City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call to order the Cortez City Council regular meeting, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. It is a little late, 7.50. Would you all 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, We have roll call.

Randall. Here. Osborne. Here. West. Here. Lewis. Here. Swope. Here. Wolfe. Here. Sproul.

Here. Do we have a motion to approve the agenda?

Mr. Mayor, I move that council approve the agenda as presented for May 26, 2026. Second. Second.

Motion made by Lewis, seconded by Randall.

Wolfe? Yes. Swope? Yes. Lewis?

Yes.

Randall? Yes. Osborne? Yes. West? Yes. Spruill?

Yes. Item number two, the consent agenda. The listing under consent agenda is a group of items to be acted on with a single motion and vote. This agenda is designed to expedite the handling of limited routine matters by city council. Either the public or council member may request that an item be removed from the consent agenda at the time prior to council's vote. I will ask if a citizen or council member wishes to have any specific item removed from the consent agenda for discussion. 2A, approval of the meeting minutes for May 12, 2026. 2B, approval of the expenditure list for May 26, 2026. C, approval of an arts, liquor license and outdoor dining license agreement for the Community Radio Project Incorporated, DBA, KSJD, located at 28 East Main Street, Cortez. D, approval of A, renewal application for a hotel and restaurant liquor license for Fiesta Mexicana number three, DBA Fiesta Mexicana family restaurant located at 430 North Highway 145 Cortez. E, approval of a special event permit to allow the Cortez area Chamber of Commerce to host an event on June 11th, 2026 from five o'clock to eight p.m. at 20 West Main Street, Cortez. Does anyone in the public have anything want to remove from the agenda? I'll take a motion.

I move that council approve the consent agenda.

Second.

Motion made by West, approved by, or seconded by Randall.

Osborne.

Yes. Wolf. Yes. West. Yes. Swope. Yes. Randall. Yes. Lewis. Yes. Rule.

