City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. This is the Cortez City Council regular meeting. Today is Tuesday, February 10th, 2026, and the time is 7:30 p.m. I'd like to call this meeting to order and ask you all to join us in the pledge of allegiance. 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. Thank you. All right. Can we have the roll call? Keoffer here. Dehaven Spruel here. Dobury Randall here.

Lewis here. Medina here. All right. Despite the absence of council member De Haven and council member uh Dobury, we have a quorum tonight. Uh so do we have approval of the agenda as presented? Madame Mayor, I move that council approve the agenda as presented for February 10th, 2026. Second. Motion made by Lewis and seconded by Keoffer. Randall, yes. Spruel, yes. Lewis, yes. Keoffer, yes. Medina,

yes. Okay, we're going to move on to number two on our agenda, the consent agenda. The listing under consent agenda is a group of items to be acted on with a single motion and vote. This agenda is designed to expedite the handling of limited routine matters by city council. Either the public or a council member may request that an item may be removed from the consent agenda at the time prior to council's vote. I will ask if a citizen or council member wishes to have any specific item removed from the consent agend. Approval of the minutes for the city council meeting on January 27th, 2026. B approval of the expenditure list for February 10th, 2026. C. Approval of a renewal application on a Taver Liquor License for Cortez Conference Center LLC DBA Destination Grill located at 2121 East Main Street, Cortez. And D, approval of a renewal application for a hotel and restaurant liquor license with one optional premise for Rodowski Golf LLC DBA concistador Golf Course located at 2018 North Dolores Road Cortez. Would anyone like something removed for discussion? Madame Mayor, I'd like to make a motion u that council approve the consent agenda as presented.

Second. Motion made by Keoffer and seconded by Randall Spruel. Yes. Randall, yes. Lewis, yes. Keoffer, yes. Medina,

yes. Okay, we're going to move on to uh number three on our agenda is public participation. Um, so I'm going to start with or individuals may comment on items that are on this council may not comment on items on the council agenda during the public participation time. There's no limit to the number of speakers, although this first portion of public comment will be held to an overall time limit of 30 minutes. Speakers have a time limit of three minutes per person, may only speak once, and may not seed time to another commenter. So, I'm going to start with the comment cards. If you did not fill one out, you're welcome to still provide public comment. Um, so I'd like to invite up uh is it Rico Gyos? You got this. Okay. So, go to the podium. Make sure the microphone's on and then you'll see like the the buttons. Um,

perfect. Green. Good. Yeah. And then there's the timer. So, your microphone will cut off at three minutes, but welcome.

Um, so my name is Richard Gyos. I'm pretty involved in the youth um softball especially, but all the youth programs and um I just wanted to bring the attention on on the decline that we've seen especially like for the complex south of town all rec sports really um for the youth and um how we we've been we've been asking for answers for several years. We've held meetings like we're supposed to with the parks and recck director and now that he found out we have a meeting today. He released a letter probably chat GBT letter um yesterday regarding the plans for the complex. Um it's very disappointing for the youth. We started this program with I want to say 20 kids maybe and we're I'm expecting close to 70 this year. Um, these are all kids that we keep out of trouble that wouldn't get that get to travel all over the place um because of the program. Um, not to mention that the the softball complex also does generate tons tons of funds when we hold tournaments. We hold two tournaments a year. Um, Miranda holds one. I think it's close to 20 teams. We hold one that's close to 20 teams. And that means a minimum of 10 players per team, plus their parents, plus the any extra fans that they come. I mean, that brings revenue here. And we're limited to what we can do because of the condition of the complex, because of not having lights. We can't we can only play for so long. Um, and and that really limits the more teams we can bring in. Um, additionally, we travel all over the country and I would say our complex is one of the worst that that that I see. Um, and these are towns that are much smaller than us, have much less funding than us. Um, and and honestly, when we first met with the parks and recck

director, he went down to the complex and looked at it and said, "Fields and stuff in this condition would have is is fireable for some people." We've seen zero improvement since then. We maintain the fields most of the time. Um when we hold tournaments, we're we have volunteers that come and help. Um it's just it's really sad for the youth because I know there's grants out there. Um I know some of them been used for adult facilities. Um I just think that we can we really and crime in for the youth in the area is it's it's way up. It's way up especially violent crimes. And I I just think that with with our program and if we can get the complex going, we can we can continue to grow this thing because it's it's gotten way bigger than we ever imagined. So that's all I have.

Thank you. Okay. I'd like to invite uh Chad Pierce.

Welcome everybody. My name is Chad Pierce. I'm the president of the youth organization of football or excuse me baseball and softball. Um I've been in the youth program since I moved here 10 years ago and I've been a president of football, softball, basketball, all the youth programs and all of them. Um four years we've been battling the softball complex. I have offered grants. I have offered money. The organization has offered so much to get this place moving. And yet, four an four years we've had zero answers. Like uh Rho just said is we got a letter yesterday after we said that we're going to come here and present ourselves. Enough's enough. Um this generates so much revenue for the community, the city of Cortez. I mean, it's it brings so much to this town. And to see our youth decline year after year because of this, it's sad. Um, there's so many places outside of here that do so much better than we do. And yet, we are a tight-knit community as you see today. We're here and we're we're we're tired of not being heard. The softball complex is pivot point for us in so many ways. Um, the grants that we have that we've offered have been shut down. We've had Empire Electric asked to do pro bono work been shut down. We've had people come in and say, "Tell us what we need to do to get the lights going." Shut down. We have the concessions, which is what drives all of these organizations shut down because they said the power's too old. What What answer is that? Most houses here are 60 years old. Their power works fine. Um, it's always these answers that don't get us anywhere and we're tired of it. We're here to help. The community's tired of it. You tell us what we got to do to help and we're here to help. Um,

but we need your help to start the process. And that's where we're at today. Um, it I'm a little shook up because it's nerve-wracking to see that I have to come here, everybody has to come here today and and take this time to open up the eyes of the community if we need to help. We we need it today. Um it's just sad. Everybody in this room has given so much time and effort to the city of Cortez and we've had none back. I'm just tired of the lies and the deceitfulness behind the the the city to be honest with you. So tell us what we need to do to help. We're here to help. There's a lot of kids in this program. Lots. And we just need some help. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, I'd like to invite uh Simon Martinez. Hello. Thank you uh for this time. Uh I spent over 30 years in the city limits of Cortez. uh coached 20 years ago baseball seemed to find myself in it again uh 40 years in some type of sports within Cortez city limits. All I ask is the council to look at your budget. If there's money available for these programs for the kids of this community need to be spent on the kids of this community. There's not a lot of summer activities. Baseball's one of them. maybe soccer, maybe swimming, but this is a place where the youth can spend time together. I know it's a community of retirees, maybe in Monizuma County, Cortez, city limits, but the people in this room are the taxpayers and the workers in this city.

They pay taxes. There needs to be some opportunity for this money to go back into the fields. Um, the last couple years I coached, there's four uh fields there by the the rec center. One of them doesn't have a dugout and we have very unusual weather in the four corners. And for other teams that come into the community, there's not a dugout. There's not dugout south of Cortez. If there's money available, it should be spent on the children for their activities to keep them off the streets because as it is right now, they need some effort to maintain. If the city can't do it, then there's other opportunities of other state funded that can come in and take care of these facilities. They do need to be maintained and they're for a good purpose and a good cause for the children in this town that they can play baseball under the lights, have some type of dugout and out of the weather and I think they deserve a lot and the parents are here to uh back that tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. So, that was all of our comment cards. Is there anyone else in the audience who wants to do um speak public comment? Go ahead.

Um I'm Christina Padilla and I am also on the board with Chad and I have nieces that play on Rico's team. Um the complex is a good it's a good spot. It just needs help. And we've tried to help. We've tried to figure out what we can maintain. They said the plumbing was bad. We offered a cleat washing station. We've offered netting to go over so no one gets hit by a foul ball. We've offered stuff and it just has not been done. And I played adult league softball there as well. So, I mean, it's not just kids, it is for adults, too. And it does, like Simon said, it is taxpayers that pay this. And I am frustrated because we have been told there's nothing that we can do about it. You know, like, oh, well, we we have the grant coming. And then it was, oh, we have the grant coming. Oh, we have it's always we have it coming. And then it was the concession stand was deemed unusable because the health department would not deem it usable. We did it. We went to the health department. There is a wash sink that needs done. That's the only thing that is wrong with that, you know, besides I guess the electricity now. But what I'm saying is if we could um, you know, help you do this in some way. Like we're not asking you to spend all the money on it, but at least get a time frame of when it's going to be done or when it's going to be started. And honestly, um, like you being able to use the complex is great, but I was a I did fields there for a while and I mean the city was like I they didn't even have to tell me what to do or where to go or how to do it. I we did it. My sister and I did it and they still were like, "Oh, no, like we

can't have you back. You you'll get 60 cents raised, but we asked for a little bit more because they wanted more out of us." So, I'm just asking for just some consideration for the kids in this community and the adults and what we have done and use us. And if we need a city employee down there in order to use us, then that's fine. But at least use something because everybody in this room right now is wanting this to be something for their kids to look forward to and have and bring revenue. I own three businesses in this town and I would love some revenue coming in from other people. Thank you.

