City Council - Regular Meeting

meeting for Tuesday, July 21st. I would like to call this meeting to order. Please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Roll call, please. Mayor Clark. Mayor Pro Tem Pleca. Here. Council Member Johnson. Present. Council Member Neill.

Present.

Council Member Crabtree.

Here.

Council Member Delaney. Here.

Thank you. And the next order of business is the awards and recognitions for the July 2026 Yard of the Month. This goes to Thomas and Tammy Rick at 1304 36th Street. And I believe they are here tonight. Yay. Come on down. Next we have audience participation. The City Council welcomes you here and thanks you for your time and concerns. If you wish to address the City Council, this is the time set on the agenda for you to do so. when you are recognized please step to the podium state your name and address then address city council depending on the number of speakers on any given topic your comments may be limited to two minutes the city council may not respond to your comments this evening rather they may take your comments and suggestions under advisement and your questions may be directed to the appropriate staff person for follow-up thank you

So now is the time, if you wish to address council for any item not on the agenda, please step up.

Hello, my name is Linda Kennedy. I live at 3801 28th Avenue over in the Willowbrook area, and my concern is the non-potable water. It's been out for over a week. I have a couple questions and an observation. When is it going to be turned back on? And why is the department that is responsible for it did no planning for an outage of any sort that it's gone on for over a week now? And then my last department is we're paying for a service we're not receiving right now, and we're using city water, so we're almost like paying double to an extent. So those are my comments and questions. My turn?

Yes, ma'am. My name is Connie Canale. I'm a resident of Willowbrook as well. And I'm actually an original homeowner in the Willowbrook subdivision. I put a huge investment into my yard. I pay $445 for the water, non-potable, $440 for fertilization and weed control and the turn on and blow out and all together, That's over $1,000. I'm retired and living on a fixed income. This system has consistently had problems, particularly the line between Haven Court and Dock Drive. I've had to clean my filter out for every zone one year, and several, many years, I've had to clean it out often, just the filter, not for every zone. My key is buried deep. It's probably six feet deep. My lawn is now burnt to a crisp. And there's no doubt, especially for those of us who live here, that our property values will be affected. I've been a citizen and I've followed the watering restrictions, as I'm sure many have. But now there is record heat, which I realize this council has no control over. But I'm hoping somebody has control over the water. The response that I often get when I try and call in is that you have no idea when that infamous missing part may be. And for me, that's unacceptable at this point. There's a strong need for transparency from the city on this issue. These are the questions I have. What is the city's responsibility to see that the non-potable system is maintained and running efficiently? And that means looking ahead for the watering season and trying to call into what problems there could be. And I'd like to know who is in charge of that because it's not transparent. So who is in charge of the system? What are their credentials? I'd really hope that some watering engineer is putting the best effort towards it. I'd also like to know what is the city budget allotted to maintain this system? I'm paying over $440 a year and there are many people in my subdivision that are paying the same. One more question, is it true there is only one filter for the entire system? If that's true, that's concerning because we're using non-potable ditch water that once it gets low, everything is clogged. Honestly, I think we deserve some answers, some honest answers. I've heard more than one year, we're waiting on a part. That at this point, my lawn is burnt to a crisp and I really would like some answers. Thank you.

because we live across from each other. We live over at the Ridge, and we've got the same concerns she does. This all started with a power outage on July 5th, and we had another power outage Monday, July 6th. I called Tuesday morning and, well, first we had to replace all the filters also, and that does cost money. and I called the city of Evans on Wednesday and I was told it was due to the power outage and gave me all these excuses, whatever. And I asked to speak to the maintenance head guy, whatever, left a message, never got a call back from him. Then I called again on the 16th because I wanted to know an update, same thing. We don't know what's going on. It's a part, whatever. And I'm like, I agree with her saying, can you not have extra? spare parts and I was told, we don't know what part's gonna break or burn or whatever, which I understand that too, because I don't know what's gonna break on my refrigerator or whatever, but is there a way that they can have extra parts? Or somebody on one of the comments said, is there a power surge that can be put on the system or something? My concern too is I asked why when I called, this happened Sunday and Monday, but nobody went to check the pump until people started calling and complaining. Is there not anybody on call to go check these things out when it happens? Other cities have people, you know, workers on call. So, you know, it's not that we're griping and griping, but we just, we're spending a lot of money. My husband is very proud of his yard, and Rusty can attend to that. And I told him, it's gonna die. He's like, no, it's not. So we've been watering using our house water. So our bill is going to be outrageous, just like everybody else is having to do the same thing. So we're paying double for watering our grass. And we only have grass in the front yard. We don't have it in the back. So then on the 20th, I called again and was told we're waiting for a part. We don't know when it's going to come in. So it's just, we're all frustrated. We're like, we're paying money for something we're not getting.

