Board of County Commissioners Business Meeting - workshop

All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Let's get started with some introductions around the room, please.

Jeff Baker, Commissioner.

Kendra Davis, Commissioner's Office. Rhonda Fields, Commissioner.

Leslie Summey, Commissioner. Carrie Warren-Gully, Commissioner. Kathy Smith, Community Resources. Lizzy Loomis, Community Resources.

Jessica Campbell, Commissioner District 2. Tiffany Blue, County Attorney's Office.

Jenny Pagino, Open Spaces. Christine Sweetlove, Mayor of Centennial. Yay. Sandy Bottoms, Open Spaces. Michelle Frischman, Open Spaces.

Wonderful, wonderful. We don't have anybody online. That's exciting. So we are here for an affordable housing development grant reallocation. So Director Smith? Correct.

Thank you. So you might remember in December 2025, the Board of County Commissioners approved that one-time allocation of $4 million to go towards our affordable housing grant program. We'll keep on going one million each year after. Our team brought forward recommendations in March and you approved those recommendations and one of those included $3.5 million to purchase the seven and a half acres out at Oxford Vista for future affordable development in partnership with Aurora Housing Authority. After that initial approval that you all did of 3.5 in March, we came back and had an approval for my signature authority for the purchase and sale. We included the amount of 3.4 million there because that was our appraisal amount. And part of our initial agreement was that we would not pay anything more than the appraised amount. This happened and you all approved my signature authority there. The land trust did their own appraisal and that came in at 3.59 million. So there was a discrepancy between our appraisal and their appraisal. After going back and forth, we came back to the agreement that we could meet in the middle at the original 3.5. But of course, your authorization did not include 3.5 at that point in time. It included 3.4. So we are coming back today in hopes of an approval to allocate what we originally thought, that 3.5 million. for the purchase of this land that will help us move forward with the purchase and sale agreement in hopes of closing this fall on that property. And this would need to go to consent agenda.

I see thumbs. I didn't see hands to say anything. Nobody has anything to say? Okay. So I see five thumbs up to approve moving forward on that. So 3.5 it is. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yay, that's exciting. Very exciting.

Welcome back. Thank you.

I'm so excited. But she's so precious. Yes. Oh, my goodness. All right, open spaces.

Hey, y'all. Come on down. Wherever you want to sit.

Where's the best to drive the presentation? Oh, that can go wherever. Yeah, it can go wherever. Great. Let me put it up for you. We're flexible. Thank you. That's right.

Carl does that every time. Carl Herman. Who's that? Who? Hey. No, it's a, I don't, we don't know what it is. It's just, you know, Carl.

It's a zest chart and chair that just kind of. No, just Carl. Just Carl. Just Carl. Just Carl. Yeah. It's like eye level with the table.

We have no idea what the thinking is. Okay.

We've asked.

We've also slightly mocked and teased.

But then we've just accepted. Uh-huh. Good. Yes. He's a lovely person.

All right, are we ready to get started?

So, Director Pingineau, our Director of Open Spaces, what do you have for us this afternoon?

Well, I'm always well accompanied by the real experts in the room, who are Sandy Bottoms and Michelle Freshman, and we are here to present the 2026 Open Space Grant award recommendations. Don't. No. This is.

You can't go to the town hall. Oh, right. Yeah.

It's a public meeting, but then she's going to be like, George, we got a car. Can you do this?

So with that, I will pass the baton to Sandy.

All right. Okay, so I'll just dive right in. Maybe. Maybe not. Uh-oh, I can't. What's happening? We just had it. Here we go.

Let's try again.

All right. Oh, there we go. All right, diving in. Just some background on our open space grant program. So as you all know, the county has a quarter percent open space sales and use tax. The revenues from that tax are about $40 million a year. are divvied into specific buckets based on our funding resolution. That's what that leaf graphic here is showing. And so 12%, you'll see on the bottom right there, are dedicated to our open space grant program. We hold an annual grant cycle. We open the applications in January. Those applications are due in April. Then they undergo an evaluation process. So the staff reviews them to make sure everything is eligible for open space funding. Then they go to an evaluator team, which is open space staff as well as members of our Open Space and Trails Advisory Board, OSTAP. And then those evaluators review the applications, attend site visits with the applicants to see the project in person and ask any questions they have. And those evaluators rank the projects based on scope, budget, need, community support, and other factors. The recommendations from that evaluator team are presented to OSDAP, and then OSDAP makes a formal recommendation to the BOCC. That's where we are today. So, governmental agencies in Arapahoe County are eligible for our grants program. Those include incorporated municipalities, recreation districts, and special districts authorized to provide recreational services. And since 2005, which was our first year of awarding grants, we have invested more than $68 million in more than 300 projects throughout the community.

That's cool.

Yeah, lots of perks. So, moving on to this year's grant cycle. In September of last year, the BOCC allocated $5.5 million for our 2026 grants. We received a little over $4.5 million in requests. You'll notice that's less than the amount that's allocated. Just want to share some feedback that we've gotten from our grant applicants. Just thought why this might be. Rising costs is a big one. So if the cost of a project goes up, we have raised our caps for how much the applicants can request. They do have to supply a match. And this just might mean that they apply for one project instead of two projects. We also have heard, especially since COVID, a lot of applicants have experienced a lot of staff turnover. They've experienced a big backlog in projects, so they have lots of things, kind of ongoing commitments, things they have to finish. So we've seen several applicants take a year or two off from applying for our grants because they don't start anything new. All of that being said, we do notify our eligible applicants when the grant cycle is going to open, what it looks like for that year. We do host grant trainings or grantee trainings with our applicants every year when the grant cycle opens, so January or February. And we do, we have good relationships with these. As you saw in the last slide, we have a pretty small pool of applicants. We know all these people that come back year after year. We talk to them constantly about ongoing projects and potential projects. So they're very aware of our grant opportunities and we don't feel like it's a lack of awareness. All that being said, if there are no questions. This year we received a little over $4.5 million in grant requests. That was 12 applications from nine different agencies. This funding recommendation today does include all 12 of those. Nine standard grants, two small grants, and one planning grant. We'll talk more about the projects in a few minutes. The total funding recommendation is $4,510,919. those applicants have committed a little over five million dollars in matching funds which is over half of the total project cost we love to see that our minimum match requirement is 10 to 25 percent so that far exceeds our minimums and of course extends the impact of our investment

This is one thing. I just wanted to clarify that even though we have sufficient funding to fund all the requests, it doesn't mean that we have to. We have had years like this where the overall ask was below the amount we had available, but we still make everybody go through the same rigorous evaluation process. And even if we have the funding, if we don't feel like a project merits it, we're not going to recommend it. This year we are recommending all the applications, but I just wanted to Make sure everybody understood that it's still the same process. Thank you.

So if a project isn't eligible, if a project, if we don't feel like it's ready, if we don't feel like it's needed, there are definitely reasons that we can not recommend a particular request. this is a map showing the distribution of those grant applications across the county so the purple marker things are standard or small grants the pink one out there in Strasburg is a planning grant This year, the distribution is kind of interesting because nine of the projects are in Commissioner Campbell's district. So typically, we've got a little more of a distribution. We've got 65%, baby. Let's go. So kind of between in the I-25 cluster and then east to E-470, there's a whole lot of projects in there, which we have site visits really easy this year because we were just like short.

There was like five-minute drives between sites. That's nice. I was just going to ask, and Those moments when a grant proposal might not be fully baked, what do we do to help the applicant think through or position it better for the next round? I know you guys work extensively with our partners, and it just might be useful for the commissioners to be aware that it's not just a no, but it's a no, but let me show you the path

Yeah. Feel free to chime in. But we, so it could be two scenarios, right? So either they could come to us before they submit an application and propose something and we can get them feedback and work with them kind of to get to the place where they can apply that grant cycle. We can, if it's not eligible or if it's not a project that we feel like is going to be competitive, we can just discourage them from, or give them that feedback and tell them why, but discourage them from applying. But if they apply and they're ultimately not funded then we do also give them that feedback from our evaluators And they to if they decide to come back the next year

I mean it could be any number of reasons that it's just not ready yet you know it looks like you still need to go through a significant amount of permitting and approvals and things like that rather you do that first or you need to get an easement for use of this property and sometimes we do fund things even when these things are still in the works but if it was something that just got way too early we might give them that feedback or if there was some component of the project or a large portion of it that was not eligible for instance I can think of one project where It involved some park upgrades and parking lot upgrades in particular to this park, but the main reason that the neighborhood wanted to make these improvements was for the school bus to have an easier turnaround when it came in every day. And we're like, eh, that's really not an open space for this. So it's feedback like that that we can give them. And sometimes they can modify the projects, and sometimes it's just never going to be a good fit.

