1. Addressing our infrastructure needs without raising taxes. In my first term, we addressed roads with Issue 2C. I supported that tax increase. Now we must fund stormwater within our current budget or become another tax and spend City government. I do not support Council unilaterally adopting a stormwater fee without a vote of the people. With the potential of $12M in TABOR excess, I firmly believe we can fund our stormwater needs within our budget. 2. Retaining and attracting new businesses to grow our economy so we do not have to raise taxes. I explain below in Question 8.

While Council's current Town Hall practice is good, the best model is how the City handled the redesign of the 31st St Canal and development of the Renew North Nevada Ave Master Plan. A task force began with a clean sheet of paper then held multiple town halls to narrow the inputs to a single decision with the majority of the affected community, if not all, buying in. They accomplished this by making their town halls a true give and take; spending at least half of each meeting having the audience work on crafting and commenting different visions, plans, etc.

The City has 9 enterprises ranging from airport and utilities to golf courses and cemeteries. With respect to CSU specially, we must keep our utilities citizen-owned. Some have suggested in the past, and others will try again in the future, to sell the electric and gas portions. While the City would receive a one-time payment; it pales in comparison to the increased rates we would pay. In my first term, I made the motion to halt a study to sell. For this election, I support the ballot initiative to raise the minimum voter requirement for selling from 50% to 60%.

The proposed resolution did NOT oppose the relocation of refugees to Colorado Springs. It requested the federal government to fully vet them before relocating to Colorado. Anyone having deployed to Southwest Asia (myself, my daughter, her husband, and my son included) will affirm while there are people suffering in this region who could find a better life in Colorado, there are also people who want to do us harm. With the high visibility targets in our area (Air Force Academy, Cheyenne Mountain, Garden of the Gods, etc), it is only common sense to ensure we properly screen any refugees first.

Under our current form of Government, Council's role in assisting our homeless is minor. The City's lead, Ms Amy Cox, works for the Mayor. Council does support her by approving her budget and annual action plan. One example is we approved providing the Springs Rescue Mission with excess Community Development Block Grant funds so they can support homeless singles while the Marion House concentrates on families. Council also has a role in low income housing. I support Ms Cox's assessment that low income housing is defined as 30% of one's disability check; not just cheaper than the place next door.

Our public transit system needs are two-fold: expanded service areas and more frequent service in existing areas. Both of these require more funding. The Mayor's and Council's restoration of the maintenance of effort funding will allow improvement to one but not both. Additionally, the possibility for future substantial increase in funding is bleak given all the other priorities fighting for limited City dollars. Before my November 2014 Rolling Town Hall on various bus routes within District 1, I favored adding more routes. However, after talking to the people who use and count on transit; more frequent service is needed first.

Yes. The 1st Amendment states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof "(emphasis added). Are we not then being both hypocritical and against the law if we say one group has the right the exercise their religious freedoms, but then prohibit another? For example, while against its uniform standards, the military accommodates individual expressions of sincerely held beliefs including the wear beards or articles of clothing, or obtain tattoos or piercings. Why then should we force a baker to make a cake in a fashion against his or her religious believes.

In business development I learned to protect your base and focus your growth. Our base is the military. In my first term, I championed a Pentagon, local bases, and CSU partnership to strengthen us from any Base Realignment and Closures. For growth, I will focus on medicine, aerospace, and cyber. I voted for modifying the Memorial lease for a new Children's hospital bringing in high paying medical jobs. I supported creating a Commercial Aeronautical Zone (CAZ) around the airport which has already brought in over 2,000 jobs. In my second term, I want to make the entire City a CAZ.

Arts and Culture definitely provide value added to our community but is not the reason people live here. During our assignment in Los Angeles, my wife and I went to many plays including The King and I with Yul Brenner and Lena Horne's one-woman show. However, it is not a city we wanted to raise our family in. We are now season subscribers to the Fine Arts Center and Philharmonic, receiving just as much enjoyment. However, government funding of the Arts will never rank above Public Safety, Public Works or even our Parks. Well-funded requires strong private patronage to succeed.

Education: bachelor of Engineering and MS in Computer Science Occupation: Fulltime on City Council

More important than any particular ‘issue’ is a candidate’s decision making process. Our City has made decisions over the last 20+ years reflecting a ‘small town’ identity capable of being governed by ‘small town’ politics. We are a large city, almost as big as Atlanta. We must think of ourselves as a Big City, and finance ourselves as such, so as to address the problems and potentials every big city has. This self-image and corresponding failure to fund ourselves are two longstanding issues I would raise directly with the voters.

