City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to call to order our city council meeting for Tuesday, September 1st, 2026. I'm going to ask Council Member Snyder to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. All right. Madam City Clerk, please call the roll.

Mayor Mills.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Padilla.

Here.

Council Member Carbajal.

I heard she's running late.

Council Member Collins. Here. Council Member Fidler.

Here.

Council Member Green.

I'm here.

Council Member Snyder. Here. Council Member Taddeo. Present. Council Member Wirth.

Here.

thank you next madam city clerk please read the consent agenda into the record item 2a approval of the august 4th 2026 city council minutes item 2b a resolution of the city council of the city of brighton colorado appointing sophia imperioli as a professional member of the brighton historic preservation commission with a term to june 2029 item 2c final reading of an ordinance of the city council of the city of brighton colorado approving a zoning map amendment from case farms pud to the following r2 mixed density residential r3 multiple family residential c3 general retail and services and o open space and parks comprising approximately 232.1883 acres Generally located south of Brumley Lane, west of South 27th Avenue, north of East 144th Avenue, and east of the South 19th Avenue alignment. More particularly located in the east half of Section 17, Township 1 South, Range 66 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, City of Brighton, County of Adams, State of Colorado. Item 2D, final reading of an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Brighton, Colorado, amending sections of Article 2-33 of the Brighton Municipal Code to allow Brighton Youth Commission members to serve as members of the Sustainability Advisory Board.

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

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve the September 1st consent agenda.

And then Mayor Pro Tem. Second. So. FIRST AND SECOND TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS READ. WE'LL CALL VOTE. MOTION PASSES 8-0 WITH ONE ABSENT. NEXT, APPROVAL OF THE REGULAR AGENDA. WHO WOULD LIKE TO MAKE THAT MOTION? COUNCIL MEMBER SNYDER. I move to approve the regular agenda as presented. And then Council Member Wirth.

I'll second that.

There's a first and a second to approve the regular agenda as presented. We'll call vote. Motion passes 8-0 with one absent. Moving ahead to ceremonies, we have one item, item 4A. World Alzheimer's Month Proclamation. I'll go ahead and read that into the record. Whereas Alzheimer's disease is the other form of dementia representing a growing global and local health priority, impacting memory, thinking, behavior, and ability to perform daily activities for millions of individuals, worldwide and residents within our own community. And whereas the World Alzheimer's Month is an international campaign dedicated to raising awareness, challenging the stigma that surrounds dementia, and fostering a more inclusive and understanding environment for those affected. Whereas early diagnosis and access to acute information are critical to helping individuals and families understanding the challenges they are experiencing and connect with the essential care guidance and support systems and whereas the City of Brighton recognizes the profound dedication of family members, caregivers, and medical professionals who provide compassionate care and support to neighbors living with dementia. Whereas, by participating in the global movement, Brighton joins communities around the world in wearing purple, sharing educational resources, and advocating for continued research toward effective treatments and the ultimate cure. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Gregory Mills, Mayor of the City of Brighton, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim September 2026 as World Alzheimer's Month in the City of Brighton, and I call upon all the residents to learn more about brain health, support local caregivers, and help build a community that embraces and protects the dignity of everyone living with dementia on this first day of September 2026. And I'll just say, having had my father that had dementia, later diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and later that was revised to some other dementias and Parkinson's, I can tell you that this is very important that we all get out there and support our community because almost everybody in this room will If you don't already, we'll likely know somebody that's gone through some sort of a dementia or ultimately Alzheimer's. So City Manager Martinez, who is here to receive this?

Thank you, Mayor. Here tonight to receive this is Ashley Wilk, the SUVAC manager.

Come on over.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and members of Council. Thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening as we recognize World Alzheimer's Awareness Month and the importance of supporting individuals and families affected by Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Alzheimer's reaches far beyond a person who receives the diagnosis. It impacts spouses, children, grandchildren, friends, caregivers, and entire communities. Already in 2026, it's estimated that 7.4 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's dementia, while millions of Americans are providing unpaid care for someone living with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Those numbers remind us that awareness matters because chances are, like Mayor Mills said, we all know someone who's been affected by this disease. At Eagle View, our mission is to create more than a place for seniors to participate in activities. We strive to create a community where seniors can learn, build relationships, stay active, and most importantly, stay connected. This month, we are proud to offer several opportunities focused on awareness, education, and connection. On September 4th, we will host Building Brain Health, facilitated by the Alzheimer's Association. This program will provide information about dementia, building brain healthy habits, and ways to support ourselves and others. It will also promote a new support group starting in October. Beginning in October, Eagle View will begin hosting an Alzheimer's caregiver support group, facilitated again by the Alzheimer's Association. This will provide caregivers with a welcoming space to connect, share stories, and find support and practical resources. These opportunities are made possible because of the dedication of our program coordinator, Madison Westmoreland. Madison has built meaningful partnerships with the Alzheimer's Association and works to bring resources and support to a community and support that we haven't had in Brighton before. More broadly, the entire team at Eagle View works every single day to create an inclusive environment where every senior has an opportunity to participate, connect, and feel that they belong. And I'm incredibly proud to be a part of this team. We are so grateful to the City of Brighton for allowing us to recognize this important month and share the work that is happening at Eagle View this month as well. Tonight, alongside me receiving this proclamation, I have Madison, members of my team at Eagle View, and I'm also honored to have a couple members from our senior advisory board. I would love to invite them up, and we would love to snap a photo with you guys as well. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Before we do that, I think Council Member Tadeo had something to say, too. Go ahead.

I'm going to try not to cry.

Thank you.

I know this is something that the community has needed for a while, I believe. And thank you for making it happen. And I just wanted to say, yes, it affects everybody. Everybody at some point, you're going to be affected by this.

