City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to call to order our City Council meeting for Tuesday, August 4th, 2026. I'm going to ask Council Member Fidler to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. Madam City Clerk, please call roll.

Mayor Mills.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tempidio.

Here.

Council Member Carbajal.

She's traveling.

Council Member Collins. Here. Council Member Fidler.

Here.

Council Member Green.

I still have a key.

Council Member Snyder.

Here.

Council Member Taddeo.

Present.

Council Member Wirth.

Here.

You have a quorum, Your Honor.

Thank you. Next is the approval of, oh no.

Not the approval. Hold on.

Madam City Clerk, please read the consent agenda to the record.

Item 2A, approval of the July 7, 2026 City Council Minutes. Item 2B, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Brighton, Colorado, appointing members to the City of Brighton Youth Commission for terms ending in June of 2028.

Thank you. What is the pleasure, Council? Council Member Green. Thank you, Mayor.

I approve of the August 4th consent agenda. Can I make a motion to approve it?

And then Council Member Fidler. Thank you Mayor, I'll second. We have a first and second to approve the consent agenda as presented. Roll call vote. Motion passes eight to zero and one absent. Next is the approval of the regular agenda. When our screen's clear, who'd like to make that motion? Council Member Snyder. I move to approve the regular agenda as presented. And Council Member Tadeo.

Thank you. I'll second that.

We have a first and second to approve the regular agenda. Roll call vote. Motion passes 8 to 0 with 1 absent. Moving on to ceremonies. Why everybody's here, right? Item 4A.

swear in brighton youth commission and brighton youth impact members uh we'd like to welcome back city manager martinez i forgot how to turn on my microphone yes it's good to be back thank you all i appreciate that if you are here this evening to be sworn in please join us at the podium and our city clerk will meet you there that's a lot of you

OK, everybody raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I state your name. I, Margaret.

I solemnly declare and affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Colorado, the Brighton Municipal Charter,

Is this the introduction part now, Tonya? All right, that's 4B, go for it.

Good evening, mayor, city council members, city staff, families, and guests. My name is Isaac, and this summer I had the privilege of serving as a Growing Grads intern. Tonight, I'm also honored to be inducted as a member of the Brighton Youth Commission. One of the things that I've learned this summer is that Brighton just doesn't ask young people to be the future. It gives us opportunities to contribute today. Tonight you're welcoming new members into two of these opportunities. The Brighton Youth Commission gives young people meaningful opportunities to engage with local government, develop as leaders, and make a positive impact in the Brighton community. Brighton Impact provides hands-on opportunities to develop leadership through service, teamwork, and community involvement. These programs remind us that leadership isn't about a title. It's about listening, taking initiative, serving others, and being willing to make a difference. They help us build confidence, develop new skills, and discover that our voices matter. As someone who's experienced one city youth leadership program and is now beginning another, I can say these opportunities have a real impact. They don't just prepare for someday. They allow us to make a difference today. On behalf of everyone being inducted tonight, thank you for believing in young people enough to invest in us. Your support creates opportunities that help us grow into leaders who care deeply about brain and want to make a positive difference. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm excited to begin serving alongside my fellow commissioners. Now I'm going to have each new member introduce themselves. Please say your name, grade, and school.

Hello, my name is Elias, and I'm entering the ninth grade at Eagle Ridge Academy.

My name is Lorenzo Freitas, and I'm going into seventh grade at White V Con Middle School.

My name is Izzy. I'm going into ninth grade at Brighton High School.

My name is Estrella, and I'm going to 6th grade in Foundations Academy.

My name is Zadie Adubi. I'm going into 8th grade at VCon Middle School.

My name is Derek, and I'm going to Quest Middle School, and I'm going to 6th grade.

My name is Sophia Chavez, and I'm going into 9th grade at Riverdale Ridge High School. My name is Adalynn Christensen, and I'm going into seventh grade at Century Middle School.

My name is Jaleel McKinney, and I'm going to seventh grade to Christmas School. My name is Xavier, and I'm going into seventh grade at Foundations Academy.

I'm Elizabeth Holbrook. I'm going into ninth grade at Frederick High School.

My name is Margaret Amaya. I'm going into the seventh grade at Foundations Academy.

My name is Malia. I'm going to the 8th grade at Riverdale Ridge High School.

My name is Dallas and I'm going to the 8th grade at Quest Middle School.

My name is Joseph and I'm going to the 6th grade at Quest Middle School.

My name is Addison Sanchez. I'm going to 8th grade at Foundations Academy.

My name is Nancy Sanchez. I'm entering 12th grade at Eagle Ridge Academy.

Good afternoon. I'm Valentina, and I'm entering 12th grade at Eagle Ridge Academy.

Good evening. My name is Zion Kim, and I'm going into my junior year at Bryan High School.

My name is Isaac, and I'm going into my sophomore year at Bryan High School.

My name is Adi, and I'm entering 11th grade in the Set School.

I didn't clarify, but mostly the T.L. Polos, our youth commission, and the black t-shirts are impact members, and we're so excited to have them all join us. Thank you so much for your time tonight.

Can we have them circle around and we do one big picture together? Is that going to be too crowded? Have them come around? Yes.

Everybody's squeezed. You're fine. You can stand. Let's have the taller kids go in the back.

All friends. Xavier, come forward.

Just stand in the front row. Just stand in between them. Yeah, just make sure you're not blocking the person behind you.

If you don't see somebody's head, then you've got to look around a little bit. Find a window.

Wow. You're welcome to take pictures too. Sorry, let me move.

While you're dispersing, just want to thank all the youth for volunteering and being a part of this group. You're going to be well-filled this year. So thank you for being a part of the Youth Commission and the Youth Impact Group. We'll let people disperse if they choose, but everybody's welcome to stay. So nobody's being kicked out. Now we got a lot of capacity here. All right. Next on the agenda is the item five, public invited to be heard on matters that are not on the agenda. I have two people signed up to speak. I also have three others signed up for another item coming up on the agenda. But these two are for the ones that are speaking on items that are not on the agenda. So first I have Tom Lampo. Come on over, Tom. You know how to go. State your name for the record. You got three minutes.

