Colorado Springs City Council District 3 candidates Maryah Lauer, Chris Metzger, Greg Thornton, Brandy Williams, and Rick Gillit discussed developer donations, traffic safety, public transit and more during a forum hosted by the Organization of Westside Neighbors this Tuesday at the Seven’s Gate Taproom.
The first question addressed by candidates was whether they’ve accepted any money from developers. Questions around the influence of political contributions from developers have become increasingly pertinent to municipal government as activist groups like Westside Watch and Integrity Matters have opposed higher density developments, such as the O’Neil Group’s proposed 36-story building in downtown Colorado Springs. Last year, Councilor Dave Donelson was censured after noting that three members of council received $2,500 donations from Weidner Property Management, whose Arrowswest development in northwest Colorado Springs was being considered by council.
Lauer, Metzger, and Thornton all stated they would not accept any campaign funds from developers. “I think when some of the biggest decisions being made by city council are based on land and millions and millions of dollars, you should be totally impartial,” said Thornton.
Gillit and Williams both said they would, and have, accepted developer money. Williams, who previously served on Colorado Springs City Council in 2011, noted that the donations are a practical part of politics. “Unfortunately, in 2025, without money, we’re not gonna make it very far when it comes to campaigning,” she said. “Just so you all know, the biggest donor to date for all of my campaigns, because I love running and serving, is my mother.
Have I accepted developer contributions? Yes. I can guarantee you that I am not bought and paid for because otherwise over $100,000 wouldn’t have been spent in 2013 to get me out of office.”
Gillit also acknowledged accepting developer donations, but drew a distinction between direct campaign contributions and outside spending by independent expenditure committees or so-called “dark money” campaigns. “I have been endorsed by the [Housing and Building Association],” he said. “I have taken some developer money, but far fewer than the dark money that is now going on. I’m sure some of you have gotten some texts about me. That’s over $150,000 that one developer has decided with dark money to support somebody else sitting on the stage.”
A review of Gillit and Williams’ campaign finance disclosures show that both candidates received a $2,500 donation from Doug Stimple, CEO of Classic Homes, one of the leading developers in Colorado Springs. According to Tracer, the State of Colorado’s campaign finance tool, Stimple has donated over $110,000 to conservative candidates and expenditure committees since 2016.
Traffic issues
Candidates were also asked about traffic safety on Uintah Street and Colorado Avenue. “I would add more enforcement,” said Thornton. “If people go there, police officers are there, and they’re ticketing a lot and you should realize that that’s an area where people are speeding a lot. Another thing I know we’ve talked about is putting bike lanes up and down Colorado Avenue. I’m not really a big fan of that. I like the idea. We already have the Midland Trail there, so we don’t need to be getting rid of lanes that A, you can use during an evacuation and B, you need when you’re driving.”
Williams also suggested focusing on police resources. “We are 60 officers short in our police department,” she said. “And what does that mean? They’re not out on Colorado. They’re not out on Uintah. They’re out getting the bad guys and they’re doing what they need to do to keep us safe in those most extreme situations. For some people, Colorado and Uintah now are the extreme situation, so what I would do is advocate for the police department. As the second largest city in the state of Colorado, we do not pay our police officers the second highest salary.”
Gillit also noted the need for more officers, but suggested different approaches to traffic management. “We can start with developing different models for how the road works,” he said. “On Tejon [Street], they have the Tejon Beautification Project, which the state is paying $1.5 million to help change how traffic flows happen. That’s paid for by the state and didn’t come out a single tax dollar from any of us. We can go into CDOT, who gave the money, and say we have an issue, this is how we need to fix it, and that’s something we can start affecting right away.”
Lauer suggested a focus on alternate forms of transportation and structural improvements to roadways. “I think safety comes from having separate user paths that are specifically just for pedestrians and for bike users as opposed to bike lanes,” she said. “Also, safety comes with those being well-lit and actually well-paved and well-surfaced because that is the kind of things that really de-incentivize the use of those [modes of transportation]. I think we need to be making sure we’re focusing on ways that we’re actually putting bikeability and walkability first when we’re doing urban planning, instead of making it an afterthought, because I think that’s why we’re in the situation. I would also say some specifics on street safety is we should look at adding some kind of literal obstacles that force people to slow down. There’s a lot of ways that you could design streets, like adding speed bumps that will literally force people to slow down.”
Metzger raised concerns about police spending. “I think the easy answer here is obviously more police force,” he said. “That poses a very interesting question for me because according to the city council’s report to the citizens last year, they added an additional $8.7 million to raising the salaries of our police force, our firefighters, and our city civilian employees. Now, Brandy stood up here and said that we’re short 60 officers. So that math is not math-ing for me. How are we short, yet we’re funneling $8 million into the police force?”
Colorado Springs elections are April 1.
Click here to view the Citizens Project voter guide