And I forgot my purple. I forgot. I'm sorry.

but i'm so happy and i'd say the other thing i wanted to say was just um get the word out tell everybody everybody and anybody that you know um that this that this is happening because i know i went looking and there wasn't anything here And I know my family personally desperately needs something. And then so I know that there's numerous amounts of other people in the community. And thank you so much for making it happen. And I know it's going to be very helpful for many people.

Absolutely. Thank you for your support too, Ann.

And let's go ahead and have all that are here to support this come on over. All in purple. Let's come on over and we can even get council to get a little closer to. I'll come down with the proclamation. Where do you want me? That is all I have for ceremonies. Next item is public invited to be heard on matters not on the agenda. I have four people signed up to speak on items that are not on the agenda. We'll start with Pete Phipps. Come on over, Pete. State your name for the record. You've got three minutes.

Thank you, Mayor. My name is Pete Phibbs. I think most of you guys know me. I'm a longtime Brighton resident. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the last public meeting. It looked like a very busy night to you. I did take the time to listen to all my fellow citizens' concerns regarding data centers in our community. And I believe it was only touched on once, but I came tonight to remind most of you, you voted to approve in 2024 under a consent agenda the sustainability plan. And I've got some highlights from the sustainability panel I'd like to read to you. This is from city manager Martinez's letter. I encourage you to join us in collaboration effort towards a more sustainable future. Small actions taken by each of us, whether it's conserving energy and water, participating in local sustainability events, advocating for environmental friendly practices, contributing significantly to our city's sustainable goals. Based on the city's 2024 sustainability plan, the city of Brighton adopted a plan establishing a clear vision reducing resource consumption, protecting public health, conserving water, improving air quality, and ensuring new development supports long-term community sustainability. A large-scale data center may conflict with several of this plan's stated objectives and priorities unless it can demonstrate substantial migration measures and community benefits. Conflict with water conservation goals. Reduce commercial industrial water use. Incentivize water conserving features and new developments. Update water conservation plans. Improving public stewardship and limited water resources. These people aren't bringing their own water with them. You shouldn't allow them. Increased energy consumption. Based on energy consumption, reduce residential and commercial industrial energy use, increase renewable energy throughout the community, increase building electrification, access to manage energy consumption. One minute. Based on Energy 2, I would recommend that Councilman Green recuse himself. Many discussions are voting on this based on he represents United Power. Potential air quality issues, inconsistency with community priorities. Our community said 74% were concerned about our water. Water conservation, water reduction, renewable energies, increasing our energy costs, inefficient water use, wildlife and ecosystem disruption, poor air quality, environmental injustice and quality of life. I wish I had more time to read this. This is the first time I've ever brought a written notes here. I usually speak from the heart, but I wanted to make sure I got all my details out to you. Most of you all voted for the sustainability thing. If you haven't read it recently, I'd like you to review it. Read what you guys committed to when it wasn't somebody throwing money at you or promising property taxes. There's a lot of unfulfilled blanks on the presentation I read that wanted to state goals, but there's no goals set or no goals accomplished. This is your chance to meet and sustain those goals.

Everything will be considered. Thank you, Pete. Next, Tom Lampo.

All right. Hello to everybody. Hello to Brighton. It's good to be here again. I'm Tom Lampo, and I'm here to lift Brighton up to the Lord in prayer. So please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you for giving us this day. We welcome your presence here now as city business is discussed, and we welcome you wherever we are. Brighton is your city. Bless it with prosperity. You fill our lives with experiences that cause emotions and feelings within us. You let us experience growth through the life we live. Sometimes there is pain and disappointment, and other times there is joy and fulfillment. No matter, you are always with us. Joshua 1.9 states, We can't see the future. We don't know what lies ahead. We'll walk with you and find comfort knowing you are always with us. Our schools are in full swing. Some parents are relying on others to transport their children to school. A lot can happen on the roads. Conditions change quickly and decisions need to be made just as fast. So to all the drivers of our buses that transport our children, we give them Proverbs 3, 5 through 6, which states, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him and he will make your path straight. Keep our drivers in tune with you. Focus their attention on the safety of our kids. Grant them wisdom in changing situations and keep everyone safe on our busy roads. are a lot of messages that confront us each day because there is a spiritual battle for our souls the deceiver would like nothing more than to keep us from your presence and even with all our wisdom and knowledge we still fall for the schemes of the devil so tonight we claim for our lives ephesians 5 6-10 which states let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of god comes upon the sons of disobedience Therefore, do not become partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. We seek you tonight to walk with us and to keep us from messages that bring deceit and lies to us. Let our trust be in you. You are God, and we are your people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you, guys. Have a nice night.

Thank you, Tom. Next, Natalie Balderas. Come on over. You all have three minutes.

You have to forgive me, Mayor.

It's been a while since I've done one of these.

My name is Natalie, and I'm here on behalf of MB Towing. We are a family-owned and operated business established in 1985, and we've established a working relationship with the City of Brighton and Police Department in 1995. The reason for my being here tonight is we recently were not selected as a towing operator for the City of Brighton after 30 years. We believe that the proposal that we submitted didn't accurately reflect the 30 years of service that we have providing to the city. My reason again for me being here is to ask council and any city officials if we are able to resubmit our proposal so that we can again be reconsidered to be put back on the toy rotation again the proposal that was submitted on our behalf is not an accurate representation. I know that. When we spoke to some city officials and other city officials who also didn't respond. They they expressed to us that they felt that we. Lacked the confidence in the ability to do our work again. I believe that is an inaccurate representation of our company. We have done. All of our operations for the city with 100% professionalism, 100% responsiveness, day and night we've always been there for the city of Brighton as well as the Brighton Police Department. Again, so for I think the city to say that we they feel the lack of confidence in us is a little disappointing and if i'm being honest a little hurtful again after 30 years of service i think we've earned the right to to be heard and i think to be reconsidered again to be able to submit our proposal as far as being put back on the rotation for the city of brighton and brighton police department again i think 30 years of service we've earned that right. And if we were a new company, I could understand not being, you know, not having the confidence. But again, I believe working alongside with you guys, you guys know our company, you know our equipment, you know what we're capable of. Again, I believe that we've earned the right to be heard and for our proposal to be able to be resubmitted. Thank you.

