The Mayor's Mixtape-Episode 38

Episode 38 covers the 2026 budget which passed 6-1 on second reading on Monday, November 24. Mayor Graham gives some additional information about an amendment to freeze 24 positions in the City of Pueblo in 2026, alongside the four amendments brought forward by City Council. Additionally Pueblo found a partner in Boone for the intergovernmental (IGA) agreement for the new Southern Colorado Building Department (formerly regional building). Find out more about the upcoming Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America and Swisspod Technologies at PuebloPlex. 

 Don't forget to join in on the holiday fun with the Pueblo County Courthouse lighting on Tuesday, November 25, the Riverwalk lighting on Friday, November 28 and the Pueblo Parade of Lights on Saturday, November 29.

Transcript

Budget Passed And Why It Matters

Haley Sue Robinson 0:04

Welcome to the 38th episode of the Mayor's Mixtape. I'm Haley Sue Robinson, Director of Public Affairs.

Mayor, Heather Graham 0:10

And I'm Heather Graham, City of Pueblo Mayor.

Haley Sue Robinson 0:13

Great. I want to remind you, you can find this podcast on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Buzzprout, wherever you get this podcast. You can also email us topic suggestions or questions, mayor@ pueblo.us, and we'd be happy to discuss those topics. Mayor Big Night in the city last night, the budget was passed. Feels like we've been talking about this for

Mayor, Heather Graham 0:40

six months.

Freezing 24 Positions To Close The Gap

Haley Sue Robinson 0:41

Yeah. Like ad nauseum, but um very happy to say that the the budget passed. Um I know you and our finance director, uh Danny Nunn, presented the budget, and also you had an amendment um that you presented as well um to freeze some positions and to save the money, um, save the city some additional money. Um can you talk a little bit about that amendment?

Mayor, Heather Graham 1:10

Yeah, sure. So it was a budget amendment to freeze an additional 24 positions going into 2026 budget. So after the 1% sales tax didn't pass, um the director of HR had come to me and you know said that these are the all of the open positions within the city. Um she did a cost savings analysis of potentially what it could what it could save the city. We kind of talked through each of the positions to see, you know, could those departments pick up the pieces and continue on without those positions. Um you know, after some deliberation and and talking to everybody, that's what we decided to do. Um, so that was the amendment that was uh within the budget last night that came on behalf of the administration. So 24 positions, I think it was about $2.6 million overall. That's gonna be a reduction in 2026's budget. So at one point, you know, in the very first uh B1 that we had given city council, we were at a little over a $12 million deficit. Um as of last night, I think we were at 9.8. So we've had some additional significant cuts since the first time the city council saw the budget.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:21

Sure. And um I know last year you had uh abolished 18 positions. Uh this year you had abolished seven. And abolishing positions versus freezing positions is different.

Mayor, Heather Graham 2:34

Um abolish that means they're they're gone, you know, forever. Um freezing means the position, the job description, everything is still within the department.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:45

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 2:45

There's just no funding allocated towards it in the budget.

What Got Frozen And What Didn’t

Haley Sue Robinson 2:48

Okay. And I saw um a couple of questions on Facebook last night about, you know, how long had these positions been open? Were they even positions we needed, or are they even like necessary type of thing? Um so can you talk a little bit about that?

Mayor, Heather Graham 3:05

Most of the positions were in progress, so already through interviews or or applications, um retirements, uh people leaving the city to work in other uh jurisdictions. Um so there was a couple of positions uh that were in the transportation department that have been open for about a year, um, and that is because we are changing the traffic code. Um, and it was on first reading last night, it'll be on second reading December, first meeting in December. So um that's probably our longest open position, but there are other engineers within the department um who are capable, you know, of fulfilling those job requirements right now. Um and they know the the they know the need uh to have to freeze and save the position. So no, the positions have not been open for uh five or ten years. Um these are positions that are actively continuously rotating within the city. Uh so the only positions that we didn't freeze were obviously police officers um and firefighters. Um we froze office assistants within the police department.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:14

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:14

Um anybody that was non-sworn. So it is it is a freeze overall and it hit many different departments.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:21

Okay, so it wasn't just uh one department in particular, it was kind of across the board in multiple departments.

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:27

Yep.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:28

Okay, and that'll save the city an additional 2.6 million.

