Greeley born and raised, having hardly traveled anywhere else during his productive adulthood in local public service — which includes a lengthy tenure as law enforcement officer and Chief of Safety and Security for Greeley-Evans School District 6 — Mayor John Gates finds immense satisfaction in the fact that Greeley is “growing and has all the amenities of bigger cities without any of the negatives.”
Mayor Gates is well aware that Greeley’s noticeable expansion is due in part to its reasonable price of living combined with the physical room to grow. As such, he is dedicated to doing all he can to stay focused, dedicated and diligent about the community’s improvement during this time of exciting change.
“My day in the life as mayor will change substantially after July 1st because, for the entire time I’ve been an elected official, I’ve been fully employed at the school district,” Mayor Gates says. “I’ve juggled being an elected official, which is by design a part-time job, with my full-time job that I’ll be retiring from soon.”
For the time being, Gates is an “early riser,” getting to work at the school district early, reading the morning papers (particularly the Denver Post and Greeley Tribune) and tackling his emails before anyone else is up.
“Between my two jobs, I often get more than 350 emails a day, along with the morning and evening meetings I attend,” Mayor Gates reveals. “I find I have very little spare time . . . but that’s not a complaint!”
Having been elected multiple times, Mayor Gates contends that “this is what I’ve asked for,” and is more than anything appreciative of the citizens of Greeley for having faith in him to continue leading.
Gates is confident that once he retires from the school district, he’ll have more time to enjoy his life beyond his mayoral duties, including traveling beyond Greeley’s borders. All while keeping his eye firmly on the bottom-line back home.
“[Greeley's] growing and has all the amenities of bigger cities without any of the negatives.”