Thank you, Natalie, for bringing that to our attention. Next, Lori Morris. Come on over. You'll have three minutes.

My name is Lori Morris, 1733 Wildflower Drive. I'm an almost 23-year resident of Brighton, and I showed up here two weeks ago with around 150 people in addition to an approximately same-sized crowd at any Think-Rite Farms library a few days later. to talk about data centers. Thank you to the council members who showed up from Commerce City, Thornton, and Brighton. It has been two weeks, and we haven't heard anything about discussion for a moratorium. Seventy-five percent of Americans are against data centers, especially the large ones for AI in their communities. I did see the city of Brighton has a new draft 2026 comprehensive plan with an industrial area on the north side of Brighton around the same size as the whole city when I moved here. And the only code potential we see the planning department addressing is sound. I was hoping the city was going to take this seriously. To piggyback on Pete's comments, yes, the 2024 sustainability plan is not filled in with baselines or growth. And any water a data center needs is in direct competition to water rights for farmers and the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District. We continue to ask for a data center moratorium for five years. We will continue to come back in larger numbers again if we need to. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Lori. That is all I have signed up to speak. We will move on. Next is item 9A, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Brighton, Colorado, authorizing assignment to the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority of the private activity bond allocation of the city pursuant to the Colorado Private Activity Bond Ceiling Allocation Act. Authorizing the Mayor to execute said assignment on behalf of the City and authorizing the City Manager to execute such documents and undertake such tasks as may be required to effectuate said assignment. City Manager Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor. Here to inform you about the change to what you originally authorized back in April is Finance Director Katrina Asher. Thank you.

Thank you, Michael. Good evening, council members. This is largely an administrative update to an item that you approved earlier this year. I don't have a presentation because it is a pretty brief item, but I'll walk you through what the key points are. So in April, I came to you with a proposal to assign the city's allocation of private activity bonds to a project developed by Dominium. They're a developer of affordable housing. They presented to you a project for senior affordable housing that could utilize the city's allocation of private activity bonds. So on May 5th, we proposed to you a resolution to formalize that assignment. That went through. Everything was moving along. And then we heard from Dominium just a few weeks ago that while Dominium is a developer, they are not an authorized issuer of the bonds. So this is not terribly uncommon. Oftentimes, developers work with organizations like the Colorado Housing Finance Association to issue the bonds for them in support of the project. And that's the situation that happened here. So what they requested was that we redo that resolution to assign the bonds to CHAFA, still in support of the same project. So the project you heard about in April and approved in May, that's still the project that's being proposed. We just need to redo the assignment to CHAFA because they are an authorized issuer of the bonds, and Dominium as an organization is not. So the resolution in your packet would rescind that original resolution and then reassign the bonds to CHAFA. So happy to answer questions.

Questions? Council Member Green.

Thank you, Mayor. Does CHAFA take any sort of administrative fee or anything from this for the issuance?

That I do not know. Okay.

Thank you.

Other questions? If not, this is before council for consideration. It looks like, there we go. Council Member Tadeo.

Move to approve 9A.

Council Member Wirth.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll second that.

There's a first and second to approve 9A. Roll call vote. Motion passes 9-0. Thank you. Not even 6.30. We're to reports. I'll be brief in a couple things. I was at our Dr. Cogg meeting a couple weeks ago. There was an update on the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan, and there was also a presentation that talked about both micro-mobility, which is like your e-scooters kind of thing, and also micro-transit, similar to what we're doing with the Brighton Bolt and what Erie's doing with the Bee. Otherwise, it was a pretty short meeting. The week after that, I was at the Dr. Cogg Awards along with Council Member Wirth. And then I also attended a chamber after hours last week over – it was at the Wing Shack. And then coming up this – or not this week, next week – It's the 25th anniversary of 9-11 and Brighton Fire does a very nice ceremony every year at their fire station 52. So I plan on being there to that. There's also next week a ribbon cutting to the new I-25 and Highway 7 beginnings of their mobility hub. And I say beginnings because it's kind of an abbreviated version of what they intend to actually build out into the future. And so I'm excited that that project is in full swing. Otherwise, that's my report. Go on next to any reports by department directors before 6.30.

I'm kind of sad to say this, because I think the record is 6.31, if I'm not mistaken. So we're not going to beat that tonight.

But I do have two. Do we need to call for a break?

I mean, we do, actually. Let's take a break now. We actually have two reports by directors tonight. So first, I'll call up Director Labrie, who has a couple of updates on some projects for you. Director Labrie.

We've got a PowerPoint, unlike the last presentation.

