City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Today is January 21st, 2026. This is tonight's city council regular meeting. The time is 5:30. Could we have roll call? Thank you, Mayor. Councelor Koso, Councelor Lawyer, here. Mayor Prom Woodruff here. Mayor Yazy and Councelor Gonzalez.

Thank you. And we may we have a reading of the indigenous land acknowledgement. This is a call to honor and respect indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. As residents and visitors of Durango, we are called upon to educate ourselves about the history and cultural heritage of the land we inhabit. The city of Durango is situated on the ancestral homelands and territories of the Nu, Ute, Hikaria, Apache, Apache, PBLO of New Mexico, Hopicome, Hopi, and Da Navajo nations. The original stewards of this land were forcibly removed and exposed to countless atrocities by the United States government, including repeatedly broken treaties, forced assimilation, the tragic legacy of Indian boarding schools, and the loss of ancestral homelands. We recognize lasting generational trauma exists within native communities today. We affirm the continuing importance of ancestral sites to descendant communities as integral to the living cultural landscape. This acknowledgement only becomes meaningful when combined with accountable relationships and informed actions. May this serve as a step toward inclusion and reconciliation. And may we have a introduction the translatoring English or espanol.

Hi, good evening. My name is Lee Torres and I am here with my colleague Sam Guzman. We're here from the community language co-op and thank you so much for your commitment to language justice so that everyone can speak and hear in the language of their heart. Pretty soon you'll be able to uh turn on interpretation through the more menu if you're on the team's app and you can select language and select English or Spanish from there and we can go ahead and get started.

And the next item on the agenda is opening remarks by mayor and counsel. Thank you. There are no items under presentations and proclamations. And under item five, city manager updates. Uh yes, mayor and council. We do have a update for our police department and city hall project update with our owner's representatives with Artea, John Usri, and Braden Demerly. Thank you, mayor, members of the council. Thanks for having us back uh to give an exciting update on how we are tracking with progress of the new city hall and police station. So in our report, uh my colleague Braden and I will be discussing uh first off an update on our efforts to understand the importance of this city hall facility to the community um in our historic rehabilitation efforts. That was a request of our last city council presentation. Uh we'll then jump into an overall design progress update uh and discuss next steps in our schedule over the course of the next month or two. here with us today. I just want to recognize uh we have two members of our construction manager at risk, FCI constructors. We have project director Matt Apply and project manager Steven Stewart. Um online joining us today we have Julianne Shear, our principal designer with HDR. Um as John said, I'm Braden Demerly. I'm a project manager with Artea Group as well representing uh the city uh with this project. Um I want to talk about the historical preservation efforts for

this project first. Uh we recognize that it was placed on the state and uh national register in uh 2001 and we reg uh and also the uh Durango historic landmark uh on in 2025. Uh we've accounted for the history and significance of the high school building uh through extensive uh research. Um for example, records, yearbooks, pictures, anything we could really find on it. Uh as mentioned, this project is a a rehabilitation project or also known as an adaptive reuse. So, our goal is to preserve and restore uh significant characteristics and features of the building while also updating and modifying it for uh current and future uses. All right. On this slide, you'll see um our historic preservation experts uh on the left there doing their examinations of the building. uh we have architectural resources group as our experts that have been brought in uh to help us with this uh rehabilitation and uh identify significant characteristics uh in the interior of the building as well as the uh exterior. So uh you'll see just on the uh right side of the slide there just a markup of all the different areas they looked at. uh some of their notes um they're pretty extensive and then um areas they've analyzed for preservation efforts. Additionally uh we have recognized that uh there may be some additional interior rehabilitation uh that initially we didn't anticipate. So it could be more with this project. um you've seen these guiding principles but I just want to

run through them again uh because they are helping ensure that we uh move in the proper direction for this project as we move forward. Uh along with that we have language from the bond mandate as well. Uh so just the first one uh ensure safety and secure spaces. Uh second one a campus to foster uh community engagement and connection. Third one here, um, this is an opportunity to advance equity and access and inclusion through the site. And then a project that, uh, we want to be good stewards of city assets and, um, foster a project that that creates that on the site. Uh, fifth one, we will promote an environment that fosters health and wellness through these buildings while also being environmentally conscious. and then a campus that uh helps uh uphold accountability and sustainability. All right. Um in doing this in in our project uh initial steps we examined the master plan that was initially created. Um in doing this we looked at key concepts and goals of that initial master plan and we want to recognize the all the efforts that went into it. Um, we examined the existing site and the buildings on the site and uh those initial concepts for those buildings. We've also looked at the goals that were defined for a successful project. And then we've also considered the feedback uh from public forums that were conducted early on in this master plan.

Great. So, as Braden alluded to, it was really important for our team working closely with city staff to honor the good work that went into that conceptual plan and build upon it. So, building upon it over the last couple months uh with a conceptual plan, we want to be good stewards of taxpayer money uh before we know that the community wants to move forward with the project. So now having bond funds to draw upon to better understand the facility, that's helped inform the design as you're going to see with how that's progressed. Some of the information gathered, we've been able to better understand soil conditions. Um, as Braden alluded to, the historical significance and opportunities within the city hall facility, uh, traffic studies, working on understanding cost associated with the design, um, and better understanding code requirements through the land use process, uh, most importantly with a major site improvement. So again, this is talking about the information we've been able to gather since that master plan concept and HDR as part of their due diligence as a lead design firm has really taken this evaluated further progressing this concept as well as several other concepts uh to make sure we're providing the best design solution to meet the bond mandate issued to our team. some of the other efforts information that we've received. Um, one, the new police station will need to adhere to risk category 4 requirements for the region. What this means is this building is a a critical facility. So, in the event of a natural disaster, um, some uh seismic activity, police need to be able to operate and serve the community out of that structure. that comes with heightened structural requirements that

