Elected 2021
Contact
Councilmember Mike O'Malley, District 6
107 N. Nevada Avenue
Suite 300
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Phone: (719) 385-5491
E-mail: Mike.OMalley@coloradosprings.gov
Bio
Represents 84,000 residents of the City population of 506,646. City Council acts as the legislative body for the City of Colorado Springs and sets legislative policy to govern city operations. In addition to legislative duties, City Council also serves in a quasi-judicial capacity on land use matters and is responsible for approving the city budget. Significant initiatives include getting a $100M Marksheffel Road project considered as a Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority project, then having it placed as number one on a November 2022 ballot in front of hundreds of other competing projects. The PPRTA renewal passed with 79% voter approval. The project has already broken ground and is on track to complete three years before the land purchase and engineering would have conceivably started. This north – south corridor is critical to military members traveling to and from Peterson Space Force Base and Shriever Space Force Base. The Colorado Springs City Council also serves as the Board of Directors for Colorado Springs Utilities, an enterprise of the city. The goals of the Board of Directors are to ensure our commercial, residential, government, and military rate payers are provided reliable (currently 99%) water, sewer, electricity, and gas at the most affordable price and with the highest level of customer friendly service. I serve on the strategic planning committee. Significant initiatives in the works include the Utility securing its own source of natural gas in order to provide the necessary surge power (when there is no solar or wind) to ensure we continue to provide 99 % reliability to our critical infrastructure, specifically our military customers with a no fail mission. This initiative is vital given the federal government and State of Colorado strategic move toward renewable energy. The electric, gas, water, and wastewater integrated resource plans are written to support the requirement by federal and state legislation.
Background:
Mr. O’Malley currently serves as the U.S. Department of Transportation Senior Advisor to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). Mr. O’Malley previously served as the first Senior Advisor to the United States Transportation Command from March 2017 to August 2019.
In 1990, Mr. O’Malley joined the DOT’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) as a Marine Surveyor for the South Atlantic Region. He activated Ready Reserve Force (RRF) ships from the start of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He served on the foreign acquisition team which brought two additional roll-on/roll-off vessels into the RRF inventory. Both vessels operated for three years with a remarkable performance and reliability rating of more than ninety-nine percent. This achievement earned each vessel the Maritime Administrator’s Professional Ship Award in 1997.
Mr. O’Malley was selected to attend the Naval War College, College of Naval Warfare, Newport, Rhode Island and graduated with a Master of Arts Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies in 1999.
In 2004, he was detailed to USTRANSCOM to serve as the MARAD Liaison Officer, a position made permanent in 2007. Specific noteworthy accomplishments include his insightful introductions between the Department of State’s Political Advisor to the USTRANSCOM Commander and commercial industry partners. This resulted in opening the Northern Distribution Network as a new supply line of communication for U.S. forces in Afghanistan through Russia and Central Asia. Other professional accomplishments include his coordination with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Liaison Officer at USTRANSCOM to conceptualize a plan to neutralize the Syrian chemical weapons at sea onboard a RRF vessel in support of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Prior to his tenure with the MARAD, he served as a port engineer with the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command at the pinnacle of the cold war when ocean surveillance using Surface Towed Array Sensor System was critical to our national security and the mission operational tempo was high. A native of Mansfield, Massachusetts, Mr. O’Malley graduated from the Maine Maritime Academy, in1982 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Engineering with a minor in Marine Industrial Management. After graduation, he worked in private industry as a licensed Merchant Marine engineering officer until 1986.
He received a commission in the United States Naval Reserve in 1982. He served for thirty years and retired as a Navy Captain in 2013. His first ship was made of wood (USS ILLUSIVE MSO 448) and his last assignment was defending merchant shipping against piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the East Coast of Africa. He still maintains a United States Coast Guard issued Merchant Marine Engineer license with STCW certifications (expires 07DEC2027) and USCG medical certificate... ready for sea.