Pueblo will soon have new mayor, who will replace her on city council?

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) - City Council President Heather Graham will be the next mayor of Pueblo and the first woman to run the Steel City. She received 15,632 votes (62%) compared to incumbent Nick Gradisar's 9,427 (38%), according to the latest unofficial election results.

"People now see that you can just be a restaurant owner and you can just be flipping burgers one day and four years later, you're the mayor," said Graham.

Graham said one of her first actions as Pueblo's new mayor will be to make sure more police officers are patrolling the city.

"First we'll be expediting the time to be an officer, not lowering the standards, but just adjusting the application process, because right now it's substantially long," said Graham.

As of Wednesday, the Pueblo Police Department (PPD) is short more than 50 officers. 

"Other communities, it's much quicker time. In the City of Pueblo, it's about nine months. So we need boots on the ground and we need to be able to hire people and get them to the academy quickly," said Graham.

When taking over the city, Graham does not plan on making major changes to the city's administration. 

"I plan on visiting city departments and getting acquainted with the staff and hearing, you know, what, what their needs are and the projects that they've been working on and the importance of it," said Graham.

But as for her who is taking over her seat as city council president is still unknown.

According to the City of Pueblo, candidates will apply for the position and will be voted on by city council. As for the details of how this will work, it has not been decided on yet by the council. But a spokesperson for the city said since her position is an at-large seat there will be no requirement that the candidate will have to live in a particular district, just within city limits. 

Graham will take office on Feb. 1 once the election results are officially certified. However, the details are still being worked out.