City Council - Regular Meeting

like to call to order the uh city council meeting for December 9th, 2025. If you'd all stand and join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nationy for all. Can we have a roll call? Keoffer here. Dehaven here. Spruel here. Door. Randall. Lewis

here. Medina here. Uh, Mayor Medina is with us on a phone call. So, she will uh uh be listening in and voting. Um, so do we have an approval of the agenda? Mayor Prom, I move that we approve the agenda as presented. Second. Keoffer. Yes. Randall, yes. Dehaven, yes. Lewis, yes. Do Yes. Uh, Medina, yes. Spruel, yes.

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 that time prior to council council's vote. If a resident or a council member wishes to have any specific item removed from the count consent agenda for discussion, approval of the minute meeting minutes from November 25th, 2025. B. Approval of the expedit expenditure list for the December 9th, 2025.

I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. Randall Lewis. Yes. Dehaven. Keoffer. Yes. Do Yes. Medina. Yes. Sproul.

Yes. 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, although public comments will be held to an overall limit of 30 minutes. Speakers have a time limit of three minutes per person. Uh you may only speak once and may not seed time to another commenter. Uh if uh anybody has any comments that they would like to make, you can fill out a card. Uh at this time, we'd ask Bonnie Anderson to come. And if you would state your name and

Good evening. I'm Bonnie Anderson, 24907 Roadm Cortez. Um I just wanted to introduce myself to you guys today. I am a candidate for the county commissioner for next November um district 1. I wanted to say that my principles are transparency, respect, and collaboration. With that said, I think it is very important that all three municipalities and the county work closely together on shared challenges such as housing, infrastructure, um and collective long-term planning. So, I had some questions for you. I know you can't answer them right now, but if you want to contact me later on, I would love to listen to you guys. I wanted to know what has worked well with you guys and your working relationship with the county so far. Um, I also wanted to know what hasn't worked well and maybe things that we need a tweak. Um, but it's a pleasure to be here and I'm looking forward to listening and learning. Thank you.

Thank you, Bonnie. I see no more more presenters. We'll move on to item number four, which is presentations. Uh we have 2025 employee anniversary awards presented by HR Director Matt Kashner.

Yeah. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Drew Sanders here, city manager. I'm going to be working with Mr. Kashner uh to accomplish this important task. This evening we have a list of several years of service award recipients throughout the city ranging in years from 5, 10, 15, 20 years, 25 years, 30 and we have one 40year recipient. I would like to recall their names. Several are here, some are not. But as we call your name, if you can go up uh to the dis on the other or the podium on the other side where Mr. Kashner is where he will uh give you your city gift. And then I would like to um invite the council uh if it's your pleasure, mayor prom down on the floor to perhaps congratulate them.

We really like our employees and our law enforcement and it would be my honor to come down and greet them as they come up and I'm sure the rest of the council would too. All right, I will read these out as I mentioned if we can move down to Mr. Castner and then uh approach the council. Starting with Andrew Archer, patrol officer, police department. Richard Baker, water treatment plant, senior operator. And by the way, this is for five years of service. Next, Carrie Booker, public works secretary, receptionist. Tanya Goodall, detective administrative assistant at the police department. Vernon Knuckles, chief of police. Kyle Cune, IT support technician. And maybe just a quick point of order, maybe we can hold our applause until we go through the whole list of a given year and maybe give an applause then it'll save us some time. Next is Charles Osborne, police detective, police department. Jeremy Patton, airport director. Carla Ross, patrol officer, police

department. Darren Upane, public works operator. And Sarah White, communications technician, police department. And that is all of our five-year recipients. Thank you. Moving on to 10 years of service, starting with Taylor Kase, police records technician. Next, William Hill, public works senior operator. Brent German, police patrol sergeant. Raelio Maynard, patrol lieutenant. And David Potter, public works senior operator. And with 15 years of service, David Rucker, buildings maintenance technician 2. And that's it for 15 years. Moving on to 20 years of service. Sarah Coffee, payroll sales tax administrator in the finance department. David Shack, account clerk, accounts receivable technician, finance department. Buck Woodman, police detective.

and Jud Yench, maintenance mechanic and general services. And with 25 years of service, Nathan Hoffman, facilities maintenance foreman. He's not here this evening and that's our only 25 years, but that's quite an accomplishment. Thank you. 30 years of service. Andy Brock, assistant chief of police, and Matt Kashner, director of human resources. And this last one, I am positive this has got to be a mistake somehow because there's no way she's old enough. However, Lori Milich, police executive assistant, 40 years of service. Wow. I'm pretty sure they hired him when you're four years old back then. So, anyway, that concludes our years of service. Thanks everybody and all of you who uh were not necessarily recognized tonight. Thanks for all you do for the city of Cortez.

Can I uh so the mayor Medina here um apologize I couldn't be there tonight but I just wanted to thank you all for your serious dedication and service to our community. You're the backbone of this um organization and just really thank you so much. We're going to move along to 4B, which is the 2024 independent audit results, presented by Randy Bailey, our finance director. I'm not sure we want to do audit after that, but here we are.