were considered in whether or not we could adapt the alt high school that's currently the community development building to be repurposed for a police department. Uh also worked to evaluate the proposed programs um and refine those. We've evaluated initial conceptual cost estimates and then we've taken key city staff to tour similar recently constructed facilities on the front range that includes police stations and city halls in North Glenn uh the town of Parker and then a police station in Englewood. um not only look at those facilities but talk to staff who um helped oversee the construction and recent use of those facilities to captures lessons learned that we can apply to this project. Two, just understanding the historic significance of the city hall and envisioning how we can make that a civic anchor. understanding that really is a historical building at the end of Second Street, tying together an important commercial corridor for the city. So again, one of the values HDR brought that we talked about at our last update was their prominence working on civic centers across the country. So an example that they pulled from to look at this site was restoring the Henchler building which sits directly adjacent to the state capital in Wyoming in Cheyenne. So we saw a lot of similarities here on how we can improve view corridors and improve the prominence of important buildings sometimes even with removal. Um, as you can see here, enabled in order to preserve view corridors from Capitol Avenue, uh, the building had a certain portion removed, renovated to bring more prominence to

that historic state capital. So again, with the historic high school, we see a lot of symmetry that is similar prominence that we're trying to restore as part of this project. So here we're showing an alternate project concept um the team has evaluated and is looking to move forward with. I'll point out a couple of the elements here. So the biggest change that you'll see is we realize there's a lot of cost that goes into renovating the current comdev building into a police department. and um it's about the same cost to construct that police department as a new facility as it is to renovate that existing facility. So here we show the police department directly behind the city hall. Again, that preserves the prominence of the city hall building, helps preserve that symmetry um while still satisfying the program. We are also showing surface level parking on the site. we're still able to provide um secure parking for police staff on the surface level. What we realized is that parking structure would also have to satisfy those risk category 4 requirements which adds um significant cost to the parking structure itself. You still have public gardens. Um we'll talk to the interconnectivity with Buckley Park um and still have a public alley with multiodal access. So here um this design helps with the preservation of a lot of established trees on the site. Um it still maintains the connectivity um through the site, preserves the sled

and overall integrates with that park feeling uh with the site and incorporating quite a bit of green space and landscape elements. So with the use of surface level parking uh we are committed to meeting our parking requirement counts for city hall and the police department. Uh one of the solutions we are further developing is repurposing the city hall and police department site to help satisfy those parking requirements. So again, some of these modifications, we feel they're more budget aligned, help preserve those additional trees as well as park elements, help set the historical building as a focal point, um, still have public alley usage. Um, and we are still adhering to city code requirements and meeting the program requirements mandated as part of the bond. So our next steps is to really gather input and inform the community. So we have several opportunities for this over the next two months. Um this is going to be in presentations of our conceptual design this month and next looking at our landscape design uh the connectivity of the campus to the surrounding community. uh police department, community spaces and access. Then the city hall community space interior uh really looking at those public spaces that will incorporate some of those historic rehabilitation elements. We will also be engaging several

community groups directly. Um this includes the historic preservation board as well as a financial advisory board. Um we're looking to do that next week. um updates to several community groups, several of which are listed here. Um we will be meeting with the neighborhood um those who reside adjacent to the facility, some of those groups listed here. And then we will be hosting an engaged Durango forum February 24th. More information can be found using a QR code shown in this slide. And then from an overall design perspective, we are looking to move into schematic design. Um, so again, this is a conceptual design. We are still looking to fit all the pieces together with an updated cost estimate that comes with that schematic design and further evaluation of code requirements and referral agencies. And then we will be looking to give another city council update in the spring. With that, we'd like to entertain questions. Thank you, Mayor. I've got a few um you have the time. Thank you, um for the presentation. Um you said that the level four building requires, you know, X, Y, and Z to get it to that level four and you know, the current big picture comdev building, um said it was going to be too much to get that to where it needs to be versus building a new structure in the back. Is that that correct? That was why the decision was made. Yeah, I I would say there's a series of factors um looking at overall benefit of having a new facility versus renovating that one in addition to the the cost elements of risk category 4. Um being able to reinforce those walls for best practices with ballistic ratings for PD use. um is really allowing that flexibility of room configurations and layouts. So the new

building is able to achieve the same program with less total square footage than if we were trying to fit that into the existing footprint of the comp building.

And then because you said it was going to be more expensive to do that, do you know the delta between the renovation of the risk category 4 building renovation versus the new building? We have high level um conceptual design estimates for um those two concepts, the original master plan compared to the one we're proposing. Um I I want to I guess I want to be careful with my categorization of that. The the cost is very similar. Um I I don't I would need to reference those numbers back. That is absolutely something we can share. um exactly which one was less, but the costs overall were very similar.

So similar. So sorry, I guess I understood that it was going to be more to renovate the existing structure versus building a new one.

It it's not significant. I would need to validate those exact numbers and we would get more information through the schematic design cost estimate with the overall plan compared to um the master plan concept. uh those costs. Um when we take into account that parking garage or redefining this with renovating the police department to constructing the police department new is very similar within an order of magnitude of one or two million. I might phone a friend FCI if you have that cost estimate handy. I I apologize we didn't have that in our back pocket to reference specifically.