This requires a strong relationship with the media as the ‘fourth estate’ reporting on matters of public interest. It is also encouraged by participation of the interested private groups and businesses which are invested in improving the City. This sort of public-private partnership is needed not only because the City lacks the resources to unilaterally address current needs given the lack of funding over the last 20-30 years, but because it will better reveal the true depth and breadth of diversity in our community, building trust between these organization and individual citizens that we can help one another.

Colorado Springs Utilities is a true asset to our community. Because it is owned by the city residential and business consumers consistently receive good service at prices that other communities, with privately owned utilities, cannot match. Additionally, because it is a city asset, it can work with private enterprises desiring to relocate to our community in ways other cities, with privately owned utilities, cannot. That said, both because of the time and expertise needed to operate utilities properly, the council should not be the primary manager, but should delegate oversight to a professional supervisor/board.

Our community never questioned accepting “migrants” forcibly displaced by the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires, as we recognized the moral imperative to do so. Any resolution barring all of Colorado Springs from accepting other migrants, displaced for other reasons, because of an unsubstantiated fear cannot be justified, because embracing those forced to migrate for any reason remains a moral imperative and we must never coercively institute a ban prohibiting the exercise of human compassion and the religious and moral precepts we profess to claim as our heritage.

Because of past funding decisions and current income, City resources must primarily address three areas; stormwater, infrastructure/roads and public safety. There are few resources available to directly assist the most vulnerable. However, we must be concerned that a single parent working full time still cannot afford a clean and safe apartment. While the city does not have resources to directly address this concern, it can work with the business and private communities to create incentives to expand safe and clean low-income housing. Similar public/private partnerships can assist our most vulnerable in other areas.

This builds on my previous answer. That single parent, spending over half the monthly paycheck on rent, will have at most $600 for groceries, medicine, school supplies and utilities among other expenses. It is unrealistic that (s)he will be able to afford a car payment, gasoline, insurance, etc. Supporting our low-income workers, and allowing them to accumulate wealth so as to join and strengthen a growing middle-class, will require public transportation so that they, and their families, can get to and from their jobs, school, etc. This will also attract businesses seeking to relocate.

No. As a pragmatic matter, such an effort would ultimately prove futile and costly, as the resolution of these sorts of issues is necessarily going to have to be determined pursuant to the free exercise clauses of the federal and state constitutions, and not by local city ordinance. On a personal level, such efforts have often appeared to me to be more concerned with ensuring active government support of one individual’s religious/social/moral beliefs by the simultaneous suppression of the religious/ social/moral beliefs held by another.

A City that refuses to invest in itself cannot expect a business to do so. In committing to our City businesses will be more inclined to partner with us. This requires embracing our community as it is; a city of over 400,000 people with political, ethical, social and ethnic identities that are not uniform or homogeneous. We need not be afraid to acknowledge this. If we are all interested in the City’s future, we can embrace those things that serve the common good. Compromise for the greater good is not a dirty concept.

Attracting new businesses and high-paying jobs – and, indeed, having a vital local economy - is but a part of ensuring a well-rounded quality of life in Colorado Springs. Arts and culture, to include our City’s ‘mountain and physical activities culture’, are indispensable. Tourists may come if we construct attractions, but businesses will relocate and new residents will arrive when we commit, through government investment and public-private partnership, to not only keeping what has made Colorado Springs so special all along, but to making it even better.

Education: BS Bus. Admin, J.D., Ordained Catholic Deacon Occupation: Current Hospital Chaplain, Former Attorney

The top two issues facing Colorado Springs are: 1 and 2. Finding more dedicated funding for Park Maintenance, Infrastructure, Stormwater, Fire Mitigation and Public Safety. We need to get stormwater funding out of the General Fund to free up money for City’s core services by putting forth a separate funding source for Stormwater and by detaborizing our City’s ratchet down effect and TABOR caps so we can keep money in good economic times. I would also like to see the creation of a Fire District mill levy for those who reside and do business in the Wildland Urban Interface.

Work better with neighborhood groups and community organizations to garner input and support early on as issues come up and be as transparent as possible from the dais, particularly from the Utility Board.

