Christine Sweetland (Centennial Colorado City Council, Colorado, candidate 2025)
Christine Sweetland (Democratic Party) is running or ran for election to Centennial Colorado City Council in Colorado.[1]
Elections
2025
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Christine Sweetland completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Sweetland's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I've been serving on the Centennial City Council for the past 6 years. My husband and I moved to Centennial over 20 years ago and raised our 2 sons here. I started and grew my successful real estate appraisal business in Centennial. As a long time volunteer in the community I have helped in the schools, church, sports teams and was President of my neighborhood association. I believe strongly in helping to make our community better any chance I get.
I currently serve on the South East Metro Stormwater Authority Board and the Denver Regional Council of Governments Board (DRCOG), Littleton Public Schools Foundation Board and was a previous member of the South Metro Chamber of Commerce Board and the Partners in Philanthropy Committee through the Chamber. I am a member of the Highline Canal Collaborative and South Suburban Parks & Recreation Sub Committee.
While serving on Council I have also been a member of the Audit, Budget, Futures, and Open Space Committees and the National League of Cities Women In Municipal Government and the Housing and Economic Development Committees.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 while serving on City Council and proud to be a 4 1/2 year survivor.
In my free time I enjoy hiking, traveling, reading, taking walks with our dog Billy, going to concerts , sporting events, and spending time with family and friends.
- As Mayor, we need to continue to focus on housing in Centennial. We are a community of neighborhoods and we need more neighborhoods. I am proud of the work that we have accomplished including live/work units, accessory dwelling units as well as zoning more mixed use areas. As Mayor, I will bring an innovative approach to housing where we look at underutilized areas for new neighborhoods while not infringing on the existing neighborhoods. Our new neighborhoods need to include parks and trails in which Centennial is known for. We need a pathway to homeownership so those in our community have an opportunity to build equity.
- As a small business owner, I want to uplift the small businesses in our community. Centennial has many hidden gems of places to eat, shop and play. If they are successful it helps the City as a whole. We want to make sure that Centennial is a city where businesses want to be. As Mayor, I will begin a business round table to ensure that the processes and procedures meet the needs of our city & the business community. Working in partnership to ensure Centennial has a strong economic base. The National Women's Soccer Team -Denver Summit will have their state of the art training facilities in Centennial as well as their temporary stadium until the permanent stadium is built. This has huge economic potential for our city.
- Since driving is the riskiest act most of us take daily, it is imperative to increase safety on the roads. I have helped reduce neighborhood speed limits to 25 miles per hour, neighborhood sign programs reminding drivers to slow down, led the request and received additional funding for sidewalk materials, and helped widen Orchard Rd which includes a safer Highline Canal access as well as sidewalks. I also supported the Arapahoe Rd Bridge new design adding accessible sidewalks, the design work on Colorado Blvd being the first multi-modal road in Centennial, additional pedestrian signals, new traffic signals, and reduced the costs of several projects in the city. I will be focusing on micro mobility, multimodal and safe routes to school.
As important as all the policy areas above, I am also passionate about Centennial continuing to be a great place to live, raise a family and care about our neighbors. Having community events that bring people together that currently include the Centennial Under the Stars, Chalk Art Festival, Sip in Centennial are wonderful family friendly events that bring people together. We will be celebrating Centennial's 25th birthday, Colorado's 150th year and the United States 250th so there are abundant opportunities to bring people together and connect as a community.
Being honest, personable, and knowledgeable are my top three qualities that will serve well as Centennial's Mayor. In my 20+ years living in the city and 6 years on council, I have personal relationships with a lot of people! If I don't yet know you -- call me! I'd love to hear from you. As for being knowledgeable, in addition to serving on Centennial City Council I've been a member of the Centennial Housing Working Group, Centennial Audit and Budget Committees and several other committees. I have also served as a board member for the Littleton Public Schools Foundation and Southeast Metro Stormwater. I currently serve on the Partner’s in Philanthropy Committee of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce and was previously a Chamber board member.