All right, thank you very much. Hello to Brighton. Hello to you all in front of me. It's good to be here. Hope all is well. I'm Tom Lampo. I'm here to lift up Brighton to the Lord in prayer. So please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, we ask you to be with us here tonight and every day in Brighton. You are God, the creator of all things, and there is nothing greater than you. Deuteronomy 4.35 states, To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord is God. There is no other besides him. Let us find comfort in you and help us not to fear the situations around us. Everything is changing what can cause us to feel unstable. We can rest in knowing there is nothing greater than you and you have all situations under control. The summer is moving quickly. The county fair is over, and summer trips are coming to an end. Our teachers will have reported back to school before we meet again. Students will start reporting back to school shortly after that. Families will go through another adjustment. Children will face new situations. For some, it will be their very first day of school, while others will start counting down their last year. A lot of change, a lot of adjustments. So we lift up to you all those who will be affected by this new beginning. The unknown is before them, and you have a word to cover them. Isaiah 43, 18 through 19 states, Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I'm doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wastelands. You are God and nothing is beyond your control. Be with those that are making these adjustments. Help them to find peace in you. Watch over everyone and make a path for them to travel on as they begin this new journey. We lift up all those that are serving in our military. All who serve need your protection. Guide the individuals who are making decisions that impact their lives. Give them clear understanding of the dangers they are asking our military to enter into. Some who are serving will be sent on missions to free those that cannot help themselves. They have a special purpose. Remind them of their purpose with Psalm 82, 4, which states, Rescue the weak and the needy. Deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Keep them safe and mentally sharp. Guide their actions and bring everyone home safely. You are our God and we are your people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you guys. Have a nice night.

Thank you, Tom. Next is Todd Quambly. Come on over, Todd. State your name for the record. You've got three minutes.

Hi, my name is Todd Quimby. I own two businesses here in Brighton, Brighton Crescent Liquors on 50th and Bridge and Brighton Highway 7 that I bought about two years ago. I've been having some, my water bill is like extremely high. And I've talked to the water people here in Brighton and nobody seems to want to be able to do anything. Like my water bill for this month is $652. I have an ice maker, I have a toilet, and a mop sink, and a sink. There's no grass or anything. What I understand is the building was built in 1961, roughly, and it was a laundromat. Then years later, it went half laundromat, half liquor store, and it's been a liquor store for the last 35 rough years. I've asked this city water person if there's some way I can get a variance to choke the line down. Because what I understand is when it was the laundromat, they have a two-inch line coming from the street. And he said the only way I can do that is if I turn my parking lot up and put a whole new line in, tear the meter or tear the stuff out of the street, and that's going to be $10,000 to $15,000. So I've been paying a minimum of $450 a month in water.

i'm wondering is there any way i can get a variance or who can i talk to to maybe rectify this because i honestly i feel like i'm getting ripped off that's my speech all right todd uh thank you um you know this is something that the obviously staff will have to address i know you've come up to me about this in the past and um you know i don't have the Right answer for you right now.

I don't expect an answer right now, but if we could look into that, I would really appreciate it.

Okay. Thank you for bringing that back up to us. Thank you. That is all I have signed up to speak on items not on the agenda. And like I said, those that have signed up to speak on an item coming up on the agenda, we'll call you up when that time allows. All right. Next. Hold on. Item 6A. A resolution of the City Council of the City of Brighton, Colorado approving the second amendment to service plan for Prairie Center Metropolitan District number seven and setting forth other details related to. So this is a public hearing. I'm first gonna open up the public hearing and ask that the city clerk verify all the postings and publications were complete.

Yes, Your Honor. The notice of public hearing was published on the City of Brighton website on July 20th, 2026.

Thanks for verifying. And next, I ask members of City Council if they have any conflicts of interest or ex parte communications related to this item. Seeing none, City Manager Martinez, please introduce our presenting staff.

Thank you, Mayor. Presenting this item this evening on behalf of the City is Associate Planner Stephanie Iams. Welcome, Stephanie.

Good evening. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and members of Council. My name is Stephanie Imes, Associate Planner with the City, and I'm here to present the Prairie Center Metropolitan District Number 7 Service Plan Amendment. The subject property outlined on the map is generally located to the north of Eagle Boulevard, south of Kite Street, and South 35th Avenue, east of South 27th Avenue, and west of Prairie Center Parkway, comprised of all property within Prairie Center Village 1 subdivision. To provide some background, the original service plan for the district was approved in 2006. In 2008, there was an amendment to the service plan increasing the cost of public improvements. Currently, the district has two outstanding general obligation bonds with a final maturity of 2045 and 2046. And in accordance with the approved service plan, any modifications to the service plan require approval from the city council. With this second amendment to the service plan, the district is seeking to refund the existing bonds, change the bond maturity limits from 25 years to 30 years to align with the city's model service plan and lower annual debt service mill levies. Remove the restriction prohibiting issuance of new money debt after December 1st, 2025, and replace that restriction with a rule limiting the debt service mill levy to no more than 40 years. We'll also preserve flexibility for future financing by allowing additional new money debt with approval from the district board. By extending the repayment period, this would reduce the debt service mill levy from 63.495 to 39.617 starting in 2027 collections. At this time, the options for consideration are before you on the screen. Thank you all for your time and attention this evening. The city's Metro District Council and financial consultants are available for any questions that you may have after a brief presentation from our applicant team.

If the applicant would like to queue up their presentation, the time is yours.

