City Council - Special Meeting

Hey, Sam, can you hear me? Yes. Are you going to do the introduction or should I just go ahead and put you as an interpreter?

Yeah, I will do the intro so you can set me up as an interpreter after I do the intro. Itsel will be the second interpreter.

Okay, sounds good. I'll go ahead and move Itsel into the

interpretation channel then excellent thank you thanks

It's all Do you need to ask a question? I see your hand is raised. Sorry, hang on, let me get to the interpretation channel.

Itzel, can you hear me?

Sam, you got a question?

Yeah, I'm looking at the people tab and notice that itself is labeled as English interpreter. Just want to make sure.

Sorry, I missed that. Yeah, we got it solo as the interpreter and then we'll move you in after the announcement.

Okay. So even though it says English interpreter, it will be the Spanish interpretation.

If I'm understanding you correctly, Sam, and sorry, we're listening to you over speakers and there's stuff going on in the room right now. But we should have both of you being set up as from English to Spanish. Does that answer your question?

Okay. That's fine. It's just on the tab, on the people tab, it says English for her. Then maybe it's just the description and not the real function.

Are you saying on your end you see it that way?

Yeah.

Yeah, we see it that same way too.

Okay. All right. Just making sure. We're ready to go then.

Sounds good. Thank you.

I don't see it.

Good afternoon. The time is 12.06 p.m. on June 18th, 2026. I'm calling to order the special meeting for city council and interviewing and selecting a municipal court judge. Can I get a roll call, please?

Councilor Cosa?

Here.

Mayor Pertz, I'm a lawyer. Here. Mayor Woodruff?

Here.

Councilor Gonzales, I'm sorry.

Here.

Councilor Gonzales. Present. Present.

Excellent. Thank you. I guess we'll go ahead and kick off the interviews with Ms. Padilla. Would that be okay if you started us off?

Mayor, we do have the reading of the indigenous language.

I'm so sorry. Thank you. I don't have my agenda. Thank you. JK.

This is a call to honor and respect indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. As residents and visitors of Durango, we're called upon to educate ourselves about the history and cultural heritage of the land that we inhabit. The city of Durango is situated on the ancestral homelands and territories of the Nitu, Ute, Hickory Apache, Pueblos of New Mexico, Hopi-Sinan, Hopi, and Diné 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 towards inclusion and reconciliation.

Thank you. So can we, okay, great.

We have the introduction of the translator as well.

Oh, great.

Can I get an introduction of the translator, please? Yes, of course. Hello, everyone. My name is Sam Guzman with the CLC, and I'm here with my colleague Itzel, and we are here to provide language justice for today's meeting. If you are joining us through Teams, you can access interpretation through the More button. Hit the More button and then hit Interpretation and then choose your language, either English or Spanish. Buenas tardes a todos. Mi nombre es Samuel Guzman con la CLC y juntamente con mi colega Itzel estaremos proveyendo interpretación para esta tarde. Si se une con nosotros a través de Teams, por favor busque bajo el botón de More o Más y escoja ahí la opción de escoger interpretación y escoger el idioma de español. Muchas gracias and thank you very much.

Thank you. All right, we'll go ahead and get started with Ms. Padilla, if you don't mind. And then, Mr. Peroni, are you going to go back to the... Excellent. Thanks so much. All right, Council, we do have some questions that we just want to do round robin and kind of go down the list. Would that be okay with everybody?

Jen, before we get started. Okay. Okay, so... When we start asking questions, we're going to ask the same question of each candidate. So like one candidate doesn't get a different question and the other candidate gets a separate question because that's how we do in the interviews. Everybody gets the same question. Is that correct?

I don't know the legalities of that.

I think what we typically done is like the first set of questions will all be the same and then we can kind of open it up to like individual questions because there's some questions based on like her experience and background versus the other candidates experience and background that we might make similar questions, but it might be a little different.

Okay. That sounds good. Okay.

Excellent. Well, welcome miss video. Thanks for creating the time today. Um, would you like to go ahead and start? Yeah. Fine. Oh, sure. Oh, yes. Sorry. Ms. Padilla, would you like to give a quick little introduction of yourself?

Sure. Good afternoon. First, I do have extra resumes with me. Does anyone need one?

We got it electronically.

Okay, very well. I appreciate you all taking the time to interview me today. I have been a municipal court judge since 2021 at the City of Cortez, and I'm a backup judge here in Durango since 2024. I've also been a municipal court judge in Pagosa Springs as a backup judge and in the town of Dolores as the presiding judge. So in the last five years, I've really shifted some of my private practice to part-time municipal court judge work. I do still have a private practice where I represent children and families in child welfare cases. I do mostly appellate work. But throughout the 15 years that I've been an attorney, I've represented kids in the foster care system in Durango, Ignacio, all throughout La Plata County, Archuleta, Dolores, and Montezuma Counties. So I have a lot of familiarity with our communities, the needs and the struggles that some people in our communities face. So I'm really honored to speak with you all today. I'm excited about this opportunity and to learn more about what you all are looking for in a municipal court judge to see if I'm a good fit or not. So I look forward to chatting with you.

Great. Thank you. Counsel Cosa.

We'll start off with just what does being an active and engaged member of the municipal court bench mean to you?

So I think municipal courts are really interesting because they don't have the same oversight and requirements as state judicial. So it is much easier to make change in a municipal setting than it is within a state judicial setting. And what I mean by that is, as Judge Marguson was able to create I forget he calls it a wellness court. Perhaps we call it outreach court, but specialty courts. I can only imagine that's easier to do within a municipal court setting because you really need to speak with obviously city council, maybe your city manager, the city clerk, but you're not going against these established systems that are in place that apply to the whole state of Colorado. So you're able to really focus what your community needs. And so I think wellness courts are a huge part of that. And I think being an engaged member of the community and on the bench is knowing what your community needs and figuring out creative ways to address that. So a lot of what we see in municipal courts are obviously criminal violations, right? I have a degree in criminal justice. The cause of crime is really important to understand, right? So why are we seeing repeat shoplifting cases? Is it a poverty issue? Is it a mental health issue? Is it a substance use issue? Is it all three? And how do we address those to stop the repeat cases that we often see in municipal courts? So I think that really understanding what your community needs and being able to address that in a proactive way is really important for a municipal court judge.

And so you've gotten familiar with our diversion court because you've been temporarily working for us as well, part-time working for us as well.

I'm sorry, the what court?

the diversion court, the wellness court that Margeson has been running.

