The 2025 Pueblo municipal election promises to be a good old-fashioned slugfest. There has been extraordinary candidate interest and several ballot initiatives have stirred the interest of much of the community, including whether the voters will rid itself of a council-mayor form of government and replace it with a city council-city manager form of government.

Although the election is billed as non-partisan, party affiliation is a key factor in the election. The election is shaping up to determine whether the Republican Party will continue to make a strong showing or whether the Democrat Party will regain its domination of years past.

The local Democrats, like the present-day state Democratic Party, were virtually untouchable until Donald Trump’s election in 2016. The Republicans rarely offered candidates. That changed in 2016 and Republicans have not only been formidable but have secured a majority on both the City Council and Board of County Commissioners.

As of a few days ago, 26 candidates representing both political parties requested petitions to run for four contested council seats, two seats for the Pueblo Water Board and one seat on the Pueblo Civil Service Commission.

Of particular interest is the recent attempt by the City Council to place an ordinance on the ballot asking the voters to determine whether they wish to keep the present council-mayor form of government or to return to a council- manager form of government. The change would require a proposed amendment to the Charter of the City of Pueblo.

The proposed ordinance passed by a 5-2 vote of the City Council on Aug. 11 but was vetoed by the mayor on Aug. 15. The council subsequently overrode the mayor’s veto on Aug. 25.  The proposed change will now appear on the Nov. 4 municipal election.

The turnaround is requested a mere eight years after the voters changed the charter to establish the present council-mayor form of government after years of governing with the council-manager form of government.

Nick Gradisar was elected in 2019 as the first mayor of Pueblo in more than a century. During his term, Heather Graham served as president of the City Council and subsequently opposed Gradisar in the 2023 mayoral election defeating him soundly with 62% of the vote.

Early in their terms both, Gradisar and Graham suffered massive defeats when they proposed differing alternatives to ridding the city of its municipal electricity provider, Black Hills Energy, due to high energy costs.

Gradisar ran a weak, if non-existent, campaign in 2020 to off-ramp Black Hills with voters defeating the proposal by a vote of 76% to 24%. A major factor in the defeat was the city’s inability to convince the public of its ability to successfully run such a complicated utility.

Graham tried a different approach by asking voters if the city should cancel the agreement between Black Hills and the city and acquire the “generation, transmission and distribution assets” of Black Hills if “determined feasible.” The city commissioned a study at taxpayer cost to discern the feasibility of a city takeover which was unflinching in its opinion the city was in no position to purchase the facility at a cost of $1 billion to $4 billion, a fact known by the voters since day one. The proposal was soundly rejected with 78% of the voters turning their backs on Graham’s proposal.

Adding to the November drama is the joint effort by the mayor and city council to place an ordinance on the November ballot to increase the city sales tax by 1%.

As with any tax increase, there has been much discussion and dissension regarding the measure. Though a number of voters admit such a tax increase is overdue, there is a great deal of distrust whether the funds will be put to beneficial use.

Citizens point to a previous poll asking the public what they felt the priorities were for a certain pot of available money. The public responded, but when push came to shove the council was unwilling to follow the will of the people and relinquish their control of the purse strings much to the dismay of the public.

It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, the sales tax ordinance plays in the vote to change the form of government. In any event, the electorate seems unwilling to increase the sales tax at this time adding additional angst to an already challenged budget.

At last glance it appears if the change of government ordinance is successful, the mayor will be unemployed as of the date of the certification of the vote. The council will select an interim manager to facilitate city business with the president of the City Council recognized as head of the city government for ceremonial purposes only.

Dennis Maes served 24 years as a 10th Judicial District judge in Pueblo and was chief judge for 17 of those years. He previously served as director of Pueblo County Legal Services, Inc.; as a public defender and as an attorney in private practice.