City Council - Regular Meeting

2026. If you would all join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We're going to go to item number two on the agenda. It's the consent agenda. The listing under consent agenda is a group of items to be acted on with a single motion and vote. Oh, we yeah, we need to do the roll call first. Sorry. Let's do that. Medina Keoffer here. De Haven here. Do Randall here.

Lewis here. Spruel here. Mayor Medina is not with us tonight. Um, so let's go back to listing. Under consent agenda is a group of items to be acted on with a single motion in No, we have to approve the regular agenda. Okay. I move that council approve the agenda as presented for April 14th, 2026. Second. Keoffer. Yes. Randall, yes. Dehaven, yes. Lewis, yes. Do yes. Spruel,

yes. One more time. 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. The mayor will ask if a citizen or council member wishes to have any specific item removed from the consent agenda for discussion and it will be the mayor prom. Item number 2A, approval of the minutes for the city council meeting on March 24th, 2026. B approval of the expenditure list expenditure list for April 14th, 2026. C. Approval of four special event permits to allow Cortez Retail Enhancement Association CRA KIA to host the third Thursday events on June 18th, July 16th, August 20th, and September 17th, 2026 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The events will be held in Monzuma Park at the corner of Market Street and Monizuma Avenue, Cortez. D. approval of two special event permits to Fundamental Needs Incorporated to host two special events on April 30th, 2026 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and May 28, 2026 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to be held at 209 West Main Street, Cortez. E. Approval of renewal of a fermented malt beverage and wine liquor license for Worldwide Restaurant Corporation DBA Pizza Hut of Cortez located at 1119 East Main Street, Cortez. F. Approval of a renewal of a fermented malt beverage off- premises liquor license for West Western Refining Retail LLC DBA Speedway number 9496 located at 2021 East Main Street, Cortez. G. Approval of a renewal of a

fermented malt beverage off- premises liquor license for Western Refining Retail LLC DBA Speedway 9492 located at 2320 East Main Street, Cortez H. Approval of a renewal of a hotel and restaurant liquor license for the Ty Cortez LLC DBA Thai Cortez located at 1430 East Main Street, suites 1, two, and three of Cortez. I approval of a transfer of ownership of a fermented balt beverage and wine license for Paragon Business Investments LLC DBA Gopher Food and Fuel transferring ownership to UPOP Holdings LLC DBA JR's Country Store number 49 J. Approval of renewal of retail marijuana store license for Durango Organics LLP DBA DOC Cortez located at 1013 East Main Street, Cortez. K. Approval of renewal of retail marijuana store license for Mountain Annies LLC located at 435 East Main Street, Cortez. Does anyone in the public uh have anything they want removed from the consent agenda?

I move the council approved the consent agenda as presented. Second. Lewis, yes. Randall, yes. Dehaven, yes. Keoffer, yes. Do yes. Spruel, yes.

Item number three, public participation. Individuals may not comment on items on items that are on council agenda during the public participation time. There is no limit to the number of speakers. Although public comments 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 see time for another commenter. Any do we have any comment cards? Thank you. like to welcome James McInley to the uh podium. backward planning or catastrophe. Friends, I had an insight today that helps me understand better some collisions that we've been having and I think we've been trying mutually to understand each other. So, I'm going to offer it to you. Forward planning and backward planning. The first eight years of my career was in helping medium and large corporations in manufacturing move from floundering to thriving in large part by incorporating backward planning which they had considered nice to have alongside the forward planning that was