I mean I can get that further down the road. We don't need to answer all the questions tonight. Just, you know, put a bug in your ear. Um, may may I ask another question? Um,

so you you mentioned earlier the civic anchor for the community. Um, what does that exactly mean from a design and use standpoint? I would, if Julianne is on the phone, I might ask her to answer that question specifically. Great. Hello. Thank you. Uh so to be a civic anchor, uh it's really bringing the prominence back to of that site back to the community. Um historically that community has is kind of the heart. It has a lot of love in it. Uh as as me several community members members throughout the years have gone to to high school there. And now looking at that not only just as a place for the for the city hall but also for the police department we all have recognized that this has become a campus and also its connectivity to Buckley Park. So, it's really starting to feel like this heart, this civic anchor, this civic center that incorporates not only all the city services that support the community, but also gives back to the community by by creating Buckley Park enhancements, better better connectivity to your multimodal um efforts that are going on throughout the city, and just restoring the vitality of this place in its context.

Great. Thank you. Um then maybe this is a question for finance. Um what did we spend to renovate the current comdeb building to get it to where it is today? We probably have to get back to you on that one. I don't have that off the top of our head, but we I forget that was a shot in the dark, but yeah, we intentionally designed it uh that it wasn't permanent fixtures in it. We knew it was only going to be temporary for a certain amount of years knowing that uh or hoping that this was going to get approved and planning for a city hall police department. Okay, great. Um and then

what's that? or Dave, you got some more questions. Go ahead. Yes. Um the last one if you don't mind, mayor. Um without the parking underneath, how many parking spots will we need at the current PD city hall sites since we're since we're losing some of that parking underneath, you know, and we're going to Yes. So, we um are still working through those exact numbers um as we work to refine this design. Right now we're anticipating around 160 160 needed total for the the entirety of the project or 160 more b from what is the con on the conceptual plan

total for the entirety of the project. Okay. And how many parking spaces are in the conceptual design? Um, within this site, um, we have a little over 80, which is why our current, um, proposal is to incorporate parking nearby that still satisfies code requirements. Okay. So, we need another 80ish between city hall and PD. Yep. Again, those numbers are going to change a little bit as we define the design, but I think that's the correct order of magnitude. Okay, great. Thank you. Anything else? I'm done. Mayor, thank you. Sure.

Okay. Thank you, Dave. Okay. So, you know, I like the fact that um you are going to do a level four police department and demo the old building and build something new because one of the reasons that I was so um indebted to this project is because I do think we need to have a really top-notch police department because we're not doing another one in a long, long time. So, we need to have that police department um up to snuff. And I do like the fact that you have the parking along the alley there because that makes sense with the through traffic coming in. They can park right along there um where the old police department was going to go, but since it's going to the back, that's a good design. So, thank you for your update. I really do appreciate all the effort you're putting into this. It's really

Thank you. Thank you. So I had office hours today and one of the issues that came up was regarding sustainability. So is there some items here that I mean I think just the remodel inherently makes it more sustainable, but any special treatments that you're including?

That's a great question. Um I'll take a shot at answering that and then I'll offer it up to Julianne to incorporate anything I might have missed. Um, we are including more green spaces and we see an opportunity to preserve more of those established trees on the site than the former plan had identified. Um, in addition, these are going to meet um 2024 international energy code requirements. Uh, we commend the city for adopting those. Those do have um pretty stringent energy efficiency requirements which we're going to make sure those building envelopes adhere to those. Those HVAC systems adhere to those. So these will be much more efficient operating buildings. Um in terms of any construction waste, I know FCI is going to do all they can to divert that waste as responsibly as possible and look to recycle as much of that waste as possible. Um, and with that, I think I'll offer it up to Julianne to touch on anything I might have missed.

I think you hit it all, unless um, someone has a question uh, that they would like me to um, in in include uh, further information on.

And Jessica, do you have any questions? I do. Thank you, Mayor. Um, sorry I can't be there today. I just wanted to um chime in a couple things that Dave had said. Um we were talking about he was talking about the cost of the new building and how it's similar and he thought it was going to be cost savings. But I'd probably like to clarify I worked in construction for eight years with Oakland Construction Company. The what the product we will get with the same amount of money will be highly superior to the renovated product. Is that correct? Yes, I would I would say that. And Julian, I'll I'll I'll offer that up to you to respond to as well.

Yeah. So, not only the the materials that are used, but it's really, you know, it's bringing one thing you don't often see is all that infrastructure, right? And it's bringing the, you know, the the existing city hall building, bringing that up to 21st century modern energy efficient as well as with the new police department using um more sustainable um or or friendlier materials, one would say, and also being more efficient and effective with everyday police work, right? if they have certain flows of their personnel um whether they're you know working the the police themselves but then also those that they're working with outside from the public that they're bringing in and there's less compromise with trying to shoehorn into something where a new like mayor said is going to be effective and efficient which then we get to have a a smaller footprint because were able to design it as such. Yeah, I'm I was super actually excited to see this because a lot of money is usually wasted and and um surely to your point the energy efficiency a lot of times retrofitting um renovations yet yes sometimes that's you know more sustainable to keep current buildings but it's also in the long run can be less because of lighting and um envelopes and structures and stuff and so um I think that there's a balance there. Um, back when I was in construction, we were still doing all the lead certification. We're not doing that for this building. Correct.

Great. That's correct. That's correct.

And I think it's come out in recent years that that is uh more costly and not as effective as not. So, I I support that. Um, I did want to make a comment because I know that there was some talk of selling the two pieces of property that the current city hall and PD sit on to offset the costs of this. Um, and so I don't know who to direct that to, if that's Jose or someone in finance or um, or are we still going to be able to afford this project? I mean, I appreciate the change in scope mostly because we are stewards of um, of this money uh, that just passed. And so I want to be efficient and making sure we're being responsible, but I also want to make sure we're going to be able to afford it even if we're not potentially selling off this property because we have to use that for parking.