Yes. Item number three, public participation. Individuals may not comment on items that are on this 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 cede time to another commentator. Do we have any, nobody in public wants to make any comments? Okay, we'll move on to number four, presentations for a Mesa Verde country. Presentations by Brian Bartlett, our executive director.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and honorable members of the council. It's an honor and a pleasure to be here. and for the ability to present before you. We do have a display for you. I'm gonna bring this up and hoping that that's working for Aaron. and we're here to talk a little just about the tourism the economic impacts of tourism visitation and the way that 2025 shaped up versus 2024 and what we're looking at for 2020. the very good news in a nutshell is that we continue to remain strong our visitor spend is very strong however inflation is a driving force behind that so when you see visitor spend numbers that are up by eight percent which they are it is not all due to the increased activity it is mostly due to the economic situation that we're all dealing with right now i regret that but i wanted to share mesa verde country remains positioned as a leading heritage and outdoor destination in southwest colorado our tourism demand is stabilizing after the post-pandemic period domestic drive travel continues to be our strongest market segment international visitation remains well below pre-2019 levels and the park remains our best demand generator the most wonderful demand generator we could hope for in this region Our strong drive market has visitation from Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Texas, continues to be extremely strong from those designated market areas. Growth is in our outdoor rec, cultural tourism, experiential activities, and scenic road travel, including Trail of the Ancient Scenic Byway, which we also oversee and administer. Travelers are seeking authentic, uncrowded destinations, shorter stays and value-oriented travel, continue to shape the booking behavior, and our shoulder season visitation is improving dramatically. Shoulder season would be the early spring to the beginning of summer and the late summer to the middle of winter. Those have grown dynamically for us over the past five years. Our efforts have been redoubled on that because we're getting great, tremendous feedback and engagement from our public. So that's been wonderful for us. We see a lot of growth room there. Our domestic leisure travel remains resilient despite the economic pressure. Our road trip and national park travel continue to outperform urban travel, very helpful for a location like the one that we all enjoy. Travelers are booking closer to their arrival dates with a much shorter booking window. This causes a lot of panic amongst lodgers, hoteliers, RV campsite owners, a lot of our merchants as well. They just are understanding that people are still coming, they're just not planning as far in advance. And I wish that were different, but we're happy to have them coming anyway. Our family, multi-gen, and experiential travel remain the key demand drivers, and Mesa Verde Country benefits from the affordability and the multi-day itinerary potential that's customizable for all of our segments and our psychographics. Our psychographics are much more important than our demographics because that's what people get to fine-tune, what they're really into, what they enjoy. They get to customize and kind of a la carte style choose what they want to do and engage with in Mesa Verde Country. Our international visitation to the US remains in a gradual, extremely slow, and a highly fragile recovery mode. No news there that's fresh. However, some sadder news. With the higher airfare costs, the Ebola, and the hantavirus outbreaks, global uncertainty continue to adversely affect our long-haul travel. international travelers are staying longer they spend more per trip when they come on average an international traveler will stay will spend seven times more per day per visitor than domestic or regional so that's really the creme de la creme of what we're looking for and it's been really wonderful over the past 20 years in this market to be able to kind of pad the profitability of some of the things that we do in this area because international is a 25 chunk of that visitation tremendous spend and tremendous repeat visitation However, it's not here right now, and I'm sad to inform you that it's expected to improve incrementally through 26 and 27, forecasting substantial gains in 2028 through 2030. It is such a situation right now, it's affecting a little bit the FIFA soccer tournaments and a lot of the stuff that we thought was going to be rather bulletproof to bring people into market, that they're now having some changes to their plans based on a lot of the things that are going on economically and with some of the viruses. This is a slide from Datify. Datify is a wonderful way for us to categorize our spending, compare this year versus last year, look at multi-year trends. And in this particular slide, you might notice that the average spend per trip is 139.25. That would be for 2025. That's up 8.1% versus comparable dates in 2024. 2.8 transactions are up slightly. Total spend is up 7.9%. That looks wonderful, but as I mentioned before, inflation, inflation, inflation. I wish we could take those numbers to the bank, but we just can't. The real number of growth on spend is probably around 1.5 to maybe 1.8%. I would defer to my colleague Helen West and Jason Armstrong. They have better information on that. The middle pie chart talks a little bit about in and out of state spending. The in-state spending represented 65.8%. In 2025, out of state represented 34.20. The next one with the purple is our local versus visitor. This is really important because what is a local versus a visitor? Well, local is defined as someone who came to market from zero to 50 miles away. Okay, and that's that little green slice that you see right in the middle, that's 1.86%. Visitor spend, 50 miles away or further, up to 3,000, was 98.14%. So it's very obvious that we have an economy that's based on tourism, it benefits from tourism, our local restaurants, our local establishments could not possibly survive if we did not bring a pipeline of travelers tourists visitors into this area people that are looking for experiential activities and some that are looking to relocate and add to this community in the ways that they've added to the communities they've been in previously we're very attractive that way to a lot of our visitors our overall visitation forecast for 2026 into 2027 is plus one percent to possibly plus four percent Those are pretty positive numbers. They seem a little rosy right now. I'm very happy to report that our initial push into the travel season this past Memorial Day weekend that just concluded was up for the majority of our lodgers, the majority of our retailers, and all of our tourism experiential activity folks. They were seeing increases of 5% to almost 7% over what they expected and about 3% to 4% over what they enjoyed last year. that's really great the problem is those are micro hyper local trips these are people that are coming from a much closer market spending less time in market it's going to be more wear and tear on the resource and more wear and tear on the establishments on the staff and on the people who are providing services to our tourism visitation market domestic visitation two to four percent growth is possible our regional drive market is still our very strongest we really see solid three percent to a possible five percent growth in that market in 26 and into 27. Again, our international visitation forecast is flat to 0.5%. We're struggling and fighting diligently to get that. We participate with the Office of Economic Development and International Trade from the state. We participate in international promotions for the IPW and all of the foreign groups that want to come here with motor coach with large groups or have an event or a special situation to visit. Even with that engagement, we're being told that for the most part, it's going to be 28, 29, or 30 before they can move the needle on the international spend. Our visitor spending forecast overall for the whole pie is 2% to 5% growth. Again, I think that's very attainable. However, a lot of that is inflationary rooted, and it's not a true gain. We're expanding our shoulder season marketing. We're promoting archaeology, indigenous heritage, pioneer history, and tactile cultural experiences. We're trying to strengthen our regional itineraries with Durango, Moab, the Four Corners partner destinations. We're leveraging our dark skies. We'd like to have those lights off at the pickleball courts as well, because that doesn't help our dark skies that much at that time of the night. But we're really trying to work on outdoor recreation, focus on the wellness travel trends that exist around the country. Mesa Verde Country is positioned as an authentic, uncrowded Southwest destination ripe for revisitation. And that's really important for us. Revisitation as tourism audience awareness of our resources grows while they're in market. We enjoy sometimes as high as 80% return visitation. Last year we enjoyed about 60% return visitation. People discover us once and they enjoy us and bask in us multiple, multiple times. What we're doing is working well. Our community is tourism focused and we're delivering on that concept. Mesa Verde Country is positioned for the growth in 2026 that we've outlined. Regional and domestic travel will remain the primary growth engines for us. International recovery is expected to continue gradually. Our destination's strongest advantage is our combination of heritage, culture, experiential activities, and outdoor recreation. People don't want to come and take a picture. they don't want to come and ride the ride they want to come and have the experience do the activity take some element of that experience back home with them that means something to them it could be something as simple as a social post it could be something as important as artwork or some cultural wonderful creation that somebody did tribally it could be something that somebody just found in one of our local markets or at the farmer's market because they don't find those where they come from that gives them all a reason to come back and people are enjoying that very much our destination's strongest advantage is our combination of heritage culture experiential and outdoor rec our focus is on value authenticity multi-day multi-gen experiences and we will support the long-term growth through those mechanisms Living heritage and archaeological depth. Mesa Verde Country's strongest and most valuable inspirational narrative is our cultural weight. Cliff dwellings, ancestral Pueblan history, UNESCO recognition, regional pioneer heritage like the Montezuma Heritage Museum, and a sense of place with a purpose that feels deeper than just a standard park stop. we're really trying to grow and mature our audience and mature our destination people are now doing the western park trail as opposed to just going to one or two national parks there are eight wonderful national parks within this region we're selling itineraries for those getting a lot of people interested in doing that and understanding that they can take the short-term vacation with two or three stops and hit those national parks and then come back and do it again and continue their way along the national park trail This resonates well because it gives our travelers a reason to visit that's emotional, it's educational, and it's globally distinctive. Our road trips are our anchor for the Southwest. Our desired coverage consistently defines Mesa Verde Country as part of the broader Four Corners Southwest itinerary rather than a one-site destination. This resonates because modern leisure travelers often want a sequence of travel experiences. They want that narrative. They want to wind those together. They want to put the story behind it and have something they can take back that really is a mosaic of the time that they spent in Mesa Verde Country. We benefit when the City of Cortez is framed as a key anchor in a longer journey, and we've had tremendous success doing that so far. Our shoulder season is escape and quiet discovery. Our featured regional drive content suggests that MVC works especially well as a quieter, more reflective destination outside of peak summer crowds. That resonates because many travelers want space, authenticity, and lower crowd experiences, rather than over tourism destinations, which is how the city of Cortez has been precisely positioned. We're in a great spot for that right now, and it's time for us to grow under that aegis. Food, wine, and elevated local experience are very trendy and very easy for us to sell. One of the most valuable shifts in perception is coverage that links our area to culinary travel, agritourism, vineyards, and refined local experiential activities. This includes things like our farmers market, Mesa Verde Country is honored to oversee and administer the Colorado Welcome Center. We've just worked out a deal with the farmers market group where we will be flying their banner on Fridays to help people discover where the farmers market is. It's a great farmers market. It's just a little bit out in the wild lands right now. We're trying to get people piped in there. And then the team from the farmers market will actually take down the banner on Saturday when the market closes. So there will be no confusion and no one will be showing up when it's not open. This resonates for us because it broadens our destination beyond archaeology. It opens our appeal to affluent, lifestyle-oriented, and longer-stay high-value travelers. That's where our focus is when we're in economic tough times. As recently as January 17th of 2026, Mesa-Riddy Country had a very wonderful reach, 98,000 monthly unique visitors via the Rockies Travel Blog. This was where we published our Four Corners Perfect 7-Day Itinerary. And the people love these itineraries because it's a la carte. you can do two days four days six days all seven days we have 21 day motorcycle journeys we have a lot of different itineraries people love to see that they love to read themselves into that and understand how they can interact with us our shoulder season has been wonderful for the city of cortez specific recommendations from march until may we're really trying to get people to understand this is your base camp to adventure in this region We recommend Mancos for arts, culture, and where the West still lives. We recommend Dolores for outdoor recreation and everything that's fun and wild. We recommend Cortez for everything else. And that's not letting anyone down. That's saying everything else you're going to need during your trip, sooner or later, you're going to need to be in Cortez, come to Cortez, or if you're traveling to the travel park and having an experience up there, you need to stay in Cortez because you can't make it to the tribal park in time if you're staying remotely. We also, in March, had a great reach of 140 million monthly visits This is a great article that got picked up on Sutcliffe, and it was wonderful because we were able to tie in McElmo Canyon, City of Cortez, Mesa Verde National Park, and Canyons of the Ancients. Canem is a huge thing here, 176,000 acres, as we all know. All these sites that are out there that are undiscovered. A lot of sites that people want to feel like they're discovering themselves for the first time, and this is a place where you can do that. There are very few places in the continental United States where you can still go and have that type of an experience. visit with respect, and go home feeling like you pioneered a trail in a place that had been there untouched for centuries. This is specific to what we're doing for the City of Cortez. This is our annual plan where we're celebrating and promoting the overlapping cultural, archaeological, and heritage destinations to our domestic audience. This will bring increased RV campground and hotel motel occupancy into the 81321 zip code. we're enhancing hyper regional multi-state mini getaways working with western colorado partners southeastern utah northwestern arizona and northern new mexico we've been doing this for a couple years guys because we know how important that audience is we know that they live closely enough they can jump in the car make what they call a two tank trip they want to fill up their tank once in their home market come to gortez and play when they get done they want to fill up again in our market make it back home ready to start their week that is a perfect setup for the economic situation that we're facing right now We're bringing the CTO of Colorado Tourism Office and OEDIT, Office of Economic Development and International Trade. We're bringing those experts into Cortez, into Montezuma County, into the Four Corners area. We have people that work there that have yet to visit this area in person. That's not only a shame, it should be wrong. How can they represent and sell and promote our area if they haven't seen it? We've stirred up an anthill at the CTO and at the OEDIT, and we've already had about 16 people come through in the past four months that never came down before and didn't seem like they were going to. It's really wonderful to have the team behind us at the state level. We're maximizing tourism-related and reach impact from the local... uh youth through senior sports events this is something that creighton wright was really helpful with and i appreciate his guidance and leadership tremendously on this we know that people are here having tour having sports events it feeds into tourism they're having a celebration at the end of the event rather than have it in a place that might be static or not focused on what we have to offer here We're finding ways for them to have these events in areas where they can get aware and attuned to some of the cultural, archaeological, historical and fun activities that we have available to them. And this is a great way to kind of plant that seed and have that local and regional drive that hyperlocal rather be a big thing that's going to grow for us. We're surveying existing easy parking options. We're looking at the oversize and pull through for large class A or fifth wheel vehicles. I don't know if anybody drives a class A or has a fifth wheel behind them. If you ever have that with a dinghy behind it, a towed vehicle, it's really hard to park in Cortez. Even at our welcome center, a 40 foot RV with a 20 foot dinghy is very difficult to navigate through that space. We're trying to find some possibilities, even though the fuel prices have gone up and we are seeing a decrease this year specifically, in our rv traffic we're trying to find some possibilities to convert some fuel stops or other pass-through activities into disembarkment opportunities therefore they'll peruse our shops restaurants storefront cultural engagements and engage with what we have here again maturing the market and trying to become more than a pass-through more than a pit stop We're soliciting, promoting, and sharing social influencers to drive initial pass-through and convert this to overnight stays. I'm happy to say in the last 30, 35 days, we've had four different travel writers come through this area. We've curated that experience for all of them. Most recently was a lady with a far magazine. Currently right this moment. I have two people here from Southwest travel and life magazine. They're doing a multi-story article on us This will be published quarterly for the next year. This is a wonderful opportunity for us It's the regional drive market that we're looking at the hyperlocal and they're currently exploring ancient echoes at Kelly place and tomorrow morning I'm taking them through the Ute Mountain Tribal Park and It's important for us to grow beyond Mesa Verde. It's a wonderful demand generator. We've got Hovenweep, we've got Keenum, and we've got the U-Mountain Tribal Park. Nobody can compete against that. We're delivering comprehensive pre-season staff training sessions for hotel and restaurant staff. This is a force multiplier of line associates and advocates for staying, playing, and engaging in Cortez and Montezuma County year-round. We need to make it easy for line associates, a server, a front desk clerk, a housekeeper, whatever their status may be, when they bump into someone who says, hey, you're from here. What do you guys really do for fun? We want these folks to have some really good answers that are better than, oh, I go to Moab. So we're really trying to grow that and drive that. and we're having a lot of success with that so far. This is a long-term project. It takes a lot of time. We've also developed a website where they can get a certification and they can use it in a self-serve style to have more of this information. Tourism and visitation to Mesa Verde Country are expected to remain stable and gradually strengthen through 26 and beyond. This is driven primarily by the continued growth in regional and domestic drive market travel, increasing the demand for authentic cultural and outdoor experiences, and our region's unique positioning as the gateway to the Four Corners region. While international visitation is recovering much more slowly than domestic leisure travel, long-term trends favor destinations like Mesa Verde Country. We offer heritage tourism, scenic landscapes, archaeology, indigenous cultural experiences, dark skies, and uncrowded recreation opportunities. Big emphasis on uncrowded recreation opportunities. Our region is especially well positioned to benefit from evolving traveler preferences towards shorter road trips, multi-day generational regional itineraries, shoulder season travel and value oriented experiences. This isn't just packages or packaging. This is allowing people to come here and experience what we offer. And when they leave, they tell us at the Welcome Center they saw value for the money. This was good value. They felt like the money they spent delivered on what they were promised, and they left feeling very good about what they spent here. that gets circulated amongst social networks amongst family networks and that brings people right back into market as a marketplace our strongest opportunities for sustained growth will continue to come from expanding regional partnerships strengthening our destination branding increasing reasons for participating in overnight stays enhancing visitor experiences and continuing to position cortez and montezuma county as the authentic crossroads to the southwest i thank you for your time

Anybody from council have questions?

Yeah, Brian, who's the largest contributor financially to Mesa Verde Country?

Mesa Verde Country, currently it would be a tie between the city of Cortez and the county of Montezuma. We would love to have a third or fourth contender in there as well, but we don't at the moment.

I kind of asked a question I knew the answer to because it's leading something else. So what measures do you have in place that can reassure the council that we're getting our money's worth from Mesa Verde Country? What data-driven decisions can you give us?

