City Council - Regular Meeting

good morning and welcome to the city of car springs regular council meeting for tuesday august 11th 2026. well the the city council regular meeting is now in session and can the clerk please call the roll council member casey here council member crow iverson here council member donaldson here council member gold here i am council member hinge present online

Council Member Lineweber?

Here.

Council Member Rainey? Here. Council Member Risley? Here. Council Member Williams? Here. All nine present.

Please stand for the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance this morning. Councilman Lineweber will be providing our invocation.

Well, it's my honor to be able to do this. Usually it's not something that comes from the dais, but I am absolutely glad to do it. Let's pray. Father, I just thank you for the love that you have demonstrated, the forgiveness, the kindness, the generosity, and the way that you reached out and touched individuals. Father, you call us to kind of serve one another, and I pray that in this moment, as we sit on this dais, that we look to serving the community that's around us, the people in need, the people who have opportunities and ideas, and the way that we can really develop and grow this city in a smart, reliable way, Lord. I just pray that you'd give us insight on how to move our city forward to help it become vibrant and just really a place for everyone to call home. In your precious name, Jesus Christ, amen. Amen. Let's pray.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We will now consider the consent calendar. Those items will be acted upon as a whole unless a specific item is called up to discuss by a council member or a citizen wishing to address City Council. Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, good morning, Madam President. I'd like to pull off 4BF and 4BG.

Kevin. President Crowe-Iverson, Kevin Walker, City Planning Director. I'd like to call off item 4BD.

Noted, thank you. I need a motion. I have a motion from Councilman Gold, a second from Councilman Casey. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Moving on to recognitions, Councilman Lineweber.

So this morning we've got the honor to kind of recognize someone in the community that's kind of given themselves to help the community just flourish. And this is a new thing that's kind of been developed. Councilman Rainey came up with this idea and of course we all fully supported it where each year a council member has an opportunity to take a month and recognize someone in the community. When I thought about it, It took me about three seconds to think of one individual who, you know, I was thinking how funny this is. I look up to him. No, physically I don't, although he's a tall guy. But in so many ways, I see him as a role model that I would like to live up to. And he's done so much. So Alan Beauchamp has just been a great community leader. He's led over 100 community bike rides for elected officials, veterans, school children, and people with disabilities. He's served as a community engagement manager for Trails in Open Space, TOSC, as we kind of know it as. He's worked on an adaptive cycling, he's worked as an adaptive cycling specialist with therapeutic recreation, making cycling accessible to people with all abilities. He's president of COS Cycling Club for four years, and he's been He leads infrastructure and art tours by bike in southeast Colorado Springs, connecting people to the Sand Creek Trail, nearby parks, and local art. He advocates for bike safety, safe routes, multimodal connectivity, and urban trail development. He's really contributed to route planning and for all riders. And he's put together rides for city council, the mayor, and other organizations. And he's really contributed to the success of the Rise Coalition and Panorama Park he was a big part of. I mean, I could just go on and on. I mean, he's taken youth out fly fishing. He's helped in a number of charities. There's just so much to kind of say. And I know there's a few people here that wanna speak. Is that where we're gonna go next, President?

It's your recognition.

Okay. So I want to take the moment, if there's some people in the audience that want to get up and kind of have a few words or say some things about Alan, why don't you take this moment and just line up in the microphone and hit the green button.

While Glenn is coming up, I need to read the item into the record. Oh, yes. It's Community Recognition Program honoring at-large resident, Allan Beauchamp.

Good morning. Glenn Carlson, Executive Director of Trails and Open Space Coalition. It's an honor for me to be here today to even have the opportunity to speak about Alan, and I'm especially grateful that you chose to recognize him, especially considering the fact that he absolutely never asks for any recognition whatsoever. And in my mind, those are the best types of leaders, the ones that get up every day and do the work over and over and over. And hopefully a future generation or a future leader will grab the torch and keep those efforts going. I definitely don't need to go down the long list of accomplishments and things that he's involved with because I don't have that many terabytes of data left in my brain. But yeah, Alan is incredibly energetic, incredibly energetic, incredibly positive. And those are usually the first two leading indicators in my mind for success. and his ability to look out for people that may not have the strength or situation to look out for themselves, to advocate for certain sectors, such as the hikers, especially the cyclists, folks with disabilities, folks in underserved areas and neighborhoods. I could definitely go on forever, but Councilman Lineweber, I wanna thank you for this. If somebody asks me, Who is a volunteer who's a leader in the community? Probably take me about 3 seconds to come up with Alan's name as well. And so I think we're definitely aligned there. So, Alan appreciate it. This is well deserved and I'm going to let another good good person in the community. Jerry take the baton for me.