Listening to constituents and being available to address their questions and concerns is my number 1 role as an elected official, I am representing your voice. As a City Council Member I have planned quarterly district meetings to ensure our citizens have an opportunity to learn more about what is happening in the city as well as a time to ask questions. Transparency in government is crucial to ensure you are being well represented. Another important quality is to ensure that we are using taxpayer dollars as responsibly as possible. Providing the services that they want with the revenues that we collect. Centennial does not take on any debt so we save in order to complete projects in the city. We then earn income on those dollars. Having strong fund balances is important for a well managed city.
Leadership takes consensus building, listening, and trust. I am running for Mayor because I really believe that the vast majority of Centennial residents won't have their concerns addressed without me stepping up. I thank all of those around me encouraging me to run and sharing that they want a Centennial that works for our future generations as well. Our children and grandchildren need to be able to live here. We need thriving local businesses, healthy parks, and an overall culture of helping our neighbors.
Centennial does have a city manager that handles the day to day administration of the city government. As Mayor, my top priority is to represent the people that I serve. I will lead the City Council meetings and appointment City Council Members to boards and commissions to represent Centennial. As the Mayor it is important to have strong working relationships with the Council Members as well as other community leaders. In Centennial we are fortunate to have a City Staff that works hard every day on behalf of our citizens. Their goal is to see Centennial thrive. As Mayor, I will work closely with the City Manager to ensure the Centennial staff has clear direction on goals of the needs of our residents.
Centennial is the city where my husband and I raised our children. We have strong connections to our neighbors who have become our best friends. We have spent so many hours in the parks and trails in our city that there are core memories at every turn. Starting my business in Centennial and having the opportunity to support my family financially, while still volunteering to help make our community better, has been very rewarding.
Not to beat a dead horse, but our greatest problem really is our housing market. We have really expensive houses next to really expensive apartments. We have very little for our kids just finishing college, or new families with child care costs, or families like mine that want to downsize but don't want to leave Centennial. If we don't build housing opportunities for these people, we will be in a crisis. Our schools won't have enough kids to fill them and our young job market will dry up. We are at a critical step in Centennial's history, and we need to act now for a healthy next 25 years. Importantly, we have the space to do this without increasing density in our existing neighborhoods.
I'm am proudly endorsed by everyone at the state legislature that represents Centennial. While we don't always agree on policy, I appreciate their willingness to listen to the impact bills have on our City. The City receives minimal funding from the state except for transportation dollars. I will continue to be a strong advocate for home rule, that decision making closest to the people is best and that one size fits all legislation doesn't work. I also will advocate to ensure that unfunded mandates are kept to a minimum. I appreciate when my state representatives reach out to me to find out the impacts it may have on our city and look forward to the continued collaboration.
I think the Federal Government could learn something from local municipalities in working together to make our community better. We don't have aisles at our council chambers we sit next to each other coming with different perspectives to do what is best for our community. I am grateful to have the support of our congress people who agree with the above statement including Congressman Jason Crow and Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen.
We were grateful to Congressman Crow's support of the zip code bill and currently we are working with Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper for support in passing this in the Senate. This will allow Centennial to have access to Federal dollars that we are missing out on today.
We contract with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department for law enforcement, who really is a great partner in making sure that everybody is safe. I am a strong voice and partner in this relationship. In Centennial, since serving on City Council our property crimes rates have gone down, we have added additional traffic deputies, a co-responder program and therapy dogs with school resource officers. I encouraged town hall conversations to talk about the training that every deputy receives to serve our city. Our citizens feel very safe in Centennial and I am grateful for Sheriff Brown's leadership.
My first job where I got a paycheck was working at the Eastern Star Retirement Home (I babysat before that). I started at age 13 or 14 and worked in the kitchen. I worked there at least 3 years and then helped get my sister a job there. I really enjoyed talking to the women (it was a retirement community for women only) and hearing about their lives. It was much more interesting talking about the history they witnessed from horse and buggy to cars to landing on the moon first hand. I learned about the importance of showing up at 5:30 in the morning to serve breakfast on the weekends and in the summer and holding a job while attending school and working in the afternoons. As a youth, connecting with an older generation brought important life lessons and having close relationships with the women that I served gave me the opportunity to have multiple adopted grandmas. Working in the kitchen I learned about menu planning, cooking for 100 people 3 times a day on a budget and the importance of cleanliness and service with smile.