I understand your question completely, and I'll give you the best information I can. We use a ton of metrics to find out what's working, what's not working, where our angle should be, where our focus needs to be. The issue for us is when those metrics come in, they're three to six to nine to 12 months old. The campaigns we're running actively are happening right now, and we're trying to capture those people live. So what we're trying to do is use information from Datify, which we do not have an account with the state of Colorado, has allowed us to use their Datify account until the city of Cortez goes through the process and identifies who they want to provide those metrics for us. We're having a little bit of a hodgepodge of other data that we're putting together. A lot of it comes from OEdit, a lot of it comes from AAA, a lot of it comes from other national park, counting the national monument counting like at Hovenweep and at Canem and then the big number for us is our sales and lodgers tax okay and the biggest impact ever is for our lodgers our RV campground owners and our short-term vacation rental operators we also see the number of short-term vacation rentals are still continuing to grow even though it's a depressed economy so we do believe that there's a strong demand and that people are coming here we try to be accountable to you and provide this information for you it's not always easy to show how a pebble tossed in the pond today makes a ripple that touches the far shore tomorrow we're always looking for more ways to do that i work closely with helen west with jason armstrong with a lot of other movers and shakers in this area i take all of their advice and i try to learn from everything they have to say and i think we have a strong partnership that way so that we're not missing any opportunities and i appreciate the question I want to demonstrate for you through tremendously increased lodgers tax revenues for the next five years. But unfortunately, it's not happening just yet.

What's the communication between Mesa Verde and like the communities and what new businesses and what is being offered is there any gap in that communication of new businesses up and coming that we could help let you guys know about or I mean because other towns too I mean obviously Dolores Mancus there's new businesses popping up all the time so

Yes, ma'am, but what a great question. I appreciate that. Mesa Verde Country strives to take a really proactive stance from an economic development standpoint. We do serve on a variety of different committees, a lot of different boards of directors in the area. Some are non-profit, some are business-oriented, some are conservation-oriented, like the Montalores Coalition. We work very closely with the Cortez Chamber of Commerce We had a mentee who was a strong mentee of ours who just recently passed away who was leading that organization as well. Even though that person is gone, we have new connections there and new ties. We're getting those demographics all the time. There's new leadership in Delores at their chamber and new leadership in Mancos at their chamber. They've opened the Visitor Center at Millwood Junction in Mancos, which is a wonderful step. Instead of being in the ambulance building, it's now in its own private location. We really try to understand what is going on in our outlying communities. And it's not just the ones I mentioned. It's Toyock and the tribe as well. We participate extensively with the tribal council and we're honored and blessed to be invited to do so. It's something that we don't take for granted and that we love to do because that really represents a lot of growth for us for the future, a lot of grant opportunities for them and a lot that we can bring into the area. So we try to stay tuned, keep our finger on the pulse. There's always more that we can do and more that we can learn my email address is very simple It's Brian at Mesa Verde country comm and I invite anyone and everyone who has a tip a suggestion a criticism a critique or Anything else that you want to share to just drop an email to that account? I will follow up on that and get back with you immediately. That's how we learn That's how we try to grow. It's only a one-person operation So it's a little little tough from that standpoint but we try to grow and learn from the community and our community is full of people that care that are dedicated to our growth and that believe in responsible visitation for sustainable tourism if it weren't that way I wouldn't be here doing this right now thank you so much for everything that you are doing it sounds incredible with the world mountain bike championships coming to Durango how are you

collaborating and capitalizing on that, especially with the downturn in international travel.

we work really closely visit Durango currently Benjamin is a person who's mostly in charge of that and there are about three other people that I work with on a weekly basis there we've laid the groundwork and the foundation for this event we're ready to capitalize on it we're also trying to set some parameters for us so that people don't get stuck just staying there or even if they're staying remotely to participate there they don't see it as that highway in between point A and point B with nothing in between we've tried to educate that to the biker groups to the folks that are putting together the outreach programs the recreational time and the time for people to grow we're reminding people that this is a great place for mindfulness for people to understand the cultural experiences that go on here that went on here and that might guide and shape their future and so we're trying to speak specifically to that element because we've identified a huge percentage of that audience that are involved deeply in that element of travel and visitation so those are some of the ways that we're trying to do that we are also seeking funding from the state of Colorado and we're working very closely with Visit Durango, Visit Pagosa, and about five other visits in the area where we're trying to drag more money in to help promote that. The biggest success for us will be getting the awareness that people will have of this specific site when that happens. It won't be the preliminary, the premium, top of the run, uh event day activities and rewards it's going to be the secondary and tertiary opportunities that come to us from laying that groundwork and from people seeing what they have here is really special and you can bike some of the best terrain in the world and it's well cared for it's well conserved and people are passionate about doing it

Thank you very much for coming in. One thing I will make a little statement. It's imperative that we receive our financial statements in a timely manner. And we really appreciate what Mesa Verde Country is doing for the city of Cortez and Montezuma County.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

It's an honor.

We'll move on to 4B presentations, proclamation of June 2026 as LGBTQ plus pride month in the city of Cortez. I'd like to open this up to the city council for discussion. Does anybody have anything that they would like to, has everybody read the proclamation? Is there any discussion amongst the council? I do have something I will say.

I have something.

Go ahead, Abel.

I'd like to address this to my fellow council members and to the community at large. Discrimination is defined as being the unfair judgment, treatment, or separation from one's rights based on a characteristic that a person has no control over or has no choice over. We're familiar with discrimination based on race and color and country of origin and age and disability and sex and pregnancy and sexual orientation and gender ID. The last two, sexual orientation and gender ID, are the two that fall under the category of LGBTQ proclamation. We have federal laws that are in place. that ensure that no discrimination happens in our country. We have the Civil Rights Amendment. We have the Americans with Disabilities Act. We have the Age Discrimination and Hiring Act. Discrimination can be negative in that we can condemn one's actions and make them feel shame or try to make them feel shame or alienate them from their rights. But we also have positive discrimination. And positive discrimination occurs when we endorse or advance a certain person or group of people, not based on the quality of their character, but based on things that they have no control over. We can promote them beyond others. When we joined the City Council, when we agreed to serve the people of Cortez, we took an oath of office. That oath of office specifically said that we would support the Constitution of the United States and its amendments, that we would support the Constitution of the State of Colorado, and that we would support the Cortez City Charter. We start every city council meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. In the Pledge of Allegiance, there are two specific things that require our attention, or that I want to bring attention to. One is that we say we are one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We also have, in the city of Cortez, something called the City of Cortez Core Values. Right? In the values, we have listed accountability and under the accountability form, it says we promote the health safety of our community members. Under the value of communication, it states that we understand and we give consideration to the people we serve. Under integrity, it says that we treat our citizens with the utmost honesty and equality. Under leadership, it states that we need to focus on the best interests of our community, focusing on fulfilling our most basic needs first. Those basic needs we're all aware of, we're gonna be dealing with some of them today and in the future, and we'll speak of them later. But the last value is respect, and that we will respect all facets of diversity. I have no question about where our values lie. They lie with all of the citizens of Cortez. Our city council members have a duty and a responsibility to our community. We need to be calm. We need to be steady. We need to be subjective and listen to facts and not be guided by feelings. We need to be fair. We need to demonstrate the highest possible principles that we can muster, the very highest. We deal with day-to-day issues that are important to all of our citizens, our public safety, our water safety, our infrastructure, our transparency, our accountability. These are all things that require our integrity and our steadfastness. And we're doing this in an environment of extreme challenge. We have scorched earth political partisanship happening in the world. We have lifestyle branding that's occurring. We have a collapse of public trust in the government. We also have unnerving economic shifts that are happening at the local level and at the national level. These are all forces that are there that we're dealing with. But there are also forces that are actively promoting division and discrimination based on people's groups. There's no limit to the groups that we can put people in so that we can discriminate against them or for them. but it has to be this council's wholehearted efforts to try and unite our community and not to divide it. We are here for the citizens' well-being of all of Cortez, not just select groups. Last month, the state of Utah passed a law And the state of Utah's law states that it bans any non-sanctioned flags or banners in government buildings. That means that it bans MAGA flags and it bans LGBTQ flags. This is the first time that a state has passed a law against this. We have a duty to avoid two actions at all costs. The first action is to avoid intervention as a city government to promote any value or opportunity for any one group or any class of citizens above any other group or class of citizens. We also have the necessity of avoiding any creation of a class of people that will be more entitled, more advanced, or more endorsed than their neighbors. There's plenty of opportunities for this to happen. In May, we could have chosen to be the Asian American National Hawaiian Month and celebrated it. We could have chosen to celebrate the Jewish American Heritage Month or the Older American Heritage Month. I'd like that one. We all get old, right? Or how about Military Appreciation Month? We could have chosen to celebrate that. In June, along with LGBTQ, we also have the opportunity to celebrate Caribbean Heritage Month, or how about Immigration Heritage Month? Or we could make up another one, like MAGA Month, or how about the Tea Party Month? I'm here today to speak to encourage my fellow council members to represent all of their citizens, not just one group. to avoid any endorsement or any promotion of any single group. Because in doing so, we're going to be able to avoid alienating any group of citizens. Colorado has a population that about 8.9% identify as LGBTQ. That means about 91% identify as straight. I would ask us to rise and avoid any further segregation, division, or separation of our citizens, whether it be because they live on the north side of town or the south side of town, which I've heard before, whether they're straight or not, whether they're young or old, whether they're of color or whether they're not of color, whether they're poor and require assistance or if they don't. I'm asking us to rise above any political statements and not be utilized by a single party or group. I'm asking us to be steady, to be level-headed, to lead by example in decency and integrity for all because that's what we're here for. And in lieu of LGBTQ Pride Month, how about we have a Cortez Citizens Appreciation Month for all that we are and change the verbiage in that proclamation to include all citizens and celebrate all of us who work together for the common good of all of us. Thank you.

Well, after that, I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY I DO AGREE WITH MANY THINGS THAT I've got to say, I think not supporting this proclamation, when I read this proclamation, everything in here is what the city of Cortez is. And I think we are not giving this group special treatment, but what we're doing is we're making sure that Pride is about visibility, Most importantly, it's about safety and acceptance. That's what we're talking about. And I just wanna talk about the safety issue because it impacts this council right here. We had a city council member that had to resign because she was getting threatened and she felt that the the threats were becoming larger and she was worried about her family and i think that's what this proclamation does it just reminds us and we we're letting that community know that as a city we support you you're part of our you're part of our community um they're not getting any special treatment we're just acknowledging that and and i think The message is so strong if we don't support this, because I think it gives a message of exclusion. I think it's a message that this group is unseen. It's unheard, it's unsupported, and so I would hope our council members vote in favor of this proclamation.

