A look at the Colorado Springs city manager candidates

The candidates:

MIKE ANDERSON

Colorado Springs interim city manager. Former assistant city manager and budget director

BIO: Colorado Springs employee since 1984. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Colorado.

TABOR: Anderson said the core of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights is “voter empowerment,” to make decisions about government. That dynamic calls for educating voters about the city’s financial situation and running the government in a way that’s transparent and accountable, he said. Anderson cited his experience with the budget department as he, too, said TABOR is partly to blame for the city’s financial challenges. “There are some aspects of TABOR that are totally unworkable, and I’ve got the scars to show for it,” he said.

MINORITIES: Several panelists asked how Anderson would reach out to minority communities, ensure the city hires more minorities and combat the city’s reputation for intolerance of minorities. Anderson said he would urge employees to reflect the government’s stated values, which include respect for others. He said he wants to improve efforts to tell minority organizations about job openings. Some panelists pressed for specifics. “You have to understand the frustration,” said Bob Armendáriz, editor of the newspaper Hispania News. “It’s 2007, and you’re hearing words and phrases that some of us were pushing and teaching in the 1970s.” Anderson said he agrees, and that “change is in order.”

CRIME: Anderson said innovation would mark his stewardship of the government and cited a recent example of installing wireless cards on police officers’ computers. The switch cost about $140,000, he said, and it allows officers to spend more time on police work and less on administrative hassles.

PENELOPE CULBRETH-GRAFT

City administrator of Huntington Beach, Calif.

BIO: Former assistant city manager of Riverside, Calif., tribal government manager of Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, assistant city manager of San Diego, and other positions. She has a doctorate of public administration from the University of La Verne, Calif.

TABOR: Culbreth-Graft said she’s no expert on the TABOR amendment, but laws that give more power to voters are increasingly common nationally. Economic development, such as new jobs and the infrastructure to support them, is an important way to generate more money for the government, she said. The city should also ensure it’s getting its fair share of money from the state and federal government for things like road construction, she said.

CAREER: One panelist asked Culbreth-Graft whether she views Colorado Springs as a stepping stone, given that her résumé shows her staying in jobs typically for just a few years. She’s held her current position since June 2004. Culbreth-Graft said she and her husband are looking for a place to live for “five, 10, 15 years.”

MINORITIES: Culbreth-Graft said committees made up of members of minority communities can go a long way toward alleviating tension among diverse groups. Colorado Springs had a Human Relations Commission until it was disbanded in 1995. Culbreth-Graft said a local human relations commission could take on problems such as the area’s suicide rate, which is higher than the national average. “When you bring people together to solve problems, the diversity becomes an asset and not a negative,” she said. Culbreth-Graft said she was unaware of what panelists called Colorado Springs’ nationwide reputation for intolerance of minorities.

GREG NYHOFF

Colorado Springs assistant city manager.

BIO: Former city manager of Fountain and Montague, Mich., and operations manager of Highlands Ranch Metropolitan District. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and economics from Calvin College in Michigan.

TABOR: Nyhoff said the city manager should work with elected officials and other leaders to tell voters about the effect of TABOR on city finances. “This message can only get out through all of us,” he said. He called for a greater effort to boost the economy and ease the process for development companies that want to build new neighborhoods and business centers. Improving city services will require “creativity,” he said. Bus service or parks and recreation might be split off into separate government agencies with countywide authority, he said. He also said there’s “potential to sell off assets and privatize” some services.

MINORITIES: Nyhoff said the city should do more to recruit minority applicants for jobs. He’s a member of a city committee charged with that task. It should be part of a broader effort to combat the city’s reputation for intolerance, he said. “Colorado Springs has been branded, and that needs to change, but it needs to change with all of us,” he said.

EFFICIENCY: Nyhoff said the city’s far-flung departments should do more to work together. City leaders should try to resolve problems before they reach a critical stage. Sometimes city leaders respond only after a call from the media, he said. “We want to get out there and advertise the good that we have as a community,” he said. Colorado Springs can also learn from efforts in other cities such as Portland and Chicago, he said. “Internally, I don’t hear a lot of conversations about ‘How have other communities succeeded in these areas,’” he said.