Colorado Springs voters are virtually assured the chance to decide in November whether to dramatically change the structure of city government.

On Thursday, the city clerk informed The Mayor Project it collected 25,598 verified signatures on its petition to ask voters to end the city’s longstanding council-manager form of government and make the mayor the chief executive with broad new powers. The required number of signatures to put a citizen initiative on the ballot is 25,091, 10 percent of the city’s registered voters.

The city council will vote Sept. 2 to refer the measure to the ballot. That’s one day before the deadline to submit the proposal to the El Paso County Clerk & Recorder’s Office.

“After that, we’re going to go out in the community and tell as many people as we can about our proposal,” said Rachel Beck, spokeswoman for The Mayor Project.

A few weeks ago, members of the group confidently turned in 10 boxes of petitions with more than 36,000 signatures after spending tens of thousands of dollars to gather them. But many could not be verified and it missed the target by 1,444 signatures from registered city voters.

Late last week and over the weekend, the group pushed to collect 3,000 more signatures to ensure the measure made it to the ballot. Those signatures were submitted Tuesday.

Under the strong mayor proposal:

• The mayor would be a full-time chief executive, replacing the city manager and earning 110 percent of El Paso County commissioners’ salary, which is set by the state Legislature. Under that formula, the mayor would be paid $96,250 in 2010.

• The City Council would become the legislative branch of the city. An at-large council member would be elected to replace the mayor, keeping the council at nine members – and their individual pay at $6,250 a year. The council would elect a president.

• The mayor would be elected by a majority, not a plurality, of voters and would appoint the city attorney, chief financial officer, police chief and fire chief. The appointments would be subject to council confirmation.

• The council would appoint the city auditor, city clerk, Memorial Health System Board of Trustees and the CEO of Colorado Springs Utilities. The city manager position would be eliminated.

• The mayor could veto council ordinances, with a few exceptions, including land-use matters. The council could override a mayoral veto with two-thirds vote.

Cheyenne Mountain is working to improve on last season’s record. Photo by KEVIN KRECK, THE GAZETTE