Colorado Springs
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Springs,_Colorado
Next municipal election is April 2, 2019. Mayoral runoff (should no mayor candidate receive 50% plus 1 of the vote) will be the third Tuesday in the May immediately following the regular municipal general election, which will be May 21st, 2019.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION Contact us to pass along info or to ask how to become a volunteer researcher.
Contents
Colorado Springs Overview
Demographics
City Council
- Official City Council Webpage
- Official Mayor Webpage
- Official City Clerk Webpage
- City Code and Charter
- Terms are 4 years; limited to 2 consecutive terms. (Both Council and Mayor)
- Elections are the first Tuesday in April in odd-numbered years.
- Mayor is subject to Instant Runoff Voting system. Should any single candidate not achieve the majority of votes (50% plus 1), then the two candidates with the highest votes received will go to the runoff, held on the 3rd Tuesday of May.
- City Council is not subject to runoff. All that is needed is a plurality of votes.
- Councilors receive an annual stipend of $6,250.
- Current Council President Richard Skorman stated that "It’s not an accident that all but two of us are retired. It’s a more-than-40-hours-a-week job."
- Assuming a 48-week year, that is $130.21 per week. Assuming 40-hour weeks, that means Councilors are effectively paid $3.25 per hour. This is only 45% of the federal minimum wage and just under 30% of Colorado's minimum wage.
Contact entire council:
- Phone: (719) 385-5986
- Fax: (719) 385-5495
- Email: allCouncil@springsgov.com
Title | Name | Party | Next Election April |
Contact | 2019 Margin | 2017 Margin | 2015 Margin | 2013 Margin | 2011 Margin | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mayor | John Suthers (Official Bio) |
Republican | 2019 | (719) 385-5900 jsuthers@springsgov.com |
X | X | ||||
At-Large | Merv Bennett (Official Bio) |
Republican | 2019 TERMED OUT |
(719) 385-5469 MBennett@springsgov.com |
X | |||||
At-Large | Bill Murray (Official Bio) |
Unaffiliated (Left Dem party after 2016 election) |
2019 | (719) 385-5485 bmurray@springsgov.com Facebook Page |
X | |||||
At-Large | Tom Strand (Official Bio) |
Republican | 2019 | (719) 385-5486 tstrand@springsgov.com |
X | |||||
District 1 | Don Knight (Official Bio) |
Republican | 2021 (Will be termed out) |
(719) 385-5487 Dknight@springsgov.com |
1 | |||||
District 2 | David Geislinger (Official Bio) |
Republican | 2021 | (719) 385-5493 dgeislinger@springsgov.com |
1 | |||||
District 3 | Richard Skorman Council President (Official Bio) |
Unaffiliated (Was Sen. Ken Salazar's regional director) |
2021 | (719) 385-5470 rskorman@springsgov.com |
1 | |||||
District 4 | Yolanda Avila (Official Bio) |
Democrat | 2021 | (719) 385-5492 yavila@springsgov.com |
1 | |||||
District 5 | Jill Gaebler President Pro-Tem (Official Bio) |
Republican | 2021 (Will be termed out) |
(719) 385-5483 Jgaebler@springsgov.com |
1 | |||||
District 6 | Andy Pico (Official Bio) |
Republican | 2021 (Will be termed out) |
(719) 385-5491 Apico@springsgov.com |
1 |
2019 Election
Candidates
April 2nd, 2019 will see Mayor and all 3 At-Large seats up for vote. Mayor is subject to Instant Runoff, should no single candidate receive 50% plus 1 votes.
Should a mayoral runoff take place, it will occur May 21st, 2019.
The runoff system does not apply to city council seats.