Yeah, absolutely. And so judge Marcus and I, so I started our, well, our version of wellness court a little before judge Margeson was here. And so he and I have had a lot of discussions about how to create it, what kind of funding sources are available. Ours are structured a little differently. And I'm talking about my work in the city of Cortez. Um, so mine is modeled or ours is modeled after, after the American bar association. Um, that's a, The organization is extremely long, but it's basically their coalition on homelessness. And so I partnered with them to start our court. And then once Judge Margason took the bench, he realized, hey, this is a good idea. How did you do it? How do we make something like this work? And the Durango Wellness Court is different than the Cortez Wellness Court because the communities are different. The needs are different. And so I think Judge Margason has done a really good job of identifying what this community needs and responding to that. I'm also starting a teen court right now in Cortez. We're working on developing that is really exciting and allows youth in the community to essentially be judged by their peers. And evidence supports that that's actually more effective than an adult telling a young person what to do. And it also provides a lot of pro-social opportunities for youth to volunteer as a volunteer attorney or judge in the courtroom. And so I really think that there's a lot of space to specifically respond to issues in your community through municipal courts.

Great. Thank you very much.

Okay, next question. Specific to our position in Durango, how does your background and experience make you a strong candidate?

So my husband and I moved to Durango from Denver in 2012 with no clients and a hope that we could start a law firm, which we did. And it worked. We gave ourselves two years. And if it didn't work, we were going to go back to Denver. Now we get heart palpitations if we get in a busy city. So I do understand the community of Durango. We had an office here for a very long time. I continue to take some cases, not a lot, in La Plata County. But really my work as a guardian ad litem representing our youth that were involved in the foster care system has given me a lot of experience understanding kind of a different side of Durango and La Plata County, specifically some of the struggles that some of our community members are facing and some of the hurdles that our young people are facing. So I have a lot of hands-on experience literally being in people's homes in Durango, whether it's a foster parent stepping in to take care of a young person or whether it's a relative doing that or going to the parent's home And talking to them, perhaps if they're in the middle of their addiction or they're in a domestic violence situation and trying to identify local services and organizations to help them improve their situation so they can get their kids back. So I just feel like I have a really good grasp of some of the struggles in Durango and ways that we can help people in Durango by accessing local services, local agencies that already exist and plugging people in.

Good. Thank you. How would you manage the caseload and prioritize cases?

How would I manage the caseload? And I'm sorry?

So how would you manage the caseload and prioritize cases?

Prioritize cases. Thank you. Well, first and foremost, priority of cases has to go to speedy trial, right? So if we have a case that we need to get a trial done, that's going to happen first and foremost, right? And so that's just the law and what we have to do. So that would be the very first issue. I think that it is really important for people to access resolution to municipal court cases as soon as they're able to. So I think it's really important that they have access to court appointed counsel if they qualify. I think it's very important they have an opportunity to speak with the prosecutor before their case is called. So in my practice in Cortez, what I'll do is advise everyone in the courtroom and then say, is there anyone that does not wish to speak with the prosecutor before their case is called? And explain to them you don't have to talk to the prosecutor But if you want to maybe give evidence that you did have insurance and you're alleged to not have insurance, you might want to talk to the prosecutor and then the prosecutor might then dismiss the case. So typically, I will leave the courtroom for a period of time, allow people the opportunity to speak with the prosecutor to see if they're able to resolve the case in a way that they wish. I feel like I manage my docket very efficiently. Since I took over in Cortez, we've seen a significant increase in cases. And a lot of that, I think, is just because COVID was happening at the beginning of when I took the bench, when I was appointed. So I think everything was a little slower back then. And there were just fewer people out and about. There were fewer people doing things they weren't supposed to be doing because they were at home. And so I have consistently managed more cases, I think very effectively. Since I started that position, I've also added two additional dockets. So we have our outreach docket, and then we've also started a juvenile docket. And we're handling a lot of the low-level juvenile offenses that occur within the city, mostly possession of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, some of those cases. I'm also familiar with kind of what the caseload looks like in Durango. As a result of conversations with Judge Margason, I think employing a consistent schedule from what he did as far as how many hours a week he's working with the city, I think is reasonable. He was able to effectively adjudicate the cases and get through them. I also want to say that if someone comes to court and they need more time to talk to an attorney, they need more time to think about what to do, absolutely, I will give them that. um to a point right um some people aren't ready to to make a decision the first time they come to court and that's okay we want people to be well informed to understand their rights and to be making a really solid decision so we can also set them on the next docket if that's what needs to happen thank you all righty um what are your thoughts on the use of monetary conditions of bond So that is a challenging question. And so in municipal cases, really, we So let me back up. So if I issue a bench warrant, then there will be a monetary condition associated with the bond so that someone can bond out immediately. If they're not able to bond out immediately, we hold a bond hearing within 48 hours where they receive court appointed counsel pursuant to statute if they're still in custody. It is incredibly rare for there to be monetary conditions placed on bond at that point because the state legislature is really telling us it's not appropriate. And so there's been significant bond reform at the state level to where rarely are there monetary conditions imposed for low-level criminal offenses, which is what we're seeing in municipal court, right? We have to remember that, from my perspective, the crimes that we're seeing have a significant impact on our community on a day-to-day basis. If you're a small shop owner and you have a lot of shoplifting, that can be devastating. If you are trying to use the public parks and there are things happening that are not appropriate or not safe, that can be devastating. So they are important cases and they are also the lowest level criminal offenses that we have, right? So we are not talking homicide. We are not doing domestic violence. We're not talking sex assaults. So I think we need to administer justice in a way that is appropriate but is also consistent with the allegations in the case. So it's more common if I have someone on a bond hearing and the allegations include significant alcohol use, I may say a bond condition is you can't consume alcohol while you're on bond. Sometimes if I've had the defendant in my courtroom numerous times, I may say, hey, bond condition, you need to go get a substance abuse evaluation because we need to start talking about how we're going to stop this cycle of you getting picked up repeatedly because you're so intoxicated that you're causing problems in the community. So it's very, very rare to have a monetary bond. I can definitely say less than five times I have done that in the five years that I've been on the bench. And it's only certain allegations, certain charges that even allow you to do it. And it really, for a lot of our defendants, if they haven't already bonded out, they probably can't pay the monetary bond. And so it's really not a benefit to them or the community to hold them for a long period of time. If I did establish a monetary bond, I would get them back into court incredibly quickly, like the next docket, so that they're not sitting in jail.

Hello. Hi. Let me ask you, no, it's here. What are your thoughts on the use of bench warrants for defendants failing to appear for petty offenses?

So most of the cases we have in municipal court are petty offenses. Sometimes they are misdemeanor cases. And so it really depends on the specifics of what your ordinances say. And so if your ordinance, for example, I'll just use Cortez as an example, it says the court shall issue a bench warrant if someone fails to appear. So I don't have discretion under those circumstances. If Durango does not have the same provision, the first thing I will do is turn to the prosecutor and ask what they want, right? They're the ones prosecuting the case. And if they say, judge, I don't want a bench warrant, I will rely heavily on that request. It's not my job to be the prosecutor, right? It's my job to look at both sides and make an informed decision that is appropriate under the circumstances. If I have someone that has a long criminal history, that knows how court works, that continuously fails to appear, I'm a lot more likely to issue a bench warrant. Law enforcement are issuing tickets or summons because they believe a crime has occurred, and the city attorney is prosecuting those cases. And so I think I have a duty to move those cases along. And by allowing people to just never come to court, we're not going to get anywhere. I, in all candor, I issue quite a few bench warrants for failure to appear. There would be more discretion on my end, for example, if it was someone without a criminal history, if it was perhaps someone that is charged with no proof of insurance, I will usually set it for a show cause hearing and have the court clerk send a letter saying, hey, if you miss the next hearing, you're really going to get a bench warrant. Like we really mean it, right? We already told you that once that it says that on the summons oftentimes. But I think we have to get people into court so that we can administer justice. And when people don't come, we're not able to resolve cases.

