Bach In Baltimore

State of the City is good says Bach

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The outlook for Colorado Springs is good, but it won't stay that way without some changes, Mayor Steve Bach said at his first State of the City address.

Bach addressed a record crowd of around 750 people Thursday afternoon in  Colorado Hall  at the Broadmoor.

"We will find solutions, we will seize opportunities and with you we will move forward," Bach said to the crowd.

Despite being in office fewer than one month, it's been enough time for Bach to figure out where Colorado Springs stands.

"I want to compliment the city's staff and the council in terms of what they've done thus far. We're in good shape, but that can erode if we don't change," he said.

Bach said compared to other cities of similar size Colorado Springs is looking good.

"I was just at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Baltimore, and I met mayors from all across the country. I met one from Springfield Ill., I believe, and he told me they're meeting payroll on a line of credit right now, and I met with a mayor from another city, similar size to us, and they've been through a bankruptcy."

Bach said it's time to step up, work together, and make changes, some of which are already underway.

He has enacted a wage, hiring, and promotion freeze for all general city employees until the city's budget can be figured out.

"I'm thankful for our city employee's that they have a job to start. We have 36,000 people out of work, many thousands more who are underemployed, so I'm thankful they have a job," Bach said.

Bach said he is finding other ways to motivate city employees.

"Part of being satisfied in a career is financial, but part of it is also self-esteem and just a feeling of satisfaction. We're working to empower our employees by flattening out the organization by pushing more decisions down the organizational chart so people at lower levels will have more responsibility and authority," Bach said.

He said it's also time to start listening to city employees and their ideas.

"We need to recognize them when they do great things, just saying thank you to people," Bach said.

Changing the city's business appearance from "can't do to can do", and making it the most business friendly city in the nation is on the top of Bach's to do list.

" We need to improve the business climate, and what that means is streamlining city processes, being more responsive on requests for permits and approvals, shortening up that time frame, working to make sure that our regulations are reasonable," Bach said. "There's sentiment in the community that our regulations are unreasonable, and we need to make sure that the fees and charges we have are fair.

Bach in Baltimore for U.S. Conference of Mayors - City Desk ...

Cosliberal,

The city of Colorado Springs is paying for the trip. I would be surprised if the mayor flew first class, but we’ll find out for sure when he turns in his receipts.

“We are waiting for the final expenses to be turned in to give you an amount on the costs of the mayor’s trip,” a city spokesman told me this morning.

Daniel

Mayor Bach needs to distance himself and our city from federal connections. I voted for him in the run-off election as the lesser of two evils, and have given him the benefit of the doubt so far, but now I’m beginning to have some concerns as to if he is going to be good for the city.

It would have been nice for him ( Bach ) to do something locally before running off to view what other mayors are doing . We have lots of problems that have come about from poor leadership from the last mayor ( Rivera ) . The council and city manager ( Cox ) ” all ” have did very little to make our city a nicer place to live . Brown parks , no street lights , poor bus service , now our trees will be cut down . Who needs to know more than that ? By the way , lets forget the new voice on taxes for the support of paying for the watering of the parks . Get rid of the Chief of Staff , ex-city manager (, we voted out , only to get him recycled ) so we could get a strong mayor . His pay would cover the water bill for the parks . We could get two birds with one stone , if we do that . Does anyone agree ??

BobL, I must disagree with you. First, Colorado Springs mantains natuarlly strong ties with Homeland Security through our USNORTHCOM Headquarters. Secondly, the marketing of our city dicates that we will not alwways be talking with those we agree with politically. Third, We need to strengthen our connections with federal officials, including those elected officials on both sides of the aisle. We are in constant competition with other states and communites for jobs, and one reason we typically get our butts kicked is because of relationships. As an example, Colorado is one of two finalists to land the National Solar Observatory directorate, and it’s associated jobs. The other state? Alabama, and I can tell you they have a well oiled machine that we need to catch up to. Part of that is building relationships.

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