A lot of information, I believe, in pictures, so hopefully the pictures come out well. I went out there today to take them. I actually flew on a drone. So good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Temp, and City Council. I just want to give an update on two projects, mainly the Sable Boulevard intersection improvements, and we're also going to talk a little bit about the microtransit program and give you an update on where we are with those. So first, Sable Boulevard intersection improvements. As you can see, this is really current. Some of the activity has happened at 136 right now from this picture. We got heavy equipment out there. We got the utilities company out there relocating utilities, and we're moving. And And so we'll go one by one on what the Sable Boulevard looks. So the first intersection that's actually completed, where we still may have some striping to do, is the East 132nd Avenue in Sable. There we just did a pavement widening. We added additional turn lanes, and we did some restriping. So that one was easy, slam dunk, got it completed. Intersection we're currently working on right now is 136. We're gonna convert that intersection to a roundabout, gonna have some curb gutter to the intersection, some drainage infrastructure, which is key. That's always the challenge that we have, is trying to get the drainage pipes in and around utilities that may be in our way. And then a roundabout, actually, we'll be able to accommodate future four-lane Sable, but right now we'll be able to accommodate four lanes, but we're gonna be building it as a two-lane roundabout. And then 1.44th, again, we're just widening that area where new signal in the ultimate location. We're going to add turn lanes, left and right turn lanes in all directions except for the southbound direction. There will be no dedicated right turn lane for the southbound direction. Again, drainage infrastructure is to be installed. We're doing a curb intersection. And then finally, the Bromley Lane and Sable and 4th, again, replacing those spanned wire signals with new signals and poles. We're going to improve the lane alignments at ADA-compliant ramps at all four corners, repave the south half of that intersection, and then add a pedestrian refuge island and area. That's planned for early 2027. So here's the actual project schedule. We're working along with utilities, the drainage outfall. That was on winter 2025 all the way through the summer of 2026. That's what all the activity has been going on for the last several months. The sable intersection design was completed by December of 2025. Then we began the procurement process as well as the right-of-way process. And the right-of-way process was completed summer 2026, where we got access to all the property we need. We're still in the stages of closing out some of those property acquisitions, but we at least got the approval to access it. That's why we're able to get the equipment going. And then the Sable Intersection construction, again, started this summer, and it will go through early 2027. And so that's actually the plan that we have, and I can open it up for any questions that you may have.

Wow. It was amazing in that first picture that there was a house there one time. Yeah, it just happened, it felt like. Questions for Director Libby? Anybody? Council Member Green.

Can we go back a couple pictures?

Yep.

Okay, wait. One more. Go forward. When is it going to look like this?

So the 136th Avenue should be done, and we're on schedule to have it completed by the end of November, early December. That intersection should be completed. We're on schedule to have that completed. That looks like that. With the roundabout. With what?

With the roundabout and everything.

Yes, with the roundabout. Yes, sir.

And I'll go two more. Go forward one more.

Like this way?

Yeah. Okay. Oh, this is 144th. Yeah. Thank you. That's why I was getting confused. I was like, wait a minute. It doesn't look like Toronto is there anymore.

Yeah.

Yeah. I was like, wait a minute. I thought we were going to get away from this.

Okay. Thank you.

And when will this be done?

And that's the challenge right now. Our plan is to have it done by December. Again, we are experiencing some delays with the utility relocation. And then mainly because of the property acquisition and stuff like that. So we had United Power on board, ready to go. We still had to finalize the property acquisition for the Parks property as well as Petrocco. And once we got that completed, we had to reschedule the relocation. If you, that's south, East corner, there's a lot of United Power equipment that needs to be relocated. We're in the process of working with United to get that moved out the way. Once that's moved out, we can put full force to it. Right now, we just have limited resources that are making some improvements in that area now.

And I have nothing to do with that.

No, it's not a united power. It's just really the challenge that we have when we're trying to get these projects done in a timely manner, especially we got utilities, is that coordination effort. So we had right away negotiations that we're doing. We're working with the utility companies and their resources, and of course with our contractor. And it just sometimes takes a little bit more time than we often anticipate. We're moving forward and everybody's working together. That's the great and that's the good news.

And I want to commend the crews on 136. They're really keeping the traffic flowing. You don't back up too much when you're stopping it for road closures and everything else. They're doing a really good job. And then they're opening it up again at night and in the morning. So you're really allowing for traffic to flow there. Aside from a little bit of interruption of what you're trying to get done here.

Yeah, we had a little hiccup early one morning, and our staff and JR Engineering was on top of it. We learned about it, got down there and got it corrected. They were responsive.

They got fixed it. Thank you.

Did I hear United Powers delaying the project? I didn't hear that. It's their contractor, right? Yeah, some sort of.

I'm here for Ward 1.

Council Member Carvajal.

I want to thank you for taking care of that. So I just had some questions about contracts in general following that. So if we are in negotiations, we create a contract, what is our liability in them doing that? And do we have rules and regulations around that? Them doing that. So what happened is I drove down Sable and there was no flaggers and it was still one direction. So cars were self mandating driving on one side. Trying to figure out when they were going to dance.

Essentially, that's why we required the contractors to pull a bond. But when they take over the roadway for construction, it's all on their liability. So anytime a car, you know, any kind of mishap that may occur, we send them directly to the contractor. They have to resolve it. It's ultimately their roadway as they're constructing it. It's their traffic control and that kind of thing. For liability. Yeah, for liability.

And then I still appreciate you reaching out and making sure our people were safe.