Another example would be if we don't feel like their budget's realistic and we don't feel like they're going to be able to accomplish everything that they have set out to accomplish with that amount of funding, we might recommend that they phase it. So like come in for a phase one and then a phase two the next year. We see that a lot now with rising costs, especially.

Commissioner Wargully has a question. Thank you, Madam Chair. What happens to the million dollars that you didn't spend?

So that will remain in our grants fund.

So if you have a year where you have 5.5 million and you come in at 5.9 million, or you think there's enough projects at 5.9 million, you could subsidize that from that?

We have done that in the past. I think we would want to really be able to justify that. I feel like they're all very, very good projects. The ranking kind of falls out where they're tied or something like that. I don't think that we would go over our funding allocation just because we have the extra money to fund them.

If there was some reason, we could certainly. We would need to come to you all to make sure that you would allocate that additional funding. But I think if we felt like the situation merited it, we could do that.

Well, I guess I'm just thinking if you, like how much money now is in the grant pot that isn't getting used?

Yeah, I want to see. I didn't mean to put you on the spot. No, I want to. It's like maybe six million. I want to say there's usually around a cup cushion of three million in there each year.

Yeah, and that's like with the grants that are current because they're reimbursement grants. So we have a lot more money in there than it looks. It looks like we have a lot more than we have. Sure, right. It's spoken for. Yeah.

And then we have that 12% that just gets added in every year from the open space tax. I want to say it tends to be kind of a floor of around $3 million that's available. So we look at it every year to determine how much do we want to make a bill when we come to you in September. With our determination of next year, we think it should be a $7 million grant cycle. I don't think that's what we will come to you and ask for. But kind of looking at trends. over the past several years and what our grantees are telling us, what circumstances they're facing. You know, we can determine based on how much overall is available, how much we think would be appropriate for .

Was that a question or?

Yeah. Okay. Well, it's just sort of the, sort of same line of thought, but the reason my hand was up and down is I was like, where would be the best meet, like, will this come at EBC? But I guess my question is, is have we ever seen the amount of revenue come in from the open space sales tax go down? And two, given, and like, how recently, how much, you know, like kind of understanding that flow? Because I... Yeah, my feeling would be given inflation and cost and things like that, that since it does replenish every year, I don't think, and my question about the sales tax and that trend is I don't know that we'd ever wanna go under if we don't have to, right? Let's not pull from the one million today if we think we're gonna be short the six million next year, right? But where we can get shovels on the ground and get things going, especially given that there have been so many pinches on budgets and inflation and all that. Yeah, I guess my inclination would be to try to get it out the door. But there's a lot that kind of goes into it. So that's where I was like, don't get into it right now, but just kind of piggybacking on where you're at of going, oh, people are struggling, and we're sitting on money. The money's for the people and for projects in part.

Just three things to add to the conversation. One, we are going to be budgeting $1.5 million less in sales tax revenue for the 2027 budget based on some of our friends' experience around sales tax collection. Oh, interesting. Who's she talking about? Just a preview on the health of sales tax. The other thing I would just mention is if you apply the 12% to the total, It's actually around 5 million, and we put 5.5 million in the grant funds for the last three years. So we're actually doing more than what is required under the resolution. And then the other thing that is just useful to keep top of mind, given some of the department's new responsibilities around Dunn Valley and the Highline Canal, the maintenance can you go back up to the the maintenance part of the leaf is turning out to be small for our needs and fortunately when the voters reauthorized the resolution They created an ability for the department with approval from OSTAB and you all to move any balance that might accrue in some of these other areas to help us address our needs. And it is something that I'm acutely mindful of to make sure that we can always meet the commitments and that maintenance piece that we've already signed up for. So I am thoughtful about the balance and the grant fund portion. I do sometimes have my eye on it thinking I might need to use it to cover the needs that we've committed to already. So just so you know, a bigger, slightly bigger picture.

And how does the... one of the things we've talked about is that growing need for maintenance and open and shifting from where we've been in a more acquisitional positional and so then oh and now maintain and obviously we did Highland Canal there's all kind of that so that 20% balance on that can funnel up to the maintenance yeah all of this side of the leaf has the ability if it has a

balance in the fund to be moved all around so we can go to yeah we can go in any direction okay on that side of the leaf which is such a gift well yeah really lovely that the voters allowed us to do that to take care of you know the area i'm sure they knew that's exactly what they were voting for exactly Is that it? Yes. Thank you. Just wanted to kind of build that out just a tad. No problem at all.

Okay, so as a reminder, we have three different grant categories. One is the largest is our standard grants. These applicants can request up to $600,000. They have a minimum match of 25%, and that's the total project cost. As you can see, a lot of those applicants exceeded that minimum match requirement. We received nine standard grant applications, and this funding recommendation includes all nine. We did have two of our 11 evaluators who did not recommend the Dove Valley project for funding, the last one on the list. However, the other nine evaluators did recommend it for funding, and OSTAP did ultimately recommend the funding package with that included. But we'll talk more about that one when we get there. Our small and planning grants have a $150,000 maximum request. They have a 10% minimum match requirement We received two small grants and one planning grant application and all of those are included in the funding recommendation. So quickly going through each of the projects on that list, these are in order of rank and starting with the standard grants. First we have Piney Creek Regional Trail Connection from Goodman Metropolitan District, a $600,000 grant request toward an $850,000 project. They will be constructing a new pedestrian bridge and trail connections on the Piney Creek Trail at Piney Creek Hollow Park. There's an existing trail underpass here that doesn't actually connect directly to the trail. You're going to have to route through the park and down Tower Road to get to travel through on the Piney Creek Trail. So this will help to correct that issue. They are working with Trails Park and Recreation District on a related project that is also recommended for grant funding. You'll see it in a couple of slides. So next, Bellevue Park Playground from the City of Englewood. This is a $600,000 grant request toward a $1.45 million project. They will be replacing an outdated playground at Bellevue Park, including new play equipment, safety surfacing, accessible paths that improve connectivity within the park and with the Big Dry Creek Trail that runs through the park, and seating, landscaping, and lighting. Is this one of the... Go ahead.

Thank you, Manager. Is this one of the... Is this the airplane park one that might be phased?

Yes, and they're calling it the air pork. It made me laugh out loud multiple times while reading this application. They're going with that airplane theme fully. That's awesome. Next, Arapahoe Station Pickleball Courts from the City of Greenwood Village. This is a $600,000 request toward a $1.85 million project. They'll be converting a city-owned parking lot adjacent to a light rail station into a new park with four pickleball courts, shaded seating, landscaping, and native grass revegetation. And they'll be retaining some parking, including retaining the ADA parking for light rail users. They're receiving funding for this project from SPIMED, the Southeast Public Improvement Metro District, as well. The city has high demand for pickleball facilities. They feel like this is a great site for pickleball because of the noise concerns. Because it's next to I-25, it's surrounded by structures, it's far from housing, residential. And there's an existing parking garage right next to, right to the east there for RTD users.

Shall I move on? I'll just say it and then I'll share. So yeah, they brought this to Denver South. And one of the text comments I got was, wow, this is the most expensive pickleball court ever. Because when you think about the alternatives of what this could be that are then lost by investing in this. And it passed it for South. I just don't love it. I don't love it, but you know? I don't think I'm going to vote no against it. It's gone through multiple entities and boards. It's the same thing we talked to our pickleball friends in your district, Commissioner Summey, of just my concern that pickleball is a bit of a fad and that, well, totally fun. Some of these things, they come and go, right? And then we have this instead of... almost anything else in my mind but and it's only four courts right 1.85 million dollars 600k from us for only four courts yay we're getting the native vegetation replacement doing that kind of stuff yeah we still have the ADA you know parking but there's also an entire garage and parking there and there are homes not right about to it but not that far either and I think they did some public comment on this as they were thinking about it, and the homes are too upset, but it just is not my favorite project, and I voice those concerns at Denver South. Sometimes I probably should just shut up, but honestly, I just... I don't know. But because I don't know that it rises to the level enough for me to be like, no, although I kind of want to. But it's other people are behind it. And yeah, pickleball. I just think there could be better uses of the land, is my feeling. Where it could be more, I mean, there's nothing for kids, like there's not other park amenities there, right? It just is a parking lot and pickleball, right?

Not at this time. Should they have the possibility of future phases? But this is the plan for now.

Yeah. So I just think, yeah, it could be like 20% cooler.