Thank you. My name is Dave Burke. I am the President of the Board of Directors for Metro District 7. I'm honored to represent the 370 homeowners in this community in our effort tonight to try to modify the bond debt for this community to offer significant annual property tax relief for its residents. I'm joined by other members of our 100% resident control board here tonight, including our treasurer, Ron Johnson, members Alan Greenfield, Jeffrey Hunter, and Megan Smith, as well as some members of our community. Now, I'm not an expert in this field by any means. I'm just a volunteer and a homeowner, but we're fortunate to have experts here with us, including Kathy Conda, who's with McGeady, Beecher, Cortese, and Williams, our general counsel for the district, and Matt Chorsky, who's a director with D.A. Davidson. This amendment will give us the option to extend our refi to 30 years so we can explore as many possibilities as possible to maximize the property tax reduction for the residents. As I said, just a very brief set of slides here. We're a 100% district board comprised of residents. We have five board members. Currently, the metro district portion of the resident property taxes is approximately 40% of our total tax bill. due to our maximum mill levy that we have to pay based on how the bonds are structured currently. In addition to taking care of the statutory compliances. We also perform the HOA functions, including operations of maintenance of the public improvements, including the common area landscaping. If you've been by the community, you know we have a tremendous amount of landscaping there. And snow removal, the entry monuments, the lighting, the underdrain system, as well as the design review and covenant enforcement. The district board takes care of all of that. So here's the opportunity to try to decrease the district's property taxes. where we can refund the existing bonds from the Series 20 and the Series 21 bonds and take those to market. We're not adding any additional debt. No additional debt is being added or contemplated. Any additional debt to this community would require a vote of the residents. So there's nothing we can do on our own anyway. We'll propose a refunding plan based on present market conditions. We'll go to the market, take a look, see what makes the most sense. And if we can do it this year, the debt service mill levy can be reduced from its current maximum levels for the next tax year, reducing the property taxes significantly for our homeowners. We can substantially reduce the debt service by approximately $750 to $950 per home per year if we take this to market the way that we think it can work. It'll also minimize the quarterly operations and maintenance fee increases. In addition to the property tax amount that we pay, we also pay quarterly operations fees of $828 a year per home. And they're billed quarterly. And so hopefully this refi restructure will allow us to minimize any of those increases as well and give us some financial flexibility to maintain and enhance the public infrastructure and the community amenities that we have. Should we need additional monies for something, this gives us a little bit more flexibility in how to raise those monies. So that's it. That's what we're asking. On behalf of the 370 residents there, we thank you to consider this amendment.

Thank you. And you said you're David Burke, right? I am. So you also signed up to speak separately. I know. I wasn't sure. They asked me. I said, okay. Since you're already a presenter, we'll just go ahead and put that aside. Is that the same with Ronald Johnson? Are you trying to sign up to speak, too? Okay, so we'll put that aside. How about a Tom Gamache? Gamache, yeah. Okay, so we'll get to you in a moment. Okay, so there's one person signed up to speak. So this is the time for public comment. For those that have signed up to speak, I'll just call you up one by one. if anybody is here that have interest to speak there are sign up sheets in the back bring to the city clerk but for now i will call upon tom ganache to come on up and when you get to the mic state your name for the record or correct any ways i've pronounced it and you'll have three minutes it's tom gamache i live in prairie center uh mayor council uh

I've lived there, original homeowner, been there since phase one. And I support my board in this resolution that they have before you. And I would ask you to please support it. So thank you very much.

All right. That's all I have signed up to speak. Madam City Clerk, is there anybody signed up to speak? Or is there anybody that's submitted any digital public comment?

Yes, Your Honor.

If you'll pass that down. Give us a moment while we skim through this real quick. Are we one short? Grab one more. So it appears there are a few folks that submitted their opposition. And then those that showed up in person has submitted their support for this. So would the staff or the presenter want to add to the, based on the public comment that was presented earlier?

We certainly appreciate Tom coming down and other members who may be here, residents that may be here. I believe we submitted a response to some of the objections that were submitted digitally. Okay. So you may have that as well, our answer to that. But we just ask for your support for this so that we can Take a look and try to save some people some money.

Okay. And just for the record, all this will be in the minutes of the meeting when that comes out later down the road. Questions and comments from the council? We'll go to Council Member Green.

Thank you, Mayor. And this was new to us, so... You know, I am in support of anything that would lower the mill levy to residents. I like to hear that. But one of my questions is, is how much of the debt has been paid under the maximum mill levy that you've been collecting? Any?

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members. Matt Chorsky with D.A. Davidson. The current debt outstanding is is about $9 million in the original principal amount. Did you happen to have that?

Coordinate balance. As cool as that.

Yeah, so the as Dave mentioned there's two series of bonds a series 2020 in a series 2021 The in the 2020 bond that was issued with two term bonds the first term bond was paid off or will be paid off this year there's 30,000 left on that debt and The all the debt on the series 2021 bonds is currently outstanding. None of that has been paid. In fact, there's about one point in 1.3 million of accrued and unpaid interest, which will continue to accrue and compound if that debt is not retired. So they've made, I mean, they've paid off a significant amount of the debt, but there's still going to be outstanding $9 million.

Okay, but what was the total? The original issuance versus what?

Total total?

Yes.

Hello, Mr.

A little over $60 million. Okay. That was the question I'm getting at here. Thank you. I didn't want to dance around it. The other part of it is you're asking for a 30-year bond term but a 40 years of mill levy. So that was the language in the slide there. Ms. Lambs, maybe you could explain what that reference is.

Okay, maybe the city. Hi, my name is Kathy condom general counsel for the district.

And so when we were, if you can bring the mic closer to you there, right?

Is that better? Yes. Okay. Kathy conda general counsel for the district. Thank you for hearing this matter. When we – the impetus of this was to look at opportunities to lower the debt service mill levy because when the bonds were originally issued, they're cash flow bonds. So until they're paid off, there's no opportunity to reduce the debt service mill levy versus structured bonds that have an annual – amortization where if you're producing more than you need to make an annual payment, you know, that mill levy could actually go down. So that was the beginning point, right? The board talked to two different underwriters and looked at more than one refunding scenario. including a 25-year term bond, which is what their current service plan allows, and realize that with a 30-year term, they could actually realize a bigger reduction in their mill levy. And I think the analogy for those of us who are not Matt Chorsky is think about a home mortgage right the longer your term the lower your monthly payment if you finance with a shorter term the payment is bigger that's the way that somebody like me who is not really good with numbers sort of understood this but under your current model service plan it allows districts to issue bonds for terms of 40 years so our request to increase the term from 25 to 30 is actually less than what's currently allowed in the model service plan. There's also a provision in our service plan because it was one of the first ones that was approved by Brighton way back in 2006. There was the expectation or the desire that the entire 2,400-acre Prairie Center development would be fully developed by 2025. And so there was a provision in the service plan that said districts couldn't issue any additional debt after 2025. Well, that ship has sailed. There is an exception for refunding, which is what we have here. And in some of the discussions, we talked about maybe issuing even a little more debt, either to pay off past developer advances or build up capital reserve for additional community amenities and that sort of thing and when we spoke with city the city's consultants outside legal counsel at butler snow rather than you know we started out with well do we extend from 2025 to 20 20 30 20 35 you know what are we going to do here what makes sense and What we mutually agreed upon is in the current model service plan, there's a limitation that says a district cannot impose a debt service mill levy for more than 40 years after the first issuance of debt without a decision to extend that term. by a resident-controlled board of directors. Because what we're proposing, if we issue this year, which is 2026, 30 years takes us out to 2056. I can't do math in my head. I'm so sorry. And if you go back to when they initially issued in 2020, we fall within that 40-year frame. And again, it it brings the this district service plan in alignment with the provisions of the current model service plan that was adopted um in when was that adopted in 2021 did i make sense