Good morning, I'm Jerry Cordova, City of Carter Springs Stormwater Enterprise. I'm a stormwater specialist and luckily to be a friend of Alan's as well. So I can't go on enough to say the good things that Alan has done for this community. I think that if we could all, as David said, look up to Alan, there's something we could take away from his intent and his successes and what he's been able to build in this community more than just a bike advocate, but really a citizen engagement. and making changes. So I've never heard Alan respond that any challenge is too big or when he says, guess who I'm taking out on a ride, I'm never completely surprised. And those challenges could be with mobility, mentally, whatever it might be, but he's always come to the table and being willing to take them out for a spin. So no better award. Thank you all for your time and congratulations, Alan.

Good morning. I'm Jeff Cooper. I'm with the Richard Petritz Foundation. We're a granting organization of Colorado Springs. And when we first repositioned our mission in the community to do more for outdoor recreation and conservation, I went to two people for help. Becky Lineweber from Pikes Peak Outdoor Rec, and to Tosk to understand the lay of the land. Alan was one of the first guys that I met with three, four years ago now, and he was surprisingly robust with the depth that he had, not only in terms of outdoor recreation, but urban planning, city culture, So we were amazed by his breadth. He expresses that breadth often in rides, taking people on community rides. But the breadth gets expressed in understanding the art. He teaches the community. He teaches the history of these areas. So it really not only helped us to understand where are there opportunities for granting, but it gave us a much deeper appreciation for the history of Colorado Springs and understanding our community from the southeast all the way up north. So I want to thank Councilman Lineweber for bringing this recognition forward, and we're really proud to have Alan in our community.

Good morning, Skylar Rohrbaugh, Director of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services for the City of Colorado Springs. Just also want to thank Councilman Lineweber for bringing this recommendation forward and just for celebrating Alan. Alan's done so much for our park system, so much with the Trails and Open Space Coalition, uh just an amazing advocate for what we do each and every day within our parks recreation and cultural services system i've had the opportunity to get to know him a little bit better you know more of on a personal level here within the last couple of years and i just can't thank him enough for just different things that he's championed for within our community especially parts of our community that don't have the best parks recreation amenities he's been huge in those areas to bring in different groups and stakeholders to really advocate for those needs in those communities to provide great connectivity, to enhance their quality of life. I just can't say enough about Alan and just all that he brings to our organization and just to our city and how he's worked really hard to make our city a better place to live. So thank you, Alan. Thank you.

So with that, I think we'll bring it back to the dais for comments and then do a picture, right?

You're right, we have Councilman Hingem online.

Thank you so much, Madam President, and thank you, everybody. Gosh, I wish I could see Alan on the screen. I'm seeing myself, but I am so happy and so excited that we are doing this today. Council Member Lineweber, thank you for, I'm not surprised that he was the absolute first person that came to your mind when you had this opportunity. I have been thinking for the last five years, how do we recognize Alan Beauchamp? I just, this guy, you've heard all these things. I'm going to say more of them. But to have a formal recognition, to have this be on the record for us at City Hall, for City Council, to recognize the incredible work he's done is just such an honor. I've been so excited to be able to say these things to you, Alan. Clearly, I'm here at home and I'm recovering, as you know, from my hip surgery, but I am so excited to get back on a bike with you, my friend, and you are my friend. So I thought about like there's the bike portion of it, which Alan loves bikes and he knows all about bikes and he has all kinds of bikes and he gets people on bikes and he inspires people to ride. And there's so much goodness in that. There's the trails piece and the outdoors and the parks and the way that he's actually helped us improve our trail system. He knows it better than me. probably than anybody even in the entire Parks Department. I'm pretty sure he's ridden more miles of our trails than anybody else. This guy's taken more photos than probably anybody that's in Chambers combined for the last year, if not more. And he uses all of that for what is ultimately the critical piece and the thing I think he cares the most about, which is community. And you've heard that spoken to already and the way he uplifts community and behind all of that. I mean, he's the quintessential community builder. This guy is superfood for community. He's at the core. He's at the hub. And I just don't have enough positive things to say about him. And it really is at the core. It's people. Alan loves people. And he's positive. He says nothing bad about anyone. He just lifts people up, every single human he comes into contact with. And it's just an incredible thing to be around, to be a part of, to witness, to see. And Alan, I am so grateful for you. I really am. And one last fun fact I will share about Alan is that next week, August 20th, is his birthday. And he shares it with his beautiful wife, Cece, which is kind of fun to share a birthday with your wife, who he loves and adores. So anyway, there's so much more I could say. Everybody has said that. And I'll stop. But Alan, I love you. I love you. And congratulations. You deserve this.

