The three major candidates running to represent District 4 on the City Council talked through their goals to support southeast Colorado Springs on a televised forum Thursday.

The candidates sat for a televised forum hosted by The Gazette and news partner KOAA, the fourth in a series of candidate previews in the lead-up to the city’s April 1 election.

The candidates at the forum were Kimberly Gold, board president of the Colorado Springs Black Chamber; Chauncy Johnson, community activist and former aide for then-Rep. Marc Snyder; and Sherrea Elliott-Sterling, who previously ran for the Harrison School District 2 board.

The fourth candidate on the ballot, Jeannie Orozco Lira, has said she is suspending her campaign.

Yolanda Avila, who was represented the southeast district of Colorado Springs for eight years, is term-limited. The district includes the controversial Karman Line annexation and would have included the Amara annexation that was voted down by the City Council last year.

Johnson said the city should use its abilities as a home-rule municipality to enact some renters’ rights and protections. Gold and Johnson have backed the state construction-defects legislation, which could help more affordable condominiums get built in Colorado.

Elliott-Sterling said the root cause of unaffordable local housing was how low incomes were for many families in the district. One of Elliott-Sterling’s priorities, under the Southeast Strong Community Plan created last year to drive improvements in the district, was to support new commercial space development, which she said would lead to more grocery options and more jobs.

“My biggest concern is the longevity. Are we really building a community that can catch up to the rest of the city? Is it creating a strong foundation for an economically strong future?” Elliott-Sterling said.

Gold was one of the stakeholders who’d weighed in on the Southeast Strong plan last year, asking the city to seek comments in multiple languages. Gold said she would push to get more District 4 residents to apply for city boards and commissions as a way to expand collaboration.

“We need to work to get more people and more voices to the table from the southeast so we can all fight together to champion our trails and parks,” Gold said.

During the forum, the candidates offered different examples of what partnerships the city should pursue. Elliott-Sterling said she supported Harrison School District’s effort to build duplex housing for teachers and said the Police Department should work with schools to encourage students to consider a law enforcement career.

Gold said that large companies opening in southeast Colorado Springs should offer jobs to nearby residents. Johnson said the city needed to be more involved in advocating for bills in the legislature and applying for statewide funding options.

One of the biggest splits between the candidates was over their priorities with the Police Department. Johnson said he had been friends with De’Von Bailey, whose death in an officer-involved shooting in 2019 was a reason behind the creation of the Law Enforcement Transparency and Advisory Commission.

Johnson felt the commission still needed to have an independent auditor to review police shootings and that the department should review its officer recruiting policies.

“I’m sure we had millions of dollars in civil lawsuits from our own citizens that have sued the police department because of misconduct. It is paramount to ensure we have the right officers on the job,” Johnson said.

The two other candidates said the community needed to work with the Police Department for improvements and not be “across the table” from them. Gold suggested that the city increase pay for first responders through the Lodger’s and Auto Rental Tax or by asking voters for a new TABOR retention.

The next KOAA and Gazette forum will air on Tuesday and feature the candidates running for City Council in District 5.