Good. Good evening, Mayor Protemp, Mayor, and Council. see if we can get the slides up. Okay, I wanted to spend just a few minutes discussing our 2024 annual audit and the results. We are a little bit delayed this year because of some unfortunate uh occurrences during the year. But nonetheless, uh here we are to provide you with uh a brief overview of the results of the 2024 audit. Before I go too deep into it though, want to just remind everybody on the values of our annual audit. It does provide us that independent assurance that our financials are free of material misstate misstatements and compliance with and in compliance with generally acceptable accounting principles. Uh it also provides transparency to the many uh stakeholders and financial readers that have an interest in how uh our our city is doing and uh how we're performing fiscally. It also fulfills statutory requirements. And the part that I really enjoy about audit, and I know that probably sounds strange, but it really is a good time to do a deep dive and assess how we're doing, how our controls are performing, and get any feedback from the independent auditor as to how we can improve. And to me, that's incredibly valuable for our overall finance team and for the overall city at large. A brief overview of the audit cycle. Um, not many folks know what all goes into this, and I want to take a brief moment to thank the entire finance department because it is a heavy lift. It's about a six-month process. January and February is what we call our super busy season, and that's when we are heads down doing all of our account reconciliations, adjustments, entries, um, a and really starting to make sense of the year, if you will. March and

April, we then turn into final fund balances, final adjusting entries, and do really the the lion's work of the audit testing, and we also perform the single audit if if it's needed based on the federal grant thresholds in May and June. Then we switch uh we switch gears and it's really about audit wrap-up, producing the ACTUER, and submitting all of the information. So, as you can tell, it's a pretty drawn out process. It has its up and down in terms of effort levels, but it is a big lift and we're very very proud when we get what I will go to the final punchline is an unqualified opinion or a clean result. And so that is exactly what we re we receive for 2024. Uh we had zero deficiencies um and really not a lot of feedback from the auditors. And so I'll continue to follow up with them because again it's that improvement piece that we always want to get and they usually provide some great insights into how we can get better. We also uh did need to do a single audit for 2024 and that is uh expected to wrap up this week. Um so I can definitely provide a memo to council if they desire as to the findings of that single audit um and how well we did. But uh again it is ongoing and should wrap up either this week or next week according to the auditors. I will also say that we submitted our ACER for uh a certificate of excellence award from GFOA. Um and I did receive recent notice that we were approved for final review. So that's pretty exciting stuff. Don't know if we're going to get it or not. Again, I'll follow up with council if we do because we'll definitely want to brag about ourselves. Um, but we're hoping for a good result there and we believe our acter is solid and we're hoping to get that award this year. So, with that, um, that is really all I have and I'll open it up for any questions. I have no, uh, questions about the audit

report, Randy. I'm I'm pretty familiar with that. I used to do that in education. So, uh, what I do have questions in regards to is the auditor. Um, how long have we used uh that company and our contract? Those are great questions and uh I will uh definitely appeal to Drew if he knows those uh our city manager if he knows those answers right off the top of his head. I don't know those exact figures, but I know that we have been with Atlas for a number of years because they uh got us caught up on on the backlog of audits. So, I know that they've been around for a number of years.

Yeah. It was 2021 when we first engaged them, but one of the things that attracted us to them is that we could they're big enough that uh as you know, uh best practice is you don't really stay with an auditor much past four to five years. We're at four years now. And uh they're big enough that we would want to go to a different auditor within the firm uh to you know get a new set of eyes on our our books. So that that is something that we will discuss for this next year. Thank you.

I have a general question as far as clarification on one of your statements under discussion. It says that um the finance department ordered a single audit as a threshold of $750,000 in federal grant expenditures has been reached. That means we have a fed federal grant threshold of $750,000 that we can receive. Is that what I'm interpreting or can you just tell me what that means? Yeah, the threshold for single audit um it it actually in 2024 it was $750,000. It's actually being increased to a million. Um but yes, in 2024 we did have uh federal grant expenditures that exceeded $750,000 and so that triggered the special engagement to run the single audit.

Thanks. Yep. You bet. Mayor, do you have any questions? Nope. Thank you. Thank you, Randy. Thanks. Thank you, Randy.

We'll move on to number five, public hearings. We have none. Six, unfinished business. We have none. Seven, new business. We have none. Uh we'll go on to 7A, which is a resolution number 14, series 2025. Council will consider approving resolution number 14 series 2025, a resolution certifying the 2026 mill levy. And our presenter is Randy Bailey, the finance director.

Good evening. Before you have resolution 14 to certify the mill levy for the 2026 budget year, uh I'll just remind council that um this is the way that this is calculated is we look at two different calculations. is one is a 5.5% increase year-over-year and then one is the uh taper limitation using an inflation rate. We take the lower of that and use that to set the mill levy and that's exactly what we did in this case and it was the tabor limit that was the lower and so that's what we're advocating for moving forward. I will say that the inflation rate used was 3.6% 6% and that was derived from the September 2025 uh state economic report out and forecast to the budget committee. Um so we felt that that was the most prudent to use uh moving forward for the forecast. Um so what we're looking at is a total of $135,786.7 and that represents a $6,28 increase over the prior year. And so with that, um, I would, uh, I would suggest that council approve the resolution and we move forward.

