council that is “constantly at war” with Graham. “They just decided to put it (2C) on the ballot.” The final vote on 2C was 13,783 to 6,573 to maintain the status quo. “It was not a referendum on the mayor,” Gradisar stressed.
Prior to the election Graham debated Pueblo City Councilman Dennis Flores on 2C. Flores, who is term limited and will leave office at the end of the year, strongly argued that Pueblo simply does not have the population for having a strong mayor.
“There are 271 cities in Colorado,” Flores said. All but three have city managers. “That is a damning statistic.” Flores said that a city manager is basically a CEO who answers to the city council. But with a strong mayor, there is “so much turmoil…basically at odds with each other” too often.
Gradisar says Pueblo was often stymied under a city manager. When opportunities arose, they could fizzle because too much time was wasted while the matter got debated. A strong mayor, he said, is not constrained by a recalcitrant city council.
During Gradisar’s tenure as Pueblo Mayor, Pueblo celebrated a number of significant economic successes. Perhaps his crowning achievement was the CS Wind decision to expand with an estimated 850 new jobs. EVRAZ steel, the successor to Pueblo’s storied CF&I steel mill, also announced a major expansion. Gradisar also said one of the most gratifying parts of his time as Pueblo mayor was getting more than 100 lane miles in the city repaved.
Pueblo will vote on a mayor again in 2028.