Where is it? Is it east of Bilby Station?

Arapaho Station.

It is a rapido station on the east side of I-25.

Yeah. And it is. It's just a parking lot now. But, like, if you're reimagining it, it's like, what else could go there? You know?

We also talked about adding more pickleball courts in the future just because, like, I understand Commissioner Campbell. You're wondering if it might be a fad. We also hear from Greenwood Village on a regular basis, and they hear from their citizens on a regular basis that there's such a shortage of pickleball that they do have the ability to use more of the space. It has been devastating for our community to not have enough pickleball courts for the demand.

They do hear it a lot, so.

Yeah. I'm going to go next and then Commissioner Fields. I just want to share, Commissioner Campbell, this is nothing like the pickleball in my area.

No, no, no, no, no. That's going to be cool. But my concern for that was, oh, you guys are doing all this to set up a pickleball facility. Are you also diversifying the other things that will be happening there?

That was my constant comment. You keep your opinions about your things to yourself over there.

No, it's been my constant comment in multiple public meetings that I am worried that we are investing a lot of public dollars. They're obviously a private company that are doing that thing, but it's just a lot of public dollars going to something private. that very well could end up just being a fad. Yes. And so that is the concern, and it doesn't have a structure for kids. I asked about tennis courts, because I was like, that's been around forever. And that was like, well, those are more space. You can do it. And so it is what it is. Greenwood Village City Council loves me already, so I might as well just say it. But that's just for the record, so it's been consistent. And I, yeah.

Commissioner Fields?

Yeah, I'm just trying to kind of understand the logic. There's not a lot of logic. Because I know how you're engaged with the community, so I'm not quite sure how the community of voice is involved in this project, because when I see playgrounds, personally I think it's a safe place for kids to play. And I don't see enough of that in District 5. We have some, but Not a lot, and they're in really bad conditions, so I really appreciate you focusing on children, an opportunity for them to play in a safe area. But then it says here, it does say pickleball courts, and then it also says close to RTD light rail. So when you have all those kinds of things going together, if you can kind of explain the proposal, and then any input that you have from the community in reference to what their sense is about the development of a playground.

Good questions. I'm going to have to refer to either Sandy or Michelle.

I don't believe a playground was part of their design. I don't believe they considered including a playground in the plans for this project.

Again, this is potentially the first. Sorry. oh no you go sorry i remembered something i can fill in um just potentially the first phase they could opt to further develop this site in the future and add other amenities but they don't have plans for it at this time they haven't vetted anything with the community to my knowledge um did they mention anything in their application about their engagement with the public and getting feedback maybe that speaks to also to commissioner fields question do you recall

Anything? I know that was probably eons ago when you looked at that. I can't tell you exactly what that is.

I mean, I think the main thing is, just as I said before, is that they are trying to respond to this community desire for more pickleball courts because there is such a lack of them in Greenwood Village in particular. And so when they took a look at this site and realized we have all this open space that doesn't get used very much. Most people park in the parking garage when they're using the light rail. So they said we can tear up this parking lot and use it as a, in our mind it was a very creative use of this space that is already bordered enough to contain the sound because pickleball sound is a big topic that I think we've all heard about. And so it's really meant to meet that community request for more pickleball and to do it in a place where you're not going to be disturbing homeowners. And the feedback that they got through all of that public outreach, I believe, was that I think they made sure that they weren't imposing that noise on even the closest homeowners, which are either diagonally across Yosemite or on the other side of that parking garage, which essentially buffers the sound.

Does that help? Yeah, it's very helpful. So it sounds like the primary focus was surrounded around the pickleball. Yes. And this is another way to kind of beautify that area. So with that in mind, because I'm trying to picture where this is, where are the kids coming from? Are the kids coming from, and I don't know the age range, who plays pickleball?

Adults, not kids.

So I'm just trying to figure out where are the kids coming from? Are they from the people that are coming to play pickleball and their parents or whatever are saying, you go play over here?

So I can actually, I think I can actually answer that one. So I was remembering this conversation. So about, I think it's canny corner to this. It's across. Is that Caley there? Across Caley or across? It is a big park that has a playground. There's like a running trail that comes down. You come over the bridge over I-25 and come down. So there is a park. The average age of a pickleball player is substantially north of a school age. I mean like younger like 30s and 40 somethings get into it and so like if they could bring their kids and the kids could play over there if they were comfortable with that I just to me it's great to have the greenery the open space But, yeah, you've got four pickleball courts for $1.85 million. So, to me, it just was like, meh. But, yeah, there is a park there, which I did remember because I said the same thing, and I was like, why aren't you just putting some, like, park stuff here, playground stuff? That's across the way. And, yeah, no, I think some pickleball players are of the age to maybe have children, but it would be more like grandchildren. coming with them just based on my understanding of the pickleball market but then the other aspect is yeah it just I think the yeah people aren't going to be taking RTD to get to the pickleball courts I think that location is more strategically advantageous for buffering the sound yes yeah because when we think about Greenwood Village They're just going to drive there or ride a bike or something. Yeah.

Yeah.

So for the sound of it, if you are going to put a pickleball court outside, it is a good idea. I just think it's a very expensive project for four pickleball courts.

My concern, and I've heard it twice now, is that they're going to do this. It's going to be lovely. But they have room for expansion. They have, you know, in the future. But nobody's thought about what they could do with it later. So I'm like, wait. So just the way my mind works is that we have a goal. We have a goal of building the pickleball court. But then there's a whole other thing that's out there that nobody's thinking about, which tells me that nobody's thinking about the goal now. And it would end up being 10 years, 20 years from now looking just like that with no expansion and no playground and no anything else because they didn't think about it and factor it in on the front end. So I'm a little concerned about that part of it. And not that I have seen any of it, I'm not on Denver South, but it doesn't sound like there's much Doesn't sound like there's much desire to do anything other than this right now. I want to hear from Michelle first.

Commissioner, I don't think that we know that that's true. Okay, great. Based on our conversations with them and our site visit, I think they do understand that there's potential for more out there. They just haven't gone through the planning process to... Figure out where those things would be and what they would be. I mean, tell me if you think I'm being inaccurate here, Sandy. So I think it's unfair to say that they haven't thought about it.

Okay, good, because that's what it sounded like.

No, no, no, I would never characterize it as if they hadn't thought about it. They just haven't put pen to paper.

Okay, that I can go with.

can be true of many, many projects that we fund that they do work on in phases.

Yeah, my concern was that there was so much excitement about getting this done, that once we got it done, it doesn't matter what we talked about in the past. And if that's not the way it's going for you all, because you all have had the conversations, I'm just listening to what you're saying. It's not my impression that this would be the end of it. Great! Then I will shut the heck up. And the reason I will shut the heck up is we have, what, 14 more slides to go and five minutes. Supercharge it. Yeah, so we've got to supercharge it. Commissioner Campbell, did you have— Yeah, I just have one more question.

What is the—what's the acreage? Do you remember how large the site is?

I'm so bad at estimating acres. It's a really large parking lot and I think that's part of what goes into the cost is that they have to rip up all of that asphalt and landscape all of it. I apologize. I'm not quite sure. I would say at least a couple of acres, three acres maybe.

Well, the question is what kind of, like what housing could go there?

And so that is just to quit hiding the ball is I think the disagreement I have with the good city of Greenwood Village about this site is that you have, we're working on TOD, we're working on access. to transportation you have this right here by the light rail and they want to put pickleball parts put up pickleball courts instead of looking at what if any housing could happen and so that that's my that's my that's my struggle with it just to be much more explicit than I was being okay yeah I'm sure if I could tag on to that real quickly after hearing all the different input I would say that

When I think about the pickleball courts and the playground, it should make that area more desirable for future development. You know, because my concern was where the people are going to come from. Because if you're going to build it, you want people to utilize the courts and the playground. And, you know, so that was just my two cents.

Okay. Sorry, just since we're... I think that's part of the struggle here is that Greenwood Village, when we've been talking about 213 and 1313 and TOD, Greenwood Village will tell you that they're completely built out. So the people that would come in already live there, right? They would tell you we don't have a lot of opportunity for development, and the places that might could either be redeveloped or there are complicated land deals with that, and so... I think if they were to argue, they would say the demand already exists amongst our existing population, and we are trying to meet that demand. I just see a lost opportunity for transit-oriented development. But I think the people are there. The park is always busy. I go running across that trail because I live just right by Fiddler's Green. So you can just run down Greenwood Village Boulevard over that bridge, and you're there. You know, and the park is great. And so it's very busy. Lots of people. I'm sure there will be plenty of people to fill up the park at the Peckinwell Court. But to me, it's more of the lost opportunity on the other piece. Correct.