All right. Is there anyone else in the audience who'd like to get up for public comment? Go ahead. Hi, my name is Morgan Hed. I am the treasurer for the recck league and also for the Panther Traveling Organization. Um, I just want to reiterate again, I we have come to the parks and recck department. We have offered help. I just want to reiterate that to you guys again. We have two 501c3 organizations. We're capable of getting grants. You know, we're capable of doing the footwork to try and get money in to help with the complex. Um, in the past, any offer we have made has been met with a lot of red tape. And I know that there's a lot that goes into city planning, some of those things. I just feel like every time we have tried to make a difference, we have been met with road block roadblocks that just end in a no. So, what we're wanting to see is some movement. So, if that's something that you guys can help with, that's what we're here looking for. We want to have a good relationship with the city. We want to have a good relationship with the parks and recck department because ultimately we have to work well together. We need them for field maintenance. We need them for scheduling. Um, we try to work well together. We just need some movement here. And that facility is very important to us. We have in the wreck league itself, we had eight softball teams. This year in the travel team, we have six softball teams. We have four softball fields to manage all of those teams in this area. If we lose those three fields, that is going to be devastating for both organizations. So, we're just we just need the help. Thank you. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Tiffany Cheney. Um, I am just a parent here tonight and a concerned citizen because I know that the softball fields, they have been neglected for several years and but softball is definitely something that's growing in this community. In fact, it's the fastest growing sport in the United States and these girls work their butts off on those fields. And yeah, our moni the travel organization, we have seven teams right now. The wreck, they have their teams. There's also two other travel teams that are made entirely of teenagers that have to use the Englehart field, which belongs to the school, just because there isn't enough fields. And the safety down at the softball complex is also another big concern. And there are certain things that we've brought to the city's attention that were never fixed. Two years ago, we were cleaning up the complex for a softball tournament, and there was a patch of mud where there should have been grass right next to the pavement that Rico actually slipped on, hit his head, and it's a wonder he didn't crack his skull open. Thank goodness he had a hat on. He definitely had a concussion. We brought that one one incident to the attention and it still looks the same way it does. Whenever we have a tournament down there now, we put a trash can over it to make sure nobody gets hurt. And I know that this is not just a recent thing. I know there's people in the past that have been part of softball organizations in this community that have went out, found the grants, and all they needed was a signature. They were wanting to get nets over the playground down there so small children would not get hit by a foul ball. That was all it needed was a signature and it was not done. So, this is more than just, you know, we're also creating revenue and opportunity for these girls because they go out there and they play their hearts out. And I've already bragged, actually, Dr. Randall, I bragged to you just a couple weeks ago about how amazing these girls are. I

didn't even know you were here. So, but these girls and their parents put the time and work on these fields. So, if you guys need help, if you just need manpower, it's here. This community wants something for these kids because we're out there every single day and these girls are out there every single day putting in the work for this and so we're just asking for you guys to just give us the signature so we can move forward. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Hi everyone. My name is Josh Cornett. I've been born and raised in this community and I grew up at the softball complex. I uh played down there from when I was a little kid, watched my dad and mom play down there. I remember some of the greatest times I ever had was there. And now I get to be a coach there. And it is a huge deal to at least 500 kids in our community to be able to use that complex as a safe place to play games, to have practices. We run practice every single night down there. The men's and women's organization, they play two nights a week down there. It is a place that our community gets to be together. The kids need it. Most of the kids around here need something. They need something to keep them out of trouble that I needed it. It saved my life multiple times and I would do anything I could to be a part of to help keep the complex going like and I feel like that everyone in here showed up because they would do the same thing. Whatever we got to do, let us know. If we got to find someone to write grants, I know people. We will write grants. But let's figure out a way to work together as a community. Keep the kids off the streets. Keep good people working together with the kids down there at the complex or anywhere with parts of our park and recck department. But let's work together as a community. This is it's bigger than just one of us or all of us. It's it is our kids and our youth. That is what our future is. The youth is our future, not retirement. It's our kids. That's what we need to be putting back into. the money should be going back into our kids. Thank you very much.

Thank you. All right. Uh we have time for a few more. Anyone else from the audience like to get up? Um otherwise. Okay. Go ahead.

Hello. My name is Tara Fay. I'm also one of the coaches for the Panthers organization. In 2002, the world lost a beautiful light named Nikia Butler. She was one of my best friends. She was an excellent athlete. She was a great student and she was a bright light in this world. I moved away from Oklahoma in my junior year. Niki and I had grown up playing sports together, softball and basketball, from the first grade through our junior year. Two years later, I returned home to learn that Nikia had been shot. She had dropped out of sports. She lost contact with most of her friends, gotten into drugs, was being sold in the streets. She went to a door to try to be saved and was shot. Two years of being out of a community that was supportive. I still 20 years later think about her constantly when I'm coaching these girls. We are their support. There are so many people in this community that that are there for these girls to make sure that they're doing the right things. They're learning how to, you know, sharpen their skills, yes, but to be good good human beings, to grow in confidence, to learn how to work on teams. This you have a a giant community willing to help and we're waiting and we're just asking for you to provide that support as well. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Well, anyone else from the audience? Okay. Uh, I just want to thank you all for coming here. It can be intimidating to to get on the podium and share your thoughts, but uh really appreciate your engagement and sharing this concern with us. Um, so we'll have followup. Okay. Thank you. Okay. We're going to close this public participation section and move on to four presentations uh on our agenda. 4 A is donation of art to the city of Cortez by artist Karen Christristen, presented by um Car Carla Odell, our court administrator. And I'd like to invite um city council on the floor to present our award to the artist. me. Okay. Right here. Okay. So, mayor council, I would like to talk about local artist Karen Christristen. She has lived in our

Cortez area for 25 years. She is the owner of Sky Art Studio and Gallery, currently located at Indian Camp Ranch. According to Karen, her mother knew from a young age that Karen would one day be an artist. She comes from a family of talented individuals. Some of her siblings are musicians and her mother was an artist as well. Her brother created the music for the TV show Dallas. Karen is most famous for painting backdrops for movie stars in Hollywood. She created paintings for the summer Olympics and was even on the cover of Time magazine. She created the spectacular sky art at the Venetian Casino and Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, ne Nevada. Although she has created various types of paintings, her passion is sky art. Karen is donating one of her creations to the city of Cortez. It is titled The Red Sunset. The painting was created in 1992 while she was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a client to use in a TV commercial. The painting is 7 feet by 11 feet. It is the largest painting she created on canvas. The red sunset painting is now hanging at the back of the municipal courtroom where it can be viewed and enjoyed by the community. We collectively thank Karen Kristen for her generous donation.

It's very nice. It's beautiful. Okay. And we just need a motion for the signature on the certificate we gave her. I'd like to make a motion that we uh have the mayor do a belated signature on the award given to our artist. Second.

Okay. I second. Motion made by uh Spruel and seconded by Randall. Lewis, yes. Randall, yes. Spruel, yes. Keith Offer, yes. Medina, yes. Thank you. So, when each of you go to court, you can admire the beautiful art. Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to 4B on our agenda. A presentation of intergovernmental agreement with the town of Dolores for waste and recycling services. Um, this will be presented by Casey Simpson, our interim director of public works and Colby.

There we are. Good evening, Madame Mayor and Council. Thanks for hearing us uh present about this awesome opportunity. Do Do you mind pushing the mic closer to you just to make sure it gets picked up on the recording? Thanks, Casey. Yeah, sorry. Um, thanks for having us tonight and uh hearing about this awesome opportunity.

Hello. So, good evening. Um, here to speak a little bit uh to the proposed uh IGA with Dolores uh with the satellite opportunity um that we have before us. Go ahead and next slide. Uh we got a background of the proposed IGA. Um this this basically stems around funding mechanisms in the state of Colorado changing. Um used to uh through different funding mechanisms that would come through uh the landfill uh tip fees. Uh you'd be able to apply for funds and that's what operated some of these drop off sites around the county. uh that funding mechanism is going away and now with EPR that's in producer responsibility program um we've got a different funding mechanism uh that's that's coming up for haulers uh in the area uh this would you know potentially produce you know the curbside trash free recycling services that would be um reimbursed through the EPR program specialty item disposal um all of the services proposed would be at a $2 rate above what Cortez citizens would serve. Um satellite refu and recycling is is pretty uh uh important to look at that that portion. Um Cortez would still see primacy as far as operations are concerned. The satellite operation would just be managed by Cortez. Excellent. Um

I'm just going to take a moment to expand on the idea of free real quick. Um, the county outside of Cortez has had free drop off recycling locations in Manus, the Dolores public lands office, Dolores uh, and Manus uh, school district site and those were paid for like Colby said based on the weight of those materials at the landfill. Uh the new mechanism refunds haulers, those who haul the materials uh for those expenses to the landfill. Um and the free element is if the service is as easy as trash service at uh the resident's door. Um, I think it is important to note in this moment that Cortez has been a leader in providing this type of service for many, many years and other communities seek out Colby and Cortez um, ideas on how to do it as well as we do it. So, this would be sharing something that Cortez already does really well with another local community.

