Pueblo voters next month will decide whether the city government should return to a city council-city manager form of leadership after the city has operated under a strong mayor since voters approved the switch in 2017.

Ballot Question 2C, which Pueblo City Council referred to the ballot, would amend the city charter to establish a city manager and eliminate the positions of mayor, deputy mayor and chief of staff.

City Council would select the city manager, and the council would have power over appointments to local boards and commissions as well as the city clerk and municipal court judges. The mayor has control over those positions in the government’s current form.

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Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham in August vetoed the ordinance referring the question to the ballot, but City Council overrode her veto on a 6-1 vote. Graham said personal issues between her and the council prompted the measure and said it is members’ attempted to remove her from office. She is only the second mayor Pueblo has had since the city changed government forms, after she defeated former Mayor Nick Gradisar, who started in 2019.

Strong-mayor cities in Colorado, including Denver and Colorado Springs, are rare. A mayor is an elected official who has a more political role in running the city, while a city manager is selected by the city council and is a more professional role that runs the city under the direction of the council.

Those in support of the measure say Pueblo needs a professional, not a politician, leading the city, and that a city manager executes the vision City Council sets for the city.

Those against the measure say Pueblo has benefited from having a mayor as “a leader directly chosen by the people and accountable to the entire community.”

The website behind the effort to keep a mayor says the mayor is paid $150,000 annually, has no paid leave and no severance, while the city manager in 2018 was paid $182,947, received paid leave, benefits and bonuses, and would get severance if terminated.

The Southern Colorado Labor Council supports a no vote on the measure.

If the measure passes, it will take effect immediately and City Council would appoint an interim city manager.

County clerks began mailing out ballots last week. Election Day is Nov. 4.