You know, it's one of those things. You go to a gas station. You get gas, you pay for it. You go to the grocery store, you get milk, you pay for it. We're paying for water we're not getting. I got vegetables that I have to water with a pitcher out of my sink to keep them from dying. We need to get something worked out because I remember a year ago, I suggested to somebody that we need to do maintenance on it in the winter when we're not using it so that when it doesn't go down in the summertime when we need it most.

I know our water starts April 15th. So why, like Rusty says, why are the pumps not getting checked out before the 15th? You know, it always... Two or three days later is when we get our water. Because I was told, well, they don't do anything with it till the 15th of April. And I'm like, that doesn't make sense, you know. But my next concern is we're restricted, like everybody is restricted, but yet the park at the ridge was being watered the 17th, 18th, 19th, that I noticed in the 21st, one time at 10 o'clock at night, 10 o'clock in the morning, 9.30 in the morning, 6.15 in the morning. Somebody even posted on one of the posts on Facebook, they saw it being watered at five o'clock, but yet we're not supposed to water between 10 and six. And I was told that the park gets the water from a different source, which I understand that, but are they not restricted? I guess it's frustrating because like I said, we can't water, but yet we see the park being watered over and over and over. You know, so we just want answers. I guess we want to know what's going to happen or when is it going to get fixed? You know, because we're all on fixed incomes, you know, pension, social, whatever. But we want to know when can we expect the water to work? I mean, I think it's a fair question that all these folks have, you know, that we want to know something. So any...

i was going to let everybody make their comments and then get an update from cody for you all okay yeah i just have one more so we want we want to know answers to our questions but we also want some action right we want the water to work

Cody, could you provide an update for the folks that are here?