Yeah, no, we got word right away. You know, phone calls started coming in, and staff was on top of it.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

So... Yeah. Any other questions? Do you have more? Okay. Got to go into the Brighton boat. Oh, yes. Yeah, Brighton-on-Demand local transit. So here we go. Top destinations. I'm going to go through a couple of slides. I'm going to ask for you guys to vote on what you guys think is the top destination for the boat. Only one person got a ride. Police chief got a ride in our huddle today, so he called it right off. But anyway, without further ado, right now we're experiencing our ride. It's August. We experienced our largest ridership of the year. We had 1,750 rides for the month of August. And as you can see, it's been a steady increase. For the most part, it's been a steady increase. There's always going to be some ups and downs. But We definitely had this summer has been really positive and maybe due for some of the programs that we implemented for the summer. And I could get into that a little later. But again, record high and it continues to grow. This is an interesting map that VIA provided me. The ridership is primarily concentrated in the western end of the city, though several riders use the service to cross the entire service zones. Each line on this map represents an individual rider trip. The thicker the line represents higher volumes of trip traveling on that specific route. And again, the highest concentration is clearly visible on the western end of Brighton. And this is another map kind of showing that the darker red is the higher population density, and then the darker green indicates the higher density of car-free households. And you can see where that larger density is, is where we have most of the riders. And then I think the next slide, I'm not sure, but the next slide will show the top location. Anybody have a guess on what the top? Walmart, so y'all close, King Soopers the second. So Walmart was the top destination for our citizens. King Soopers, Safeway, a lot of the grocery stores and shopping areas. So they map all that out. And then the next one, they even track the origins, the top origins or where people are calling the rides. And Bridge Square is a big place, then of course the shopping areas. And then finally, this just kind of sums it up. Retail, another commercial. We've got 28% of our riders are going there. Restaurant and dining, 22%. Grocery, 17%. Government, education and research, 16%. Medical, 8%. And then other 8%. And again, I just put together notes for your information. We have been, at least I've been told, that we have been awarded funding from RTD to extend the program to 2029. So that's great news. We also started to implement free rides to and from the Sue Corbett Active Adult Center, and that's permanent. So anybody who's gonna go to the adult center or come from the adult center, it's a free ride, and that's already programmed in India. in the app. And then our summer promotion, which may have helped our ridership, we had offered free rides to and from those following destinations, as you see, the Brighton Sports Complex, Benedict Park, the Recreation Center, Oasis Family, so a library, so a lot of family-oriented areas is where we thought would be beneficial to families so they could travel through summer. So that's going to end by the end of September. And so we'll be tracking to see about the end of September if our ridership goes down and kind of see how that impacted what we're doing. So I think this is the great benefit, how flexible our program is. We can turn things on and off fairly rapidly. It depends on what we like to do. So very flexible. And then finally, the rider satisfaction and feedback. We had 4.8 out of five stars, 92.3 five-star rating. And I found it interesting. I had used the boat last week to drop my car off to Les Schwab, and that middle comment from a customer is exactly how I felt that the... It was so much better than waiting for a bus. The app was super easy to use, and the vans are spotless. I was in a very clean van. I couldn't get over how clean it was. It's almost like it was brand new. And then I love seeing exactly where my ride was as I was waiting for it. So that's not my comment, but it's exactly how I felt.

I was going to accuse you.

That was your comment, huh? No, but I read it. It said LaVree on the Google review. I literally just got this report from you this morning, and so I thought it was interesting. But yeah, and then the drivers. I'd like to mention when I had used the boat, one of the drivers had been with the program since December, and he's from Brighton, lives in Brighton, and he's just really excited. It was really a pleasure to ride with him. And like I said, he'd been with us since December. And then when I used the boat to come back to the office, the other driver was from Brighton, three weeks into the program, and again, extremely excited. And it was just nice to see. Via was telling me today they have six drivers, four of the drivers live and work here in Brighton through the boat. So I thought that's another great benefit I think we're offering, too, with this. So, yeah. So that's the update. I'm open for any questions.

I love the update. It's been something I've been wanting to see for a while. I know that the Bolt is more door-to-door for people with mobility issues. And if you don't have a mobility issue, sometimes they have you go to a meet point or walk a certain short distance. Do we have stats on how many actually have door-to-door versus having to meet at a meet point?

I don't have that information. I probably can get it. But I think one of the things we did, as we were all getting familiar with the app, we identified locations where they should, like the City Hall, you should come, instead of picking us up off 4th or Southern, you should come right into the parking lot. It's safer. And so we identified a lot of locations, mainly the locations, free locations, where they should go into the parking lot to pick up the people. And then the other key part of this, what we said, because sometimes it's hard to read the map of exactly where they're picking you up, their drivers will call, if they don't see a person there where they think they need to pick, they will call that person and say, where are you and it'll make sure they try to get to them so those are some of the things we've done but we can ask i can ask for that data uh to to to find out how many years door-to-door but they have improved that service i think and making people know where to go to get picked up or dropped off will you go back to that slide with the graph of the bar graph okay This one?

It was at the beginning of this one, yeah. I know there was a time that a lot of those vans were on recall. And do you know when we got the actual vans, the intended mobility needed vans back? Is that when we started seeing the spike in April and onward? Yeah.

Good question. So, yes, as I understand it, it was May timeframe when we actually got the Sienna Toyota vans back online. It's still not the vans that we've actually had, but they were like-for-like. Our actual vans are getting repaired, but they replaced it a like-for-like van, which I know was your concern.

So the Kia sold that.

Yeah, Kia and the 4Runners, they were all offline. So that came online in May. And which in June was the same time we started offering the free promotion. So to kind of figure out, was it the promotion or was the van? I don't know if we've been distinguished.

I'm just trying to see what led to, oh, suddenly in April onward, we're going to have more rides versus before. So, okay. Thank you. We've got others that have questions or comments. Council Member Tadeo.

Thank you, and thank you for this information. I've been wondering about this myself. I see the vans out quite a bit. Can you remind me again what their hours are? Oh, yes. Days and times and when they don't run?

Yeah, thank you for that, because actually right now it's 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. We actually are looking at what's costing us to do that, and now we're working with VO. We think that we can extend this Friday hours under our same budget for 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., So we're looking at that change relatively quickly. And then we're looking to do at least a Saturday service. But we're not there yet. But that would be our next move.