I have concerns about special recognition. Proclamations for specific identity groups risk fostering division by singling out certain communities for special recognition. Such proclamations can unintentionally suggest that some identities are more deserving of acknowledgement or protection than others, leading to a slippery slope of identity-based proclamations. I would like to emphasize people should live without fear of prejudice, discrimination, and hatred based on race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation. I believe we should avoid focusing on specific identity groups and instead reaffirm the dignity and rights of all individuals. I will be voting no on the proclamation with my focus on all universal human rights. Anybody else have any comments?

Thank you, council members, for speaking.

I see this proclamation as a gesture of goodwill. International Women's Day came about to normalize decreasing violence against women. We don't even question it anymore. Mother's Day started the same way, to help decrease rates of domestic violence and to honor mothers for all that they do for us. Yes, this is only 50% of the population, but that 50% is important. Feeling safe is important. And this is, we're up here as representatives of our city to benefit the public good. Our personal beliefs don't always reflect what the public good is. And we're here to stand for our city moving forward well beyond our lives. And I firmly believe that standing with a minority who feels unsafe in their homes, in their communities, is important, whether it isolates a small group of folks who disagree with that. I think it's our It's our duty to perpetuate this gesture of goodwill. And I agree with Councilmember Lewis that everything I read and hear, whereas the city is committed to ensuring that every resident can live authentically, free from prejudice, discrimination, and violence, I think that reflects the intention of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that we see in our Constitution. Whereas June is recognized nationwide as Pride Month, gay marriage has been legal for over 10 years. And might I add, it was legal for one year longer in Colorado. Colorado has set the precedent for us. The nation has set the precedent for us. What are we saying as a city to go against that national and state precedent? That we disagree with our forefathers? that we disagree that people deserve to love who they love and live how they live? Yeah, we might not agree with it personally, but does the pendulum swing in a positive manner? And I question my fellow council members, would denying or approving this proclamation deviate from the principles of our city? Would it harm or benefit public trust? And who does this proclamation help? And if it's not signed, is the harm done? Does that weigh more than the potential harm mediated? Thank you.

No other comments? I'll accept the motion.

Mr. Mayor, I move that council accept the proclamation establishing June 2026 is LGBTQ Pride Month in the city of Cortez.

Second.

Motion made by Lewis and seconded by Sewell.

Randall?

No.

Osborne? Yes. West? Yes. Lewis?

Yes.

Swope? Yes. Wolf? Yes. Spruill?

No. Do I have the proclamation over there? It hasn't been read. It probably should be read. Councilman Lewis has it on his computer. I'll just get it off of here. We lost it. Do you have it? Proclamation designating June 2026 at LGBTQ plus Pride Month in the city of Cortez, whereas the city of Cortez is committed to ensuring that every resident can live authentically free from prejudice, discrimination and violence. And whereas June is recognized nationwide as Pride Month and whereas our community is strengthened by the inclusion of all residents, including LGBTQ plus population, whose contributions across all professions and backgrounds enrich fabric of Cortez, and whereas the city of Cortez upholds the inherent dignity of every individual and recognizes that the principles of equality and freedom are essential to a thriving, harmonious society, and whereas we strive to be a city where all people feel welcome to live, work, employee, and where every family is safe, supported, and valued by their neighbors, and whereas the city denounces all forms of discrimination as such bias is contrary to our shared values, and whereas the LGBTQ plus community continues to demonstrate resonance By fostering a spirit of authenticity acceptance and mutual respect now therefore be it resolved that the City Council of Cortez does hereby proclaim June twenty twenty six as pride month in the city of Cortez adopted this twenty six day of May twenty twenty six. OK we're going to go on to item number 4 C governmental finance officers Association GFO a certificate of achievement for excellence in finance reporting certificate of team up for its excellence in finance reporting award for the city of Cortez annual comprehensive finance reporting for the fiscal year ended December 31st 2024 our presenter is our city manager drew Sanders.

Good evening mayor and council. Let me just start by saying this is a big deal for the city of Cortez so a little background here the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada or GFOA was established a certificate of achievement for excellence and financial reporting back in 1945 to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles and to prepare annual comprehensive financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure. The certificate of achievement is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting. So before I go into the history on this and the further discussion, There's a little bit of confusion on this, on what this means and when. This is actually for our finances in 2024. There's always a lag. So right now, if you think we are actually still working on the audits for 2025, this is for 2024. And just one little history note, we went for this in 2023 and fell that short of it. So we got it for 2024. So the city of Cortez and the finance department have worked diligently during the past several years to achieve this award. The report was judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive spirit of full disclosure to clearly communicate the city's financial story and motivate users to read the report. As I said, this is a momentous occasion for the city of Cortez. Just four years ago, the city was in financial distress after becoming five years delinquent on annual audits starting in 2016 after a financial scandal and investigation into embezzlement with the city or within the city. A goal was set in 2021 to not only correct our distressed financial status, but also to earn this very award. As of January 2024, after years of recovery work by the finance department, the 2016 through 2022 delinquent audits were finalized and filed with the state auditor's office. This was no small achievement and required considerable effort, skill, and unwavering stubbornness in overcoming the enormous challenges faced by our finance department. I would also like to point out that even though our finance director, Randy Bailey, is here this evening and he's in the chair representing the finance department, we also have Sarah Coffey. If we could have both of them arise. I will say that also who's missing in the room is Kelly Koski, who was a major factor behind this. But that's not to say that Sarah sitting right there didn't have a major factor also. And I can go into a very long story on just what the city literally owes Sarah Coffey. So with that, you guys have already recognized them. I'd like to give them and representing Kelly that's not here, but she's aware of this. And I hope she's going to watch tonight. But also Sarah and then Lynette Reese, who's not in the room, who the city also owes a debt to. Lynette is out of town. but council if you can again please join me in just thanking them for their effort thank you council

Thank you very much that was very very good for the city of Cortez we're going to go to 40 which is a finance update for Q one 2026 presented by Randy Bailey our finance director.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. There's been a lot of talk so far tonight. A lot of it has approached financial update and significant economic factors. Hopefully I don't repeat all of that, and hopefully I shed some new light for folks today. My update today is going to cover the first quarter of 2026. And over the next 12 or so slides, I'm going to touch on a number of different factors. I would ask, given this is my first update with council, that if there's something I miss, please bring it up. I'll report back and fill in the gaps and just let me know if there's any way that I can improve on this overall update. OK. Moving into macroeconomic indicators. The most recent Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area reporting for Q1 saw inflation rise to 4.2%. That's a 1.7% increase over February and March timeframe, and largely driven by energy cost increases. In the interest rate environment, we are seeing interest rates stabilize at about 6%, which is starting to incentivize capital spending. However, that's offset by slowness in employment and consumer confidence. So all all total in terms of macroeconomic environment, there's a lot of uncertainty out there. And so I would say that cautious optimism is probably the play right now. We have a good budget. We have a good plan. We have great priorities we're executing. But there's some scary stuff out there. Tariffs, tax cuts, inflation, energy costs, war, those types of things. So we all need to have in our back pocket. What are we going to do if things change dramatically? And I think this leadership team is poised to do just that. If we look on the local side, and I do apologize, I added more information to this slide, so it's different than the one that I put in the packet. But I got this sales and use tax information from a number of different municipalities across Colorado, and I thought it was really, really important that we include it. So on the graph to the left, you see a number of different municipalities, and they're all reporting upticks year over year in sales and use tax revenues. I will say that we experienced a rate decrease at the beginning of this year. So for the purposes of comparison on this graph, I used 2025 rates. And so I'll show you the blowout of our sales and use tax here in a couple of slides. But essentially what it says is a lot of the municipalities in Colorado are experiencing year over year increases in sales and use tax. In Cortez, we're seeing a modest uptick, certainly not the 7% or double-digit percent in other municipalities, but I think given our seasonality and what we typically experience in Q1, it's still a good message. The graph on the right reports what I kind of block all together as development activities. So it's building permits, it's remodeling, it's home improvements, those types of things. And what this tells us is we're on track Q1 for our historical run rates. And by the way, since 2021, we've experienced about a 6.8% annual growth rate, which is encouraging and it looks to continue. so transitioning citywide revenue and expenses to budget really if you look at this graph it we obviously government's on the left proprietary on the right And 25% is what we would call a linear seasonality for Q1. So right now we're trending a little bit below that in both revenue and most of the spending categories. And that's typical of what we see in Q1. You'll also notice that in some of the construction intensive funds, we're dragging quite a bit below that 25%. And that's just from seasonality, construction happens in Q2 and Q3. The one thing I will point out on this graph that you may have already keyed in on is the dispatch fund. They realize 100% of their revenue in Q1 because we do annual payments upfront for the dispatch services, and that's why you see that there. So expanding into our sales and use tax. As I mentioned, we expected about a 4.9% reduction in sales and use tax based on the rate decrease that went effective at January 1 of this year. What we're seeing is about 3.3% decline, which tells us net, we're up about 1.5% or so. Lodging is normal seasonality for Q1, they're off, but if you notice the curve, it rebounds significantly as we get into Q3. I think most of the message from Mr. Bartlett was pretty positive, and so I think we're, again, cautious optimism, we'll continue to monitor and react as things change. Hopefully they change for the better. Marijuana sales, we're seeing a continuous decline year over year. We're seeing it across the state. And so it is what it is at this point. So talking about our cash position a little bit, we have two distinctive cash balances, one that we keep in a money market and one that's more for operations. In total, it's about $28 million. We earn about $82,000 a month of interest or for a yield of about 3.5%. And that cash position represents about 303 days of operating spending relative to our 2026 budget. And that's about 5x the recommended minimum from the GFOA. So we're in a good, healthy position from a liquidity perspective.