Yeah. But if the residents of Greenwood Village said this is what they want to do, then, I mean, there's only so much that I'm going to say.

Yeah.

You know? Because the residents said this is what we're looking for. I don't get it, but that's all right.

Thanks, Amy.

Okay, so next up, Trails Park and Recreation District, Piney Creek Trail Connection. This is the eastward or eastern continuation of the Goodman project we talked about, so making a more direct connection across Piney Creek Hollow Park for those Piney Creek Trail users. Next we have Heritage Village Park Improvements from South Suburban. This is a $437,500 grant request. It's a partnership with the City of Centennial. They'll be renovating this four and a half acre park located along Little Dry Creek Trail. New play equipment, swings, a shade pavilion, seating. They'll also work with the next door elementary school green team to install native and water-wise landscaping and interpretive signage. That would be nice. Next, Inspiration Trail Connection from the City of Aurora. This is a $250,000 grant request. They'll be constructing a 10-foot wide concrete trail connection in South Aurora connecting the Piney Creek Regional Trail and the Inspiration Trail Network, which is a publicly accessible 11-mile open space trail network in Douglasville. Next, we have the Sunset Park improvements from South Suburban Park and Rec District. $600,000 grant request. They'll be renovating a neighborhood park to include playground equipment, surfacing a shade pavilion, picnic tables, relocating the basketball court, and installing new accessible walkways and safe furnishings. Yes.

Is that a cell phone tower right there?

There's a lot of utility stuff going on. I think it's part of a massive power line.

It was kind of an inside joke just now. We have another cell phone tower in a park.

Controversy. Okay, next, Carson Park Pavilion Construction, also from the City of Prima Village, a $600,000 grant request. And they'll be constructing a large shaded pavilion for drop-in use, rentals, and occasional city-sponsored community events. In the past, we funded a planning grant for this, as well as restroom construction. So this is the last phase of that plan.

This is by their city hall. Yes. I go running here too. This is great. No, this one is great. This one thumbs up. Yeah.

We also funded that skate park or like a lot of that skate park a few years ago. It's cool.

It's like the last thing you would think you would find in Greenwood Village right by the city hall. But you come and you're like, cool, right? Yeah. It's great.

And our last standard grant recommendation is for the East Broncos Parkway Trail from Dove Valley Metropolitan District. This is a $300,000 grant request. They would be constructing a one-third mile long, 10-foot wide multi-use trail with a nine-foot, what they call a tree lawn, which is like a buffer from the road, essentially. on the north side of Broncos Parkway from Blackhawk to Potomac Streets. I'm sorry, I don't have a map because it's a little confusing, but you can kind of see. It's just across from... There's the training facility. Yeah, just across from Dove Valley, just south of the soccer complex. Perfect. This is the project that two of our 11 evaluators did not recommend for funding. I can tell you the reasons that they gave were that they had some reservations about using public funds for something that would ultimately be a developer's responsibility to install so this crosses multiple currently vacant lots they're owned by a couple of different owners there are no current plans for development additionally those developers would be required to meet city's minimum requirements not necessarily like a ten foot wide trail with a nine foot buffer the city and the district feel like it's best to install this upfront they there's some conversation about whether the project serves an open space purpose is it a park or is it a trail is it a sidewalk we do that conversation a lot this is consistent with things that we fund with our own opens in our own developments and things that we've funded in the past including the north-south multi-use trails we funded at this location, so along Potomac and Blackhawk and the Fremont Trail, which is on the north side of this, this is upside down, the north side of this kind of vacant, or of the soccer complex. This will also connect to a future lighted intersection at Broncos and Blackhawk that'll make it easier to get to Dove Valley Regional Park. And it's also included in the Dove Valley Area Trails Plan as well as the Arapahoe County Bike and Pedestrian Plan. The final kind of point of consternation was that there's an existing trail through Dove Valley Regional Park, which is just on the south side of Broncos. I do want to reiterate that this is an eligible use of open space funding. Nine of our evaluators did recommend it for funding. The two who didn't were OSTAB members, and one of those OSTAB members did ultimately vote to approve the funding, like the funding recommendation as a whole, and one did not. So let's hear that. Okay. Madam Chair? Yes.

May I question clarify and just You said there are no current plans for development in this area?

For those three lots.

And are we able to protect our investment? So while the minimum codes, the minimum standards that a developer would have to meet would not rise to this level. We can prevent them from messing it up though, yeah?

Well, so the Dove Valley Metro District has to obtain easements to install this trail. Yes, so those easements would be on the books first before the parcels would be developed in the future. And if those easements require that this 10-foot trail be maintained.

Great, and then within that, so since that would be alleviating some of the burden on the developer for what they would have to develop, we could then kind of swap that out for maintaining what already exists for the trail?

I think it would still be Dove Valley Metro District's responsibility to maintain the trail. Yes, and ultimately, I believe all three of those parcels are in the city of Centennial, so I believe it would be up to the city to determine what those parcels property owners would be responsible for in the future.

Anything to comment? Come on up. I'm so sorry. I wasn't sure if I'm allowed to do this.

You are absolutely. Come on up. Have a seat.

The one thing I would say about this project and why it should be under open spaces is because one of the things that's going to happen is the stadium is going to be condensed. Cherry Creek schools will take it over. So you're going to have a lot of kids... in this area, and they're gonna get there the easiest route possible, so let's give them that route. And then also, a lot of those kids at Cherry Creek Innovation Campus will get to work at the training facility, and so once again, a lot of kids in that area probably not driving, let's give them a safe route. So for me, I think it really does make sense that this is open spaces, because we just know that there's gonna be a lot of foot traffic in there that's not there today. Yes.

Go ahead. Thank you for adding that in, Madam Mayor. I am very supportive of this. My questions were going was to some of the other, addressing the concerns of is this something that we should put public tax dollars towards and how can we protect that investment going forward is more so and so um no i think this is huge because especially because we don't have any current plans for development in those parcels and it is a needed connector and it is in y'all's plans our plans everybody's plans to get this all connected and with the develop like nwsl the training facility everything that's going in around that area No, I am hugely supportive. I want to make sure we're protecting our investment.

And because there will be an easement, then we at the Centennial will make sure that that easement is maintained. Yeah, perfect. Yes.

Four more slides. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. You'll be back up in a minute. I know.

Do you know how hard it is to sit here and not say anything?

Good job.

Good job. Moving on to our small grants, we have Strasburg Metro Park and Rec District for museum site amenities. A $22,500 grant. This is for the purchase and installation of outdoor amenities at the Comanche Crossing Museum, which include benches, trash receptacles, planters, and a flagpole. This is an outdoor museum that just the city took over in 2024. It was previously run by a non-profit. Really, all of these structures have been relocated here from across the county and the plains, and it's a really interesting site. We'll pick a wall. Next, Crestline Park Reflection Garden from Smoky Hill Metro District, $134,978 grant request. They'd be constructing a quiet reflection garden in this existing park, including plants and hardscape. This would be adding a new type of amenity to an existing park with more active uses, kind of on the other end of this nice quiet area. And then finally, our wind planning grant, Strasburg against the strategic plan update. This will be a $40,000, 941, yeah, that number. Yes, that. Thank you. The district will update their 2014 strategic plan and community engagement, conceptual planning for specific sites, and implementation strategies. They've had a lot of population growth, changing demographics, and some new property acquisitions since their previous strategic plan, so they want to update that. They'll request additional funds from Adams County, so this district is about a third in Arapahoe County and two thirds in Adams County, so they'll be requesting a grant from Adams County for kind of the whole of the plan. Okay, finally, if this funding recommendation is approved as presented, we would be funding a little over $4.5 million in grants. Again, over $5 million in matching funds, 53%. We'd be supporting 12 projects, three renovated playgrounds, one parking lot to park conversion, three new or improved trail connections, Five newer approved sports courts, a collaboration with an elementary school green team, a planning project. Three projects have a water conservation component. Eleven projects make recreation more accessible. And nine Arapahoe County communities would be served, supported. And then this is just the joint recommendation, again, kind of summarizing that dollars and the number of grants funded. Questions? Any more questions?

Commissioner Baker, are you good?

No questions.

We have a thumb? Okay. Commissioner Fields, do you have any questions? No, thank you. All right. Well, look, you just ran right on through that. Thank you very, very much, Sandy. I am looking to see in the packet if there's any last questions that I have. I don't think so. I think we're good. I think we're good. So does the board approve adding these recommendations to the consent agenda? Let's see. We have four thumbs up. I did not say when she left the room that Commissioner Warren-Gully has left for a quick meeting. She will be back, but we do have a majority to say, looks like we're approving some grants. So go on the consent agenda. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. Mayor Sweetland, now is your time.

