City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Good evening. This is the Cortez City Council regular meeting. Today is Tuesday, April 28th, 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. All right. Can we have the roll call? Keoffer here. Dehaven here. Spruel here. Do Randall here. Lewis

here. Medina

here. All right, 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. The agenda is designed to expedite the handling of limited routine matters by city council. Either the council or or a public or either the public or council member may request that an item may be removed from the consent agenda at the time prior to council's vote. I'll ask if a citizen or council member wishes to have any specific item removed from the consent agenda for discussion after reading the items. A. Approval of the minutes for April 14th, 2026. B. Approval of the expenditure list for April 28th, 2026. C. Approval of a renewal application for a hotel and restaurant liquor license for Agave Azul to Takaria and Bar located at 44 West Main Street, Cortez. D. Approval of a renewal application for fermented malt beverage and wine liquor license for Stokeley Corporation DBA Handy Mart South located at 806 and a half South Broadway Cortez. E. Approval of a special event permit to allow the Cortez Area Chamber of Commerce to host a business after hours event on May 14th, 2026 from 5 to 8:00 p.m. at 20 West Main Street Cortez. and F, approval of a renewal of the retail marijuana store license for New View Pharma LLC located at 503 Patent Street Cortez. Uh would anyone like an item move for discussion? Do we have approval for the agenda as is?

Madame Mayor, before you take a motion on the consent, uh you didn't vote on approval of the main agenda. Apologies, I'm already forgetting how to do this. All right. Do we have approval of the agenda as presented? Madame Mayor, I move the council approve the agenda as presented. Second. Motion made by Dobury and seconded by De Haven. Lewis, yes. Do yes. Keoffer, yes. Randall, yes. Dehaven, yes. Spruel, yes. Medina, yes. Okay. Do we have approval of the consent agenda? I move that council approve the consent agenda. Second. Motion made by De Haven and seconded by Keoffer. Spruel,

yes. Randall, Lewis, yes. The Haven, yes. Keoffer, yes. Door, yes. Medina,

yes. All right, we're going to move on to number three on our agenda. Public participation. Individuals may not comment on items that are on the agenda during the participation time. There's no limit to the number of speakers, although 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 see time to another commenter. All right, I've got a few comment cards here. So, I'd like to invite James McInley to the podium. And just make sure the mic's green. We the people. My thing my entire adulthood has been looking into the future, seeing what's possible and necessary that others didn't care to see to speak it and to try and make it happen. Perfect track record? No. Strong? Yes. From that perspective, I say to you, the new city council, if there be if there can be a miracle of a bright future for Cortez, how you conduct things in the coming few weeks will determine that. From what I can see, this gem of a city in part exists because in recent decades, we have massively outspent our means. It happens and it and it happened here. For us to maintain a water system, road system, library, parks, and recreation system at the standards that we enjoy today will require vastly more revenues in the coming few years than we have any basis to ex expect unless we change our future beginning now. If I speak wrongly in any of this bold statement here, you pretty much owe to all of us to correct me publicly so that I am not the purveyor of an incorrect record. Our future revenue shortfall, especially in light of a 2,000-year drought that is not going to end, a national economy that is heading to recession and worse.

Our revenue shortfall is so gigantic you can't fix it. And you shouldn't pretend to try. Why shouldn't you? because that will kill what little time we have with the illusion that you can do it without us. You can't. It's not possible. It's too vast. But it might be possible for us, for we 9,000 citizens working alongside you. If you were to show us now the very approximate huge magnitude of our revenue shortfall and implications, not a year from now, now. you would give us a community of citizens a reason and a chance to step up alongside you to for the recreation of our future and maybe together we can with your facilitation. Let us see the problem now. You owe that much to us. It would take great courage and wisdom from you. We citizens love to throw stones and blame, don't we? But today the truth is you are not to blame. You, the city manager, the fabulous staff deserve our gratitude for spending years digging us out of a debt swamp and corruption quagmire. I thank you. Much respect. But if you delay more than a handful of weeks to give us a comprehensive preliminary outline of the magnitude and implications of the massive city revenue shortfall only a year or two out, then it is going to be your problem. And the opportunity for it to become our collective challenge. We now 9,000 citizens will be gone and then we'll eat up what time we have left in some sort of hideous future destroying blame game. James McInley.

Thank you, James. All right, I'd like to invite Mike Ley to the podium. Thank you.

Good evening, council. Uh, I have the privilege of serving with the entire outgoing council in my years as mayor and council member and I want to thank you for your a job well done. And to the new council, uh, best of luck and I have all the confidence in the world that you're going to do as good a job as our outgoing council. Thank you. Thank you, mayor.

All right. Anyone else from the audience who'd like to speak for public participation? All right. Uh seeing none, we're going to move on to number four on our agenda, presentations. Um okay. Before we dive into 4A, um those of you who've been watching me over the years know I I would like to give my little speeches. Um so I just want to share my thoughts before we're done here tonight. Um, and I'm gonna try not to get emotional. I want to thank all of the wonderful council members I've served with, the dedicated city staff, and the community at large for putting your trust in me over the years. It's been a pleasure to contribute to the future of this city. I'm forever grateful to have served with the most caring and devoted groups of people in this role. I'm proud of the various councils I have served with over the last six years and the decisions we have made. While on paper, you will see mostly a consensus of yes votes over the years. Behind those have been tough questions, intentional conversations, and thoughtful decisions. We have not always agreed, but does the beauty of council as it is made up of diverse perspectives and backgrounds. This role has taught me to be truly open-minded and process new information to come to better decisions. I want to congratulate the newly elected council members. As you learn to work work together as a new body, don't be afraid to be heard, but also make sure you really listen to each other. If you show up prepared, have good dialogue, and always show respect for each other. You're going to do great things together, and our community will benefit under your leadership. Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to 4A, the 2026 municipal election official results. Danielle, good evening, mayor and council. I'd like to officially announce the