Seat | Name | Party | Issues | Endorsements/Info | Contact |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mayor. Must be 50% plus one or more in the General, or goes to Runoff | |||||
Mayor | John Suthers (i) | Republican | Website | ||
Mayor | Lawrence Martinez | Republican | Potential rematch run | ||
Mayor | Juliette Parker | Unaffiliated | Website | ||
Mayor | |||||
At-Large Councilors. Pick 3. | |||||
At-Large | Bill Murray (i) | Republican | Facebook Archive of 2015 Website | ||
At-Large | Tom Strand (i) | Republican | "add more police officers, tackle the city’s stark affordable housing shortage and boost Utilities’ solar portfolio" | ||
At-Large | Tony Gioia | Republican | Official Issues Page | El Paso County Planning Commissioner (2012-2018) |
Website Online Contact Form |
At-Large | Gordon Klingenschmitt | Republican | Issues Page | Faith Blog Klingenschmitt runs https://gazette.com/news/high-profile-conservative-gordon-klingenschmitt-eyes-seat-on-colorado-springs/article_8ffa2e3e-0adc-11e9-9c88-47fe636db8eb.html Announcement] "My main concern is that our city has gone to the left, especially with regard to over-taxation. This is Colorado Springs. We are a conservative town. This is not Boulder." Conservatives Against Gordon Klingenschmitt Facebook, run by Laura Carno of the Independence Institute |
Website mailto:gordonforcolorado@yahoo.com Email] |
At-Large | Terry Martinez | Democrat | Full Platform | Official List of Endorsements Current COS councilors Yolanda Avila, Richard Skorman, Jill Gaebler State Sen. Pete Lee State Rep. Marc Snyder Fmr. COS Councilor Jan Martin |
Website |
At-Large | John Pitchford | Republican | Army vet and retired doctor | ||
At-Large | Val Snider | LinkedIn Fmr. At-Large Councilor (2011-2015) Chose not to run for reelection |
|||
At-Large | Wayne Williams | Republican | Announcement Colorado Secretary of State (2015-2019) Strong rumor he will run for Mayor in 2023. Holly Williams, his wife, became an El Paso County Commissioner in 2019 |
||
At-Large |
(i) = incumbent
Campaign Finance
Official Search for Campaign Finance Info
Future reporting dates:
- February 1, 2019
- February 15, 2019
- March 1, 2019
- March 15, 2019
- March 29, 2019
- May 2, 2019
Candidates
As of January 15th, 2019.
Seat | Name | Party | Total Contributions | Total Expenditures | Total Cash On Hand | Total PACs | Notable Individuals (Candidate Loans/Donations) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mayor | John Suthers (i) | Republican | As of Jan 2, 40% of donations come from Broadmoor zip code | ||||
Mayor | |||||||
At-Large | Tom Strand (i) | Republican | $200 | $40 | $160 (Despite incumbency, had $0 starting) |
$200 - Candidate Donation | |
At-Large | Tony Gioia | Republican | $1,415 | $804.21 | $2,097.94 (Carried over $1,487.15 from previous campaign) |
Pamela Barad - $1,000 | |
At-Large | Terry Martinez | Democrat | $1,903.01 | $38.58 | $1,864.43 | $284 - Candidate (In-Kind) Rita Ague - $500 Charles Murphy - $500 Matt McGovern (House Majority Project) - $200 | |
At-Large | John Pitchford | Republican | $25,000 | $75 | $24,925 | $25,000 - Candidate Loan |
Ballot Initiatives
Collective Bargaining for All Uniformed Fire Department Employees
Text with the All-Caps removed and bullet points added for easier reading. Actual text remains.
Shall the charter of the City of Colorado Springs be amended by the addition of a new Article XVI thereto granting collective bargaining rights to all uniformed city fire employees except for the fire chief and his direct reports, and specifically:
- Providing that such employees shall have the right to select and remove an employee organization to serve as the sole and exclusive bargaining representative.
- To bargain on behalf of such employees for a collective bargaining agreement with the city as employer, concerning all matters related to such employees' wages, salaries, monetary payments, employer-paid health insurance, employer-paid accident, life and disability insurance, employer-paid pension programs including the amount of pension and contributions, employer-offered deferred compensation, health insurance for retired fire employees, paid time off, uniform and equipment allowances, employer-¬paid expense reimbursement, hours of work, safety, and all other terms and conditions of employment of such employees.
- Providing for the term of collective bargaining agreements of not less than one (1) year nor longer than three (3) years.
- Providing that in the event of impasse between the city and the exclusive bargaining agent regarding any issues, the issues are to be submitted to a fact-finder selected from a list provided by an arbitration organization unless the city and exclusive bargaining agent mutually agree to use someone not on the arbitration organization list, with the fact-finder to be selected by agreement between the exclusive bargaining representative and the city.
- Providing and limiting the factors that the fact-finder must consider in his or her decision.
- Providing that if either the city or the collective bargaining representative does not accept the decision of the fact-finder on any issue, that issue shall be presented to and decided by the voters only at a special municipal election, with the cost of the special election to be paid by the party not accepting the fact¬finder's decision, unless both parties reject the fact-finder's decision, in which case the cost of election is shared equally, and with each issue to be submitted as a separate ballot question.
- And providing that any adopted appropriations ordinance of the city shall be amended as necessary to comply with and pay for the cost to the city of the accepted recommendations from the fact-finder or the election results on each issue?