You guys said it very well with increasing costs, all kinds of great stuff.

I am going to pass these out and feel free to take as many as you would like to hand out to constituents and things like that. I'm kidding. I've got more if you need them, so.

Would you like to move it forward? Do you want me to do that?

I can, that's fine, if you tell me what I need to do.

Can you just push the arrows? This one?

Yep, test it out. Perfect. Okay. So I will start today by saying there have been no decisions made. So this is just an information. meeting and we wanted to make sure that we're talking to as many partners as we can about the fiscal realities that we're seeing in Centennial. So I appreciate you giving me the time today to do that. So, with Centennial, as you all know, we are 25 years old, and we have been very good fiscal responsibility stewards of taxpayer dollars, and people appreciate the fact that we have not taken on any debt in those 25 years, but the realities are, our revenues are Flattening out and our expenditures are increasing and a few people keep asking about why our sales tax revenues are flattening And I and it's it's really simple big-box stores have moved out of Centennial due to our close proximity to Park Meadows they're not going to come back right we don't tax services bless you we don't tax services so while we're very excited that there are new places that are coming into some of our strip malls and things like that those service providers don't increase our sales tax revenues and so we want to get ahead of this our Residents have seen that we have been very fiscally responsible and so we don't want to get to 2028 and 2029 and say oh my gosh we're jumping off of a cliff so we're having this discussion with as many people as we can now. So we have a very low tax rate, 2.5%. It's one of the lowest in the metro area. The average in the metro areas is 3.85. So 2.5 is very low compared to that. We do not tax groceries. We do not tax utilities. And as I said, we don't tax services or entertainment. So this is all leading into our sales tax flattening or starting to decline. And then our costs are rising. And you're seeing this as well. This is not new. And you heard that with the parks folks and things like that. Public works. While we're only 25 years old as a city, we have very old infrastructure. Infrastructure that the Arapahoe County Commissioners put into place. Thank you all so much. So are we getting a reimbursement from the sales tax? No, now we're going to fix it. We're going to make it better, right? Or we're going to patch everything that needs to be fixed and give it, you know, like a little uplift. And then public safety. And as you guys know, because we partner with the great Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office to do our police services, those costs have increased as well. And we pay for school resource officers, we pay for co-responder program, and obviously some of the state legislation with body-worn cameras and things like that, all have increased the costs. Not that I'm complaining about it, our residents really appreciate those services that we provide to them. But it has a big impact. So in 2016, We paid $23.3 million of our general fund to Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office. We're now at $43.2 million. So it's 60% of our general fund. And once again, our citizens love the fact that we have great... community outreach with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office. We are one of the safest cities in Colorado, one of the safest cities in the nation, thanks to the service that they provide for us. And so people want to pay that, you know, they appreciate those tax dollars going to that. And you guys are seeing this as well, right? I'm not going to tell you anything you don't know, but a traffic signal, $350,000 now up to $900,000. Right? So you guys are seeing this. We're seeing it. How are we going to continue to do that? You know, repaving one lean mile. And if you don't know... Well, okay, so one lane mile. So we need $35 million to maintain our roads, bridges, infrastructure. We put $15 million, we were putting a lot more from our, general fund into our street fund, and the costs don't align. So we're putting about $15 million, which means there's a gap of $20 million in order to do the maintenance that people are currently expecting from us to do. Wow. So what is a street fund? What do we do? Road improvements, snow removal, paving, you know, new and replaced traffic signals. People like a street light. They like a traffic signal. They like sidewalks. They really like sidewalks that are ADA compliant and a little bit wider than what they were built in the 60s, right? Every now and then you have somebody that says, I remember I was here in Centennial before Centennial was a city, and I wish we had never gone into a city. And then I say, but do you like the sidewalk?

Do you like the sidewalk?

And they're like, yeah, I like my sidewalk. So then they're like, okay, maybe I do like being in a city. So, but Centennial is a very long city, right? We are the 11th largest city in Colorado. We are the second largest city in Arapahoe County, or as I like to say, the largest city only in Arapahoe County. And that means 435 miles of paved public streets, right? That's a lot of snow to plow, things like that. We have a lot of traffic lights that are a lot older. We're the span wire, and now we're changing that, making it... You know, where we can set them in with our traffic management system and things like that. And then, obviously, bike lanes and trails and things that people really enjoy. So, things about Centennial. We are debt-free. People really like the fact that we are debt-free. It feels like it's part of our DNA. So, we're not looking at changing that. we our charter says that we have to keep 25% of our operating costs in cash reserves when I first got on council we were keeping about 40% in reserves yeah yeah I know it's amazing and now we we're right at that 25% mark yes but we save money in order to do projects So, similar to somebody was saying how if you look at this fund balance, oh, for open spaces, and it looks like there's a lot of funding in there, but those are already designated to a lot of different projects. So, it does look like we have a lot of cash on the books, but we don't because there's over $100 million worth of projects that we're doing. So, we're not looking at changing either of those things. And then the $100 million worth of projects. We did a transportation master plan five years ago. And that five year ago plan was $100 million worth of projects. So now think about inflation and what that $100 million probably is gonna cost us now. And so, you know, that's just what we want to do and we still have other things that we would like to do as well. And you know, mobility is really important with us, making sure that we connect people to places. So, one of the potential solutions, and we're talking to our residents right now, is increasing our sales tax from 2.5 to 3.5%. This still gets us lower than what the average is in the metro area, because if you remember, it's 3.63. It still will not tax groceries. It still will not tax utilities. It will be designated just for infrastructure. That 1% will be for infrastructure. And we're estimating about $23 million. which if you remember two slides ago, we had a $20 million down. And we have not increased our sales tax rate in over 25 years, right? We've done it, when we first became a city, when we first became a city, they increased the sales tax, I think they went at two, and they realized that was enough, they went to 2.5 the next year, and so now we're looking at the 3.5%. So what are we doing? Hopefully, if you live in Centennial or near Centennial, you have seen our social media posts, you see that we're going out, we're talking to as many community members as possible, talking about what this looks like and letting people tell us what they want us to do. So we're continuing to do that. There's a community survey that was a text that went out. And we should, I know, right?

It came out during, and one of my friends was like, I'm getting contributions. This person's in Minnesota. I don't even live there. Is this because I donated to your campaign? What's this from Centennial? I was like, fill that one out. That one's a real one. That one's a real one. That's a real one. But you guys got lost in the mix with everybody.

I think we did. But at the same time, we did get a lot of feedback. And so we should be getting the top line numbers this week. But July 21st, Public Alliance will be coming to our City Council meeting and they will give us exactly what those revenue what the results of those surveys are and I should say a year ago we contacted we have them do just say a quick survey to our community without any education whatsoever and 65% of the people said they would be willing to pay more for the services that they get so and then in August In August, the city council will then determine what the next steps are. So those next steps could be that we, if we can either increase our revenues, right, or we're gonna have to make some budget cuts. And those budget cuts are going to be, obviously we can't cut our infrastructure spending. If a bridge needs to be replaced, a bridge needs to be replaced. And if 60% of our funding goes to Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, you know, that's the biggest part of our budget. We have less than 100 employees at the City of Centennial. There's not a slush fund that we have just sitting there that is going to give us $20 million. Even if we cut every single employee that we have today, we would not get the $20 million that we need, nor would that be good for anybody. For anybody. Yes. So we're not suggesting any of that. But we're asking people, go to yourcitybudget.co. Tell us what you think. Let us know your thoughts. And if people say, yes, start cutting services, then that will be the difficult decision that we have to make. We do a biannual budget. So 2028 is this year. We're budgeting for 2028 this year. And so I just think that because of the great relationship that we have with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office and how people feel very safe in the city of Centennial, I really don't foresee people wanting us to change anything, any of those services that they currently have today. So I am here to answer any questions that you may have. Great. Commissioners? Commissioner Baker?

Yes. I don't have a question, Mayor, but I do want to just say, when you mentioned the partnerships, Open Space Parks and Trails is one, but the other one is the Arapahoe County Transportation Forum that you and Centennial participates in at a very high level and looking at all of the transportation needs. So I just want to say I really appreciate that. This effort is going to We all know roads go from one jurisdiction to another, and people driving on them don't know where one ends and stops, but we have done so many projects with you on roadways that have come out. I think we both get the kudos for them. But the public notices those. And it is a public safety issue when you've got school buses and student drivers on those roads. It's very important to have the streetlights and the signage in place and so I hope that we can continue that partnership and Good luck with this.