Utilities are the main City Enterprise that financially affects local residents. We need to place in front of voters an initiative to overturn Issue 300 so that the City and its Enterprises can work more cost effectively by sharing resources. We can significantly lower utility bills by temporarily selling surplus SDS water (which is all of it) to outside water districts that are desperate for water and we should be more proactive with Demand Side Management (conservation) opportunities for commercial and residential ratepayers to lower rates and demand.

I don’t support it. Colorado Springs has a long tradition of bringing in refugees and having them successfully assimilate into our city. Many of our City’s best small business owners and high tech employees have come from our past refugee community. Many more have served in our armed forces and been stationed in our region.

We need be more proactive in providing incentives for the construction of affordable housing. The homeless issue is mostly separate from affordable housing issue, as many of the population who lives on the streets are struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues. We could benefit by providing a homeless camp with sanitation facilities and funding a mobile unit with a Social Worker and Nurse Practitioner to go to that population instead of the other way around would provide a benefit to make sure the needs of the homeless population are addressed so that they are able to be safe.

We will never have a big city’s public transportation system as we just don’t have the concentration of population to support, although of course, we should incent more infill development. But the Southeast parts of the city have the most demand. I would beef up that service there and would entertain advocating for a Jitney system like Portland currently has, that is not allowed through by State law. We are not a pedestrian friendly city so door to door public transportation makes the most sense.

I would not support. We are a diverse city with a population of lots of religious beliefs, lifestyle choices and sexual orientations. No one should ever feel that they can discriminate against a customer based on their own religious beliefs

We have a tremendous opportunity to attract Millennials and entrepreneurs from the increasingly congested and expensive North Front Range by growing our Downtown and Westside commercial districts, retiring and removing the Drake Power plant, connecting our trails and creating a system of greenways to increase bicycle transportation and access to outdoor recreation, and by renegotiating our Franchise agreement with Century Link and Comcast to increase our bandwidth and internet speeds. Promote our Cyber security infrastructure and industries and provide a place for Peterson to increase its missions. And continue to promote our culture of health/fitness and our Olympic Brand.

It plays a tremendous role and right now, we have a cache of local talent in all of the Arts. It’s success is certainly a local economic driver and would help attract Millennials as mentioned above. I am excited about CC taking over the Fine Arts Center, the Broadmoor investing in the World Arena, the new Performing Arts facilities at CC and UCCS. I hope when the Drake Power Plant is retired that a true Arts District can be create as originally envisioned in the Southwest part of Downtown.

Education: Bachelor of Arts and Honorary Doctorate from Colorado College Occupation: Co-owner Poor Richards/Little Richards/Ricos

Unsustainable growth is the most urgent issue facing our community. We must ensure we are maintaining the roads and infrastructure we have, along with providing adequate public safety, before we continue to grow outward. The City’s stormwater infrastructure backlog is the second most crucial issue, and another great example of the importance of maintaining what we have and keeping our citizens safe before we build new infrastructure. The City must ask the voters to approve a permanent stormwater fee, similar to the fees charged by every other larger city in Colorado.

I want neighbors and neighborhoods to have a more powerful voice at City Hall, and have worked to get our Council Organization of Neighborhoods (CONO) involved earlier, and more often, on issues that impact our neighborhoods. I would like the City to continue promoting the use of social media and web-based methods to receive community input, and for Council members to host more town halls at different times, to encourage greater participation.

City enterprises produce their own revenue and cannot utilize city tax dollars. The ideal relationship with enterprises is one of partnership and autonomy. Colorado Springs Utilities is the City’s largest enterprise, with its own governance, that must partner with to City to keep rates low while also partnering with the city to provide them water and other utilities.

I was a council member during this discussion and was opposed to the anti-refugee resolution. This type of non-binding messaging only serves to degrade the reputation of our community as we appear unjust and even hateful to those who need our assistance the most.

I worked at local nonprofit, Greccio Housing, prior to my election to our City Council where I worked closely with our low-income and homeless community members. Because of this background, I understand that everyone needs a safe place to live, where they can begin to rebuild their lives. I would like to see our faith-based community engage at a deeper and more collaborate level to assist our most vulnerable citizens and will continue to support all efforts to support all community members toward leading stable and self-sufficient lives.