Sure. So if I could have Kurt and Shantanu come up. Kurt Budette is my operations director. Shantanu Tarawari is our engineering director, and so they can help provide some information with this. We have, in our budget for 2026, we have $600,000 budgeted for irrigation improvements for the ridge pump station. Now $600,000, what I've directed my team to do is start working on the engineering to get that taken care of, to get the engineering started on that. As we shared during the budget discussion here just a little bit ago, we're anticipating another $400,000 in need for that one pump station. We're anticipating a million dollars worth of improvements for that pump station. Now I think it's important to note that the city purchased this system and 10 shares of Glick for $1.5 million in 2020. And I'm deeply concerned, just as these folks are, about the condition of that system. I think there is a considerable amount of work that needs to take place. And we're gonna do the engineering to figure out to what extent that needs to be done. I'm concerned about the capacity of the pumps. I'm concerned about the age of the pumps. I'm concerned about the capacity of the water lines. Under the ground i'm concerned about the lack of valves when we have a leak, we cannot isolate that system because of when it was built and how it was built, and so I think that that is something that we certainly need to take take note of as we're going through this process. As we move forward, like I said, we have the engineering, we're anticipating engineering for a complete rehabilitation, perhaps complete reconstruction of that system. The engineering alone to cost about $200,000. And I think it's gonna take probably three to four months to get that engineering done. And so with that, we'll be able to evaluate as we go through the process, what is that engineer's estimate for that rehabilitation going to cost? Is it a million dollars or is it a different number? We're guessing right now at a million dollars based on that information. But I know that the operations crew has been busy trying to get this taken care of. We're also working with a company called Quantum Pumps and Controls. Thank you. Quantum Pumps and Controls, and that's a company that we work with quite regularly to get these issues taken care of. Similarly, we recently had a outage out at the Nevels Crossing non-pot pond. And it's my understanding that the contractor that we worked with had to find a computer with Windows Vista on it to be able to update the system. So we have very antiquated non-pot systems throughout this entire community that I think are very concerning. This is why, as we've talked and leading into the budget season, with my hiring of an engineering director that I have reinforced the importance of a capital improvement program so we can go through and actually prioritize what are the deficiencies throughout our system not just non-pot, water waste, water streets, everything. Prioritize those improvements and then start putting a funding plan together to address that. We anticipate there's about $150 million worth of deferred maintenance because things have not been maintained in the past. And that has been one of the unfortunate realities that I've had to share with you, with the city council on multiple occasions, is how we have a growing backlog of deferred maintenance that we have to work our way through because of past decisions. So that is something that my team, I've put a heavy emphasis on operations and engineering from the department head level to be able to address some of these issues. So I think we've got a rather large task in front of us. Now, last night we did have a contractor out, Quantum, to install a new VFD, a new variable frequency drive. In this particular pump station, we have three pumps, and the VFD is a critical component to be able to get the three pumps to talk to one another. We ordered that last week. We requested expedited shipping. It was delayed because of a delivery issue in Kentucky. We got it yesterday. Quantum started to install this piece of equipment. To the words of our field services manager, there was an odd hum coming from that piece of equipment. When we took receipt of the piece, the crate, the shipping crate was noted as damaged. So I don't know how that was caused. I don't know if that caused any other failure. What I do know is at the end of the operational testing, the VFD failed under load, so it did not get the three pumps to talk to one another. We had control over one pump in the entire system, and it was running at 100%, which means that we were not able to control the speed, nor were we able to control the pressure. It was working at about 120 PSI, and the high end is about 110 PSI. Without being able to control the pumps, operations made a decision to shut it down. It was not safe. We risk blowing out those pumps. We risk damage to the distribution system. We also risk damage to the private system on each property if we do not have the appropriate equipment in that pump house. And that VFD is critical. And one component that we're also keeping an eye on is The PLC, the programmable logic controller, that is the brains of the entire system. The unfortunate reality that we're dealing with is the only things that have been rehabilitated are the three pumps, and we've had to do those under emergency circumstances at about 30, $35,000 a pop, about $35,000 a pop, 30 to 35,000. That means our valves, our flow meters, Our distribution lines, filters, all of that is the original equipment from when this was built back in 2003. That means we have a very high risk of additional failure until we can get this system rehabilitated. And so that's what we are working on with the $600,000 that the city council budgeted in 2026. We're working on the engineering to be able to identify what is the scope of this repair? What is, how are we going to, is it, we have concerns that the pumps are too small. We have concerns that our distribution lines are too small. We have concerns that there's too many properties because this is two separate subdivisions, too many properties on one pump house. Now, I don't know what the historical decisions were that led to this, but I know that my team is trying to get this under control and trying to get this fixed now because we inherited a system with some significant challenges. And it's gonna be a very, I'm warning the council now, it's gonna be a very, very, very expensive repair, upwards of a million dollars for this one pump station. We have 17 pump stations around the city. Now, does that mean all of them are $1 million repairs? We don't know. We just don't know. We're focused on this ridge pond right now, trying to get that fixed. But we are anticipating right now a million-dollar repair for this one piece of equipment. I'd like to turn it over to Shantanu from an engineering perspective, and maybe he can provide a little bit more context to that.

Before you do that, Cody, you had mentioned it's going to cost $150 million. Is that accurate?

That's what we're estimating the deferred maintenance throughout the entire city is $150 million worth of deferred maintenance. That's water. That's wastewater. That's ditch, that's storm, streets, everything. Understood. In order to get our infrastructure to a point where there's capacity and reliability without these very expensive delays, inconveniences, stuff of that nature. Thank you, Cody.

So, Council, good evening. As Cody has summarized it, we have two issues here. We have temporary issues that deals with the BFD of this particular pump station also a larger issue. So from the engineering perspective, we're looking, focusing on the larger issue. So we're looking at if this pump station is under capacity, meaning serving too many homes and it's not able to perform. But as Cody also mentioned, this was built back in 2003. So we also have a lot of older components for which some we have been able to find as builds. Others, we have not. So we're going to look at this and provide you with the scope of work and what's going to entail that we don't have these issues in the future, especially in summertime when folks are irrigating their lawns. So it'll be a couple of weeks for the scope of work, and then engineering will be a couple of months.