Benefits to Dolores and surrounding communities. So, like Casey was expanding upon, that's that's going to provide convenient curbside service for refuse and recycling services uh rather than just having drops drop off sites. Drop off site, they're going to be limited, but not necessarily going away in some capacity. Cortez will remain uh with its drop off site at 110 West Progress Circle. Uh we're not going to be getting rid of that. Um curbside though will be expanding to um to the population. Uh this is, you know, it addresses a lot of different things such as the illegal dumping issues that we've seen uh whenever we uh had an ordinance uh 1187 in 2014 uh with convenience dumping uh that was often referenced uh by outside parties coming into Cortez, dropping off materials. Um, expanding our ability to accept material will make sure that we're actually getting it at the source versus having to pick it up uh, you know, in in some back alley somewhere. Direct benefits to the city of Cortez. U, fleet modernization is a huge one. We've been on this journey for a few years now. Uh, you've probably seen in the numbers, it's it's actually produced a great benefit to our workers. our workers actually have the tools to get the job done. Uh we don't have uh the uh the injuries that we used to see. Um giving them those opportunities also provides the opportunity to uh uh have a skilled labor force um that they actually have a a career ladder that they can work up and then expanding upon that. Um, you know, it'll take a little bit of a transition, but we can actually speed up the the transition uh to getting those single front load uh style

trash trucks for our commercial operations. And then of course potentially, you know, depending on how things roll out, um having a side load system on a uh dedicated single stream recycling route. I would, you know, to point out the uh the the fourth bullet there. This continues to position Cortez as a regional leader of waste and recycling services. Um Colby was at the forefront of signing up for the reimbursements for the EPR program. I received the email notification, so I know that to be the case. Um and this this keeps us at the front as a leader um in setting the stage for how best to recycle cleanly uh in the region. Landfill correlated benefits. Um this is also going to have the opportunity uh to increase the landfill lifespan uh with Monizuma County landfill. Last time I spoke with Mel Garman, the uh uh manager, uh he stated that we had just a little over 20 years. Um just to give you an idea of of what uh what it takes to do that with a landfill, um a 20-y year life expectancy is not that that long. It takes about 10 years time just to permit a new landfill. So, anything that we can do to reduce the volume of waste and material going into the landfill will actually increase the landfill's lifespan. Uh that's going to correlate to uh you know, better budget for the city as far as our disposal goes and better budgeting for the county as far as not having to map out new sales. Uh the um I not too long ago I was I was able to take a cohort down to Monizuma

County landfill and show them a huge hole in the ground. That hole was, you know,$1 to3 million in order to build that. That's that's pretty massive. Um anything that we can do to mitigate that, anything that we can do to slow that down will help us as well as our partners in the area. all those all the the the landfill operates as a um an enterprise as well. So all any costs at the landfill are passed on to the the people who use the landfill. So if we can mitigate those costs, we see standardizing recycling mixes for the region. This is a huge one right here. So, if you've been with me long enough, you understand that we've actually seen um a lot of different opportunities to jump on to single stream, to jump on to uh different uh recycling methods in this town. Um 20 years ago it was kind of seemed like we were backwards and then China, you know, uh stopped with first it was the green fence and then it was the green wall whenever they uh reduce the amount of um contamination rate that they were willing to accept in order to accept recyclables into their markets. Now we always tried to participate in markets that were state side and it kind of sheltered us. So we went from looking a little backwards to actually looking like we were at the forefront with our source separated when other markets and other states were shutting down their programs. We were actually able to continue to uh recycle and to keep on going with our diversion rates. Um what we have right now uh with this this possibility is to um actually expand upon that. So um it might seem sudden but it's not. It's been 20 years in the making. We've been looking for a really

good um place that we can get standardized highquality material outside of of our markets. So developing that local market, developing the in markets and making sure that we can actually u kind of create a a circular economy which fits uh you know handinand glove with what the state would like to see. All recyclables when separate well all recyclables in general are considered a commodity. Uh the different types of recyclables are worth different amounts at market depending on the remanufacturing sites and where those are in the world. So what Kobe he's he's always in the industry so I have to sometimes break down what he's saying in that the cleaner we make our recycling the more it's worth. And the more it's worth if the landfill selling it means that that uh rebate comes back to making our rates at the landfill cheaper.

Correct. If you take waste to the landfill, it's one price. If you take recyclables to the landfill, it's a different price and in some cases a refund depending on the market value.

Yes. What we try to maintain is high quality materials that are actually desirable within the market. Um, what we want to veer away from is forced markets where you take it no matter what it is and we'll figure out a use for it down the line. We try to to not participate in that as much as possible. Exemplifying Cortez efforts in community benefits. Uh well the community benefits whenever we have a standardized process it's actually going to benefit Cortez as well as the surrounding area. Uh you know of course providing environmental stewardship is is a huge thing for us in this area. Um the direct benefits cleaner streets reduce waste lower health risks of course educational outreach is is a huge one. um developing something, you know, we've got this geographical isolation with Cortez and some of the surrounding communities. It means to some extent we we haven't been able to participate at the same rate as some other communities in Colorado whenever they're passing these laws. It hasn't necessarily been a bad thing. It also means that we've been able to kind of take it in, soak it in, and adjust to what we would like to build that actually makes sense for our community. It is, I think, an affirmation for the Cortez program that other um communities want us to come in and help them out and provide a um a reliable um and standardized service. additional benefits, regional growth. Uh, of course, you know, this is going

to foster a lot of regional uh cooperation, and that's kind of what we're looking for. Uh, we don't want to necessarily be the only one. It it feels nice sometimes, and it feels nice when your efforts are validated over the years. Um, but it also would be nice to have more people kind of pulling in the same direction. Uh, and if we can showcase that, of course, like we're uh trying to with the state of Colorado, then that's going to position the city of Cortez to get more funding, it's going to uplift potential future collaborations. There's grant opportunities right now. Um, there's one uh capacity grant that the county is working on for a transfer station. There's there's different different aspects that um are are becoming viable because of all these different operations. Uh just a little fun fact here at the bottom. I I got a couple of them actually. Um, just so you're kind of if you're wondering where Cortez is in the grand scheme of things for our area with Monizuma County Landfill, over 90% of all the cardboard that goes through Monizuma County Landfills processing and they accept everybody's over 90% of that comes through the city of Cortez's program. That amounts to about a semi-truck a month. Uh, another one. I mean, if you'd like another one. Last year for 2025. All right. This is a type one plastic bottle. Okay. It takes about 20 of these to make a pound depending on the thickness, the film, viscosity, all that kind of stuff. But on average, 20 bottles to make one pound. Last year, city of Cortez, we recycled over 27,000 pounds of just type one plastics. That's That's pretty good. You know, we're doing pretty good.

We should probably be drinking out of water, reusable water bottles, Colby. Yeah. Well, I needed a a prop.

A prop for sure. Financial impact analysis. So the financial impacts we were looking at um you know generalized what is it going to take uh to get things up and running um for Dolores should uh we we decide to to to broach the subject further. Um the city would incur it would be very minimal. Um they would actually be $2 higher than what uh city of Cortez residents pay. A lot of that has to do with uh you know their their zip code, their area code, where they're at. Um and you know we're looking at mostly in the in the line of bins, containers, and a little bit of labor uh right at 10 to 15,000 net minimal effect. Um long-term benefits, state funding reimbursements. Of course, this opens up a variety of funding opportunities that we're going to be able to get back from the state as well as the uh the additional benefits of onboarding those customers. So, whenever we're onboarding the customers, that's going to reduce uh the uh the amount that we're actually going to see go out. Um but as as far as the the uh net shortterm 10 to 15 net long-term you know within two years we should be fully reimbursed and we're looking at maybe $10 to $50,000 after 2026 whenever we start getting those funds back to us from the state programs conclusion and vision uh Dolores IGA creates a win-winwin so everything that we try to devel velop, you know, we want to we want to bring it to you as polished as we can. Um there's a lot of organizations in Southwest Colorado uh that are

pulling in the same direction. Um there's a lot of um eyes on our system and what we're doing. Um and it's it's been great. We've had a lot of different uh cities reach out to us uh just within the recent years, you know, not not just to to provide service, but to to provide some sort of consultation on how they can start their own uh programs. It's it's been really good. Uh the vision for Southwest Colorado uh would be to actually um have a u a system in place where we wouldn't have to worry about the market volatility where we can set it and forget it, you know, as as much as you can. uh to actually have a service that's that's uh very uh uh reliable and would continue to grow no matter what. Um you might have seen we did a u a 3-w weekek trial run on our material uh for single stream. Um whenever we brought that material in we had just it was about nine days. is we had a little over 9 and a half tons just from residential stops and we had a very high grade on that material. We want to reflect our residents and what they the effort that they put out with the same type of effort.

