City Council - Regular Meeting

We all here?

I'd like to call to order the Cortez City Council regular meeting Tuesday, August 25, 2026. If you'd all join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Could we have the roll call? Well, in just a moment.

Randall? Osborne? Here. West? Here. Lewis? Here. Swope? Here. Wolfe? Here. Spruill?

Here. Councilmember Randall is not with us tonight. Let's see. Approval of the agenda.

I move that council approve the agenda as presented for August 25th, 2026.

Second.

Motion made by Osborne, seconded by Lewis. Motion made by West, seconded by Lewis.

Wolf? Yes. Lewis?

Yes.

Wolk? Yes. Osborne? Yes. West? Yes. Spruill?

Yes. Move on to item number two, which is 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. item number eight approval of meeting minutes from august eleventh twenty twenty six b approval of the expenditure list for august twenty fifth twenty twenty six c approval of the renewal application of a retail liquor store license for two bros ltd dba cork and bottle located at four four three east main street cortez Item number D, approval of a special event permit to Southwest Colorado Youth Baseball to host a special event on December 10th, 2026 from 530 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 525 North Broadway in Cortez. Item number C, approval of a special event permit to allow the Cortez Celtic Fair to host an Oktoberfest event in Parque de Vida on September 26th, 2026 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Item F, approval of a renewal application for a hotel and restaurant liquor license for El Compostre Mexican Restaurant, LLC, located at 1430 East Main Street, Cortez, number 6. Item number G, approval of special event permit to allow the Cortez Area Chamber of Commerce to host a business after hours event on September 10th, 2026 from 5 to 8 p.m. at 41 Edith Street in Cortez. Does any member of the public or council member wish to have a specific item removed from the consent agenda for discussion?

I move that council approve the consent agenda.

Motion made by Lewis, seconded by Swope.

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

Yes. Moving on to item number three, which is public participation. Individuals may comment on items that are on this council agenda during the public participation time. They may not comment on items on the 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 commenter. Is there anybody who wish to Make any comments? Seeing none, we'll move on to item number 5. 5A, resolution number 15, series 2026. Resolution number 15, series 2026. Approval of the site plan for property located at 127 . Our presenter is Jason Armstrong, deputy director of community and economic development, city planner. Is he going to do, you're going to do that? Yay.

Good evening.

Hi.

I'm wondering if this, oh, it is coming up. For the record, I'm Nancy Dostal. I'm a contract city planner. The project before you tonight is a pretty exciting one. First time in a while you've got a brand new building on a vacant lot in the Central Business District. The property is located at 127 North Market with The proposal is for 2397 square foot one-story office building to be located on the vacant parcel so located right here just south of the park and and um just to to i wanted to show you the zoning map of the central business district there is an odd little bump out in you to the north in the central business district that has two existing buildings and a vacant lot at this time the rest of the central business district of course is along main street and the adjacent alley but there is this area that jogged north a little bit. So I've got a photo there, very clearly a vacant property without any features of note on it. uh the proposal here is to fully really fully comply with the code um where in the central business district we really push filling the lot as much as possible and you know you know buildings usually touch in this case they're proposing a slight offset for to the south from the existing building they will be on the the north and east property lines they're leaving some extra space in back for parking this will include increasing the width of the sidewalk in the front and then building a fully ADA compliant sidewalk on the north side of the building Since, as you can see, the major tenant will be accessed off of Market and the main sidewalk there, but there will be additional tenants that will access off the alley, and hence the need for the sidewalk there. Your criteria for a site plan are really, does it comply with the code standards, conformance with the comprehensive plan in general, dimensional standards, and I'm not gonna go over all those, but quickly um showing the standards there they are in full compliance with all the standards in fact they are providing parking where it's not required so that there will be some parking for employees they are fully in compliance with everything else the setbacks lock coverage etc As far as comprehensive plan, which we usually don't talk about quite a bit, but the comprehensive plan, which, as you know, is a little bit older, it does have some design recommendations for buildings. They're not a standard. It's not a requirement, but it's recommendations with the comprehensive plan. I've shown you here the existing buildings that are adjacent to it. They're both stone stucco, one story. The requirement in the code is to ensure that the building design and facade treatment reflect the historic character of downtown. which is very eclectic, I think, as you know. So it's hard to pick one style. But the proposal does seem to match fairly nicely with the existing buildings on the block in that it also be stucco and one story and somewhat of a southwestern style to that building. So with that the planning commission did review this project is recommending approval staff's also recommending approval we have two suggested conditions which are really fairly standard that they comply with all requirements of utility providers and city code and that prior to building permit appropriate construction drawings approved stamps signed by an engineer be submitted to the building official and city engineer especially because improvements will be required to the sidewalk of the city that's it do you have any questions