Well, thank you very much I really appreciate that and I think that is one of the things that we're known for in the South Metro area is our good partnerships and the relationships that we build together I think because of how Centennial operates, you know, we partner with a lot of different Think agencies in order to make things work in our city. And so we want to be a good partner So I really appreciate that you said that yeah Yeah Anything else Congratulations on being elected mayor.

Oh, well, thank you But anyway My daughter lives in Centennial, and so I'm frequently traveling up and down, I would say, chambers to get there. I don't do the highway. She does the highway. I just go down chambers to get to where they live over in the Knolls. And I can tell you that that has been, the community has just developed into this really charming neighborhood with very mature trees, with their recreational facility with the tennis courts and the... the pool, and this weekend they had a community parade. It just seems like it's just, it seems like things are going well over there. And then you have Indian Ridge and you have Smoky Hill. They're doing renovation over there. They're gonna be widening the street. I think it's, is it Laredo? I can't remember, but there's a lot of attention into maintaining unless what Cherry Creek is putting in with their bond measure that they approved, there's going to be a lot of renovations into some of those old schools, which includes Cherry Creek High School. Right. And they're already working on Laredo. After they're done with Laredo, then they're going to flip and do Smoky Hill. I went on that tour, and it's amazing how the school district is going to replace the school because they have no proper, they don't have, They can't grow and find other property to match the development and the housing that already exists. So I just see that Centennial is just going to continue to grow and mature with the work of this board and all that you guys have done with Proposition 1A and increasing the tax revenue there. I think it could be very promising to the people in Centennial I know they haven't decided yet, but when I'm there and I know a lot of their neighbors and the people in that area, I see them wanting to maintain the lifestyle that they enjoy. You're right about the sidewalks. They're larger. I don't know if you guys have been over there, but the part I'm talking about is like really, really charming. It's really nice. And people are maintaining their homes. where you are at and you're building and that park, I think that the investment that you guys have made in the past, what is it, 25 years or 20 years? 25 years, yeah. 25 years, I think you have done well with managing the tax dollars to see how Centennial is positioned well for the next 25, but you do need to pass this. Right.

Yeah, you're right. It's do we want the same community to look similar in 25 years, and how are we going to do that? And you didn't even mention, but in Commissioner Campbell's district, the whole Midtown Centennial area, which are like 1960s office buildings, we're seeing a ton of opportunity and redevelopment where it's going to be walkable, it's close to light rail. You can live where you work, you know, like all of that. And so that's going to be our centennial downtown that we don't have today. And so we're really excited about that. But at the same time, there's the financial pressures and how are we going to do everything and meet the needs of everybody and what they want. And, you know, a 1%. It's basically, as I like to say, because IKEA is a destination retailer in September, right? So people, you know, if you spend $100 at IKEA, you're going to end up spending $1 more. But the people in Nebraska, Kansas... that come because this is the closest Ikea, they also are gonna be spending a dollar more. Right? Yeah. And I'll go for infrastructure. So people will see when I spent that dollar, they're actually gonna see the work that's being done in their community. Yeah.

Yeah. So for me, if I lived there, I would say yes.

Okay.

Because I think it's a small request. And we talk about sales tax. when you think about where most of those sales tax are generated, it's not on the side that I frequent, okay? Because there's, you know, I'm, well, maybe I do, because the Arapahoe Plaza, they have that Target, that's still Centennial, the Target, it's not Centennial?

No.

The other side is? It depends, where the Target? The Target and the, what else is over there? Alpha I-25 and Arapahoe?

No, it's Arapahoe Road. Arapahoe Road.

Oh, and Parker. Yes. You were talking about that one down there. No, no. Is that unincorporated? No, Foxfield.

Foxfield is on one side and Aurora is on the other.

So I was thinking about the places where the tax revenue would come. It sounds like the major big one would be Ikea.

Ikea is a big one for us. Streets of South Glen, but we're seeing that you know a lot of those big box stores. Centennial Promenade, so over by the Ikea that's a big shopping center for us. But, you know, and then it's all the little shopping centers in between. But a lot of those, I was just saying, there's a Merle Norman that just left, which, you know, and a Hydrate IV bar came in. Well, that's amazing, right? And people are going to be really excited about that. It's going to bring people into that shopping center, but we're not getting any tax dollars. Whereas when it was Merle Norman, we got some tax dollars. But unless you actually buy some vitamins to take away, but it brings people into our community yeah and there's a lot of dirt I mean there's really a lot of potential for development yeah still left in Centennial so right yeah be proactive right and I think people really appreciate the fact that we have have demonstrated year over year that we're very good financial stewards of their tax dollars and we continue to do that that's a selling point yeah yeah so Well, thank you. Well, thank you guys. I really appreciate your time today. And like I said, July 21st, we'll be hearing from, and we're basically using the same thing that you guys did with 1A, right? Educate as much as we can. July 21st, we'll have a meeting. And then in August, we'll make a decision as to what we will do moving forward. All right. Yes. That sounds like a plan. Thank you all so much. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. I know. Let's get to do this one more time. Who do we have next?

Oh, we were, yeah, when South Metro Fire was doing it, we started going like, okay, who's hurting the most? Yeah.

Yeah. We were able to regurgitate. Some of it got to. Yes.

So Kendra, are we back up? We are.

Cooney, can you hear us?

That's wonderful. Good afternoon, everybody. Let's go around the room and get some introductions, please.

Jeff Baker, Commissioner. John Christofferson, County Attorney's Office.

Kendra Davis, Commissioner's Office. Rhonda Fields, Commissioner. Leslie Summey, Commissioner. Jessica Campbell, Commissioner of District 2. Great. And online, Mr. Brackley, would you introduce yourself, please? And also tell me who you brought with you. Thank you. She's coming. Either of you. I think Ryan's not there. Jonathan, you want to let us know who you are? Hold on a second. Sound is weird. Just a second. Sound is weird here.

Go again.

Yeah, try it again.

I'm Jonathan Nelson. I'm a criminal investigator with the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office.

Perfect, perfect.

And Ryan Brackley here. Can you all hear me?

Yes, we can. Yes, we can. All right.

So I am calling in from beautiful, sort of sunny San Diego. So I apologize for the somewhat informal attire, but I'm very glad to be informal today.

Well, that just makes me really mad that you're in some place that's so beautiful and I'm not there. I'm really mad now, right?

Well, we're going to make you happy when we talk about this fabulous opportunity. But first let me say I... You know, I was out surfing this morning, and I always keep my head on a swivel looking for Ron Carl.

Yeah, right. That's right. That's right. What beach were you at, sir?

Point Loma.

Oh, my gosh. Oh, Point Loma. You know, I used to live in San Diego. so uh yes oh my goodness well let's get down to some business i can also say that commissioner warren gully is absent and excused but she's actually in the building on the meeting so she should be coming back um but mr brackley let us know why we're here today so we are here today to talk about an application that we hope to make with the county's blessing for an edward byrne memorial grant to strengthen our witness protection program

John Nelson, who is our almost dedicated witness protection investigator, is our subject matter expert on this. He's in fact a subject matter expert across the state on witness protection issues. We are here to talk about a resource that we're asking the county to support us on in terms of a dedicated victim advocate for witness protection work and some additional resources. that I believe are very, very important towards our efforts in keeping our witnesses, victims safe in cases of human trafficking, domestic violence, gang violence, homicides. We have John and one other investigator who are mostly dedicated towards witness protection. They share responsibilities with other things in the office. And we are not asking at this point for dedicated victim witness protection investigators, but for a victim advocate. I will say that John has been instrumental in starting a statewide witness protection task force where we are working with other jurisdictions up and down the Front Range and also bringing in jurisdictions from the Western Slope into the witness protection efforts here in the Front Range. John is a leader in that. He is an inspiration in that. And our grant here, before I turn it over to John, is kind of inspired by a grant that denver da's office got last year through the edward byrne jag grants for dedicated victim advocate that commissioners may know by statute we are required to keep our victim our witness protection efforts confidential both in the resources that we provide and the protection that we provide is a 24 7 business and a victim advocate dedicated to just helping us in these cases. And we're about 230 cases to date, which is second to Denver. There are about 290 cases to date. So we're incredibly active. And to have that dedicated victim advocate who will be working with families, with juveniles, children, witnesses, and victims of these crimes would help us do our job better in keeping John is going to talk more about how the interplay of a dedicated victim advocate would work for us as opposed to another shared responsibility and also some of the other resources that we're asking for.