I thank you for presenting that, Randy. I think it's uh, pretty straightforward with what you uh, presented. Um, and with that, if there's no other discussion, I move that council approve resolution resolution number 14, series 2025, a resolution establishing the mill levy for the 2026 fiscal year and certifying the 2025 mill levy to the Monazuma County Board of County Commissioners. Second. Do yes. De Haven, yes. Lewis, yes. Randall, yes. Keifer, yes. Medina, yes. Spruel, yes.

We'll move on to 7B, a resolution number 15, series 2025. Council will consider approving resolution number 15, series 2025, a resolution approving the 2026 fee schedule for the city of Cortez. Our presenter is our city clerk, Danielle Wells. Good evening, council. Uh, resolution number 15 series 2025 would adopt the 2026 fee schedule for all the city departments except for the airport. The 2026 airport fee schedule will be adopted through resolution number 16 series 2025 following the review of this revol resolution. Attached to the packet memo includes a resolution number 18 series 2024 which shows the fees that were adopted for this current year. The items that were highlighted in yellow are the fees which are being recommended by staff to be changed from the 2025 fee schedule. Memos from staff are included in the packet and um staff senior staff is available to address any questions or concerns that council may have. Um barring any questions, staff recommends that council approve resolution number 15 adopting the 2026 fee schedule for the city of Cortez. Do I have a motion? I I just have to say, boy, it took a took a long time to go through all those all those fees, but um I appreciate all the uh directors uh submitting everything and going through that process and using their um advisory uh committees for input. Uh so seeing no discussion, I move that council approve resolution number 15 series 2025 resolution adopting the 2026 fee schedule for the city of Cortez.

Second. Do yes. Randall, yes. Lewis, yes. Keoffer, yes. Dehaven, yes. Medina, yes. Sproul, yes. Moving on to 7C, resolution number 16, series 2025. Council will consider approving resolution number 16, series 2025, a resolution approving the 2026 schedule of fees and charges for the Cortez Municipal Airport. Uh, presented by airport director Jeremy Patton.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tim and city council. So you recall in 2023 we established an official schedule of fees and charges um with an actual guiding document in place that was not uh previously being used. Um as you've seen in the packets previously and then for this resolution there's you know there's been a lot of updates just structure really. Um and then over the years we've we've implemented a few more items to that that guiding document. Right. So in for example in 2024 we went to the digital landing fee structure that helps us capture not only increased revenue based on the tiered schedule or tiered you know bracketing of weights of aircraft um but also for operations tracking and more you know having more integrity in our tracking system. In 2025 we implemented the paid parking system in congruence or in following the uh construction of the parking lot that has also helped substantially with airport revenue for for operations. And then in 2020 or for 2026, we're we're going to uh update adjust a a few of these uh schedules in in the do in the document. Um so with that, the some of the changes we've added the land the official land lease nomenclature that wasn't previously in there. That's the guide on on our square footage uh fee for for building hangers. And then as we move forward, as more commercial development should happen, you know, we'll negotiate those rates uh with the potential developer. Um but our set land lease rate is now in there, more descriptive. And we're also going to update the weight threshold of applicable landing fees. Um we were capturing fees above 4,000 pounds of landing weight. We're actually going to increase that to 6,000. Um and you know initially there's concern you'll lose some revenue between that four and 6,000 weight but most of the aircraft in that weight are student training aircraft privately owned or community service like fire helicopters air medevac that's not based here. Um and then the increase

in our heavy traffic. We've been seeing that a very good trend of increase over the last five or six years. Um especially since COVID, we're still capturing more revenue because again we increase this the fees the heavier the plane gets. That helps offset expenses of the impact of those aircraft on our runways, taxiways, and aprons, right? Um, so we're actually doing a service and a and a benefit to the operators like like you said, hell attack fire, a lot of those AAR helicopters, Hueies, Bells that fall in that weight category, they're already paying land use agreements and fees to the airport through federal and state agreements. Um, so this actually invites more use of the airport. um despite some high fuel pricing concerns, but we already see one of the complaints is, you know, that that we already got to pay this fee, that fee, and landing fees included, you know, when you're dealing with a a smaller aircraft. Um so, strategically in the industry, you know, you don't see landing fees at most busier, heavier aircraft, uh impacted airports like Durango, they start at 8,000. Most airports start at 12,500. Um, so I think we're just kind of finding a compromise a little bit there and welcoming more aircraft. Um, an additional change is increasing the fuel flow fee by uh 01 cent. It hasn't changed for 12 and a half, 13 years, something like that. Um, and industry standards between 12 and 30 cents a gallon of flow fee. That's everything that the FBO when they sell fuel, they pay, you know, a flow fee. anything through the fence. So, Hleac operators, private owners that bring their own fuel. Um, we're only we're not raising it by much, but that helps increase revenue over time um and keep up with industry standards. Uh things like key card issuance, $10 to $15, raising it five bucks. Uh those cars are getting more expensive to to acquire. Um and we issue quite a few of those a year now with the paid parking