Not exactly. I'm sorry. Because it was just restrictions on new debt issuance, but now I'm hearing that you may issue new debt, and then remove the prohibition on issuing new money debt after December 2025, replace it with a rule limiting the debt service mill levy to no more than 40 years. So that means that if we do this 30-year term, you'd still have another 10 years to think about issuing new debt.

Right. Just like all the other metropolitan districts in the city of Brighton right now that have been organized since the model service plan was put into place. And we have a 100 percent resident controlled board. And the other thing that I want to emphasize is no new money debt is contemplated now. But because this district does have significant public improvement operation and maintenance responsibility, we don't foresee any need in the foreseeable future for any new money debt. We just don't see it at all. But in terms of coming into compliance with your current model and being able to do what they need to do now, we agreed that that would be a logical thing to do.

Okay. Like I said, that now is acting a lot. Yeah.

It's nothing now, but... Well, I mean, but you saw some of the comments from residents, right? They want enhanced park amenities. As was mentioned, the district functions like an HOA. So rather than turning over things like the... Underdrain system, which I think is the sort of the largest piece of public infrastructure that the district itself Maintains if if you had an earthquake and that whole under strain system went under you know They might need to go out and get a little bank loan Which would be dead if they're using debt service mill levy to pay for it, but we're not see you know We're not anticipating that now. It was just that when we had the conversation about about making sure that this district, which is controlled by residents, had the most flexibility to do what they need to do now and what they may need to do in the future. Coming into compliance with the current model service plan seemed like the most efficient and easy way to go.

Okay, I understand that, but my other concern is that it took you six years to pay off a third of the debt, but now you want to extend it to 30 years to pay off the remainder. So, and I understand that it's going to lower the taxes and everything else, but

OK, so the bonds that were issued in 2020, the interest rate environment was very good. And for those of you who were around when these prairie center districts were organized, there's an agreement with the city that returned to the districts a portion of the use taxes that are paid at building permit. So the reason the district was able to issue bonds early in the development cycle for this district was because when they were marketed, there was a big bubble of basically use taxes that came to the district and because their cash flow. And then as the district built out, it built out more quickly than anybody anticipated. Um, the property taxes and those use taxes enabled the district to sort of pay off those, the first series of 2020 bonds. The 2021 bonds, however, are carrying interest at 6.4%. And so what's happening, because they're cash flow bonds and the 2021s are subordinate, every penny is going into those senior bonds that were issued in 2020. Nothing is going toward the principal on those 2021 bonds that are accruing interest at 6.4%. and will continue to do so until they get paid off. So the payoff on the 2021 bonds is going to be a more protracted period, and because they pledged their maximum debt service mill levy, there's no opportunity for that debt service mill levy to come down. And so, again, sort of based preliminary estimates at this point, that there could be a significant property tax reduction and it is going to be a policy decision that the board will make in conjunction with the input they receive from the residents whether they want to extend you know go a little bit longer on the debt to realize bigger property tax savings today or maybe you know do something in between do nothing and just Pay off the 2021 bonds as they're currently structured or something in between, right?

And the opportunity does present itself to get a lower interest rate. That's something that you need? Yes, yes. I'm trying to help you out here. Oh, I'm sorry.

Yes, and the interest rate on the debt will go down as well. Thank you. That's the idea. That's the goal here. And if the market goes nuts and they can't do it, we're not making a decision today whether or not to issue bonds. We're just saying, please give us the same amount of flexibility same parameters that other metro districts have to consider options all right next council member snyder thank you for the presentation i uh

I want to go against the residents in the community. I think residents should be able to decide for themselves. However, you mentioned mortgages. I'm glad you mentioned that because that will keep this conversation and my comments real simple. There's two reasons to refi a mortgage. One is to get a lower interest rate, in which case you might actually save some money. Two is you don't want to make the monthly payment. You want to reduce your monthly debt by extending it. The problem with that one is it's smoke and mirrors because you pay less this month, but in the end, you end up paying a lot more money than you would have paid if you just left the debt alone. So that's my concern. Are we burdening the residents with more out-of-pocket debt over the period of this thing? Because... The last time I checked, interest rates weren't extremely favorable right now. They're better than they were a year ago, but they're not great. And so I'm wondering if we're going to burden the residents with more debt overall. The other thing is, Americans typically live in a home 20 years. Extending this 30 is kicking the can down the road to the next people that buy in. I'm not sure I like that either. So those are my concerns about it, is have you calculated The final out-of-pocket cost, are the residents paying more for this? I mean, I know they're paying less monthly. I don't care about that. I'm talking about the total cost of the debt. Are they going to end up paying more than they're paying now?

Yeah, thank you for your question. Obviously, that's exactly how that works. When you extend the amortization on a debt, you are going to pay more debt over the long run. Based on our numbers, and just a point, Council Member Green, if we leave the debt outstanding... those bonds don't get paid off until 2043 so really what we're talking about is a 30-year extension to 2056 and the additional debt that's going to accrue on those bonds is about 3.4 million dollars of accrued and unpaid interest which to me is a waste of money for these residents the total debt If you compare the existing debt structure, it's about $17.3 million, assuming we don't do anything with the existing debt. Under a 30-year amortization, yes, the debt increases to about $20 million, so roughly a $3 million delta, slightly under. And if we stick to a 25-year AM, which is currently in the district service plan, about 17.8. So it's kind of a wash between the current existing debt structure and a 25-year AM. But again, the goal of these taxpayers is to lower their taxes. And just to point on the actual, the average homeowner stays in a house about seven to eight years. So, you know, it's not 20 and we're not kicking the can. This will be obviously a burden, tax burden for the next property owner. But depending on when they move into that house, it's not going to be a 30-year obligation. So I just wanted to make that point.