Uh, that yes, that's a that's a very good question. uh we did have that in our perform to sell both of those lots uh as a part of a place to help offset uh some of our cost for this project. Uh and we continue to look at other places that we can uh find place to offset some of those costs. Um we've actually even talked with uh the possibility of some of those lots still could be sold with we looking at using it as parking on the first and partnering with the developer where they might build on top of it. uh that's going to be more than ample parking. One of the lots is actually going to have uh about 21 spaces that we wouldn't have to use. So, we're looking at partnering on that side. What we're looking with A and B is right now that's how we can that's how we can solve the capacity issue today. Uh obviously, we still have more time as we continue to move forward and going through and there may be other options that we're looking at right now that may solve it uh and may open up as we go through. So, uh we're going to continue to work through it. that there's other some other financial opportunities that we've already identified that uh are going to recoup some cost within this project. So, uh we're we're going to keep working through it and uh we do feel that uh we're we're finding areas that we can recoup some of that cost and maybe all of that cost uh from those properties, but it's going to continue working through this process.

Great. Um last thing, can you go back to the side by side of the old historic building and then the the current? I just want us all to look at this and be like, "Hey, good job on all the trees that we've planted in the last like little bit." And I appreciate us keeping the ski hill. I appreciate us trying to preserve those. Um I think that I think it's super important that we do maintain this current look. Um while I love the historic and yes, we I want to obviously have that preservation. I love the outreach you guys are planning to do with the financial advisory board and the historic board and third a boulevard all all the people keep on doing that but um I just wanted to note like we did not have that many trees back in the day when and we're doing a good job good job team so thank you mayor

thank you Jessica any more questions no thank Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So, next item. Thank you, mayor. The next item is item six, committee board and liaison report reports. Starting with 6.1, the airport commission quarterly report. Um, mayor and council, 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 are just reports uh that are customary to let you know that they're in your packet. Uh, so those are in there for your review. Uh, on 6.4, four. Mayor, if you want, go ahead and have Ben read that. That actually is a presentation uh that Mark is prepared to present to you all.

Thank you. And item 6.4 is the board of ethics findings report. And we'll hand it over to our city attorney, Mark Morgan.

Thank you, Mayor and Council, City Manager. Um before I get into the actual report, I want to explain that you received yesterday or day before um a report from Michael Blackwell, who is the conflict counsel that was hired upon Michael Goldman's passing to make sure this matter could be concluded. You also received a um a public comment from Mr. Simpson himself earlier today. And I really hope that you took the time to look at that because that's a very good snapshot into what your board of ethics has dealt with over the past two years. It's really complete with every tactic that he's used which includes the false narrative, the deflection, um the victimization that he claims, and the vilification of your appointed officials. Um he never actually answers the questions about what he was accused of doing in the ethics proceeding. He just deflects other people. And I can give you an example of that straight out of his comments. He says, "I did not file this complaint, but he did commit ethics violations, which he never addresses." He says, "I did not initiate litigation, but he threatened to sue your ethics board and your ethics board members. So, we had to file a declaratory judgment in the district court to prevent that from happening." And then he says that he didn't seek conflict. Well, all he did was seek conflict. He filed an ethics complaint against uh your former mayor. He filed a complaint against your board of ethics attorney. And he in all of his defenses, he tried to vilify everyone who was participating in the process. So again, I hope you looked at that. I hope you looked at the report from Michael Blackwell. And then I hope you can contrast that with the presentation I'm about to start. Um I finally got on the program with Jose and did my little mountain chart. And this affects our organizational stewardship and our engaged and informed community. But unfortunately, it does it in a negative way. Um, we we had an ethics board that's giving a rule that

found a ruling that found violations and the violations reflect poorly on our organizational stewardship and properly informing and engaging our community because as you're probably aware, the ethics findings were that um someone was trying to conceal things from the public. For background, Mr. Simpson served on the infrastructure advisory board from June of 2021 until his dissolution dissolution in July of 2023. During that service, he attempted to conceive emails about IIA business IAB business with councelor Bosman from the public and he did that by labeling them in various forms of the phrase private andor exempt from public disclosure or kora. The Durango Herald published an article about the scandal and Mayor Yousef read the article and then felt compelled to file the ethics complaint back in January 19th of 2024. The initial action of the board of ethics was to screen the complaint which is their normal practice. Coming out of screening, they had several options and they chose the option to conduct an investigation. The investigation was conducted by Michael Blackwell, the conflict council. I'll step stop right there and explain what conflict council means. Because Mr. Simpson had an ongoing suit against the city unrelated to any of this. And because the person filing the complaint was the mayor, as your city attorney, I was conflicted at it. So, it's a conflict when I'm either litigating against someone like Mr. Simpson in a different case or I've previously represented someone like each of you on the council and Melissa said at the time. Um so they chose to use Michael Goldman who was the conflict council as their investigator and he identified multiple um pieces of evidence that displayed possible conflicts or violations of the ethics provisions. In response to that investigative report, Mr. Simpson threatened to sue the BOE, threatened to sue its members, and his claim was that only a Colorado district court could make rulings on Kora. So, we took him up

on that challenge challenge and we filed a a case in district court, not suing Mr. Simpson, not making him a victim, just asking the court to give us guidance on what to do now that this this claim was made. Of course, the court came back um and ruled um well, I'll get to that in just a minute. Um but anyway, the second thing he did uh after that report was done is he filed an ethics complaint against Mr. Goldman. So the person who did the investigative report, he filed an ethics complaint against. It's the typical the best defense is a good offense. Um at the court proceeding, we filed that in December of 2024. We did it to protect your BOE and gain clarity on the core issues raised by Mr. Simpson. In 2025, the court ruled that we do have the ability to have an ethics board that for them to enforce their ethics provisions. They also found that Mr. Simpson violated Kora by withholding those emails and then he violated the public policy established by Kora by marking in with those phrases not subject to public disclosure. So after the district court ruling, there was a supplemental investigative report based on the court ruling um that was provided to the BOE and then the BOA took up more than a dozen dilatory and terminal motions filed by Mr. Simpson. So, I referred to it in one of our pleadings as a a fury of filings where Mr. Simpson filed things in every jurisdiction he could find to try to delay or stop or have this matter dismissed. A summary of those meritless motions and complaints filed by Mr. Simpson follows. On April 22nd, Mr. Simpson filed an ethics complaint against special counsel Michael Goldman alleging exparte communications with Mayor Yousef. It was dismissed as frivolous and intended to harass. Mr. Mr. Simpson filed a complaint against Miss Yousef on May 24th, 2024 with the state. He attempted to leverage the dismissal of that complaint for the dismissal of this complaint. Um, he then tried to disqualify two of

