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Mayor ends PEDCO contract pending new agreement; council debates timing and transparency
Summary
Mayor Heather Graham notified council that the city issued notice to end its contract with PEDCO; council members expressed concern about timing, transparency and the 90‑day termination. Mayor and councilors said a rewritten contract or an RFQ could follow; several councilors requested the option to negotiate a new contract before Jan. 1.
Mayor Heather Graham informed the Pueblo City Council on Oct. 6 that the city administration has issued notice to end the city’s contract with Pueblo Economic Development Corporation (PEDCO) and that the termination was tied to the start of a procurement process to rework economic‑development services.
The mayor said the existing PEDCO contract is dated and that the city needs a revised agreement that gives the municipality clearer reporting and accountability for the dollars the city provides to economic development. “If city council wants to waive your executive session conversations, I’d be happy to name all of the reasons why I decided to to end the PEDCO contract,” the mayor said at the meeting.
Council members who serve on PEDCO — including Councilor Maestri and others — said they were surprised by the timing and expressed concern about potential disruption to ongoing business recruitment and retention efforts. Councilor Maestri said he did not recall the council authorizing a unilateral termination and asked whether council could reinstate or negotiate a new contract.
City legal staff told council the mayor possesses charter authority to cancel city contracts and that the PEDCO contract requires 90 days’ notice before termination; that notice was given. City staff also said the mayor’s office and the administration view a reissued, modernized contract or a competitive procurement (an RFQ/RFP) as a way to set clearer performance metrics and protect city funds.
Several councilors urged a cautious approach. Some asked the administration to explore reinstating a renewed contract with PEDCO in order to maintain continuity; others supported proceeding with a public RFQ to invite other organizations to submit qualifications. Council president and other members said separate letters would be sent to related nonprofit entities (the Pueblo Development Foundation and PEDCO Foundation) asking for information about assets and relationships; the administration said those organizations are separate legal entities and that separate requests would be issued.
No formal vote was held Oct. 6. The mayor and council signaled differing views on next steps: the administration argued the city must rewrite or competitively re‑procure economic development services to improve accountability; some council members said the timing — with the termination effective at the end of the year under the contract’s 90‑day notice clause — risks leaving the city without a contracted economic development partner on Jan. 1 unless council negotiates a replacement quickly.
City staff said the contract is nonexclusive and that PEDCO could continue economic‑development activity without a city contract; however, without a contract the city would not be funding those services. Council requested city legal and administrative staff provide a draft professional services contract and a timetable the council could use to consider either a renegotiated agreement with PEDCO or a competitive procurement.