Thanks for clarifying. Is that all, Council Member? Okay. Next, Council Member Fidler.

Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate the presentation, appreciate the efforts to reduce the tax rate. Put it in dollars and cents for me. I've done my back of the napkin guess up here. Let's say the average home there is $6,000, and your assessment rate's about 7%, and it's a 24-mil reduction. I get about $1,000 a year in tax savings. Does that sound right to you all? Okay.

And on the assessed value.

And on the assessed value. But give or take $1,000 a year in tax savings. I commend you for... being an all-resident board, because that's not always the case with mental districts, and for being proactive enough to come in here and present to us. I think this is an administrative function in terms of what you're asking of us. I don't think it's for me or anybody else to tell you how soon you should pay your debt off or not. I appreciate Jim's comments. But it's just the nature. I've never seen a metro district close out all their, in my lifetime, close out all their debt, and suddenly there's not any more debt. So I'm supportive of this. That's the right thing to do. I understand why you're doing it. And I want to put the dollars and cents to it, because not everyone will do the back of the napkin math and know how to do it, right? It's $1,000 a year in savings, and kudos to you all for finding a way to lower your tax bill.

Next, Mayor Pro Temp.

Hi. Thank you very much for the presentation. Thank you very much for coming in. I want to make sure that I understand what the question in front of us actually is, because you are the board. You want to make the decision. You want to work with your residents and make a decision on how you might handle it. The question really in front of us is, can we amend the service plan to give you the flexibility to do so? your service plan predates our model service plan, if I understand that as well. Are there other changes or other differences between your current service plan and the model service plan that we ought to be contemplating to bring you in line with that current model service plan?

Mayor Pro Tem, yes there are differences between the older service plan and the current model service plan that the council has adopted. The applicant proposed these minor changes to handle the fully resident controlled board's desire to refinance the outstanding debt. When we discussed with the applicant early on, because this is one of the metro districts in connection with an aggregate group of Prairie Center metro districts that have maximum debt cap limits for all of the districts, and for them to try and bring that service plan fully in compliance with the model would require all of the other districts to also then come back and submit all of their service plans to come into compliance with the model. Otherwise, we have inconsistencies with enforcement of the service plans and how they all intertwine and work together. And so what's in front of you today are really minor changes to their service plan while keeping everything in place as is currently. So, yes, there are differences between the model, which includes some reporting requirements, some different, you know, their initial one didn't have this mill levy imposition term. But the thrust of the changes is, that they're asking for have all been contemplated in the model where as soon as it's a resident control board, if the board approves extending that debt limit or extending the imposition term or extending a longer debt term, your model in the policy decision that surrounds that model provision supports this amendment.

Okay. That makes sense. Because we're not being asked to make the decision, refi and extend, lower the monthly payments in trade for a longer debt cycle. That's really the residents who get to make that decision. And if they don't like it, I suppose they can vote in a new board and go for something else. But that really is the attempt to put it back in your hands. I think at You answered the question that I had around is it worth trying to uplift the whole thing, but really we've got such a patchwork or interconnected set of districts that that's perhaps more complicated than is worthwhile to consider. This one specifically. My other question is, is this metro district built out or does it have a new enough projection of timeline to build out that that 40 years now gives you enough runway?

This particular, our community is fully built out, 370 homes.

So we don't have a problem of you still need to develop another 120 homes, and we create that problem farther down the road? No. Okay. My other question is entirely curiosity, and so I will say it, but the answer is not really important. The Metro District having to function as the HOA as well creates a different challenge it seems like forming an HOA and separating that from the metro district would be a simplifying factor and would potentially eliminate your problem of assessments potentially down the road but again that's up to you to figure out how you need to organize all of that it just causes me a little bit of angst but I don't live in that neighborhood okay I can see no reason not to

give flexibility and power to the the metro district uh in accordance with how things are structured and recognizing uh the challenges you've seen so thank you very much for the answers next council member worth thank you mayor um can i tell you i mean i'm i'm also generally not in favor of kicking the can down the road to use the same term somebody else did earlier but i'm definitely in favor of lowering tax But I got a couple questions here. Your board is currently all residents that are homeowners in the development right now. How was that board selected? Pardon?

Only volunteers.

Volunteers. So did the word go out to everybody?

Yes. In fact, at the board's last meeting, the board was able to fill two vacancies because... They posted in a newsletter that went out with their O&M fee invoices, an invitation for people to volunteer for the board. They have all been appointed because under statute, if you have fewer candidates than there are vacancies, then you don't go through the expense of having an election.

Sure. No, I get that. I was just curious. Certainly. Yeah.

They will all be standing for election next cycle.

Okay. So everybody has an opportunity to serve on this board. This isn't a hand-picked board or anything like that. No, no. That includes a bunch of developers that actually live in the neighborhood.

No.

That's all I've got. I also don't see a good reason to keep you guys from doing what you have to do with your own metro district. Thank you.

Thank you. That's all the comments I have from council. I'll just add in real quick. I'm not against what you want to do as residents. This is your board. This is your, I mean, you are the property owners and the property taxpayers of this area. Just to describe the situation, this requires two readings. So if this were to pass tonight, it's going to require a second reading coming up in the future to pass in order to get. Oh, it's a resolution. It's not going. Oh, thank you. Thanks for clarifying that. Yes, a lot of the public hearings are two reads. Okay, never mind. So if this were to pass tonight, then it passes. Okay. Yes, thanks for finding that. Council Member Green, you've got a comment.

Just a follow-up question. What was the vote on this from the board? Was it unanimous? What's that? It was unanimous. And how many members are on that board? Five. Thank you.