Thank you.

I wanted to ask, what kind of hurdles do you see in expanding or improving the wellness slash diversion court process? Is it financial limitations, do you feel, or is there other things that you feel would be ways that it could be improved?

That's a little bit of a difficult question because I have not covered the wellness docket for Judge Marguson. So I am not involved in the day-to-day process. what are the issues we're having? You know, just in general, I think there's Although we have the lowest level offenses, in my opinion, we have some of the highest need defendants. And so we have people with really serious substance use issues that are just getting in trouble over and over again that have experienced years, sometimes decades of being unhoused. And so those are hard things to shift and to change. And so some of it is just addressing the nature of the problem. And I think that community partnership is huge, right? You have to have strong agencies that are helping you get people into inpatient treatment that are helping people access medication if they need that. Because the municipal court doesn't have those resources and it's not defined, it's not designed to do that, right? From my perspective, I want to connect our high needs defendants with local agencies that are already providing these services.

Perhaps I just need to clarify for myself then, I was under the assumption that the wellness court that you had been talking about that you kind of established was very similar to what we're doing in Durango for the diversion court, is that correct?

I believe so, yes.

Okay. But you don't have a lot of knowledge on the diversion court itself.

So, for example, in both, as I understand it, in both courts, there's a hub or an agency that's really administering a lot of the services. I couldn't tell you how that's working in Durango. I mean, I can tell you how that's working in Cortez and Certain struggles we've had, you know, compliance issues. You know, a huge issue is people want to go to AA and NA, which is great, but that's inherently anonymous. So very difficult to prove to a judge that you're going. So that's a big struggle we have. But no, I couldn't say in your wellness court, there is a problem with this specific agency and here's how I would fix it because I'm just not involved on that level.

Fair enough. Thank you.

Sure.

Okay. How familiar are you with the City of Durango's laws, regulations, procedures? How do you plan to stay up to date and informed of the issues specific to our community? You live here, so.

Laws, regulations, procedures?

Yes.

Okay. Just wanted to make sure I was hearing that correctly. So I think for municipal courts, first we start at state level law, right? And right now there's a lot of legislation happening and Supreme Court decisions. because some municipalities are engaging in certain types of administration of justice that the Supreme Court is maybe not agreeing with or certain legislatures are not agreeing with. And so there's starting to be more legislation at what municipal courts can and cannot do. And again, this is because we're not part of state judicial. So when our state legislature makes changes to state judicial, like for example, what are the rules for bond if you have a misdemeanor case in county court, doesn't directly apply to us, right? Because we're not county court, we're municipal courts. And so now the laws are changing and kind of catching up to try to make those more consistent. From my perspective, I think best practices is to certainly follow as much as we possibly can what's happening in the state courts, because I think we're less likely to run into problems with the ACLU or things along those lines, concerns about us overreaching our authority. So I think I'm keeping in line with what's happening at the state courts. And the way I do that is I'm a member of the Colorado Municipal Judges Association. I'm on the listserv. We get emails all the time about what's happening, what should be happening. I've been attending our legislative sessions. There's actually a lobbyist that works with CMJA so that I can be paying attention to what might pass the legislature and making sure that my court is already compliant with that. So for example, there was just a recent rule that you have to stream court and we were already doing that. And so I'm monitoring to make sure that something doesn't get signed by the governor and we don't know what It's going to happen right to try to make sure that we're preparing for what those changes might look like as far as local city ordinances. My expectation would be if something changed as it related to the court that likely the city attorney would tell me or I would just know because I'm in the building and I hear what's going on. But I think that that would not be as big of a concern and typically city ordinances aren't changed.

as frequently as what we're seeing with like rule 21 petitions with the colorado supreme court or the state legislature making changes to municipal courts really every session they're doing that all right this position will require you to sometimes be available after regular business hours including on the weekends to preside over bond hearings is that a requirement you are able to fulfill and then are there any times that you may not be available

I think that is a loaded question. So absolutely. So first of all, this assumes we get to the point in Durango where we are having people in custody, right, which we don't have right now on warrants where they have to have 48 hour bond hearings. But let's say we get to that space. The biggest barrier we're going to have is that those defendants are entitled to court appointed counsel. We need a defense attorney available on a Sunday and we need a prosecutor available on a Sunday. And so those are my first questions. Do I have attorneys available? Because if I don't, We're not having court. That's just not possible. It's illegal. And so those would be some of the issues. And I think that we would really need to talk to city council to say, do you want to fund this? Do you all want there to be weekend court? Do we think we have capacity on our attorneys to cover those hearings? In a lot of municipalities, they do not. do weekend court. I actually don't know of any that do. There might be some. I don't know of any. So under those circumstances, what happens is let's say a defendant is arrested at 8 p.m. on a Friday. They just immediately get released at the 48-hour mark without a bond hearing, or they can pay their monetary bond. So there are two options, right? So if you get arrested for shoplifting, you can pay the $100 bond that's set on the bond schedule, or after 48 hours, you would be released. So I think it's I think it's a really big question to say, am I prepared to hold weekend court? I'm going to give you a maybe, but only if we have all of these other things in place. And I think we would really need to think about, does that make sense? What strain is that putting on our attorneys? And in all candor, it's hard to get defense attorneys in municipal court. It's not easy. These are not... high profile, fun murder cases, right? It's like a shoplifting. It's important, but it's hard to get attorneys during the week and to then say, hey, you're going to be skiing on Saturday. Time out. Let's go do a bond hearing. I'm just not confident we're going to have the workforce for that. So as far as weekend bond hearings, I'm going to say maybe. As far as someone being in custody, so like if someone were to be arrested, the law says that the court clerk has to be notified within four hours. And so the way we handle that in Cortez is once the court administrator is notified, she texts me and says, hey, we got this guy. What do you want to do? And then I'll make a decision to perhaps release that person early or to say, no, we're going to hold them for 48 hours. And that's only if it's like on the weekend. So that's something that I'm already doing. Just being able to communicate with the court administrator. That's another thing. Is the court administrator willing to work nights, weekends? We don't know this. Or maybe you do, but I don't. And so there are a lot of moving parts that go into having a weekend court.

All righty. Let's see. What experience do you have with specialty courts or alternative sentencing programs? Sure.

So I want to say it was 2023 we started our outreach court. And so what I was seeing from the bench was the same defendants over and over again. And I would say, OK, three days of jail, don't get in any more trouble. And then they would get in more trouble. And then I would say, OK, but I really mean it this time. Or OK, fine, now go do your three days and don't get in trouble again. And then next week, they're in there again. And I'm like, this isn't working. We're doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It's not working. And so I started researching what other options are there. And so I think I googled homeless court or something. And the first homeless court was established in 1989 in San Diego. AND THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SUPPORTS THESE PROGRAMS. THERE WAS A PANEL OF JUDGES THAT WERE WILLING TO TALK TO ME, GIVE ME ADVICE ON HOW TO SET IT UP. SOME MEMBERS FROM THE ABA AND DC EVEN VOLUNTEERED TO COME TO CORTEZ IF WE NEEDED HELP WITH THINGS. AND THIS IS ALL UNFUNDED. SO I HAVE NO FUNDING FOR MY OUTREACH COURT. THIS IS ALL tapping into community knowledge and greater, obviously, American Bar Association knowledge to figure out how can I implement this in my community. So I did some webinars, like some meetings with the ABA, and then had some phone calls with some of the judges, sort of like checking in, like, have you thought about this? I'm worried about this thing you're doing. And then we really reached out to our local agency partners that I a lot of times had a prior relationship with because of my work in child welfare. And I was like, this is what we want to do. I want to take defendants and instead of just telling them three days jail, don't get in trouble again, say, why don't you go into outreach court? And outreach court is voluntary. You don't have to do it. It's basically a defendant saying, you know what, I think I do need some help. They identify what they want to work on. Sometimes I will suggest that they work on two things. They may say, I only want to work on housing. And I may say, OK. And you've got a lot of alcohol cases. What do you think about maybe thinking about alcohol, too? Maybe those are connected. And they'll often be receptive to that. So then we connect them with our local hub. which is the Pinion Project in Cortez. And there are case managers there, and then they connect them with Access Health System, Porchlight, Indian Health Services, Street Medicine, whatever agencies they want to work with. A lot of our defendants don't always reside in Cortez. Sometimes they reside on the reservation, so they will tap into the resources in their local communities. And then the way our program works is I set them for graduation on the first day they're in the program because I believe they're going to make it and I believe they're going to get better. And then we have a graduation with popcorn and water and we give them a certificate and a round of applause. And I have seen such substantial changes in defendants, people that have been in my courtroom over and over again that won't make eye contact, that are sometimes under the influence, that are unkempt. When we get to graduation, not only is their hygiene often improved, they're making eye contact, they're smiling. We all take a picture together where I tell them I'm proud of them because I am. And I think for some of these defendants, there aren't a lot of people telling them that someone's proud of them. Does outreach court fix everything? No, it doesn't. Do some of our people still struggle? Absolutely. Do some of our people come back to do it again? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But it's this additional support and additional people trying to help as opposed to a judge just saying, you're going to jail. You're going to jail. I mean, they can do jail. Treatment's way harder. way harder for most of our defendants. So I think it's been really successful. And it's been successful in small ways of just seeing changes in people, seeing people more willing to come to court. Just those small changes, I think, have been really positive. And then teen court, I guess that's a specialty court. I'm still trying to figure out how to do it. So I can't give you a lot of information, but I did just go to Los Alamos, New Mexico and observed a teen training and a teen court session there. That judge is incredibly helpful. She's giving me tons of documents, training materials, just really mentoring me to figure out how we could make this work in my community.

I think you've answer this question in some ways, but perhaps you can elaborate if you feel sure that there's anything else you want to say. But if appointed, how would you assess whether existing specialty programs should be expanded, adjusted or redesigned to be better to better serve the community? What metrics or outcomes do you use to evaluate the success of a specialty court program?

I think the last question is really challenging. Because sometimes I think city council will say, what is your recidivism rate? How often are people coming back in? And to me, that's not the definition of success in this population. When we have people that are significantly struggling with mental health and substance use disorders, it is not realistic to say you are never going to pick up another trespass case as long as you live like it's just in my experience that's not going to happen right so i don't think that that's an appropriate metric um i think some of the appropriate metric is um are we seeing fewer repeat cases fewer, not zero, but fewer? Are we seeing positive change among those members of the community that are in outreach court? I think talking to law enforcement is also really beneficial to see if they're seeing any changes on the street, right? Are they having fewer contacts with certain people or in certain circumstances or certain locations? As far as determining whether the program is successful, if I were to take over, some of it is just seeing what's happening, right? Like sitting on the bench and seeing what kind of reports am I getting or are people coming or not? And if they're not coming, why aren't they coming? And do we have transportation barriers? Do we need to be partnering with local agencies that have case managers that can be really providing more life skills to people? So it's difficult to know I guess I don't have enough information right now to say I know that this is a problem. I think I would first just have to, excuse me, experience the docket and the system and meet with those local partners to see what they are running into as barriers. I think open communication with your agency partners is critical. And in general, I think if there are things I can do as a judge to make things flow better, I do that. It could be something like you have outreach court at three o'clock and all of our therapists have to go pick their kids up from school. Okay, well, let's not do it at three. Let's find a better time that works for everyone. Simple changes like that I think are really powerful and make everyone feel like more empowered and engaged in the process. Sure.

Do any counselors have any other questions? I got the last one for her. I think the last one, but does she have any questions? Yeah, I was just seeing if we had any other questions before we wrapped up. Do you have any questions for counsel? Anything that you wanted to ask about?

I do.

Give you time. Sure.

So first, what are you all looking for in a municipal court judge?

It's going to be individual counselor opinions on this one.

That's fine.

Yeah. Councilor, sorry.

Yeah, sure. I think the success that we've had with Judge Margeson and that transition from the previous judge to him has been phenomenal. Someone that can continue to keep up with and then expand on his specialty court program that he's brought to place I think is phenomenal. someone that can advocate um for his the needs of the court like he has been doing um is super important i think as well um i think the way that um the way that judge margerson has um kind of exemplified like understood the values of the the community and the city and worked hand in hand really well with the police department and then our community partners to really like I think elevate our municipal court has been phenomenal. And so someone that can bring that same kind of energy. And, you know, I've, I was on council with the previous judge and then now judge Margeson and the, just the, yeah, the energy, the, the collaboration that he has is, is phenomenal. And so I would, I would like to see that out of our new municipal judge as one counselor.

Anybody else? Councilor Gonzalez?

Thank you. So thank you. So not really so different from what Councilor Lawyer said. I think the expansion of the specialty court program that I think you have mentioned and are familiar with, you called it the wellness court. And along those lines, especially as it relates to families. You mentioned teens and domestic violence prevention and those kind of programs. I have seen really transform individuals and keep people out of the cycle. So I also would like to continue to see that effort. I think that um the previous judge did a lot with very little and that's the limitation i think we have as a small community is there's not as much funding available as i know we i would like to see dedicated to our most vulnerable constituents so then you know we really rely on the judge to help us find where the gaps are. And, you know, on that note, I think the feedback to really say, this is what I need to make my courts function better and really serve the community. And then hopefully we can work that into the budget. That's always the constraint is financial.