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:32

Yep.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:33

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:34

Big savings.

Council Amendments And Added Funding

New Building Department Partner: Boone IGA

Haley Sue Robinson 4:35

That's great. Um and we had uh a couple of additional amendments by city council. Um they failed overall when all of the amendments were put together to just pass the budget with those amendments, but then uh one by one they they each were um passed individually. Yeah. So we had uh four additional amendments which included uh thirty-five thousand for workforce development funding um that was kind of tied to the economic dashboard, uh two hundred thousand for the Sky Corral, uh 50,000 allocated to three boys and girls clubs of Pueblo County clubhouses. Um those are within city limits. And then an additional hundred and seventy-six thousand to the Pueblo Zoo, which brought their total funding to nine hundred and forty-four thousand. Um, so that was an additional roughly four hundred and sixty thousand um added to the budget, um, and each one of those individually passed as well. Couple things from last night as well. I th it was a pretty long agenda. We had 13 items on second reading. Uh couple exciting things, actually, I I should mention the uh Boone IGA with um Southern Colorado Building Department. I know we're excited about that. Um can you talk a little bit about what that process has been like?

Mayor, Heather Graham 6:04

Yeah, so since the county notified the city uh the first week in July that they were gonna be going their separate ways and having their own building department, the city has been actively trying to um recruit somebody to be the other partner for the city in the IGA. So I mean I've been to Bent, Cripple Creek, Victor, Canyon City, um Fowler, we've spoken to um a couple other different counties or municipalities close to us um who have the sovereignty that they would be able to grant in the IGA to form the partnership. Um and and Boone. And so um we went to Boone on November 3rd, did a work session for their city council um and community members. They liked what we had to offer. They they had previously been served by Regional Building. Um they're part of our IGA with the county previously, and they wanted a thing, they wanted to keep it consistent. So uh we went back out on November 17th and they they agreed and signed the IGA. So

Haley Sue Robinson 7:15

Great.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:15

It was a win for everybody. Um Boone really came in and and saved the day for our community because essentially it would have been pretty tough to create our enti an entire building department,

Haley Sue Robinson 7:26

sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:27

Um, the permitting process, etc. So I think development would have come to a screeching halt um because of the time frame that we had.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:36

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:37

In order to either create a new building department or find a partner, was it was a pretty small time frame. So we're very thankful uh to the town of Boone.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:44

Yeah, that's exciting. And I know um our city attorney also mentioned there's opportunity for other folks to sign on to the IGA. So

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:52

Yeah. Um it wasn't that the other communities that we visited didn't want to, it was just their time frame was too crunched for them to make that kind of a decision.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:01

Yeah, but the door's still open if they want to make that decision in the future.

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:04

Yep, absolutely. So we're gonna be City's gonna be hosting a town hall on December 9th here at City Hall, Memorial Hall, from five to seven, I think, is gonna be the time uh where the public can come and ask questions and uh we'll make sure we get everybody the answers that they need.

Town Hall Plans And Next Steps

Haley Sue Robinson 8:22

Right. Um give them the opportunity to hear how the process is going forward and like you mentioned to have their questions answered.

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:30

Yeah.

Industrial Park Annexation Debate

Haley Sue Robinson 8:30

I think that'll be good. Great. Um couple other things on last night's agenda. Uh there was an annexation for 168.2 acres, the lane north and south of William White, um, and north of 27th Lane, so out uh in

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:48

Industrial Park.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:49

Yes. Um, and that failed. Um, what would it that have been if we were able to pass that? What's that?

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:56

Yeah, so all of that land out there um has not been annexed into the city, and so the city's been looking at ways to generate additional tax dollars, so whether that's property tax or sales tax um or use tax on new buildings that would be going up. Um currently PEDCO is using that as part of their incentive package to incentivize businesses to come into our community. Um, but I think the problem lies when those businesses need services or public improvements.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:33

Oh, sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 9:33

Um, police, fire, roads, sidewalks, lights. You are not part of the city of Pueblo, so the city will not be providing the same services that we provide to other businesses. Um and so we've been looking at different properties within the industrial parkway to annex into the city so that they would have the services provided to them. They would also be responsible for property tax that they would have to pay the city and the county. Um and they would be responsible for use tax. So if you have a new manufacturing building coming in, um the city would then be able to collect the tax uh for the building being built. Um, in which we heard last night when I presented the budget that about 70% of the city's revenue is generated from sales tax. So sales tax is a huge deal, use tax is a huge deal. So we've been looking at other ways um to inst to to help with our budget deficits. You know, PEDCO came and spoke against um you know saying that well you're you know you're gonna cost jobs, you're gonna this, you're gonna that. But uh, you know, what's interesting about it is I don't think that at this time um we have seen an application formally submitted uh for any redevelopment um on that property currently. So this whole thing about your you know you're merking the the contracts and X, Y, and Z, that's just simply not true.