Excuse me. Sure. I have a quick question on that slide. There was a spike in November. What is that from? Because it's significant. Yeah. And it's pretty consistent until we get to that month.

Airport. Ah, yeah. So the airport and I do have a fund slide in here for the airport. And what you're going to see with the airport is because of those massive projects and a lot of them being grant funded, you saw a huge swing, millions of dollars of dollars going out and reimbursement coming back in. And so it does create a little wonkiness in our financials, if you will. But that's exactly what that is. All right, so moving into the general fund. All total, we're on track and the team is performing very, very well. Q1 seasonality, we haven't hired, at least in Q1 anyway, all of our seasonal employees, et cetera, et cetera. So overall labor costs about 21% through Q1 in the general fund. We are what I call big ticket item spending or non-labor spending. A little bit rich in Q1 for the general fund and that's primarily due to the purchase of 801 North Broadway and also the general fund pays the Cortez portion of dispatch services which we had to pay all in Q1. Just like everybody else. So exploding revenue a little bit in the general fund. Now here's where you see that sales and use tax. So remember the rate reduction was all attributed to the recreation center. So we're actually seeing a 1% year over year uptick in sales and use tax revenue in the general fund. And across the board, we're on track to Q1 seasonality, and we are year over year up across the board in terms of general fund revenue streams. Moving in enterprise funds, so the airport, performing amazingly well against their master plan, lots of activity going on there, and again, we're seeing millions of dollars against operating budgets of about 300K, so it drives some really interesting numbers in the financial statements. But they do have a full summer ahead. They have the apron expansion that's going to kick off mid to late summer. They're finishing up the runway now. And they have a couple of major contract renewals coming up this year. So they are going to be busy folks. looking at the recreation center so on track across the board for q1 they've completed the slide tower work they've got several other projects in the queue and i will say that right now we're really consumed with the 2025 audit as soon as that wraps up we're going to circle back with those same auditors run through the mechanics of the of the upcoming sales tax holiday and then we will bake all that into these financials but they're not in here yet Looking at the utility funds, so both water and refuse are up for the first quarter, 3% and 4.5% for water and refuse respectively. All of their capital spending obviously happens in Q2 and Q3, so you're not seeing a whole lot of spending yet there in the capital outlay line items. what we're seeing year over year is an uptick in aging of 60 days plus which puts those collection or the accounts receivable at risk and so staff is has a corrective action plan that we're working through as we speak and that really in a nutshell is what i have for you i'm happy to take questions and or feedback that we can use to improve going forward mayor council before you go to council questions can uh randy can you explain what utility aging is please Yeah, so aging is basically past due balances. And so we do have some residents that will run balances of more than 60 days, and in some cases, more than six months. And those are residents that we do work with as much as we possibly can. But at the same time, we also have a business to run. And so we are looking to really shore up our consistency in how we approach that and how we work with those folks. which should overall drive aging and aging at risk down at the same time being fair across all residents I have a question regarding that if it's about how many accounts are as far as numbers does this represent Oh, you're putting me on the spot. You know, ballpark in terms of number of accounts, I bet we have 35 to 40. And I would say that the latest amount is in the neighborhood of 80,000. So again, we're working through it as a bit of an anecdotal soundbite, you know in the first part of the year we had a significant number of shutoff notices is basically what happens when it goes past due and Those were in, I think we had 70 on the initial list. Right now, we're running less than 20. Again, working with people, communicating, being really clear, explaining their bills to them. We do bill in arrears, so sometimes it gets confusing. and so all of those things is really helping and we'll just continue to work through it you know I mean customer experience and and being fair to all residents is our top priority over anything else and we'll continue to approach it that way and work through it

Mayor, one other question, if I can, just for clarification. You threw out a really large number there. Don't we only have about 800 accounts, water accounts, so that we have some reference there, but $80,000, is that one person? Or one?

No, no, no, that's across all accounts. That's what it sounded like. No, sorry, that's across all accounts, yeah, yeah.

Okay, thank you for that. Well, not really, but yeah, thank you.

I don't see any more questions. Thank you very much. You always do a good job. we'll move on to number five public hearings uh a an ordinance number 1366 series 2026 approval on second reading of ordinance 1366 series 2026 an ordinance accepting a colorado energy office e-cargo bike grant award and appropriating funds for police department e-cargo bike fleet expansion our presenter is vernon knuckles chief of police i have a conflict of interest with this line item so i'm going to step out okay

Good evening, Mayor, Council. I'm here to talk about Ordinance 1366 Series 2026. This is second reading, so I'm just going to hit the highlights, not go through the whole spill like first reading. The police department applied for a grant through the Colorado Energy Office. We were awarded $23,500 to purchase four e-bikes, along with some supplemental equipment to upfit those bikes. The program cost is $23,347.96, so it comes in under the award amount. There is no local match to the fund. However, the city does have to pay the program cost upfront and then will be reimbursed through the grant. Our project partner, Erie Cycle, they have the bikes on hand. So deployment timeline is roughly four to six weeks. We should have the new bikes in service this summer. with that i would ask that council approve on second reading ordinance 1366 20 or series 2026 accepting the colorado energy office e-bike grant and allowing the and appropriating the funds allowing the police department to purchase those bikes with that any questions

Do we have anybody in the public who would like to make a comment? This is the second reading. I'll entertain a motion.

I move that the City Council approve on final reading ordinance number 1366, series 2026, an ordinance that accepts a $23,500 grant award from the Colorado Energy Office e-cargo bike grant program, authorizes appropriation of $23,500, and authorizes the Cortez Police Department to execute the state's small dollar grant purchase order and proceed with procurement.

Second.

Motion made by Swope, seconded by Wolfe.

Osborne, oh, Randall.

Yes.

Lewis.

Yes.

Wolfe. Yes. West. Yes. Swope. Yes. Sproul.

Yes. Thank you, council.

Thank you. Item number six on the agenda is unfinished business. A is a CUP application withdrawn by the applicant. No council action is required. We did want to bring in front of the council to let the council know the applicant for the CUP have withdrawn the application for the CUP and the billing permit application. So no council action is required. We'll go on to item number seven, which is new business. a ordinance number 1367 series 2026 city council will consider ordinance number 1367 series 2026 on first reading an ordinance to adopt the 2024 international code council icc codes and the 2023 national fire protection association nfpa code AND THE 2023 COLORADO MODEL ELECTRIC READY AND SOLAR READY CODE TO CHAPTER 6, ARTICLE 1 OF THE CITY OF CORTEZ, MUNICIPAL CODE, THE CODE. THE PRESENTER IS JASON ARMSTRONG.

KIND OF A MOUTHFUL EVENING, COUNCIL MAYOR. YES, SO TONIGHT WE ARE BRINGING FORWARD AN ORDINANCE TO CHANGE SEVERAL OF THE EXISTING BUILDING CODES WE HAVE ADOPTED AND ADOPT A NEW ONE. I also have with me this evening our chief building official, Mr. Sean Canada. He's here to help answer any kind of detailed questions you guys might have. It's really he and his team that are experts in interpreting and enforcing the codes. So just some high-level information. So for the International Code Council and the National Fire Periodically, municipalities must update their currently adopted codes to the newest version to keep up with building industry standards or if there are legislative mandates in place directing them to do so. Best practice dictates that adopted codes be within two to three cycles of the ICC International Code Council updates. We're updating to 2024, which is the most recent. And Colorado is a little bit unusual because it does not have one uniform statewide building code for all jurisdictions. So you can see a variety of different years across the state. For the 2023 model, Colorado model electric ready and solar ready code, In 2022, the General Assembly adopted House Bill 22-136, which established statewide building energy code requirements intended to reduce greenhouse gases from new construction. So under that law, municipalities and counties that adopt or update their building codes between July 1st of 23 and June 30th of 26 are required to adopt and enforce two things. First is at least the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code or an equivalent or higher performing energy code, which is proposed tonight. And then the second is to adopt this model electric ready and solar ready code. So why are we adopting these now? As you can see from the staff report, we are beyond two to three cycles of needing the code update. So that's one good reason. The other reason is that other local jurisdictions around us, they're in the process of doing exactly the same thing, or they've done it already. And what that does is it provides consistency across all these jurisdictions for local developers, contractors, and property owners. So beyond the best practices previously stated in the legislative mandate, there are a few reasons why the city should consider updating their building codes. One, safety and structural improvements. Newer codes incorporate lessons learned from disasters, failures, and engineering research. Energy efficiency. A recent code addition significantly tightened energy performance. standards reducing utility costs for occupants modern materials and construction methods older codes don't often address newer materials like cross laminated timber or advanced composites legal and liability exposure building to an outdated standard can expose the city to liability if a building fails in a way the newer code would have prevented and it could complicate insurance claims And accessibility, newer additions of the code like the IBC expand and clarify ADA related accessibility requirements which improves equity and reducing discrimination risks. Major differences really between the 2015 and 2024 codes, there are several. Energy efficiency has become dramatically more stringent. Air tightness and envelope performance of the building has become a central theme. Electrification and EV infrastructure has definitely emerged in the codes. Structural and hazard design has become more sophisticated. Wildfire, flood, and climate resiliency have become larger priorities, especially in Colorado. residential construction rules have become more technical so the residential codes today are much more engineering oriented than they were in 2015 and finally building systems have become more integrated so the codes are increasingly assuming that buildings are complex systems rather than isolated trades Um, so with that, um, uh, that's under my update on this particular ordinance, uh, staff recommends that council adopt ordinance 1367 series 2026 and ordinance adopting ICC codes, the NFPA code and the Colorado model electric and solar ready code on first reading. And with that, uh, open it up for questions.