I love that. Because I feel like, I mean, it's all important times, right? But I feel like there are some people that could really benefit for the later hours and the weekends, of course. And I get it. We have to get there. I'm thrilled that ridership is up. I forgot my question. You might have to come back to me. Oh, no, I thought about it a lot. Okay, sorry. So a few weeks ago, I was at the hospital, at the ER. And outside, there's a lady. I don't know if she'd been in the ER or whatever. I don't know if she was waiting for a ride, but I know the people came and got her. brought her back inside whatever and I'm just thinking to myself this would be a perfect opportunity if it were the right time and day and all this kind of stuff for you know something in that situation for somebody maybe they had to you know go to the ER and they don't have a ride right or a ride there I mean for me I guess my point's better spoken to say is there a way I would love to like get flyers yeah something on paper I know it's advertised there's no it's out there but But I would love to personally take some flyers into the receptionist people at the ER and go, hey, do you know about this? You know, just for them to offer it. Or at the tire shop. Or, you know, some of these other places that maybe... Somehow we could get them to help us get the word out.

She's willing to advertise for you.

Just give her the flyers. I have a big mouth, man. Just give me some flyers. I agree. I was just talking with the VIA transportation folks and staff, and that's our next move is really to try to get out there and get the word out with flyers. And you're right, because I was a big user with the tire shop. I think that's a great, it was a great, I didn't have to bother anybody from work to say, hey, I'm dropping a car, can you come get me?

I was actually going to do it the other day, but then I ended up getting a ride. I was going to do that, you know, but the tire shop would love to build, I would think businesses would love to be able to say, hey, do you know about this service? And it would increase, you know, because what I'm looking at is I want this to keep going. I want us to be able to justify it to keep, you know, past 2029, right?

No, exactly right. Yeah, you're right. And that's, I think, our next step, too, is to really get that word out and work with our PIO office, too, as well, to see what we can do to get that done.

Thank you.

You could just make a QR code that you just have. Scan my square. All right. Next, Council Member Green.

Thank you, Mayor. Don't get me wrong. I think this is a great service, and I'm happy we're offering it. How many of those free rides were in the 1750s?

I don't know that. They didn't break it out for me. But I can definitely find out.

I think that's important for us to track this. And then each trip counts as one ride. So if the ride to King Soopers, the ride back would be two rides. And then... It's $2?

Yeah, $2. $2? $1 for seniors and veterans.

Right, but clearly it's not paying for itself. No, no. And we couldn't do this without the RTD grant right now.

Yeah, I'm sure where our budgets stand, no, we definitely depend on RTD grants.

Yeah. And then now we added average. We had to have so many trips per hour per day. Are we meeting that?

Yes, we are.

OK.

Yes, we are. We've exceeded it. Well, we started exceeding it here this summer. This summer. Yeah.

OK. Yeah. Very good. Thank you. Again, like I said, it's a great service. I'm glad we're offering it. But I just want to be clear on the finances here that it's not making money. It's actually costing us money. But it's it's important service. Right.

I don't know a microtransit program that is making money in the area. Any of them nationwide. Next, Council Member Wirth.

Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, Greg. This is great information. Like I said, we've been waiting for this. I'd really like to see it. Need to get that rating up to 100%. Do you have any data on what the average wait time is for people?

Yeah, so the goal, and I know they meet in their objective, the way, I don't know what the average is, but the goal and what they have done, once you call the ride, they'll pick you up and deliver you within 30 minutes total.

So, from handling it to actual delivery.

Yeah, to 30 minutes. That's definitely, and the numbers I've seen, I know we've met that. Every time I've used it, it's more three to five minute wait at the most. You get in and they take you. They actually, when they were picking me up from City Hall, They actually picked me up, went to Walmart to pick up another rider and actually, you know, turned back around, dropped her off and then dropped me off. And this deal was within, yeah, it was less than 30 minutes even doing all that. Awesome. Yeah.

Awesome. And how many, so you say we have six units now?

We have six drivers. Six drivers, yes.

Four units. Yep. And how many of those four units are on the road at one time?

That's a great question. I don't know offhand.

Four from six to seven?

Yeah, I think they look at their peak hours and try to put the drivers during the peak hours, but I do not know exactly how they got it scheduled or running.

Quite honestly. And I may have missed this. Are we back to all having the Toyota vans only now?

Yes. We do have Toyota vans. It's not our original vans, but we do have Toyota vans just like the ones that we had branded and all that. Okay. Yeah. But there's no forerunners.

I still see them with the stick-on sign. Yeah.

Yeah, it's definitely not our permanent vans that we have, but they are the same thing. They're Toyota Sienna vans that we have throughout the city.

And when are we expecting our real ones back?

So it was reported that Toyota has finally picked up, and they didn't say all of them, but picked up some of the vans and brought them to their shop, but we're still waiting for Toyota to complete the repair. So I think some of them will be returned here real soon, but progress has been made for that. So, yeah. That would be cool.

All right. Hey, thanks very much. I think this is a winner.

All right. Thank you. You said there's an expansion until 10 coming up for sure or possibly coming up?

So, yes, we're looking at it like this. Unless the numbers just don't work out. But right now, based upon what we're seeing and what we're planning to do by the end of September, we hope to extend the services on Friday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. That is actually the plan to move forward. And we've been discussing to get that done.

That way people can go to night performances at the Armory, for example. Is there a desire, or not desire, but is there room to do that for special events? Like we'll have the tree lighting ceremony in December and the parade and all that stuff. Is there any room for expansion then for special events that are high traffic events?