natural to them. The rest of my 18 years in high-tech was profoundly backward planning intensive because in a way there was no forward to move from new businesses, new technologies, new markets. Correct me if I'm wrong, but every one of uses backward planning just like we breathe. Hypothetical example. If I delay more than 3 years a full roof replacement on my house, it might cost me triple. I don't have the money now, but what can I do between now and then so that I've got the new roof 3 years from now? I think for a lot of reasons, it's insanely difficult for cities and counties to do backward planning. Nevertheless, I'm seeing it to a small fraction that I, as a citizen, need to see. I need to know that all of our rec center, ball fields, parks, etc. are going to be fully funded and functional and maintained fully along with the roads and water systems 3 years from now or 5 years from now or seven. Or I need to know ASAP ASAP why that isn't currently possible. Why? Because if we knew that as citizens, we could decide whether or not to roll up our sleeves and try and fill the gaps. A large part of my time in in the coming months will be trying to help achieve that backward planning. If only by order of magnitude, the 10,000 ft view. I hope that there are ways we can cooperate on that. I c it certainly would make my efforts more effective. There was an article this morning that speaks how catastrophic the consequences of insufficient backward planning are. Backward planning is not a want. It's a life ordeath need. The Denver Post article reading between the lines. We Colorado didn't backward plan then to be sure that we had the environment today to retain our high-tech industry. And now we're losing it. And now we're in

scramble mode to figure out what we wish we had figured out years ago and do it today. Too late. In my world, it is an unforgivable sin to be in a position like that. It rightly would have cost me my job. Why am I not concerned about forward planning in Cortez? Because the forward planning I see under city city manager Sanders, city council, and staff is worldclass. Thank goodness. A foundation to build on. James McInley, Master Jesus Base Camp, 111 South Elm Street.

Thank you, James. Is there anybody else in the audience who would like to speak? Uh, presentations. We have none. Uh, public hearings. Uh, ordinance number 1362, series 2026, uh, an ordinance adopting an employment agreement and fixing the compensation for the city manager Drew Sanders, presented by Patrick Coleman. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, or Mr. Mayor Prom, I should say. Um, if you'll recall, uh, we advised you last year that, uh, amendments to compensation for any of your appointed officials need to be accomplished through the adoption of an ordinance. Uh, you have before you on second reading, an ordinance to modify Mr. Sanders compensation and approve his employment agreement. And uh with that it it is uh second reading. So a public hearing would be required. And um if you have any questions or comments on the agreement itself, uh I'm happy to answer them.

I don't see any. No, I I I think we made our comments at at the uh last council meeting regarding this and uh this being um second reading. Uh Mr. Mayor Prom, this is open for public comment. Is there anybody in the public that wants to address? Seeing none.

Seeing none, I move that. Before we make a motion, I just did want to clarify one one thing on the the salary that that we are following our pay scale. This is one step in the the pay scale for for the city manager. So, it's it's one step um which is the same all of our employees and and we are uh we worked with a company to build this pay scale and and it's our goal to follow it going forward. So, thank you.

Excellent point. Uh, with that I move that council approve on second and final reading ordinance 1362 series 2026 an ordinance adopting an employment agreement and fixing the compensation for city manager Drew C. Sanders at 191,776 effective April 13, 2026. Second Randall, yes. Do yes. Dehaven, yes. Lewis, yes. Offer, yes. Spruel, yes.

5B, ordinance number 1363, series 2026 and ordinance number 1363, series 2026, an ordinance adopting an employment agreement and fixing the compensation for city attorney J. Patrick Coleman. A presenter is Drew Sanders, city manager.

Yes. Good evening, Mayor Proam and council. Uh similar to what our city attorney just said that uh compensation for our city attorney who is an appointed official needs to be set by ordinance. Uh we have presented that to you in here with uh his compensation for the uh for uh 2026. Also just of note for not only my contract but his is that uh this is in fact a new employment contract but it all it does is really takes the provisions from four years of builtup contract and can makes it more concise and easy to understand instead of kind of a big bulky contract. So, uh, for both of ours, that that's what's presented to you. And, uh, if there's any questions about the contents of it, I'm happy to answer those directly. I don't have any questions, but I would like to point out just as has been mentioned, the fact that both of these contracts were more standardized brought into a standard format and I think that was a wise move. Thank you.

Yeah, I would agree. Over the past few years, we had an initial contract and then addendum, addendum, addendum, addendum, and and what this did is pull it all together into one new contract. This is second reading. Is there anybody in the public have anything they want to address? I move that council approve on second and final reading ordinance number 1363, series 2026, an ordinance adopting an employment agreement and fixing the compensation of city attorney J. Patrick Coleman at $174,342 effective April 13, 2026. Second. Do yes. Randall,

yes. Lewis, yes. Eoffer, yes. Dehaven, yes. Spruel, yes.