I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR THE TWO INDIVIDUALS PRESENT HERE. IF IT'S APPROPRIATE NOW TO ASK THAT. YOU HAVE OFFICE SPACE ON SOUTH MARKET. IS THAT FULL? IS THAT WHAT'S DRIVING THIS? MY QUESTION IS WHAT'S DRIVING THIS TO HAVE OFFICE SPACE BUILT? I THINK IT'S A GREAT IDEA. DON'T GET ME WRONG.

The anchor tenant in this new building. Their corporate preferences were to have more of an upgraded, newer building than the location at 20 South Market due to the location of other branches. So the main tenant in this one kind of drove our desire for a new building. They weren't really too interested in the 20 South Market. okay excellent and and that space there is full or there's no it's not completely full there's a little bit of availability left there's gonna be a little bit more availability because actually some of those tenants it's filling for sure

For the record, could you guys state your name and what your association is with the project?

My name is Kenan Lovett.

I'm Darren Dennison.

Thank you, guys. We own the lot that this new building is going to be constructed on.

Well, I think this is a fabulous idea. Anytime we can have vacant lots filled up with office space, businesses, et cetera, it's a great thing for the city. So I applaud both of you for moving forward with this project. Thank you.

I want to thank you guys, too. I think it's fantastic that you're doing this. And I just happened to drive by that lot the other day, and I thought, man, this would be a great place for something to be built. Good job.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, if there's no more discussion, I move that city of- Excuse me, sorry.

Can you please call for public comment?

Sure. Public comment? Does anybody in the public have anything they wish to? No. No.

I move that Cortez City Council approve resolution number 15 series 2026, a resolution approving the site development plan for a new office building on property located at 127 North Market Street, Cortez, Colorado in the central business district zone with the conditions as stated in the resolution.

Second.

Motion made by Lewis, seconded by Osborne.

West. Yes. Osborne. Yes. Lewis.

Yes.

Swope. Yes. Wolf. Yes. Spruill.

Yes. Move on to number six, which is unfinished business. We have none. Item number seven is new business. 7A, Ordinance 1374, Series 2026. Staff will present an ordinance for first reading, making changes to various sections of the Cortez land use code. Our presenter this time is Nancy Dostellar, Contract City Planner.

okay so this is just the first reading not a public hearing it is a somewhat complicated or i'm not sure it's all that complicated but there's a lot to talk about here so i guess i i will ask whether you wish me to go over what the changes are or if you want to just set the public hearing for september 8th

Thank you for asking that, Nancy. It's kind of redundant when you do it now, and then you have to turn around and say the exact same thing over again. So if you feel that we will get enough information on our second reading, I think that would be inappropriate.

Nancy, I'd just like to say that, you know, I always appreciate seeing this come forward because it's telling me that as we use it and we find there's obstacles or mistakes, you know, you bring it right up and change it and make things a little more streamlined. So I appreciate all the work and all the changes.

Sure. There's actually a combination. I've got those up there. Some of them are... Required really by changes in state legislation and other portions of our code. And those are the ones in the top ones in the blue. Um, the green ones were one and the pretty blue ones were the ones where we have found things that weren't quite working for us. And we're recommending some changes.

Thank you just so the public understands what's going on. We have a first reading which just brings it to a second reading where we discuss the matter and it kind of in the history. We've been talking about everything the first reading in binding it over to talk about it again and it's really kind of redundant and let's cancel has any more questions of Nancy about this project.

Well, just I want to understand this slide. What does the green mean?

So the the topics in green are issues where we found, well, staff working with the public or in some cases it's our Public Works Department suggested some changes so I could show you a kind of a simple example but these are the ones that are by state Um, here's one that came from our public works director. Um, I probably don't want, it's complicated. I'm not sure I want to talk in detail about it, but it talks about how we infill sidewalks. The code as written allowed for a sidewalk to match what's there now. um but that doesn't always match ada requirements and new public works director had some issues with that so we we want to at least bring it up to the public and to the counselors um it it's been a tough issue for folks um so yeah Some of them aren't so tough. Can we put some extra conduit in and a new subdivision? Another suggestive from our new public works director. And then you've seen carports already recently. We want to make some changes to that, and I think you guys have some pretty recent experiences to why. I probably shouldn't keep going because I said I wasn't going to.

