Fountain mayor on mission to make town grow/ Pro-expansion attitude

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Dec 11, 2003 | by JEREMY MEYER

In a land of Republicans, Ken Barela is a rare breed - a registered Democrat elected last month to his fourth and final term as the nonpartisan Fountain mayor.

Barela, 40, has appealed to voters by mixing corporate know-how with community spirit.

Under his leadership, Fountain was named one of the country's 10 All-America Cities in 2002, built a City Hall and has more than doubled its housing starts.

Roads have been widened, and a community learning and education center has opened, he said.

Barela credited the progress to community involvement. But as mayor he has the bully pulpit, and he intends to use it to help the city build a library, to bring a major NASCAR race to Pikes Peak International Raceway and to continue to transform Fountain from being a bedroom community for Colorado Springs to a city standing on its own.

He intends to make these things happen by working with other communities, leaders and organizations.

"When I hear someone tell me I can't do that, I tell them, 'Get out of here, man. I'm the frickin' mayor.'"

Barela's political seeds were planted decades ago by a civicminded father and a compassionate mother.

The future mayor grew up in a house near Fountain City Hall. His mother, Elma Barela, still lives in the town. His father, Al Barela, died in 1997.

Ken Barela was one of five boys. He went to Colorado State University and the University of Southern Colorado. He joined the Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He also served in the Army Reserves for nine years, including a stint in the Persian Gulf War.

He got his master's degree in business administration. The married father of four later became executive director of Aspen Diversified Industries, an affiliate of Pikes Peak Mental Health.

While growing up, Barela heard the barbs from outsiders who perceived Fountain as a "cow town."

Barela moved away for a while, but when he returned he realized the city hadn't much changed. City Hall was crumbling and the leadership didn't appear to be motivated to move into the 21st century, he said.

Barela complained to his father, who told him if he didn't like it, change it.

A political career was born.

In 1993, Barela was elected to the Fountain-Fort Carson school board. He later was appointed to the El Paso County Housing Authority Commission. In 1995, he lost his first bid for the mayor's seat to then-incumbent Judy Christian.

Barela got the top job two years later.

Under his leadership, the city has invested in downtown renewal, spending $1.5 million on landscaping, $3 million on a new City Hall and $880,000 on a new fire station.

The city hired 40 new city employees, including a city manager, police chief, fire chief, human resources director, public works director and utilities director.

Fountain also changed its codes and began enforcing them.

Barela said each year the city issues as many as 2,000 citations for code violations.

The formula worked, he said.

From 1990 to 1992, the city had 21 housing and commercial business starts. From 1993 to 1997, the city had 588 starts. Since Barela has been in office, the city has had 1,730 starts.

With homes come businesses, Barela said. That's the goal.

"Good solid developers started coming in," he said. "We have said no to mobile home parks. We're getting midlevel homes and higher-end homes. That's how you evolve from a bedroom community into an independent city."

Barela has further plans, including continued enhancement of the city's image, creation of a recreation district, building a new library and finding an alternative water source.

The city is a financial partner in a planned 43-mile pipeline that will bring water from Pueblo to the Pikes Peak region. Barela's efforts aren't popular with everyone.

Early this year, a petition was circulated to recall him but failed for lack of enough signatures. Still, a vocal opposition to Barela keeps the debate lively.

Some of his opponents are on the council, including newly elected Councilman Al Lender, who thinks Barela has allowed the city to grow irresponsibly.

"All I see here is rooftops, rooftops," he said. "Our infrastructure, our roads, can't handle the growth. You cannot stop the growth, but you can sure control it better."

Lender said Barela ignores voters, going ahead with plans to raise money for a library and recreation center even though voters rejected the ideas.

"People already told him no, but he's finagling a way to find a way to do it," Lender said. "That's the way that man operates, because all he cares about is his political future."

Rick Hearn, a planning commissioner, said Barela runs a perfect political machine in Fountain - swaying opinion through the local weekly newspaper.

"He thinks he beautified us and that he made us the All America City," Hearn said. "He thinks if he weren't here Fountain would be a ghetto. He is a self-promoter to the nth degree. But there's the huge division down here."

Much of the controversy surrounding Barela began when the city rezoned a strip along U.S. Highway 85/87 to a more restrictive commercial use. Business owners complained the rezoning caused an unnecessary jump in their properties' values.