Please continue.

Sure. So the temporary issue that we have with the VFD, Operations Director Kurt would be able to speak to that, but the larger issue, we're focused on that and we're gonna address it and have a session with you to update on that.

Good evening, Council. Kurt Bodette, Operations Director. As far as the VFD goes, we don't typically know exactly what caused the failure. However, the correlation between the power outage, that does make sense as far as what happened there. And as Cody mentioned earlier, the VFD went in last night. It failed. And we are placing an order to get that replaced under warranty as soon as possible. And as far as the maintenance that was completed, it was two pumps were replaced, excuse me, were rebuilt. in 2025 along with that VFD that was replaced last night under warranty. The third pump also was rebuilt this year from a maintenance perspective.

So this doesn't sound like over the counter shelf parts. These sound like extremely large, complicated specialty items that we have a very limited supply of stock to get to, nor does it sound like we have the capital resources to just have spare parts sitting around. Am I correct?

You're correct on that. And again, I would say with pump stations, there are so many complicated parts. There's logistical challenges with that because we're not the only municipality or the city who are looking after these parts, right? There's so many different cities who have broken pump stations, older pump stations, and older infrastructure. So they're also in line. And it just depends, you know, who orders what and when. So we're trying our darn best to get the VFD as quickly as possible to replace it. to have a temporary solution so the pump is functional and then we're looking at the larger problems so as i think one of the two residents have mentioned that this pump station specifically had consistent issues in the past so we're trying to eliminate those consistent issues and that's going to require engineering looking at as builds looking at what we have is it ready to serve the community or not It needs to upsize what that looks like, and we'll have a discussion with you about that.

But just a typical, and I know this is something that you just mentioned that we have to have further discussion on it, but typically a pump station, how many homes does it serve? And granted, I know... you can't give me like a definitive answer because of course it depends on like the the size that's being like irrigated and what have you but what's the typical um like amount of homes that it can serve and and also that how many homes are in that subdivision currently do we know i'm afraid i can't answer both of the questions because the first to your first question it depends where the pump is putting water from and the second where is it sending to

right so those are two parts that the pump has to be capable of doing and and what was that please repeat the second question it was um how many homes are currently in that subdivision i think with our billing system we should be able to find that out um but i don't have that information in front of me one of the things i think is important for the council to understand is

we did not build this system therefore we do not know what standard it was built to and i mean based off what you stated it's it was built in 2003 we acquired it in 2020 and it sounds like a lot of the parts are from 2003 so who owned it um was it an hoa or was it a development who owned it from what i understand because i live in that neighborhood i live in the ridge

and it was owned by the person that developed that land. I thought we purchased it from them.

We purchased it from the Willowbrook Water Association.

Okay. So bad timing.

We're working as quickly as we can to fix it. Thank you for doing that. I think we should do a special session together and just kind of figure out our game plan. It sounds like this is a repetitive issue. It sounds like you're already ahead of my thought of actually putting something together. I understand that it's an absolute inconvenience at this time, but unless it rains, we're not going to be able to fix this as quickly as we want, but we are doing due diligence to do so. And I have your commitment for that. Perfect. And I know you guys in the team, in the field, you're out there months before the system even goes testing it. And I've seen it with my own two eyes and I'm surprised it's so running. So I think we should, as a council, sit down and figure out what we should do, how we should do it,

Once we have their data.

Once we have the data. Yeah. That's correct. But it's not something that we're going to be able to do until, I mean, a VFD, a variable frequency drive, is not an easy thing to work with. And having an antiquated PLC system that's like having a laptop from 1980, that doesn't help us.

It would be my recommendation to the city council that after we have the engineering done, we come back for a work session to identify what is our permanent fix and finally fix this thing once and for all once we have the data and the engineering finished so we know what we're dealing with. And then we'll be able to address when we'll get the replacement part. We're diligently working on it. They are actively, Quantum is actively searching for a part right now. I've heard one's been located. I do not know where it's at. I do not know the status. Country, okay. So we're trying to get that delivered so we can get that repaired as quickly as possible.