Item number 5C, ordinance number 1364, series 2026, an ordinance greeting the airport advisory committee for the city of Cortez, Colorado. Presenter Drew Sanders, city manager. Yes, mayor proam and council. This is second reading of uh the ordinance you have before you that uh if passed would effectively uh establish an airport advisory committee and uh that would act in a advisory committee uh function just like others like the library, arts, parks, etc. So, just a little history on this. Uh, before this uh became fully the possession of the city of Cortez back when it was operated jointly with Monizuma County, there actually was an airport advisory board at that point in place. However, it acted quite differently where it was actually a governing board rather than uh acting in an advisory capacity where they would be the uh the uh governing body that would actually hire the airport director and so on. Uh after that uh was repealed in 2006, there was no longer an advisory committee or board or any other body that uh acted in that capacity. But as we grow and our airport has become much more effective, it has become more increasingly important to seek effective ways to seek public input, especially for something so specialized as the aviation community in our uh area here. And if you are not aware, the aviation community in Cortez is very very active uh especially on the private side and then we also have air medical uh firefighting capacity that will come in etc. We just need a way to garner input for you as our council so that you can make uh well-informed decisions moving forward. So, uh, with that in in place, uh, as a foundation, we are recommending that council pass this and establish that board so that we can, uh, move

forward and get that established for you and select committee members. And at that point, I would uh, open it up for any questions the council may have regarding this. One thing that I saw on there, it was open to three city council members in one county. I think it might be a little hardressed to find three people from the city and I would like to change that from two to the county, two to the city if it's possible. I we can make that amendment is if there's uh anybody having any disagreement with that? Any problem with that? If you would do that if if we can get that as part of the motion as as amended.

I have a question. Um, could we leave instead of having two and two, could we have two and one and then one that that could go either way? That way, if we had somebody that was interested who lived in the city, we could have a third from the city and maybe one or a second from the county. So, could we call that maybe for the ordinance language to city, to county, and perhaps one at large that could be either one? Would that would that be I I think we works for me. I would call it an atlarge that could be selected at counties or sorry the council's direction.

Yeah. Just so they don't misconstrue that they've got to be in Monzuma County or the city of Cortez. Yeah. And because it's advisory only, I don't think you run the risk of county vote the the county vote overruling the city policy votes. So, um I I think it's it's possible to do what you're asking. Yeah. So, just so I understand, it would be two county, two city, and one at large that could be selected as long as they're within Monizuma County somewhere the by council.

Okay. Yeah. If we have a motion to one of the things I'd like to say is I feel like the last few years we've made really great strides in standardizing um the advisory boards and I know we talked about it briefly but you know it's coming up tonight with the um arts advisory board that you know we're selecting one youth member the parks and recon uh board has two. So will there be youth members to this? Do we need to specify that? And should they be too? I guess let's continue with that standardization if we we can eventually making everything like that similar.

Yeah, there actually is a provision for a youth member on this actual committee. So yes, thank you for that question. And then um we're it would be more of a practice than established in code of selecting an alternate especially in something that's so specialized as not only aviation but a youth member of that. So, uh you know the the selecting an alternate especially on just something on like an advisory board like this is quite permissible and probably encouraged just because of uh the utility of it. Does anybody in the public have any comments they would like to make?

No. Oh, we do have one. Thank you, council. Just a quick comment and um our airport director, Mr. Sloan, will know more about this, but just a thought for the youth membership. Maybe a representative from the Young Eagles would would make sense. Um and if you have questions, I I am not a flyer. I'm not a airport person, although I love our airport, so I will defer to Mr. Sloan for the rest of that, but just a thought for the representative for the youth. Yeah, we do have uh uh uh experimental aircraft association, what she's referring to as young eagles, but we also have a very active uh uh civil air patrol cadet program here as well. So, we really think that we will have a good pool of youth to draw from. Uh but both of those uh keep their youth pretty busy, too. So I'll make

I move that Cortez city council approve on second and final reading ordinance number 1364 series 2026 an ordinance creating an airport advisory committee for the city of Cortez Colorado with the suggested amendment of two Cortez members two uh Monzuma County members and one at large member as long as they live in the Second Lewis, yes. Behaven, yes. Randall, yes. Keoffer, yes. Door, yes. Spruel, yes. Thank you, council.