Is this specifically for new stick built or does it cross over to modular, et cetera?

Modular is actually mandated by the state and that's something the state takes care of. All these codes will refer to all commercial and all residential buildings.

And then my second question to that is, I know you guys said you can't necessarily see a fiscal effect on this yet, but how is this going to increase housing costs, like brand new builds for the community, knowing that we're already up 70% from what we were five years ago?

It will increase costs. I have no idea exactly how much, but it's going to be in the range of two to 5%. And that's not specifically because of the building codes. Everything is gonna be essentially laid at the feet of the state. With the EV ready, you're gonna substantially increase your electrical costs. Wildfire resiliency code in some areas of the town, you're gonna increase your building costs. Energy efficiency is gonna be the big driver. Every place that's built now is going to be blower door tested, much higher rates of insulation. You're probably looking at, just several thousand on average home just for the energy efficiency portion.

Thanks for coming and talking to us today. I fully understand the reasoning behind the ICC and the NFPA updates. It's sort of like a standard for us. But the new standard here is gonna be the Colorado Model Electric Ready and Solar Ready code, which is a brand new thing that we're going to be biting off with this. I also understand that that predominantly has to do with infrastructure building to a home that's going to be solar ready infrastructure so that they're ready to hook up, I guess, solar if they do. And the same with the electric vehicle ready charging and electrical capacity for future EV charging. and the requirements for future conversion of appliances and mechanical systems to natural gas, from natural gas to electric. So those sound like pretty significant cost inclusions that are going to be forced onto anybody in Cortez who wants to build a home, whether it's a builder who's doing a spec home or whether it's somebody who's building their own home and they say, look, I don't ever want to own an EV. So given that situation, can you tell me what would be the downsides? I understand that adopting the Colorado Electric Code or the Colorado, the last one I was just talking about, the Model Electric Ready Code is recommended for us so that we can qualify for grants and the like, and it says here that the grants are specific for state and federal grants. Well, I don't know about federal because we don't really have, this is not a federal mandate, this is a state mandate at this point in time, tied to energy efficiency, electrification, and climate initiatives. So that's why we're doing this, so that we can qualify for grants from the state. Is that the nuts and bolts of this?

That's a portion of it, but the state mandates, so if we change our codes at any point, we have to adopt this.

So we have to, we don't have the option of pulling out of the state one on electrification. Thank you.

Thank you for being here tonight. How does this affect homes that have previously been built? Specifically in terms of like, well, I'm thinking about in terms of like the insurance payouts, like I own a home that has 1980s electric. If it were to catch fire, would my potentially, because of due to electric, you know, the failings of the code, is that a, like,

If you're a total loss, you're gonna be following all of the new codes, all of them. If you have a remodel of less than 25%, it's not going to affect you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, guys. It sounds like we really have no, we have no say so. This is an unfounded mandate that we're required to do.

That portion of it, the building codes, actually, we have had to do, update building codes ever since we instituted them in 1909. We go through certain cycles, we have to have a certain, be within a reasonable amount of time for the newest codes.

Thank you guys, appreciate it.

Thank you.

Sorry, Mr. Cannon, I have one more question. Is there a plan for the phased adoption and training programs, et cetera, to get the contractors up to speed?

We will have a couple more public meetings before we actually have to enforce. Yes, ma'am.

SECOND TIME I'VE DONE THAT I MOVE THAT CITY COUNCIL APPROVE IN FIRST READING ORDINANCE 1367 SERIES 2026 AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE 2024 ICC CODES THE 2023 NFPA 70 CODE AND THE 2023 COLORADO MODEL ELECTRIC READY AND SOLAR READY CODE AND SET THE ORDINANCE FOR SECOND READING AND PUBLIC HEARING ON JUNE 9TH 2026.

I second.

Motion made by Lewis, seconded by Wolf.

Randall?

No, in protest.

Swope? Yes. Osborne?

Yes.

West? Yes. Lewis?

Yes.

Wolf? Yes. Sproul?

Yes. We'll go on to item number B, which is the bid results for the 2026 microsurfacing project. Council will consider awarding the 2026 microsurfacing project to A1 Chips Hill Company and to authorize the city manager to negotiate and sign a contract with them on behalf of the city. Our presenter is Casey Simpson, Director of Public Works and General Services.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. The City Street Improvement Fund is financed through local sales tax revenues dedicated specifically to the enhancement and maintenance of roadway services. This fund ensures that the streets are repaired and upgraded, promoting safer and more efficient transportation for all residents. Following the completion of the Transportation Master Plan last year, transportation plan last year, several roads were recognized as ideal candidates for road preservation through a product known as microsurfacing. Microsurfacing is a thin, quick-setting asphalt mixture placed over an existing road to restore a smoother surface, seal minor cracks, and improve skid resistance. It uses a blend of polymer-modified asphalt, fine aggregate water, and additives that chemically cure into a dense, uniform layer. This is different than chip sealing. Chip sealing, which was performed last year by contrast, sprays a layer of asphalt emulsion and immediately embeds loose aggregate into it. creating a coarser texture and relying on rolling and traffic to fully seat the chips. In practice, microsurfacing provides a more refined, longer lasting finish with fewer loose stones. This will be the first time the city has ever used microsurfacing on our roadways. Over 23,600 square yards of microsurfacing road preservation product will be applied to the roads of Paradise Village. The following streets are listed. Aldridge Road, Brookside, Edith, Garrison. Is it Livesay? Livesay? Livesay Drive? May Drive, May Lane. After conducting a review of the transportation plan and identifying the most suitable roads for this type of road preservation based on the pavement condition index, public work staff assembled bid documents and advertised the project. 1,178 contacts with 33 bid document downloads, and we advertised in the Cortez Journal. The bid opening was held on May 18th at 3 p.m. Two bids were received, one from A1 Chip Seal Company out of Denver, at the bid price of $147,840, and one from Vance Brothers LLC out of Denver at $126,788.67. Both of these bids came in under the city engineer's estimate of $159,800. Although Vance Brothers LLC submitted the lower bid, we use a cost and qualifications combination score. Its bid package was largely incomplete and did not contain the required documentation necessary to properly evaluate its qualifications against the criteria outlined in the bid documents. Because key components of its submission were missing, its proposal could not be fully scored and ultimately received a significantly lower qualification score. in contrast a1 chip seal company submitted a complete and responsive bid package that met all requirements and allowed for the full evaluation under the established scoring criteria a1 chip seal has also successfully completed work for the city in the past providing a proven track record record for these reasons despite the higher cost a1 chip seal company is the recommended contractor based on completeness completeness of submission demonstrated qualifications and past performance The Streets Improvement Fund has allocated a total of $245,000 this year aimed at enhancing and maintenance of roadway surfaces using road preservation products. After reviewing their bid proposal package, staff recommends the 2026 microsurfacing project be awarded to A1 Chipsaw Company at its bid price of $147,840. This is approximately 8% lower than the engineer's estimate and $97,160 under budget. Pending, any questions?

Is $245,000 the total budget for all city-maintained roads or just this neighborhood?

Yeah, the $245,000 was allocated for the microsurfacing project.

Casey, how long has this microprocessing been in existence? It's the first time here, but any idea?

can get that information to you at first well I'm somewhat new to asphalt and pavement myself but we started hearing about it or I started hearing about it last year as a fairly new but tested technique from our engineering service or the engineering firm that provided our transportation plan it's been used quite extensively in Utah and surrounding areas and they see it as a superior

solution and Because it's somewhat new is do you figure that's why we only have two two bids and and they're from Denver based companies Yes, I think we received similar numbers of bids typically for pavement projects in general and

A1, for example, always bids on our pavement projects and chip seal projects. I think that regionally speaking, we don't have a whole lot of chip seal, micro seal companies. There are roads that we were told about in the presentation from the engineering firm that were 10 years old, so I know that micro sealing's been around for at least a decade, but I don't know about much longer than that. It's supposed to last about four years longer than chip sealing.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

We had some information provided to us on micro-sealing last year in mass on one of the presentations we got. So there's some data out there in our records about it and how effective it was.

Can you briefly explain why this R1 zone neighborhood was prioritized over higher density R2 or R3 neighborhoods?

Yeah, for sure. The engineering firm, Jones & Mill, highlighted that in for municipal transportation and road preservation plans you have two ends of the spectrum you have roads that are in fairly good condition that you want to preserve through lower cost preservation methods like micro ceiling and then you have the other end of the spectrum roads that just need to be fully replaced and the engineering firm actually selected these roads as being in relatively good condition and eligible for this product whereas many other roads, and you'll see in the, I'll be able to provide to you in the council retreat the PCI index for other roads in the city, but there are very few that at this scale would be applicable. Good question.

Thank you very much. I think that's it. I'll entertain a motion.

I move that council accept the bid and award the contract for the 2026 microsurfacing project to A1 Chip Seal Company at its bid price of $148,840 and authorize the city manager to negotiate and sign a contract with the company on behalf of the city.

Second.

Motion made by Osborne, seconded by Wolf.

Wolf. Yes. Osborne. Yes. West. Yes. Randall.

Yes.

Lewis. Yes. Swope. Yes. Spruill.

Yes. Going on to item number C, proposed repaving of a full width portion of East Montezuma Avenue in cooperation with the Cortez Sanitation District. Council will consider authorizing the proposed full width repaving of the westbound lane of East Montezuma Avenue from North Washington Street to North Market Street in partnership with the Cortez Sanitation District. Presenters, Casey Simpson.