Councilman Williams. Thank you, President Crowe-Everson, and thank you, Council Member Lyon-Weber, for bringing this forward. I feel like it's probably a toss-up on whether I met Alan first or CeCe first, because I'm pretty sure I sat down with both of you, and we'd probably need to break out a calendar to figure out who it was, because you were both so involved in the community and had so much to share that I know I met with both of you when I was running for council the first time, but obviously Alan is the one who ended up getting me on a bicycle. So thank you for that. I'm still not loving those as much as horses, but you know, that's okay. You, you respect that. So we go on hikes and, you know, we're still trying to get the legacy loop complete, which I know you are adamant about. So, um, again so many accolades and my humble opinion you're a professional volunteer and you wake up every day and your goal is to just literally do more than you did the day before which is very impressive and cece thank you for sharing him with all of us because i feel like we all see him possibly more than you do but we appreciate that and you guys are just a beautiful couple in the community and thank you for all that you do

Councilman Gould. Thank you, Madam President. I want to give two notes of gratitude. One, I want to sincerely thank Councilmember Rainey for initiating this program because what a great way for us to come together and honor amazing people. like Alan in our community. And with that, I will say my utmost gratitude to Alan. On June 20th of 2025, he took me on a bike and I have not stopped riding. And I'm so grateful because it's not very often that somebody gets to open up a whole new world to you. And through cycling, you have opened up a new world to me. And because of that, I'm able to better serve the city because I'm able to see the city from beyond the street infrastructure. So I thank you so much for your advocacy, your heart. Thank you, Cece, for giving us the gift of your husband as well and all the time. And I thank you to TOS, too, for being the kind of employer that's more than an employer, but the kind of employer that really allows a person to be their full self and give that to the community. So thank you, everyone, for all you do. And thank you, Alan. Thank you.

Allen, congratulations, and you can breathe. There's no vote. You are automatically in the recognition. You get a star somewhere. If you would like to get up and say something, you're welcome to.

President Crow Iverson, Councilman Rainey, Councilman Leinweber, and the rest of city council, I thank you very much. That was hard to sit through. It's not my comfort zone. I prepared just a few things, and I'd like to start off with the fact I can't do, I would not have been able to do the wonderful things that I feel blessed to be able to do without my partner, my significantly better other, as I like to call CeCe. And so I would like to give all the honor to CeCe for supporting my endeavors throughout the years. We moved here in 2001. I like to say we got here as soon as we could. It was with Intel Corporation. They said, hey, we bought some facility out in Colorado Springs. And at the meeting where it was announced, no details, I raised my hand. I said, I'll go. Kind of shout out in a room of like 200 plus people. And I bugged my manager for weeks. I said, I want to go. I want to go. He goes, you don't even know what we're going to do there. I said, semiconductor manufacturing. That's what we do. And he finally says, why do you want to go to Colorado Springs so much? This is back in 2001. I had been born and raised on the coast, 10 years in the Navy, two years of my life at sea. I was kind of done with the ocean. It just didn't meet my needs. Colorado Springs had that draw. In the limited research that I did, it had unprecedented outdoor access, it had Pikes Peak, it had trails, parks, things all throughout the community that I deeply wanted in my daily life. When that time came, we moved and have never regretted the decision. We were here with Intel for about eight and a half years. I was kind of slightly absorbed in a major company and I didn't have a lot of time, but I started getting involved with cycling. And that's kind of how my wheels got started here was with the Colorado Springs Cycling Club. As Councilman Leidenweber mentioned, I was the president for about four years back in the early 2000s, almost like a previous life now. But that's how we learned Colorado Springs. Cece and I were on a tandem and we rode all around the city and I fell in love with it. When Intel decided to leave, We decided to stay. We had planted roots and this community had provided for us so much satisfaction on so many different levels. We knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge and it was going to be me going into different industries and things of this nature. But what I did was I wanted to reinvest myself in this community in ways that I was super passionate about. Because for a lot of the work, especially the volunteer, when you're rolling up your sleeves and just getting it done day after day, that's what it takes. And I thank you Councilman Rainey for doing this award, bringing this award forward. And I encourage anybody else that feels passionate about Colorado Springs, pick something that you really love. Obviously bicycles was my most natural thing, but I fell in love with the community. the rich diversity that Colorado Springs provides. Sometimes you have to dig a little bit down below the surface, but what I found, and in fact, there was several times I wanted to move to Fort Collins. It's a super bike-friendly city. This woman right here encouraged me to, you just have to get back on your damn bicycle and go figure it out, what it is about Colorado Springs that you fell in love with originally. And so all the years, that is what has fueled me. But really, it always comes down, I call it hashtag, add value. I looked for ways that I could add value back into the community, and the secret was ways that I was passionate about. And for any effort that I have ever done, I have received a benefit tenfold. Not usually monetarily, but it's that intangible thing that makes you fall in love with that community. And so I would say thank you very much. I would also like to shout out to my team over here, Trails and Open Space Coalition. They are a phenomenal group of people that enable me, much like my lovely wife, to be able to go out and do the things that I'm best at. And so I just want to say thank you again. Thank you again, and I just encourage anybody else that wants to make a difference in Colorado Springs, you can. Just pick something that you're passionate about.