You know, I can't give you a definite, but it's definitely a discussion. It's the flexibility they have, and I'm sure talking with VIA, and we give them, I think, advanced warning and that kind of thing, I think they can accommodate us. I know their drivers want to work weekends. That was one of their complaints is that we're ready for extended hours so they can get more hours to work. So the drivers are eager. I'm sure VIA would be willing to do it. It's just a matter, can we handle it in our budget? That's all. And that's what we have to always balance.

There's one more comment that just popped in.

Special events would be a good way to screw up the metric. 500 people who suddenly need a ride home at this point. It's 8 o'clock on Saturday. Thank you very much. This is a great program. I'm so glad to see it up and running. And thanks for sharing all the information.

Thank you. Again, it wasn't for counsel and the pressure you put on RTD. It very helped our application in getting funding two years ago when we were going through this process. So it was definitely a joint effort, and we appreciate that. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Next director.

Not to be outdone by Director Labrie, our police chief has a video that he would like to show you. Yeah, come on, chief. Follow that up. He does not have a video tonight. He actually has a pretty quick update for you.

Yes, yes. I'm quite good at dancing, so you'll all be very impressed. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of council. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you all with a brief update about our local and corresponding regional efforts on the Front Range Wildfire Initiated Community Conflagration Initiative, a.k.a. WIC. What is the Front Range WIC initiative? It's a regional effort to assess community conflagrations caused by grassland wildfires along the Front Range. Specifically, how do communities prepare for fast-moving fires that outpace current systems, leading to cascading failures in detections, alerting, and evacuations? This initiative has identified the need for agencies across law enforcement, fire, emergency management, and dispatch centers to establish a shared doctrine, terminology, and regional operating picture for high tempo, multi-jurisdictional events. You may have already seen some communities put out some press information about evacuations. We have been active in that event the entire time, but you'll see in the next couple of weeks a press release from the Front Range WIC Initiative going out to alert the public to the work that this group has been doing. Our Office of Emergency Management, in coordination with Brighton Fire, have been actively engaged with this regional initiative and have been working diligently to better prepare our community to prevent and respond to one of these events. More specifically, some of the things that we've done, we've adopted the common regional alerting language and protocols related to evacuations, including evacuation warnings, which is basically telling residents to prepare to evacuate. If it's residents that might need more time, they might consider evacuating now. Evacuation orders, which means go now. Shelter in place, which is stay inside, take protective action. We have also adopted the use of the high-low siren tone to be used only in the event of an evacuation. High-low, time to go. A little slogan to remember. This is going to be used on patrol cars and other emergency vehicles in conjunction with door-to-door notifications. These will always be accompanied by verbal instructions in Spanish and English. Also, in conjunction with Brighton Fire District, we've established all hazard evacuation polygons across the city and fire district. That consists of about 116 different polygons across the fire district, which incorporates the city. These have been loaded into emergency notification systems to allow for quick alerting. This can be used for all hazard evacuations. This is not specific to just wildfires. And we are working on a public interface map that is in progress right now and will be rolled out soon. So why am I here in front of you tonight? You will be seeing information going out hopefully on September 8th from the Front Range WIC initiative. And I wanted to make sure you all knew that we were actively working on that as well. Subsequent to that short video or that press release going out, your local trusted emergency officials, i.e. me and Chief Garrison, will be explaining these changes in a video that we're working on. And then we'll be publishing additional resources for evacuation and fire mitigation along with preparedness on the city's and the Brighton Fire District's websites. So, again, this is an initiative you may have heard about as other jurisdictions have rolled it out. The evacuation stuff specifically has been in use in California for a long time. The high-low siren stuff, it took us a little bit of work to get our fleet changed around, and the sirens all reprogrammed, but we're in good shape now and we're ready to roll this out. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions you all may have. I doubt there'll be as many as there were for Bolt.

Any questions for our police chief? I'm ready, sir. Okay. Perfect.

Looks like I did my job. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, chief. Any other director reports? No, sir.

Okay.

Reports for our city attorney. Reports by our city manager, which include the board and commission vacancy update.

Let me pull up the always magnificent board and commission update. I just literally exited off of it, so. It's true. I actually had it pulled up, and then I just exited off of it, so my apologies.

He was expecting Chief's report to be longer, so he didn't have it ready.

I was mesmerized by the definition of WIC, so. All right, so we still have three members of the Brighton Urban Renewal Authority open and available. We have three members and one alternate member of the Historic Preservation Commission. We have two members and two alternate members. That's not right. We have two members and I believe one alternate member, the Brighton Housing Authority. We have one District Plan Commission member, and we are yet to find our two youth members for the Sustainability Advisory Board, but I know that there is some promise there as well. And that's it. The list continues to get smaller, which is awesome. But we still have positions available on some of our very important boards. So if you know anybody who is interested, or if you yourself are interested in joining one of our boards, please visit our website. As far as updates, my guess for where the bolt most frequents was Giordanielli's, but I was wrong based on my own experience. Wait till it's open Friday night. Yeah, exactly.

That'll be a separate metric for the night usage. Exactly.

um i just wanted to give a quick update on a very cool event that happened this weekend as many of you know uh christian flores who was one of our employees who lost his life earlier this year we had a little employee car show this weekend where some of our employees came out to the msc and brought their cars the flores family was there gary montoya actually cooked food for the entirety of the group five I can't remember how many hamburgers that he cooked, hamburgers, hot dogs, but it was a very awesome event, a very cool way to remember Christian. He was an avid car enthusiast. Some of his friends showed up with some amazing cars. I did promise our police department a Lamborghini this year, so we'll have a revised budget for you. You'll see that. They're not getting any increases, but that'll be a drug seizure someday. potentially uh chief has volunteered to drive it to and from work too so you'll have that but no i i just wanted to uh recognize the employees who did it behind the scenes did it on their own time it was actually very amazing to see everybody come together for a very awesome event and an excellent way to remember christian that's all i have thank you very good thank you all right next reports by city council we'll start with council member collins

Nothing for me tonight.

