Wayne Williams

cost power for our businesses and ratepayers. As a county commissioner, I have collaborated with CSU and will ensure we continue to effectively support our residents and keep costs down.

Economic Development

A prime role of the mayor is leadership in promoting local job expansion as well as recruiting new companies and talent. I believe I am best able to accomplish this on behalf of our business community. As a former college professor and middle school teacher, I have the experience and understanding of how to integrate government with education to promote the right training to match our local employment needs. By improving our city infrastructure, addressing public safety, and housing affordability, we will be a city where our employees will want to live, work, and play. Also, as a veteran, I will be the candidate best capable of ensuring support to our military installations, veterans, and assisting our defense-related industry to bring in and retain top talent.

I will be a fierce advocate for our businesses and community at the Capitol. I believe that the Lodgers and Automobile Rental Tax (LART) has been an effective tourism tool for our community and I will definitely continue its support. I already have the reputation of effective advocacy and successful leadership, both individually and through our statewide counties association, and I will continue that leadership role as mayor.

annually through our counties association against bills that add costs to constructing homes and promote bills that cut regulation that benefits our businesses and consumers. I will also ensure we merge efforts with government and private/ nonprofit organizations to help in all areas and for those that are homeless, matching services with those in need. We have done this effectively at the county level.

Current role or occupation: Colorado Springs city council; small business owner

Formal education: BA from Brigham Young University; JD from the University of Virginia

Public service: 2019-present, Colorado Springs City Council; 20152019, Colorado Secretary of State; 2011-15, El Paso County Clerk and Recorder; 2003-11, El Paso County Commissioner; 1994-2005, Colorado Springs Housing Authority

Colorado Springs resident: 30+ years

Skills to be effective: A proven track record of accomplishment and leadership; ability to collaborate and delegate; successful record of employee relations and retention; even temperament and integrity necessary to be a highly effective mayor for our great city.

Leadership tenets: respect, communication, courage, accountability, empowerment, innovation and leadership by example

Crisis tenets: communication, compassion, honesty, collaboration, development and implementation

Key endorsements: Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, Sheriff Joe Roybal, former Sheriff Bill Elder, Treasurer Chuck Broerman

As a 30-year resident of Colorado Springs, I’ve seen our great city go through many changes. My wife, Holly, and I raised our four amazing children here, and I’ve worked to serve our community. My mission as mayor is to ensure that, through community collaboration, Colorado Springs remains the very best city in which to live, work, and raise your families.

Smart Growth

Infrastructure and Transportation: I’ve successfully championed road and infrastructure projects, including the widening of I-25 and the Pikes Peak RTA. As mayor, I will continue to fight for funding for our transportation systems and ensure that new residential and commercial growth is accompanied by the necessary infrastructure. I will preserve and grow our parks, trails, and open spaces. During my four years on City Council, we’ve added over a thousand acres of parks and open space.

Crime and Public Safety: We must provide Colorado Springs police and firefighters with the personnel, training, tools, and resources necessary to keep our neighborhoods, businesses, and schools safe. As a council member, we adopted our city’s first fire evacuation ordinance and obtained voter approval to fund fire mitigation. I will continue my work with state and local agencies to enhance wildfire preparedness and mitigation. Since joining the city council, we’ve added 62 new police officers and 66 firefighters, funded three new fire stations, moved to a continuous police academy, and established a public safety fee to make sure new development pays their fair share. As mayor, I will ensure our public safety needs are prioritized.

Community Impact

Homelessness and Public Safety: Colorado Springs is one of the few large cities in America where the number of unhoused has been reduced. We must compassionately address the root causes of homelessness by working with nonprofit partners, like Springs Rescue Mission and Catholic Charities, to provide education and treatment options for those experiencing drug addiction and/or mental illness. To ensure the health and safety of the public, we need to continue to enforce our city ordinances that prohibit individuals from blocking public right-of-way and camping on, and potentially contaminating, our public spaces and waterways.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING:

As chairman of the Colorado Springs Utilities Board, I worked to establish a fund to cover utility connection fees for affordable housing to help encourage construction by nonprofits and other community partners. On city council, we worked to establish a program to rebate sales tax for attainable housing. As mayor, I will continue to work with community partners to incentivize a mix of both market-rate and affordable housing units.

COMMUNITY COLLABORATION: I will lead a city government that works with our residents, stakeholders, agencies, organizations, and businesses to accomplish a shared vision.

WATER: I’m working to secure the water we need for the future of our community. We obtained approval of agreement with Bent County enabling a 15,000 acre-feet expansion of our water supply, enough for 100,000 people, reducing our dependence on the Colorado River.

Budget

Fiscal Health: Just like our families need to make important budget decisions to operate within their means, so does our city government. As mayor, I will assure we continue to operate with a balanced budget and a healthy reserve that will allow us to withstand any future crisis.

Energy

Power Grid: As chairman of the Colorado Springs Utilities Board, I’ve been actively working on making necessary upgrades to our power grid and ensure that it is safe from attack. On city council, we successfully led the closure of the 97-year-old coal-fueled Drake Power Plant and replaced it with more economical and cleaner power generation. Colorado Springs Utilities recently joined the Southwest Power Pool’s Imbalance Service market to safeguard the reliability and affordability of electricity, even in times of high demand.

Economic Development

Job Growth: I am committed to preserving a low tax burden for our residents while delivering economic growth to our city through business development and recruitment, as well as public/private partnerships and investments.

HIGHER EDUCATION: I taught in the business school at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs for several years and I have worked closely with our colleges and universities to ensure transportation access. I have also worked at the state level to add necessary programs to support our community needs. In council, we extended our great relationship with UC Health.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: I support public-private partnerships that provide workforce education programs to teach our workers new skills that will help them be successful in a changing labor market.

PRESENCE AT THE STATE CAPITOL: As Colorado’s secretary of state, I successfully promoted numerous bills in the state legislature to strengthen the security of our elections and increase participation in the process. I have professional relationships with legislators on both sides of the aisle, and many of them are supporting my campaign for mayor.

TOURISM: Visitors to our community pay the lodging and auto rental tax. We ought to ensure that they pay their fair share to support our tourist-burdened parks like Garden of the Gods.