Fountain races focus on growth

Most candidates in Fountain’s upcoming mayoral and council election say the city must encourage a better quality of growth and ensure there are adequate public services to support it.

Two people are competing for the two-year mayor’s job; two are vying for the Ward 2 four-year council term; and five are campaigning for the two at-large council seats, also four-year terms.

Mayor

Incumbent Mayor Jeri Howells said her top priority if re-elected would be working with residents to implement recommendations from the first-ever in-depth audit of city management and finances. Howell said the private company that has been doing the audit will present results to the City Council this month.

Howells said the city has never had a strategic plan that links future growth with the kind of infrastructure and capital projects that will be needed to support it. She said she thinks the audit will show where the city should be spending its money, where it can get the “most bang for the buck” and perhaps how to get the most pressing capital projects funded.

Howells is being challenged by Darell Craighead, who agrees developing a strategic plan for city spending and services is essential.

“We don’t have any strategic growth in any way,” he said. “We don’t have any kind of plan that looks at overall strategic development.”

Craighead said he envisions a plan that determines what kind of services - streets or a new fire station, for example — would be needed if growth reached a certain level in a neighborhood. He said such a plan needs to look out 10 and even 20 years.

“Growth is the biggest thing we (the council) have impact over,” he said. “But we don’t look at other things — fire stations, streets, parks, recreation, the future growth of city departments.”

City Council at-large

Growth and infrastructure also are on the minds of four of the five candidates seeking the two at-large council seats. The winners will take over the council seat now occupied by mayoral candidate Craighead and a seat opened up by term limits.

Lois Fay Landgraf, a member of Fountain’s economic development council, said her priority would be to better manage the growth in Fountain. She said people move to the town for its rural character, but that quality is rapidly disappearing.

“I hate to see every horse property being turned over to developers,” she said.

She said growth is inevitable, but she’d like lower-density growth on more rural properties, with higher density toward the city center. She also said there needs to be a better mix of housing for all age and economic groups.

Louis Porsia says Fountain has been playing catch-up with growth. He said the council needs to be more proactive by providing for emergency services when they are needed. He said the city desperately needs more police officers on the street, for example.

He also said the audit will show the city’s strengths and where it needs to fine-tune its management.

Citing the rejected community center, Porsia said businesses that cater to young people should be encouraged to hold special events in town.

Ratu Solanki, a member of Fountain’s planning commission, said he would push developers to create projects that foster neighborhoods and efficient living, where residents can walk to businesses and enjoy nearby community centers.

He said he wants policies that require builders to “develop a decent community rather than just build houses.”

Harold Thompson, who was mayor of Fountain from 1981 to 1985 as well as a past City Council and Planning Commission member, believes the city “needs to pay a little more attention to the growth that’s happening.”

Thompson, a current member of the city’s sanitation district board, said Fountain government needs to focus on upgrading its infrastructure, including water and wastewater service, to accommodate growth. He said the city also needs to do a better job of attracting business because residential development “doesn’t always pay for itself.”

He said the lack of business and major employers makes city revenues vulnerable when there is a downturn in the residential home market.

Malcolm Allyn has a different priority than some other candidates. If elected, he said he would work to create “government-citizen harmony.”

How?

“By getting the word out that we’re not opponents, that we’re in this together, that the ultimate goal is to make this a better community,” he said.

He said he would also try to improve the perception of Fountain.

“There’s a certain stigma that follows Fountain around, and I would like to improve that,” he said.

City Council Ward 2

Mary DeGroot, who now holds the Ward 2 council seat and hopes to retain it, said her priority is encouraging residents to participate in their government. She said she wants people to come to her with questions and concerns.

She also said the town needs many streets repaved.

Her challenger is Jim Coke, a local business owner and member of the Planning Commission.

Coke said it’s time for the next council to change how it deals with growth.

“We’re at a time now when we need to look at quality more than quantity,” he said. “I think for a while it wasn’t happening that way.”

He said the Planning Commission is looking at changes in building codes that could lead in that direction.

He said the town government also needs to upgrade its streets.

“We have parts of Main Street that don’t have curbs,” he said. “That’s a shame because that’s supposedly the core of our town.”

ALL-MAIL ELECTION

The Fountain mayor and City Council races are part of El Paso County’s mail-ballot election. Ballots were sent out Friday to most registered voters (those who registered after Sept. 26 will receive their ballots later). Ballots must be received at the Clerk & Recorder’s Office at Centennial Hall, 200 S. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903, by Nov. 6. Call the El Paso County Elections Department at 575-8683 with questions.