Okay. Council Member Snyder.

The only thing I'd like to mention is the Bridge Street and 85 project has begun, and you can see the wall going up. I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. It's really exciting, and I think they hope to be done by December, don't they, Tom? Yeah. except for Because of budget restraints they're gonna get the main landscaping done, and I think they're gonna have to push the actual finished landscaping to 27 budget in the spring so some of that's dependent on CDOT to by the way Probably be done if there wasn't a CDOT right that's another battle councilmember fiddler I

Thank you, Mayor. Nothing to report other than to thank Mayor Pro Tempidia and I believe Council Member Carvalho. No, just Mayor Pro Tempidia for being at the lock booth as we were bored while I was absent from that meeting. So thank you, Peter, for going. I assume you went. Can't wait to hear the update.

With that, Mayor Putnam.

Mayor Putnam Well, it was entertaining. We didn't have any actions to take, but the consulting firm came back to the Loughborough Sewer Board with updates to the rate study with no more basis in reality than the prior rate study. So, still three variables. What's the growth rate? What's the consumption rate? And what's the cost for foot or per gallon for the updated wastewater treatment center and the study didn't take into account in any way shape or form variances to that or variances in the city's participation so really was a useless update but I enjoyed sitting through it on behalf of both of you so it was fine we didn't have to take any action Just another pause button. But the good thing, I think, out of that is that the Lockwood City Council members thanked me for asking the questions that they also had been wondering about where are these numbers coming from. So I can't blame the company that is plugging the variables into a fully functional formula, just the one that gave them the weird numbers to begin with. Okay, so that was last week. Coming up this week is the Housing Authority. But more interesting in the near future is the weekend of September 11th and 12th is going to be all kinds of exciting events. So I'll see how many of Tom's things I can mention before he gets there. But the Firehouse Memorial and Ceremony for 9-11 is the morning of Friday, September 11th. That evening is Almost Home's Concert for a Cause out here at Carmichael Park. A fantastic fundraiser and a great band, The Coveralls, who cover all of the music from the 60s through 2000s. It should be a really, really fun event. The morning of the 12th, is the 13th annual car show at the sue corbett active adult center at eagle view and i haven't figured out how that became the suvac but somebody had an acronym earlier today that i cannot make sense of that's in the morning and then beginning at 10 is art in the park at carmichael park which is always a fun event And then Sunday the 13th at Riverdale Regional Park is Festival Latino. So great weekend next weekend. And then just because I think it's still on his list, the following weekend is Trash Bash. And the eco event for e-waste and document shredding is the 18th and the 19th. That's what I've got for tonight. Thank you.

Very good. You guys can repeat this. I mean, the more you say it, the more people will go, maybe, right? Council Member today.

So, the weekend of September 17th and 18th is Trash Bash and the Shred Event. I'm looking forward to tomorrow for the first really sort of real DDA event. meeting tomorrow afternoon, and that's all I have. Is that it?

Is there anything else you want to talk about?

That's a member green.

I found some things. You forgot the bird fest at Bar Lake State Park on Saturday the 12th, which is just, you know, flying fun, feather full of excitement there. And, you know, this past week I had the pleasure of going to the Army. I mean, they had the disco on Friday night, and they had the – Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, tribute band on Saturday night. And I don't even know how that place stays open because those people blew the roof off that place. I mean, the doors are down. I mean, that place was just rocking. And I don't even know how we can keep it open because that is just an incredible show they put on. And Friday, September 18th, The ultimate Elvis experience will be at the Armory. Victor Trevino, I'm telling you, that guy's a hunk of burning love. That is the best thing I've ever seen, and I got to really give kudos to Gary Montoya and all the Armory staff. They put on a heck of a show there week in, week out. They're there all the time, and he was there cooking food during the day, boom, at that show that night. So I really appreciate their staff. Yeah, don't be afraid to go to that 9-11 ceremonial and pancake breakfast. That's Fire Station 52 right there in Brighton, and I know those fire departments love to cook pancakes. Maybe the police department can start, you know. stepping up to the plate here a little bit okay yeah you know seriously what do you guys offer other than a little piece of paper yeah no invitation to come see the judge yeah thanks a lot all right thank you that's all i got next council member worth follow that one thank you mary you know it occurred to me when you're talking about the birds can you imagine if birds also found feathers ticklish

um so so i uh got to join the mayor and first lady at the dr cogg awards program that was a great event and then also made it over to the petty knicks experience and what a talented band they are just really good entertainment there so that was great it was great so anyway that's that's my week two weeks cool council member carbohol

yeah i again want to thank peter for covering that meeting in lock buoy um the two things that i have coming tomorrow is going to be parks and rec meeting and so looking forward to getting some updates there and then yesterday was the 27j internships and i just want to give kudos to the city of brighton your staff specifically the number of i was there on my own business account taking interns but the number of departments represented by the city of brighton taking in internships was Pretty incredible. I think maybe the most of all the cities. So pretty cool to see that partnership and to give those kids an opportunity to come work in our municipality. And I think that is all I have for reports. Thank you.

Thank you. I know this is not breaking any records of getting out early, but this is probably the first time we've had reports go longer than the real meat of the meeting.

I agree. And for the record, SUVAC sounds better than SCAC. So we're going to leave it there.

Oh, my gosh. It's not about accuracy. With that, we come back. Study session upstairs next week. We are adjourned.