City Council - Regular Meeting

Good morning. Welcome to the City of Colorado Springs City Council meeting for July 28th, 2026. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Casey. Here. Council Member Crowe-Iverson.

Here.

Council Member Donaldson. Here. Council Member Gold.

In route.

Council Member Hengem.

Present.

Council Member Leinweber. Here. Council Member Rainey.

Here.

Council Member Risley. Here. Council Member Williams.

Here.

All nine members present.

Please stand for the invocation and pledge of allegiance. Today we are joined by Reverend Joseph Odell from St. George Anglican Church.

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, maker of all things, judge of all men, we thank you for blessing our city with beauty, with vibrant culture, with economic stability, and with leaders who earnestly desire the very best for our citizens and our community. We ask that you guard and guide our council members as they deliberate the important, often unrecognized, and occasionally painful work of sifting through reports, giving agency guidance, and rustling with the nuts and bolts of policy proposals. As I analyze, discuss, and disagree with each other, help each one to see that any decision that involves trade-offs, comes with risk, will result in disappointment for some constituents, and therefore, they are to make the best decisions with courage. O God, the fountain of wisdom, whose statutes are good and gracious, and whose law is truth, we beseech thee so to guide and bless the council of the city, that it may ordain for our governance only such things as please thee, to the glory of thy name and the welfare of the people, through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We will now consider the consent calendar. These items will be acted upon as a whole unless a specific item is called, offered discussion by a council member or a citizen wishing to address the council. Is there anyone who wishes to pull an item off a consent calendar?

Councilman Williams. Thank you. I just want to make sure that I sufficiently pulled it off yesterday. Thanks, Michael.

Yes, that is noted in 7A. We will now conduct a voice vote. All in favor of the consent calendar, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Moving on to item 5A. Will the clerk please read item 5A into the record?

Item 5A, City Council Appointments to Boards, Commissions, and Committees.

This morning we have El Paso Teller County 911 Authority Board. Two vacancies have occurred on the E911 Authority Board due to two member resignations. Police Chief Vasquez nominated Deputy Chief Douglas Traynor to fill the vacancy and Fire Chief Royal nominated Deputy Justin Traynor Justin White to fill the vacancy. I have reviewed the nominations as liaison to the 911 authority and have recommended both trainer and White for the appointments as voting members. If I have no discussion, can I get a motion?

So moved.

I have a motion by Councilman Gold.

Second.

And a second by Councilman Donaldson. Let's vote.

And the motion passes nine to zero.

And I believe we do have both Deputy Chief Treanor and White, if you could stand in. So you'll be moving on to the authority board. Thank you for coming. We appreciate that. Moving on to item 6A, New Year's business.

Good morning, Council. I'm just calling attention to a couple events happening this Saturday. The first at the Pikes Peak, celebrating Colorado's 150th. Apparently we're gonna have an attempt at a record-breaking simultaneous dunking of donuts up there. And then at Rockledge Ranch, United We Rock Beer, Whiskey, and Music Festival. Both events are happening this Saturday. So I just want to call attention to those.

We also have the confirmation

Good morning again, Council, Travis Easton. It's my privilege to present Judge Kristin Hoffaker for your consideration as the next presiding judge of the Colorado Springs Municipal Court. Judge Hoffaker brings an exceptional record of public service and legal experience to this role. She earned her bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and her law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Throughout her career, she's served the public in a variety of important legal roles, including the prosecutor for the Fourth Judicial District, attorney for El Paso County, prosecutor for the City of Colorado Springs, associate judge for the Colorado Springs Municipal Court for nearly a decade, magistrate for Colorado's fourth judicial district, and municipal judge for the town of Calhoun. During her time with the municipal court, Judge Hoffaker has earned the respect of her colleagues through her fairness, sound judgment, professionalism, and commitment to justice. She's demonstrated strong leadership and is well prepared to guide the municipal court into its next chapter. Before concluding that, though, I would like to recognize Presiding Judge Hayden Kane for his years of service and extraordinary work. More than two decades he has served the city of Colorado Springs in Municipal Court. We are deeply grateful for his many years of distinguished service. And so with that, I respectfully ask for your support in confirming Judge Hoffaker.

So this morning we are going to vote. However, the swearing in will take place Thursday morning at the breakfast for city council so that all of her colleagues can join her in that. So a little bit of change this morning, but I do need a motion. So moved. To have a motion by Councilman, well, Gold, and a second by Councilman Hengem.

My screen is not allowing me to make a motion, so.

And I just added both of you to it as mover and seconder.

So we have a motion by Councilman Gould and a second by Councilman Hengim. Let's vote. To make a comment, if I could, please, before we vote. Yes, please. Thank you.