Thank you. I like that because that's a priority first, getting that fixed.

So we'll rehab it, get it up and going as quickly as possible, and then we'll have a special council meeting about it, figure it out. For a final fix. Yeah. Final fix. Thank you for your time. Thank you guys.

I have no further questions at a mayor speak Yes Unfortunately, I was on City Council when this proposal to purchase this system came up and we were assured by Past staff that's no longer with the city that this system was in satisfactory condition despite its age. It is not. It became very apparent within the first couple of years that it was not in good shape as advertised. And one of the selling points at the time was that the city should take and acquire the system because we didn't want independent companies coming in and buying it and then price gouging the residents and we had no control over it so that there are several members on this council that weren't here at that time but uh the blunt part of it is we were sold a bill of goods on the condition of this and it's it's failing and I think, as the city manager pointed out, it's going to cost a lot of money to put it back into operating condition where it's going to survive for years. And it's very unfortunate. And I'm sorry I had a part in it. But the selling point to me was the city, if it's going to be furnishing water to the system, They need to, we need to control it. But we, in my opinion, we overpaid way for it and we're still suffering the consequences as are the residents.

Thank you. Thank you, Fred. That's important. Madam Clerk, should we move on or should we let them speak again if they wish? Okay.

I think we need to let them speak. They're here.

Well, we'll turn this into a large debate, and we're going to already have a plan, and we have a solution, and we'll get it going.

City Attorney, is it okay that we move on?

Yes, they've used their time. You can move on.

Okay, so the city is actively working on it. We are going to move on. If you would like to speak with someone from the city afterwards, we can, you know, we have...

I have one thing to say. Go ahead.

So, but we do need to move on.

I don't realize that, but I've been in there since 05. And it seems like somebody about two or three years ago told me that those pumps had been replaced. I don't know how true that was, but it was somebody that was very close to that pump house. So.

Thank you. Thank you for that information.

All right, moving on. Madam Clerk, are there any changes to the agenda?

No, Mayor Pro Tem.

All right, I would entertain a motion. I have a motion and a second.

It's locked me out. Okay, there we go.

And motion carries. The consent agenda.

Yes. I just wanted to ask the clerk a question. Did we receive any information from the High Plains Library District regarding the appointment for the new board member?

We approved the resolution at the last meeting. OK, thank you.

I appreciate you.

All right. I would entertain a motion. And motion carries number 8 new business public hearing a consideration of a beer and wine on premises liquor license for l polio ranchero llc located at 3625 23rd avenue.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem and Council. The city received an application for a new liquor license from Enrique Mendez Hernandez, registered agent of El Polo Ranchero LLC. The application was for consideration of a beer and wine liquor license to sell beverages for consumption on the premises located at 3625 23rd Avenue. This is the former Chili Thai location. Due to a misunderstanding, the- Sorry.

It's the former Romas.

Oh, Romas, I'm sorry. Sorry about that. Due to a misunderstanding, the applicant did not post the public hearing sign at least 10 days prior to the public hearing. However, the public hearing notice was already published in the newspaper accordingly. Therefore, the public hearing will need to be open and continued until the August 3rd regular city council meeting.

And so we're looking for continuance of the hearing. Okay. So I will now open the public hearing for the consideration of a beer and wine on-premises liquor license for El Pollo Ranchero LLC located at 3625 23rd Avenue. And we are looking for a motion to continue.

Mayor Pro Tem, I move to continue this. Perfect.