system. Um the loss key fee, you know, we lose five or six years. So increasing that a little bit offset those costs and the time to to deal with that those issues. And then finally, land lease rates and communication site fees. They haven't changed for over 20 years, 2660 um to $30 a square foot. Again, industry respective. Um those can range between 10 and $150. Obviously, the more corporate, you know, uh shop space, things like that at bigger airports, they they break $100. We're we're nowhere near that. Um and then uh yeah, so all these all these help offset some of the expenses for airside terminal and landside improvements, right? Um so fiscal impact, we'll see some increases in in these uh fees. We we continue to see increases in revenue barring, you know, our limited space and and and use of the airport. So we're hoping to increase some of that. And then barring an e major economic downturn, you know, the the the revenue should keep increasing. Um notable increases again we're seeing in land landing fees, parking lot fee, annual passes. Um landing fees have essentially tripled with the digital tracking system since we implemented it because we're not doing it by pen and paper and we had one set fee for the for every aircraft. Um, and a reminder, all based aircraft, uh, Flight for Life, or not Flight for Life, based medical, um, nonprofit flights like Angel Flight and a lot of the fire stuff will we we've been exempting. Um, unless they're on those uh, fire attack contracts and we were charging those helicopters before. Um, we're getting away from that that weight category by going up to 6,000. Um, so yeah, I mean in a nutshell, it's basically, you know, implementing land use agreements with federal and state firefighting. That was also not done very clean or organized previously. Um, and we anticipate potentially two new hanger development,

private hanger development, and we've got uh groups coming to coming to us in the next few months to build several hangers, like multi multiple units. So, at that time, we'd work on negotiating a a more fair land lease rate with those because they're going to be building relatively large structures hopefully. Um, so with that, staff recommends council approve resolution 16 series 2025 approving the 2026 schedule of fees and charges for the Cortez Municipal Airport. Barring any questions,

Jeremy, I'd just like to uh applaud you. you put a lot of effort in this and I uh what I really appreciate is you making those adjustments to the uh landing fees. I think that's that's a great change. So, um thank you. With that, I move that city council approve resolution 16 series 2025 approving the 2026 schedule of fees and charges for the Cortez Municipal Airport. Second. Dehaven, yes. Randall, yes. He offer. Yes. Do Yes. Lewis, yes. Medina.

Uh, Sproul, yes. And Mayor Medina, did you have a vote? Apologies. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, council. Moving on to 7D, bid results for the 2026 chemical bid. Council will consider accepting and awarding the 2026 chemical bid to various vendors according to the bid results. Presenter is Casey Simpson, Interarium Director of Public Works.

Good evening and happy holidays, council and mayor. Um, for the past couple years, the city's uh combined efforts with the town of Dolores, Mangus, and Monizuma Water Company to get the lowest possible uh chemical bids. Uh, combining the amount of chemicals obviously increases the amount purchased and reduces the cost. These bids were all costbased in their entirety, so there weren't any qualifications applied. And um you can see in the attachments that the lowest bid was selected in each category. It's a pretty extensive spreadsheet. And I don't really know in depth exactly what each chemical is used for. So I can't answer those questions right now, but I can answer any other questions about the bid process. And um if you guys so choose, the staff recommendation or wait the sorry the fiscal impact um for public works is $276,38524 and the parks and recreation amount is $29,422 for a grand total of $35,8744. And these amounts are budgeted. And with that being said, the recommendation is that council consider approving the 2026 joint chemical bid to the low bidder for each chemical as shown in the spread in the table.

I I think we asked this question last year and I can't remember the answer, but Monizuma County has been offered to go into this bid process. Is that correct? the the county sanitation or the Monizuma County with the road department and any chemicals that they may need. I know Mus and Dolores does. I'm not sure that they were this year. Um I know we reached out to the sanitation district because they've got a historical presence. Um speaking for myself, I would love to include the county if they so desired and we may have missed it this year, but I can make sure to do it next year.

Yeah. Casey, by uh having a joint bid, any idea of what percentage we we save by doing this? I didn't run comparative numbers. Okay. I can look into that as well.

That'd be interesting. No, thank you. I just wanted to say that for as long as I can remember, we've done a a chemical a joint chemical bid and I think it's really brilliant that all the um municipalities can get together and I think it's an example of of the municipalities, you know, working together and for a common goal and um might not seem big and flashy or sexy or anything like that, but you know, the fact of the matter of it is that people are working together and to the benefit of everyone.

I would suggest that it definitely benefits the smaller municipalities and shows a high degree of collaboration. Having said that, I'd like to make motion that council approve an award

for a total bid award amount of $35,8744. Second dehaven, yes. Do Lewis, yes. Keoffer, yes. Randall, yes. Medina, yes. Spruel, yes.

Moving on to 7E, bid results for the 2026 janitorial services. Council will consider awarding bids and authorizing the city manager to negotiate and sign contracts on behalf of the city with two selected vendors for the 2026 janitorial services. Presenter, Casey Simpson, our general services director.