Okay, thanks for clarifying. No other questions. I will close the public hearing. This is before council for consideration. Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you. I would move item 6A.

And then council member Fidler.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll second.

There's a first and second to move item 6A. We'll call vote. Motion passes 8-0 with one absent. All right, thank you all. You guys are all welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting, but I'll give you a moment to clear the room if you'd like. All right. Moving ahead. We will continue. Item 7A. an ordinance of the City Council, the City of Brighton, Colorado, amending sections of Article 2-4 and Article 3-4 of the Brighton Municipal Code relating to elections, council procedures, and appropriations. And this will go to Deputy City Attorney Yasmina Gibbons.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor and members of Council. I am here this evening to present amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Brighton Municipal Code. These amendments relate to elections and city council procedures, budget carryover for non-lapsing capital appropriations, advertisement procedures for procurement of construction services, and procurement solicitation protest procedures. The table on the screen before you outlines the amendments staff is proposing to Article 2. First, staff proposes to align the deadline to cure defects in petitions of nomination and affidavits with the deadline set forth in Title I of the Colorado Revised Statutes, changing the deadline from 18 days before the election to 64 days before the election. This change is necessary to provide deadline cohesion in elections coordinated with the county. Next, staff seeks to provide cohesion by clarifying the applicable computation of time based on whether the election is coordinated with the county or not. Finally, staff is proposing the addition of a new section to Article 2, prohibiting the same or similar ordinances which have been previously denied from being brought back before council for consideration for a period of one year. Turning to Article 3 amendments, the first proposed change clarifies the process that staff conducts to formally bring continuing funds into the next fiscal year. Because final amounts to be carried forward cannot be determined until after the original budget is adopted for that fiscal year, the amounts included at the time of budget adoption will only include new appropriation amounts for that year. In the case of carried forward budget, this will be administratively added after closeout of the previous fiscal year in the first quarter of the year. Next, staff proposes to remove the requirement that construction solicitations be published in an area newspaper. Instead, solicitations will only be published online. And finally, staff proposes amending the deadline to file a solicitation protest, changing the deadline from five days after the opening of his solicitation to five days following the award of a contract. The options before you this evening are on the screen, and I am available for any questions that you may have.

Any other questions other than what was asked last week? That will go to approvals or motions. Council Member Green.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve item 7A.

Thank you, Council Member Wirth. Thank you, Mayor. I'll second that. We have a first and second to approve item 7A. We'll call vote. Motion passes 8-0 with one absent. We didn't give you a hard time with that.

I appreciate it.

Moving on. Item 9A, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Brighton, Colorado, accepting the proposal of Mid-City Corporation and approving the procurement of the construction of the North 40th Avenue roadway segment for the contract amount of $2,794,259 and authorizing the city manager or designee to execute the contract on behalf of the city. City Manager Martinez.

Mayor, it looks like we have about half of the public works team here to present this tonight. The other half is online.

That's right.

The other half is waiting. I'll turn it over to Armando to present this.

Thank you, Mike. Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, City Council members. I'm sorry. Right in the mic. One more time, good evening, Mayor. Good evening, City Council members. My name is Armando Guzzo, and I'm here to present the North 40th Avenue construction project. I'll keep this brief since my public works colleagues did an awesome job last time, give a very detailed presentation during the last week study session. This project will construct the... I'm sorry. This project will construct the missing section of North 40th Avenue between Bridge Street and Garcia Avenue, creating an important north and south connection for the city of Brighton. The project includes the building of a new roadway, sidewalks, curve and gutter, ADA ramps, Water line improvement, storm drainage, and a new detention pond north of 27J property. The pond improvements are part of the IGA that we'll have with 27J that will be discussed shortly after this. This project has involved closer coordination with 27J districts, United Power, and nearby property owners. Tonight we're recommending that the City Council award the construction contract to the lowest A responsive and responsible bidder meets CD Corporation in the amount of $2,794,259. The option for the Council to consider are approve the resolution as presented, Reject the resolution as presented and require new bids to be solicitated. Let me know if you have any questions, and thank you for your time.

Thank you. Let's go on to questions. Council Member Green.

I don't have any questions, Armando. Thank you for your presentation, but can we go back a few so that the people that are watching, they can see what it is we're talking about rather than just the roadway itself, the location and the like.

Things like this and this. And then the other one was the map right before this.

So this was pretty much as it is right now. So it's just a pavement and some road base. You know, all the way to the bus barn and the rest is just dirt and shrubs and stuff like that. So we're planning to construct the project scope is to construct it with 11 inch. I'm sorry, 11 foot driving lanes and, you know, curve gutter. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I wanted to make sure they could see that it's currently going by where the 27J admin building is. And then the next one.

is pretty much the pond in the end on the north side over there.

The connection to Garcia.

To the Garcia, and we're putting a stop sign on Garcia Road.

That will take you into Brighton East Farms. Yeah. Okay, so this is the whole impetus for this roadway is allow another faster way to get into Brighton East Farms.

Perfect.

Thank you, Armando.

I apologize, guys. This is my first time. It's okay. We're here to make you better.

You did great.

This also highlights another entry into the preserve who's been cut off for a while on the west side of their neighborhood.

True.

But that will be addressed again. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Oh, Council Member Fidler.

Thank you, Mayor. Assuming we approve the contract, which I think we will, what's the timeline look like for construction?

Yeah. So the way things, the projects are going, so once we get their approval from the board, it takes at least a week or two to award the contract. And then with that, after the award of contract, let's say mid-August, where we award the contract, then permits have to be pulled and get the contractor on board and ready to go. So realistically, we're talking maybe we'll be ready to enroll In of August, early September timeframe, depending on how those things move in a, I guess, efficient manner. Sometimes you get hang up with the contract negotiations, things like that. But September timeframe is when we should actually start construction, and I didn't go from there. And we will work with the contractor, as I mentioned last week, We're going to be looking at the forecast, if you will, what makes the most sense. We may go in and start the pond work and get that stuff first and then maybe come back and do pavement. If the weather starts proving to be worse than where we can pave, we may come back in early spring to do the actual road construction. But we'll work with the contractor, look at forecasts, and see what makes the most sense in terms of that. Thank you, Greg.