municipal election results. The election was held on April 27th, 2026 to elect three city council candidates to serve four-year terms and two city council candidates to serve two two-year terms. The results are as follows. Clarissa Osborne, Dennis Sproul, and Carly Wolf received the greatest number of votes cast to fill the four-year seats on the council. Kathleen Swopee and Claire West received the fourth and fifth most votes to fill the two-year seats on council. Additionally, there were four ballot questions. The first question encompassed a series of amendments and clarifications, including updates to charter language, clear definitions of the tax levy and budget processes, clarification of when council action must occur by the or by ordinance, refinement of the duties of the city manager and city attorney, and the removal of two non-existent departments. This question passed. The second question concerning council member compensation and remote meeting compensation. also passed. The third question concerning the location of emergency and non-emergency meetings and electronic participation at meetings by council members passed. The fourth question concerning term limits of council members did not pass. Staff is working on ordinances for the ballot measures that were approved. Thank you to the voters, candidates, and all the election workers whose participation made this process possible. Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to 4B, the oath of office for new council members. Uh, Clarissa Osborne, Dennis Brew, Carly Wolf, Kathleen Swope, and Claire West. So, I'd like to invite them up to the podium. Oh, right here. Okay.

All right, you guys are going to come Oh, after you sign, come sit up here and take our seats. Where are you going?

Oh, okay. No. Well, congratulations, new council. We're excited to have you take your seats. This is an important moment where uh during the an important transition where the city council uh will engage in selecting a new mayor. Uh as part of that I want to read article three the council from the charter section one composition. Bear with me. This is rather long. The electors of the city shall select a city council of seven members one of whom shall be chosen by the council to serve as mayor. With that being said, I would like to invite the council to engage in a nomination process and then we will engage in a vote to select our new mayor and that vote will be by secret ballot. So, fellow council members, welcome. It was a hard journey and I see many proud parents and family members in the audience. So, welcome to you all and we're just so happy to have this new council and we're grateful to the ones who are leaving. That being said, I'd like to mention a native son of Cortez, Colorado, Dennis Sproul. Dennis has served this community in many capacities over the years.

He's worked on the police department. He's worked on the drug task force. He served as sheriff. He served here on the Cortez city council. And most recently, he has served as a mayor pro 10. Moving in that direction, I nominate Dennis Sproul for mayor. If there are no uh further nominations, I would propose uh we uh vote on the mayor position. Uh you'll see in front of you there there are ballots. Um check off the uh candidate that uh you would like to choose and let's fold those in half and then Danielle will uh collect those.

And and just to clarify, you can nominate yourself if you want to. So, if any of you were were hoping that somebody else would nominate you and that didn't occur, you still have the opportunity to nominate yourself. Okay, council and our community, if uh we can just take a pause on the action here while we uh tally the votes and uh determine who has been elected our mayor. I'd ask somebody to sing, but I don't know any good singers in here. The ballots have been counted and Dennis Rule, you have been elected mayor. Do you accept the nomination?

I graciously do. Thank you. At this time, I'd like to invite the mayor to uh take his normal station. Thank you all. I appreciate the vote of confidence. I've got some hard shoes to follow and uh I hope I can do it justice. Um let's do a nomination for mayor prom.

Yes, mayor and councel. I will read the applicable section for uh the council to choose a mayor prom. It reads uh article three of course section one. The council shall choose one of its members as mayor prompor. who shall preside over the council in the absence or disability of the mayor and serve as acting mayor with the same duties as the mayor. I would like to nominate Bill Lewis. Uh he's an expert in parliamentary procedures and he's been on the council for the last two years and done a fantastic job and I'd like to see him continue as mayor pro Tim. If everybody would take their ballot votes in front of them, if there's no other nominations and fill those out, put them up front.

Council member Bill Lewis, you have been elected to serve as mayor prom. Do you accept the nomination? Yes, I do. Thank you very much. Very privileged. Uh, mayor, may we have permission to destroy the ballots? Absolutely. Thank you.

We going to switch chairs. Yeah. My suggestion is let's do the next piece and then when you retake your seats, switch then.

Okay. Um, I'd like to invite the past council to the front of the dis and we would like to come down and uh say our goodbyes to Mayor Rachel Medina, council members Matt Keeoffer, Lea De Haven, and Robert Dolbury. Okay. the city council has difficult for them to achieve and every one of them I'm hoping is walking away with a profound sense of accomplishment each one of them is receiving a likeound gratitude for your exceptional leadership and service your dedication to the progress fairness and prosperity of our lasting legs. Thank you for your service to the city of their service. At this time, I'd like to present to the mayor,

Robert. and outgoing.

Congratulations and thank you to you all. I think you're over here now. Am I

my right-hand man? Oh, is that why you're scared? I was trying to make sure I moved all my stuff.

Be just a second while we get chairs moved here. if you need more. I promise to only do this.