I'll entertain a motion.

I was going to say, do we need public comment?

Is there any public comment? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion.

I move that city council approve on first reading ordinance number 1374 series 2026 and ordinance approving revisions to the Cortez land use code as set forth in the ordinance and set the public hearing and second reading of the ordinance for September 8, 2026. Second.

Motion made by Osborne, seconded by Swope.

Lewis.

Yes.

Wolf. Yes. Osborne. Yes. Swope. Yes. West. Yes. Spruill.

Yes. Item 7B, award of the 2026 Montezuma-Sligo Drainage Improvement Project, phase number two. Council will consider awarding the 2026 Montezuma-Sligo Drainage Improvement Project, phase two, to Dave and Lana Waters Incorporated, DBA D&L Construction, and authorizing the city manager to negotiate and sign a contract with the company on behalf of the city. Our presenter is Casey Simmons, Director of Public Works and General Services.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. The Public Works Department is in search of a qualified contractor to upgrade the deteriorating and inadequately sized storm drain infrastructure located west of the intersection of Montezuma Avenue and Sligo. The existing infrastructure is insufficient for the volume of storm water it manages, resulting in ponding on the roadway during significant storm events. Additionally, the storm pipe that links the system to the undeveloped intersection of Sligo Street and Arbicamp Avenue is situated within the backyards of three residences and lacks a dedicated easement. Phase one was completed last year. Phase two will involve the installation of a larger diameter storm pipe with a dedicated easement that connects to the work completed in phase one, therefore abandoning the storm pipe within the residential backyards. The housing authority of Montezuma County, the current proprietor of the properties that include the dedicated utility easement, was informed of the project prior to its advertisement, and they have not voiced any comments, questions, or concerns. Public Works along with the contract engineer SGM assembled bid documents, advertised the project in the Cortez Journal bid net. 74 bid documents were downloaded and then five were submitted. at 3 p.m. on August 17th. The fiscal impact, we budgeted for this project. We budgeted according to the engineer's estimate of 216,544. The recommended bid, or staff recommends the bid from D&L Construction, which is 48.6% below the engineer's estimate and is well within the approved budget. Staff recommends this because based on the review of the five submitted bid packages, this one was the best value to the city. Although all firms appear to be qualified to upgrade the drainage, city staff believes, and based on the scoring matrix, that D&L is best positioned to fulfill the requirements of the project while providing the overall best value. Thus, it's the recommendation from the selection committee that D&L construction be chosen for the 2026 Montezuma-Sligo Drainage Improvement Project, phase two, pending any questions.

Is there any warranty length of time that are included with these types of contracts?

Typically a year.

Casey, what's the possibility of work order changes raising the cost of the project?

Well, I can't speak to like a percentage there. There's always the possibility of changes. Those typically result from Unknown subsurface rock formations or some sort of geologic unknown or perhaps a storm event or something adjacent to the project that might cause these type of things. However, in reviewing all of the bids and the bid tab, which was included. Really, the only or the biggest area of concern with the selected bid is that their price or cost for the storm drain manhole was pretty far below the other bids. However, the difference between that part of their bid and the other bids is still less than the difference between their bid and the next lowest bid. So even if there was a change order, we suspect that we'd still come in under all the other bids. So as far as, I guess, risk-reward, we judged it to be an appropriate risk to take this low bid.

I guess what I'm asking, and you answered my question, what I'm asking, though, is can the contractor come back and say, you know, I didn't realize it was going to cost me so much for this manhole cover? Is that something they can do or bid on?

I would say it's not typical for a manhole cover because that's a kind of a fixed hardware cost. Usually the change orders are a result of an unknown environmental issue. So it would be surprising if they came back on a manhole cover and said, you know what, we just couldn't find a manhole cover for $8,000 when everyone else budgeted three times that for the manhole cover. So my guess is maybe they have one or they've sourced one already and they were just hungry for the job and used the perhaps the pre-sourced hardware as a way to get the low bid would be my guess like obviously i don't know but has the city used dnl previously for any projects we worked with the sand district this year with dnl on montezuma and that project had no change orders okay

I always like seeing local companies used. I think this is great. I'm glad to see that they came in lower and I think I've seen them do projects around town and I think they have quality work. So I was happy to see this.

Yeah, we agree. And you know, if you look at the bid tab too, they're pretty close to Ramco, which is also local and the really hot, the high ones are all the nonlocal companies that have pretty huge mobilization and demobilization costs. So that's just an advantage of a local contractor.

Okay, thank you very much.