All right, any other questions? If not, there's some motions to be made. Council Member Green.

Thank you, Mayor. Ward 1 is really happy about this, and so therefore I move to approve item 9A.

So is Ward 2, because it's technically in Ward 2. Yes. All right, there's one motion. Then Council Member Fidler.

I won't mention wards, but there is a former mayor who's really happy about this because this is moving forward, so I'll at least second.

All right. There's a first and second to approve item 9A. Roll call vote. Motion passes 8-0 with one absent. All right. We might be batting 1,000 with green tonight. We'll see what happens on this other item.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I appreciate it.

No, this is a way to pressure him because this is a resolution of the City Council, City of Brighton, Colorado, approving an intergovernmental agreement between the City of Brighton and School 27J. Pressure's on. Yes. City Manager Martinez, is this our speaker, Mr. Labrie? So Labrie is your speaker.

All right. All right. Thank you. All right, good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Temp, and members of City Council. Today, I will provide an overview of the proposed IGA with School District 27J for North 40th Avenue improvements in the construction of a regional detention pond. This proposed agreement defines roles, easements, right-of-way needs, construction coordination, and long-term maintenance responsibilities. District owns the property at 88 North 40th Avenue. The city will build roadway and a pond while maintaining bus access throughout construction. Project components, stormwater conveyance to new detention pond, pond construction and site grading, removal of dirt and concrete debris, acquisition of right-of-way and easements shown in exhibits on my next slide. And this is the exhibit of the actually right-of-way that's going to be requiring the easements as well as temporary easements that we're going to need during construction and then a drainage easement over the pond. So those are the different colors. Red is pretty much right-of-way. Green is utility easements. The yellow is the drainage easement. And then the kind of, I guess it doesn't look too orange, but the off-yellow, it would be the temporary easement we would need to clean that area up. The district will convey right-of-way and easements to us. The city will manage the construction. The city maintains the ponds for the first five years. The district will handle mowing. The city will maintain stormwater inlet structures for the long term. There are no new long-term city obligations. The future dredging costs would be a cost share with 86% paid by the district, 14% paid by the city subject to annual appropriation. Staff is seeking approval to secure right-of-way, formalized responsibilities, and keep North 40th Avenue project on schedule. And I'm open for any questions.

Did you say you're hoping for questions? I'm open, open, open.

No, not open. I'm open to answer the questions.

Questions for Mr. LaBrie, Council Member Fidler.

Thank you, Mayor. No questions, just a comment. I mentioned former Mayor and current Chief Operations Officer Terry Lucero. Not by name, but I just did. He wanted to extend his thanks to you and staff for working through this IGA with him. I spoke with him today because I knew he was on the agenda, made sure he was comfortable, which you probably already knew before me that he is. So I just wanted to extend his thanks to you.

It was a great effort, but I think we all had to get an understanding of what we needed, and it was very, I think, well-received on both sides. So we were happy to work with him as well.

Too bad there's not a representative from 27J right here tonight to go to bat for this. All right. No other questions? Motion to approve. Anybody? Council Member Fidler.

Motion to approve item. Help me, Mayor. 9B. 9B. Thank you.

Council Member Wirth? I'll second that. We have a first and second to approve 9B as presented. Roll call vote. Motion passes 8-0 with one absent. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right. There's no general reports, no utilities. So we'll go on to reports by everybody. Start with the reports by the mayor. Two weeks ago was our quarterly ADCOG dinner. It was in Arvada. It was at a restaurant on the Adams County side in Arvada. I was the only Brighton representative there, but it was good to hear updates from our peer municipalities in the area. And just so you know, Mr. Green, they actually had Pepsi products, so you would have got a Mountain Dew over there, so you missed out. and we dodged a thunderstorm, but it was good. I also attended, obviously, the city barbecue like many of us here. It was great to have everybody out despite a little bit of a threatening of rain. And then, of course, rain kind of started towards the end. But it was great to interact with a lot of the youth that were out there selling a lot of the goods that they had either made or put together or whatever they did. And it teaches them how to create... That entrepreneurial spirit, and it was just a fabulous showing from the youth, so good job for them. The police swearing-in ceremony, they do those a couple times a year with new officers coming in or promotions or staff coming in, and it's good to honor those that are serving as their first responder. Last week we had the ribbon cutting to the E470 and sable interchange. It was good to get that open. Last time I drove by, I think the lights were flashing, so I think those will be going solid really soon if they haven't already. Then I was at the Metro Denver State of the Cities address. What was interesting about that is the mayor of Denver was not there, but they had a panel of other mayors throughout the area talking about the collaboration of cities in the region, and it was good to be a part of that. They get people to do a host table, and so I encourage you all the next opportunity to do that if becoming a host table opens up again next year. It's also at the Chamber's Sinarama event. Sinarama, for probably several years in a row, puts on a great networking event. They involve four of the area chambers, and it was good to interact with so many of our, even a lot of our friends from the surrounding chambers, and so good job on them. I think it was their 20th anniversary, if I remember right. And then unofficially, I took my family to the county fair. That just happened over the weekend. It was good to see what's at the fair and partake of the fun activities they have at the fair on Friday. Tomorrow I'll be at my Metro Mayor's Caucus. We have our meeting tomorrow morning. And supposedly there will be a member of the media there that will be interviewing some of us and talking about the importance of a regional collaboration. So look out for that. I think it will be 9 News or something. Next, let's go on to reports by any department directors. And by the way, when Marv was in that seat, he got like a lot of department directors to speak. So how are you going to one-up that one?

Apparently, I can't even get department directors to show up for my meetings. So Mr. Falkenberg is much – well, I have four. Okay, I have four. One, two, three, four. I have four. We have 14. We could just call them up and probably see what happens. I think we need Armando to come back up and give a... Mazador, please, if you have anything. We have nothing tonight, thanks.

Oh, man. Okay. Next report's by our city attorney's office.

Nothing from the city attorney's office.

Okay. I was looking forward to you having more, you know... Okay, next reports by our city manager, including any board and vacancy updates.