Thank you, I have a motion and a second. And that is carried for continuance. New Business 8B, public hearing consideration of resolution number 19-2026, approving the second amendment to the Consolidated Service Plan for Liberty Draw Metropolitan District numbers one through nine. And I will open the public hearing, and we will hear from staff.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem and Council. Ed Bull, City Attorney. This is in reference to amendment number two, which essentially it's in Liberty Draw, Metropolitan District one through nine. Previously, Council approved on August 1st, 2022, CONSOLIDATED SERVICE PLAN. FIRST AMENDMENT WAS APPROVED ON JULY 16, 2024, WHICH EXPANDED THE ORIGINAL SERVICE PLAN. TODAY, THE RESOLUTION OR HEARING IS IN REFERENCE TO AMENDMENT NUMBER TWO, WHICH ESSENTIALLY MODIFIES THE DEBT ISSUANCE FOR CLARIFICATION PURPOSES. 6.A of the service plan contains the following sentence. Any debt issuance shall also be subject to the following additional limitations. Any debt issued should not allow for the accrual of compound interest. B, the first maturity should not be later than five years from the date of issuance. And C, district bonds should contain a call provision allowing the bonds to be callable without a premium no later than 10 years after the date of issuance. The amendment would ask for any debt issuance shall also be subject to any following limitations, the first maturity date not later than five years from the date of issuance, and the district bonds should contain a call provision allowing for the bonds to be callable at premium no later than 10 years after the date of issuance. For developer debt issuances only, compound interest is prohibited from accruing. So that is essentially that final portion limiting developer debt issuances, the compound interest is prohibited from accruing.

Thank you. Any questions of staff?

No, Mayor President.

This is a public hearing, so if there's anyone that would like to speak for or against this matter, please step up, say your name and address. Okay. Seeing no one, I will close the public hearing and open it up to comment. And if we don't have any comments, I would entertain a motion. I have a motion and a second. And motion carries. Thank you. Item 8C, consideration of ordinance number 868-26, adopting the automated vehicle identification system, AVIS regulations, first reading.

Good evening, Madam Mayor Pro Tem and Council. Randy Darland, Chief of Police. Mayor and members of Council, before Council this evening is ordinance number 868-26. which would amend Chapter 10.04 of the Evans Municipal Code to establish the city's legal and administrative framework for the use of automated vehicle identification systems, commonly referred to as AVIS. The stated purpose of the program is traffic safety. The ordinance expressly provides that revenue generation is not the purpose of the program and prohibits citation quotas, revenue quotas, and enforcement decisions based on revenue. The ordinance authorizes Avis only in locations permitted by Colorado law, including school zones, residential neighborhoods, construction or maintenance zones, parks and streets bordering municipal parks and corridors separated by designated specifically by city council. It does not itself designate Avis corridors or begin enforcement. Each proposed corridor must return to council by separate resolutions. Before Council considers a corridor, staff must present a written administrative record demonstrating that the designation is reasonable, related to the traffic safety and supported by quantitative information collected within the preceding five years. That information may include crash history, speed studies, traffic volume, reckless driving data, enforcement activity, engineering information and documented complaints. If council later designates a corridor, enforcement still may not begin until all applicable legal and operational requirements have been completed. These include required public notice, publication, warning periods, and signage. The chief of police must certify compliance before enforcement starts. Any corridor located on a state highway also requires the applicable coordination, notice, permits, and approvals involving the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Colorado State Patrol. Mobile AVUS equipment may move within an approved corridor only after the corridor level requirements have been satisfied and required temporary signage must be present whenever those mobile trailers are deployed. The ordinance also establishes due process protections. The notice may not be issued solely by automated means. An authorized person must review and approve the evidence. A registered owner will have at least 45 days to respond and may request an independent administrative review or a de novo hearing in the Evans Municipal Court. At a court hearing, the city bears the burden of proving liability beyond a preponderance of the evidence. The ordinance recognizes the statutory defenses available to registered owners and does not require an owner to identify the driver of the vehicle. AVIS violations do not carry driver's license points. They may not result in an arrest warrant or a vehicle seizure for non-payment and may not be referred for collection unless the personal service requirements of the state law have been met. Civil penalties will follow Colorado law. The ordinance provides statutory first violation warnings at a lower speeding threshold and directs that the violation of 25 miles an hour or over the above posted speed limit receives the maximum civil penalty authorized by state statute. Finally, the ordinance keeps governmental authority within the city. A vendor may provide equipment and support services, but they may not determine liability. They conduct reviews but they do not conduct hearings, set penalties, or exercise law enforcement discretion. The vendor compensation may not be tied to citations directly or to revenue. Compensation may not be tied to that revenue, and the ordinance limits the data use, prohibits commercial sale or marketing, requires appropriate safeguards and lawful retention and destruction, and prohibits use for general surveillance. The chief of police must publish an annual report and present it to counsel and council must review the overall program at least once every three years. Staff recommends approval of ordinance number 868-26 on first reading. This action establishes the governing framework only. Proposed corridors and supporting administrative records will be returned to council separately. With that, I'll be happy to answer any questions you have. It is a long ordinance, so. Thank you.