I move that council accept the bid and award the contract for the 2026 Montezuma-Sligo Drainage Improvement Project Phase 2 to Dave and Lena Waters, Inc., DBA, D&L Construction at its bid price of and authorize the city to negotiate and sign a contract on behalf.

Second.

Motion made by Lewis, seconded by, down there, West.

Osborne. Yes. West. Yes. Lewis.

Yes.

Wolfe. Yes. Swope. Yes. Spruill.

Yes. Moving on to item number C, council representative to serve on parks and recreation master plan project committee. City council will consider selecting a council member and a possible alternate to serve on the parks and recreation master plan project committee. And our presenter is Creighton Wright, director of parks and recreation.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. I'll do a quick overview of the master plan project and its purpose, talk about three layers of guidance and oversight that we anticipate in this project, and then go through the time commitment and then turn it over to the council to talk about who they'd like to appoint to this role. So first off, Parks and Rec Master Plan is going to be starting here soon. We're in the final stages of finalizing a contract. The council previously awarded the bid, and so once the contract is done, we'll be setting a kickoff date and getting moving. The purpose of the project is to set the long-term vision for our parks and recreation system for the next 10 years. It has two main tenants I've been talking about repeatedly as we've been drafting scope and going through this process. The first one is it's got to be community oriented. It has to be the community's plan. And that's important to some of the layers of guidance that we have. And then secondly, it's got to be financially supported and or sustainable and realistic. It effectively can't sit on a shelf. We need to be able to turn around as soon as it's done and start implementing recommendations from it. So moving on to layers of guidance, the project will be managed by our assistant director, Jenny Bandai, and I'll be providing pretty close oversight and direction as we move forward. There are two committees that we plan on moving through this process with. The first is a technical committee made up of other city department department representatives, including planning, public works and finance. Their role as we move forward is to identify impacts on their individual operation and or more broadly for the city. And then where this. Topic really comes into play is a project committee the project committee will help go through the outreach materials efforts look at the plan for outreach ideally attend the outreach met meetings serve as an ambassador for the project and then ultimately once we get that information back the feedback the outreach returned back from The consultant, the committee will be going through it and providing us guidance and direction based on the input that is received by the community. The project committee will consist of myself and the assistant director, the public information officer for the city, We have two members from the Parks, Recreation, Forestry Advisory Board, a member from the Golf Committee, as well as an alternate. And what we're asking of you tonight is a council member and an alternate. We will also offer the technical committee to sit in on project committee meetings if they choose. Time commitment anticipated for this project is meeting approximately every six weeks and it'll be about a four hour time commitment. An hour to two in meetings as well as about an hour to two to review materials before that meeting so that you're informed and ready to provide guidance and feedback as we get to the meeting and we talk through things. And then I also mentioned here at the end, we really are encouraging the project committee members to attend our outreach events and to serve as ambassadors for the project, talk to people, hear what they say firsthand and even encourage additional comment and feedback. It certainly makes sense that Council members sitting on one of the two parks and rec committees may be an ideal candidate however, there's the opportunity for other council members to throw their hat in the ring and to be a representative Again, we have one primary candidate and one alternate really the differentiation of my mind is that we are going to hope and rely on that primary candidate throughout the project and Should the primary not be available ask and or expect that the alternate sits in their place? That's all I have for a presentation and I'll take any questions that you may have or deliberations amongst the council Does anybody have any questions Mr. Mayor one thing I did forget so we do expect the project to kick off here in the next 30 to 45 days and expect it to last through the early part of summer of 2027 receives an updated schedule from the consultant today showing that we should start the approval process in early July next year thank you

Think Councilmember Lewis would do a fantastic job. He's already on the golf committee and and I think he would be a do fantastic on that that portion of it and If he's willing to take that commitment and I certainly don't mind being an alternate to that position as well Is there any other council members that? Have a hankering to do this

I was going to suggest, Bill, too, since he sits on the golf committee, as the PARFAB representative, I'm happy to step in as the alternate. But I know Bill has a little more time and knowledge in this sphere.

Any other comments?

I do have the time to be an alternate, and I certainly don't mind doing that at all. And I'm...

No, absolutely you may have it I move that council select councilmember Lewis And mayor Spruill to serve as the alternate a second Second okay motion made by Osborne second by wolf I

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

Yes.

Spruill.

Yes. Moving on to item number D, the appointment to the airport advisory committee. Council will consider appointing a youth member to the airport advisory committee. Our presenter is Daniel Wells, our city clerk.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. This evening, you interviewed Mr. Grant Wright for the one opening on the Airport Advisory Committee youth member opening. He was the only applicant that was received during the period that the applications are open. And if he is appointed, he would serve a one-year term.