your ethics board members um based on that same filing. Uh, Mayor Yousef, who I'm representing because you guys appointed me to represent her because everything she did, she did when she was under the advice and with the blessing of this council. I have a motion to dismiss that complaint. um pending with the state. The state is very slow that uh we didn't excuse me, we met with our investigator last week and he said he's still working on complaints from 2021. So it can take four to five years to have those complaints get resolved. I'm confident it will be dismissed. It's just going to take time. On September 2nd of 2024, Mr. Simpan moved to recused uh board of ethics members and I can't say her name. Mininger, is that correct? Um and Egan. uh this was kind of a nonsensical attempt to remove those based on what he had filed in the state. Um he claimed that there was some conflict and that those people had been appointed by Melissa so they couldn't serve. Um and I didn't go into all of the motions that he filed because there were just so many of them. But after filing four previous motions to dismiss on September 8th he filed his fifth motion to dismiss alleging fundamental due process violations, conflicts of interest involving me, the city attorney. um Mr. Goldman and the board members. He pro he claimed improper complaint proceedings and biased legal advice. Because that motion alleged conflicts of interest to both myself and Mr. Goldman, I was forced to go out and hire a third attorney to come in and represent the board of ethics. That attorney name is Mr. Blackwell. He's the one who you received the um the email with the summary from earlier this week. Um, all of those motions and each part of those motions, they were all discussed in detail and dismissed by the board of ethics. On October 2nd of 2025, Mr. Sim filed motions requesting dismissal. Um, the sixth time he did that based on the same facts that were previously denied. He tried to delay the proceedings which

have been previously denied by the district court and the appellet court and the BOE. He filed a he wanted to make amendments to the investigative report based on illogical assertions and non-existent procedural practices. He requested a public hearing which had been previously denied, I'm sorry, denied multiple times in favor of the investigative process. And I don't want to take too much of your time, but there's four different avenues the board of edits can take coming out of screening. They very specifically pick the investigatory process, which doesn't include a hearing. It just it includes written responses and written arguments. Um, but Mr. Simpson was pretty insistent about having a public hearing and I would tell you he wanted to do that because he felt like it was an opportunity to embarrass the people who were challenging him because that seems to be his practice. Um, he also asked a removal of board of ethics member Elias, alleging bias on his part for some things that had happened years earlier. Again, each of those motions was considered and dismissed by the board of ethics. And then I I've got an asterct here because I want you guys to understand the how tedious this was for your board of ethics on the merit side and for me and the board of ethics on the procedural side. But um when all those motions were dismissed, the board of ethics set a date for Melissa Yousef and John Simpson to come back with their written arguments. And it appears that Mr. Simpson intentionally avoided service of that for almost a month. Um, and we went and we looked at returns from the post office and they just said things that didn't make a whole lot of sense. But it's pretty obvious to me and um, some other people that looked at it, including Mr. Goldman, that there was some attempt to avoid taking that certified mail. We asked why would he do that? He I think he did it because um, it gave him an advantage. It meant that he got more time to respond and he got to read Melissa Yusf's written arguments before he had to file his. Um, but it

cost you money because we had to then go out and hire a private process server to actually serve him with the letter saying it was time to file his written response. Um, he did appear in person to make sure that we wouldn't go forward without his written response. And then he made a very lengthy oral argument to the board um at that meeting. On December 16th, he finally filed his written arguments, but he also included all of the same motions that have been considered multiple times again. And your board of ethics again went through each one of those motions with advice of a third council on how to deal with them. And at the end of that, they dismissed all of them. um particularly offensive was that in that last round of motions, he attempted to discredit and then remove the investigative report because Michael Goldman had died and wasn't around to defend it. So, it's kind of an example of the links that he went to to try to get away from this ethics complaint. So, now we get to the actual findings of the ethics board. And again, I want to compliment your ethics board. They did a fantastic job of evaluating these claims. I think that there were 10 to start with and initially um Mr. Goldman investigated and said, "Look, several of these don't meet the time standard." In other words, the actions that were being complained about had occurred more than a year before the complaint was filed. Those had were completely separate. They had to do with a temporary employee that he had made allegations and contacted news outlets in Texas about. Um, but those were dismissed. So, all of his allegations about this not being a fair process don't really hold water because the board did its job. They dismissed claims against him that weren't timely. Um, and then of course there were I think there were five left and they sat here and they spent four hours going through each one of those claims, talking back and