all right seeing the state okay go ahead council member johnson it's pretty straightforward i appreciate all the information that you provided so i for me i'm okay with it thank you all right seeing no other questions or comments i'd entertain a motion All right, motion is second. Cast your votes. And motion carries, thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

Thank you, Chief. Report, City Manager.

Yes, Mayor Pro Tem, just a couple things. Going back to the Willowbrook system, I also want to point out to the City Council that staff has been involved in trying to even locate grants to lessen the burden on this. We know this is going to be a large endeavor. So we've tried to locate grants. We've applied for grants through congressional and directed spending for this particular system. And unfortunately, we were not awarded for the Willowbrook system, but it is something that staff continues to look into to try to lessen that burden on the taxpayer. And I also want to express my appreciation, especially to our customer service Team, I know that they've taken a lot of heated phone calls here over the last week because of this issue. From a city manager's perspective, I understand that folks are frustrated. I understand that there's a lot of frustrations built up with this particular issue, and I just want to reassure the public that we are working on it as quickly as we can to bring resolution to this. It's my hope that we'll have a VFD quickly so we can get that installed, get the pumps back up and running, that'll buy us some time to get us through the remainder of the year while we're going through the engineering process. But I do want to reassure the public that my team is working diligently on this. It was our hope to have it back up and running last night. Unfortunately, that VFD, it was a failed part. But we're working as quickly as we can to minimize the inconvenience, get this system back up and running so we can... so we can get them back on a watering schedule. So, Madam Mayor Pro Tem, that's all I have tonight.

Thank you. City Attorney?

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I just want to, again, thank the Council for my presence here. I've been working closely with the City Manager to get up to speed with a lot of the issues that we're working through diligently, and we hope to bring some resolution and advise the Council in the few weeks of some positive steps forward. Also, we've gone through two weeks of traffic court with the advent of Avis and how that may change things in the municipal court, adding some court days and so forth. So we'll be working through those as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Next is council discussion. Okay, Council Member Johnson.

I also echo our city manager, Cody. Thank you to our customer service team. They have been handling all those calls, and with grace and with all the information that they have available to them, and they've been doing a great job fielding those calls. But also, I appreciate our staff for working diligently on all of this. It's hard when you get a part and the part, unfortunately, does not work. I mean, those kind of things do occur. And so now we're just pivoting and attempting to acquire another one. But I also want to welcome you, Ed. Welcome. I wasn't here at the last council meeting, so I didn't get to see you on your first day. Well, here at a council meeting, I should say. So welcome. I also... I wanted to state thank you for applying for grants, although we didn't get any yet, I should say. But the attempt is great. It's great to hear that we're doing those kind of things. And I also wanted to ask questions in regards to Heritage Day. I wanted to hear kind of what that's looking like, granted, once you all speak, but just to know how things are moving along with that. what is needed, if there's any help needed from us.

That's all. Is that all? That's all I have. Thank you. Councilmember Crabtree?

I'll first start by also echoing what you had just mentioned. I deal with pumps as well, and it's the most frustrating thing ever. And this isn't an over-the-counter part. You can't just go to a big box store and pick it up. So I completely sympathize with what you're going through because it's a terrible situation. And it's also frustrating for our residents. I understand that as well. We're working hard to get it done. That being said, I would like to have that work session scheduled once we get that data put together and have a solution, at least discuss what we can possibly do. Lastly, I know we're going into executive session. Can we piggyback a second piece in executive session? Because I've got a legal question for our council.