Okay, we're going to get right back to business. Uh item 4 F on our agenda is the current water supply issues for the city of Cortez. Going to be presented by Ken Curtis, our general manager, Dolores Water Conservancy District, W DWCD. Mr. Mayor, counselors, can you hear me? Okay,

you're good. Okay. Um I have uh here we go with the presentation here in a m minute. Um, unfortunately not as positive uh as your last few minutes of the changing of the guard, but but as I drove over here tonight, I want to remind you Cortez was integral to bringing water into this valley from the Dolores River as they developed the town and uh banding together with the farmers to the predecessor of today's uh Monizuma Valley irrigation. They were the original partners in the first tunnel to the Dolores River. Uh competing company built the Great Cut Dyke off to the west. But with that, I believe Cortez received their first water in 1889 and you've been going strong ever since. And so you remain linked to the Dolores River and now the Dolores project. That's the good news. We're still here. We're still thriving. I think we can get through this. Um, we are entering our 10th year of shortage since 2000. The drought continues on, obviously. Uh, this year is a little bit unique. Um, for us water nerds, it it's kind of interesting in a dark way because it's actually not your standard um shortage year. With that, I'll draw your attention to the presentation. I'm just going to cover a few of the highlights from the March uh Colorado climate summary. Uh, we did have some extreme cold up in the upper northwest, but I'd call your attention. We had

already started fires. The 24 fire burning 7,000 acres and maximum temperatures up to 99 degrees on the eastern plains. part of why if you are seeing these titles in the news, um this is a statewide and actually a westwide we issue this year. See if I can manage this. This one pretty much tells it all. This winter has actually set records since all the way back to October. Maybe not record setting every month, but we have been warmer than average all winter. And when March came around, it was the warmest March ever in the history of Colorado. That does extend beyond the state boundaries, which has implications for some of our downstream neighbors. Um, prior to the drought, we often uh counted on March as u one of our biggest snow making months and that has certainly not been the case regularly in the last 26 years. Uh, per the precipitation map, we were largely under what we the 30-year average would have told us to expect. Then finally, although the uh without reading all the details into the map, the point of this map is the graphs on the right. As it goes up, it is dry and or cool and dry is in the bottom left. As it gets wetter, it moves to the right. The temperature obviously goes up on the left scale. And so you can start

to see 2026 is setting records for warm and dry for the month of March. And even the whole winter in the bottom slide, we are near record setting warm and dry. I think I think I will leave it there for the rest of this report and try and flip over to a PowerPoint with a few graphics just to set the tone. So, statewide, you're going to hear a lot more about it in the news. Water restrictions are taking off everywhere from the front range along the Colorado main stem north of us. Yampampa River is already worried. Um but the uniqueness of it was that warm winter. We actually ended up with about mid80s precipitation, but it did not accumulate. And that's going to have negative ramifications. It's not going to run off like usual. Um, and the bottom line is this first graph is a Dolores River. The small silver lining in all of this is we likely will be slightly better than our worst year. You will hear lots of comparisons to 2002 over the state of Colorado. That was considered the wakeup call where it was one of the most extreme years in Colorado. Um 1977 was right there, but we had a much smaller population. the extremes. We didn't see the impact as big um just being a smaller state with the same

similar supplies and we had some reservoirs. But 2002 being a little bit newer, a much larger state, little bit better recordkeeping, um it woke a lot of folks up and storage projects being filled today and built on the front range all have their roots in 2002 and other projects. Um, but on the Dellores, as opposed to the ones I'm going to show on the Colorado River, which kind of get at the west slope uh larger scale, the uh two somewhat purple lines, I'm not going to be able to tell at this distance. Those are our two worst years of recent record. 2018 and 2002. We actually had a little bit more snow packed in those years. And what's driving everybody a little bit crazy in the water world is it came off in March. That's a snow graph. We have spent our whole lives in all the record in Colorado counting on April 1st to be when the melt starts. And it happened a month early this year. That's extremely unusual. We always get a little bit of melt in March, but this was full-on runoff. We had our highest flows about March 28th, I believe. Thousand CFS. That's it for the year. Um, so from a water supply perspective, we may be the winner at 10% better than the worst year on record, but I think most of the other state you're going to see is actually going to set low records across. So, you're going to hear a lot more about it. You could see the snowstorm we had uh right on April 1

actually gave us a little bump. It's a little difficult to tell how good that's going to help us. Um, this return to spring that we've had has actually slowed down the start of the irrigation season. The farmers are turning on, but the cool and somewhat wet weather is being a little bit helpful for the start of the season. Um, Lake Powell, this is kind of covering the whole west side. This is what's got people scared. The one, the green line was last year. The dotted line is the 30-year median. And then the purplish line uh in between the current blue line that is 2002. And so the snow pack across a broad swath of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah never reached the 2002 limit. And it all started off early. I'm sure the other states have similar records of those 80 to 90 degree days in March that we should not have had. So this is causing a lot of consternation across the west. Um, that's just a slightly different set of snowtails saying the same thing for Lake Powell. But getting into our local area, this was April 1 numbers that I pulled out, we had 5% of our average snow pack. And we normally consider that about our peak snow. And this goes across the whole West Slope of Colorado. we can callull those out. The only sliver of hope is that 81% of the moisture.

Hopefully, that's got going to give us a little bit of benefit in our forest. But if you spend any time in the lower elevations, none of the snow pack below 9,000 ft stayed the whole winter. It came, it melted. It came, it melted. Right now, our forests are in decent shape. in the next couple of months of weather will determine how fast we potentially get into the fire season. Today, cool rain yes uh Sunday, that's awesome. If that keeps up, that's going to save us a lot of time. Not that the heat won't hit eventually, and we never know about the monsoons, but at least we've got a little bit of a springtime break. Nothing great, nothing that's going to uh make us whole, but it's going to help. Um, as of just after the 20 the Sunday storm, we got new snow. Look up at the mountains if anything. We're getting a fresh coating. We went up the to 9%, although at that point it should have been dropping, but we continue to get moisture. So there is a small silver lining. With that said, we are a reclamation project that we operate. The good news for Cortez, and I want to thank Drew and and Casey for taking the lead on advertising. These are dire times. We're going to be about the third worst year on record. So, it's not saying a lot. We're just slightly better than our worst year. Um, but they took the lead and they they've got some drought flyers out and we are asking anybody in Monizuma County to think twice. But we do prioritize the municipal water. When we talk about our project supply, the first water we set