Yes, thank you. Um the janitorial services bid or the opportunity to select new janitorial services is offered to each building staff each year. Um this year the police department, city hall, and service center decided to uh seek bids for janitorial services. These um bids were or we did ask for qualifications as well as costs there. So there's a combination of qualifications and cost included in the scoring matrix below. Um the fiscal impact for these services are included in um each building's budget. And the staff recommends that council consider approving the 20 26 janitorial bids for each building as shown below. There are uh just a note there are um different different janitorial service providers vendors were selected for each building based on those bids received. Casey, uh do we know why Wagner Enterprises did not submit a bid for the service center?

I did not speak to him personally. Um, I think that the owner took a few years off and then decided they wanted to provide these services to the city again and maybe starting small. The service center is a big building and can be muddy at times depending on the um, precipitation. So, it could have been that they didn't want to tackle all three buildings at once. Mr. Simpson, can you tell us why why we do this on a one-year basis instead of a two-year basis?

Yeah. Uh we can if the janitorial services we're receiving are um great and we like the cost, then we can renew, I believe, up to three years. uh the the different building teams just didn't feel like we were receiving the services at the cost that um we were paying or receiving the level of service at the cost we were paying and thus put it back out to bid with you saying that. Thank you. Looking out for the city's best interest. Appreciate that.

Well, and the building ultimately I would hand it back to the building teams that keep us keep us in the loop. So, yeah. I move that council approve and award the 2026 janitorial bids to the following biders and authorize the city manager to negotiate and sign a professional service agreement on behalf of the city with each vendor. Service Center, Caribbean Care Cleaning Services LLC, $31,7700. City Hall, Wagner Enterprise LLC, $38,35944. Police Department, Wagner Enterprise LLC, $35,999.88.

Second. Keoffer. Yes. Do Yes. Randall, yes. Lewis, yes. Dehaven, yes. Medina, yes. Spruel, yes. Moving on to 7F, intergovernmental agreement, IGA, with Monizuma County Water District number one for purchase of treated water. Council will consider approving the intergovernmental agreement IGA with Monizuma Water District number one for purchasing water from the city of Cortez and authorizing the mayor to sign the IGA. presenter is Casey Simpson.

Thank you. Um, a little bit of background here. The first agreement was signed in 1986 and then, um, I could the the the next iteration I could find was signed in 2006. There was an automatic 10-year renewal in be in between that. Um and this is the next um in 2006 it was signed again and then there was an automatic tenure renewal. So we're now again at a um a renewal place for the contract with Monzuma County Water District number one. Um, this project has been going on um for the course of the year with um back and forth communications with their board, our engineer, uh the city attorney, etc. And what you have before you is the um the result of that year-long project. Um the agreement has undergone revisions to update the language and terminology. Uh the agreement has been modified from a 10-year duration with a single automatic 10-year renewal to a five-year term with the possibility of up to three automatic renewals. Um billing accuracy is addressed. Um and the daily maximum water maximum volume of water deliverable to the network has been increased from 200,000 gallons under the 1986 agreement to now 400,000 gallons. Seven new articles have been introduced covering appropriation of funds, government immunity to data security and public records, governing law, compliance with industry standards, and other miscellaneous legal information. Um the recommendation here or there's there is a there isn't a specific fiscal impact attached to the agreement although the

yearly water rates does have a um fiscal impact which I believe is outlined in um the exhibit and that's changed annually or the water rates are changed annually based on the percent of water used by uh Monizuma County Water District number one as pertains to the total water produced by the water treatment plant. And it's the staff recommendation that council approve the IGA with Monzuma County Water District number one and authorize mayor to sign the IG on behalf of the city for this purpose. Mr. Simpson, I have a couple questions if you don't mind.

Yeah. Um so um my understanding is that the this agreement has them participating in the debt service that we have currently on four on four upgrades or four projects that we've completed. Um previously in 2023 they were participating in the same sort of a debt service but it was only involving two of those projects. There's been an additional two since that time. Yet the charge per thousand gallons of water right now is less in this contract than it was in the in the one that was dated in 2023. Can you walk me through that?

I can do a pretty good job and if we need to lean on Randy Bailey, we can um get more support for that answer. Um so the overall expense projected for 26 went up and the rate went down based on an increased usage and um the as we progress down the line of debt service um I believe there's less principle. So those those numbers all calculated together using Ry's um algorithms and math produced the 231. Um I I did ask Randy to review those numbers and make sure they are right. And I also spoke to their board chair and president about that and um talked to the water treatment plant and internally within public works and those numbers go up and down yeartoear. They went up by a significant amount a few years ago from I think it was 213 to 250 and then back down to um 231 as you see it. So I my understanding it's it's based on how much water they use the percent of the total and then um based on the changes to what projects were included in that debt service and where we're at with that debt service. Those numbers will change annually and I could have butchered that somewhat. financial director Randyy's gonna enlighten us here. So,

Casey, you did a great job. There's really four components to it. One of them is built on um the actual operating expenses. Um and so that is the thing that really fluctuates the most, right? The debt service payment is pretty much fixed. The other two components with Dolores are pretty much fixed. Um and so as as Casey said, two years ago it was 217. It went up to 250, went back down to to 231 and and it really stems from whatever the operating budget is for that year is what's really driving the variability within that rate. Um, but overall their usage was up and overall the charge is up. It's just the rate fluctuates because of that operating budget year to year. And that's going to be dependent on what kind of outlays they have, what kind of repair and maintenance they have, etc., etc. So, our operating budget for the last year has dropped significantly to offset the two debt services that were retired.