Any questions? I just want to like clear up the the whole thing. So, okay. So, we're um potentially going to go into an agreement with the town of Dolores to pick up their trash, you know, their refues and recycling. Correct. And the benefit would be not only like revenue for us because we'd be doing their trash as well, but um having this new recycling program that we're going to have, we would they would have it as well. Correct. Correct. Correct. Which is eligible for the rebates. Okay. Which is free for the resident, but we get paid back for. Okay, I'll let others ask questions.

I my question is do we currently have the equipment and staff to uh provide this to Dolores? So the way that we've been modernizing our fleet, we've, you know, come across um uh some good efficiencies. So we just actually have our second side load truck is now active. You guys might have seen it out in the out in the community. Bin Reaper is the name just in case you're wondering. Um but yes, so we actually have at current levels uh the ability to start uh this program. um you know depending on the size and the scope and how much uh you know it would grow it would it would give us the chance to um put our feet in move forward with it and then we can address it from there. Um we're we're very um uh capable at at current staff levels to accept uh the moderate growth that would come initially and then we could uh reassess that that growth um and the needs that would come from that. But it would be a satellite service is what we're looking at. we're looking at for it to be a self- sustaining uh service um and kind of pave the way, you know, so it would it would help us solidify the type of material that we're that we're taking not only in Cortez but in Dolores, the surrounding area. The more people that we have uh doing the exact same type of collection, the less contamination we have, the easier it is to move things to market. Um yes. Does that answer your question?

Somewhat. I I'm I'm concerned that we we have a $2 increase over what correct. And I guess I just need assurance that that's covering our our cost to Yes. For us and I haven't heard that yet. That's I I just want to make sure we don't get into something out. Oh, now we need an additional uh you know piece of equipment. We need three additional staff and and you know what you said, we've got a cost of about 10 to$15,000 currently that we're expecting,

but I just need reassurance on that $2 increase.

Yes. So the the $2 increase is going to you got the onboarding and then you have the latency, right? So um it it'll take a little bit of time from the time that you onboard customers to the time you do route development. All that kind of takes a little bit of time to get things going. Um the cost will be self- sustaining uh at at you know the the point that we're looking at fully recouping those costs. That's that's the initial cost and that's just a number to give you an idea of what it's going to cost. The um actual bins that we're utilizing that's bins that we already have. So those are going to be used for Cortez residents. Those are going to be used. It's something that I can already work into the mix because it's a it's a small manageable number. You know, city of Cortez, we're over 9,000 residents. Dolores is around 500. You know, it's it's a very small amount compared to what we're servicing right now. onboarding uh you know 100 customers or something of that nature is very uh easy for us uh to incorporate that into what we're already doing. And Bill, I want to um further explain that um or council member Lewis um the enterp the the Cortez uh refuge and recycling enterprise has been functioning um in the black with recycling services being a full debit and the new plan from the state is going to rebate all of the costs for recycling. So the more that we recycle, the more that it positively benefits KBY's balance sheets. So really the opportunity here is very much connected to that new state program to cover the hauling costs um in a way not I mean yeah 9,000 verse 500 we're going to see

way more benefits from the larger population in Cortez but um our initial analysis shows that With that benefit in place, it'll easily cover all those costs. Let the state pay out, which that's why this is the viability where the viability that we've the the fact that it's viable right now is dependent upon the state's program, which has yet to go into effect, but we're pretty confident and the state has approved the program. So, we're pretty confident it's for sure.

They've approved the first draft of the of the program. uh they've opened it up. We've passed our first phase um and we're entering our second phase of that program in um it will be February 19th uh 2026. Okay. I I've got one more question, but I'll pass on pass that on because I see other members have questions and then I can come back. So, our slideshow is on the benefits of this program, but I missed the slide that says, "What are the pitfalls?" Pitfalls of the program. Yeah.

Well, I mean, there could be some pitfalls. Um, as far as what I'm looking at, you know, what what potential pitfalls, uh, you're looking at a a different region, right? Um, you're looking at more snow than we typically see in Cortez. Okay. um the the best thing that I can do from a operations standpoint and to mitigate um how we how we go about those those potential pitfalls is to make sure that I'm I'm hiring the best personnel that I can. Um one individual that we actually u hired not long ago um ran the Dolores routes. Well, that gives us some some of those um uh needed knowledge and and you know the the information that he has on on unloading or you know setting up some of those services, how how best to to run this route, when to maybe uh u do a delay if there should be a delay in in service there because they do see you know different different levels of snow, things of that nature. But for me, it's more or less an operational standpoint and u you know as far as like potential pitfall and um maybe the uh the distance to market distance to market we made that up with the um the overall cost is going to be higher than what a Cortez resident is going to see. Um, and then operations. It'll just take a little bit of time to kind of flesh out a new area um, and figure out the best way to to run those operations.

I would say one one other pitfall that we've already looked at would be volume. If we didn't have enough customers or potential customers in Dolores, it wouldn't necessarily make it worth it to go over there. Um so when we did this we did the initial poll uh we wanted to see approaching 100 businesses andor residents interested in the program so that it was worth driving over the hill. Uh we have um we've reached that goal. So, um, that would be an issue I could see. Uh, I do I mean I think weather and they don't they've got a different public works department plowing their snow and they do it different and there's just there's some more variables in that in that

Well, I'm sure you guys are going to look into this, but I just want to make sure that the city of Cortez doesn't subsidize the town of Dolores on their waist. Uh, we we're driving over there to pick up their trash and we slide off the road and we've now wrecked a truck. we have to get a new truck, yada yada yada. And those things happen and it's going to have to be built into your contract because we can't afford to pay for their uh trash pickup.

And one more question from me. How does this hurt the individual that individual company? Are are we interfering with uh any kind of a brewing waste or any of those uh outfits that pick up trash? are are we taking away from the um consumer that may be able to do the same thing we're doing?

So Dolores whenever they reached out to us, it's because they reached out to us because they identified a service gap that they had in their community that they wanted to address and they saw that we had the means to actually address that. Um as far as the Dolores market would be concerned, this would be an open market. Uh so it's only individuals that want to participate uh with the satellite service. So our code enforcement um things that we see for the city of Cortez um things that we wear our other hats for would not apply uh to the town of Dolores. It would be generally just a service negotiation. Um and it would be open to the individuals that want to do it. Um, we've had a lot of interest from the community and we've had a lot of interest from um the town and businesses uh to to go over the hill and to figure out how to help them through shared services um to move this forward. Now, the state um EPR bill that is going to be open to all individuals, all haulers, excuse me. um whenever we were looking at this and and throughout the years I've I've I've talked with a lot of different haulers about trying to maybe get u on board with with some of the the different things that we're doing because like I said if we're if we're all collecting the same material and we're all u you know enforcing the same market and we have the same criteria then it's going to be easier for us as a whole in this area to to continue to recycle. cycle to continue to divert waste. Um, with the Dolores market, I I would say it's it's generally just because there is a

service gap. They identified it. They came to us to help fill that.

First of all, I' I'd like to say that I agree with um Mr. Sprule's summation or his point about us not being in competition with private individuals as a government entity. Given that I'm hearing from you that it's okay. I've heard it from different levels that this is an okay thing for us to do even when it first came up and we and as a council received a letter from an individual that was concerned about this. So going forward, that aside, I would say that I'm really pleased that we're looking forward in this and that we're maneuvering and that we're looking ahead and that we're getting a different take on things, a different way to skin a cat, if you would,

uh by not being just reacting, but being proactive with this program. Um I do have a question um uh regarding the single stream recycling. We did our trial um you mentioned two or three times about how the single stream it depends uh our reimbursement depends on the quality of the material that we get. Oh, go ahead. Uh but that's sort of my next question is how do we guarantee that we're going to be getting good quality out of what someone's putting in a recycle bin and the like. So, if you could just expound on that a little bit.

Sure. Um, so first and foremost, the current program, the way that the markets work, um, you have to ensure a clean, viable product in order to uh, uh, actually get that material to market. We have very clean products with the city of Cortez Recycling. That comes from our our first line of defense is the individuals that work for us. they will actually deem whether it's acceptable or not. Okay? So, if it's not acceptable, then it's left for the resident. We have conversation starters. We work with the resident to actually get those um get those situations taken care of and educate them on how they can actually do better. Uh with the EPR program, now that is going to change. So, we are no longer going to see reimbursements from the material and the material quality. We want to maintain material quality because we know that it's easier to move clean viable materials to market than it is, you know, trashed material. So, we don't want to play the tonnage game. But the EPR program is actually going to reimburse us directly for every uh citizen that we're actually serving

there. The state's doing this by charging the producers of that recyclable commodity on the front end. So if I manufacture a cardboard product, I pay a sir charge to the state of Colorado.