aside is municipal. We will not let the municipalities go short. We have a bit of a delivery problem with Dove Creek, but we supply Cortez and then Toyok via Cortez treatment and so we will not short those. So there will not be any mandatory shortages, but everybody around the city will be in shortages. Right now, the uh UE farm and the farmers up north, excuse me, the project that we do divide up between the farmers from the reservoir and the downstream fishery, they're on about an 8% project supply with a little bit of horse trading of our own in between parties. We've got that up to about 14%. So, it's not going to be a full farming year. So, a lot of fields to the south and the north. Uh going to be some one annual crop or one hay cutting and that'll be it for the year. The senior rights are at about 40% right now. They have a chance, I think, to get up around 50%. The river staying strong at the moment. Um, and if it keeps running as it is for the uh through most of May, they'll probably get their 50%. But even that's a big cut. So, it's going to be tough, but we will not short the municipalities. We've talked to Casey and Drew. Um, we're going to be providing municipal water for the foreseeable future obviously, but Cortez remains linked like everybody else to Mcvy Reservoir and the Dolores River. So, right now we're starting our spring operations and everything's going fine for the limited supply, but we're going

to face our own financial struggles without the farmers getting any crops or sufficient crops in. With that, I'd stand for questions. Anybody from council have any questions with Ken? Ken, I want to thank you. Oh, go ahead. Can it just Yes.

I think I know the answer to this, but what percentage of our water usage from MCI is for agriculture and uh municipalities? Uh the municipalities are a pretty small percentage. Uh they're going to be about a few percent like in the 5% or less range. on a year like this um they will be significantly more but they are still 10% maybe just because of the low water numbers. We are still using more water in agriculture even with the shortages. And I can get you precise numbers, but it's roughly we've got about 9,000 set aside for municipal and we tend to run 250,000 for agriculture.

Okay,

that's kind of the proportions on when things are full. One of the unique things we have is a big big inactive pool. Um it was built so that we don't don't drain from the bottom of the reservoir except for the downstream releases when we have excess. We have the big boatable flows down below MCI and we will release fish water uh from the fish pool this year, but everything else is linked to irrigation diversions and we cut them off at a certain elevation. The city of Cortez has a protection pool below that. That's one of the things we operate on. But given that, although it's not going to be a wonderful year, there will be boating. We've still got about 3,000 acres out there. The lake's probably going to start going down soon as the irrigators kick in. It's about as high as it's going to get. Um, but we will continue to fight muscles. Um, we have infestations on the Colorado main stem and all throughout the Grand Valley irrigation. Colorado Parks and Wildlife will run our inspection stations. They are doing all they can up there, but they cannot get rid of the muscles. We are still surrounded by Lake Powell and others. And if these come, they will affect the irrigators, the cities, the treatment. Uh it'll make a mess for all of us. So, I do want to say take advantage. We're still in a beautiful place. You can go out boating. Little bit less acreage to water ski on, but it's still deep in the middle. But protect our water source all you can and muscles are the current biggest concern we have.

Thank you. Thank you. You can we appreciate your information. Although it was not the best in the world, it was very informative and you always give an informative uh speech. So, thank you very much. If I may, can I ask a question?

Sure. Is it possible, I know this is like a far out thing, Ken, but it sounds like there will be economic impacts for our farming community. Is it possible to anticipate the needs of that community or like if they only have x% of available water, can you anticipate that x% of out farm farm yields or just trying to think ahead. Mayor, counselors, um it's a constant theme in our board meetings. Um as a farmer, they have loans. I worry about our younger farmers. Um there are some trying to get into the business. They literally, you know, the revenue doesn't match the billing. We have actually cut our rates. We do have reserves and we built them up for that purpose. So, our budget's going to take a big hit to hopefully sustain our farmers another year or two. Um, we all talk about the drought. We don't know if and when it will end. There were some exacerbating factors. Climate change is happening and it's not good. This was beyond climate change. This had to do with some stratospheric stuff going on. We had five cases that put in that big blocking ridge and these temperatures are well beyond climate change. Having said that, um we worry about the long-term sustainability. The state of Colorado's kicked in their drought task force. There should be some declarations and some mitigation from both federal and state levels. I don't get personally involved. Those are

generally direct to producers. Um, but it's a concern. We have to keep things running because it sustains pretty much the whole water community from the west of Minkus all the way to Dub Creek. So, it's a concern. No, no good answers. Thank you, Ken. We'll move on to public hearings number five on the agenda. 5A, transfer of ownership, new license of a retail marijuana store from Pharmarmacana, Inc. to Viral Health of Mile High LLC.

Uh before we start, Mr. Mayor, I am going to recuse myself with a potential conflict of interest on this one. That's fine. Yes. If you step out,

good evening, mayor and council. Viro Health of Mile High LLC, Doing Business as Live Well, has completed a transfer of ownership application to allow for the purchase of Pharmarmac Incorporated, Doing Business as Live Well, located at 1819 East Main Street. The applicant uh has a representative and his name is Dan Pabon and he is appearing remotely today. As per city code section 4-217, this instance in the transfer of ownership, it must be treated as a new license application. Therefore, the transfer of ownership shall include a complete application along with background checks and a public hearing. The fingerprint information for the owners has been completed through Identico and Colorado fingerprinting and has been forwarded to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The notice of the public hearing was published in the paper on April 15th as well as posted on the doors of Livewell and city hall. The application appears to be complete and all fees were paid. The planning and building department has conducted a review and a review of the submitted architectural plans, the applicable zoning regulations, the distance requirements, and building compliance codes. All of these requirements have been met and have been approved. Uh I will now swear in Chief Knuckles of the Cortez Police Department uh for his report. Chief Knuckles, do you solemnly swear under penalty of law that the testimony that you will give before this council shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Good evening, mayor, councel. I'm here to speak to um the background check and looking into both of the entities. I'll read this verbatim for the record. This me this memorandum is submitted in support of the proposed transfer of ownership of Livewell to Varo Health Mile High. Livewell has no issues, violations, or operational concerns and remains in good standing. As part of the approval process, the prospective ownership group Vio Health Mile High has completed all required background checks with no findings or concern. Any questions?