Thank you, Mayor. We have a few of those. I'll start with the Brighton Urban Renewal Authority. We do have three vacancies, which if you're interested, please fill those if you're listening. We have three members of our Historic Preservation Commission and one alternate member. We have two members and two alternates of the Housing Authority, but I do know that there are some applications in there as well. we do have one member for the district plan commission and we still have our two youth members to be filled for the sustainability advisory board but i know that there's some interest there as well and uh we will be looking at potentially changing some of the criteria for those youth members coming up very soon which hopefully opens the door for more applicants there If you're interested in any of our board openings, please visit our website and you will find out about how you can apply for these and perform your civic duties. I don't have much of an update. I know that there was a question last week as to when the temporary light would be removed on Sable. And I know the answer that was given at the meeting was soon. It was a technical answer, literally soon. Soon actually means today. I was just informed that it has been removed. So that portion of the project has been complete. However, we still have a long way to go with the two intersections. So more to come there, but at least we've removed one of the barriers and moving on to other projects. Finally, I just want to give some thanks. I want to thank Marv and Karen for all they've done for me the last three weeks in keeping the ship afloat. I certainly appreciate it. I know Marv was marvelous. I watched all the meetings here, so he did a fantastic job in my stead. And I want to thank you all for your support during my time off. It really meant a lot to me, so thank you all. Great. Thank you. It's good to have you back again.

Next, we're going to reports by our esteemed members of council. We'll start over here with Councilmember Collins.

Thanks, Mayor. I don't have anything tonight. Just wanted to say thanks also to Marv and Karen and Michael. We're so glad to have you back. So that's all for me.

All right. Council Member Snyder.

Thank you, Mayor. I, too, attended the barbecue, and the youth entrepreneurs were kind enough to lighten my wallet and make it easier for me to carry myself home. They had a lot of interesting products. They did a great job, and that was a good time. The music was good, too, by the way. I don't know if Gary got the band or not, but they were pretty good. Anyway, as you know, the DDA is formed. 100% of the board is filled. We're having our first meeting on Wednesday in two days. Two days. One day. One day tomorrow. And we'll be introducing the bylaws and getting to know all the other members. So I'm really excited to see how that develops and moves us along downtown.

All right. Next, Council Member Bidler.

Thank you, Mayor. Nothing to report other than, again, thanks to Marvin, Karen, and Michael. We're glad you're back.

Next, Mayor Pro Tem.

I know it will shock many, many people. I have no report to share this evening.

Oh, wow. Okay.

so remember today wow um i was also at the city barbecue it was very well attended the the band was great food was awesome i also lightened my purse a little bit um i'd like to say that i you know left my money at home but i didn't i left it there on purpose i would also like to talk a little bit about um i was getting outreach from the community and also for personal reasons I went to the adult rec center, and I can't say it all like you can. I'm not even going to try. Yes, thank you. We all know. Anyway, I went to the adult rec center, and I asked them about a group for an Alzheimer's support group, and they didn't have anything. So they reached out to the Alzheimer's Association, and lo and behold, they are going to start a group. There's going to be, thank you, there's going to be first an informative talk that's going to be on Friday, September 4th. Tentatively, at this point, it's going to be 1 p.m. And then afterwards, starting in October, there will be a monthly support group. And these are all free. so get the word out tell everybody you know that there's anybody that could benefit from any type of support in this in this world in this situation um we have it now in brighton so i wanted to put that out there and just help help me get the word out thank you

Thank you for sharing that. I know at least 10 years ago, there was a support group that was kind of informal that met over there. Right.

They said that they didn't have really a lot of interest back then and that they hadn't been approached for a while. So they were very happy that I approached them.

I can see that needing filled for sure in our community.

Ah, boy. And I need to know how many funnel cakes Tom Green ate.

With that, Council Member Green.

You know, I would... I was going to write down that Alzheimer's Day, but I forgot to write it down. So I need to remember when that is. You know, I single-handedly keep the fair vendors in business. I feel it's my duty, it's my obligation to sample them all to tell you which ones were the best. And I did have several that I enjoyed. But let's not get into that because, you know, there is a chamber mixer tomorrow night at Wolf and Honey that I think is really exciting to get out there and support our chamber and support local business. And, you know, always a big splash is adult night at the Oasis, which is this Friday night. Another big thing, and Lord, get me downtown, because I'm looking for some tush. And that is ZZ Top cover band, El Loco Fandango, playing at the Armory the 7th of August. I'm telling you, these guys have the beards. They have the guitars. They have the wardrobe. These are sharp-dressed men, and they're going to be playing some ZZ Top and rocking that place at the Armory this Friday night. Come on down and see El Loco Fandango. And then on the 14th, Brighton on Broadway will be at the Armory, too. So, you know, hey, if you didn't get out to the fair and had enough funnel cakes, as I did, I think the total tally was about six. Please get on down and see El Loco Fandango at the Armory. It's an easy top cover, man. Sharp dress, man. That's all.

Very good. Council Member Wirth.

Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple things. One, I was also able to enjoy the ribbon cutting at E470. I've got thinking probably another month or so, and we'll feel like it's been open the whole time. So hopefully that'll help us progress in the building of that corridor. Had a meeting with Jean Shreve. She's a consultant that works with the city. We were talking about the Colorado 7 coalition meeting coming up. And one of the things there is we're going to really be pushing for a complete plan for Right now, that coalition seems to work in silos. Everybody's just concerned about their own little piece of Highway 7, which is really, that's a lot of silos. But we really want to get them to really start focusing on the long-range importance of that corridor. And so we'll be bringing up and reinforcing a couple ideas involving Brighton and the bus centers and things like that. So that'll be this coming Friday, I believe. And then probably the biggest thing I did all week, I'm surprised nobody mentioned it, or if they did, I was sleeping, got to enjoy Cheryl's retirement celebration. Cheryl's been a longtime employee here, and I know she's had a lot to do with city council, and I, for one, Really appreciate her. Apparently there have been a lot of people that appreciate Cheryl because that was a full house. So it was nice to give her a proper send-off. So I know you're out there listening, Cheryl, so thank you again. That's all I've got.

Thanks.

Very fitting way to end the program tonight. Thank you all for serving Brighton. We will meet again during our study session time slot next week. We are adjourned.

you