Mayor addresses PEDCO relationship as nonprofit sues city
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham held a press briefing regarding the city's relationship with Pueblo Economic Development Corporation (PEDCO) on March 19, where she confirmed that the city has cut ties with the nonprofit.
PEDCO has worked with the city to bring businesses to Pueblo through incentives and by having project-ready land available for sale. The organization is funded by taxpayer dollars as well as private membership dues, according to its website.
According to the mayor, the decision to end the partnership came after she says PEDCO failed to provide documents highlighting where city funds were being spent. The mayor delivered her speech in a Pueblo Shell Building with abandoned equipment, she claims IndieDWELL left behind after a PEDCO deal didn't end well three years ago.
"Behind me, you can see a shipping container that holds the equipment left behind by IndieDWELL, another not-so-stellar company brought by PEDCO that left in the middle of the night, owing the city over $900,000 with no way for the city to recover its investment on this bad deal," said Mayor Graham.
On the same day as Mayor Graham's press briefing, PEDCO filed a lawsuit alleging that the city breached a long-standing contract.
PEDCO claims that the city violated the contract when Mayor Graham directed officials to "pause" all future payments to the organization on Aug. 1, 2025.
According to the lawsuit, the contract required 90 days' written notice of termination by either party, which PEDCO says Mayor Graham did not provide when she stopped all payments on Aug. 1.
Court documents filed by PEDCO say there was no provision in the contract allowing for the "pausing" of payments and claims the city failed to pay the remaining $175,000 due for the year.
The lawsuit claims that Mayor Graham sent a formal notice to the nonprofit on Sept 2025, terminating the contract effective December 2025. PEDCO argues the termination was ineffective because the city breached the contract by pausing payments in August 2025.
Due to this alleged breach of the contract, PEDCO states that the contract automatically renewed for 2026 and that the city council budgeted $295,500 for 2026 in November 2025.
PEDCO claims the city owes the nonprofit one-twelfth of that sum for each month of 2026 that has passed without payment, plus the $175,000 that PEDCO says was not paid in 2025
Watch Mayor Graham's full press briefing addressing the city's relationship with PEDCO below:
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