Out of a field of 12 candidates, the race to be the next mayor of Colorado Springs is down to a runoff contest between Yemi Mobolade and Wayne Williams.

Ballots are out now, and due back to the city clerk’s office by May 16.

To better inform the public, The Gazette sent an expanded questionnaire to both candidates. Each candidate’s response was only lightly edited for formatting and clarity. Below are the answers provided by Wayne Williams. Yemi Mobolade’s questionnaire is available here. 

There has been a lot of discussion in this election about the influence of the city’s developers on city policy, and the amount of money developers have given to candidates. If a developer like Norwood asks you for a favor, how would you respond? Would you meet regularly with developers and allow developers to influence city policy?

As a public servant, I have always encouraged stakeholder engagement and sought differing viewpoints on any given issue. As mayor I will continue to seek input and do what I believe is best for the residents of our city.

As a member of City Council, I established new developer fees totaling $6,386 for newly constructed homes – a new $5,800 water resource fee (to buy water) and a new $586 public safety fee (to cover new stations and apparatus) – in addition to raising park fees. No other mayoral candidate has demonstrated a willingness to make the politically challenging decisions requiring growth to pay its own way.

I am supported by many leaders in our local business community because I offer a regulatory environment that is fair, consistent, transparent, and does not stifle innovation and economic growth. I will never grant political favors and will always do right by our citizens.

What role do you think experience plays in this race? Wayne, you have been secretary of state, a county commissioner and a city councilman. What are the advantages of your experience?

Experience matters and I’m the only candidate for mayor who has the knowledge of how different layers of government actually work and can lead this city on day 1. Colorado Springs has thousands of city employees and a general fund budget of more than $420 million. We cannot elect a novice mayor who will require on-the-job training.

I have a record of accomplishment and innovation and I will bring my leadership abilities to the mayor’s office. As county commissioner, I championed the creation of Pikes Peak RTA and added over a thousand acres of parks. As county clerk, I was named Regional Leader of the Year by the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC. As Secretary of State, I cut fees and helped make Colorado the “safest state to cast a vote” (Washington Post). On City Council, I added funding for more first responders and fought to protect our water.

Water is an increasing concern given the megadrought on the Colorado River. City Council has adopted an ordinance requiring 128% capacity for new annexations. At the same time, we are short 12,000 housing units in our region. Is 128% the right balance? If not, what measures would you take to balance water concerns with growth?

Our priority must be to ensure water for our city residents. Seventy percent of our water comes from the Colorado River, and we must be prepared for potential cutbacks. As Chair of Colorado Springs Utilities, I helped lead the fight to replace the vague “foreseeable future” standard with a new ordinance guaranteeing a buffer before allowing new annexations to occur. I ultimately voted for the 128% standard after several months of public process and input.

At the same time, I’ve also worked to increase our water supplies. We’ve entered into new agreements with our neighbors in the Arkansas Valley where we fund farmers’ irrigation improvements and then buy the water saved. Acquiring new water supplies will allow us to meet our housing demands while protecting existing residents.

We can balance water concerns with growth by ensuring that growth pays its own way and has the necessary infrastructure to sustain it.

Should the city be more aggressive about converting to solar and wind and renewable power, or is it going too fast? Should the City Council continue to act as the city’s utilities board, or do we need a separate board at this stage in Colorado Springs evolution?

City Council is directly responsible to the voters of our city. It is appropriate to have elected officials making the decisions on our Utilities Board, rather than unelected government bureaucrats.

Our energy production must be reliable, resilient, and affordable. Our current rates are about 20% lower than comparable Front Range utilities. As we address state and federal requirements, we must ensure that the priority of providing reliable cost-effective power is met.

As Chair of Colorado Springs Utilities Board, I actively worked on making necessary upgrades to our power grid to ensure that it is reliable, clean and safe from attack. I successfully led the closure of the 97-year-old coal-fueled Drake Power Plant and replaced it with more economical and cleaner power generation. We are currently on the right track to meet state mandates to reduce our carbon emissions by 80% by 2030 and 90% by 2050.

Colorado Springs is still grappling with homelessness. Is the city doing enough right now to solve the problem of homelessness or does more need to be done? If elected mayor, how would you address homelessness going forward?