Item number six is unfinished business. We have none. Uh, seven, new business. Uh 7A is a consideration of acceptance and award of bid for the 2026 service center upper yard full fuel delivery system decommission. Uh, council will consider awarding the 2026 I'm sorry. Uh, yeah, council will consider awarding the 2026 service center Yeperyard Fuel Delivery System Decommission to Advanced Petroleum Repair LLC and authorize the city manager to negotiate and sign a contract and other necessary documents with the company on behalf of the city. Presenter is Casey Simpson, general service director.

Good evening, council. Um the uh fuel delivery system at the service center was installed in 1976. It is h it is it has reached or is close to reaching the end of its service life. Um the the dispensers themselves are uh two out of three of them are inoperable. the screens that show you uh what driver or operator number and what vehicle number and how much fuel are hard to read. Um and we're beginning to enter a risky phase where uh should the or the fuel tanks have an increased uh likelihood of uh leaking and contaminating the the soil under the under the tanks. Um, I believe we figured out a an efficient and practical alternative by um utilizing the above ground tanks in the lower yard to um pair diesel and unled in the lower yard as opposed to having just diesel down there. Um, however, we still need to remove the below ground tanks from the upper yard. Uh, we put together a solicitation RFP for this process. We received um four bids and um which we were happy with and um kind of they ran the the gamut of cost. The uh when looking at the the breakdown of cost, it's important to recognize that the low bid is a local outfit. And so right off the top, we were looking at about $30 to $40,000 in savings on mobilization. Um, furthermore, the uh advanced petroleum bid uh did not

include the soil contamination or the soil uh extraction and um landfilling or hauling away of that soil because based on they've been uh involved in the fuel delivery system for many many years and based on our accounting and maintenance on those tanks. It is not believed that we have any leakage. So, their bid came in significantly lower than than the others. For that reason, um in 2026, we set aside or general services set aside 165,000 for this project. Um the proposed uh extraction is a small fraction or 23% of the total budget allocating allocated for that. Um, now I think it is important to recognize that should we f find contamination, it's going to be a different story and I'll be back up here in front of you talking about what that looks like and what that costs. But, um, as of right now, we think we the city will experience a lot of savings in that regard, which will help us, um, uplift the fuel systems at the, uh, parks uh, maintenance and golf maintenance and airport. So, there's a a good savings there. and we believe that Advanced Petroleum's bid is competitive and um offers the best value for the city. Furthermore, I called references and um they come highly recommended. After reviewing the bid proposal from Advanced Petroleum Repair LLC and contacting the listed references, uh the staff recommends that the 2026 Service Center Upper Fuel Delivery System decommission be awarded to Advanced Petroleum Repair LLC at a bid price of $38,215 and 0. Subject any questions?

No. Casey, I would uh like to thank you for explaining uh the $86,000 difference on those bids because when I looked at that, I was like, other than mobilization, how is there such a a variance? The other point I'd like to make is I'm I'm pleasantly pleased. Not only are they the lowest bidder, but they had the highest score on on the matrix substantially. Um so so thank you. Uh if there's if there's no uh further questions by council members, I move that council award the bid for the 2026 service center upper yard fuel delivery system decontamination to advance Petroleum Repair LLC at its bid price of $38,215 and authorize the city manager to negotiate and sign a contract with the company on behalf of the city. Second

dehaven. Yes. Do yes. Keoffer. Yes. Randall Lewis. Yes. Sproul. Yes. Item 7B is vehicle purchase for city street division. Council will consider approving the purchase of a new one-tonon pickup to replace the street division's aging 2002 one-tonon pickup truck unit number 992. Our presenter is Casey Simpson, interarium director of public works.

