Voter’s Guide: Candidates for Colorado Springs City Council and Mayor

COLORADO SPRINGS – The city will host an election on Tuesday, April 2nd to select a Mayor and three At-large City Council members for the next 4 years.

Candidates had from January 2nd to the 22nd to file their application to be on this year’s ballot. The drawing order their names will appear on the ballot was determined on January 25th.

RELATED:

Meet all 11 candidates for Colorado Springs City Council At-Large seats

Colorado Springs City Council Candidate Forum

Meet the candidates for Colorado Springs Mayor

Collective Bargaining ballot question debate drawsfull house

The following is a list of candidates as they appear on the ballot. Municipal elections are non-partisan.

Mayor:

• Lawrence Martinez – contact information – Campaign Finance
• John Suthers – contact information – Campaign Finance
• John Pitchford – contact information – Campaign Finance
• Juliette Parker – contact information – Campaign Finance

At-Large City Council:

• Gordon Klingenschmitt – contact information – Campaign Finance
• Bill Murray – contact information – Campaign Finance
• Val Snider – contact information – Campaign Finance
• Wayne Williams – contact information – Campaign Finance
• Tony Gioia – contact information – Campaign Finance
• Terry Martinez – contact information – Campaign Finance
• Regina English – contact information – Campaign Finance
• Tom Strand – contact information – Campaign Finance
• Randy Tuck – contact information – Campaign Finance
• Athena Roe – contact information – Campaign Finance
• Dennis Spiker – contact information – Campaign Finance
• John Pitchford – *withdrew from the race*

Issues:

Issue 1: Collective Bargaining for All Uniformed Fire Department Employees

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 items related to safety, 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, and all other terms and conditions of employment of such employees; providing for the term of collective bargaining agreements of not less than one I) year nor longer than three (3) years; providing for impasse between the City and the exclusive bargaining agent regarding any issues to be presented to a fact-finder, with the fact-finder to be selected by agreement between the exclusive bargaining representative and the City; providing the factors that the fact-finder shall 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, it shall be presented to the voters only at a special municipal election, with each issue to be a separate question; and providing that any adopted appropriations ordinance shall be amended as necessary to comply with the recommendations from the fact-finder or the special election results?

Read a full write-up on this issue from News5’s Zach Thaxton – here.

As with all elections in Colorado, ballots will be mailed to every eligible active voter within city limits. The latest estimate shows 300,000 such voters in Colorado Springs.

The first ballots will be mailed out to military and overseas voters by February 19th. The remainder of the ballots will begin to go out from the City Clerk’s Office on March 8th and no later than March 18th.

Ballot counting will begin on March 18th and continue to election day April 2nd, and to the deadline to receive military and overseas ballots on April 10th.

Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights notices about the collective bargaining issue will be mailed out by March 1st.

Ballot Drop-Off Locations and Hours of Operation: