City Council - Special Meeting

All right. like to call the Florence City Council meeting for Monday uh April 20th order. Please rise for the pledgece 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. Councelor Ben Hton, here. Councelor Stifel here. Councelor Mgleman

here. Councelor Gardner here. Councelor Stone here. Councelor McKinnon here. Mayor Wolf

here. All right. Item three, we have two presentations tonight. First is for the National Student Leadership Week Proclamation. Um just like to preface this with saying uh we had a little workshop here today with the student council from Canyon City and Florence here. Uh we had council members and mayors from both cities and then the Florence uh council got to talk to some of the department heads. Good conversation back and forth. Um need to thank Courtland uh city clerk for for running it and and organizing the whole thing. So thank you. Okay. Um Randy, you want to bring everybody up? Yeah. Down a little bit more. Keep on coming. Oh, that'll be a that'll be a great picture.

Be a great picture right there. Okay, here's our proclamation. Whereas effective leadership is essential to the growth and prosperity of our community. And whereas student leaders are a positive influence on their peers, modeling good character and scholarship in and out of the classroom, and serve as change agents to improve the overall climate and academic performance levels of their schools. And whereas student leaders do not automatically develop sound leadership skills and required training, dedicated faculty adviserss help them develop the essential traits and characteristics of a leader and to provide the positive experiences necessary to expand their skills and foster their path to becoming effective leaders. And whereas recognizing and celebrating the contribution of leaders is vital to inspiring current and future generations. And whereas we commend and celebrate the outstanding leadership contributions of the Florence High School Student Council. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Steve Wolf, mayor of the city of Florence, Colorado, on behalf of our community, do hereby proclaim April 20, 2026 through April 25, 2026 as National Student Leadership Week in the city of Florence, Colorado, and urge all citizens to seek opportunities to recognize student leaders in our schools and support their training and activities as they prepare themselves for their future stations as leaders of our city, state, and union. Congratulations and thank you for for what you've done.

Who's going to hold this?

Good job, guys. Thank you. Okay. Is Tanya here? Okay. All right. Well, I'll read the proclamation and let you say a few as much as you want to say. Thank you, sir.

Okay. Whereas child abuse and neglect is a serious problem affecting every segment of our community. Children are key to Fremont County's future success. They are our future leaders, neighbors, and employees and will shape the future of Colorado. Whereas childhood trauma, including abuse and neglect, can have long-term psychological, emotional, and physical effects throughout an individual's lifetime and impact future generations. Whereas prevention is possible. Every child and family is filled with tremendous promise, and with strong policies and investments into our community, families and children can thrive, fostering prevention, stability, and long-term well-being. Whereas positive childhood experiences build healthy families and strong communities and everyone benefits when we all are sure that children have positive experiences and that families have the resources they need when they need them. Whereas when parents, caregivers, family, friends, neighbors, employers, and elected leaders work together to increase the five critical protective factors in famil family's lives. That is when we can prevent child abuse, strengthen families, and build brighter childhoods. Whereas effective child abuse prevention activities succeed because of the partnerships created between child welfare professionals, education, health, community, and faith-based organizations, businesses, law enforcement agencies, and families. We acknowledge that we must work together as a community and increase awareness. Together we can create a city of of Florence invested in families. Now therefore, I, Steve Wolf, mayor of Florence of the city of Florence, Colorado, and the Florence City Council, do hereby proclaim April 20, 2026 as Fremont County Child Abuse Prevention

Awareness Month in the city of Florence, Colorado, and in so doing urge all citizens to join in a national effort to raise awareness about the importance of preventing child abuse. Okay, DA, thank you very much. I appreciate you allowing me to be here. Is this on? Can you make sure it's green? Green. The button green. Yeah.

Okay. Um, I just want to say thank you again. Um, the Fremont County Department of Human Services obviously works year round to um try to keep families and children safe. Um, but April's a great opportunity for us to come together um throughout Fremont County and just really bring awareness to this very important topic. And so, thank you for allowing us to come to Florence. Um, I was supposed to have some co-workers here tonight, but they're out doing the hard work. So, just want to say thank you to all of our wonderful staff. Um, they do a wonderful job every single day. And just want to invite everybody in Florence to join us on Wednesdays throughout April for WearBlue Wednesdays, which is an opportunity just to bring awareness throughout the community um that we all can be part of prevention and awareness for child abuse. And if you ever have any questions, feel free to reach out to us. Thank you so much.

Okay. And could you explain again what was on Wednesdays? Yes. Wear blue Wednesday is the color that's nationally um recognized for child abuse prevention throughout the month of April. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, we'll get a All right. Next, we have public comments. Um, we've had three people sign up. There was concerns about the the data center talk that's going on out there. Um, just let you know, we were planning on also addressing this later. So, concerns that you address here, questions that you come up with. Um, we'll wait until it gets to the city uh council reports and city manager port and we'll we'll address what we can and uh we'll go from there. Uh, first we have uh Joan Pound. And when you come up and state your name, your address, um, and a reminder, you have three minutes. Uh, and we'll just listen to what concerns or questions you have, then try to address them later if it's possible.

My name is Joan Towns, and, um, I want to thank you for allowing me to speak. I appreciate that. I'm asking you tonight to just slow down and require proof before moving forward. any proposed data center in Florence. I'm not against the growth. I'm not against approving a resource inensive industrial project. Um but I would like to make sure that we make sound decisions around it. The data centers worldwide can be very resource intensive. We're just a tiny little community as you know of under 4,000 people. We're in the high desert and we could be drought hit with a drought at some point in time. I'm worried about um the water consumption and what it's going to do to our grid and for the surrounding properties around the proposed data center. Yes, it'll bring in some jobs, few but some. um great construction at first, but then once all that flurry of activity happens, the citizens and residents of Florence are left with the aftermath and I just want us to make good decisions, each and every one of us. Thank you so much.

Okay. Thank you. And we'll be able to address some of that a little later. All right. Yeah. Mayor or city manager, if you just want to clarify. Well, I I do think we are very interested in public comment and is very worthwhile topic, but we just want to make sure that you're utilizing your time with knowledge of what the city has to say or

Yeah, I mean, we can make a comment now if we want to. I mean, it's, you know, nobody has nobody has contacted the city about it. From what I've heard, it deals with the Miticus industry out at the old uh gypsum plant that they have talked about data centers. Um having a data center out there that is in the county. Um it right now they have nothing to do with Florence water. Um they have all their own water out there. Um, I even talked to county commissioners today to see if they had had any inquiries and they've had absolutely nothing. Um, you know, I don't know if they've inquired into the planning department over there, but Dwayne MFA said there's been not a word, not a peep about it. I think part of this was um in the f feedc tour that was out there and and just some talking that was going on. That's Yeah. So,

just for clarity, it's on page 53 of the master plan for Yeah. Okay. We'll I can address that or you can address it right now if you want to. Yeah.

Yeah. That that was used as a reference with some with the Gypson plant and some of those things that are out there. That is in no way anything that is other than an example of what could be used in that five mile radius. Um that was an important part to look and see what was part of those five mile radius of those areas. But that is not anything other than that. And I want to ensure the citizens if it did come that would be such a topic that it would come to council right away as that would be something I think uh would need need to be in my privy. So, there is nothing that Ashley is working on at this time other than what Steve said with the the rumblings, but there is no projects or any questions. Um, and once again, it's just in the master plan as an example of maybe things within a five mile radius, not within Florence city limits. Yeah.

And that's pretty typical of master plans. you look at your big corridors coming in and out of the city and uh you do talk about possibilities there aren't.

Yeah, I would just echo that and don't let me speak for anyone but no not no one at the city is aware of any current plans or current discussions even. I do think we recognize that this would be the type of issue that would we would want nothing but public in input. So that's not to put anyone's concerns at ease or we please would welcome the comments, but we just wanted to make sure that the city had had let people know that from where we're sitting, none of that has yet occurred. But as you mentioned, possibilities always exist and uh council deserves to be informed of what your constituents think. Okay, Kathy, I would you have anything else? Any other question? Hi Kathy Madonna 504 Brookway. I was the one that posted on our Facebook page that Florence was involved in discussions about the AI and I corrected that Steve after I talked to you. Apparently, uh, the Mitigus company that's out on State Highway 120 in concert with FEDC, Fremont Economic, uh, Development Corporation, are the ones that are having the discussions. It still is a threat. This is going to happen again whether it's in the city of Florence or outside and it'll probably be outside but we need to work with Fremont County to make sure we are protected. Mitigus has their own water rights. I don't know if they have enough. Um they've have where is it?

1,871 adjudicated water rights. I have no idea if that's enough for an AI data center. I have a feeling it is not. Uh, apparently they're going to do a loop system. So, they take the water in, clean it, clean it, clean it, and then they would try to deposit the waste. That needs to be something that needs to be addressed for the Arkansas River. The biggest concern I have at this point is the electricity usage. Black Hills already charges us more in this area for southern Colorado energy rates in than any other area in the state. The amount of electricity that an AI data center would use is overwhelming. The power lines that would have to be put up and the noise we need to protect oursel and I ask that you work with Fremont County to help the county the county commissioners protect us. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Kathy. Kathy Young. Kathy Young, 226, Florence, Colorado. Um, I don't have much more to add, but just I just wanted to voice my concern too that you all really be aware of what's happening here. And again, like Kathy Madonna was saying, please try to work in concert with the county commissioners. This reminds me so much of that huge RV park that was going to go in at the end of petroleum and it was just kind of snuck in and people weren't didn't seem to be really aware of it because that land is in the county. So, if you guys maybe some of you could start going to the county commissioner meetings and listening as to what's going on in the surrounding area, I'd really appreciate it.

Yeah, like I said, I've already made contact with him today. Thank you. Thank you. We have contact going on. All right.

Appreciate it. Brandon, uh, council, I I apologize for this, but I do need to make a correction. Um, we have been contacted by Rick Harmon, who is the economic development guy for Canyon City. um early on when he first contacted I I had no idea it was for a data center. Uh but he he was asking about water availability um in the airport water system uh between the airport and the high school for a 200 acre lot. Um and we anybody who has contacted us about availability of water up there um we tell them the answer of we we can't sell any more taps or provide any more water up there at this point. Uh so we have been contacted about it. Uh it was it was talked about at uh a meeting. I forgot which meeting Courtland but uh it was with Tom. It it was a water water rights meeting and whatnot. Uh we certainly I don't think would have enough water to provide for them. They would have to

bring the right kind of shares forward. But I just wanted to make a correction that they they did reach out and we did respond with no so far. No. And and thank you because I clearly misspoke but that is helpful context. Yeah. And I believe that was Rickman for Canyon City and the economic development for them. It may have been for a totally different project from what I can remember. Okay. Yeah, totally. I may just be mistaken. I just wanted to, you know, Yeah. be be fully clear here. I I was reached out. That was for a different project, I'm pretty sure. Okay. Well, then uh disregard. Sorry. Sorry for the false alarm. I just wanted to make sure I was I was being fully honest and and transparent. Okay.

And and Miticus has reached out to us about leasing water and we are not interested in us leasing water from them and we are not interested in that. We're always interested in buying shares, but we are not interested in leasing. That's there's no benefit to us with that. So, I don't know if there's some big confusion, but that we're not leasing water.

Y All right. All right. Item five, consent agenda. We have items uh approving the minutes, approving expenditures, couple liquor license uh renewals, temporary use permit for the Florence Pioneer Museum, approving the mural installation on city hall, and approving the July 4th festival of events or schedule for events. Um does anybody like to pull any of these items? I would like to pull E, please. Okay. temporary use permit for the Florence Pioneer Museum.

Mural. That's F. You want to pull F for the mural? Yeah. Okay. And Fourth of July. Okay. All right. So, we're going to pull items E, F, and G. This time, do we have a motion to approve consent agenda items AB C and D? Uh, I'd like to make the motion to approve consent agenda ABCDE. No, ABC D. All right. Sorry. Do we have a Do we have a second? I'll second that. All in favor? Any opposed?

Okay. Motion passes. Item E, uh, approving the temporary use permit for the Florence Pioneer Museum and Research Center. Uh, city clerk or is it Did you guys have questions on the temporary use permit application? Yep. Okay. And I Okay, Gail requested. And the reason I requested is because of my involvement and submission.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Does anybody have any questions? Because this this deals with the tour to Cole Towns and the tavern talk that goes along with it, right? Okay. Anybody have any questions? All right. Somebody like to make a motion to approve consent agenda item E. I make a motion we approve consent agenda item E. Okay. Okay. We have We have a second. Second. Okay. All in favor?

Any opposed? Any abstain? Okay. Motion passes. All right. R, you wanted to pull item F. Consider approving the mural installation on city hall in celebration of Colorado's 15250 anniversary.

Right. U. The only reason I did this, uh, I approve, I agree with the project. I think it's a great project, but uh, Because of past experience I've had with these type projects, I'd like to see some sketches and see what we're buying. So, if we could put that into consideration of approval. Anybody have any other questions? I asked I asked the same thing to myself. I was looking I was looking for some type of sketch for that. And I think we're lucky to have Nor this community incredible mural care.

All right. I just have that approval be contingent on approving the sketches. We would we would Yeah. At the next meeting. Yeah. We'll we'll bring it back to you so you can see it. You want What do you think? Yeah. If you want to approve, if you want us to get it and bring it back and then approve it or approve it based on the sketch, we'll bring it to you. Either way. So, okay. Or we could just table it till table it and we'll bring it back and tell uh Glenn to give us uh what he was thinking.

I make a motion we table uh item F on the consent agenda. Second. Okay. to the May 4 meeting. Yes. Okay. You bet. Okay. It's been motioned seconded to move this to May 4th meeting. All in favor? Any opposed? Any abstain? All right. Motion carries. Item G, consider approving the 2026 July 4th fellow festival schedule of events.

I just thought we needed a little more discussion on this. went along parallel to when we issued the uh drought plan and the changes in the fourth of July directly come from the drought potential and shortage of water and fireworks and a water fight just don't seem the right thing to do. So, we're taking a guess that things aren't going to get any better between now and July 4th. And uh we don't want to have to because the fireworks and we can't afford to use that kind of water for water. So that's why we came up with what we did this year. Unfortunately, it's just unfortunate. It's the 150 250 year. You know, you'd like to make that your big celebration, but we don't have control over what's happening out there. And you know, I don't know if Brandon was gonna address it in his his meeting later, but you know, the potential drought. I don't think there's anything about a potential drought. It's how bad the drought is going to be.

We are have the drought coming. I mean, we're already in it. So, and we still are working on stuff to do in the park to entertain the community because we know they're going to come looking for something and we hope to have something there for. Okay. Anybody have any other questions? Okay, we have a motion then to approve the July 4th festival schedule. I'll make a motion to approve the July 4th item G, the July 4th festival schedule events. We have a second. Second. All in favor?

Any opposed? All right. Motion carried. New business. Consider updating the city of Florence's bank signature cards. City manager.

Thank you, council. This is just a housekeeping item with the addition of Brandy Sheets as our finance manager. This gives her the ability to uh sign checks uh as needed or get bank statements as needed. So, uh, I ask that you, uh, just make an addition, uh, to add Brandy so she gets to do that within her authority for, uh, finance manager. Um it's very important that the uh resolution is read exactly uh as stated to take ev motion, excuse me, to take everybody off and then put on exactly who you want. The bank has to have all the banks have to have it in that particular motion. So right now we're just adding asking the only change is to add Brandy um and then keep everybody else the same as that has worked fine to this point. So

council any questions? Okay. So like to make a motion and again we have to be real specific with it. I move to update the city of Florence's signature cards for Rocky Mountain Bank and Trust, Colo Trust, Flat Irons Bank, Sunflower Bank, Canyon National Bank, and Multi Bank Securities, Inc. removing the following authorized signers from all signature cards. Lorie Cobbler, Courtland Huppy, Gail McKinnon, Steve Wolf, Rud Merglman, and Brenda Gardner. Adding the following following authorized signers to all signature cards. Lorie Cobbler, Courtland Huppy, Brandy Sheets, Gail McKinnon, Steve Wolf, Rudol Merkelman, Brenda Gardner.

Yeah, keep all right. All right. Do we have a second? I'll second. Okay. Any other questions? And the motion was good. Okay. Roll call, please. Councelor Stifel, yes. Councelor McKinnon, yes. Councelor Vanhton, yes. Councelor Mgleman, yes. Councelor Gardner, yes. Councelor Stone, yes. Mayor Wolf, yes.

Item 6B, consider adopting resolution number six-2026, establishing the water rates and regulations for water taps. I'm gonna come down here because this is good news. Um, all right. So, this is a normal also housekeeping item that we do yearly around uh the same time. This will set our debt retirement amount based on our debt payments for our bonds and past long-term debt. So adopting this resolution will establish water rates and regulations. Uh annually the city of Florence is required to adjust those rates. The rates are adjusted by uh our users, our erus, volume, regional water agreement, death schedules, and uh loan payments that were secured by the water enterprise fund. Upon review of the total users and the debt schedules for the required payments in 2026, the following changes will be necessary to fulfill those requirements. No water rates will be changed at this time. Debt payment will decrease. based on attachment B for the breakdown of each tap size. Um regional debt payment will also decrease based on those regional debt responsibilities. As you know they differ from Florences. Um I am asking you to approve this motion on the decrease in the re in the debt retirement payment. And I also want to say that with that decre uh decrease, we had one bond that was paid off. And I

get that question all the time. Are we paying these bonds for the rest of eternity? No, we are not. We had uh the 2013 bond for 10,770,000 is now or excuse me, I said the wrong one. The uh 2003 bond is the bond that we just paid off. So that's very exciting. that um led me to update the history of all the completed projects. change the long-term debt to where now there is only two long-term debts and that is the 20 uh 13 which is the 2021 because we refinanced it and then the small loan uh for the clear water replacement. So as you can see we are tackling all of those payments. this debt will suffice to get those payments completed for 2026. So, I ask that you approve it so we can put those rates starting May 1st. So, this is great news and great for our water users and I uh seeing these pay uh payments come down and paid off I think is really good for our enterprise. Y

we have any questions? Just a quick one from our base water rates. You said those aren't changing. No. How long have our has our current base water rates been exist? How long have we been in that? I think 2006. They've been we haven't changed our water rates in a very long time. And remember Steve, we are working on that. Yeah. This year to see if there is any changes. We haven't even rate uh done anything with our water rates for inflation or any of that for the last 20 years. Oh yeah, it's been it's been a while. So we are looking at that. Uh that will be we actually already started on that. So

Okay. Thank you. And I'd like just to encourage anybody in the audience, anybody that that's watching that if you have questions about the history of Florence water and the regional water system that you it's in the packet. It's online. Um it's a really good document. It details all the projects, the bonds, the cost of putting together our regional water. So I would encourage you to go take a look at that.

And it's very interesting that is a water enterprise fund. and it is separate from the government fund which is our general fund. So that is fully funded by the rate users. So uh it's very exciting because that directly goes back into to safe water which Brandon most important thing safe water. Thank you. Any other questions? We have a motion. I'll make a motion to adopt resolution number 6-2026, a resolution amending establishing water rates and regulations for application for water taps. Okay. Do we have a second?

I'll second. Okay. Roll call, please. Councelor Stone, yes. Councelor Mgleman, yes. Councelor Vanhton, yes. Councelor Stifel, yes. Councelor Gardner, yes. Councelor McKinnon, yes. Mayor Wolf, yes. All right, next. City council reports. Uh James, no report. Matt, no report. Rule,

I got a couple of things. U on a short calendar. Uh farmers market had uh one of the preliminary meetings leading up to opening up for the 19th centur or the 19th year uh this June. And uh we attended the Arbor Day with uh out at the cemetery and that was great. But uh I think the thing I went away with that cemetery is beautiful. They've done a great job out there, especially considering the weather we got. They've done a great job out there in that cemetery. A couple of the committees I'm on have had a few things come up that affected Florence. One of them is county planning. We approved to send on to the county commissioners a project that's going to be built right north of the airport across Highway 50, not uh on this side. It's going to be across on that land. Verest has been trying to get going for years. And it's an extension I think of legacy steel. They already have their truss and rafter operation on this side. This is going to be for is going to be roofing, siding, and building panels. And uh if I can remember back, I think it's a 60,000 square foot building. And they're going to I think the last I heard there going to be about 50 jobs. Construction on that could start this summer. Uh approve with approval of the county commissioners, but there was old plan calls for water to be brought in. There wasn't a question about water. and they listed the first fire hydrant is over there in the industrial park inaccessible and they're going to have a a system up there that will qualify for this fire suppressant. So, it's big out. The other one was

uh I did go out on the F feedc tour of uh what what they

indust uh it's changed a little bit from the first time I it was presented to me. It's a different material they're using, but they're constructing uh mini homes. And the thing that makes this different than other mini homes is it's all steel stud construction. Steel stud, steel rafter, steel joist, steel floor base, everything. And they make that product there. They bring the metal in on big rolls. Depending on what they're building, they bend it to a machine that forms, breaks, and punches all the holes. And they make steel studs and these things. And the houses go together like a tank. And then they finish them just like a conventional home. But uh and then they can be pulled out wherever they want. They had three or four, not one completed yet, but they're they're getting there. They're just within days of them completely done. They said the first few have been sold locally. They're going to go up. But the other thing I found interesting is they are going to build steel stud steel product for any contractor that wants to use it. And the thing about steel is it's a little more expensive, but the labor goes way down. There's no cutting, there's no culling, there's no stacking. You just when the product comes in, it's ready to go up. So hopefully they can sustain out there. It's a looks like a pretty good operation. And I just want to mention all those kids were here today. That's a great thing. Thank you, Courtland. You did a great job. Always proud of the Florence kids. So, thank you,

Brenda. Thank you, Courtland. That's all I have to say.

Yeah, I turned it attended the Florence Museum's opening of their research center. Um, if anybody gets a chance, go over there and research. Um, this is pretty nice. And also, thanks Courtland for the student council leadership program today. Well attended and it was fun. um attended the Chamber of Commerce meeting. They have um about 100 vendors signed up for Junk Teique, which is May 15th and 16th. They've also finalized all the bands for the Wednesday in the Park um which is a free concert for everybody. Um got some great bands and the merchants are finishing up the planning for the car show which is also May 17th.

Yep. preservation meeting is next Tuesday 4:30. Also that morning is the 1:50 250 consortium meeting in Canyon. Um all tavern talks are set and it all tavern talks are not a lecture. it they're an interactive drama about 45 minutes and the topic is something that has happened in history. The first uh one for Florence will be Saturday May the 9th at 2 and also at 2:00 is canyons. So, it's like everything else. There's choices to be made, but First Tavern talks will happen on Saturday, May the 9th.

All right. Thank you. Uh, mayor's report, uh, continue to attend senior coffee when I can get there. It's good just to sit down and and hear from those folks there. I attended Fremont County Tourism Council uh, in June. Uh Dennis Quaid's got a program called Viewpoint and they will be here in June to film uh the Florence Canyon Royal Gorge region. And uh there will be the the focus on that in June is going to be interviewing people downtown. Hopefully they'll get one person downtown Florence, uh, downtown Canyon and maybe up near the Royal Gorge and interview three or four people. Uh, they did they did say they had enough footage of the river running full of water in other years that they will be able to use that. Uh, you because you wouldn't want to be trying to promote our our our rafting season with the lack of water coming down now. Um, grateful for staff putting together a Fourth of July workshop for us. Um, the workshops are are great because we can just sit down and just, you know, ideas back and forth and just talk about all sorts of possibilities. Um, attended the mayor's round table. One of the biggest concerns there is wildfire concerns for this summer. Matt informed me a couple weeks ago that the fire up on 115, it's the first time we used air assets in March in in Fremont County. It's the first time air assets going out of the airport up there in March for a forest fire. So, that just kind of gives you an idea of where we're possibly at. um talked about the wildfire resiliency codes and there

is supposedly some legislation in the state that may delay the the need for municipalities to approve. I don't know just as the latest is I believe that bill as currently constructed died. Okay. It doesn't mean it couldn't come back in or whatever but

but that's something we are Thank you for the update on that. Yeah. Um, and then we all talked about our drought plans. You know, what's going to happen when the water gets scarce? Um, I also tended the service for Judy McCormack. And the reason I'm bringing that up is Judy's longtime mayor of Cole Creek, resident of Cole Creek, uh, creator, from what I've heard, one of the creators and founders of the mayor's round table. And when I talk to all the mayors, they say that's probably the best support group that there is for the mayors. It's it's West Silver Cliff, West Cliff sometimes, um, Cole Creek, Williamsburg, Rockville, Florence, Brookside, Canyon City, and uh, we get together once a month and and just talk about what's going on in our cities and what the issues are and and uh, you know, and she and Judy was one of the major founders and and she was the engine that kind of drove it there for for a long time. Um, and you know, mayors were looking at trying to come up with some type of memorial or something to to recognize her up in Cole Creek and she was also the chair of our regional water for for a really long time also. So, um, truly missed. Attended the C. Central Front Range meeting. There wasn't a whole lot there, uh, directly relevant to to Florence. Attended the board of county commissioners meeting. Uh, I'll be going to the first one in May also because there's a few things there that might concern Florence. Attended the Chamber of Popped into the Chamber of Commerce meeting for a while, as long as I could before I had to go to the next thing. Um, and I was impressed with the the summer um concert program, the June concert program because they're also

going to have shows beforehand, right? Like from six to I heard like Lo Lobo Logans Logans, he's coming in for that first bit before the band starts playing and that'll be really good. Arbor Day planning and at cemetery Pioneer Museum ribbon cutting. It was really good to see that. Um, two things. I'm not sure if anybody else can bring them up. Fremont County next Saturday, Fremont County is having its electronics recycling. Um, $25 a screen. Last year it was back out on the road and they literally could not service everybody that was there. Um, that somebody came trying to recycle because everybody's got so many more screens now. Um, and then Amry tire recycle is Saturday, May 2nd. And, uh, I think both of those are like 9 to 12. And Amry will take your, they say passenger tires, but last year when I went out there, I saw they they took any tire there was out there. And, uh, it's a good thing they ship it up to Colorado Springs, put it through the shredder, bring it back down, and that's how they fuel their their uh, their process out there. Okay. Uh, I also have it down here, the AA data center um issue. I think we've addressed that. Um, let everybody know we're going to stay we're definitely going to stay on top of that big time. Yeah. Okay. All right. City manager.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, Brandon, do you want to talk about your water control? Did I say control? I I'm a control freak. Yeah. Miss slip. We're very proud of Brandon on this. So, we need to uh give some congratulations to his team and all of the hard work they do on this. So, Brandon, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, so every year we're required to put out a uh there's two names for it. whether it's a water quality uh report or a consumer confidence report is what the state goes by. Um we have to give it to our um connected systems Rockville, Cole Creek, Williamsburg, East Lawrence. Um and then we also have to post it in the paper and around town and whatnot. So this is a yearly report. Every time it's published, it's always published for the year before. So, the one you see in front of you is the 26 water quality report for calendar year 2025. It's showing all of our uh sample results uh for what we sample for throughout the year. And then if we hit on anything um anything else, uh the addition to this year specifically is the PAS section. Uh you'll notice in there it says um anything detected will be listed below. That's why there's only one result uh lithium that's that's listed. In one of the four tests for lithium, we had a result of 10 parts per billion and nine parts per billion is the lowest amount that they can detect on their tests. So we had one point above the very lowest that they can even detect. Uh so still pretty good. Um other than that it's just uh everything is well below uh the MCL's maximum contaminant levels. Uh so all good thing to good things to report. We have very good drinking water here in Florence. our little uh mixup with our TOC and alkalinity samples at the end of last year um was actually corrected and we

were back into compliance by December of last year. Uh that's why the very last page. We still have to list our violation we received. Um but the description for it uh says that we are back in compliance and we will continue to test monthly until we reach uh the proper amount. I think we have to test for two years and have a running annual average of below a 2.0 on our uh total organic carbon samples. Once we hit that in in two years of monthly samples, we'll be able to put in for reduced monitoring and go back to quarterly samples. So, any questions on that? No. All right. Uh, one last thing I wanted to bring up here. Uh, I did receive um an email this morning from Michael Kroll, the emergency manager for Fremont County. It was a drought information statement for South Central Colorado and southeastern Colorado. Um, just an update uh valid as of April 19th, which was last f Sunday. Sorry. Sorry.

Yesterday. Hello. Um so uh the second page here they have five different categories for drought intensity and extent. Um the lowest uh severity is called abnormally dry then moderate drought then severe drought then extreme drought and then exceptional drought. Uh the page before that states 97% of Colorado is already experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions. Uh Fremont County, however, we are in the second part a moderate drought and according to our call dates, we are right on the verge in and out, flopping in and out of stage one currently. So, um we will be maintaining uh viewing that every morning and updating as we go. So, check the websites for current updates on what stage we're on. Um they'll they'll be posted and and as soon as it changes we'll we'll get that updated. So any questions for me

Brandon also with uh we wanted to so that will be coming to you we'll have an amendment to our drought plan because we did not when we wrote the initial plan we did not think of water haulers but we do feel it's very important to add them on there. So we will bring be bringing you an amendment to add wa water haulers. Mhm. Yeah. These these water haulers are are they've made a business of hauling water for people on sistns and uh when we in our drought plan when we started talking about restricting it to like just our area um when we when we go to do something like that for a a water hauler there's different things we have to consider because we don't know if their customers are in Chaffi County where we wouldn't want to service at that point in our drought plan um or if they're just down the street uh from the water plant, but on a sistern, you know, it's it's hard to tell where their customers are and where that water's going. So, uh we also had a community reach out to one of the water haulers asking if they could be their the backup water source for their community and bring water from Florence to them. um that water hauler was nice enough to say, "Well, you're going to have to contact Florence if Florence is going to be your backup water source." So, um that that's kind of what brought this to light. Uh a courtesy call from one of the the water haulers. So, That's that's why we were going uh we're going to implement the pin code system.

Um so for a certain length of time um the we'll we'll we'll be posting and have the bulk station users come in and set up a pin code and that at a certain point um we're going to lock out the bulk water system so they have to use their pin code. This is not an account they set up uh where they load money onto it. They'll still be able to use their credit card. They just have to enter their PIN code in to be able to swipe their card like normal. Um and the way they get a PIN is they verify their address um where where they're getting the water. So then we can um at a at a certain stage of our drought response plan stop uh providing water to far outside users and do just the outside users in our general area. Um for instance we really probably shouldn't be in a in a drought situation an extreme drought situation providing water to people who have sistns in between canyon and salida kind of out of our purview. I I would personally say um and we should be more focusing in our immediate area people in Penrose uh Wetmore and and around in our surrounding area. So uh that's that's how we'll limit that. Uh so the the numbers vary. Um we have 350 acre feet uh of uh decreed storage in our south reservoirs. Um we assume because they took a dam out uh in between the two that it's around 400 acre feet now. But we are also storing at a lower level. We're not at full

capacity in that reservoir because it's leaking. Uh so I estimate anywhere from uh two and a half to three months of uh usage out of all of our reservoirs. Um and that's at full full usage. If we go on restrictions and by restrictions I mean restricting the base amount of gallons even if it gets that extreme we can make that last longer. Yeah. That's that's very good. Uh canyon in their settling ponds has maybe one to two days I believe. Two days. Two days.

Still a good idea to conserve water though, right? Absolutely. And and uh my crew and I we we try to maintain our reservoirs as full as possible. Um, and we we we fluctuate about a half a foot from as full as we can keep them. So, uh, just just in case something happens, we we want to have as much water as possible on hand. Any other questions? No. All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Brandon. And our drought plan level one is all about conservation and learning and using that base gallons. So that's what we should be doing. And part of that is also is we're looking at all the sources. We also went out uh Brandon and his team and I just want to make a little correction here and we're also looking at like the the ditches and working with the ditches to the ditch company union and so forth to uh look at the all of the laterals gutters what you know whatever people are calling them um that have been around to transport all of that water. Um, Brandon's team went out and helped and Sam's team went out and were unclogging things and uh doing that to make sure the water doesn't puddle and doesn't go and it gets where it's supposed to go. Um, we said uh continental laterals, but we meant union laterals. So, we apologize to continental lateral users. I don't even know what to call them, but I know we said it wrong. Um, so we wanted to make that correction and know that we are partners with all of the ditch users, shareholders, all of that because it's all we're all one community. So, um, what else I wanted to So, great job, Brandon. Thank you. Uh, just a couple updates outside of my normal. Um, we need to schedule a sidewalk uh, workshop. So, Now that we have the sidewalk uh accepted, we need to look at how that that is. So, uh we'll be reaching out to make a workshop. So, I have a couple ideas I want to put past you so we could talk about that and get that moved forward before any more of the year goes by. Um

we will I will be inter uh interviewing this week. Um I got some uh great applicants for public works director. Um no will miss you know not as good you know Sam sad to say um but I will be interviewing for that this week so there can be some transition time with Sam I think that's extremely important um just I do I just want to let y'all know I watch all the council meetings for Canyon B uh the county everybody so I like you Steve am in tuned and I listen um to everything. I go all the way up to Walsenberg. So, I think it's important we know what's going on in our community to make sure we're our state to know what's going on. So, I I wanted y'all to know I do that also. Um let's see. Um I think that is all I have outside of any questions that you got. Oh, it's cleanup week. I cannot. Usually it's the topic of all conversation, Sam.

Oh my gosh. And it's one of two because we're doing two. So, he looks tired. And I want you to know I didn't make him come. He should be at home in bed. Uh, but it's going good.

Yeah, it's going well. set. Yeah. Well, I know the one by Pioneer Park's almost it's you can see it over the top right now.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I just like to encourage citizens to talk to your neighbors. I've been out in our neighborhood trying to talk to people that have, you know, piles of branches and they may be in the alley or they may not be out in the road telling them that, hey, if you drag them out there, city's going to take care of it. So talk to your neighbors. Um, tell them what's going on. There is a a new report in the packet. Uh we've really been trying to utilize the Tyler system for some crime analysis. So we have um a call breakdown uh in your packet. It's the graph to tell you where the officers are and kind of what is going on in the community. I think it's great information um to see what what is happening, how we can plan in the future, what we need, how many officers we need, what shifts. So, this is a great tool and I think it's great for you guys to have so you can see, you know, what what is going on. And this directly comes from what the officers and dispatch uses. Um and it's They're busy. Sean, you guys are busy.

Yes, they are.

You are busy. And then it also I wanted to say Pam um and Matt have been doing an excellent job out there. Uh there had a lot of cases in court. We had a huge court uh since we had a month off. So court was packed. Uh they had several code cases in there that they took care of. I spent a lot of time with Robert, our city prosecutor, talking about how that looks going forward. Um, we have uh an abatement procedure that we'll be discussing this week kind of. We never really had anything solid. We've just been doing it as we go. Now, we have a really nice thanks to Dan pulling it all together. So, that is something I'm super excited for. Pam also spent some time in Canyon training. um for uh animal control. So, since we have two, we're not going to do animal control full-time, but we're working on what we can. We have the scanner. We have uh we're doing what we can. Um as she gets trained, um Pam seems to enjoy it. We still aren't uh Rottweilers I still think are she's still a little I'm afraid of them. Um, but Pam is out there and you can see on the codes and writing the tickets for dogs off leashes and all of that. So hopefully we'll see some turnaround on that, but they they've been busy, those two. Um, last thing, Mayor, we need to plan our round table, our town hall and our drought meeting. So, if we could do that, uh, we what we're wanting to do is have some communication and training

about our drought plan, give information, and I will be doing a podcast. Um, very soon. We are just trying to get the equipment to do that podcast because I think not everybody watches this meeting, but we can follow up with some other real quick informational meetings that uh can just be out there. I'm super excited about that. And Sean, you can we can do one outside of taco time. Taco. There's one scheduled. Yep.

Taco time. May 5th. May 5th. So,

yeah. Oh, that's right. Cinco deto time. So, uh we also completed our financial audit, our fieldwork that was completed last week. We are done. Uh Brandy, we I spent a lot of time training Brandy. I passing it over to her. She is working on some reports and financials so she can come and give you a report next meeting. I know I thought we could do this time, but we we were busy. So, we'll get that next time. And I'm very She's very excited. We're very excited. That's it. Okay.

What's a short update on the bathrooms on your Oh, they have Oh, okay. I'm gonna get this right. They've done the excavating down to get to the sewer line, which is uh how many feet? 11 feet. 11 feet. Okay, Sam, get on the microphone there and speak loudly, please. Exciting. I know it's your favorite thing. So,

yeah, we excavated down 11 ft. Okay. We had Vivid Engineering come down on Thursday to pick up some soil samples for to get the proctors on it. We returned the first level of 12 inches back from that big dirt pile you guys see in the parking lot. It's returned. The densities come back, the wet density come back well above the 95% that uh spire or the DK horn recommended to be above the rest was returned on Friday. Not really rest but more we return on Friday. We're testing each lift. Now we're three foot below sub surface. But we're ready to set some foundation in there now. So that's where that's at. And then we'll have, you know, we have vivid be coming down here to pull cylinders on the concrete. We have to cure out for seven, 14, and 28 days. They'll break each cylinder to the compression strength of the concrete and make sure that we meet specs there. Then they'll come down here again when we do when we put the class six back in in the foundation to recompact all that the imports you we call them because usually when stuff like this happens all that dirt you see everything out there that was was there we use the export. Well, we returned it. It It passed Proctor and densities, the wet densities. Now we got imports coming in, which would be your class six road base to up the what the engineers required DK DK Horn recommends we do. So, that's what we're going to do. And we'll get Vivid to test the compaction on those two. And usually I don't know where they're getting their class 6 stuff from,

but the proctor should be worked up from say Spotterboro, Langston, TZAC, where they're getting it from. So we don't have to have that retested. They already got the the proctors from it. They know how much water they need to add to it for the densities and we'll get from there. But everything's going to be 95% or better on the soils. Okay. All right. Thank you. coming along. Yeah. Good. Thank you. You bet.

And Courtland's very working really hard on the pool. She uh is hiring. So, anybody out there, kiddos that need a summer job, please uh apply. Uh we are very excited um about the pool season. So, it's coming.

Okay. All right. Anything else for the good? I I just got one last thing. I just want to commend Chief and the police department. They had a couple really tough instances here and uh want to compliment you and your staff how you handled things and there shooting incident we had come up please for the shooting incident we had one officer on and the help with the sheriff's department and state patrol they responded with him to secure the scene and keep the integrity of the scene and then called CBI. So, they did a great job, all the agencies working together, sheriff's department and um state patrol blocking the roads off and then CBI coming in and taking the lead on that. Okay.

All right. Thank you. Okay. And correct me if I'm right, Austin just at a training, he was he was there. So, we had a brand new officer that that's not, you know, your first day that you want, but they all worked together and he got some training. So, yeah, we broke him in with evidence collecting. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. He's expert now, man. We got him broke in. So, and it's pretty standard to call the CBI in to help with that. So, I just wanted to make sure uh to say that.

Okay. All right. Anybody have any need for executive session? Hearing none. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? I'll make a motion. We adjourn. We have a second. All second. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay. We're adjourned at 7:41.