Council Yazzie.

Okay. Well, thank you for coming to the interview, Beth. I'm sure you're aware since you've worked with our judge about how he started the program. We went from, what, two judges to one judge, and he worked on getting funding and creating the the options for specialty courts. So my major concern is just to follow through with that process because I really think it makes a difference in our community on a very municipal level. So that's what I would like to encourage. So thank you.

Yeah, I'd follow up. Alternative funding is important. I think the nonprofits and some of the providers and the connections, they tend to be siloed and you need somebody to provide some gravity to pull them all together and make sure that they're working together. And I think the court can do that in very positive ways. I sat in on one and saw there's a camaraderie as much as what can you do to help this particular client. So I thought that's really valuable as well. The other piece is in my experience, at least in the last year or so of being on council, we don't have a lot of interaction with the judge. And so how does the judge reach out to make sure that we're getting education connected to the work that's being done and understand the needs of the court is important. It's on our responsibility, too. We need to reach out from our side as well. But there is just a tendency for the court to operate and not necessarily unless something's going wrong. Right. We don't we don't hear a lot. So I think that communication is going to be really important as well.

May I ask a follow-up question there? Just what contact is expected? Like what level of communication or contact would you expect from the judge to counsel?

There would be a contract for this position. And so there may be performance evaluation cadence that may be unique to the position. I don't know what that might end up. In general, we would have two times a year that are pretty dedicated to making sure that we're connecting with each other. And then after that, I think it's pretty much left to an individual counselor to reach out or the judge to reach out to the counselors.

Okay.

Everybody agree with that?

Okay. Thank you.

The only thing that I would add to all of that is the fact that we've been so progressive and very visionary in terms of how we consider the municipal court to have somebody in that position that is going to continue to be looking at different options and different opportunities as they present themselves. So it would be my hope that we don't prop up this problem-solving court and make it great, but we're not looking at other opportunities as they come before us. And so having somebody that has the eyes open of where the community is and where do we want it to be and how do we get there? Yeah. Any other questions that you have for counsel?

What concern or concerns do you have in selecting a new municipal court judge?

Concern.

Right. Yeah. essentially what concerns do you i mean you you've talked about the priorities right so specialty court is is a huge priority are are there any things that you are worried about um as as you're moving into a new judge other than what you've discussed yeah i mean oh i didn't either uh council yazi

Thank you, Mayor. You know, I don't have any concerns. I just want to have a judge that comes in and does the work that they think is suitable for the city of Durango. And I think we go from there because I believe that there's a pretty good framework which has been developed over the last couple of years that we can just go through. So that's my only concern. Thank you. Okay.

Yeah, judge going through the motions, just processing cases and not necessarily thinking from an innovative perspective. I think that's going to be very important. We've certainly got a pattern with our unhoused community that we're moving them from one site to the next, giving them citations. They've got 20 citations. You talked about this a little bit. It's ineffective, right? So how are we trying to modify what we're doing not only within the court system but also advice on how we can do better in the enforcement side of the – this is all connected, right, in many ways. And so I think that's a concern is that somebody will just come in and default into just getting cases processed and not necessarily what's in the best interest of the clients.

Okay. Okay. Yeah, I was going to say something similar to Counselor Koso, that it's always a fear to have someone new come in and then not understand the values and priorities of the community and not just push cases through or do their checklist and you're doing your job as a judge. Right. it's not really in the best interest of our community. And so having that first, and, um, I think that that was a great, you know, something that judge Marterson did phenomenally. Um, and so, yeah, you never, you don't know, like we can just any employee that you hire in any business, really, you can have an interview and you can hope for the best and you can look at their resume, but until you actually see them in work, it's kind of a gamble. Sure. Yeah.

Councilor Gonzalez.

So yeah, along the line, those same lines, I think, turn over in an organization, especially as important as a municipal court judge. And oftentimes, people's only interaction with the city is through the municipal court judges or the judge. And so I think having a consistent voice is really important as well. And it unfortunate, that's often the only time people communicate with the city. But it actually, you know, you become the face of the city in that respect, in that regard. And so I think that part is really important as well, that the constituents and that the clients feel that they are being fairly treated, and that we are a compassionate community, he really does want the best for for each individual.

One thing I would add is that, um, kind of along the same lines, um, is that there's some longevity in the position, you know, like obviously you've been in town since 2012. Um, but just to ensure that, you know, this isn't, um, That's why we moved from two judges to one judge is to provide more consistency, to provide better services to members of our community. And so I guess it's not necessarily a concern maybe held by all of council, but just maybe from my perspective that somebody who has been best in the community since 2012, that we remain invested in, we're still investing. It's not gonna be a one or two year plan of being here and then we're back to the drawing board that we're in this for the quasi long haul, medium to long haul.

And if I'm allowed to respond to that, I think that that is certainly something that is deep in my mind as I'm considering this position, applying for the position. So just in all candor, I don't anticipate applying for a district court position. I don't anticipate moving to a higher level of judge for a lot of reasons. For my family, for myself, it's not what I want. So I want to make that clear. I also want to be clear that if I am fortunate enough to be offered this position, my intention would be to maintain my position with the city of Cortez. which is 10 hours a week. And so I am not leaving that program that I've built. I'm not leaving the community that I have created. I absolutely know I can do both of these jobs. I have been self-employed for 15 years. I have there's no question in my mind that I can adequately serve both communities. But I want to be very clear upfront that if you all feel like you need someone in the office eight to five Monday through Friday, it's probably not going to work for me because I am not willing to leave the What I've started essentially in Cortez. It's very, very important to me. So I've spoken with Judge Markison about the time constraints. I'm very familiar with where he was a judge in different places and what that looked like. I can certainly make a representation that I would be at the city. As long as it takes in a week to get the things done that need to be done. My fatal flaw is that I've probably never worked only 40 hours a week. And so it will get done. But I am not going to leave the city of Cortez. so i just want to be really upfront with all of you about that and if you feel like you need an eight to five monday to friday person i absolutely respect that i'm sad that that's the position but um i just want to be really clear um i also as i'm considering this position and we're talking about longevity and turnover it would mean essentially me stepping away from my private practice completely um that i started from nothing and so that's a big step right and it's a it's a big leap of faith to the city of durango to to put my future in your hands in that way, which I'm excited to do. And I really know that I could do some amazing work here. I just want you all to know that I'm not coming into this in a space of like, I don't have another job or I don't have lots of clients that I'm already helping. It's really thinking about what is my skill set and how can I help the most people in the best way? And I think this presents a really interesting opportunity to do that. So I just want you to all kind of know where I'm coming from a little bit, that I would be essentially closing, not completely closing, but shutting down my side of our law firm.