If it's not posted, we wouldn't be able to bring it up directly in executive session. For executive session, we would have to post something with sufficient detail in order to at least alert the

the public that we're taking it otherwise it's something that you can discuss with me afterwards perfect i'll do that thank you thank you um for me i would also like to say thank you uh to everybody that spoke tonight about the willow brook um i know it may have felt like i put you on the spot but i just wanted to make sure we had all the information out there for them um i did hear you know um some of the things that were said as they were leaving and i do want to say that yes i am personally affected by this but um and i may be the anomaly here i'm i'm not upset we've had a very dry year um my yard was okay but as it's gotten hotter you know i thought it was just the sun getting to my yard i didn't even know about the non-pot system until um you know, I started following up on posts and things like that. I understand you guys are working very hard, the whole crew, customer service, Cody, Shantanu, all of you are working so very hard and I do appreciate that and acknowledge that. And to what they said, like even as small as a microwave at my property, we have to order parts and sometimes we have to wait a week, two weeks, three weeks. So, and that's just, a microwave that they mass produce. This is a part that is special to something that was built in 2003. And I know we all want it now, but unfortunately, you know, we can't get it right now. So I do want to acknowledge that I understand their frustration. I am in that neighborhood. But, you know, you can't magically make things happen. But I do appreciate all of you, and I appreciate your answers to the people tonight. So that's all I had. Councilmember Neal?

Well, to me, like I said, it's very unfortunate that we relied on past staff and got a poor system. And I was really worried about, you know, because of the age, the condition. I recognize the frustration with staff and having to order parts for an old system because I've had to do that working for the state myself. And it's very frustrating because they're hard to get, they're hard to find. And then when you get one that doesn't work, that just compounds the problem and frustration. And I would also echo that. So I do appreciate... customer service people having to deal with this on a daily basis. It's very frustrating. I hope we can, that we satisfy these people that came tonight to speak, that we're trying to get something done. And quickly, I hope. But as we know, the system, has some major problems apparently, and we're gonna have to deal with it. And it's unfortunate. It's just another thing we've got on our plate that we have to deal with as council. And staff, thank you.

Thank you. I just had one more thing to add. I'm sorry, I forgot Heritage Day It sounds like they're finalizing the entertainment. And then they did put out that they are looking for entrance for the parade. And so as far as I know, everything's moving along. Do you have anything to add? No. OK. So they're getting it finalized. And we're excited. My parents are coming from Missouri for Heritage Day. So it's double exciting for me. And that's all I had.

All right. Do we have any, have we had anybody want to do the fireworks as far as sponsoring?

For Heritage Day.

For Heritage Days. Not that I know of. I don't know of any sponsors. I know we do have it covered in our budget for the, the fireworks and just a reminder to the to the council we're going to have last year's show plus we're adding on a bit for this year to commemorate the american 250 and the colorado 150 um so we're if you recall back last year we had the weather that moved in so we weren't able to to take care of the fireworks last year but we are incorporating that into this year's show and uh i don't think we've ever historically said this sponsor

paid for the fireworks we've had sponsorships that are just general to throw it into the pot for heritage day or in kind sponsors who you know might bring generators or something like that but i don't think we've ever had in the last two years that i've been on the heritage day committee we've never had a fireworks presented by i don't know vero internet of the opportunities out there for sponsors. Well, we do have sponsorships, absolutely. It's just not necessarily you're sponsoring the fireworks display. We're sponsoring Heritage Day as a whole.

I think in the past we had one.

I heard Crabtree Brewing wants to sponsor.

I heard they want us to enter the parade. Okay.

We did have an oil company that sponsored, I think, about three or four years ago. But for the fireworks as a whole, paid for the whole thing.

Thank you. All right, executive session 11A. Executive session pursuant to CRS section 24-6-402 subsection 4A, B, and E to confer with the city attorney to provide direction to negotiators regarding the possible acquisition of real estate. I would entertain a motion. Motion and second. And motion carries. Thank you. all right are you ready julie all right the time is now 8 16 and the executive session has been concluded the participants in the executive session were city staff and city council for the record if any person who participated in executive session believes that any substantial discussion of any manners 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 meeting laws, I would ask that you state your concerns for the record. Seeing none, I request the city attorney to make his notation for the record regarding the executive session.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Ed Bull, city attorney. I was there for the entire session. It did comply with the statute, and it is subject to the attorney-client privilege. Thank you.

Thank you. Having completed the executive session, meeting adjourned.