Colorado Springs’ mayor-elect outlines 100-day plan, reveals chief of staff

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Ahead of his swearing-in next week as the city's new mayor, Yemi Mobolade held a news conference Tuesday to announce his plans for his first 100 days in office.

Mobolade told an audience at the Chamber of Commerce office downtown that he has three primary objectives: Improving the support and relationship with elected leaders and government officials; seeking more citizen involvement and strengthening public confidence; and addressing the city's most pressing issues.

The latter involves a focus on public safety, homelessness and job creation.

"The issue around homelessness is mental illness," he explained. "So, one of the reasons why I'm having a homeless summit is to bring the local providers together to make sure that we are actually addressing the issue. My wife will be involved with that."

Mobolade added that he's sensitive to the public perception that homelessness is getting worse.

"There's a group called the Homeless Outreach Team and one of my first endeavors is to see if I can expand that team to address illegal camping," he said. "Many of our residents feel unsafe."

To read the plan, visit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WAiUP8nShlr5SP0nDIY_50pqohM1avlr/view.

Mobolade also revealed that his chief of staff will be Jamie Fabos, former director of city communications and Mayor John Suthers, who recently was working in communications for Colorado Springs Utilities.

“I definitely see community engagement as a big part of my role.," she said. "Helping Yemi explore all those relationships, get the input of different groups that maybe haven’t been represented before — as well as those who have been city partners. So yes, I do expect to be out in the community quite a bit.”

Acknowledging Suthers' public works accomplishments -- such as convincing voters to approve a sales tax increase for expanded street paving, and passing a fee to maintain stormwater infrastructure -- Mobolade said that he will ask city crews to increase pothole repair and sidewalk upgrades.

"Potholes and sidewalks are two of most common concerns I hear about from residents," he remarked. "I know the city has already been doing work on those, but we need to do more."

The mayor-elect said that his campaign goals were to make local government more accessible, transparent and proactive.

"To that end, I'm going to start biweekly briefings to the public and monthly briefings to the media," he said.

Mobolade also wants to improve the police department's ability to hire and retain officers, and create a five-year plan to improve response times by building more police and fire department facilities.