Any questions from council? Thank you, Chief. Thank you.

Is there anyone in the public that would like to comment? Uh, Mr. Mayor, it's traditional that we allow the applicant to speak if they so choose before the public comment. Okay. Uh, hi. How are you doing? Can you hear us? Okay. Yes. I'm Dan Pavone. Can you hear me?

Absolutely. Dan, do you have something you would like to add? one. Uh it's an honor to be part of the changing of the guard tonight. Uh to just see the new council members um and mayor and mayor Tempor elected. Didn't realize that was on the agenda and so excited to see that. And for those who served uh if they're in the audience, thank you for your service. Uh Vario uh is a cannabis company whose mission is to provide safe access, quality products and value to its customers while still supporting its local communities uh like Cortez through our active participation in restorative justice programs. The company is evolving with the industry and it's evolving quickly and in the midst of the transformation to being significantly more customer centric across its operations which uh include in other parts of the state uh cultivation manufacturing but in the our hometown here of Cortez uh mostly retail uh operations. Uh we look forward to continuing our work with the city. Uh Livewell uh has uh shared with us its tremendous uh experience there. We don't intend to change any of the operations employees or the anything associated with the business. We're just changing the up the stream ownership and hope to continue our relationship with the city in the way that it's been for a long time. Thank you very much. Uh we appreciate you being here. Now we're going to open it up to public hearing. Is anybody from the public have anything they would like to add or suggest or talk about? Does council have any questions?

Um no. I I would like to say that um it looks like everything is is in order. Um the memo by our police chief uh uh has has passed the uh background check etc. The memo from uh the building and uh planning department has met all the requirements for the uh facilities. If there are no more further questions from councel, I move that council approve the transfer of ownership new license of a retail marijuana store for Viral Health of Mile High LLC DBA Livewell located at 18/19 East Main Street Cortez.

Second Swopee. Yes. Osborne, yes. West, yes. Lewis, yes. Randall, yes. Sproul, yes. If we have Miss Wolf return, we'll move on to item number six, which is unfinished business. We have none. Item number seven, new business. Thank you, council. Thank you. Appreciate you being here.

Uh, new business. Uh, 7A, city council retreat. We need to set the date for the city council retreat. Uh, we have a proposal for either Thursday or Friday, May 28th or May 29th. Now, the council needs to decide which would fit their schedule the best. Um, let's Does anybody have a preference? Let's go from there. I have a preference for that Thursday. I won't I won't be able to do it on that Friday. Thursday. Anybody Anybody cannot make it on Thursday.

Let me triple check my calendar. It's going to be pretty close to all day. The 29th is better for me, but my sister will make it work if it's the 28th. It's our birthday.

I was going to say the 29th also works better for me, but if it's majority consensus, I will also make it work.

I have no preference. Okay. I have no preference as well. The 29th is also better for me, but I Is there anybody that cannot make it on the 28th? If you can't make it, you can't make it. I hate to leave a council member out when they just cannot make it. Um, however, I don't want to The 28th is a Thursday, right? That's correct.

The 28th is a Thursday. I have a meeting I can possibly rearrange. Well, I'll tell you what. Let's do it on the 29th. It seems like that's best for everybody else. And and Miss Whoop, we'll just have you we'll we'll fill you in on what we had. Did you have something you wanted to add? Mayor and council, if I could uh also say these are suggested days. We can move it if we need to. Um you know, we can go into June. It's not preferable, but I mean it's also very much preferable to get everybody here. I agree for it. Um, so we could also consider the fourth or fifth of June.

Um, if I could back up a minute because I just wanted to be sure I I'm gathering all the data, right? But council member West, are can you possibly make it on because council member to my right can't make it on Friday at all or? No, I won't. I'll be gone. She she can't be here on Friday. Can you possibly make it on the Thursday? Yes. So we have everybody except for you can make it on Thursday and you're a maybe on that. Is that right? That is correct. Okay. So we have one maybe Is there any other alternative days that somebody wants to that week of June is not good for me. I I will be out of town the state. What date?

June. The June date. Well, let's it it's almost entirely impossible to get everybody convenient. Um, let's go to Thursday. We're going to have it on Thursday the 28th is council retreat and we we'll get information on that later. Yeah, if we could just get a a motion and a vote would be great. Okay. I make a motion. Excuse me. I propose bill I move that we have Thursday the 28th on 2026 of uh May 28th for the date of the council retreat.

Second Wolf, yes. Osborne, yes. West, yes. Randall, yes. Lewis, yes. Swope, yes. Spruel, yes. Thank We're going to move on to item number B, which is a CML annual conference. Uh the annual conference is June 22nd through 25th, 2026. And our presenter is Drew Sanders, city manager.

Yeah. Good evening, mayor and council. as you said, uh, the Colorado Municipal League or CML, uh, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1923 to represent and serve the cities and towns of Colorado. Uh, this is an important gathering because this is the who's who of uh, municipal government. And, uh, we always send uh, staff members as well as some council members. We have budgeted for two council members to go and uh one alternate in case somebody's not able to go. So, I'm posing it to council to uh decide since that's way above my pay grade on who gets to go. Uh and if I could get uh two names who are decided uh candidates for that and then an alternate and and a form of a motion uh and a vote would be great.

Does that include the mayor as the two council members? So very often and honestly most often and I'm not trying to put my thumb on the scale here council so I got to be very careful but very often the mayor is representative and our mayor Medina has been a very strong participant in CML. So very often it is the mayor that goes uh but that's up to council to decide. So if the mayor goes there's only going to be one other person attending.