And that helps um well, the idea behind that plan is to make it so that we can collect more recycling. Um tonnage or yeah, it is a tonnage game. But the state wants to collect more recycling. So we they want to they want to remove the barriers that we were facing to the single stream option which was the cleanliness. So while our product is very clean and we hope it stays clean that is not our funding is not contingent upon the cleanliness anymore because of that searchcharge to producers.

I just do want to commend that we're jumping out. It seems to me like we're doing all the right things or that you have done all the right things as a to look forward in this and to move us forward and we've been trying to be very forward thinking. Um, and this is, you know, like I said, it's might seem like it's it's sudden with all the news that's that's kind of gone around it, but it's it's been a long time in the making. uh we've been very slow and methodical in moving forward and creating partnerships, viable partnerships uh in Southwest Colorado.

Well, and I just want to remind the public um and council that four years ago, our refuge department was extremely costly and not run well. And so we looked to get rid of it and actually let the private market take it over. And there was huge backlash on that from the public. So we pivoted and we decided to improve it and we've improved it so much that other communities want to be a part of it. Um you know so we've gone both ways and there's there's always going to be push back on either approach but um I think you guys have done a great job. My concern is uh bearproof um trash cans and how we're going to address that for Dolores who gets um you know is closer to the forest and gets uh bears in their community.

Right. So, you know, bearproof containers are actually by ordinance in Dolores. Um council might not be aware, but uh just in case you're not, we actually do have bearroof containers and we do have a bear proof um program. Uh we see a lot of bear activity over by Andrew Lane Canyon. We've seen a lot recently. Um there's, you know, Arrowhead. There's there's been quite a few areas that we've actually seen, especially the last couple of years. Uh bear containers. I work with as far as Cortez. I work with uh residents on timing and then I work with them, you know, whether or not they need it. with uh Dolores, they they would need the uh the bear proof containers and that's something that we already have and would be able to provide.

Great. And then I think the um the landfill is a huge concern. You know, years ago when I was in the GIS department for the county, we helped GPS a new cell and I think the life of that cell was drastically shorter than anticipated. So, anything we can do to um expand the life of the landfill,

the cohort that I took out not too long ago and and showed that huge hole in the ground, they cost a lot of money. Um you'd be surprised how full it is right now. I mean, it fills up really fast and that is something, you know, I mean, I think I'd rather look at the meases than look at, you know, a mountain of trash that we can ski down. So, it it's nice to be able to um move the conversation forward in such a way uh where we can increase the diversion not just for Cortez residents but for local communities and that's going to benefit Cortez residents of course because we're going to solidify how we do it in this region. Sorry. I just wanted to say I really appreciate the thoroughess and your thoughtfulness in the entire presentation and the fact that you guys were able to really address any concerns that people on city council have. Um, I feel really confident that you've you've done that and done your research and it was very smart to um hold the citizens of the businesses and to see if on the base level that um support existed. So I I'm in support of it. If there are there any other questions for these guys at all? Yes, sir. Um I just wanted to add that um we we do have the cap full capacity to disagregate the costs of Dolores from Cortez and you guys will see all those so there wouldn't be any concern of um coming it's a pun but co-mingling the uh the costs between the two.

Good one. With that, I'd like to make a motion that council authorize the city staff to appair an intergovernmental agreement with the town of Dolores for waste and recycling services to be presented to the city council for ratification at a future meeting. Second motion made by Keoffer and seconded by Randall Lewis. Yes. Spruel. Yes. Keoffer. Yes. Randall, yes. Medina,

yes. And so just to be clear for the for the audience, this we made a motion for them to prepare an IGA, an intergovernmental agreement. Once that is in a final draft mode, it'll come back to to us and the community will have the opportunity to um com comment on it. So, okay. Thank you guys. We're going to move on to number five on our agenda. Public hearings. We have none tonight. So, number six, unfinished business. We have none. So we'll move on to number seven on our agenda. New business 7 A is ordinance number 1359 series 26. This is the first reading of an ordinance to affect Taber refund of a portion of family recreation center sales tax revenue. The ordinance would amend section 9-26 of chapter 9, article 2, division 3 of the Cortez city code by enacting subsection C in order to affect a TABER refund of a portion of the family recreation center sales tax revenue that was collected by the city from 2022 to 2025. Uh, presented by Drew Sanders, city manager.

Yes, good evening, mayor and council. Uh, thank you for that introduction on this. Yes, this is indeed uh the presentation of for first reading of this ordinance uh to affect this refund for the recreation center sales tax. And once that comes up, there we go. No, no signal detected. Unplugging and plugging back in. Okay, we're waiting on a presentation. Technical difficulty.

Well, I will just uh verbally start this, mayor. So, I just wanted to recap for the community about uh the uh past on this and the history. So, the overcollection issue was discovered this past September as we've already announced to the community. It was a threepart part process to correct that. Uh and this is actually step three of that process. So back in October, November, we did step one where uh we had to correct the problem immediately. We went ahead and uh got ordinance 1350 passed that actually corrected that sales tax overcolction starting at January 1 this year.

Then we needed to determine how much was actually overcolcted. So there was an analysis portion of this. Uh our finance director uh Randy Bailey did an excellent job of pinpointing all those funds and then at that point we had to weigh our options and establish a refund plan. Then we uh set the refund plan in motion. That's what we're doing now with this ordinance and then seeking passage of this. So just as a reminder uh about the overcolcted funds, we are uh we could still tell you where every penny uh was collected for it and accounted for and we have still had this collected or uh confirmed by our external audits and expect that to continue for the fiscal year 2025 audit. So how much was overolcted? We talked about this last time, but all we had was an estimate for fiscal year 25. Now we can uh officially announce to you that it was $2,850,000 or $850,958 exactly that was overcolcted. So here's our plan. This ordinance authorizes a sales tax holiday from October 18th through December 31st. This time frame was thought out specifically so that our tourist season was over and that this would have maximum benefit for our locals. Also, it's timed around the uh the holiday season. So, we're hoping that'll be an added benefit for our businesses. Our uh estimate was that it would take 70 days to do this refund. We are shooting for 75 days in order to make sure that there's a full refund there. We would over or like to slightly overshoot it. it rather than undershoot it. Also, other factors uh economic factors and so on that we don't have any control over could be in play. And so, we're just trying to take the safe bet

by going for 75 days. With that being said, council, I uh would like to submit this to you for first reading and of course uh set it for public hearing and final passage perhaps. Thank you, council. Any questions? I guess can I just clarify I guess for the audience uh since actually refunding tax money to individuals trying to track who spent what in those three years the idea then is to lower our tax so that we're collecting the diff you know less um you know two 2 million 800 million less. Um and so that's going to be over a three almost three-month period. Um, so that would be the time to to buy things, save money on sales tax and kind of make up that difference of what of the overcolction.

And thank you, mayor. And just to be clear, this is only city sales tax. So there will still be sales tax, but it will be state sales tax, not city sales tax.

Okay. And then uh this is just first reading. When we do the second reading, we'll have public hearing portion. Um, if there are no further questions by council, madame mayor, I move that council approve on first reading ordinance 1359, series 2026, an ordinance amending section 9-26 of chapter 9, article two, division 3 of the Cortez city code by enacting subsection C in order to affect a TABER refund of a portion of the family recreation center sales tax revenue that was collected by the city in 2022 through 2025 and set for a second reading and public hearing on February 24th, 2026.

Second motion made by Lewis and seconded by Keoffer. Randall, yes. Spruel, yes. Keoffer, yes. Lewis, yes. Dena, yes. Okay, we're going to move on to 7B on our agenda. Ordinance number 1356, series 2026. Uh, council will take into consideration on first reading an ordinance approving a 40-year land lease agreement with Cortez Real Estate Holding Company LLC for private hanger development at the Cortez Municipal Air Airport. Presented by Jeremy Patton, our airport director.

Good evening, Madame Mayor, City Council. Um, in your packet in front of you, you have a draft lease agreement for this uh item. You also have a hanger south nine or sorry, it should be north nine exhibit um for this entity and then the the draft ordinance. Um, so for background information, uh, we've received an inquiry from Cortez Real Estate Holding Company. Um, we have been in communication with the with the owner of this for several years. He's had a plane at the at the airport for over probably 15 years. Um but just recently um the last year or so he's getting more serious about it and then um we've contacted all the you know previous names ahead of him. They are either not ready they want to build something larger waiting on the south apron expansion um and so he came to us ready with plans and in the last 6 months was being you know taking diligent steps to uh to get those proposals to us. Um the airport currently has room for one more hanger on that north end. We just did a private hanger, as you know, last year. Um, that's almost complete in construction. They're waiting on the apron uh concrete. Weather's not great right now. So, we'll have that one done, and then we'll move into this one hopefully in March. Um, the proposed lot will allow for this hanger and apron access to the taxiway Bravo, which is parallel to the main taxiway and has access to the airport for this entity. Uh, the proposed building is a 70 foot by 80 foot totaling 5600 ft. and the land area around it, including all the easements that our current lease agreement requires, 20 ft off the west end and then 12 1/2 ft off off each side, keeps the building separated by 25 ft, totals 9,500 square feet. Um, again, reference the aerial photograph. Um, and if you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer those. The fiscal impact of the airport u from from March to December this year at a rate of 45 cents a square foot is our current lease rate. We did not increase it this year because inflation is trending downward and and we we keep the rate where it was. Um we

looking at $3,2625 for the remainder of the year moving forward um at that rate. $4,275 for an annual lease rate and then subsequent annual lease rates as normally, you know, would be applied uh may be adjusted by CPI and that's a four-year average of CPI, not a current year. So, um, with that, staff's recommending that council approve on first reading ordinance 1356 series 2026, an ordinance approving a 40-year land lease between the city of Cortez and Cortez Real Estate Holding Company LLC for the purpose of hangar construction on hangar lot 9, and set the ordinance for second reading and public hearing on February 24th, 2026. Barring any questions? Not really.