And you're willing to do that?

Yeah, I'm willing to do that. I'll be honest, there's a chance I might keep one appellate contract and just do one case a year or something, but it would be on the weekends and it wouldn't interfere with...

this job. Is your 10 hours at Cortez set days or times? Absolutely.

It's all day Monday and then Wednesday and Friday, just if we have in custodies. And so not to get ahead of myself here, but what I had envisioned is that I would be at the city of Durango if I'm offered a position all day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, take my lunch break on Wednesday to be a judge in Cortez remotely by WebEx perhaps, and then handle the other hour that I have to do in Cortez on Friday. So I think it can be structured in a way that I know I can meet the needs of the community and the court and staff with that amount of time, whether that means I do 10-hour days or whatever that looks like. But that is what I would hope to implement. if we get there. There's a lot of ifs, but I just, I want to be upfront about what my hopes and expectations are because it is a big shift. But yes, I am willing to It's hard to say. I am willing to stop practicing law and not take more cases in my private practice. And I'd also have to transition out of the cases I have. I'm still representing kids. I'm still representing families. I'd have to find other attorneys, which I can do. It happens. We can do that. But that is another consideration. If you all say, I need a judge on Monday, that's going to be tough. I'm going to need a minute to organize things.

Great. Any final questions?

I don't think I have any other questions. I appreciate you all and your patience and allowing me to ask you questions and sort of explain where I'm coming from. So I'm honored to have spoken with you all today. I really am excited about this opportunity if we get there and I appreciate your time.

Thanks so much, Ms. Patia. Appreciate it. Should I go? I can go grab them. Yeah.

As I understand it, I'm supposed to stay.

I'm supposed to stay here, right? Well, you all step out when he's getting in here.

No, I understand. I'm sorry. Let me be more clear. I should not leave this area because you all will go into an executive session.

Okay. And then we may come out and make a decision publicly.

Okay. Great. Thank you all.

i'm doing well how are you well thank you for inviting me today well welcome uh mr peroni um we'll go ahead and open it up and allow you to uh some time to introduce yourself and give you give us a quick rundown of your experience and how that benefits the municipal court potentially

Sure. Absolutely. So my name is Dave Perrone. I've been a resident of La Plata County since 2014 when my wife and I moved here from California. I live in our same home that we bought in 2014 up in Durango Hills. live there about a 35 year old, uh, daughter who lives out in California. And we live in our home with a, with a rambunctious two year old, uh, Bernie doodle dog. So that's kind of personal, personal life there. Um, When I can start my journey to being in this seat started when I was 18 years old, just a couple of days after my 18th birthday, I went and joined the United States Marine Corps and went off and served four years active duty, four years reserve, and then used that experience to go to undergraduate school using the GI Bill. After my undergraduate major was in accounting, I went to work for one of the big four, big five accounting groups called Deloitte & Touche at the time, and did that for three years, decided that that was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to make more of a difference in people's lives, and I went to law school. Graduated Santa Clara Law School in 2002, and then kind of progressed from there, worked as an associate attorney for a law firm for a couple of years, doing primarily criminal defense type work for that, but got a really good handle for that. At one point in time, I decided I wanted to hang my own shingle and that's exactly what I did. So I was a small business owner, with my law partner slash cousin. And we practiced law for a little over a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area. People asked, well, what type of law did you practice? And I said, well, I kind of think about it now as a small time law firm in a big city. So it was pretty much whatever came through the door. So we did criminal law, property law, some civil defense, civil on the plaintiff side. And pretty much whatever walked through the door, with the exception of family law. I don't have any family law experience, and that was by choice. In 2014, my wife and I purchased our house, like I said, up in Durango Hills. And my wife got a job working for the fort in the IT department of the fort. So she's a computer engineer. kind of transition from Silicon Valley to working in the IT department at the college. And I wanted to come here full time as well. And so for two years, I basically commuted from Durango to California over the course of two years, shutting down the practice and in the process of coming out here. 2016, I started working for the college. Initially as an adjunct instructor teaching business law, business ethics classes, did that. And then in 2018, yeah, 2018, Was started as the equal opportunity coordinator for the college, and that position has trends progressed or evolved into its current position, which is the director of compliance and community standards, which is the, which is the position I currently hold now. I oversee is that in that position as Director of Compliance and Community Standards, I oversee equal opportunity, I oversee the Title IX process at the college, and I also oversee all student conduct. The student conduct portion, quite frankly, is one of my favorite parts of that position, is meeting with the students, meeting with the other stake, not just the students who are accused of doing something But meeting with the other people who are affected by that and working out agreements and doing that. Whenever a student at the college is removed for conduct reasons, either from student housing or from the college itself or both of those things, they go through my office. I meet with every single one of them. And I look at that as I don't look at it as a, as a sanctioning. I don't look at it as a punitive part to it. It is a, I look at it from a very educational and a very supportive part. So I, I see our department as supportive. I don't see it as punitive. I see it as supportive and supportive, not just of the, the student who is transitioning off campus or out of housing, but for the entire community. I see our department, my department, as helping for the student experience That's what I want is to improve that student experience, that quality of life for all the people on campus with the understanding that that student who's being removed from campus is going to come back to our community at some point in the future. And so we have to make some sort of arrangement. How is that going to happen? What types of supports are you going to have so that the next time I see the student and I tell the students all this time, so the next time I see you, I hope to see you at graduation. And that's one of the most rewarding things that I've had happen is, you know, Mr. Perron, thank you for, you know, I had to take that break. That was the right thing for me. And I'm now, you know, graduating. And I mean, that's just to hear those words is exactly that. And so these are good, just like the people that are, you know, appearing in front of this court. You know, these are good people. that have made mistakes. And that's what I tell them. It's like, this doesn't have to define you. This can be something that you can learn from. And the ultimate goal is that I don't have to interact with them again, except for at graduation, where I'm shaking their hand and we're taking pictures with family and so forth. So in that process, there's kids come in and these are 19, 20, 21 year old kids. These are, this is a very scary time when they come into my office. And so part of my, my, my job is to kind of explain the process, give them a forum to be heard, give them a forum to, to explain what happened. Let me ask, you know, the questions like, like, how can we help? How can we stop this from happening? And then, um, I really, I really enjoy it. That's, that's what part I really enjoy. I really enjoy that part of, of, of my, of my job then.

Great. Counselor Koso, you want to kick us off?

Yeah. Thank you. Um, what does being an active and engaged member of the municipal court bench mean to you?