Colorado Springs is one of the few large cities in America where the number of unhoused have been reduced. We must compassionately address the root causes of homelessness by working with non-profit partners like Springs Rescue Mission, Catholic Charities, and the Salvation Army to provide assistance, education and treatment options for those experiencing drug addiction and/or mental illness. Likewise, I support public-private partnerships that provide job training and opportunities for our residents.

For our community’s health and safety, we must enforce city ordinances I’ve supported that prohibit blocking public rights-of-way and building entrances and camping on, and potentially contaminating, our public spaces and waterways. We worked to ensure our ability to enforce these rules by having sufficient shelter beds available.

Do you think Colorado Springs should enforce its ban on homeless encampments more aggressively or less aggressively?

We should be more proactive when it comes to enforcing our camping ban. We need to expand our Homeless Outreach Team and Alternate Response Teams to meet the needs of our community.

Can you briefly outline specific steps you would take to address the city’s housing crisis?

I began my civic engagement here when Mayor Bob Isaac asked me to serve on the Board for the Colorado Springs Housing Authority. As Chair of that board, we revitalized Lowell School and expanded housing options in our community.

As Chairman of the Colorado Springs Utilities Board, I worked to establish a fund to cover utility connection fees for affordable and attainable housing to help encourage construction by nonprofits and other community partners.

On City Council, I worked with others to establish a program to rebate sales tax for affordable and attainable housing. As mayor, I will continue to work with community partners to incentivize a mix of both market-rate and affordable units.

Home ownership is a key to personal wealth creation. As mayor, I will work with the legislature to improve Colorado laws so that we support the building of entry level home ownership like condominiums.

How would you stop Colorado Springs from becoming another Seattle, San Francisco or Portland which have fallen on hard times in the past few years?

By enforcing the law and committing to public safety, we can prevent Colorado Springs from becoming another Denver, Seattle, San Francisco or Portland.

I am proud to be endorsed by Sheriff Joe Roybal, Colorado Springs Police Protective Association and Colorado Springs Professional Firefighters Local 5.

I’m dedicated to providing Colorado Springs Police and Firefighters with the personnel, training, tools and resources necessary to keep our neighborhoods, businesses and schools safe. As a councilmember, we obtained voter approval to fund fire mitigation and adopted our city’s first fire evacuation ordinance.

Since joining the city council, we’ve added positions for 62 new police officers, 66 firefighters and funded three new fire stations, moved to a continuous police academy and established a public safety fee to make sure new development pays its fair share. As mayor, I will ensure our public safety needs are prioritized.

The military accounts for more than 40% of our economy. What relationship will you have with the bases and military personnel in our city? Will you try to make our region more attractive to military missions and bases, and if so, how??

I’m proud to support those who serve in our nation’s armed forces. As mayor, I’ll continue our city’s great relationship with the military and work to keep U.S. Space Command’s headquarters in Colorado Springs where it belongs.

As chair of the Housing Authority, we entered into a partnership with Peterson AFB to provide more off-base housing for enlisted personnel. As County Clerk, I worked to establish the nation’s only on-base full clerk and recorder’s office on Fort Carson. Throughout my time as a transportation leader, I’ve successfully supported key road investments providing better access to our bases. Most recently, I worked to provide utility maintenance services to Fort Carson and helped create the new Academy visitors center.

We can attract more military missions and bases the same way we can attract more private business – by improving our housing options and enhancing our transportation infrastructure.

What is the most pressing transportation issue Colorado Springs faces, in your opinion? What steps would you take to address it?

We addressed many of our critical needs on local roads through the voter-approved renewal of the Pikes Peak RTA. Since the PPRTA’s renewal, I worked as Chair of the PPRTA to advance construction on the Powers extension and widening Marksheffel.

Unfortunately, the state has not shown the same commitment to funding necessary improvements on our state highways like I-25, US-24, SH-94, and Powers Boulevard (SH-21).

As Mayor I will work with the state to address these critical needs just as I did when I obtained funding for widening I-25 from four to six lanes when I was a county commissioner.

