The three candidates running for District 6 on the Colorado Springs City Council are all focused on being the voice for Colorado Springs’ east side.

Mike O’Malley has represented the district since January 2021. O’Malley opened the seat for the April 1 municipal election when he chose not to run for reelection to a second term.

The three candidates who have field to follow him are financial adviser Aaron Schick; Air Force veteran and entrepreneur Roland Rainey Jr.; and Colorado Springs School District 11 board President Parth Melpakam.

All three candidates have lived in Colorado Springs for at least 14 years and have seen the boundaries of District 6 continue to expand east, with the edge of the city moving from Powers Boulevard to Marksheffel Road and inching closer to U.S. 24.

Schick, who has never run for office before, claimed voters were almost unanimously against some of the recent land decisions made by the City Council. He wanted to lean into the demands for slower growth and skepticism about developers.

“It’s definitely an amazing place but I haven’t seen the government doing the things necessary to step into the next century of growth,” Schick said.

Melpakam said he had a proven track record of getting results in D-11, such as increasing teacher pay and turning around underperforming schools, and he wanted to bring the same approach to the City Council.

“The word is out. People are going to move to this place whether we like it or not. The market demand is going to dictate growth. What we can ensure is that growth happens in a responsible way,” Melpakam said.

Rainey brings a wide work experience, from years with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Command to being an adjunct professor at Colorado State University-Pueblo and a sports businessman. After running for an at-large City Council seat in 2023, Rainey said he was better prepared to be a voice for the residents.

“Not every topic and should be a win or lose. As we continue to move forward into the future as a city, we need to never forget that small essence of effective and efficient communication,” Rainey said.

Ballots for the six City Council seats will be mailed out Friday and must be returned by 7 p.m. on April 1. This story closes a weeklong series of profiles on the Colorado Springs City Council races.

The future of District 6’s growth will largely depend on the build-out for Banning Lewis Ranch and the potential expansion east of the city’s border.

Schick was generally opposed to continuing development through annexations or major infill projects because they were unpopular with current residents. At the same time, Schick said the city needed to go after sports teams and major attractions that would “define ourselves for the future.”

To balance those interests out, Schick said the city needed to slow down approvals and hold current projects accountable for actions like park land dedications.

“The goal is to help those systems go smoother instead of having an enormous outcry and backlash every time,” Schick said.

Rainey said the city needed smart growth for both the population and the infrastructure. Rainey said he wanted to bring in businesses and resident stakeholders into earlier steps of the development process to include their input on projects. He cited a business he’d talked to in the district which had lost easy access to passing traffic when a new development was built nearby.

Melpakam said he would use his background as an engineer to assess the utility needs of the developments and search out the objective facts about a project. Melpakam is also a commissioner for the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority, which he said was a good step for vetting new projects.

“Emotions shouldn’t drive decisions. Decisions should be made based on the analysis and data that comes in front of us,” Melpakam said.

Melpakam said the city should also look into reducing some of the licensing and regulation delays to help housing projects and new businesses open faster.

Melpakam said he had the strongest proven track record of seeking out public comment as an elected official. Given the size of School District 11, he said the only way to understand issues across the school district was getting information from principals, teachers and parents.

Rainey vowed to hold a public town hall in the district within the first 60 days if he was elected but also wanted to be proactive in talking to residents about his views. Rainey said that explaining the reasons that he voted a certain way could alleviate the public frustration about decisions as much as reaching out ahead of time.

“Too often what gets lost is that someone makes a decision with no rationale, no rhyme or reason or explanation given. That’s where people feel, ‘I spoke up and my voice was lost because no one listened to me,’” Rainey said.

Schick offered even more aggressive plans to expand the public input. Schick suggested that the city use an app to regularly run opinion polls on upcoming issues so the city council can figure out what is popular and stick with the consensus for future issues.

“How do we adapt and adjust to whatever new project comes down the road two or three years from now? With a survey-type app, you could get those real-time updates,” Schick said.

All three candidates cited pay for police officers and firefighters as a major issue for the city and all preferred to pursue those increases within the current city budget, either by cutting from other areas or using the public safety and sales tax.

Rainey said the continued growth meant Colorado Springs had to pursue the best equipment and resources available. He said the city did not connect those points well during the 2023 attempt to have voters approve TABOR funding for a new police training center, which he wanted to pursue again.

“That growth and expansion puts stressors on the infrastructure of our police department. Equipment, manning, training, all of those things are critical in order for us to have safe communities,” Rainey said.

Melpakam said the school district is required to provide resources for homeless students under the federal McKinney-Vento Act. The school district’s resources include transportation for homeless students and ‘community schools’ that offer food pantries and laundry machines.

As a self-described small government conservative, Melpakam was unsure if the city needed to go that far but said that expanding partnerships with groups like the Salvation Army and the Springs Rescue Mission made sense.

“We can be having conversations with them, connecting with the local church community, providing training opportunities for some of the homeless population so they can be back on their feet,” Melpakam said.

Schick complimented the approach to homelessness in Japan where homeless residents look nicer and work on city beautification projects. Schick said the city should approach its homeless residents as an opportunity for new workers instead of a burden.

Colorado Springs already has a similar offering in place with the WorkCOS program, where homeless residents are hired to clean city medians and can work toward full-time employment.