LOCAL: Strong mayor will change city government

Disappointed in their elected representatives and the general direction of city government, Colorado Springs voters wanting more accountability approved a charter change Tuesday that will give the mayor the power to call the shots at City Hall.

With nearly all votes counted, Initiative 300 garnered nearly 60 percent of the vote.

The proposed charter change will eliminate the city’s long-standing system of government and replace it with a strong-mayor form, giving the mayor broad new powers as the city’s chief executive. The council will become the legislative branch of the city.

The proposal drew the support of respected community leaders, including former City Attorney Jim Colvin, former Councilwoman Mary Ellen McNally and former Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany.

“If we go forward under either one of those systems (of government), we’re going to have good people and bad people as the years go by,” McElhany said at a debate.

“If we stay with city manager, we’ll have some good ones and we’ll have some bad ones. If we go to executive mayor, we’ll have some good ones and we’ll have some bad ones. I would submit to you that when you get a bad person under the city manager system, that person can do a lot more damage than an executive mayor. The reason is because so much power is concentrated in the city manager,” he said.

Although the proposal didn’t have organized opposition, it generated resistance from the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region and current and former city leaders, including Mayor Lionel Rivera.

Rivera said he supports the concept of a strong-mayor form of government but that the proposal lacked important components. When asked whether the vote was a reflection on the current leadership at City Hall, Rivera said he didn’t know.

“It’s kind of hard to draw that conclusion considering the fact the proponents spent a heck of a lot of money to advertise to people to vote for it and there wasn’t any opposition,” he said. “There was one message put out there ... and that was the only message the citizens heard.”

The group spent more than $800,000 during the election and about $120,000 beforehand to get the initiative off the ground. David and Chris Jenkins loaned the campaign $641,000. Most of the money was spent on advertising.
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