Haley Sue Robinson 10:57

Um not a current contract that this is.

Sales And Use Tax Reality Check

Mayor, Heather Graham 11:00

It's not a current application that's been submitted. There's been talks about an existing company um expanding. Um but the city has been talking about incentives with the company. Um the city would be providing dollars for them to redevelop the site, um, add additional square footage and buildings. And I think that a good partnership would be that the city would get something back in return for um potentially giving our land, uh potentially providing economic development dollars to incentivize for jobs. Um so the city doesn't the actual city of Pueblo doesn't receive anything back um on that land on anything built or anything shipped, right? So if they're manufacturing out of the community and those goods aren't staying in the community, you they also don't pay sales tax on any of anything that's being built out there. So um PEDCO's argument from what I could make of it last night was that these jobs that they would be bringing, um, those people would live in the community and they would spend their money in the community, which which is true to a point, but we have a lot of businesses in the industrial park um with employees who don't do not live in the city of Pueblo, do not spend their money in the city of Pueblo. You know, quite frankly, they live in like Fountain or Colorado Springs and they drive here every day. So I think that the city is looking to encompass the entire um project and what that looks like from start to finish and make sure that we are collecting every dollar that we potentially can collect and that the partnership um is a mere reflection and not just the city providing cash, land, and you not have to pay property or sales tax.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:46

Got it. Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 12:47

Sorry, that was a lot.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:48

No.

Mayor, Heather Graham 12:49

I'm very passionate about it.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:50

I can tell.

Mayor, Heather Graham 12:51

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:51

Okay. So um unfortunately we won't have all those things.

Mayor, Heather Graham 12:56

Yeah, we'll bring them back.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:57

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:02

We can have a wider discussion. It's not just those, that property that we spoke about last night. There's a lot of property out there.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:06

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:07

Um that needs to be annexed back into the city.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:10

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:10

Ace we can provide services. Um if you ever travel on William Y, you know it's like um um a raceway out there. Um some parts are city, some parts are county, some parts are state.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:22

Right.

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:23

Um, and so I think that this could be just a tool for these businesses that are currently in the industrial park if the city was able to provide infrastructure and resources.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:33

Great. Okay. Um we also had uh we had a couple ordinances that failed last night. Uh we also had the ordinance for the healthy beverage um option for restaurants that failed four to three. Um I know both you and Councilor Boston as restaurant owners talked about that. Um I I it was controversial, I guess.

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:59

Yeah, I don't know why. I mean, do you want kids to drink milk or pop or water? I mean, that's sure. It's just it's just the default if people want to order pop or water, milk, or juice.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:11

Yeah.

Meeting Start Time Reform Fails

Mayor, Heather Graham 14:12

And my off my restaurants, you know, we have apple juice, so the default would just be um water or milk, but a healthier option.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:20

Yeah.

Mayor, Heather Graham 14:20

Don't really see what the big deal is, but um as a restaurantur, um I think it's a doable to to put that to put milk or water as the default option on your menu. Um if that's if it's gonna change the behavior.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:37

Well, um, we also had an ordinance to move the start time of the meeting for city council to 5 30. Um, that one also failed uh 4-3. Sounds like that could potentially be brought back with new council though.

Mayor, Heather Graham 14:54

Yeah. I think moving the meetings to a more accommodating time is a fantastic idea. Um, as Councilor Boston stated, there's a a lot of people in the community who say, you know, the meetings are too late, I'm in bed by the time I'd like to testify for um for whatever's on the agenda. And I think I think five a 5 30 start time is doable, right? That's what time we start work sessions.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:18

Sure.