Discussion by Council. I think he did a fantastic job. He did a really good job. I think he'd be a good member to our Council.

I agree. He interviewed very well, and I think he has a lot of valuable things to bring to the table with the courses he's already been engaging in.

I move to appoint Grant Wright as the .

I second.

Motion made by Swope, seconded by Wolf.

Osborne? Yes. Wolfe? West? Yes. Lewis?

Yes.

Swope? Yes. Sproul?

Yes. Item number eight, draft resolution ordinances. We have none. Item number nine, city attorney's report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just one item that I alluded to at the last meeting. If you'll recall, the city was involved in litigation over the closure of access from the property to the south of the south end of North Adams Street. And the applicant or the plaintiff who filed the lawsuit had asked the court to dismiss it. We got the order from the court dismissing the case so that For now is officially over with and we're not involved in litigation on that. So just wanted to put the the final Judge's approval on that issue. Thank you. That's all I have Thank you.

Glad to hear it item number 10 city managers report I

Yes, Mayor and Council, I've just got two items that I will quickly summarize. Excuse me.

Pardon me.

So just last week on August 20th, I attended the CIRSA Law Enforcement Regional Roundtable with Human Resources Director Matt Kashner and several members of the police leadership. This was an important seminar that helped us better understand the ever-evolving risk environment and identify practical strategies to reduce liabilities that pertains to our law enforcement services. We try to attend this every year and we found it very beneficial. Next, and I will just paraphrase this, is budget season, and we are fully engaged right now, and we'll be working through that leading up to the council workshop session on October 9th. With that being said, that concludes my report, pending any questions.

Okay, we'll move on to item number 11, City Council Committee Reports.

PARFAB did not meet, so I have no report.

No report. Number four.

Library meeting. Their strategic planning is going to occur. The meeting will be in November to get started with that. They received a $5,000 onward grant, and that kind of pays for print material. They've been given 326 great courses. That's a huge inventory, a really good way to learn about something you're interested in. It's really fun, so they've gotten that. They've got a new hire, and I think they have another position now. And Leroy's really been working on the budget in a way that's probably really never been done in that library before. So there's like three challenges. There's not a lot of documentation from the past, you know, to help him see where things are, but the city's been really good about supplying information. Allocations and redundancy, some irregularities and things, so just trying to kind of make their budget system a little more transparent there. And nothing that was unethical, just kind of some inaccuracies there. They have a capital project. They're going to be working on the exterior there. And so those were the big things for most of them.

Thank you. We finally had our first official airport committee meeting. And committee officials were selected. We got that sorted out and got scheduled when. It'll be third Mondays of the month, 530 in the Mesa Verde room here. So that was basically it is just trying to figure out who's doing what, expectations, agenda items, and just kind of moving forward from there. So looking forward to the next meeting.

i just want to remind members of the public they're always welcome to attend any of these committee meetings uh... so that we have full transparency we have uh... uh... you can watch what goes on and see see how we reach the decisions that we reach uh... we're going on to the leaveney which is a mayor's report on the workshop during our work session we met with judge bidia on a contract review as well as a performance review. The council also interviewed Grant Wright for the position of the airport advisory board as a, is the word juvenile correct? That's probably not, a youth, a youth. And Jason Armstrong, our deputy director of community and economic development, gave an update on the Seventh Street property project, and council had a discussion about revising the annual license process for mobile food vendors. Go on to item number 11B, which is other board reports. See no other reports. Item number 12, public participation. Individuals may not comment on items that are on the council agenda during the public participation time. There is no limit to the number of speakers and no overall time limit. Speakers have a time limit of three minutes per person, may only speak once, and may not cede time to another commenter. Do we have anybody that has any comments? Item number 13 is other items of business. This is a time the council can say anything they have burning on their minds.

I just have one thing kind of burning on my mind. Rise Southwest, our suicide awareness coalition and walk will be held next month on the 12th in Montezuma Park. So that is an event for the community and neighboring communities to come and support one another through that event. So please come out and support your community on September 12th for Rise Suicide Awareness Walk.

Okay, I will take a motion for adjournment.

Mr. Mayor, I move to adjourn.

Second. I second that motion.

Motion made by Lewis, seconded by West.

Osborne. Yes. Swope. Yes. Wolfe. Yes. Lewis. Yes. West.

Yes. Sproul.

Yes.