So thank you.

Councilman Lineweber, would you like to read?

I was told we're not reading it. We're just presenting, just taking a picture.

We're just taking a picture after all of that? and you're not gonna read it well i think we said most of what was in here okay then if all of you would like to meet us down front we will take a picture Moving on to item 5B, will the clerk please read item 5B into the record?

City Council Appointments to Boards, Commissions, and Committees.

The Lodgers and Automobile Rental Tax, LART, Citizens Advisory Committee. We have a reappointment. Councilman Nancy Hengeman and myself recommend to reappoint Jack Damali. um if i don't have any council comments councilman hingem do you have any comments wow just of course he should be on there and he uh does a terrific job and uh yeah no no no additional comments very happy i would agree with that um we have a motion from councilman gold in a second from councilman williams let's vote on the reappointment of jack tamale to the lart

the motion passes nine to zero moving on to mayor's business is there any mayor's business today i just wanted to first thank our parks department for the great work they did on colorado day uh we were pleased to have the governor join us but more importantly lots of citizens from the community came through pioneers museum rock ledge park and uh set a new record at the top of pikes peak for donuts dunked in a day which i did not know was a guinness book of world record but appreciate all the people in our parks department who are working so hard to provide services to our community and we also continue to work with the pikes peak library district to try to address service in our community and also with uh we've been working with a non-profit group

a group that will add value to the meadows park community center and so a number of things that we continue to work on at the mayor's office so thank you ma'am moving on to item seven um items called off the consent calendar will the clerk please read item 4bd into the record a resolution the city

of the City Council of the City of Colorado Springs, Colorado, approving a service plan for the Kettle Creek Metropolitan District, sited Northville-Colorado Ranch, east of Voyager Parkway and south of Federal Drive.

Good morning, Kevin. Again. Good morning.

Green button. Green button, good morning. This item is being called off because in order to adopt a metro district, the property needs to be in the city and the annexation has been approved. The plat has been routed for signature, but it has not yet been recorded. So it'll be recorded in the next couple of days. And so we would like to continue this item to the next formal meeting.

I have a motion from Councilman Risley and a second from Councilman Williams to postpone the item until August 25th. Let's vote.

Motion passes nine to zero.

Will the clerk please read item 4BF and 4BG into the record?

4BF, an ordinance to amend the zoning map of the city of Colorado Springs pertaining to approximately 5.41 acres located at 2325 Mark Dabbling Boulevard from mixed-use neighborhood scale with stream-side overlay to mixed-use scale with stream-side overlay. This is the first reading only to set July 25th as a hearing date.

Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, thanks, Madam President. I asked to pull these two off consent today. They're both in District 1, which I represent, They're both rezoned, so we're changing the zoning of the property at each of these locations. The way we used to do this on council is on our first vote, which is what this is today, we're not just, we have to affirmatively vote twice. We have to vote yes twice. Today's the first vote. We're gonna simply do that without hearing a presentation. We're just gonna vote yes, and then we'll hear it again in two weeks. That'll be the presentation, and then you'll have to vote right then. When I first came on council, we would get that presentation right now before we voted the first time. And I think that was a better way to do it. And it also informed citizens of what was happening. We voted, it got in the news, there were two more weeks. You could change your vote. You could think about it over those two weeks and consider what you had done. I think that's a better way to do it. I want the citizens of District 1 to know that one of these is a rezone for 5 1⁄2 acres, 5.4 acres at 5325 Mark Dabbling Boulevard from mixed-use neighborhood scale with stream overlay to a mixed-use medium scale. So it would go from neighborhood scale to medium scale we're voting the first time today. I'm gonna vote no because I don't think this is the right way to do this. In two weeks, we'll get an actual presentation, then I might vote yes, but citizens should look at that. The other one is at 4340, Well, there are multiple properties on Buckingham Drive, which is near Project Taurus. It's 7.8 acres, and it is going to be rezoned from business park with conditions of record to light industrial with conditions of record. So these one, two, three, four, five lots will be rezoned. Again, the way we used to do this is we would get that presentation today, we would have information. We have a packet, you can read through it, but we don't have the opportunity to ask questions of our planning department, ask questions of the developer. We're just voting the first time. I don't think this is the right way to do it. Thank you, Madam President.

So I need a motion for 4BF. Did you mean August 25th? I have a motion from Councilman Rainey and a second from Councilman Risley to hear these on August 25th.

Let's vote. Motion passes 8 to 1. And item 4BG is an ordinance to amend the zoning map of the City of Colorado Springs pertaining to approximately 7.79 acres located at 4290, 4310, 4320, 4330, and 4340 Buckingham Drive from Business Park with conditional record to Light Industrial with conditions of record. This is to set the hearing date on August 25th.

Yes.

Thank you, Madam President. I'll just point out again, we're not just setting a hearing date. We're approving it the first time of two times.

So I have a motion from Councilman Leinweber and a second from Councilman Williams for 4BG, setting the hearing date for August 25th. Let's vote.

And the motion passes seven to two.

And Madam President, if I could point it out one more time, we're saying that what we're doing is setting a hearing date. What it says right here is this is an ordinance to amend the zoning map of the city of Colorado Springs. So I think that is inaccurate to say all we're doing is setting a hearing date. We're voting yes to change the zoning. We'll have to do it again.

Moving on to item 8A, will the clerk please read item 8A and 8B into the record?

8A, an ordinance submitting Part 5, Claims Management of Article 5, Finance Management Procedures of Chapter 1, Administration Personnel and Finance of the Code of the City of Colorado Springs 2001 as amended pertaining to claims management. 8B, an ordinance submitting Part 6, Workers' Compensation of Article 5, Finance Management Procedures of Chapter 1, Administration Personnel and Finance of the Code of the City of Colorado Springs 2001 as amended pertaining to workers' compensation claims management.

Councilman Donelson?

Yes. I'm not sure. Why did you call on me?

This is a postponement that you called off yesterday and requested no back-to-back.

Oh, okay, okay, we're going on. I had marked those off because I knew. So yeah, these are two items from utilities. And just for those in the audience or in chambers today, Typically when we hear something at a work session like we did yesterday, and these are two items I support, then there's a two week period before it comes back at a regular session. Just because of a scheduling mistake, it got put on the work session yesterday and the regular session today. So I would like to make a motion to postpone this for two weeks so that there is that normal period of time in between the work session and when we vote on it, okay? I will support it, but that'll be two weeks from now. I think it can give the appearance that we're trying to rush something through or do something without giving adequate time for citizens and others to look at it. So it's simply kind of a clerical thing to postpone it for two weeks, so thank you.

I have a motion from Councilman Donaldson and a second from Councilman Rainey to postpone item 8A. Let's vote.

The motion passes 8 to 1.

I need a motion for item 8B. I have a motion from Councilman Donaldson and a second from Councilman Rainey to postpone item 8b.

Let's vote.

The motion passes 8 to 1.

Moving on to item 9a. Will the clerk please read item 9a into the record?

An ordinance amending ordinance 2636, amending ordinance 25-95, 2026 budget appropriation ordinance for supplemental appropriation of the retail marijuana tax fund in the amount of $458,000 to fund a contract with Colorado Springs River Renewal Authority to provide security services in South Nevada Corridor.