Hyperloop Milestone: Swisspod’s Record

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:19

Um, I think that that's something that we should look at in the future. Counselor Boston had some good points with um the county commissioner meetings are you know at nine in the morning. Um and then I was also thinking every other board and commission that you know is housed within the city of Pueblo, they pretty much meet at 3 30, you know, once a month. So whether that's HARP or uh PEDCO or PURA meets at noon, sure, you know, the second Tuesday of the month. So the meetings are are well within workday hours. Um I don't think 530 is unreasonable. And I think that um it's not unreasonable either to have the work sessions on the the first and third, have the regular meetings start on the second and fourth. It just seems like it would be advantageous to have more community members participate overall in city council meetings, uh, because our participation is low unless it's a a hot national topic. Um we don't get people who come. And I spoke about it at my press conference, you know, a little over a month ago that decisions by city council are made at eleven PM at night and you really don't even know that that's going on or hear the outcome of it until like three days later when it's in the news or when it's on our Facebook page.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:38

Yeah.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:39

And so I think if we want more participation that it has to be at times when people are able to come to the meetings. Um I like the 5 30 start time. I think that it makes sense.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:49

Yeah. We'll see uh we'll see that probably brought forward with uh new council members and see what other folks have to say about it as well.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:58

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:58

Yeah, great. Um also, Mayor, last week we had an exciting day on Friday. Um, it was a really cool day in Pueblo.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:08

Yeah, it was like an advancing Pueblo day. So I have my t-shirt on today.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:12

I did notice that.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:13

That's why I wore it.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:14

Okay. Uh so we first started with uh a a museum tour at the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America, um, a little behind the scenes of the update and the work they've been doing, um, which was really exciting. And I know we're looking forward to them opening uh early spring of next year.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:34

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:34

Um, but that was that was a really great opportunity. And um I know some folks had not been in there to see how different the space looks. Um so that was that was pretty exciting. Um and really just to see so many people interested in in like the construction process and what's coming forward, it it's been it's been really great.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:59

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 18:00

Um and then we also went out to Swiss Pod, uh which uh there's quite a few folks who have no idea what Swiss Pod is, who Swiss Pod is, um and what was incredible was they set a world record for the fastest um live test run for Hyperloop in the world.

Tech Momentum And Museum Update

Mayor, Heather Graham 18:21

Yeah. Right here in Pueblo.

Haley Sue Robinson 18:24

Yeah, 65 miles per hour, which is unbelievable. Um tell us a little bit about Swiss Pod and and kind of your involvement or what that's been like.

Mayor, Heather Graham 18:34

Yeah, sure. So I think they first contacted me about a year ago when they were doing their first h hyperloop day was via Zoom because they, you know, they weren't here at the time, and um they asked me to come out and you know give a welcome speech, and I had no idea what we were going out to, what sure what the hyperloop was. Um and at that time maybe six, six of the tubes, I guess, were probably

Haley Sue Robinson 18:59

It was less than ten, I think.

Mayor, Heather Graham 19:00

In place. Um you can see it right off of the highway now, um, how much it's grown. And it's probably a quarter mile now or half a mile.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:11

Yeah, I think it's a little over a half mile

Mayor, Heather Graham 19:12

long with the track now on the inside before the track wasn't on the inside.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:17

Installed or anything. Yeah. It was just the tubes and the concrete um platforms.

Mayor, Heather Graham 19:22

Yeah, so and I've got to go out a couple times in between and and just seeing their progress, but they had their unveiling of the Aries one.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:31

Yes.

Holiday Events And Community Traditions

Mayor, Heather Graham 19:32

Um, which just looks like a long flat car robot car with wires and all kinds of other things sticking out of it. You don't really like we were on the way out there and you know, one of our passengers was like, Oh, are you gonna ride on this thing today? And we're not quite there yet, but but eventually somebody will probably be re-riding on that thing.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:57

For sure. Yeah.

Mayor, Heather Graham 19:58

Um so it was cool to see what's when it what's gonna be traveling um in the tube. And um I know they had some successful runs, you know, a couple nights before that they were sharing with me, so I'm glad that everybody got to see it live. Um it's pretty cool.

Haley Sue Robinson 20:14

Yeah, it was incredible. And there were uh folks from all over the country, but also f folks from around the world that that were there, and um I think that's one thing that's exciting as a Puebloin is to see such incredible technology tested right here in our own backyard.

Mayor, Heather Graham 20:31

Yeah, and they love Pueblo.

