This is the third a series of stories about the April 2 Colorado Springs municipal election.

The Colorado Springs City Council District 2 contest essentially went from a three-person field to two last week when candidate Bill Murray abruptly announced he was endorsing opponent Joel Miller to better the odds of unseating well-financed incumbent Angela Dougan.

Murray still is officially in the race; it’s too late for his name to come off the ballot. But he didn’t want to split the vote and give an even bigger advantage to Dougan, who has endorsements from several major business organizations, as well as Mayor Steve Bach and other high-profile community leaders.

One group that didn’t endorse Dougan: the Colorado Springs Utilities Employee Advocacy Group, which gave the nod to Miller, underscoring the candidates’ differences on what is likely to be one of the most important issues facing the next council.

Dougan believes City Council should no longer serve as the Utilities Board. Instead, she favors an independent, appointed board taking on the governing role.

Miller wants council to remain as the governing body for Utilities because other options could “result in political maneuvering” and bog down action on projects, he says. He counters the argument that a governing board needs expertise in the field of utilities with the assertion that the board is supposed to oversee the enterprise, not run it. That’s the job of the leadership at Utilities, he says.

Dougan doesn’t give a yes-or-no answer on the future of the Martin Drake power plant, which is at the center of a dispute on whether to decommission it or keep it going with the installation of a controversial emissions control system approved in a no-bid, multi-million contract. She says officials have to weigh data and make sure that whatever is done guarantees the best rates.

“The biggest important thing is that we actually look forward to not only today, because there’s a different economic culture coming down,” Dougan says. “We need the best prices and the best rates today, tomorrow and for the future.”

Miller is more direct.

“In short, Drake needs to stay open,” he says.

Miller took jabs at the politics that have surrounded Drake and the contract for the emissions control system. Council voted to approve the Neumann system after hearing from Utilities, then backtracked to launch a study on the future of the downtown power plant.

“We want to spend a quarter of a million dollars doing a study, and then we’re going to fight about who’s on the board to decide who’s going to do the study, and then we’re going to look at the study, then we’re going to decide later on,” says Miller, who favors installing the Neumann system. “There is indecision.”

For all their disagreements on Utilities issues, Miller and Dougan agree on other topics likely to face the new Council. They’re both opposed to retail sales of marijuana in the city, despite the passage of Amendment 64, and neither supports the ballot measure to raise Council pay.

It’s not all peace and love, however. Miller has criticized Dougan for missing meetings and important votes, and displaying “unprofessional behavior” at meetings. He levels his charges on his website.

“Of course, I have documentation of all of the above, as well as many other substantiated reasons why you should NOT vote for Dougan,” the website says. “She is a terrible representative of the Republican Party and the City of Colorado Springs.”

Dougan defends her record and says Miller and Murray have been “lying and telling half-truths.”

“Bring some proof. They have produced not one shred of proof,” she says.