A former police officer, a current metro district board member and a local business owner are among the candidates vying for the Colorado Springs District 5 City Council seat.

Christopher Burns, Cass Melin and Jim Miller are all running against incumbent Council Member Nancy Henjum. She is one of only two incumbents running for re-election, the other being District 1’s Dave Donelson. Henjum said she is running to continue the work started during her first term.

“Just listening to all of the different sides, and you know you’re going to make somebody unhappy and you have to get comfortable with that,” she said on what it takes to be an effective council member.

“For me, I listen to all those things, I think about what I ran on and then I ultimately make a decision and then I ask for feedback and then I get feedback. It’s just an iterative process and ongoing conversation and every situation is different.”

District 5, with a population tallied at 79,195 in 2024 encompasses the area north of downtown, with its borders set at  Austin Bluffs Parkway to the north, North Powers Boulevard to the east, East Platte Avenue and Uintah Street to the south and Interstate 25 to the west.

Henjum pointed to her work in revitalizing The Citadel mall, effectively communicating with the public and blocking a potential extension to Constitution Avenue among her accomplishments during her first term.

Miller, who previously ran for mayor in 2023, said that he is running for the council seat this year because of his current  “distaste for local politics” and to bring representation for city’s working class he believes is missing in the council.

In his case, he said the catalyst for his campaign was when four convicted pedophiles moved next door to him and near a local church.

“My daughter is a survivor of it and nobody seems to want to help or care and I just get, ‘We’ll look into it. We’ll do this.’ And that includes some people sitting around in this political stuff right now,” Miller said.

One solution he proposes is passing an ordinance similar to one for recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs that would order sex offenders to stay at least 1,000 feet from churches, schools and day care locations.

Burns, who retired from the Colorado Springs Police Department in 2022, said he decided to run after experiencing his own dissatisfaction with the council as a member of its Law Enforcement Transparency and Advisory Committee. His primary focus, if elected, would be to improve the city’s public safety.

“As a police officer, I worked all over the city and gained significant experience with our city and its systems. As an Army officer I led military units and managed state-level disaster exercises and gained valuable emergency management experience,” Miller told the Gazette.

“I also hold a Bachelor’s degree in business as well a Master (sic) degree (MBA). I understand finances and budgeting. I am also retired and have the time and energy to devote to a full-time position as a member of the City Council.”

Melin, who currently sits on The Ridge at Sand Creek Metropolitan District’s board of directors, says he is running to ensure that the city grows responsibly, after watching it “explode into something almost unrecognizable” since he first arrived 13 years ago.

“I hope to use my experience in government contract law and my love for this city to enact policies that will help Colorado Springs remain a top place to raise a family and somewhere we all are proud to call home,” Melin wrote in an email.

Across the four council candidates, public safety, city growth and public transparency were key issues that they all mentioned.

Growth and development

Henjum, who voted against the controversial Karman Line and Amara annexations, said she is not entirely opposed to annexations, but rather “flagpole annexations” that connect new territory to the city via narrow-connecting strips. She added that future growth needs to be economically and environmentally sustainable.

Solutions, Henjum says, could include infilling and redeveloping existing parts of the city to increase density and better utilize natural resources like water. Regarding the hotly contested topic of accessory dwelling units, she said that they could serve as a suitable option for aging family members and property owners without negatively impacting neighborhoods.

Since being elected, Henjum said that she has learned about the impact of TABOR refunds on the city’s budget along with the separate property taxes and mills for its different metro districts that create unequal funding and resources for different areas.

The result, is a challenge in passing additional city-wide taxes to address specific areas in greater need of resources and funding.

“So that, to me, is systemically one of the biggest challenges that District 5 faces,” Henjum said.

In her district, this has led to decaying roads and sidewalks and areas where stormwater infrastructure remains nonexistent. Along with the voter-approved extension of 2C last year, Henjum said she would explore increasing the city’s lodging tax for tourists, for more funding.

Conversely, Miller believes that reducing property taxes, lowering utility costs, eliminating access fees and cutting other city tax spending would address affordable housing by giving greater spending power to residents.

Melin said the city needs to consider zoning reforms that would increase the types of middle housing like multi-family houses, patio-style housing, live-work housing and courtyard-style developments while also ensuring a percentage of low and middle-income housing.

“I would look to streamline the permitting process for development requests that fall in line with the community-minded form-based code of small-scale infill developments where infrastructure has been identified as already being able to support growth as a priority,” he said.

Regarding annexations, Melin said that they are one approach to responsible city growth as long as they remain compatible with existing infrastructure and offer economic benefits.

Burns agreed, saying the city needs more low-income and first-time homes specifically and that due diligence is essential for all annexation proposals.

“Just because a project can be done, may not mean it is the right time,” he said. “Infrastructure build out and the ability of the city to support these new areas is essential.”  

Homelessness

When asked how to address the city’s homeless population, candidates agreed that increasing the collaborative efforts across departments would be the most effective approach.

Henjum said that a data-driven and collaborative approach with existing services and providers like Pikes Peak Continuum of Care, and the city’s homeless outreach program could get more individuals in touch with the most suitable program for their needs. 

“So, it’s really about, ‘What is the thing that this person needs?’ And the hard part about that is that the city is not in the business of housing the homeless,” she said. “We don’t have the budget for that. But we can coordinate with all the partners to make sure we’re all on the same page.”

Burns offered a similar collaborative approach to offer mental health and addiction therapies to struggling people, while adding that these services and organizations should be balanced with enforcing local sit/lie, camping and drug-use ordinances.

Melin said he would implement the training of the city’s homeless outreach teams to its police and first responders while also looking at successful initiatives in other cities like safe camping spaces and Housing First initiatives.

Regarding the programs currently in place, Miller said that greater accountability is needed for those receiving city funding while agreeing that partner programs could be a solution to intervention and rehabilitation.

Public Safety

For all of the city’s emergency response departments, Henjum said she would work towards making capital investments in police and fire equipment that are not currently in the city’s budget. Loss of health care following retirement is another gap she was told CSPD currently experiences.

Increasing the public safety tax or “doing some de-TABORing” to bolster the general fund were among the potential solutions she floated to address these needs.

“When you talk to city employees and staff — especially in fire and police — they are stretched to the max and beyond,” Henjum said. “And you can’t continue to expect that and get the same level of service. Quite frankly, we’re not getting the level of service that we need right now.”

Burns said some of the department’s current challenges are the result of “the national ‘defund the police’ narrative” and have led to increased 911 response times, reduced enforcement of minor crimes and rising crime rates.

“Now is the time to increase resourcing for the department and increase the focus on recruiting and retention of officers and the training of those officers,” he said.

Melin said that greater investments in body cameras would be a cost-effective approach to increase civility in both officers and citizens.

Miller proposes an altered approach to law enforcement by increasing police funding with reallocated funds from expenditures he sees as costly to citizens and not stopping crime. Red-light traffic cameras and parking meter officers are among the current programs he believes punish non-criminals while investing in beat cops and focusing on criminal activity would lead to greater public safety.

“Everybody wants it safer in the public. We all agree 100% of the time that we want it better. We just have a 20% differential on how (we make it better),” he said.