Haley Sue Robinson 20:33

They do. Yeah, it's it's pretty incredible.

Mayor, Heather Graham 20:37

It's pretty cool. Yeah, I mean, they're you know, they're they're the investors, um, everybody involved in Swiss Pod, they're boarding love to be their home and uh they're super excited when they come to our community. Um a couple of them were staying, you know, downtown and they're like, What's this Da Vinci Museum? You know, when's that gonna open? And um, so it's super cool that that's putting Pueblo on the map in that way, all the way through other countries.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:04

Right. Well, and and also to see the convergence of all of the uh Puebloplex and and just the partnerships that are out there, uh I think that's pretty incredible as well.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:17

Yep.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:18

And exciting for us that we get to say this technology is right here in our backyard and is going to impact the world.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:25

Right.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:26

Yeah. Very exciting. Very exciting. Um well, uh Mayor, it's Thanksgiving week. We have a lot of upcoming events tonight, uh county courthouse lighting. Um you'll be there.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:40

I will be there.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:41

Great.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:41

Lucy and I are gonna go check it out.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:43

Perfect. Uh Riverwalk lighting on Friday.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:46

Correct.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:46

You'll also be there.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:47

Yep.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:48

Great.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:48

That's one of my favorites.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:50

And then uh Pueblo Parade of Lights.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:53

Yep. We'll also be there.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:54

We'll also be there.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:54

But we'll be there.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:56

Yep. Oh yeah. It is, it's gonna start to get cold this weekend.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:59

Yeah. Um bundle up.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:00

We're excited for that one. The city is float number eight in that one. Um, and we'll have the municipal court float that we do every year. Um and then you mentioned that we we also will have the um town hall or the public meeting for Southern Colorado Building Department, formerly known as Regional Building. Um, we'll have some more details about that soon. And then we also have a public meeting um for uh the West Side Connector Project, and that is on December 3rd, and that's a Fire Station 11. So lots of upcoming events and it's a busy season. Of course, it's busy holiday season, but it's still really busy for the city. Right. Uh we have a lot of work to to get done at the end of the year.

Mayor, Heather Graham 22:49

So then state of the city, that's what you're working on.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:52

Yep, absolutely.

Mayor, Heather Graham 22:53

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:54

Yeah. Um, and I know you shared uh with the chieftain last week what you're thankful for, but did you want to share with us what you're thankful for, Mayor?

Mayor, Heather Graham 23:03

Yeah, I'm thankful to still be the mayor of the city of Pueblo.

Haley Sue Robinson 23:08

That's a good thing to be thankful for, sure.

Gratitude, Closures, And How To Reach Us

Mayor, Heather Graham 23:09

Thankful for all of our city employees and our staff who keep the city um going. Um they don't get thanked enough, you know. And uh also thankful for my friends and family and my little Lucy girl. Um and we look forward to being out in the community all week and um enjoying some of the the lifelong traditions in Pueblo.

Haley Sue Robinson 23:32

Yeah.

Mayor, Heather Graham 23:32

Um like the parade and the river walk lighting. Um looking forward to it.

Haley Sue Robinson 23:36

Yeah, they're fun, they're fun annual traditions.

Mayor, Heather Graham 23:39

It's right. Everybody comes back to town. It's like people are already in town, you know. You can drive around and see all the coffee shops buzzing today. And um, I went by the pantry on my way into work and it was full, full parking. I'm sure that the line um at Schuster's is down the block now at this, you know, scaglianos.

Haley Sue Robinson 24:00

Everybody's packed this week.

Mayor, Heather Graham 24:01

Yeah, so um it's a great time for the community.

Haley Sue Robinson 24:04

Yeah, it really is. Great. Um, well, we want to say happy Thanksgiving to everyone, uh, and we're thankful for our listeners.

Mayor, Heather Graham 24:14

Yes, we're thankful for our listeners.

Haley Sue Robinson 24:16

I I had to put that one in there. So um, but uh we are uh gonna be closed on Thursday and Friday, but then we'll be back next week.

Mayor, Heather Graham 24:27

Yep.

Haley Sue Robinson 24:27

Um don't forget you can find this podcast on Buzzsprout, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. You can email us your topic suggestions or questions, mayor@pueblo.us. And we wish you a happy Thanksgiving, and we'll see you next week.