Issues 1 & 2 on Springs municipal ballot explained

In addition to choosing a new mayor and several city council members, Colorado Springs voters will decide on two issues in April’s municipal election.

There are two issues on the ballot, which ask to make changes to the city charter to clarify some City Council and mayor responsibilities. The charter was written before there was a strong-mayor form of government, and the changes will clear up the roles with the new form of governance, Council President Keith King said.

Issue 1 asks whether city council, not the mayor, should sign Colorado Springs Utilities contracts. These could be contracts for buying coal or natural gas, for bonds, etc. City Council members serve as members of the Colorado Springs Utilities board, but the mayor doesn’t.

“The mayor has no authority over utilities, and so it’s better to structure it so that the city council has authority over utilities and they sign the contracts,” King said.

King said the mayor has had to sign contracts he can’t change and had no input on.

Issue 2 asks whether city council can hire staff independent from the mayor. Last year, the mayor fired an employee who was hired by and who reported directly to City Council.

“This is to solve an issue in which the people are accountable to the people that hired them,” King said. “So the city council staff is accountable to the city council and the mayor staff is accountable to the mayor.”

Ballots are due by 7 p.m. April 7. You can find the list of drop-off locations here.