The attempted assignation of President Regan is the most vivid memory when I was in middle school. This happened a day before my birthday and was the first time I recall seeing a violent event on television and if he would recover. I remember watching him waive out the hospital window to help ease the minds of Americans.
My father is the first person to come to mind. He has passed about 10 years ago and I know he would be proud that I am carrying on the family legacy of serving the community. His father (my grandfather) was a World War 1 Veteran and his mother (my grandmother) was a graduate of the University of Chicago. They were 50 and 40 when he was born which was unusual for the time. His life's goal was to be a soldier so attended military prep school and then went on to VMI. A few weeks before graduation he learned he was not medically cleared to serve, so at the age of 21 he learned he couldn't do what he always wanted to do. He started a management career and found other ways to serve the community. He married my Mom and had 3 daughters - me being the middle girl. My Dad taught us the importance of integrity, community service and to stand up for ourselves. He started his own business while I was in elementary school so I saw first hand his work ethic to build his consulting firm. While building his business he still found time to volunteer at our church. In retirement he became an amateur photographer and loved spending time at Rocky Mountain National Park. My dad had a great sense of humor, an avid reader, and never met a stranger. He loved being "Pop" to his grandchildren and I am proud to be his daughter.
I hope that my sons will look at the volunteer work that I have done in the community as a legacy that they are proud of. My goal is to see what I can do to make things a little bit better for those around me, whether having kids over before school so their parents to get to work on time, helping in the school library and leading the Warrior Invitational soccer tournament, being the President of the neighborhood association board and serving on City Council. My husband Andy & I have both served the community in different ways to demonstrate to our sons the importance of doing what you can to make your community better. This has been important lesson in our family and I hope they continue to carry on this tradition.
In 2021, I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. This was right after the loss of both my in-laws and my older sister. Over the course of that year I had surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. I continued to work and serve on City Council as I wanted to do something that felt normal while having my health being turned upside down. My husband was an amazing care giver making sure that I took care of myself and didn't over do. We were grateful to friends and neighbors that were willing to provide meals and support during this time.
I really enjoy reading so picking just 1 book is extremely difficult. I've been in a book club for 2 decades and we keep a list of all the books so reviewing that list - this year my favorite book has been As the River Goes by Shelly Read that takes place in Colorado and interesting to read how dams were built and took out entire towns. West with Giraffes, The Magnificent life of Marjorie Post, A Man Called Ove and Anxious People, Cutting for Stone are all books that I have enjoyed reading over the years.
Princess Leia as she cares greatly about her community, she is a strong leader and willing to do what she asks of others.
Congressman Jason Crow, Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen, State Senators Chris Kolker & Tom Sullivan, State Representatives Eliza Hamrick, Chad Clifford and Gretchen Rydin. Arapahoe County Commissioners Carrie Warren-Gully, Jessica Campbell & Leslie Summey. Former State Representative David Ortiz. Former Centennial City Council Members Rebecca McClellan(Currently serving as State Board of Education Chair), Bart Miller (Currently serving as Southeast Metro Stormwater Chair), Andrea Suhaka (Currently serving as Denver Regional Mobility Chair), Keith Gardner (currently serving as South Suburban Park & Rec Vice Chair, Candance Moon, Vorry Moon, John Brackney Centennial Founder, DALF, HBA Teamsters, see website for more.
When running for re-election I met a woman whose son passed away from fentanyl. He grew up in Centennial and reached out to a friend to help him during finals at college. We cried in her kitchen as she was sharing his story and her grief. It was a reminder that fentanyl is a problem in every community. I'm grateful that we are seeing a reduction in fentanyl deaths.
On a professional level, starting my business and seeing it grow and become successful. I've been a small business owner for 18 years, have mentored several people in the residential appraisal business and receive many referrals for the quality work product that I provide. On a personal level, seeing my boys become the people that they are today. As parents we can always look to those parenting moments that we wish we could take back and now that they are 24 and 21 I am so proud of the young men they are today with strong work ethic, compassion for others and really amazing people that I enjoy to spend time with.
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External links
[1] ↑ Submitted to Ballotpedia's candidate survey in 2025.
