Yemi Mobolade announces plan for first 100 days in office, names chief of staff

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Mayor-elect Yemi Mobolade is announcing his plans for his first 100 days in office. Included in a four-page blueprint are three focus points.

“So, I actually started meeting with Mayor John Suthers mid-April,” the Mayor-elect of Colorado Springs, Yemi Mobolade, said. “Before Election Day, I was anticipating a win. So, I asked for a weekly meeting and sometimes twice a week, so we met for an hour, and he gave me a download on all the issues.”

He presented his plans with his new chief of staff by his side. The new chief of staff will be Jamie Fabos.

Fabos has worked in and for Colorado Springs since 2004. Some of her titles include Chief Communications Officer for the City of Colorado Springs for six years and general manager of public affairs at Colorado Springs Utilities.

Fabos told 11 News she looks forward to joining the “gold medal team.”

Now she and Mobolade will work together to complete the top three priorities following the swearing-in ceremony on June 6th.

The first goal is to build support with government officials through solid relationships with city, federal, state, and county government officials. The second is to engage with the community and build public confidence in two-way conversations with the public.

“I will continue to learn about the issues and be close to the issues and be close to the residents,” Mobolade said.

The final priority is to focus on public safety, city infrastructure, and economic growth.

Mobolade says one of those critical points is homelessness in Colorado Springs. According to Mobolade, the root of the homelessness crisis is mental health.

“Through the fire department, the community, and public health division, I will ensure that we are equipped in that division with the right manpower with behavioral health specialists who can actually do the work of helping to clean our streets,” Mobolade said.

“When you think that the solution to the problem is ‘A’ or ‘B,’ Yemi is incredible at challenging us, as his leadership team, to be like ‘OK, but what’s option C?’” incoming Chief of Staff Jamie Fabos said. “And I think that’s where you get creative ideas. And I mean past the status quo into solutions that maybe haven’t been tried before. Our city is at a crossroads where we are growing so quickly that we can’t just do the same thing that we’ve been doing before.”

According to Mobolade, his 100-day plan was shaped by current Mayor John Suthers, city directors, and the local community.

“I get to channel my own experience as an immigrant and as a black leader and bring that empathy to the mayor’s office, and it gives me the lenses to see deeper, perhaps even more than other leaders would’ve seen,” Mobolade said.

“We are really pushing aside partisan politics, especially at the local level- they have no place,” Fabos said. “I think the city really spoke when they elected him at that margin. Recognizing that it was time for our city to take the leadership role in working together. And not dealing with all that divide, not dealing with all that exclusionary politics.”

Mobolade also said there will be a biweekly report and monthly pressers with the media. He said this plan hopes to add accountability, transparency, and progress in the early days of his mayoral role.

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