Good morning, Jariah.

Good morning, Council Members. For the record, Jeriah Walker, Executive Director of the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority. No presentation today since we've already gone over that at the last meeting. So we'll rest for any questions that Council may have. Thank you.

I don't see any questions. I need a motion. I have a motion from Councilman Williams and a second from Councilman Rainey. Let's vote on item nine eight. Oh, Councilman Donaldson.

Yep, thank you, Madam President. And I will vote yes on this today. But the only reason I'm voting yes on this today is because our chief of police was here it might've been four weeks ago or two weeks ago, and said that if this money was to come to CSPD, he wouldn't be able to hire additional police officers anyway. There aren't enough applicants getting him through the process. He couldn't respond to what we need on South Nevada right now by filling empty spots that we have on CSPD. So to me, this is a stop gap. It's not the ideal way to do this. but I'm convinced that it's worth doing temporarily. Thanks.

Councilman Hingem. Thank you, Madam President. I will be voting yes on this. I just wanted to say again for the record that this is a set of money that is collected by marijuana retailers, and they are businesses in our community collecting these taxes. And with our LART tax, we have had industry representation on a LART committee determining a portion of those dollars. And we have never invited the marijuana industry or any of those retailers into this process. And I think that we should. Thank you.

I have a motion from Councilman Gould.

Thank you, Madam President. I will be voting no on this, and I would like to let my constituents know why I'm voting no on this. I'm voting no on this because I believe that this money could be better allocated towards actually housing people instead of for private security. And I also am concerned about those experiencing homelessness. We are simply making the migration easier for them, and that would easily trickle into District 4. So I will be voting no on this, thank you.

I have a motion from Councilman Williams and a second from Councilman Rainey. Let's vote.

And the motion passes seven to two.

Moving on to one hour of citizens' discussion for items not on today's agenda per city council rules. Citizens will have three minutes to share their comments. I have a list of those who have signed up when I call your name. Please come forward, introduce yourself, and limit yourselves to a topic that are relevant and germane to city business. First up, we... I've been asked to take a 10-minute comfort break. We will come back in 10 minutes. We are back in session for citizen's comment. First up, I have Danielle Pruetz.

Daniel Pruetz.

Good morning. Can you make sure the green button is on so we can hear you? The green, you'll see a green button right up there.

Okay, it's green now. Thank you. All right. Good morning, my name is Daniel Pruetz. I have a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing with an interest in public health and I'm here today advocating on behalf of the unhoused residents of Colorado Springs. With the Colorado Springs Homeless Action Response Plan and other laws established in Colorado Springs, the unhoused are cited fines or worse if they're caught camping or sleeping in their vehicles Thus, many of them end up at Springs Rescue Mission, which receives funding from various government bodies and generous donors of Colorado Springs. Springs Rescue Mission is set up with various programs to help the unhoused get back into the workforce, provide transitional shelter for workers and addiction services, This accounts for approximately half of the population. These people have separate facilities that are restricted to the other half of the homeless clients, which typically include the elderly, disabled, and otherwise unemployable, which reside at the relief center. Those clients can be kicked out of the shelter if they use facilities in one of the other programs. At present, the bathroom and the dining halls have been barricaded by chairs with staff claiming that it's allegedly due to intentional clogging. Approximately 12 toilets are down and access to sinks have been blocked as well. This has been done at least three times in the last year. These 100 plus clients only have access to one toilet from 6.20 a.m. to 8 a.m., which is approximately one hour and 40 minutes. In order to even access that toilet, clients have to leave the facility through some revolving doors and come back through the welcome center and get rescreened by security before they can even access it. As a result of this protocol that doesn't come close to meeting minimum standards established by the state, clients struggle to hold it for that long. As a result, they are in discomfort for prolonged periods because it's too much of a hassle to go through that process. I've seen people soil themselves, urinate, and defecate outside the facility because the line is too long, and even urinate in the shower drainage. To resolve this, all staff needs to do is make more of the restrooms available at all times. They need to put imposed signage for the dining room in the dining room to let them know where they can go at any point of the day, provide hand sanitizer in the dining room, acknowledge grievances, and stop shaming people for bringing this to their attention. and restore adequate toilet client ratios by fixing the ongoing plumbing issues as soon as possible. My grievance there hasn't gone anywhere, but the city certainly has the ability to intervene and resolve these unethical dilemma of restricting adequate access to the restrooms and sinks to help with resulting public health issues that will eventually end up spreading further into the community. Thanks, that's all I got.