I I have no questions, but it's fantastic to see uh business picking up there and and that development of the airport.

Any questions? See, seeing none, I will move that city council approve on first reading ordinance number 1356, series 2026, an ordinance approving a 40-year land lease agreement between the city of Cortez and Cortez Real Estate Holding Company LLC for the purpose of Hangar Construction on Hangar Lot N9 and set the ordinance for second reading and public hearing on February 24th, 2026. Second motion made by Lewis and seconded by Keoffer. Randall, yes. Lewis, yes. Brule, yes. Keoffer, yes. Medina, yes.

Thank you, council. And on the title of that exhibit is incorrect, but the file is correct, but I'll make sure to fix that title for the second reading. Thank you. Yep. Appreciate that.

Yep. Okay, we're going to move on to 7 C on our agenda. Resolution number six, series 2026. Uh resolution authorizing purchase and authorizing the city manager to execute any and all documents and pay any fees and costs necessary to complete the closing on the purchase of real property known as the Empire Electric Building located at 801 North Broadway, Cortez, Colorado. Presented by Patrick Coleman, our city attorney. Thank you, Madame Mayor and Council. If you'll recall, back in July, council approved a contract to buy and sell real estate uh authorizing the or allowing the city to enter into the purchase of the Empire Electric building. Uh we are two days away from closing and the title company had one requirement that being this resolution to be sure that uh the city manager was authorized to spend the money and sign the documents. And so that is the purpose of this resolution. And uh uh with that I'll accept any questions. I think that authorization makes sense and is good record keeping.

Yes. Has the building evacu or you know have they moved building then because I know their timeline was around February Casey. Yes, I believe they have. Okay. And it's been built building inspections involving fire inspections, etc.

Great. Madame Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that council approve resolution number six, series 2026, a resolution authorizing the purchase and authorizing the city manager to execute any and all documents and pay any fees and costs necessary to complete the purchase of the real property known as the Empire Electric Building located at 801 North Broadway, Cortez, Colorado. Second. Motion made by Keoffer and seconded by Lewis Spruel. Yes. Keefer, yes. Randall Lewis, yes. Yes.

Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to 7D on our agenda. Local planning capacity supplemental grant funds. Uh the city of Cortez is qualified to request a 50,000 LPC grant supplemental for early adoption of the expedited fasttrack review of affordable housing development applications. So Dola, the Department of Local Affairs requires a letter requesting the grant fund and signed by the mayor. So this is presented by Jason Armstrong, our interim community and economic development director.

Evening council, madame mayor. Um, as you mentioned, uh this is the final step uh that uh the city needs to take in order to receive a $50,000 grant and supplemental bonus. Um, a little bit of background on this. Um the uh city received the local planning capacity grant um in 2024 um and we used that to procure a uh affordable housing coordinator uh contract role for the city. Um and uh in order for us to remain compliant with Proposition 123 uh which opens up the city for grants and um other funding programs through the state for affordable housing um we are required to adopt fasttrack expedited review of affordable housing projects. What that really means uh is that uh we need to take a look at those and come to some sort of conclusion on whether approve or deny them within 90 days of receiving them if in fact it meets our definition of affordable housing. Um so uh we are ready to move forward with that. Uh we did all the work uh in November of 2025 with council uh to approve the new code language. um staff put that information into the uh DOA compliance portal and this is our final step. Um so uh the community economic development department requests the mayor sign the letter and we'll get that submitted and um we'll receive that supplemental fund. And with that I'll take some questions if you have any. No, I I do want to say Jason, I I think this is uh

excuse me, it's going to be very beneficial with uh assisting with the Seventh Street project. Yes, sir. So, um,

if we have no more comment, I move that city council authorize the mayor to sign a letter to the Department of Local Affairs requesting supplementary grant funds of $50,000 that will support the extension of the contracted housing coordinator position with the city. Second motion made by Spruel and seconded by Randall Keoffer. Yes. Spruel. Yes, Lewis. Yes, Randall. Yes, Medina. Yes.

Okay, we're going to move on to 7E on our agenda. Equipment purchase for city street cleaning division. Uh the city public works staff is presenting bids and requesting council to approve a lease on a new street sweeper that better meets the needs of the department, simplifies operation, and lowers service and maintenance costs, and will help the city adhere to industry best practices. Presented by Casey Simpson. Simpson, our dire interimm director of public works.

Yeah, thanks. Um, so, uh, currently we have two street sweepers. One's from 2018 and the other is a 2023. They're both Duvo brand. And these street sweepers have a Fiat engine and they are um incredibly difficult to maintain and somewhat difficult to operate. um since actually starting with the city, this was this was one of the first things that came across my desk and we've been working for about a year to find a um a solution for the the challenges that created a pretty stressful work environment for the operators and the mechanics um for specifically the the newer model DEVO machine that we have. We spent quite a bit of time gathering testimonials from other towns and cities of similar size and much larger about what um street sweeping uh types of sweepers, models, brands, etc. that other municipalities were using. And um based on that, we we developed a spec for the the type of sweeper that we would we would like to end up with and purchase. and that was a regenerative air sweeper. Um, and uh, initially the the bid that we put out was seeking an equivalent to a Timco 600BAH regenerative air sweeper and we got a number of bids on that. We got six bids. One was rejected because it didn't meet the equivalency standard. We got a number of other bids, some higher and some lower than the one we

decided on. And we decided on the one we did um because of the testimonials and the um geographic loca geographic location of the support um that we could get from uh Ferris Machinery in Grand Junction, Colorado should we have any issues with the newly acquired sweeper. Additionally, we've gone or we've decided and hope to go with a lease as opposed to uh a full purchase as it spreads the costs and risk over a number of years. Thus, I'm coming tonight to you with the request to uh lease a Schwarz A7 tornado regenerative air sweeper from Ferris Machinery in the amount of $388,310 with a 5-year lease. We went out and looked at a number of financing options and with the support of the finance department selected Clayton Holdings. um as the best lease option with the lowest interest rate. And so that purchase would be accompanied by that 5-year lease with an annual payment of $85,274. This money has been budgeted in the equipment fund this year. Open to questions.

On behalf of Councilman Dolbury, do you know what the life expectancy is on this piece of machinery? Um there's I would have to say in this moment I don't. But what I can say is that um a a street sweeper should last and should um according to the sales folks be um maintainable for at least a decade. And um and that just hasn't been the case with our current sweepers. And sometimes you get a lemon. And I think that that's kind of where we're at. Anecdotally, when looking, this might be too much information, but um I believe our the DEO that we're having the most problems with uh was purchased for somewhere in the neighborhood of $400,000. And because of the record with that specific machine in our region, um, we're going to struggle to get $50,000 in return off that machine after 3 years. So, I wish I could say I was an expert in street sweepers. What we what we do have is solid testimonials saying that these are great machines and a number of local municipalities and regional including Denver use the Schwarz the Schwarz um A7 tornado and they found it to be reliable and the the dealership um in Grand Junction works on these things and the um the computer software to work on these machines is not proprietary. One of the problems with the DEO is that they won't allow us to have the software to diagnose the machine that we have and it's thousands of dollars every time we have to bring someone from Denver to

work on it and there are they have known deaf issues as well and it it's created a very complicated scenario. Great question. Um, about how many hours do we use the street sweeper a year and does and how does that vary? I'm assuming varies quite quite a bit with winter versus summer and the like. We've had a winter that's been very mild. So, and I've seen the street sweeper out moving around quite a bit, much more than I would think normally. How do you look at that? I mean, what is Can you give us some education on that?