Great, thank you.

So I'm going to turn it over to John.

All right, thanks.

Afternoon. Good afternoon.

Great, how are you doing, John?

I'm just living the dream today. Yes, you are. So first off, really, to talk about this grant, it's kind of twofold. A would be personnel, and then B would be kind of like a one-time purchasing thing for some equipment that we can kind of go over. First, I'm going to talk about the witness protection specialist specific. This specialist would basically serve as the primary point of contact for protected victims and witnesses, coordinate confidential communications, assist with safety planning, emergency loading, or lodging, relocation, transportation, court appearances, record management. I mean, the list just kind of goes on and on what a third body could help us provide as far as a resource on our end. The grant narrative specifically in this case frames this position as a dedicated coordinated function that integrates victims' victim services. with witness protection operations specifically. So this position does not replace investigators or prosecutors or any of the existing victim witness staff. It just more or less kind of strengthens them in the fact that investigators can remain like myself and Adam that's assigned to our flex division, that we can remain focused on the threat assessment, the intelligence side, safety operations, potential fugitive apprehensions on that as well as high-risk case coordination and that the prosecutors can just remain focused on the litigation and the specialist ensures that the victim or witnesses supported more or less and informed stabilized and protected throughout the entire process of it's quite lengthy I think this specifically matters in this case the most because witness protection cases there they really just are not normal victim witness cases. They involve safety planning, emergency lodging, and relocation. A lot of times address confidentiality. And I think the biggest and foremost portion is kind of the trauma informed response. Not to include like all the court appearance and planning, family stabilization with that, resource coordination, and protection from intimidation or retaliation specifically. So without a dedicated specialist, I mean, those duties are spread across multiple people, which increases the risk of inconsistent documentation, potential miscommunication, delayed services to these individuals, and I think in the biggest case, a real liability is exposure.

So, John, do you want to move on to the other resources?

Yeah, so, sorry. For the other resources, as far as operational tools, kind of just looking, and this would be like one-time purchases that we would utilize the grant to purchase these items for would be for secure communication. That would be basically a couple of cell phones that we have specifically for and that more or less it's just more of a reliable, controlled way to communicate with these individuals, some of which may not even have a phone as to rely on some of the disposable phones or throwaways where you have to keep updating the minutes and things like that, as well as ballistic protection for high-risk transports. I'm sure you've kind of all seen it on TV as the marshals are taking individuals to and from court. Those individuals always have some type of ballistic protection. So more or less, it'd just be the best would kind of be controlled by us, but be able to be deployed when any credible threats are warranted when we're moving individuals to and from, like, out of courtroom or known locations that our witness protection individuals may be in. Some also include some counter surveillance equipment and training. Like in the past cases, victims or witnesses have been relocated and only later for us to discover that the vehicle had been equipped with a tracking device that literally just happened about a month ago. When that happens, the relocations could obviously compromise. Safety's compromised and the county, more or less on our end for the reimbursement side, would have to pay for a second relocation. And these are funds that, you know, There's not a lot of them, so utilizing our resources from the Witness Protection Board in a responsible manner, it's just one of those things where we just can't have those oopsie daisies because we just don't have the funding on the reimbursement side of it. Also, it's like a computer software scope now. It's an open source intelligence and threat assessment tool that we utilize. This would be used to identify digital exposures, accesses threat actors, locate publicly available information that could be compromising to a witness, and support relocation decisions, as well as court transport planning and ongoing safety planning.

I believe that that is all of them. John, can you zero in for the board this idea that we already have victim advocates working on these individual cases? What does this give us in addition to that? What does it provide? And frankly, what does it assure when we talk about this additional resource in our victim advocacy ranks focused on witness protection?

Yeah. So I think specifically to that point, as far as a dedicated individual, we do have victim advocates and they all do excellent work. But what this adds is a dedicated specialist focused only on the witness protection side of those high risk cases that we are involved in. These cases involve more than just normal victim notification and court support specifically. So They involve confidentiality, relocation, kind of the safety planning aspect of it, secure communication that we have so that there's not multiple hands in the pot and different people getting assigned to different cases sometimes and just sometimes the ball gets dropped.

It's important to note that this would be a position that would be available 24-7 with our investigators that when these cases were to come in and be identified and we would assess a need for witness protection, there would be a trauma-informed victim advocate with them by their side 24-7, making these things happen.

I think really the overall point is it gives us a lot of consistency and just one clear point of contact, more or less. Better kind of documentation on the back side of things, like a stronger Victims' Rights Act compliance. and tighter control over the confidential information that we deal with on the day to day.

Great. Commissioner Campbell has a question.

So, okay, I, this is not questioning the need or in the role that this person would play. I feel like that is something Other people may have a question about that. I do not have a question I think that the role is very important that said just a couple things Normally when we're talking about bringing in somebody full-time and like in a grant funded position um are you able to apply for this grant again going forward would it then be reflected in the da's budget in terms of obviously we staffed you all up huge in the last uh year and now we're trying to kind of make sure we're getting to some right sizing but and i think it's great that you guys found this grant for that that is This is the way. But the grant will come to an end. So you'll either have to reapply, fire somebody, or the position will be done, or find a way to work it into the budget. And I just want to make sure that you understand that's the expectation that we have should you get it, right?

Right. So I think whenever we apply for a grant and we envision that grant being creating a position that's going to strengthen our office, Strengthen our resources. We're always going to want that to continue. This would be a continuing position that we would want to see continuing out past the grant. The Byrne grant has been in effect for many, many years. It's interesting. I always like this. Whenever I talk about Byrne grants, I talk about I had just graduated college. I was heading to law school. Edward Byrne was a young NYPD officer who was sitting outside a witness's house. when he was murdered by a gang. And that happened in the police precinct just next door to where I lived. So I always think about the legacy of Edward Byrne here. And this is obviously a position that we would want to continue. We've asked for a sum of money. I don't see the exact amount in front of me, but we would have to reapply. It would be granted to us for three years, but we would have to reapply after each year in order to justify the need for the additional funds. And the expectation, of course, would be to continue applying for the burn grant going forward as long as it's available. The good news is it's administered through the state DCJ, not the federal government in terms of the entity that we apply for the grant. You know, we don't have to deal with the certifications and the certification issues, which are very hairy. And we thank John for helping us out recently on one of those. But, yeah, this is a position that we would hope to create and install in our office for the better of our victims and our services to victims and witnesses. We understand that.

A question of clarification. So the wording for the... in the BSR is that the grant application, $462,634.29 in grant funds received over the course of three years if the application is successful. So you get an initial approval and you have this 462K divvied out across three years, some of it for some of these operational things, which I have a question about, but you have to apply every year within the three years as well? Or after the three-year term?

So, John, do you want to explain that? I know John was in contact with our counterparts in Denver about this specific issue this morning.

Yeah. More or less, my understanding is that the application is a three-year grant cycle with the total request spread across the three-year period. The annual funding and reporting would still have to comply with DCJ's grant requirements and that there is a renewal continuation step required each year, which we would have to basically, it's not like a reapplication for the grant, it's just a continuation. process with that grant.

That's what I thought. That's, that's, okay. That makes more sense. Cool. Is it's more of like making sure the money's going where you said it's going to go. So then before you get your more money for the next year. Yeah.

Correct.

Okay. Madam Chair, that, okay.

Go ahead, Commissioner Warngully. Thank you very much.

Sorry to interrupt, Commissioner Campbell. I just wanted to clarify from your question. Yeah. That this would be a temporary grant position. as far as an FTE goes?

Yes.

This is not gaining an FTE. This is a temporary grant position.

That was a question that I was wanting to know as well, because the BSR isn't clear about if you're asking for an FTE, because that's a different process that we need to go through. But if it's a temporary granted position, I know you've said you want this to go on, let's say you don't get this in three years, you'd want to include that, but that would be a request at that time. But that's a clarification that currently it'd be a temporary grant funded position.

Yes, yeah, yeah. And that's the way they're running it through Denver. That would be our expectation for this. And of course, if we were not approved by DCJ for it, we would hope to fund it through an FTP through the county in the shorter in the shorter term. But for now, that's that's how we're looking to fund this position.

Thank you. Sorry to interrupt, Commissioner.