Oh, that's great question. Um, I think it's being available. It's being transparent. It's, it's, it's listening to the, the, um, the people who appear in front of the court and really giving them the time to hear what, like why they are here. And again, very similar to my current role is like, how can we fix this? And how can we make it so that you don't have to appear here again? And so there's that interaction both with the accused, but also with the greater community, the other stakeholders that are around. Um, my current role, I'm constantly interacting with her chief of police on on campus. I'm interacting with the provost department. I'm interacting with the. The director of housing, and so it's not, I mean, the, it's a whole. whole bundle of people who I'm interacting with and engaging with. It's not just the students that are accused, but it's the other stakeholders, the other people that are involved, because really that's how I see my role now and also how I would see a role as a municipal judge.

Um, specific to our position in Durango, how does your background and experience make you a strong candidate?

Sure. Um, well, I have a, a, a background of service again, starting from when I was 18 years old, serving in the Marine Corps. Uh, when I was in law school, what I didn't mention is, uh, I was, uh, I volunteered quite a bit with our East San Jose Community Law Center and Law School. I did street law, street law programs, lawyers in the library. Those types of things are what I engaged with. And so my background in community service is how I can help and At heart, I feel like I'm a community servant at heart. That's what I really feel like I am.

Thank you. How would you manage the caseload and prioritize cases?

Sure. Well, I think that's caseload management. When I was in private practice, I mean, you have to do that. I think what has to happen, because there's going to be some people who want to resolve things and want to tell their story and so forth, and there's other people who are just going to want to get through the process there. I think working with the court staff and trying to put together dockets for that, but then also communicating from the bench. of, you know, this is our process. You know, if you think you need more time, then let's talk to court staff to put you lower down on the docket. Giving people the ability to have that ability to talk, that ability to explain their side of the story and really listening, I think, as part is it makes them better. It makes the whole process better. But basically, I would be working with the court staff And also communicating that to the people to try to, you know, organize it in a way that allows people who want to just get through it, get through it at the top of the docket. Traffic, for example, probably traffic things are probably done first. And then, you know, the things that are going to take longer, throw those at the docket and get through it.

okay well here's my question what are your thoughts on the use of monetary conditions of bond monetary conditions of bond yeah and mind you this is a municipality it's not like a larger district court so just our little bond yeah i think i mean bond

Bond is a tool. I mean, that's what I see it as, is a potential bond for a tool. Obviously, there are problems with the ability for some people to pay the bond and some people not to pay the bond. And we have to look at that too. If it could be used as a tool to get people to court and to make sure that they're here in court, But I think there's other ways to, I mean, if there's other ways of doing it without bond, I'm open to that as well. I mean, I don't know. Hopefully that explains. I wish I had a better answer for you.

That's a good question because this is a local municipal court.

Right. I mean, I think the goal of the court is to address violations of the municipal ordinance that affect people's quality of life. And again, just like my position of the college, we're trying to not get people to get to court. We'd love to have a court where people aren't violating the rules and aren't in front of the court. So whatever that takes to get the behavior to be a one-time-and-done type thing, whatever that is, that's the real goal. Or it should be, in my mind, should be the goal of the judge is let's address it. Let's address what's going on. But then let's go ahead and, you know, fix it, address, fix, and then forget, and then be, you know, be a good member of the community moving forward.

Hello, good afternoon. I'm Shirley Gonzalez. So my question for you is, what are your thoughts on the use of bench warrants for defendants failing to appear for petty offenses?

I'm not a fan. I mean, again, it's a tool. So we have to go to, I mean, we have to be able to get to court. We have to address those things. And so the issuance of a bench warrant is a tool. It's not necessarily my first, wouldn't necessarily call it my first tool, right? So I think there's things that can be done with the court, meeting people where they're at and to get that court interaction, to get them in front of court. and to get them to be accountable for what it was. I mean, is there a time when a bench warrant is appropriate? Yes. But I would argue that that would be, it's not high on my part. I think there's other ways of getting to people, other ways of hearing people, other ways of adjudicating cases without necessarily utilizing bench warrants. know for example i mean we i mean there's a number of different ways of meeting people where they're at maybe holding court in the evenings or on on a weekend maybe holding court at you know the library uh maybe in having the court engage with uh with uh you know providers you know access and man a soup kitchen to to be able to get people okay you've got a court appearance you've got this this this date let's deal with it these are the options for you to deal with it so being creative about about how that could happen um but at the same time there it's a tool and sometimes it's going to be necessary but it's not it's not um Personally, that's not, I mean, I'd only use that if necessary.

Thank you.

You know, I read in preparation for this, you know, when I applied for this position and when I got the interview, I read the municipal codes. I have not practiced in in this court. I have not represented people in this court, but I did read the municipal code. Municipal code was very similar to other codes and laws that I've been familiar with in other jurisdictions. There wasn't anything that was strikingly, oh my goodness, that's different. Yeah. Was that... I wish I could say that I've practiced here in front of this, in this corner.

I just haven't. The position will require you to sometimes be available after regular business hours, including on the weekends to preside over bond hearings. Is that a requirement you are able to fulfill or are there any times you may not be available?

I'm available all those times. I'm on call at the college on a regular basis. There's a rotational duty on call for emergencies and things like that. So I have those requirements at the college too.

Great. What experience do you have with specialty courts or alternative sentencing programs?

So... That's so funny you ask. The... I've got my Title IX coordinator is going to be going to a restorative justice conference at the SCJC this weekend. And we've got some goals of restorative justice type programs that we're looking in place for the college. There's... I'm... This country's got 2 million people incarcerated in this country. We've got, of that, about a third of those are in municipal or in state municipal type systems. And the other two thirds are in federal and state prisons. We have a lot of people incarcerated. The recidivism rate is very high. it disproportionately affects different groups of people. And so I think that restorative justice is, again, a tool. It's not appropriate in all places, but it is a tool that can be utilized. And if the situation is correct, we do restorative justice practices at the college. We've got goals to increase those restorative justice practices. Sometimes they're appropriate and sometimes they're not appropriate. And so, again, the municipal court is a little bit different animal in my mind than a state court. The people who are appearing are going to be members of our community. They're going to be back. They are going to be here. Again, how do we listen? How do we give them respect? How do we give them the due process? Part of it is education. There's an educational component to this. You want to be parental about the whole process. That's not the point. But the point is we want to improve the quality of everybody. And if restorative justice works, and that prevents people from coming back into the court, then that's a win. That's a win for our community. It's a win for everybody involved. Great.

If appointed, how would you assess whether existing specialty programs should be expanded, adjusted, or redesigned? And what metrics would you use to evaluate the success of these programs?