Yeah, absolutely. Um the street super use is um largely dependent or the the amount of um sand we put on the roads does imp during the winter months does impact street sweeping services. Uh fall leaves also impact um certainly detritis and trash impacts as well. Um there's a lot of um factors that kind of play with and around the weather in terms of street sweep street sweeping. You have seen an uptick recently because our both of the street sweepers were down for most of the summer months. Uh we didn't have an operator that could operate them and we didn't have um them up and running. They they both had mechanical issues and we were waiting on parts. the the dileos have Fiat engines and most of the parts come from Italy and we are on a at one point we had a three-month wait for a replacement part that we needed to get the sweeper up and running again. So, you're seeing more sweeping now because the weather's made it um we the the weather has allowed us to sweep this winter. Um, as far as how many hours a a week or a I mean, I would say right now we have the street sweepers scheduled. We have two street sweep operators and they are both working part-time sweeping and part-time in the streets division. We've reorganized that position so it's not solely a sweeping position so that we can um utilize those operators in other ways um to maximize the efficiency. I would say about I was talking to one of the operators um this summer and his his pre- dele routes were 40 hours a week. One person

40 hours a week was what the city used at that time. Right now we're looking at 20 hours a week for two different individuals because we want that quiver of staff. If one person gets sick or hurts themselves or some other factor makes it so they can't sweep, we wanted to be able to continue operations. Street sweeping is also um mandatory pre-work for chip sealing, micro um micro sealing and other um road imp or street improvement projects. So it's not just something you do to you know clean up seasonally, but you have to do it in preparation for all the major street projects that we do, painting, crack sealing, etc. Um yeah, great question.

So thanks for that. Um, so on the warranty uh with this it's stating it's 12 months or 1,200 hours. So are we looking at about a year on a warranty like that or less than 12 months or

um off I mean my my math off the top I can't produce but um I uh in talking with their salesperson, it's a one-year warranty on or I understood it to be a one-year warranty after purchase for um full support. And then they do offer free um or they will come visit us for free but the parts and such that we might have to uh purchase would not be covered after that point. I think that the lease is also strategic in that way that if you know, god forbid we get another lemon, it's not quite the same um hit as if we own it outright right off the bat. We're not fully invested. just have to so we we have two machines a 2018 and 202023 and the 208 works more effectively than the 202023 and that's why we're getting rid of it.

Yeah,

it just it's really concerning that we're getting rid of a machine that's not even three years old basically. But I understand there comes a point in time where you just need to cut your losses and and move on. So, if there are no further questions, um I move that city council accept the bid for Shores A7 Tornado from Ferris Machinery Company at its bid price of 388,310 and associated Clayton Holdings financing proposal of 85,274 to be paid annually and that the city manager be authorized to negotiate and sign a contract on behalf half of the city for this purpose.

Second motion made by Lewis and seconded by Keeoffer. Spruel, yes. Randall, yes. Keoffer, yes. Lewis, yes. Medina, yes. Okay, we're going to move on to 7F on our agenda. A letter of support for the Colorado Circular Circular Communities C3 recycling transfer station. So council will consider authorizing the mayor to sign a letter of support for Monizuma County's recycling transfer station grant request through Colorado circular economy presented by again by Casey Simpson, interimm director of public works.

Yes, thank you. Um so in connection with what uh Colby and I discussed earlier, the EPR programs rolling out and that we expect and the county expects to see an increased uh collection of recycled materials and the I guess best equipped organization to handle those recycling materials are is Phoenix Recycling and should that come to pass the um Monzuma County Landfill would need to build out a transfer station. They are seeking a grant to do this and this is a letter of support for that for the county to pursue the grant. um to build out a um that recycling transfer station. And Colby is best positioned to answer any questions on this topic here. Any questions? Okay. Um, looks like there's no questions. So, I move that the council authorize the mayor to sign the letter of support for Monizuma County's recycling transfer station grant request through Colorado Circular Economy.

Second. Motion made by Randall and seconded by SPR Lewis. Yes. Eoffer. Yes. Spruel. Yes. Randall, yes. Medina, yes. Thank you. Okay. Uh, we're going to move on to eight on our agenda, draft resolutions and ordinances. We have none. So, number nine on our agenda is the city attorney report.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. I I do have one item. If you're uh the city placed a road close sign on the south end of North Adam Street uh that's adjacent to City Market on the east side of City Market. And I won't go into the reasons behind the sign, but uh the neighbor, the property owner to the south filed a lawsuit back in October uh seeking to get the city to remove the sign. Uh that matter has now been set for trial and it's o August 17th and we've been ordered to attempt mediation by July 17th and so we're working on getting a mediator lined up to see if there are solutions short of removing the sign entirely. Uh the uh basically the the property owner believes they should have access onto North Adams Street and uh it it's a dead end. So the city is claiming that they don't have access and they they should have access onto the highway Main Street. So, in any event, August 17th is the trial date and mandatory mediation is on or before July 17. And I know council member Sproul had asked and thought it was quite a quite a delay up until now and so I just wanted to let you know that the wheels of justice turn slowly.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. Thank you, Pat. Okay, we're going to move on to number 10 on our agenda, city manager report.

Yes, mayor and council. I do have a report for you this evening. First item is we would like to recognize and thank the Fran Keiny family for the generous donation of $32,000 to the Cortez Animal Shelter. These funds are being managed by the Onward Foundation for unanticipated or emergency needs. Their contribution is most appreciated. Number two, three community outreach sessions will take pre place prior to the April 7th municipal election regarding the Cortez B uh charter ballot questions. These will beformational meetings for anyone who has questions regarding the ballot and the charter amendments. Information regarding the upcoming municipal election and the ballot questions is posted on the city of Cortez's website under elections. The tenative dates for these uh outreach meetings are Thursday, February 26th, Thursday, March 20 March 19th, and Thursday, March 26th. And then the times and locations will be announced at a later date with a little more information. And lastly, it is my pleasure to introduce our new library director who is with us here this evening, uh, Mr. Leroy Harris. Leroy, if you'll please stand. uh he just started today so uh he's still trying to figure out where the all important rooms are and uh you know so on but Leroy thanks for being here this evening uh he and his family are recloating to Cortez you can sit down I don't want to haze you uh recloating relo relocating to Cortez from New Minnesota uh with an impressive background and with over 11 years of experience as a professional librarian uh Mr. Harris will be an asset to our library and our community. Uh just please join me in welcoming him.

Welcome. Go ahead. Sorry. Okay. That you done? Okay. Uh we'll move on to uh 11 on our agenda. City council committee reports. 11A is the mayor's report and the workshop. Our workshop consisted of an executive session for our annual review of our city manager. Um, and then B 11B on our agenda is other board reports. So, we'll start with council member Randall.

So, the historic preservation board meeting occurred on February the 3 of this year. Um there are working hard on the heritage days which is scheduled for May 1st and second. So more to come on that. Number two, there's going to be a continuation of our uh original grant that went for the devel uh for the uh evaluation of the um um the conservation camp, the CCC camp that was south of town. That presentation is going there is going to be a presentation done on April the 7th at the Methodist church by Ryan who did that study. He's found some more information regarding that. So that's interesting. Uh the um Colorado Preservation Inc. puts on a conference in Denver that's called the Savings Places Conference. and they one of the highlights of that conference I'm told is that there is a um hall that's dedicated to stories about Colorado history and there are four stories at least that have been submitted that may be presented there one on our flume one on the CCC camp uh one on our cultural center and how it was developed and one on our Cortez 140year project which is going to coincide with the 250 of our nation. And last, it looks like the uh council is go, excuse me, the historic preservation board is looking at putting a presentation forward to the council here in May. So, we have that to look forward to.

Okay. Um I'll share about the arts committee. Uh so, we had our first meeting this month for the year. So board positions were selected, president and secretary and vice president or chair, sorry, and vice chair. Um then discussion about the events coming up for the year. Um we had a new board member join us. We we had appointed two new board members, but one of them couldn't make it. But I'm really excited about the new board member we appointed. Um and she just had really great questions and I think it's just going to be an asset to that board. So, I'm really excited about her. Um, and then our youth position is open on the arts committee. So, if anyone knows a high schooler who would be interested in the arts committee, please bring them our way. Great.

Madame Mayor, I'm happy to announce that the Park Recreation Forestry Advisory Board met on Thursday, February 5th, right here in Cortez City Hall. Um, I will say that there are some listening sessions for adjusted pool hours that are happening. We had no subcommittee reports. Those subcommittees are the forestry and the wreck user group. The wreck user group, however, will be meeting on February 12th. Um, there were no real big updates, no major updates on the park recreation um, master plan. Um, excitedly, our youth member recruitment efforts finally paid off and we had two students from Southwest Open School attend the meeting and we hope that they decide to um come back and um attend meetings on a regular basis. Um, we are excuse me uh there's we had a quick overview of the financial analysis projects. Those are four phases that have um very specific outcomes and so we'll look forward to those in the future. And tomorrow there will be interviews for the park superintendent. Um we put out uh on Indeed the um listing there were 97 applicants. Um 24 of them met the standards. We decided there were 14 who were viable. And I believe that we'll be interviewing six of them tomorrow, including some folks who are local. Um, and that's about all. All right. Thank you. Okay. We'll move on to number 12 on our agenda, public participation. This is our second round. Um, individuals may not comment on uh items on the council agenda during public particip participation time, but there's no limit to the number of

speakers and no over all time limit, three minutes per person. Do we have anyone else from the audience who didn't get a chance to speak in the first section? Okay. Uh, then we're going to move on to other items of business. So, I want to use this as like general council discussion or announcements. Go ahead. First of all, I'd like to give a shout out to the uh Cortez varsity basketball team who are 19 and0. They are rated number one in the state. And uh I think we go Panthers. I think that's fantastic. Um another thing I want to bring up is the audience was primarily here earlier for the uh softball fields. And something I noticed that was really outstanding, every one of the speakers asked for help. They didn't demand help. They asked for help. I think it's time that we give them uh less lip service and more solutions. And if we can work together with them, I think we need to do that. I think we need to see if we can I happen to know it's going to be about $1.4 million to fix those fields. Let's Let's try to figure out a way to do that if we can, if it's at all possible. And it sounds like they're willing to help. And uh I would I'd really love to see that happen. I grew up there playing softball. Uh my family, friends all have played softball and uh Cortez has got a fantastic varsity basketball team. Let's have a fantastic softball team.