Thank you. Next up, we have AJ Ninehuser.

Good morning, City Council. Good morning, so I'm here today to talk about the homeless encampments I've been documenting across Colorado Springs. While I speak, a video of the Astrazon Boulevard encampment I filmed last week will play on the screen. That is one of several locations I documented over three separate days, to also include Acacia Park, Dorchester Park, the Pikes Peak Greenway, the South Nevada underpass near I-25, and bus stops under the interstate. What I found is not subtle. People living in the open, trash, human waste, and active campus in plain view. The mayor has claimed homeless numbers are down. I have serious doubts. These claims conveniently surface around point in time counts, especially the ones that fall before an election cycle. We have already seen the same pattern in Denver under Mayor Johnson, who has publicly said he is partnering with Colorado Springs on homelessness. Annual counts can be manipulated in several straightforward ways. temporarily moving people into shelters or hotels for the count night, dispersing camps just before the survey, counting only certain categories while leaving others out, changing the contractor or methodology, and simply shifting people across city or county lines so they do not appear in the local total. The front range passenger rail will make this worse. Once that corridor runs from Fort Collins to Trinidad, it becomes far easier to move people up and down the front range. Denver remains the regional center of the problem. Easy rail access will allow camps and individuals to cycle through different cities, making any local counting or enforcement effort even less reliable. Residents should not have to film their own streets to prove what is obvious on the ground. The people of the city expect real accountability, not press releases and adjusted numbers. Clean up what is already here before celebrating progress that does not match the reality outside these chambers. Thank you.

Next up we have Taylor Gray. Oh, Councilman Gold. Thank you, Madam President.

Hi, AJ. Thank you for your comments today. That strip of Astrozone breaks my heart. I cycle past there very often, and I'm quite devastated by what I see on a frequent basis. So my question to you, and this is truly a sincere question, as a concerned citizen of Colorado Springs, what are some solutions to those experiencing homelessness that you would recommend that the city implement?

Honestly, we need to have more accountability. A lot of these people are either temporarily displaced or permanently displaced. And by that I mean mentally disabled, people that have been struggling with drug addiction on and off throughout years. They do not have the capacity to make right decisions. These people need to have their hands held. You can't just give these people money and expect them to do right by themselves. That's just not how they're programmed at this point in time.

Okay, thank you. I appreciate your comments.

Taylor Gray.

Good morning. Sorry about last time. Dave, thanks for always explaining everything and standing up. I'm really proud of you. So really important that the citizens come in and report from the ground, too, because, you know, we're talking like we got all this water and I was on top of Pikes Peak. Crystal Reservoir is pathetic. Like, pathetic. It's like a little puddle at the bottom of... It's just, we're in a water crisis. I don't think a lot of people know that Cotter Industries is where we imported a lot of radioactive material. It's in Castle Rock or in Canyon City. So there's a bunch of pools of radioactive stuff. We've imported everything from Chernobyl and all kinds of waste and everything. We were part of developing the bomb. So it's sitting there without liners. And then, you know, Fort Carson has poisoned the wide field water. They, you know, Venetucci Farms can't grow food anymore. They have to grow flowers because you can't eat from the water there. And so, yeah, I'm talking about Project Taurus. Do we need the next stop up? You know, the industry in Denver poisons that water. It's, let's not pretend like there's not chemicals that we don't test for. Like, I think we've all known like the Salvia Devinorum thing, like they just keep changing the chemical and then it's legal, it's legal, it's legal. They're going to use chemicals in the water when they do this. data center. So I don't want that to be a problem. Also, my family was visiting. There's not a toilet. There's not water. We couldn't get water at the parks. We couldn't use the restroom. It was the saddest thing to bring my nephews back to where they were born and not be able to just enjoy the parks. So I don't know what we got against toilets, but we need to... really start looking at our city differently. I want to talk about, you know, variants. It kind of feels like walking into a store where you buy water bombs or water pipes and you say bomb. A variant is breaking the law legally and we should be saying no all the time. These businesses are wasting our time. I sat and watched you guys sit here for an entire day over something It's pathetic. It's like no one wants a creepy apartment next to a school. We need to stick to our standards. There's zoning for a reason. There's all of these things for a reason. We need to stop setting this precedent like we're this thirsty harlot or something that just needs all these business oh you got a little tax oh a little bit of work or something like it should really add value to our city when we say yes to something because there are rules and all of these rules are there and they're being broken. And there's so much of our city that gets wasted time, the planning department. It goes through so much before it gets to you guys, I'm realizing this. And it feels like the businesses are bullying you. Let's just keep saying no. They can come back and comply.

