Nick Gradisar sworn in as Pueblo’s new mayor

Nick Gradisar is finally able to call himself the mayor of the city of Pueblo.

In a room full of his peers and family, he took the oath of office Friday and became the first person in this role in more than 60 years.

“I’ve been mayor-elect for 10 days, mayor candidate for a year, so [being] mayor is great,” Gradisar exclaimed.

At the top of his priorities for Pueblo is growth.

“Pueblo used to be the second largest city in the state of Colorado. During the last 60 years, we’ve slipped to eighth or ninth,” Gradisar said. “We have not shared in the same growth the rest of Colorado has and we need to go back and get our share.”

He says to accomplish that, he is focusing on making it easier for businesses to come to the Steel City and attracting them with the resources Pueblo already has.

“We can target those industries and businesses and say hey if you need water in order to thrive in your business, you ought to take a look at Pueblo,” Gradisar said.

Gradisar explains a big part of his success is keeping people in Pueblo and making it easier for them to stay here.

“We need to get some affordable housing here, and I think you can measure some of the success you by have we gotten more housing started than we did before,” he said.

With just one day on the job, Gradisar admits he’s still learning, telling the crowd, “I don’t promise to have all the answers to the problems we face in our community.”

But he’s hoping the community will learn with him.