As a council member I have been very vocal about the importance of having a robust transit system in our community, as transit is a basic city service, and I have fought for transit funding increases. I have also brought attention to our many transit users by riding buses and hosting my office hours on a bus. The City needs to continue focusing on the transit needs of our lower-income community along with our young professionals and seniors, as many of them rely on transit or simply want to live a car-less lifestyle.

I would not support a local policy change to allow any business to deny service to someone based on religious belief.

The City's economy has been growing over the past four years, as witnessed by a year-over-year increase in sales tax revenue to the City. It is not government's job to bring business to our city, but it is our job to create a community where business wants to locate and a young, educated workforce wants to live and raise their families. I believe we do this by continuing to reduce regulations that prevent business from thriving and by continuing to support the downtown growth that is wanted by young professionals, who want to live, play, work, eat, and shop, all without getting in a car.

Arts and culture play an enormous role in creating a vibrant community, especially in our downtown, which is a certified creative district. I have worked to secure additional lodging and auto rental taxes for local arts nonprofits, which would enhance our many arts and cultural venues, and attract even more locals and tourists to our community.

Education: BS Management Information Systems, Univ. of Arizona Occupation: Council Member – City of Colorado Springs

The storm water and Martin Drake Power plant issues are the most pressing at the time of answering this. Both issues effect the environment of our city. When I get into office, I will be getting down and dirty in regards to resolving these issues. The storm water issue should have been handled long ago, and there never should have been lawsuits. Now the taxpayers will end up “footing the bill” in order to satisfy both the requirements of the storm water agreement, and resolving the lawsuit. As for the Drake Power-plant, an economical solution needs to replace the plant, after its been decommissioned and I feel strongly that the voters should be part of the decision.

Focus groups, however, the focus groups must have more diversity. So often, citizens feel groups like this are a waste of time, and their breath. We need to come up with a way to prove to our citizens that we hear them, we are as concerned as we are, and we will do everything possible to provide resolution. The city website is pretty good, but cumbersome. It needs to be a bit friendlier to everyone of all ages.

Quite often, the citizens or local businesses absorb cost breaks given to developers. Developers make money off city projects, which is fair, and fine. However, the practice of providing discounted rates for certain things, needs to be evaluated. When cost breaks are offered to one party, it must be absorbed somewhere.

I do not support this resolution. It is not right! We all come from a family of immigrants (unless you’re Native American). Our Bill of Rights promises “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to those seeking refuge here. I have been to the Syrian refugee camps in Germany, and I have met those seeking refuge. They are women, children, elderly, and only a small percentage are men as many of the men are either fighting still or have been killed. Many are professionals like you and I with families. And they are kind and grateful. Our vetting process is tough, trust it.

We need to do a better job of making sure those who need help, get help. We also need to recognize the mental health issues of some, and work towards getting them to accept help. So many of those vulnerable, served their country and need to be shown more compassion. I also feel standard guidelines need to be implemented in all shelters offering refuge from the streets. Some of the rules are very constringent and many are turned away, putting them right back out on the streets again.

The public transit in the downtown area is pretty good. However, in my district, its limited or non existent. The population is growing more and spreading eastward and north. More transportation needs to be put in place to serve the ever growing population that is spreading out. We also need to take a hard look at accessible transit. Many of our citizens have disabilities and this needs to be taken into consideration for public transportation. Its unacceptable to wheel a wheelchair three miles to catch an infrequent bus.

Absolutely not. If you are open to the public, you need to serve the public. Now, if you want to run an exclusive private business, not open to the general public, then yes, you should be able to field your clientele. We are Colorado Springs, united. Not Colorado Springs united except with those we depict as different. We are all created equal.

COS should really empower the local businesses more. Devise some kind of financial breaks for training and hiring local workers. But to make sure these financial breaks are not just lining the pockets of business management, a checks and balance system needs to be put into place. Similar to that of those receiving grants. Is it more work? YES! But don’t our constituents deserve a system which supports growth and employment?

Art is the beauty of this city’s soul. People come here to see the beauty with their eyes, paint it with their hearts, and create music from their soul. The city holds many cultures in it, and art is such a beautiful way of sharing the various cultures with one another. We should encourage our children to share their beauty with one another. There is nothing more moving than hearing a child sing. I am so supportive of funding art. Art is a vehicle, which allows us to connect to one another.

Education: BA From Catherine College in Van Nuys, CA Occupation: Retired former USAA MSR and Exec. Dir for Non Profit