Yes, thanks. The Cortez Sanitation District is currently replacing an aged clay sewer main on Montezuma Avenue. The work extends from North Washington Street to North Market Street. Under standard practice, the district is responsible only for replacing the pavement disturbed by its trench, which is approximately 11 feet of the 28-foot wide westbound lane of Montezuma Avenue. The district has approached the city regarding a partnership to repave the entire 28-foot lane width. According to the pavement condition index developed for the transportation plan, This segment of Montezuma Avenue received a score of 2.56 out of five with a recommended repair strategy of full depth replacement. Completing a full width reconstruction at this time would reduce the number of pavement joints, improve ride quality, and enhance long term asphalt performance. The roadway base course would be regraded and compacted and any unsuitable subgrade materials would be removed to prevent future surface failures similar to those currently observed. The Cortez Sanitation District procured D&L Construction for the Montezuma Avenue sewer replacement project through a formal bid process. Five responsive bids were received on March 5th, 2026, and the bid tabulation is attached for reference. D&L Construction was the lowest responsible bidder and offered the same competitive asphalt unit price of $350 per ton to complete the remaining lane width on behalf of the city. Council will consider the option of partnering with the Cortez Sanitation District to repave the full width of the northern westbound lane of Montezuma Avenue from North Washington Street to North Market Street, where pavement has been impacted by the sewer placement project directed by the Cortez Sanitation District. This partnership would allow for a complete lane reconstruction rather than a partial trench repair. Under the proposed partnership, the City of Cortez would fund the paving of 17 feet of the 28-foot wide lane at an estimated cost of $205,450. The Cortez Sanitation District would fund the remaining 11 feet and an estimated cost of $135,800. The street improvement funds supported by local sales tax revenues dedicated to roadway surface maintenance currently includes 200,000 earmarked for road construction in 2026. Additional funding needed for this project will be drawn from savings realized in other street improvement projects, including the 2026 microsurfacing project. Staff recommends allocating the street improvement funds to partner with the Cortez Sanitation District to repave the full width of the northern westbound lane of Montezuma Avenue from North Washington Street to North Market Street at a cost of $205,450. This going to knock any other project down on the prioritization list being as this money is having to be allocated Yes, ma'am There was The the project that this was going to fund is Fillmore Street. There is a drainage ongoing issue on Fillmore however not just the engineer's perspective but probably most that Montezuma is far more well-traveled and a major artery whereas Fillmore is not so we feel that this is a good use of those funds

I have a few questions.

So the money is coming from the Street Improvement Fund for 2025. And in that fund is $245,000. Is that correct? Something like that? Because what I'm trying to get at here is that the Paradise Valley project is going to use $147,000. And then if you put Montezuma westbound lanes for these three blocks, it's going to add another 205,000 on it. So that's going to, if it's coming out of the same fund, it's not?

No, there was 200,000 dedicated to Fillmore and then 245 dedicated to the microsurfacing.

Okay, so they're two separate funds. Okay, great. Thanks for clarification on that. My second question.

I want to be careful there. There's not two separate funds, but there's that amount in there. Those two different amounts are in that fund.

Oh, okay. So one's set aside for the micro- Correct. And the others for street improvement, basically. Correct. Okay, great. So second question I have is when you go over the DL constructions bid, their bid excludes a multitude of things. meaning it's not included in the bid. And that's the surveying, the staking, the erosion control, and the base work of the road once it's torn up. So that means, and the base work has to be fine graded to plus or minus 3 eighths of an inch. And then, so how much is it going to, I'm assuming these duties will be done by city employees?

To the extent necessary, much of the surveying has already been done. But yeah, we've got pending your decision, we've already planned with the Superintendent of Public Works to take care of elements that we need to in order to make this project a success.

So about how much more is that going to add on to the total cost of this project? Because it sounds to me, I'm just asking, I'm not trying to catch you, but it says that the base work has got to be done and fine-graded at 3-8ths of an inch, which is pretty significant.

Yeah, and I think, yeah, not to cut you off, Councilmember, but I think what he's struggling with is he can't just quantify right now what that staff time is essentially going to be. That's what the extra cost would be it'd be no more out-of-pocket than we're already paying for staff time He's just gonna redirect those from the Fillmore project to this project instead So in that sense, it's actually a wash but we would you know, it is not free But he can't quantify that right here.

Okay, I would also I would add that we don't know what's under there and yet so it would be hard to even if we did know the exact staff time would be hard to quantify that in this moment but yeah um so it's going to be absorbed by the city the rest of it yes ma'am thanks no

It makes sense to me to partner and just pay this whole thing instead of patching it up and then coming back a few years later and spending more. So if there's no further questions by council members, I move that council approve the city partnering with the Cortez Sanitation District to repave the full width of the northern western bound lane of Montezuma Ave from North Washington Street to North Market Street for a price of $205,450. Second. Motion made by Lewis. Second.

West. Yes. Swope. Yes. Osborne. Yes. Wolf. Yes. Randall. Yes. Lewis.

Yes.

Sproul.

Yes. Moving on to item number D, purchase of a used 14 passenger transit van for a recreation center. Council will consider approving the purchase of a used 14 passenger transit van to replace a 24 passenger van. Presenter, Casey Simpson.

The city has been utilizing three passenger vehicles primarily to support the recreation programs. Two of them are used virtually every day to shuttle kids from school or the rec center to other program activities. The third vehicle was a 24 passenger shuttle, unit number 623 at 2012 Ford E450 and was sold last year as the demand for this size of vehicle was minimal and so asset utilization did not warrant the cost of ownership. A newer used vehicle of similar capacity of the other two vehicles is far more practical, providing a wider range of transportation, and is easier to operate and maintain. This vehicle will directly support accessibility, safety, program growth, and the overall quality of our youth programs. Public Works and General Services staff put out an advertisement for competitive sealed best value bids for the purchase of a 14 passenger transit van bids were open may 12 2026 with the following two bids being received 2019 ford transit t350 xl davey coach sales llc out of sedalia colorado at 48 770 and a 2023 ford e4 450 masters transportation inc out of kansas city missouri funds to purchase this used van will be fully covered through the recreation center enterprise fund for $30,000 and the vehicle and equipment fund for $18,770. The vehicle will be owned by the Recreation Center Enterprise. There will be an equipment fund transfer to the Recreation Center Enterprise. The Recreation Center Enterprise will then own and maintain the asset. Staff recommends that council approve purchasing the 14 passenger transit van from Davey Coach Sales, LLC of Sedalia in the amount of $48,770 to be fully covered by budgeted funds.

Does this vehicle come with a warranty?

That is a great question. I will look into that.

It says as is on the spec sheet. I have another question. What's the mileage on this vehicle? Do we have any idea what that is?

I believe it was 74,000. 74, thanks. We did send the, or we didn't send the, the shop supervisor was at his daughter's graduation in Colorado Springs, which turns out is near Sedalia, and so he went and test drove the van, smelled it and inspected it according to Creighton's exacting standards, and seems like it's gonna stand up.

Doesn't look like we have any more questions. Thank you.

I move that city council approve the purchase of a 2019 Ford Transit T50 XL 14 passenger van from Davey Coach Sales LLC in the amount of $48,770. I second.

Motion made by Randall, seconded by West.

Osborne. Yes. Swope. Yes. Wolfe. Yes. Lewis. Yes. West. Yes. Randall. Sproul.

Yes. Moving on to item number C, budget amendment appropriating funds for city potable water to irrigate city park areas and the golf course. Budget amendment appropriating $294,000 for city potable water to irrigate city park areas and the golf course. Our presenter is .

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. I'm here tonight as the mayor read aloud to talk about an item about transferring some funds in order to pay for water as we get deeper into the summer. I'm going to suggest tonight that we take a fairly deliberate and perhaps even brief approach to this item as it is a first reading of an ordinance. Again, an ordinance requires two readings. The first reading that introduces it and sets a public hearing for a second conversation. On your screen there tonight, I'm going to just share quickly what I'm planning and then can certainly take questions from you as we get to the end of this. So first reading again is relatively limited in presentation. Introduce the topic and schedule it for the community's benefit. so that they can, should someone from the community be interested in this topic, tune in, come to the council meeting on June 9th, and hear the questions and conversation that they might have about this topic, and then that might inform council's decision-making process. Second reading, I am planning on doing a more in-depth presentation, gain questions from council, open the public hearing, gain the feedback from the community, close the public hearing, provide the ability for you to ask me more questions or gain any other additional information that might help in your deliberative process, then ultimately act on that topic. so that was what i was thinking about for tonight because i have a feeling that we could run down a rabbit hole with this topic or in this case maybe jump off a cliff into the lake and go down a whole lot of different questions that you may have and we can certainly do that if you should choose to i'm just suggesting a way that might be more effective as it relates to the second item come next council meeting So now to get into the actual topic at hand, the issue is that with this year's low snowpack and dismal snowmelt runoff, the amount of water that is available for irrigation through the Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company is low, it's weak. We are at 37% of normal. uh and that has leading to an expected cut off of that irrigation water sometime in the latter part of june or early july and let me just throw out there that as much as it's impactful for us our parks our golf courses there's people that rely on that to make their living and that's going to be much more impacted to farmers and ranchers in our area for sure So cutting off in the early part of July still means that we have three months of our summer irrigation season. If we don't turn on an alternative water source, we have an awful lot of our park areas and golf course and landscape areas that aren't going to be getting any water for three-ish months. Why is this important? Our parks, landscape areas, and golf courses is really, I think you heard it a couple times here tonight, the gem of the city. It's a lot of the reason why many people that move to the community do so. It's a valued asset, and by making this transfer, ensuring that we continue to irrigate these properties, it maintains that asset for the community, for our residents to enjoy and continue to use those spaces for their recreation. So in short, the proposed solution is to appropriate transfer, for lack of a better term, $294,000 from General Fund Reserve to the water line items in each of the parks and golf maintenance divisions of the budget. So that's the short, simple, sweet portion of this of introducing what exactly this topic is. Should council choose to, the action tonight would be to approve on first reading instead of public hearing and second reading of ordinance 1368 series 2026, an ordinance approving a budget amendment appropriating $294,000 for city potable water to irrigate park areas for the June 9th council meeting.