Mayor Prom Council, uh Drew Sanders here, city manager. I'll be taking this one. So, uh we received uh an inquiry actually from you, Mayor Prom, this afternoon or this morning uh about this and why we only got one bid, which spurned us to check into why we only got one bid. And uh turns out that we have a flaw in our bid process on this one. There was an error. we have caught that and um therefore I'm coming to you number one if uh we make an error it's uh part of uh us being accountable to you and to the community. We declare it. We made an error. We're coming to you and asking for you to table this so that we can go back out and uh bid this out properly. I would like to also point out uh my thanks to Mayor Prom Spruel for pointing this out. Number one and number two also this is the council system working. this is why we have this system in place and um we need to be held accountable like everybody else and that's what we're doing tonight. So, uh requesting council that you table this. We will come back to you once that's done properly. I I think we don't have any choice but to table it. And I just want to say to to uh the staff that one pet peeve of the council is only getting one or two bids and it's always been blamed on one thing or another and it's not going to fly if you guys don't go out and get your bids correctly. Uh when we bid for a vehicle there is uh no reason we get one bid. So if you correct that we council will certainly appreciate it.

Mr. Mayor Prom, I move that council um table vehicle purchase for city street division um and allow time to resubmit advertisement for uh bids. Second ke offer. Yes. Dehaven. Yes. Do yes. Randall, yes. Lewis, yes. Brule,

yes. Okay. Hey, item number 7 C is the appointment to the public arts committee. Council will consider appointing a youth member to the public arts committee. Uh we had two applicants for that uh uh parts or uh arts committee. And I think the council uh we're going to talk more about it, but uh uh let's let Daniel uh Wells, our city clerk, address it first.

Sure. No, you're doing great. Um you guys presented or Good evening. You guys interviewed two members of the youth community, Will Blair and Ava Anderson. Uh they both applied to serve on the public arts committee. Uh right now there is only one position open. Um but that can be open for discussion and this uh term would be served for one year. I would like to present to the council that we uh propose. I'd love to see our youth getting involved and I want both of these people because they they they they will bring a lot to the city of Cortez. I'd like to propose that one of them uh or both of them be submitted as uh representatives of the city of Cortez to the art council. One maybe being in a um uh what would you call them? What would it

I believe alternate is the alternate is the word I'm looking for. Uh an alternate.

Yeah, I I would second that. I think we we really have tried to outreach to to the community youth and it's great to have have two qualified candidates come and it would be disappointing to to send one packing. So I I think that would be a great way to handle this is appoint appoint one as a member and one as an alternate to the to the public arts committee. If there's no other discussion, I move to appoint Will Blair as a youth member to the public arts committee for a one-year term and that Ava Anderson will be the youth alternate for the public arts committee for the same amount of time.

Second. Door, yes. Lewis, yes. Dehaven, yes. Keoffer, yes. Randall, yes. Spruel, yes. Item number eight, draft resolution ordinances. Have none. Number nine, city attorney's report. Uh, I have one item council. Um, I've advised you previously that we are in litigation over the closure of the deadend road uh at on North Ash Street, Adams.

Adams, excuse me. And uh as part of that litigation, the court has ordered that the parties go through mediation and that mediation has been scheduled for May 14th and uh again the trial is in August. So if the mediation is not successful then we will proceed through the the litigation process. That's all I have. Okay. Item number 10, city manager report.

Yes, Mayor Proamman Council, I do have a report for you this evening. First of all, I would like to publicly thank our city clerk, Danielle Wells, for the wonderful and thorough job she has done for with the uh Cortez municipal election uh this past week. Uh during this critical period, she demonstrated outstanding professional competence and managing the complex administrative demands associated with the election. Her efforts ensured that the coordination between municipal staff, the city council, partner organizations, and the community remained seamless and transparent. Danielle's commitment to public service and ability to navigate the high pressure environment of the municipal election reflect the highest standards of our organization. Her contributions have directly impacted the success of this uh 2026 municipal election cycle. And I'd like to give her a round of applause, please. Well done and thank you. Next, I'd like to thank the 11 candidates who came forward to run for the five Cortez City Council uh seats that were open. Uh even though uh some were elected, some weren't. Uh we appreciate all of the candidates's willingness to pursue an elected position and uh provide service to our community. Next, the city of Cortez will have the honor of hosting the US Navy brass band in conjunction with their celebration of the United States 250th anniversary. Uh the performance will take place Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 in Montazuma Park at 6:00 p.m. The Navy Brass Band is stationed in San Diego, California, and performs throughout the Southwest region. As a side note to this, we were notified uh of the possibility of this. We responded to them within about 3.4 minutes because we wanted this here and then our Helen West uh made the

