Walter's Bistro

The city councils of Colorado Springs and Pueblo are breaking bread Monday night at Walter’s Bistro on East Cheyenne Mountain Boulevard.

The dinner is part of an ongoing effort to build relationships between the two cities, said Janet Rummel, a Colorado Springs Utilities spokeswoman who works primarily on the Southern Delivery System water pipeline.

“Over the years, we’ve met with their City Council just to improve on the ongoing relationships that we have with our neighbors,” she said.

“It’s been very valuable to us to kind of keep that dialogue open between our City Council and their City Council, particularly as we construct a project like Southern Delivery System, for example,” she said.

Pueblo is picking up the cost of the dinner, Rummel said.

Because three or more council members are meeting at the same time, the dinner is open to the public.

But it’s safe to say that the city of Pueblo is not buying the general public a $36 Pan Roasted Chilean Sea Bass or a $48 Colorado Rack of Lamb. Those are just two of the items on the bistro’s menu.

“It’s at a restaurant here in Colorado Springs so if a public member wanted to come, they can come. It’s just a dinner and discussion. No agenda or anything, just getting to know one another,” Rummel said.

Jenny Eickelman, interim deputy city manager for Pueblo, said the two councils had dinner in Pueblo last year and agreed to try to get together at least once a year.

“We’re neighbors, and we all have some of the issues, so we just like to keep each other informed,” she said.

“It’s just one of those things in government that we like to share our ideas. We learn a lot from them, and they learn some things from us,” Eickelman added. “It’s just been a good relationship that we’ve begun to develop with them.”

Six of nine Colorado Springs City Council members joined the council last year, and Rummel said the seven-member Pueblo City Council has three new members.

“It was agreed upon that it was a good idea to continue to have those relationships and maintain those relationships so getting together on a periodic basis seems to make sense as a way to do that,” she said.

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