Correct. I I would just like to say I attended last year and uh it's extremely valuable and I I think it's um it's very important that we have at least one of our new council members attend this if it if it works for him. Um I think you're going to find it very enlightening. Um, it's really going to uh help you be more prepared uh for this position that you've acquired.

I would agree with council member Lewis that should be one of the newer um council members that go so have any of you been before other than uh Bill? Just curious. Have you been before? Yes, he has been before. Yes, he went last. But has anyone else other than Bill? I have been twice. And council member Ran, I've been once. Yes, I have been once. Uh, I would love to be considered to go to that. I think that's very valuable and um I know it'd be valuable for all of us, but I would definitely like my group.

I would also love to go. I'd want to throw my hat in the ring as well. I'm happy to sit back and just reconvene and get notes on it. I think that'll be a busy week for me at work. So, speaking

Oh, sorry. I'm not talking close enough to it. I was just saying I'm happy to sit back and uh just reconvene and get notes on it. Um if there's other people, it's going to be a busy week for me at work. So, I would you guys already showed some interest and I'm kind of that week. If not, I would go if no one else wants to go.

How about we do this? Um, get your mayor in line would be the first thing in the agenda. Um the two council members that want to go, let's have them go and I will go as alternate alternative if that's the wishes of the council. Carla Wolf and Claire. I suggest we flip a coin then to go see who goes first and then see who goes as alternate. Does that Well, I thought I would go as an alternate if one of those

went out. Uh, as a mayor, I I really need to go. Um, but I've been to two of them already, so I I think it's more important for our new council members to go.

Mr. Mayor, I move to appoint council members Carly Wolf and Clara West to attend the annual Colorado Municipal League conference June 22nd through 25th, 2026 in Westminster, Colorado and Council Member Spruel as an alternative if either of the appointees cannot attend. And let me correct that. Uh Mayor Spruel, a second.

West. Oh, yes. Swope. Yes. Osborne. Yes. Wolf. Yes. Randall. Lewis. Yes. Spruel. Yes. I just want to make note that last year there was three that went. The alternate usually goes anyway. So,

uh, well, let's move on to C. Resolution number 8, series 2026. Council will consider approving resolution number 8, series 2286, authorizing the city participation in a Microsoft Corporation's volume licensing agreement with the state of Colorado. Our presenter is Casey Simpson, general services director.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um, tonight I'll tonight I'll be speaking on resolution number 8 series 2026 with regards to um renewing the current Microsoft contract which is expire or the Microsoft contract for the city in general which is expiring on April 30th. Uh Microsoft requires a three-year contract. Uh in each of the three years, the city has a true up which involves uh looking at how many licenses we're using and um and that sort of thing. And um we get to choose at that point the type of licenses and the type of products from Microsoft that we receive. uh the city has elected to change its license types to broaden the city's application uh uh the suite of uh tools that Microsoft or that we will be able to use as staff. Um and so it can be more efficient and it will also improve the city's security posture. This contract is a little bit more expensive than the the last three-year term. The previous or the current and previous soon to be previous contract was 55,2781 per year. The new contract is quoted quoted as $64,195, an increase of $9,167.19 per year. Staff recommends the council approve the resolution number eight series 2026.

Does anybody have any questions of Casey? Casey, in in this new contract, how many more users will you have in this one versus your your current contract? Um, I can look at the exact numbers. I do know that with our new open gov platform, it's helpful to have email access. So, we are expanding the use of email to staff that didn't previously have email access. Um I think in addition though the the price difference is also connected to having a wider range of Microsoft tools as well. So it's not just user count.

So we really don't know the increase from our current contract is about 16 16 a.5%. And and that stays flat for three years if I'm correct. uh unless unless we have more users more users or something additional added to it. So with this with this 16 12% increase, I'm trying to figure out do we know how much of that is attributed to having more users or how much of it is just their increase for for for their

I will I will have to their software. I can figure that out for you. I don't have that on. Okay. I'm I'm just trying to figure out how much they've increased their um platform for. A great question. Casey, you might um explain if you can the relationship with the state of Colorado and explain that it's not the city negotiating directly with Microsoft.

Yeah, absolutely. Um this is a unique and different um type of procurement that we're pursuing here. This is a state contract. So uh when pursuing cooperative contracts such as a state contract, the the entity Cortez in this case is piggybacking off a formal procurement process that was done by a different entity. In this case, the state of Colorado negotiated for the lowest government rate with Microsoft. We're getting that the rate that the state secured. Um, this wasn't an effort. Uh, this wasn't a solicitation effort that began its life with Cortez. Um, so it is different than many of the contracts I bring to you in that way. i.e. We don't have a whole lot of negotiating power and Microsoft is huge and this involves my guess is the state based on the quantity of users they have are getting a pretty good rate and this this price increase is probably due to a lot of factors. Um I think most of what I learned from Jay was that it is mostly attributed to the increase in tools but I can get a a breakdown of that for you or he can when when I talk to him about it. Casey, can you can you tell me are we expecting or are you expecting or is Jay expecting in the next three years that we'll be requiring any greater capacity than what's going to be offered in this contract for the next three years? Any you know, you mentioned the the upgrade of Open Gov to include the emails with the other management software that we're using now. Are we going to be needing anything else that you can foresee at this point in time? I don't think so. Um certainly,

you know, the the a lot of the software is moving to new cloud-based solutions. Um so we have seen, at least in the last year I've been here, we've seen a lot of our uh localized software switch to a cloud-based solution, which has caused us to have to update a lot of our our um programming. Um the fuel delivery software for is an example. Our fleet management software is an example. OpenG's example. Um I I couldn't say that I could predict that necessarily or predict anything beyond cloud-based but um I guess you never know. Um but I don't see it changing a lot.

Thank you for that additional context around the procurement being at the state level that helps make sense of it a lot. Is this a common percent increase that you've seen in previous three-year contract? Just out of curiosity.