arrangement. So, she's largely to um thank for actually getting this here and making this be delivered in our community. So, thank you. And that concludes my manager's report. City manager. May I have a question? Um are we still scheduled for the council retreat on May 18th or has that changed? to you.

Okay. So, let me just check the calendar here. That that has not been established. Those are proposed dates, but I will give you and that has changed a little bit. The proposed dates are either the 28th or 29th of May. But we were waiting to seat the new council so that we could have formally established that as the new council. But those are the proposed dates. And you're the bosses. You'll tell us what you want to do or not. Item number 11, city council committee reports. The golf course advisory committee met on April 3rd. Um revenues are up. Uh last year uh revenue sat at 247,000 uh or excuse me 24,000 uh 720 and uh so far this year it's 28,000 excuse me yeah 28,226. Um we talked about the water allocation. The water was scheduled to be turned on April 13th. that did come on earlier. Uh we were updated on our water availability. It looks like we're only going to receive about 35% of our allocation. Um and that water will probably last uh at best to the end of June. So um lots to be considered there. Uh we had our first tournament. We had over a hundred uh players last weekend. It was called the Masters. Um, and a quick review uh was covered on the parks and wreck master plan. Uh, council member

Randall was also present and uh would you like to add anything? It was a cold day is all I can say. It was the end of my report. Um, I don't have a board report, but I would just like to say it's been my pleasure to to serve the city of Cortez for the last nearly six years and uh and to thank the council members elect who uh will will continue on to serve. So, thank you.

I'll have more to say that in a little bit. Um, I will speak for a moment about the historic preservation board, but before I do that, I'd like to speak for a second about on April 8th, I attended the Four Corners Community Band Concert out at the uh Lighthouse Event Center. And um I'm I want to say uh thank you to the council because we granted them $1,000 in a grant. And um it was a fabulous performance. I was truly impressed. They did some really complicated music. And I will say to you that Helen West was one of the performers and I was totally surprised and just very thrilled and uh thank you Helen for all that you do. And those guys get together and they practice once every Monday. Every Monday they practice and they have like I don't know 38 members I guess somewhere like that. But it's it it's great. You guys did a good job. So meanwhile back at the historic preservation board um we met on April 7th. Um it again we're celebrating the 250th USA anniversary, the 150 Colorado with the 140 Cortez, the 120 Mesa Verde, and the 30th year of the anniversary of the Cortez Historic Preservation Board. The historic preservation board was established in 1996. It's was originally established to protect historic sites here in Cortez. Um and they advise the council on matters related to historic preservation. Um they maintain the city register of historic structures, sites, districts, and signs here. And we have over 50 commercial and residential properties that are eligible to be on the register. And Helen, you can correct me if you anytime if when I'm done with all this. Um so that's um the historic preservation board. The month of May I is um uh May May is a month for the 16th

annual celebration of the historic preservation days here in Colorado in Cortez. Um with that um the city of Cortez historic preservation board is reopening or restarting uh bringing back the feature of the uh historic preservation walks. There's going to be two separate walks. One's going well two separate tours. One is on Monizuma Avenue walking tour. It was last offered in 2026. Uh it's going to be a look at the history and the stories behind some of the homes along Monizuma Avenue and you can register for it uh at the museum or they have a QR code. The second tour uh is 10 buildings on down street uh downtown or main street and it's going to explore the businesses and the events that shaped Cortez's early commercial endeavors. Both of these tours are going to kick off during the heritage days uh May 1st and 2nd um which is sponsored by the Monizuma Heritage Museum. It celebrates the history, the culture, and the community of Cortez, Monizuma County, and our surrounding region. So, this is a copy of some of the of the poster uh that announces the um excuse me, announces the walks. And I'm specifically been told to invite council members and you new council members to go on one of the walks. Um, other news has to do with the 2026 CLG grant that we uh applied for to uh survey the 10 high priority commercial properties and five of the existing school buildings. Um, we were approved, that grant was approved, but funding is still pending. Uh, with all of that, I'd like to mention the lore grants, and Helen, you

