Over the next few weeks, a pilot program from the Downtown Partnership will add more people providing security and outreach in an attempt to improve the city core.

Leaders from the Partnership told the Colorado Springs City Council Monday morning about the three-part plan to help improve downtown Colorado Springs. The proposed 19-month Clean & Safe pilot program would add a larger private security presence, a new outreach team for homeless residents in the area and ambassadors who will promote downtown businesses.

The model for the pilot program was inspired by a visit to Cincinnati last year. The new push is in the same spirit as the downtown initiatives Colorado Springs held during the 2024 holiday season, but the Downtown Partnership hopes that having multiple approaches under a single banner will help coordinate the work.

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Director of Downtown Safety Pat Rigdon is a former Colorado Springs Police Department officer and former owner of Mary’s Mountain Cookies. Rigdon said the perception about downtown’s problems came from a relatively small number of homeless or troubled people but were a major concern during conversations with dozens of businesses.

“It only takes one or two individuals acting out downtown to create a negative experience for people visiting,” Rigdon said. “It’s not many but when it happens, and you’re a visitor from out of town or in town, it doesn’t make you comfortable.”

The additional security officers will be hired from Mercurial Security Solutions, which the Downtown Partnership already works with. The additional officers will be on call either 16 or 18 hours per day, depending on the time of the week, with a larger availability during the early morning hours.

The area covered by the security guards will also be expanded from the Business Improvement District in the center of downtown to the entire downtown area between Interstate 25 and Wahsatch Avenue. The new security will leave addressing major crimes to the Colorado Springs Police Department, such as the lead-up and response to Saturday’s fatal officer-involved shooting.

Chelsea Gondek, interim CEO for the Downtown Partnership, focused on the increases in vandalism, disturbances and requests from businesses over the past three years when she spoke to the City Council Monday. According to the Partnership’s data, its security officers dealt with more than 1,100 disturbance complaints in 2024 and received calls for assistance from around 350 downtown businesses.

The six ambassadors will be roving around the downtown core during the weekends and the busiest stretches of the week. Rigdon said the group will work with local businesses and tourists to answer questions and handle some litter cleanup on the city streets.

The outreach crews, provided in partnership with Homeward Pikes Peak, will work similarly to other homeless outreach teams operated by Colorado Springs. The outreach workers will respond to issues like trespassing and disturbing the peace that may not require a police response and try to connect them to the Springs Rescue Mission or other services.

Homeward Pikes Peak CEO Beth Roalstad said they have worked with the Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team for eight years. With the new arrangement, Homeward would have one team solely focused on downtown and one that responded to issues across Colorado Springs and the neighboring cities.

“We’re hopeful that with consistency and having familiar faces, we can have the individuals who concentrate their time downtown use the resources we have at hand,” Roalstad said.

The ambassadors will go through a training program on July 23 and could start working as soon as the next day. Rigdon said the extra security would be deployed around the same time. The outreach teams would be aimed to start at the beginning of August, though Roalstad said the agreement and costs were still being finalized.

The City Council members asked the Downtown Partnership for more details about how the new program will work alongside the city departments that already respond downtown. Councilmember Dave Donelson said more police arrests and citations were needed to make a difference, while other councilmembers wanted to see the extra outreach.

“These are people and we need to find a way to get them the help they need, but at the same time, they are committing offenses,” Councilmember David Leinweber said.

It will cost around $2 million to run the pilot program until the end of 2026. Rigdon said the Downtown Partnership has received just under $1 million dollars to secure the effort through April 2026 by way of VisitCOS, the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and multiple pledges from private businesses.

The only direct contribution from the city is a portion of the $175,000 budgeted for the current security contract. Rigdon said they will ask Colorado Springs for further funds during the pilot phase but said the bigger conversation with the local government would come down the road if they wanted to keep the program going.

“Many of our peer cities spend a lot of money to have a clean and safe downtown. It’s not free,” Rigdon said.

Rigdon said the partnership will be tracking data about calls for service, police incidents and contacts with the public to see how well the three different approaches work and tweak the program while it rolls out.