I'd like to reiterate what he just said. It is the first reading. So board council and the public, we aren't setting any precedent now. We are not voting on anything other than to hear it more in depth at next council meeting. I will accept a motion if anybody has one.

I move that council approve on first reading ordinance 1368 series 2026, an ordinance approving a budget amendment and appropriating $294,000 for treated city potable water to irrigate the park areas and the golf course and set the public hearing and second reading for June 9th, 2026.

Second.

Motion made by West, seconded by Lewis.

Randall? Yes. Osborne? Yes. Wolf. Yes. West. Yes. Lewis.

Yes.

Pope. Yes. Sproul.

Yes. Just so Council knows, this is probably a rarity. Normally they will go through on first reading and explain everything to us, but I understand where Creighton's coming from. This is going to take some time.

Thank you, Mayor.

So let's go on to number F, which is fireworks display permits. Council will consider authorizing the city fire inspector to sign the fireworks display permits for the fireworks show on the 4th of July and the August 15, 2026 fireworks show for the Pinal Bean Golf Tournament. Presenter is Daniel Wells, our city clerk.

Good evening, mayor and council. According to our city code section 11-4, the chief of fire department or his authorized agent shall have the power to grant permits for a fireworks display. And so this is something that comes to council every year. This year, the events are on the 4th of July, which would be in Parque de Vida, and that'll be hosted by, well, it'll be on our property, but conducted by the Cortez Fire Protection District. And then the second event this year is at the Pinto Bean Golf Tournament, which would be on August 15th, 2026, which again is also on our property, but conducted by the Cortez Fire Protection District. So if council authorizes, our chief fire inspector and building official, Sean Canada, would be authorized to sign the permits for these two events, for the firework shows. Does council have any questions?

I move that city council authorize the city fire inspectors to sign the fireworks display permits for the 4th of July fireworks show and the August 15th golf tournament. I second.

Motion made by Randall, seconded by Wolf.

Osborne? Yes. Lewis?

Yes.

Randall? Yes. West? Yes. Wolf? Yes. Swope? Yes. Sproul?

Yes. Moving on to item number G appointments to various boards and commissions Council consider making a total of 8 appointments to the planning and zoning Commission library advisory board historic preservation board in the parks and recreation and forestry advisory board and Daniel could I get you to tell us again how many positions you have for planning and zoning Commission.

Yes, there are two open positions currently. We had one interviewee this evening, and we also have another applicant. His background check information did come back today, so we can move forward with an interview at an upcoming meeting. So we had one interview with two openings.

I would recommend interviewing this person at another time and go ahead and vet the one that we did have apply and then listen to the other applicant at another time when he can make it. So let's also go to the library advisory. How many people do we have available for it?

There are two openings on that board as well, but only the one applicant that interviewed today so far.

And the Historic Preservation Board.

There are two openings, and then we have the two interviewees today.

And Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Advisory Board.

For this board, we have four openings. We had six scheduled applicants today. Four came in and interviewed. The fifth, Mr. Nico Esco, he emailed during the work session saying that he was unable to come after all today. but he would still be interested in interviewing if council would be interested in rescheduling for another session. The sixth applicant I have not heard from, but I could also reach out to him and reschedule if council wishes.

the new council what we're going to do is discuss if you have someone that you feel deserves the position and is qualified for the position uh let the rest of us know what you think

And we'll just have a brief discussion on all of them.

And since there's two applicants, if you feel those two applicants are fantastic, we'll just, fantastic. And the other ones that have not presented in front of us, we need to wait to talk to them to make sure that that's who we want.

Mr. Mayor, I would recommend that you not choose any or make any appointments until you've interviewed all the applicants. And whether somebody knows an applicant or not, I don't think is relevant because it has to be based on their interview. Right. So I would continue the entire vote on. And I believe it's parks and rec or advisory board. I would continue the entire vote until june 9th at which time presumably you will at least have interviewed one of the applicants that has contacted us i don't know what the other one would be but

And you're suggesting on the ones that have interviewed and we have no other applicants, can we go ahead and do those tonight? Or do you want to, or should we?

No, I think you can appoint for the different boards. Okay. Yeah.

The only board that is in...

limbo would be the parks and recs is that correct correct if we have consensus on one or two of the parks and rec up like seats would that no okay i would recommend because the other two that weren't here tonight may just blow your doors off with their interview and

that could change the result even if you have consensus tonight you haven't heard from the other two so i i would really recommend that you to to keep it fair i would i would continue the vote on that board until all of the applicants that applied and are still interested interview. And now obviously if nobody shows up on June 9th, then you vote based on the interviews that were conducted this evening.

Given that information, Mr. Mayor, I move that the council appoint Rich Landreth to the Planning and Zoning Commission to complete a term ending May 2027. Abdel Barak Barada to the Library Advisory Board for a three-year term. Linda Towle and Beth Masters to the Historic Preservation Board for three-year terms.

I second.

Excuse me, sorry. It was the second applicant for the Historic Preservation Board was Jennifer Demond.

I still second.

Motion made by Randall, seconded by Wolf.

West? Yes. Swope? Yes. Lewis? Yes. Osborne? Yes. Randall? Wolf? Spruill?

Yes. So I lost my piece of paper here, but I think I know where we're going from here. And that would be H, possible cancellation of June 23, 2026 council meeting. Council will consider the possible cancellation of the June 23, 2026 council meeting due to conflict with the annual CML conference. Presenter is Drew Sanders, our city manager.

Yes, mayor council as the mayor had already mentioned that this is for your consideration to possibly counsel the June 23rd State of Council meeting this is a annual occurrence for us as we regularly attend the CML meeting just for the public's understanding the Colorado Municipal League is an organization that represents cities and towns in the state of Colorado and it helps us with everything from lobbying to research to training and in this case the annual conference provides training mostly for electives but some for staff as well and we have already scheduled three council members to attend as well as some various staff members to attend so sending it to you to consider counseling that meeting so that we don't have any conflicts

think it makes total sense with with the number of people that that we have attending the CML that we we cancel this this City Council meeting so if there's no questions on this I move that council cancel the regular scheduled city council meeting on June 23rd, 2026 for the purpose of permitting certain staff and council members to attend the Colorado Municipal League Annual Conference.

I second.

Motion by Lewis, seconded by Wolf.

Randall.

Yes. Wolf. Yes. West. Yes. Swope. Yes. Osborne. Yes. Lewis. Yes. Sproul.

Yes. Number eight, draft resolutions, ordinances. We have number nine, city attorney's report.

Considering the late hour, I will forego providing a report tonight.

Thank you. Number 10 is the city manager's report.

Yes, Mayor and Council, I have a report for you this evening, but just like the City Attorney said, in the interest of time, I would like to forego this. I will give it to the Clerk to post on the website, and if you're having a hard time sleeping, I've got your place to go. Thank you.

Number 11 is the City Council Committee Reports. Anything? Nothing? Nothing? Nothing. Do you have a? I don't have a board yet. We've got to get you one.

I had a library meeting. So there's several of the, all the employees went to a conference as well as the directors and they got some good info from that. They're updating all their policies that they patron use policies, internet policies, everything, their art policies, how to use the conference room. And also their HR, they updated their HR forms. Interesting love they still had on there that if you worked in the library had to be able to teach someone how to use a typewriter It had some nice big sales and the big thing is kicking off here soon as the summer reading program on the fourth So so that's that's good stuff happening there.

Thank you Okay, the mayor's report we during the workshop we did have a very interesting A report from Region 9 on comprehensive economic development strategy. Cortez businesses have been benefited immensely by Region 9 funding and development. We also interviewed applicants to serve on several boards to include the Historic Preservation Board, Library Advisory Board, and Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Advisory Board. We have no other board reports. Public participation. Individuals may not comment on items that are on the consent council agenda during this 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 cede time to another commentator. We have nobody here that wants to commentate. No other items of business. And now we have 13A, an executive session on Seventh Street Housing Project.

Mr. Mayor, I move that city council go into executive session pursuant to CRS section 24-6-4024E for the purpose of determining positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations. DEVELOPED STRATEGY FOR NEGOTIATIONS AND OR INSTRUCTING NEGOTIATORS CONCERNING THE CITY'S EFFORTS TO SELECT A DEVELOPER SLASH BUILDER FOR THE HOUSING PROJECT ON CITY-OWNED LAND LOCATED ON WEST 7TH STREET.

SECOND.

MOTION BY LEWIS. SECONDED BY RANDALL.

OSBORNE. Yes. Wolf. Yes. Lewis.

Yes.

West. Yes. Swope. Yes. Randall. Sproul.

Yes. It is still May 26 2026 in the time is 2027 PM. I'm sorry, 827 PR 1027 PM. It is late. The executive session has concluded in the council has reconvened into open session. Those persons participate in the executive session were myself, Mayor Dennis Spiro, council members Bill Lewis, April Randall, Kathleen Swope, Carly Wolf, Clarissa Osborne, and Claire West. Also participating are city manager Drew Sanders, city attorney Patrick Coleman, interim community and Economic Development Director, City Planner Jason Armstrong, Contract Affordable Housing Coordinator Jennifer Lopez of Project Moxie, LLC, and Alicia Lopez, an attorney that specializes in low-income housing tax credits who participated via Zoom. No adoption of any proposed policy, position, resolution, rule, regulation, or formal action occurred. during the executive session. If any member of council or a member of the public believes the subject matter of the executive session was not statutorily authorized or that the discussion that occurred in executive session strayed from the announced subject matter, please speak up now. Seeing none, I will accept a motion to adjourn this meeting.

I move to adjourn.

Second.

Swope.

Motion by Lewis, second by Randall.

Swope? Swope? Lewis?

Yes.

Osborne? Yes. Randall? West? Yes. Wolfe? Yes. Sproul?

Yes.