Well, the the the debt service has been in play for three year, four years, 15. Two years. Yeah. Two years and it runs through 2037. So that's been fairly a fixed component, but basically the year before um the operating budget was much more significant um which is why their rate was so much higher.

So I'm I'm following your concept, but my understanding was that in is that previously we only had two debt services in place. One was for the $4 million, excuse me, the $4 million gallon membrane and for the the filter upgrade in the water treatment plant. That was as per 2023. And then now we're actually talking two additional ones which was the clarifier and uh the two million uh two million gallon tank. So in theory, we're doing debt service on four issues now, whereas before we were only doing debt service on two, but yet our operating costs have gone down.

I would need to get I would need to dissect those projects and what that rolled in. I current its inception, but in terms of the roll on and roll off of the specific projects that you're talking about, I would need to go back and dig into that and happy to to generate a memo for I I was just wondering how that worked. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yep.

And uh Mayor Prom Council, if I can just jump in right quick. Um I just want to clarify those aren't aren't debts. Those are are generally capital projects. Randy will get some clarification there. But we did not incur debt to do those. So, uh, just just for clarification, Kate, service,

uh, well, the debt service that he's talking about, and again, Randy will clarify this, but if you rec, um, some were maybe not on council at the time, but when the general fund loaned money to the water fund to pay off their debts, now they are repaying the general fund. That's the debt service that they're carrying. Do we have a motion? Also, uh right before sorry, mayor prom council before you do this on uh you do have a motion sheet there in front of you of council is of the mind to pass this. We are requesting specifically that mayor Medina sign this because her name's a fixed on the IGA. Thank you. So, we can go ahead and make the motion and pass it, but Mayor Medina will sign it when she comes in.

Correct. Thank you. Thank you. I move that the city council approve the intergovernmental agreement for the purchase of treated water between the city of Cortez and Monizuma County Water District number one and authorize Mayor Medina to sign the IG on behalf of the city for this purpose. Second. Keoffer. Yes. Do yes. Lewis, yes. Dehaven, yes. Randall, yes. Medina, yes. Spruel, yes. 7G. 2026 Cortez Community Support Grants. Award the community support grants as determined by the 2026 community support grant review committee. Presenter Drew Sanders, city manager.

Yeah. Uh, Mayor Pam Council. So for many uh years in past, the city council has passed budgets uh and set aside money in the general fund to support community organization that preserve the and enrich the health, education, and welfare of the community. Each year, these community support organizations may receive a grant to support activities and programs that are accessible to the city of Cortez uh community and uh discou or encourage development of healthy community organizations. So, uh, this year we set aside $32,000 and, um, we met together as a committee and, uh, there were two council members on that. That was, uh, Council Member Lewis and Council Member Randall, and then some staff members and, uh, including finance director Randy Bailey and our city clerk Danielle Wells, and uh, Wendy Mimiaga who works in city manager's office. So with that, the committee uh put a lot of thought into who should receive grants and so on, but I believe one of our council members has some uh um information that we wanted to share regarding how the uh committee came to their uh uh discussion and how they decided to award. So, this will be shared by council member um uh by by myself and by um council member Lewis. So, the committee met on November 24th to discuss the applications and to determine the funding recommendations. The city has a $32,000 uh dollars budgeted for the purpose and we received requests totaling $161,600 excuse me $161,411. The this significance difference meant that the committee had to make some

really difficult decisions. Um we wanted to look at predominantly what provides public benefit and furthers a valid public purpose. Um, our funding philosophy and the committee recommendations are that with limited resources, our funding recommendations were directed towards the most urgent and foundational needs of our community. We prioritize essential life sustaining services, specifically addressing food security, medical support, and child advocacy. The recommendations reflect a commitment to supporting our most valuable, excuse me, our most vulnerable residents first before addressing secondary enrichment activities. So by focusing on these areas, we demonstrate a greater direct impact on mitigating urgent needs and filling essential social service gaps. and we con uh consideration of other requests. We recognize that this approach means we are not recommending funding for youth sports or other important activities this year. This decision was made in part because youth sports organizations already receive ongoing support from this city such as providing lowcost or no fee to city facilities. examples, waving rental uh field prep fees for youth sports uh that we provided since uh 2020. Partnerships for facility improvements. Uh we've had park improvements for the football program, additions of warning track, making uh fencing uh reductions at McAndrew Field, soccer goal replacements, starting blocks uh for the outdoor pool. The city has invested

approximately $40,000 during the past three years on facility improvement requests for these groups. We feel confident that these recommendations maximize the impact of $32,000 to meet our community's most critical needs. Uh, manager Sanders, would you like us to go through the numbered uh, awards briefly? Yeah, I think that would be appropriate. I think uh, you know, they should hear it from us.