forth about what the language of each ethics provision meant. And if they didn't feel like it was a solid fit, they dismissed it. So, they dismissed two of the last five complaints um at their last meeting. So, they really really did a fantastic job um representing you guys and doing exactly what they're supposed to do in an ethics proceeding. Um anyway, to the findings. Um first, Mr. Simpson's marking of emails about public business to a city councelor with whom he had a prior relationship, private and not subject to public disclosure, was a conflict, and it was improper. and that's a violation of 203A-15 and the language is there in the presentation for you. Second, they found that Mr. Simpson emails about public business to a single city councelor with special consideration and treatment to that counselor over the other city councils. That's a specific violation of 205P. Um, you'll see if you go back and look at the public comment that he makes, he says all these things about it's vague and you can't understand it and you shouldn't been found to have violated, but these are very very specific um ethics provisions that he very very specifically violated. So, this this argument of being too vague just doesn't hold water. Uh, finally, they held that Mr. recipient's pattern of conduct, marking multiple emails about public business to a single counselor with statements intended to shield or conceal those emails from the public and the other counselors threatened public confidence and integrity in government. And I can tell you from watching the hearing, this was the one that gave your ethics board the most trouble. Not trouble deciding, but it was the most troubling behavior that they reviewed by Mr. Simpson. They were very concerned over the fact that this behavior would set a precedence where people felt like they could mark emails priv private when they're clearly not. And they very much felt like it's our job to be transparent

and accountable to the public and not try to conceal things from them. Financial cost, and some of this is an estimate, but we paid Micro Goldman's firm before his passing $75,379.81. we've paid. We have an outstanding balance. Well, let me go back. Included in that number is a small amount. I think it's $4,800 that we paid to Blackwell after Mr. Goldman's passing to finish the proceeding. And then we have an outstanding balance of about $4,500 to Mr. Blackwell. Um, also on the merits of the complaint for the work that he did at their last meeting. And then my office has estimated 1300 hours of our time dealing with the procedural issues, the accompanying public records requests, the um the declaratory judgment suit, the appeal of that suit, and the many many other things that he has filed um tangential to this complaint. So your estimated total to date, which is going to go up because the appeal of the declaratory judgment is not done and Mr. Simpson has indicated at least in one email that he's considering filing a 106A appeal which is an appeal of an administrative quasi judicial decision. Um to date is $177,0003 $176,37981. So it's been expensive and you know from one of my recent emails that he's made six requests for you guys to pay for an attorney for him. which Kora has denied, which I have denied, and frankly, there is no basis for us to pay for an attorney when someone so obviously was trying to hide things from the public against our policy and any advice that my office would have ever given him. So, you know, had somehow be he been successful in

claiming we owed him a defense, this would have cost even more. Um, next steps. Now that the ethics board has findings, it comes to you for penalties. Um, that's very specific in the code under section 2-209. And then I listed there for you directly from the code what your options for penalties will be. Um, those penalties will come before you um, when one of you directs me to put a resolution to consider penalties. And after this presentation, it would be appropriate for one of you to do that at your convenience or your discretion. Um, happy to answer any questions. I'm very sorry that council lawyer isn't here to clap for me on my second presentation conclusion, but can I answer any questions?

No questions. Uh, but thank you for, you know, that you took this on from the very beginning of your start here at the city. So, thanks for your um diligence in all this and um I'm sorry that it came down to as long as it did, but I appreciate you in the office and your expertise in um finding the the secondary and even third um councils to try to navigate our way through this process. So, thank you.

You know, and I forgot to mention, I think we've been through more than a dozen board of ethics members. Um some of them send in their resignation letters, which are very plain vanilla. I'm requiring for personal reasons for family reason. But every chance I had, I did exit interviews with them. And to a tea, each one of them said, "I'm not I'm not going to be bullied by Mr. Simpson. I just don't want to deal with the volume of the things that he's filing." So, I appreciate you commenting on my sticking with it, but it was really your board of ethics. It was really your conflict council. Um, I tried to save you some money because you paid me anyway, right? So, I tried to save you some money by staying on board for the procedural things, which I was not conflicted from being involved in, but I appreciate your comment, but it really should go to your board of ethics members.

Sure. Thank you, Mayor.

Um, so Mark, you have here listed next steps upon findings of the board of ethics. Uh the city council shall consider appropriate penalties. Um and then you have some suggestions. Um have never experienced this before. Um you know given that um all of the circumstances um I don't I guess I'm open to what those might be. Um, can you give other examples of things that maybe something similar so that we have some suggestions on appropriate action? I just

Sure. Um, I'm not familiar with how to be very I want to be very very clear. We're not there tonight. Okay.

I'm not asking you to do any of this tonight. Um, you'll get an entire separate presentation from me if you would like on what your options are. These five um items that are listed here are taken straight from that section of the code. So, you can do nothing. If no one ever says, "Mark, I'd like to see a resolution with some proposed penalties for me to consider placing on our agenda." I will do that for you. Um, and I will explain what those those options are, what they mean. Um, unfortunately, uh, your council has been through this prior to you. Um, you did have a counselor who was involved in this, um, who was admonished and then later censured. um not directly related to this, but there were some other things that occurred that that council felt it was appropriate to admonish to correct the behavior and then um censure to punish um continued behavior. Um reality is these are slaps on the wrist. Um I think they meant a lot more in society, you know, 20 or 30 years ago to be publicly censured. Um but we live in such a volatile political community, it's a slap on the wrist. Um it's one of the reasons that you know he's not entitled to an attorney because there's no jail time or penalty or fine or anything associated with this. It's just an an opportunity for you guys to say look this is this is unacceptable way to conduct our government and you were caught doing it and there's a consequence.

Any more questions? Um no I I just did want to um also iterate that a um a public center at one time was a very serious reprimand. Um and so um I while I didn't sit on the dis during that I I did witness that I was here as a constituent um and I I took it very seriously. So um I'll just look for more sort of feedback about what the more appropriate responses. So thank you. Um Jessica, do you have any thoughts?

I do. Thank you. Would we bring this up under new business, Mark, or can we work through this maybe in a um to have on for new business in the next city uh next council meeting? Um I didn't catch all of what you said, but yeah, it would be appropriate to bring up some direction to me under new business. Great. Can you hear me, Ly or? Or no? Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Um because I did want to say thank you. That was one question I had, but I did want to um say a few words um about our board of ethics real quick if I could. Um I just wanted um in the wake of re of the recent investigation and ruling regarding um John Simpson, a former advisory board member, I want to express my profound gratitude to the board of ethics for their unwavering commitment to the truth. I think they were tasked with a high-profile, high pressure investigation, and they delivered a fair and balanced ruling that holds our city to the high standards our residents deserve. Um, I want us to be honest about how difficult that road was. I know some counselors weren't here for this whole um endeavor. Um, but it was not a standard administrative review. Our board of ethics members, volunteers from our community were forced to navigate a documented pattern of harassment. They performed their duties while a single individual inundated our city with over 3,000 emails and in a single year and filed more than 50 meritless allegations. Our legal department had to dedicate 30% of its resources just to investigate and respond to these false claims. The pressure on these volunteers was immens. And we saw that when we kept having them um you know resign and drop off when we were facing times of not being able to fill those seats. They faced threats, had their lives pulled into the public eye and were subjects to pointed media scrutiny. We saw the toll this took as we struggled to fill the vacant seats on this board in the midst of this case. To those past members who began this work and to the current members who stepped up to finish it, I want to say thank you. You stayed strong when the individual involved attempted to interfere with your investigation and challenged the very qualifications of your prof professional adviserss. Despite accusations of vague or unreliable findings, the facts of this

case are clear. The board of ethics ruling found that these actions were taken outside the scope of an official appointment and violated three separate ethics provisions. They stood firm even as city employees were personally targeted in litigation. City leaders were subjected to communications containing racist and misogynistic undertones. It is a sobering reality that we live in a political state where service often results in being targeted. We have seen our city councilors attacked, staff members attacked, and our board of ethics volunteers attacked. As one counselor, I want to say clearly this is not who we are as a community. Public service should be defined as a shared love for Durango, not by an individual's ability to endure harassment disguised as legitimate communication. I hope this ruling marks the end of this chapter. I hope this is the last time a volunteers's life is upended for doing their job. But if it isn't, I take great comfort in knowing that Durango has a board of ethics that cannot be intimidated and a system that prioritizes integrity over influence. to our board of ethics. You have protected the soul of our local government. Thank you for your service. That is all, mayor. Thank you.

Thank you, Jessica. Well, my sentiments are the same as Jessica. Um, she said it all very well, but I would like to thank the staff and the ethics board and our attorney and um our executive staff for having to put up with um this kind of behavior. It It's just unacceptable. And hopefully going forward um we can find a more supportive community here in Durango. So, thank you Thank you.

Thank you, mayor. And uh just making a note that councelor Gonzalez had to step out of the meeting at 6:26 p.m. And now we can move seven, which is public comment on on items under consideration of adoption. Thank you. And there are two individuals signed up to speak under item 12.2, which is an ordinance for text amendments to the city of Durango Code of Ordinances, chapter 27, the land use and development code regarding elimination of parcel area minimums for accessory dwelling units. And the first person signed up uh is Chris Paulson who's here with us.

Hello, my name is Chris Paulson. I live at uh 423 East 30th Street in Durango. Um, so I was at the study session on January 6 and I appreciate staff putting together this information. I would just like to give a little history here. I was involved along with a number of residents back in uh 2013 2014 when when we first started talking about uh allowing ADUs in neighborhoods EN1 2 and three where to basically single family zoning. There was a lot of public input. uh there was a lot of public engagement and and so people were able to voice their concerns and be involved and ultimately what they came up with in 2014 was something that the community was was found acceptable. Now I'm finding this latest proposal came because somebody noticed it showing up in the legals at the in the Durango Herald and it's like what? they're they're eliminating uh minimum lot sizes when we went through all of this process back in 2014. And then not only that, I find out that there had been regul changes basically loosening of all of these procedures that had been agreed upon by the community um in 2015, 2019, 2022, and 2023. and u they took away the there there was supposed to be no variances. Uh now they have um integrated can be integrated ADUs can go in any neighborhood and and there was um some other changes as well and so and related to parking uh off off um off- streetet parking was demanded as far as

um the the initial regulations. So my concern is the public has not been involved and there's a sense that there is right or wrong various influencers I guess is the name to use of people who get things on the agenda and who have the ear of the city manager and the council and those of us that are just members of the community and don't really you know know from dayto day what's happening feel our rights are being trampled upon. So how do we correct this? I've only got 34 seconds left. You have this public uh engaged Durango. Please, please, please set up a an engaged Durango form for all the people in the community to come forward and learn about what are the ADU regulations. People don't even know what they are. So, because they've been changed so many times since these were initially adopted. So that would be my request not to you know before you do anything further there needs to be much more community engagement on this topic. That's all I have. Thanks.

Thank you. And the next individual is online and that is Joan Fau. Joan, you can unmute your microphone. If need be, you can use control shiftm to unmute your mic and that does Are we having any

Okay, I think I just got it. Um, I was having technical diff difficulties. I apologize for the delay. Um, good evening, mayor and council. My name is Joan Photo. I'm speaking on behalf of the Durango Area Association of Realtors representing more than 400 members. Thank you for the opportunity to comment in support of the proposed amendment. This proposal builds on a program Durango has had in place as mentioned for over a decade. This has shown one that homeowners value ADUs and two that they integrate into neighborhoods without widespread disruption. The amendment broadens where detached ADUs may be built while maintaining restrictions in areas without alley access where emergency service and access concerns are valid. This is careful planning, not a one-sizefits-all approach. From a realtor perspective, we see daily how difficult it is for local workers to find housing in Durango. Adus are one of the most immediate and cost-effective tools to add housing without public sub subsidy or major infrastructure expansion. We recognize concerns about parking noise and infrastructures, but uh ADUs add small predictable demand and remain subject to existing utility permitting and inspection safeguards. We also recognize the city is working through documentation and enforcement challenges. That that's not unusual where regulations have evolved over time. But enforcement complexity is a reason to modernize the code, not delay progress. Clear, consistent rules make compliance easier for homeowners, simplify administration, and bring more units into the per permitted system.