Um, well, the only other software solution that I've seen a renewal for is open gov itself and I think uh open gov software or the percent increase was much lower or not it was um closer to 5%. So, but that's an annual renewal and this is a three-year. So, I guess it 5% over 3 years is 15. So, it falls in the realm of normal. I would say I can I will go back and research these questions though for you.

Just confirming because you piggybacking off the state to get this. It's not going to restrict anything else because you're doing that, right? Like access. I mean, it sounds like you're getting more access to tools and whatnot. They're not going to restrict anything because it's piggybacking off of them, right? No. Okay, great. That was my only question. Yeah, good one. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Good information. I'd like to make a motion uh that the council approve resolution number 8 series 2026 authorizing the city to participate with the state of Colorado and Microsoft Corporation's value licensing agreement and to authorize the city manager to sign and execute that agreement and any other documents necessary to allow the city to continue to use this Microsoft software. Second. Osborne. Yes. Swope. Yes. Wolf, yes. Lewis, yes. West, yes. Randall, yes. Spruel, yes.

Moving on to D. Apron expansion contract reward recommendations. City council will consider the bid results for the apron expansion project and the airport's recommendation to award the contract to the selected contractor. Our presenter is Kyle Sloan, our brand new airport director.

All right. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. City Council. So, as just stated, uh the South General Aviation Apron expansion project was rooted back in, uh 2023 with initial phases of design as part of our capital improvement plan project. Uh the construction of the apron was skipped a year in order to accomplish the parking lot uh rehabilitation construction and runway rehabilitation design due to our available grant funding. Uh last year the apron design was revisited in order to bid on the project and plan for construction. Given that the design has uh a two-year shelf life for the grant uh last November, we advised the project or advertised for the project for invitation to bid. We received three responses as follows. Elevated Excavating at 1,527,055, Williams Construction Contractors at 1,693,749 and Old Castle Southwest Group Incorporated at 1,831,132. Upon staff and engineering review of the responses, we follow the recommended FAA procedure to draft uh engineering recommendation of award and sponsor for the concurrence letters. Uh breakdown of the physical impact. Uh 95% of this is covered by federal grants, 2 and a half% by the state and then two and a half local match from the city. Uh our local match at two and a half% is broken down as follows with $43,519. Uh lodgers tax revenue uh covers 25,000

and existing airport operations budget covers $18,500. Staff recommends that council award the Cortez Municipal Airport Apron expansion construction to elevated excavating and to authorize the city manager to negotiate a contract in the amount of 1,527,55. I yield to questions.

Kyle, I have a question. And it makes reference to uh Garver's review. Is that is that the engineering? Because I read where it says Garver LLC, but I'm like who is this person or what? Garver is the our on call engineer. On call engineer. Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. I was just curious and maybe this is part of the procurement process. Um I think that these companies have been kind of researched to see quality of building and that type of thing. We don't shouldn't be concerned about issues later on of maintenance or not holding up to what it should.

Correct. Yes. Um part of the F recommended FAA procedure both uh the staff at the airport and also our on call engineers go through that process. Thank you very much. I move that city council award the court escavating and to authorize the city manager to negotiate and sign a contract and any other related documents in the amount of $1,527,5528. Second

Randall, yes. Osborne, yes. Wolf, yes. West, yes. Lewis, yes. Swopee, yes. Sproul, yes. Where' Kyle go? Was that your first time presenting to city council? Yes, sir. Very good job. Move on to item number C. Ordinance number 1365 series 2026. Request for approval of the ordinance to appropriate housing planning grant project HPLN grant funds into 2026 operating budget. Our presenter is Scott Baker Baker, grants administrator.

Good evening, council. I'm Scott Baker. I serve the city as your grants administrator. Um, I'm here tonight to uh basically present to you an appropriation request for a grant award that we received in February uh of $33,750 from the DOA housing planning grant program. Uh the purpose of this uh particular award is to help the city uh develop a strategic growth and water supply uh component that would then uh assist the city in revisiting and and updating its comprehensive plan. Uh this is a statemandated uh requirement to develop this strategic growth and water supply element for all comprehensive plans across the state. Uh fortunately we got some funding to help us do that and to be able to hire a consultant and evaluate our water supply needs, engage with our uh subsidiaries and affiliates, engage with our our uh public locally about their water concerns and growth concerns. And uh our hope is that by the end of this year uh we'll have the uh the necessary document documents and uh recommendations that will then uh feed into the city's comprehensive plan. Um yes. So that's that's the purpose of this and what we're what we're asking tonight is to appropriate this award into the city's uh current operating budget. And this will have two readings. Tonight is the first reading uh for the ordinance that would do so.

Thank you, Scott. Okay. Thanks.

Given that. No. Okay. So, I move that the city council approve on first reading ordinance number 1365 series 2026, an ordinance adopting the appropriation of $33,750 from the state's HPLN grant program into the 2026 operating budget for the city as set forth in the ordinance and set the public hearing and second reading of the ordinance for May 12th, 2026. I second. Osborne, yes. Lewis, yes. Randall, yes. West, yes. Wolf,

yes. Swope, yes. Spruel, yes.

Move on to item number eight, which is draft resolution ordinances. We have none. Number nine, city attorney report. Yeah, since we were speaking of water earlier today, I wanted to keep the council up to date on a issue that we've been dealing with this year. Um, as some of the new council members may not be aware, uh, the city of Cortez provides treated water to the Ute Mountain Ute tribe. Uh and we have a pipeline and canal that that I guess it's just pipeline that that could maze that water. Uh we've been operating under a agreement between the city and the tribe that was signed in 1988 and everybody felt that it probably was time to update it. So, we've been drafting it and uh it should be in a a format that we can provide to the tribe for their review uh by the end of this week. And I think uh they're anxious to get something finalized and in place before August. So, that's our goal. and uh it will come before council obviously uh for final review and approval. Uh so that's all I wanted to report on and if there are any questions happy to answer them.