Okay, Bill, do you want to tag team me on this one? So number one uh the cancer resource alliance of Monazoom and Dolores counties they re requested $5,000 and they will be g uh we are suggesting giving them $2,500. Okay. Uh the Colorado Pet Pantry requested $5,000 and we suggested $1,000 um gift. Number three, the community connections requested $5,000 and we suggested a $2500 gift. Number four, the First United Methodist Church or Hopes Kitchen requested $5,000. We suggested $4,500. The Four Corners Child Advocacy Center requested $5,000 and we have suggested $2500. The Four Corners Community Band requested $1,000 and we provided we are suggesting providing them with $1,000. Grace's Kitchen requested $5,000. We suggested $4,500. Number eight, Hospice of Monizuma requested $4,000. We suggested 2,000. The Monizuma County Senior Services requested $5,000 and we suggested $2,500. Monizuma Leadership Network requested $5,000 and we suggested $1,000. The Salvation Army requested $5,000 and we suggested $2500. The Sexual Assault Services Organization requested $5,000. We suggested $1,000. The Southwest Colorado Small Business Development Center requested $2,000 and we suggested $1,000.

The Southwest Memorial Hospital Foundation requested $5,000 and we suggested $2500. Tri County Head Start requested $5,000 and we suggested $1,000. As you can see, the majority of uh our awards were directed towards food support for those who have food unsecurity insecurity. Um second came uh medical support for those who are suffering from cancer and hospice services and uh community connections is in there along with some um probably the most frivolent but yet I think extremely valuable is probably the four corners community band. But we're welcome to take any questions from anyone that might have them. I really appreciate the explanation and um and time you guys put into it's really great. I guess my question was the only thing I question you just mentioned that um with the goals you had in mind I don't really see how the four corners community band falls in there when there's some other organizations in there that actually fall in my mind underneath your primary goals

right could really benefit from that money and I think we've given the band money really consistently and it would be fair to give that money maybe to well briiety or something something like that that falls more under the um the the the standards that you set.

That's a really good point. And um the one organization that uh had requested money for a well uh sobriety living situation did not qualify as they were not a 401k type of an organization. They were a private organization. Um I think one bene I we did not put any money anywhere else else towards the right. We have no other art receiving um organization. And I think the one benefit is that music is one thing that touches everybody across all the social spectrum. Um we uh the thousands was a minimum amount that they requested and they have been a proven uh recipient and contributing to the well-being of the community in general for their minimal $1,000 request. And I think that would be how I would describe it. Bill, would you like to go ahead and go? No, I think you did an excellent job of explaining that. It it was it was very difficult because um all the applications total to over hundred $106,000 and to make that choice of $32,000. It, you know, uh we're we're trying to put money into uh some of these organizations and if you just give them a little bit, it honestly makes no impact whatsoever. So, um, we spent a lot of time and and made some tough choices.

No, I really appreciate that further explanation.

And I would say that even the Titanic had musicians playing. Just a joke. Sorry. I'm not against music. I just like to support sober living and other things as well. Um I I think one other thing to add is just that that the the requests and for all and all of the organizations are are uh beneficial organizations for our community. And I I would ask that the community as a whole support the organizations outside of government in this community that help make this community work. Um and then if there are any other questions with that, I'll make a motion. Uh, I move that council approve the 2026 community support grant awards as determined and recommended by the grant review committee and authorize the mayor to sign the award letters for all grant applicants.

Second. Randall, yes. Dehaven, yes. Keoffer, yes. Do yes. Lewis, yes. Medina, yes. Spruel,

yes. Mayor Prom, before you move on, u I would just like to give a special thanks to Wendy Miyaga who collated, organized this for us and got us uh did all the checking and making sure that everybody complied with what the rules are. She's behind the scenes and it just really really needs our thanks and um heartfelt thanks I guess for her hard work on this. So, thank you. I was on that committee for two years and I will say that Wendy was a godsend. She she made something that would have lasted eight hours. U you could handle it in two. It's because of her hard work. Yeah.

And so I've got to echo that. She did a great job the last two years and I'm sure she did it again. Thank you. We'll move on to number eight, draft resolutions and ordinances. We have none. Nine, city attorney's report. We don't have a city attorney here today, so we're going to move on to 10. City manager report.

Yes, mayor and council. I have a a quick report for you. I just wanted to remind you that there are three finalists for the Cortez library director position arriving tomorrow. They will be meeting with both senior leadership and then the library staff tomorrow afternoon, followed by a community meet and greet in this room from 5 until 6:30 p.m. The individual interviews will then occur on the next day here at city hall uh where they'll undergo a leadership panel, a community panel, and probably worst of all me. and uh at what point we hope that we have uh we'll be able to identify a uh workable candidate for our library director position. I would ask and encourage all who are able to please attend the community portion of that so that we can uh not only show support for the process but just how important our library is to our community. Next, we are planning to hold anformational open house on Wednesday, January 7th, 2026 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in this room for anyone who may be interested in running for a city council seat this next year. We'll be talking about the role of the city council and the necessity uh necessary commitment for the position as well as answer any questions. All interested parties are can begin circulating their nomination petitions on January 6th. The petitions must be turned into the city clerk by Monday, January 26 by 5:00 p.m. But if you're even remotely interested in running for a council seat, please plan to join us. Thank you.