Thank you. No, it's good. So for the operational tools, the secure, I mean, all of them make sense in terms of the work that you are doing, but just want to flag that if we're getting away from burner phones for these things and they're permanent phones, it's going to have an ongoing cost. it seems small within the scope of our budgets but that kind of stuff just kind of adds up so I just wanted to flag that since you noted that they're one time but if they're going to be continuing lines obviously that's going to have ongoing costs the ballistics protection obviously that sounds like one time counter surveillance and training and then the software So A, in some of the counter surveillance and training and the software, are those not things that the sheriff does that you all can partner with them? I understand wanting your own access to tools, but then also have you worked with IT on this Scope Now software? and it being in compliance with just all of our processes and things that we do. And I understand that may be a little cart before horse, but then I think we just put the horse before the cart and say, should you get approved, the expectation would be obviously that you're working with IT on any software you're bringing in. And I know you all have a great relationship with our IT department. So it's more of a flag than a sort of... prosecutorial sort of vibe, like, but just so kind of our expectations of how this would all work.

Yeah, I will, initially I'll say we work with IT almost on a daily basis now to kind of, I don't know, as a work through or work around Zscaler. They are incredibly, they have been, you know, we just got a message from Ms. Rosecrans this morning kind of thanking us for our cooperation and collaboration with them in trying to find workarounds and work throughs on this. And obviously, we would work with them. I know between us and the sheriff's office, we're giving a lot of work to the IT department in that regard. In terms of the specific nature of the software, that's way above my head. And John, you'd be able to answer that one.

Yeah, specifically on the software side of things, this is a tool we already have implemented. Within the agency, it has already been through IT's checkpoints and compliance, the whole rigmarole. This would just be a way to get some external funding to continue having that on. I know that that was kind of like a one-time annual purchase as we were going to have to look into additional means moving forward into the 2027 year to get that funded. That's something we wanted to stick around.

Cool. Great. Mr. Christopherson.

One of the things is on some of the different assets that are there, I don't remember the dollar amount of it to get an asset number for those for when dealing with somewhat sort of replacements, IG rents, all that stuff. But it was just making sure you're reaching out to finance. I don't know if, the cell phones I don't think are raised to that dollar amount. But if there is the ballistic vest or things, they may or they may not. I don't know that off the top of my head. But if you could reach out to finance to see if we have that. board if there are some we can kind of preempt that of if there are some asset numbers they would need for some of this along those lines would you be supportive of that if they get this grant to be able to have those so they wouldn't need to come back and get another asset number i don't know if they if it rises the level that needs them but i would also want to try to um recognize their their timing and all that and as we As we go through the process and the DA is learning some of the different little intricacies of that, I don't want to make them have to come back if it's something that the board is already supportive of with this grant as well.

Okay. So you're asking us to pre-approve?

If there's some associated with this grant. He talked about the information he provided. They already have the software so that the asset number would have already been taken care of. But if the items like the tactical vest or things like that, if that rises to the level, I don't know if it does. That they would, that that would have a thumbs up that they, finance coming forward with an asset number if they needed to.

They wouldn't need to come back.

They wouldn't need to come back for that because of what they've asked here. If it's something outside of what they asked, then yes, they would need to come back. But I just wanted to see if the board would be supportive of that.

I have. Okay. Commissioner Fields?

Yes. I'm glad to see everyone with their thumbs up on this. Just wanted to ask a couple questions and just kind of get a sense of... How is it going to work? Because right now, witness protection is housed under the Colorado Department of Public Safety. And currently DAs do not have any federal fundings to support witness protection programs. It's almost like the DAs really have to beg and scratch to get resources. So I'm wondering, as you envision this role and responsibility beyond some of the tactical things that you talked about, like the burner phones and, you know, but there's a lot of resources that witnesses need when they're being protected. And so I'm wondering what the coordination would be at the state level with the 18th Judicial and CIS pilot, and is there any thinking that with the proper...

documentation that there may be a potential to have someone that would not just be temporary but would be a full-time employee and is that part of the goal or the intent so commissioner that's a great question and it's one that we we meet regularly with the state witness protection task force so separate from the board and um With Tom Raines leaving CDAC and Phil Weiser leaving the Attorney General's office, two-thirds of that state witness protection board is about to turn over. And we are already talking about getting in, meeting with them, collaborating with them, and trying to have a better understanding and communication between all of us on how the state can help us. the state board is limited to reimbursing us to a limited amount of dollars for the money that we spend. And it is a very cumbersome process. There's a lot of begging and borrowing and kind of on our knees asking for those resources. So we would like to see more of a collaboration and cooperation with the state group. We haven't seen it, but we're thinking with the turnover of the board, we can try to have those conversations and make those things work. there is no witness protection advocate at the Attorney General's office. That would be a request we could make with them, but given the numbers and the volume that we have in Arapahoe County, there is no way that we would want to tap into that resource to the exclusion of other jurisdictions that would need it if we can fund that through this grant. John, if you want to add to that.

Yeah, I mean, loaded question. obviously, but I think the biggest downfall is that I think we all know the Jabod Marshall Field Act was originally allocated on a budgetary annual basis of $100,000. That's since been cut down to $50,000, and that's for the entire state. That's for every judicial district attorney's office to pull funds from. I know that our office, as well as Denver, pretty much obliterate that fund annually. So I think long haul would be looking at maybe legislatively trying to get that increased down the road, which would help. Kind of what they've done is kind of put a cap on every single case that we have, which is a measly $5,000 per case. I mean, if you need more, you have to get board approval, and it's kind of this back and forth. But $5,000 in today's... more or less economy does not spread that far as to what you can do or utilize with it. So it is a lot of resource gathering and kind of, you know, run Peter to pay Paul more or less than just getting out there and having these conversations with some of these other organizations that are willing to kind of assist where some of the shortfalls come in.

Yeah. And just to just kind of follow up with that, the county in our 2026 budget gave us a $30,000 um allotment which we call our special victims fund and we do um we do kind of shave some of that towards witness protection when needed and that is just extraordinary that you are i personally was incredibly proud when the county granted that in our 2026 budget request and and we are using that you know wisely we're using it for cell phones for for travel, for clothing, for housing, for witnesses and victims who do not fall within the witness protection realm where we don't have an opportunity to get reimbursement from the state. So we do have some resources that we're using. This would just help us coordinate that and make them stronger.

Well, my final thought is if we really are serious about preventing crime, that means we have to protect witnesses. Because you can't solve crimes if you don't have a witness to say what they've seen, what they've heard. And then once they say that, it's a lot of money to ask people to leave their community. And then they just, it's just a lot involved. I'm talking about high end, probably lower level witness protection, but I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt.

No, between John and Adam and the resources that we do have, we cannot be in a better place to move, you know, on a dime when we have to all around the clock. These people are out there working all the time. But to have that, to have the victim advocate to be there, to be their link to the office. more likely that they'll want to be a part of the process or at least accept being a part of the process when we need them. So we very much appreciate the questions. And we appreciate the support. And we look forward to it. I always like hearing before these study sessions. Even when I'm listening to open spaces,

up here great commissioners we have thumbs up for the line for the grant we have five thumbs up we hear you have to get it in by July 10th so there you go John has a question, though. Just a second.

So, yes, the board is supportive of doing that. Our process we've done when the county has to apply for that, we have it on a consent agenda item to be able to do that. What we need to do on this one is use the same formula we have, but we want to ratify that ability to do that as of... That's not typically how grants move forward.

They don't go on consent.

We've done that with when the board's the one that's supposed to sign them because the chair doesn't have signature authority at that time. So when the DA has applied for those that on our behalf, we've had them go to consent agenda for that to give them authority.

The specific instance.

Yes. Yeah. When they don't have the authority to sign themselves.

Okay. Great.

That's how we've had that. So with that, we'll need to have that on the next consent agenda. But it will say ratify the ability that you apply. Great. Because the date you need to apply for it is before that consent agenda. So we'll have that. So I can help you with that language on that as well so we can get that on there to go forward. Okay? All right. Thanks, John.

Thank you all very, very much. We appreciate it. So y'all did it. Thank you. See you later. Joy, California.

Bye, sir. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Oh, that's frustrating. Go on. San Diego. Oh, gee whiz. What happened? It's just really pretty driving down the highway. Yeah. And I was just thinking, oh, I'd really like to just do that right now. Yeah. So are we ready for, we don't have anything except an executive session now, right?

Correct.

You had something?

Just a motion.

Oh, you have the motion? Yeah, but John, did you want us to read it now or not?

Yes, we're good.

Okay. Commissioner Baker.

I move that the board go into executive session pursuant to section 24-6-402 parent 4, parent B and E. of the Colorado Revised Statutes to develop strategy and instruct negotiators and receive legal advice regarding the demand letter from former employee Shannon Sonomo.

Second. It has been moved by Commissioner Baker and properly seconded by Commissioner Campbell to go into executive session. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Ayes have it. We are in executive session.