might jump in here if you have something to help clarify this, but the lore grants, uh, uh, one of the lore grants that was, uh, presented to the, uh, museum is going to be used to offered to people who have historic properties. And we're going to be sending out a letter sometime this month in order to uh, offer to wave the $75 application fee. if you have a historic property and that's only through 2026. Um we also have a lot of swag that's happening and doing all of this and um Helen I'd like you to share some of that with us if you could.

Just briefly um I was just writing an email to our historic preservation board because council member Randall knocked her uh report out of the park. I'm impressed you even recalled when the historic preservation board started 30 years ago. Big year for Cortez. Um, so the Monizuma Heritage Museum is of course a important partner for the Historic Preservation Board and they've uh sponsored a grant somewhat on behalf of the Cortez Historic Preservation Board, but also it benefits the Monzuma Historical Society as well. Um, so in addition to some things that the museum needed, um, the city and the museum are going to be able to purchase plaques that use the Cortez logo and the lore logo but recognize properties as historic. So, similar to what the Caukins buildings has um in Urtell's funeral home, those national plaques will have one for city registered buildings free of charge for the people who have registered their property. So, some just fun forward-f facing um honoring of our town's history um this year. And again, as Dr. Randall said, Council Member Randall, uh for this year only, the application fee is waved because of this generous grant. Um the Cortez, the city of Cortez does pay recording fees when someone um records their property as historic. Um and so this grant will pay for those recording fees and staff time processing those applications. So if you have a potentially eligible property, this is your year to get that recorded. And the other exciting thing is that uh through uh through some grant funding, we've also been able to purchase a large two-sided banner that's going to go over um 160 to celebrate this in Cortez. So, it's great. And and aside that I thought was interesting, uh the realer who works with the board reported to us that the sales of homes in Cortez here, um there have been fewer homes sold this last year to uh to date to date this year

versus last year, fewer homes have sold, but the price of housing that's actually sold here in Cortez has increased 20%. And that's I think a very interesting tidbit. Anyway, um and they're staying longer on the market. So that's it. Thank you. Um I was able to attend the library board meeting. Let me get my notes up. Uh the library has been really busy. Visitation is up. Circulation is up. The friends of the library has been very active. They made over $800 in a Valentine Day bake sale and blind date with a book fundraiser. Um there's been a more attendant more events and more attendance at events. Storytime um participants has tripled. The size of the collection um and the number of library cards went down some because of the cleaning that the library did to switch to Aspen Cat. There's now around like 6,500 uh library card holders. And that that's just a good they really went through and got rid of all the defunct information out of the system and which helps us save some money too because we pay to have all the books and and cards in the system. Um let's see. Circulation has been steady for the past three months and inter library loans have been up. They've been updating the software on the computers in the library to stop some glitches that happen when you um use a computer at the library. You have like a a timed a set set amount of time and that software that sets the timer and and the software that protects people from going to inappropriate websites don't communicate well. And so there's a lot of issues that takes up a

lot of staff time. So Leroyy's been working with it and getting all of that done. Leroyy's been doing a lot of things. They've got 3D printers tested and laptops up and have done some um high school programs. They've had families from TE's nos come for a monthly story time. They had a master gardener workshop. Um, and he's then we've been do he's also been doing a lot of um behind the-scenes things like gone through and done a full review of all the staff job descriptions and made sure that those were up to date with what what actual what people are actually doing and the proper terminology for their positions. Um, and he's been working on a full review of library policies. And let's see. Yeah, there's just a lot going on at the library. Um, I also want to say thank you to everyone. This time on council, it's been a wonderful opportunity to serve the public and to work with um, a different group of people than I normally interact with in my day-to-day day life. I have a lot of things that I'm proud of, but like giving the library highlights, I'm really proud of a lot of the work I did on the library and I'm happy to have Leroy here and to see things as they move forward. So,