Yeah, because I guess I have a question for Kraton. You know, I've been hearing for years again as well about the the South softball complex about like the lighting issues, the concession stands. Do we have anything on our budget right now or are we having to wait to like discuss this at budget season for next year? Or I guess like what was the update you provided the folks that came? Thanks for coming up. Good evening, Madame Mayor, members of the council. Uh thank you for the question. Uh there are several things that were said that have me utterly confused. some of those people I haven't met with. They said that I've met with uh a letter has not been distributed, but I did draft one and it's planned to be going to that group tomorrow night when we're meeting with all the league organizers. Uh and that was this conversation was the intent of that part of that intent of that meeting. The other part of it, it was to talk through our reservation process for our fields as we go through. Um, in previous years it's been a bit haphazard and not very clear and we have a really pretty solid pro process right now. We want to run the groups through. That was the second part of the intent tomorrow. So now on to South Softball Complex. Um there isn't really a short story. Uh it takes some disc um description. In 2024, we started going through. We knew that the bulbs and ballasts were out. These are old old school light bulbs, not LED fixtures. Um, as best I can tell, that system is older than I am. Uh, my first location that I work with had an old lighting system on it that was from the

80s. This system, as best I can tell, is somewhere in the 70s range. It's ancient as electrical systems and lighting goes. Uh, so in 2024, sorry, I got on a tangent. Uh, 2024, we looked into replacing the bulbs and ballasts and replacing the fixtures that had fallen off of the posts. So, this is 60 ft in the air. the fixtures that had fallen off of the post in the recent years. They had them they're sitting against the outside fence. Uh so we looked into having it repaired. We put an item out for a contractor to bid on it. Not one contractor was willing to bid and warranty the work because of how old the electrical infrastructure was. We had optional offers to replace the equipment which we didn't have funds for. So that concern raised by the local electricians told us that we had to be looking deeper into the system. So we hired our on call engineer SGM. We brought in electrical engineer. They completely assessed and evaluated the entire system. Come to find out that our electrical feed as well as a switching gear. So the main feed from outside the property comes into one core location and then is distributed out to the rest of the the plaza. Uh that switching gear was a hazard to say it nicely politely. It was on the verge of failing and when it did it was not going to fail nicely. It was likely going to explode. So, we went through the effort this last year of decommissioning the electric and just this winter we have turned it off. Um, because it was patently unsafe. Uh, as far as your question, as a part of that assessment, we're moving on to

the next phase of that, which is to have a design completed, which is where the cost estimate has come from that I think council member Sproul referenced. It's in the neighborhood of $1.4 million to complete a new um new electrical service, put in new field lights, put in parking lot lights that that field has never had and sorely needs, as well as some extra electrical capacity for the concession stand and potentially um food trucks and other things that might come in on a temporary basis. Uh so design is underway now. Uh the intent of completing the design is to have it done and completed sitting on a shelf so that when or if funding was available that we could move forward on it. The first phase to add the external electric into the main switching component and to the concession stand is $250,000. So as we went through our budget process this year, we didn't have $250,000 to put into that site. Uh so that's the reason why the electrical is being decommissioned at this point. It is unsafe. It cannot be operated.

They mentioned that they were able to get some grants. Are we able to take money that they receive and put it into that ballpark? Is that something that's doable?

It all depends on what the sources and what are the strings attached to it. It's hard to say. Um, the last serious conversation I've had with this group about lights has been two years ago. And at the time we were talking about the potential of grants. We cannot go after a grant at this point for anything parks and wreck related because we don't have a current master plan that identifies our current prioritized needs of the community. That is the reason why we're starting a parks and wreck master plan come later this summer. part of the reason really the bigger reason is to understand what are the needs what are the priorities of the community and then like this example how are we going to pay for it uh and just to put it on the side softball complex is one of six or eight significant issues we have in our park system we have an issue with the outdoor pool we have an issue with the irrigation system the golf course we have an issue with the irrigation system at Parkadvita and Centennial we have an issue with carpenter open space and the fact that the trails aren't maintained appropriately. This is not a a singular issue that is targeting an individual group. It is a systemwide issue that we have to deal with. You you guys are familiar with we just uh took an item to council at the last meeting about the rec center slide tower that is on the verge of failing that we're in the process of repairing. Uh the short answer is we have not maintained our parks and recreation infrastructure for a very long time and we have not as a community come up with a plan on what we're going to do when this stuff starts to fail. So with that in mind when stuff fails we take it down because it becomes unsafe. Centennial structure la uh two years ago three years ago Centennial Structure became wobbly. It started leaning back and forth. We took it down because we couldn't afford to replace it. It's a $120,000 structure that needed to be replaced.

It all boils down to money and we know that we it's not the not want because we want to fix that. It all boils down to money. But when they kept at us with we can help with funding, we can help with maintenance, we can is there any way to partnership up with them and receive that help? Yeah, I that was part of the conversation plan for tomorrow. I've heard from groups that there's interest in doing some of the maintenance on the fields. I'm I'm game to have that conversation and talk about it. Uh there are some things though we cannot let a nonprofit organization use a piece of equipment. That's always the first request. Well, let me just run your utility vehicle to drag the fields. Our risk manager does not allow us to do that. So, it's got to be things that are reasonable. Certainly open to having the conversation.

We certainly appreciate the issues with the money. I um the one thing I heard from them is their willingness to partnership and I think that for us it would be to everyone's benefit to optimize that as much as possible and I think that you're working towards that and I hear that you're working towards that. So I would just encourage us in any way that we possibly can to go ahead and join with them in their endeavor and help them as much as we can while they help us as much as they can. So, I I think we can move forward with this and keeping the lines of communication open, which it sounds like you're doing, and we're going to move forward and maybe come up with some sort of a plan at least to structure it somewhat to come up with realistic expectations both on their part and and uh realistic goals for all of us.

Yeah. And admittedly, uh we have not had conversations. That was the intent of tomorrow was to start the conversation. Um, and I suppose should I have communicated with the groups about the lighting issue? Yes. And again, that was the intent of tomorrow's conversation. So, uh, admittedly, I was blindsided by today. I heard about it yesterday, started preparing information for it in the event that this came up, council asked a question. So, I went through it and just made sure I had everything in my head right. Um, yeah, I'm totally game to partner, but it's got to be realistic options.

And I do think you're in an unfortunate circumstance because you haven't been in the job long, but you've the whole time has been addressing like decades of deferred maintenance and everything is in crisis mode. It's like things at the rec center, things at the outdoor pool, the irrigation. Um, so it's unfortunately this is all piling up, but I do think that this is why the master plan is important for all the community to um, weigh on weigh in on what is the priority of all of these kind of like struggling systems. Uh, recognizing how important and impactful the parks and recreation like as a broader system is to our community um, and just like where we should focus funds when we get them and how to find funding for for all of these. So

I I think you just that last phrase is what you said. I don't know that existing revenue can support the system as it is. So parks and rec master plan will tell us this definitively but me what I know of our needs and what I know of our revenue streams I I don't think you can do it with what we currently have. So just council, community, whomever need to be thinking it's got to be another some sort of a revenue stream that's funding it or we're in the position of doing what we're doing at the South Softball Complex, which is we're turning stuff off, we're closing stuff down, we're taking it down so when it becomes unsafe. One thing I have appreciated and we spoke about it earlier today a bit was our our ability as a team to work together, come up with different ideas and to think outside of the box and I think this is a great opportunity for us to move in that direction and Kate and I appreciate your work and the hit you take and like the mayor said what you the cards you've been dealt. I think you do excellent job and we support you 100% and we also support the community and its needs. So, thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And I like the fact that you were able to walk up to that stand your point of view. That's very good for us. Very good. And we appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, Craig. Thank you. Um, okay. Any other council discussion items or we have a motion to adjurnn. Madame Mayor, I move to adjurnn. Second. A motion made by Lewis and seconded by Sproul. Randall, yes. Keith Offer, yes. Spruel, yes. Lewis, yes. Dena, yes. All right. Thank you all for coming tonight. Have a good night.