Thank you. I don't see any questions. I'll move on to item number 10, city manager report. Excuse me. I have a question but not on that but not on the mountain tribe issue. uh when do we move to how are we moving forward with the ordinances to get them passed by council uh regarding the recent ballot issues that just passed. Can you give us a status update on that?

I I would say we're probably at least a couple weeks away, but should be certainly in the month of May you should see those. Any other questions? Okay, we'll move on to city manager report. Mayor and Council, I do not have a report for you this evening. I feel like you've heard just about enough from me tonight. However, I do have some uh items for the new council members at the conclusion of the meeting. Thank you.

Move on to item number 11 with the city council committee reports. We only have two committee members. Do you have anything, Bill? Just like to uh let everyone know the golf advisory committee uh will be meeting this Friday at the clubhouse at 7:00 a.m. No report from the historic preservation board.

Okay, we'll move on to 11A, which is the mayor's report on the workshop. We did not have one today, so my report is real short. Uh we'll go on to 11B. Other board reports. Don't believe we have any. Uh we need nominations for boards and committees. Um I think what we're going to have to what we want to do first of all um is everybody familiar with the boards, the new council members? If you would just shout out what you're really interested in, and you're not going to get away without doing one or two of them. Um, go ahead, Bill. Library. Okay. Library.

I would like to uh continue on the golf advisory and um we are starting an airport advisory uh committee. I' I'd like to serve on that. Uh I've had my pilot's license, so I think I could uh fit in and and know many of those people. Thank you, Bill. Now, if somebody else wants to do the same committee that he does, shout out. Uh, anybody else? I would like to do the arts committee. Yeah, that one sounds great.

I guess to do Oh, go for it. No, no, no, no. I was just going to ask, uh, it sounds like there can be multiple members on the same board, but should we have one member on each board? We we need at least one council member per board. And you're not a voting member. You're just reporting back to the council left that nobody has picked as park recreation and forestry advisory board. I'd like to be on parks and wreck. Pardon? I'd like to be on parks, wreck, and forestry. You got it. Thanks.

I'll just I'll I'd like to just stay where I'm at. You want to stay on it? Yeah. Okay. Unless someone else is interested. Um, and you can be interested in more than one. I mean, I I think that's worth saying. So, we have What about the adjustment and appeals? Is anybody interested in adjustment and appeals? I don't see that. I don't think we have that one, do we? Not here. It's not on this list. Do we not have adjustment and appeals still? So what I have is park uh public arts advisory committee, parks, recreation and forestry, golf advisory board, library advisory board, historic preservation board and airport advisory committee.

Okay. Um Mr. Mayor, the the the board of adjustment and appeals uh is not one of the committees that a council member can serve on. That's a public seat. Is that what what that it's for appeals from decisions by the Thank you. Sorry, I was a bit confused there. If so, how many more? Uh well, what we have right now, we have everybody assigned to something. Uh Wolf is public arts advisory. West is park recreation and forestry, Lewis Golf Advisory Board, uh Swopee Library Advisory Board, uh Randall Historic Preservation, and Lewis on Airport Advisory Committee. Is there anybody else?

I mean, I'll pick one. Uh, it sounds like there's one for everyone, but I um would be interested in the historic preservation board if April doesn't mind having me. Oh, no. I'm I'm happy to let you unless there's a board that's more needing of members. It's your choice and you're going to get very few one choices and this is it. Okay. Historic preservations fund. It's good with me for you to have it. Mayor, if I can clarify that list with you. I'm not sure I was able to copy it down, okay, accurately and that quickly. Uh, here we go. Public arts advisory committee is WOF. Okay.

Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Advisory Board is West. Golf advisory board is Lewis. Library Advisory Board is Swope. Historic Preservation Board is Osborne. We're going to be backed up by Randall. And airport advisory committee is Lewis. Copy that. Thank you. I ju just a question, Clarissa. So, you're not serving on an advisory committee solely. You're sitting on that with with uh council member Randall. Correct.

Okay. If you would like to be the head of I don't know if you have interest in the airport advisory. I mean, I wouldn't mind if because I I I would step aside and I I will attend as you know, needed, especially when we first start and give some guidance, but I I think it'd be important for you to maybe be the head liaison on that. I would be happy to. You obviously have more experience and knowledge, but I would be happy to as well. Honestly, these all interested me. I I all so that's what Yeah, I would be fine with aviation. Okay. Do you hear the correction? I believe so. So, uh, Osborne will be on airport

and then Randall will be historic preservation. That's correct. Okay. Okay. I think we've got it. Okay. Thanks, council.

Okay. Move on to item number 12 is public participation. Individuals may not comment on items that are on the council agenda during the public participation time. There is no limit to the number of speakers and 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. Uh does anybody in the audience have any comments? Hearing none, we'll go to number 13. Other items of business. This is where we typically open it up for any council members to say they have a burning desire to say. Uh, typically it's to address something that may have been said by a guest speaker. Does anybody have anything that they wish to comment on? No, I'd just like to make comment and just uh welcome every all the uh new council members and I I'm really uh really appreciate how how you've jumped right in and just taken some of these motions, made the motion. It It's great to see you uh get involved right away. I I know when I first came on board, I I kind and I think Council Member uh Randall was the same way. We just kind of sat here and and watched others, but uh keep it up. It's great. And welcome.

I'll just say too, thank you everyone for the warm welcome and support. It's been great. Okay, we don't have an executive session, so um there's a motion for an adjournment. Mr. Mayor, I move to adjourn. I second it. Wolf? Yes. Randall, yes. West, yes. Swope, Osborne, yes. Lewis, yes. Sproul, yes. Meeting adjourned.