Mr. Mayor Prom, on uh Thursday, April 2nd, I attended the Parks, Recreation, Forestry Advisory Board meeting. Um, and I'll just give a few highlights. Uh, the forestry committee, I believe, was scheduled to meet today. um as a subcommittee and the rec user group is meeting at the end of April. In terms of the parks, recreation master plan update. Um as of that meeting, we had uh bids that were due last week. We received eight bids for that and the um people in on that committee were um planning to convene and discuss uh the scores um planning updates. uh just trying to finish up projects really previously begun um and come up with a really unique three-year planning for any of the major projects. And I really actually um appreciated this this design. I'm probably going to steal it and somehow use it in at the garden center or something, but to really plan first a second year design and then third really to kind of build out which is really fantastic and makes a lot of sense. Um and then we talked a little bit about some of the 2027 emerging issues and priorities that were identified by uh the seven people on the leadership team. Um and those are the master plan, the rec center sales tax, financial planning moving forward, uh maintenance, best practices, marketing, branding and outreach, leadership development. um some really worthy um uh issues and priorities. And then we finally did some operational reports as well. So, we talked a little bit about uh the pool and uh the the fact that it's going to open here really soon. The golf course at that point was

really greening up and we've had rain the last couple days, so that's good. uh parks and then the parks and recck summer um program. We're expecting that to be full. So that's really um fantastic news. So it it seems like we really do cover a lot within, you know, a 2hour period. And um I guess that's kind of my uh testament and what I've seen in my time on city council. And I'm old, like really old. like this is my second time going around. So 13 years total since 200 um six I believe something like that. And the thing that I think most impresses me about the city of Cortez is um all the people who work for the city care and you can tell and it's across the board. So, um, it's, you know, the departmental folks, it's the boots on the ground folks, it's the leadership, everybody really cares and you can see it and you can feel it. They're very responsive and um they're responsive to us as city council members. So, I would just say to the the new council members coming on, reach out, ask questions, know that these folks have your back and they're really here for the betterment of the city of Cortez. So, um, don't don't forget to, uh, to do that. And and I've it was a a really great 13 years. I can't believe it. It went really fast. And I'm old. Okay. We'll do item number 11 A, which is the mayor's report on a workshop. We had two youth individuals interview for

a position on the public arts youth uh committee or on the public arts that our youth had two of them uh interview for that position and then we went into executive uh session. Uh we received education from uh contract affordable housing coordinator Jennifer Lopez on a proposed housing project on West 7th Street. Uh item 11B is other board reports. We have none. Item number 12, public participation. Individuals may comment on items that are on the council agenda during the public participation time. There is no limit to the number of speakers and overall no overall time limit. Speakers have a time limit of three minutes per person, may only speak once and may not seed time to another commenter. Please uh does anybody have any anybody from the audience? Okay, now we're going to go on to item number 13, which is other items of business. We've been skipping through this, it seems like, and and I keep bringing it up. I think this is a good time for any council member that has something on their mind that they want to get out to the public and say, and I do have something on my mind, and it's um losing some really good friends. Um, this council has been amazing to get in a room with these people. Ju, it it's mind-boggling the information that they have and the amount of commitment they they have to the city of Cortez and I want to thank the outgoing members and uh, wish them the best. They are going to be here again in two weeks, but if they have any words of wisdom for the new city council coming in, I know that they will give it because they're not afraid to help out the citizens of Cortez. So, I personally want to thank

Matt, Lydia, and Robert for doing such a fantastic job. That being said, adjourned. No. Oh, we have a motion. First, I I move to adjourn. Ah, I second. Second. Second. Randall? Yes. De Haven? Yes. Keoffer? Yes. Do? Yes. Lewis? Yes. Spruel? Absolutely.