Could you give us that date one more time? Absolutely. Is January 7, 2026. And then just I'll repeat those other important dates. January 6th is when you can start circulating or or you know receiving uh nominations on your uh your petition. And then also those need to be turned in by January 26th, but the meeting is January 7. Pardon me. What time on January 7th?

January 7th, 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 or until we get tired and go home. Okay, we'll move on to number 11, city council committee reports. Start with uh member Kehoffer. Uh the parks, recreation, forestry advisory board uh met on Thursday, December 4th. And um let's see here real quick. We did not have any subcommittee reports. We have the forestry subcommittee and a wreck user group. Um so we spent the bulk of our time um on the parks recreation uh master plan. Um let's see. We are working on and are very close to finally find finding a youth member um hopefully from Southwest Open School. So we hope to have that for our next meeting in January. um for more or less all the 2025 um projects um have been completed. Um let's see. Oh, we elected a new uh chair, vice chair, and um secretary for our group. Um, and I will say that the meeting in January has been moved to January 8th. Um, the library board met um, last week and prime the primary thing we did was choose some uh, members to be on the interview panel this Thursday. very excited about that for the new library director. Um the Alana Yazi cookbook talk was really successful at the library and the October book sale that

the friends put on over Halloween weekend. They made $472 and they haven't done that for a while. So it sounds like it was pretty successful and they learned a lot of things that they think they could do um have an even bigger book sale next time. They're looking into doing a Valentine's Day fundraiser. And on December 18th from 5 to 7, there is a Coco with Santa and face painting in the library. And um let's see, that's all interview candidate stuff that Drew just said, but yep, the meet and greet tomorrow with the library candidates and then interviews Thursday. And that's about it.

Mayor Medina, do you have anything? Yes, the uh arts committee is planning um to be a presence having a booth at the third Thursdays next year and their plan is to highlight creative projects, people and businesses in the city of Cortez and really promote the arts economy um via the third Thursday events.

Thanks. Uh on uh the 11th I met with the Cortez H historic preservation board in place of council member Randall. Two properties were requested to be put on the historical registry 410 East Empire and 245 East Monizuma. One property was deemed to meet the requirements to be placed on the registry and will be brought in front of city council for review. The other property needs a little more work and investigation. The board would like to gather personal accounts and information on the Cortez CCC camp from former camp members or their family members. And the Cortez Historic Preservation Board would also like to remind realtors to advise potential buyers of properties eligible for designation as historical property.

The next Mesaverie Country Board meeting is on Monday the 15th. not a committee report, but I did attend the uh futures fair last week and um it was a very snowy day. We had great attendance with all the uh school districts. Um many booths with with different businesses. Um one thing I I want to mention, I was extremely impressed with the presence that the city of Cortez had there. We had several tables uh going from the aquatic center to uh planning and economic development um library. It it was it was just phenomenal. So that was a great event.

U Dennis, real quick, um I forgot to mention I heard back from uh home and I'm not going to be able to make the special meeting next week. So, if you guys want to change the day um to later in the week, please do so. I think we better set it for the 17th or Wednesday. So, okay. Council in agreement Wednesday. If I may ask uh council member dehaven, do you want to appear remotely or just not available? No, I won't be available. Okay, fair enough. So, if I'm hearing council right, let's just remain with the Wednesday date. Wednesday at 8. Okay. or what time? Wednesday the 8th. Correct. That's No, no, no. Wednesday the 17th.

Be very clear here. And by the way, I already sent you all uh an invite to your uh city calendar, but it is Wednesday the 17th, 6:00 pm in this room. And the public is of course welcome.

Got it. Okay, we'll move on to public participation. Uh, I don't see anybody in the audience that probably wants to participate. No. Uh, 13. Other items of business. That would be an opportunity for any council member to say anything that they have burning on their minds. I would just actually like to mention that on January 8th um I believe it starts at 4:00 pm um we'll have the third annual community involvement expo and the whole purpose of that is to connect uh people who wish to volunteer for nonprofits in the community with those nonprofits and the first year we had around 50 nonprofits similar last year um as well. And I know that one organization, for example, um was able to get 16 brand new volunteers for their organization. So, so watch out for that. Um I think it's really an important part of the community and you know, when everybody pitches in, um it really works. We have over 200 nonprofits in this county, which most people don't realize. We have a lot and so there's a lot of need. So, if you feel like um volunteering for anything in any way, shape, or form, I would really encourage you to be there that evening.

Okay. We don't have an executive session as Mr. Mayor Prom, I move we adjourn. Second. Dehaven. Yes. R Lewis, yes. Randall, yes. E offer. Yes, do.