Yeah. That's actually a really good question. What I do right now, I mean, we have programs at the college. We put in programs. We try different things. It's a collaborative process with everybody at the college. And so it's communication with the other people who are on the note. That's the court staff. That's the city attorney. That's the other... uh, stakeholders that are in the community, find out what, you know, talk to the, uh, uh, the, um, uh, County veteran service organism organizer, talk to access, talk to, to mana. What are the needs? What's working, what's not working, having that communication coming up with ideas, seeing what's working, what's not working. Oftentimes the community knows. what is working and what's not working, but having that, that dialogue and then, and then going out and, and then trying things and, and going and putting things forward. And so as far as like what programs would be increased, what programs would decrease? My question would be, let's, let's talk about that. What's working. Is this work is, is what we're doing working? What are some other ideas so that we can improve our community?

but getting that from the other stakeholders not just you know kind of it's being kind of a sounding board for that right so i i guess just the final request do you have any questions about the council's expectations or priorities for the court

yeah um maybe it kind of dovetails into uh counselor yazi's question prior question and that is like what is like like that what is the uh the amount of change like how what do you feel as the as the uh as a city council what do you expect and what what type of change are you expecting and what's your what's your uh uh your ability to accept change and and i say this and and the reason why i say this is now my current role it's It's very common for someone in the college, the police chief to call me or me to call the police chief or me to go into the provost's office or me to go to the director of housing or vice versa and discuss what's working, what's not working, and then how we can change. And some organizations are able to change and willing to change and have a culture of change and other organizations are very resistant to change. So what is the culture of change in the city of Durango's atmosphere?

I think we're very open to change and new ideas and developing and having trust in our appointees. I mean, we didn't have a specialty court before Judge Margeson. During his interview process, he brought up the idea of potentially maybe wanting to try. And we gave him the ability to not just try, but to thrive and succeed with the specialty court that he's done. And so I think if you come with an idea or a way to make things better or a vision that you have, as long as it falls within our ordinances and code, and I think for council, it has been typically in the past, like what's best for our community? you know, what does our community want to see? What do we value? What is safety? And, you know, how do all these pieces mix together? And is what you're proposing or your ideas complementary and it's going to elevate us all? Or is it not? Is it conflicting? You know, part of the reason that we changed judges, there was a lot of reasons, time, We wanted more consistency, someone here more often than two part-time judges. But it was also that, you know, there were some values that we were wanting to see push forward that the current municipal judge at that time wasn't willing to bend on. And so it did conflict with the council direction and where we wanted to go and um, supporting, you know, our, our ordinances and safety and our community. So, um, yeah, I think as, as long as it's in line with like the visions and, um, support of the community, then we're all for creativity and, you know, pushing the boundaries and ideas and all the things.

Councilor Cuso.

Yeah, I don't think we're asking for a 180 degree turn or anything like that. We feel like the court's done very well at this point. We're looking for continuity in what's going on. That being said, we want to see progress and movement, hopefully some consistent metrics that are clear for us to see that the time and energy that's being invested is going somewhere and improvement in the lives of the residents that you're working with. So I think that's kind of the core things.

And what type of metrics is the council looking at?

Yeah, I don't think we've got particularly strong metrics. And it's a tough, it's a lot of anecdotal evidence of improvement in lives. And so I think that's got some difficulties around it as well. But when you're asking for change, just one counselor's opinion, some more consistency in regards to the metrics that we're looking at. And are there other metrics that we haven't been looking at that might be appropriate as well? So we're not necessarily doing, from my perspective, we don't necessarily have clear metrics that we're solidifying. on right now.

Council Yuzzi.

Sorry. My metrics exactly is we don't have concrete things. And one of the things that the specialty court that I observed over the last couple of years is that there's flexibility to get the end product of trying to fulfill the needs of the people who come before this specialty court. so um i think flexibility and working with within the system because there's there's some definite hardships being at the specialty court but there's also a lot of ability in um making people's lives more um fruitful so that's all i have to say i would only add that um kind of

Following Councilor Coso, we're not looking for a 180 shift or a change. Being able to maintain the current existing infrastructure and integrity of our current court, but also having that wherewithal to look out at what other opportunities are and keeping a finger on the pulse of like, what is the community sensing? Where is council at? And be able to create programs or to create conversations, leverage public partners in whatever, whatever that, that forward thinking is, but being open to other programs that could potentially become or be made available or a different, you know, vision of what does this problem solving court look like? What's the future of that? And then how do we make sure that we're maintaining our, our existing, um, you know, other, um, places on the municipal court. So I would just say just for me, it's not necessarily change. It's making sure we maintain what we have, but also how do we keep our mind open for other opportunities as they present themselves? What other questions do you have, Russ?

No, I don't.

No?

Okay. Great. So then should we, do I need to? Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah.

We may come back with a decision. Okay. So we'll have to announce to the public. We may not. I mean, we have two minutes left. but you can also listen to whatever you'd like. um i'd like to make a thank you yeah thanks i'd like to make a motion to convene an executive session to discuss selecting and making an offer for a full-time municipal judge and to determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiation and direct negotiators oops sorry i have to say this i remember as permitted i paused too long i apologize as permitted by crs 24-6-4024 e and f second thank you any discussion

right gotta get a roll call please oh sorry we actually were digitizing oh slowpoke the motion passes all in favor dave woodruff gilda yazzie jessica lawyer kip coso shirley gonzalez

Alright, the time is now 1 48 PM and the executive session has been concluded. The participants in the executive session were. Mark Morgan, Councilor Kipkoso, Councilor Lawyer, myself, Mayor Dave Woodruff, Councilor Gilday-Yazi, and Councilor Gonzalez. For the record, Council met in the executive session to discuss selecting and making an offer for a full-time municipal judge and determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiation and direct negotiators As permitted by CRS 24-6-402-4E and F. For the record, if any person who participated in the executive session believes that any substantial discussion of any matters not included in the motion to go into the executive session occurred during the executive session, or that any improper action occurred during the executive session in violation of the open meetings law, I would ask that you state your concerns for the record. Seeing none, the next agenda on item is discussion and direct direction to the city attorney to provide an offer of employment to municipal judge candidate. First off, before we kind of get into this, I just want to say thank you to both candidates for taking the time today. I know it's not an easy thing to do this all in a very public manner, so thank you for also everything that you do for the community, whether it's in Cortez or at the Fort, your your. Your contributions to the community are very highly valued. And again, thank you for everything that you've done up until now and appreciate your time taken with us today.

I'd like to make a motion to appoint Beth Padilla as our new municipal judge and instruct the city attorney to conduct negotiations within the parameters we discussed in executive session. Second.

So just for just we don't want to actually appoint today. Sorry, yeah, so. Just direct me to do the negotiation with her. OK, it's not a successful negotiation. We don't have already appointed her.

OK, so so I'm going to revise my motion and say we're going to instruct the city attorney to go through negotiations with Miss Beth Padilla. Within the parameters as that we discussed in executive session.

Second. Discussion.

All right, can I get a roll call, please?

The motion passes. All in favor, Dave Woodruff, Jessica Lawyer, Kip Kosso, Shirley Gonzalez, Gilda Yazzie.

So I'll meet with Ms. Padilla, see if we can come to terms, and then those terms will be brought to you for approval, and then we'll have another meeting where you do the formal appointment and approval of the contract.

Great. This is adjourned. And again, thank you both for taking the time today.