Thank you. Next up we have Caleb Miller.

Good morning, City Council. Caleb Miller. I've lived in Colorado Springs my entire life. I know you guys have heard this bit before. I actually have a story this morning. It's for Travis. In 1915, Ford Motors started to give its employees a four-day work week. And the Dodge brothers sued the Ford brothers because they said that the resources of Ford should be going to its shareholders instead of to its employees, and they won the lawsuit. In Colorado Springs right now, as I brought up before, this body unanimously approved a raise for the CEO of Colorado Springs Utilities to $700,000. But the COPE matching fund that the city gives to its beneficiaries, the public is less than that by $200,000. So again, I would like to ask this board to raise the COPE matching fund. And I would like to ask the CEO of Colorado Springs Utilities Company to resign for misunderstanding the fundamental purpose of a publicly owned utilities company. And you can avoid eye contact with me all you want. You get it, great. The other thing has been brought up several times this morning, which is the way that we are treating everybody in our city. And I talked about this last week as well, and I'll keep saying it. If we're gonna pray at the start of these meetings, We need to be treating people with the heart of Jesus. There needs to be no asterisks on love your neighbor. There needs to be no asterisks on it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass the eye of a needle. There needs to be no asterisks on all the things that he said. And I feel like a lot of the times there is and there can't be. We can't be speaking out both sides of our mouth. All that being said, I appreciate each and every one of you. I appreciate the job that you do for this city. I appreciate that you stepped up and took responsibility. And I would like to ask that as you, day by day, walk in that responsibility, you remember that you took a responsibility, that you have a responsibility, that you have the power to make things better for the people that live in this city, to make things better for the community that voted you in, to love people unconditionally at every turn that you possibly can. And I get that that's maybe not applicable to the way that we actually do city council because we're voting on zoning and amendments and changing city ethics codes. But if the current of Jesus is running under your life, it needs to be there all the time, even in our city council decisions. And I quite frankly don't appreciate his name being used in these spaces and then us doing things like voting to criminalize homelessness and make men richer, thank you.

Next up we have Ali Smith.

Hi. A little bit about me. A few years ago, my husband and I were trying to decide where to live. So we got rid of everything we owned and decided to move all over the world. We moved 20 times in three years. Eventually we decided to buy a house here. I'm sure this is a tough role, and especially for $6,250 a year. And I know there's a budget problem in this city, but the developers are kind of creating problems for us. They've damaged foundations of some of the homes in my neighborhood that are historic. There's flooding problems. They've taken away trees and fields where the wildlife used to be. And that's all to build unaffordable houses that block my neighbor's views of the mountains and don't match the historic neighborhood that I live in. I have neighbors who have lived there for 30 years and the cars and motorbikes have gotten too loud. they're talking about moving away from the entire city. And on top of all that, we want more data centers. So we didn't move here for the loud cars, the housing developments, bottling plants that use maybe 1.5 million gallons of water a day, and data centers. Similar to other people who have spoken today, We moved here because we fell in love with the mountains and the rock climbing and the hiking and Garden of the Gods and the open spaces and the people. The people here value community more than the people anywhere else I have lived. And I'm really proud of our community. Because we're showing up and we're gonna keep showing up to protect the health and safety of each other and the future of Colorado Springs. And I really hope you'll do the same when we see you at the next hearing for Project Taurus. Because if the people were voting on this issue, clearly the majority of us would vote no. So be on the right side of history, protect the health and safety of this city to climb Project Taurus and pass a moratorium or even a ban.

Let's see.

Like I'd rather have nature than bottling plants and data centers. So restricting our yards to potentially be zero scaped and kind of limiting how much water we can use for nature just so that we can have these developments. I don't think that's a good trade off. Walsenburg just was talking about how they're struggling with water and they have a town of 3,000 people and they're also talking about a data centers.

so there's a lot of a lot of things going on that are a little concerning so thanks thank you that ends today's citizens comments not on today's agenda and that does also end our city council meeting today and we are adjourned