What specific steps would you take to improve traffic safety in Colorado Springs, in light of the high rate of traffic fatalities we have recently been seeing?

I helped champion the widening of I-25 and the creation of the Pikes Peak RTA. As a result of these efforts, we’ve built dozens of critical projects in every part of our community, from Milton Proby Parkway and South Academy to Cimarron Bridge and Powers improvements to the creation of the Woodmen/Academy and Union/Austin Bluffs interchanges. The Pikes Peak RTA has been critical to our community’s economic growth.

A smooth-flowing road network results in less aggravation and fewer aggressive driving behaviors. One area that can significantly impact this is to continue the progress we’ve made in timing traffic lights and emphasizing enforcement of violations for the most dangerous behaviors such as running red lights.

Additionally, the city can do more to educate the community about the dangers of impaired, aggressive and distracted driving.

What should replace Martin Drake when it’s demolished?

What comes next for the Martin Drake site should meet the needs and wants of our city’s residents. The public land is located in the heart of our downtown and I support a robust public input process on what we can do with the site to further improve the beauty of our great city and enhance its economic vitality. That’s why I scheduled a presentation from the Drake Visioning Group to our Utilities Board.

Once Colorado Springs Utilities determines that a portion of the property is surplus, the city will make determinations as to its future, and as mayor I will work to ensure that our process recognizes these values and includes input from across the city.

Do you support the Front Range Passenger Rail? Please explain.

I have doubts about the economic feasibility of Front Range Rail and question whether our residents would use it, particularly since the current plan calls for only a single station in all of El Paso County. Thus, for a commuter in Briargate or Northgate to use the rail to commute to Denver they would have to drive south to downtown Colorado Springs and then board a train to go north. I rode Bustang to downtown Denver while serving as Colorado Secretary of State, but I never would have done so if I had to drive 15-20 minutes south and then retrace the same route on the bus. And even if someone actually chose to do so, the primary effect for our community would be to worsen traffic on I-25 inside the city.

Taxpayer funding should only occur if the taxpayers affirmatively vote for the funding in a November election.

What do you think the relationship is currently like between the Colorado Springs Police Department and residents? Do you think this relationship can be improved, and how? Do you think the LETAC has been a beneficial resource for the city in the way that it bridges the gap between law enforcement and residents, and in its recommendations to City Council?

I am proud to support the men and women of CSPD that lay their lives on the line to keep our community safe. We owe it to them to ensure they have the very best training so that they can develop the skills needed to best engage with the public.

I believe the relationship between CSPD and the public is strong, but we can always do more.

With any government entity, I believe more engagement is a positive thing and that’s what I will promote as mayor. As a member of City Council, I helped create the Law Enforcement Transparency Advisory Commission (LETAC) to bring diverse views together on police use of force and related issues. We successfully implemented LETAC’s recommendation for funding Alternate Response Teams. But I do believe the city can and should be more proactive in seeking input from LETAC rather than just responding to questions.

How do you plan specifically to address concerns about high rates of crime in Colorado Springs and public safety in general, including the shortage of police officers and firefighters?

While our city is doing better than other large Colorado cities, we must prioritize public safety.

In my four years on City Council, we funded an additional 62 police officers, 66 firefighters and 3 new fire stations. I support adding 200 more police officers by 2035 to keep up with our growth.

Like most major cities, Colorado Springs has struggled to fill our available police positions, but we are making progress. We have moved to a continuous year-round police academy, reducing waiting time before a new class starts. As mayor, I will make sure that we’re competitive in the recruitment process, but we will always ensure our high standards are met.

I will always ensure that our police, firefighters and other first responders know how much we appreciate them and respect their service. I am proud to be supported by our frontline law enforcement’s Colorado Springs Police Protective Association.

Should police officers and firefighters be allowed collective bargaining when negotiating wages?

No. In 2019, Colorado Springs voters overwhelmingly rejected Issue 1 that would have allowed for collective bargaining for all uniformed fire department employees. Overturning the voters’ direction would be both wrong and fiscally reckless.

Despite my own opposition to collective bargaining, Colorado Springs Professional Firefighters Local 5 and Colorado Springs Police Protective Association has endorsed my candidacy for mayor.