Uh finally, uh DAR supports practical zoning policies that allow property owners to use their property to its full potential while helping meet community housing needs. This amendment expands opportunity, respects neighborhood character, and advances Durango's housing goals through local investment. Thank you for your time and for your service to the community. That is all.

Thank you. And um those were the only folks who had signed up to speak under uh items for approval at tonight's agenda. So we can move forward with the consent agenda. So under the consent agenda, we have item 8.1, approval of the January 6, 2026 city council regular meeting minutes. Under 8.2, Two, final reading of ordinances. We have approval of ordinance 2026-1 to annex 1720 county road 240 and approve the initial zoning. There are no items for adoption of resolution by consent. No items under approval for other administrative items, no items under request for for public hearing. And under 8.6, introduction of ordinances, we have 8.6.1, 6.1 which is an ordinance for text amendments to the city of Durango code of ordinances chapter 27 the land use and development code regarding electric fences and mats and related definitions 8.6.2 Two is an ordinance for text amendments to the city of Durango code of ordinances chapter 6 buildings and building regulations regarding electric fences and mats. And then there are no requests for excused absences.

Um Jessica, would you like any item to pull? No, I'm good. Dave, no ma'am. I'm move to approve the agenda the consent agenda as presented. Okay, I'll second. Oh, sorry. Discussion. No discussion. Could we have a vote? Councelor Lawyer, yes. Mayor Prom Woodruff, yes. And Mayor Yazy, yes.

Thank you. Um, there are no public hearings scheduled for tonight. There are no resolutions to be approved. And then coming to item 12, consideration of ordinances. We have 12.1, which is an ordinance amending the Durango code of ordinances, chapter 24, traffic and vehicles, article 3, parking administration and regulation, by adopting section 24-82, parking violations fine schedule. Good evening, councilors, mayor, and city manager. Um, I am Tracy Shonder, the parking operations manager with the transportation department, and today we are looking to update the parking fine schedule of ordinances. And this falls within reliable infrastructure, community, and connectivity. um for this code update. Uh so a little bit of background on why we are here today. Um so back in 2021 of June um the state of Colorado amended the parking code for 24-68 for parking privileges for persons with disabilities. And uh last year, June of 2025, the city of Durango adopted those into through resolution um into our code of ordinances. And so we are seeking to amend the parking fines and fee schedule uh to be in compliance with those state regulations. Um the specifics of the amendments are in your code in your agenda packet. Um we do not have any say in the adjustment of fines uh per code requirements. Um and

lastly, a portion of these fines we collect uh will go back to the state of Colorado's uh disability parking education and enforcement fund. Any questions? No, ma'am. You want to make a motion and have discussion? Great. Jessica, any questions?

No. Um, I move to approve an ordinance amending the Durango Code of Ordinances, Chapter 24, Traffic and Vehicle Article 3, Parking and Administration and Regulations by adopting section 24-82 parking violations fine schedule. Second discussion. Seeing none, could we get a roll call? Mayor Yazy, yes. Mayor Prom Woodruff, yes. And councelor Lawyer, yes. Thank you.

Moving forward to item 12.2, we have an ordinance for text amendments to the city of Durango code of ordinances chapter 27, the land use and development code regarding elimination of parcel area minimums for accessory dwelling units.

Uh yes, mayor and council. If I could just give a little bit of an overview just for the public and ourselves to make sure that kind of the history of this and where we're at so we know kind of the progress of where we're where we're going. So, uh, if we recall correctly, uh, this was an item that the council asked to be placed on the agenda for approval. Uh, it was then, uh, sent to the community development commission, uh, which then, uh, reviewed it. Then it was sent back to the council. Uh, the council then tabled it uh, until a study session was held on ADUs uh, as well as on enforcement of ADUs. And we had that at the last uh, study session. So then we were required to bring that back uh to the council which means that we were going to place it on this agenda item. Uh councelor Koso who was not going to be at this agenda or at this city council meeting has requested the council if they so choose to table this until he returns at the next council meeting uh for you all to consider. Uh so that is a request that was made by councelor Koso. Historically uh when counselors are not going to be at a meeting and they would like to participate in the discussion, those have been honored. But that is a request that is made that uh if the council so chooses, a motion can be made to table this item until the next city council meeting.

Yes, I would go ahead and make a motion to table uh item 12.2 two until our next council meeting on February the 3rd, 2026. I'll second discussion hearing. None. Could we get roll call? Mayor Yazy, yes. Mayor Prom Woodruff, yes. And councelor Lawyer, yes.

Thank you. Um, no one had signed up to speak uh under public comment on city matters not under consideration tonight. So, we could move forward to item 14, other new business, if council has any items. All righty. Um, I would like to add one new item of business and that would be the recommendation by Mark to go ahead and go forward with finishing out this ethics violation so we can just hear some um hear more about it at another session or would you like to make that a um uh executive session? I don't think it needs to be done executive session. And what I'll do is that that last slide I I'll formally present what those options are, what they mean, and then advise you um or help you draft a resolution to go with one or all of those options. So, I guess it would come back as a um a directive.

All righty. Anything else? Would you like anything else added? Nope. Jessica, anything else added to the new agenda items? Nope. Nothing from me. Thank you, mayor. All righty. We're off to item 15, which is endurement. So, we're done. Thank you. Thank you all. Have a good night. Good night.