I just wanted to say myself also to thank you to Judge Kane. I can't quite see your face, but I know you're back there. I want to thank you for your many, many years of service in our municipal court and And actually for, I believe, really helping to create such an incredible culture of customer service in our municipal court. And I thank you greatly for that. I think what you have promoted in terms of many people's first experience with the law and in our court system is very admirable. And in my conversation with the soon-to-be presiding judge I had last week, and I found that to be incredibly delightful and think she will carry on that tradition in the most fine way. So I look forward to being there for your swearing in. Thank you.

And Madam President, if I could, I'd also like to thank Judge Cain. It's been a pleasure working with him. Over the five plus years I've been on council, he's demonstrated real leadership both here in the city and at the state level in advocating for common sense laws and reforms during each legislative session. And he's really worked at it uphill for the last few years. Nancy's touched on one of the things that struck both of us was that sense, and I remember this and I repeat it to others, that for most citizens, that's their only contact with the judicial system. is locally and their impression uh is made right there and judge kane has been uh very thoughtful about that and has created a culture over there where he has a funny uh thing he's he's read to us where uh someone who got brought to court said it was the nicest experience he's ever had in court or something like that it was Yeah, pretty amusing, but it just shows citizens feel they're being most, you know, rational citizens feel they're being treated fairly and appropriately in our court system. So thank you, sir, for your many years of service to the city.

Seeing no other comments, let's vote.

And the motion passes nine to zero.

Congratulations, Judge Hoffaker. We will see you Thursday morning at 7 a.m. You're welcome. Moving on to item seven, items called off consent. Will the clerk please read item 4BA into the record?

Item 4BA, City Council Regular Meeting Minutes, July 14, 2026.

Councilman Williams. Thank you, President Crow-Iverson. I just want the meeting minutes to reflect that on that date, the Gardner Law Office did not represent the OCCDDA. So just make sure that's clear. Thank you.

So we will need a motion because we are voting on minutes and I need a voice because the computers aren't working so I can get a voice first and a voice second.

So moved.

Second. So a motion by Councilman Risley and a second by Councilman Williams, let's vote.

And the motion passes nine to zero.

Moving on to item 9A. Will the clerk please read item 9A into the record?

Item 9A, ordinance number 26-28, amending multiple sections of Article 3, Code of Ethics, of Chapter 1, Administration, Personnel, and Finance of the Code of the City of Colorado Springs 2001, as amended pertaining to the Code of Ethics.

Councilman Risley.

Thank you, Madam President. I don't believe anything has changed since the last time this item was discussed by this body. Although, if there are any questions, Carly is available, as well as Tracy Lessig, if there are any legal questions. But I don't believe there's anything new to present or discuss.

Councilman Hengim. Thank you, Madam President. I just would like to make note that there's still nothing in this ordinance related to de minimis exception. I'm not going to make an amendment to that regard, but I would request that we consider adding de minimis language to the broader code of ethics that is under review by the city attorney's office right now, and that we please consider that language that was presented by the chief of staff to us. So that would be my request, and also just state for the record again, I will be voting no, not because I don't support some important standards around this matter, but I cannot support an ordinance that does not allow an elected official who works 24-7, has a family, to be at all of the functions required of him and not be able to run a personal errand while en route from one event to another. Thank you.

I need a motion, a voice motion and second.

I move approval of this ordinance.

So a motion from Councilman Donaldson.

I'll second.

And a second from Councilman Risley, let's vote.

And the motion passes with a seven to two vote.

Moving on to item 9B. Will the clerk please read item 9B into the record?

Item 9B, ordinance number 26-31 of the City of Colorado Springs, correcting the central business district boundaries of the old Colorado City Downtown Development Authority.

Councilman Williams. Thank you. Much like the last ordinance, this one hasn't changed. It's just removing the 17 parcels that were erroneously placed into the old Colorado City Downtown Development Authority. And I'll make a motion to approve.

Councilman Rainey.

Thank you very much, Madam President. As I stated before in a previous session, due to the nature of how this DDA was structured, the erroneous addition of the 17 properties, then of course, there's a lot of residents in that area that did not have clear understanding understanding of what the votes were actually transpiring. And then on addition to that, when you look at the actual outline of all four votes that went to the ballot, the first vote, everyone, not everyone, but the folks that did vote, it ended up passing by a measure, I think, a delta of somewhere of... 10 to 13 votes, but then the meal levy didn't pass. So that clearly states that there is total confusion on what was transpiring. And as I stated before, when you look at the United States of America, there's only two cities that actually have DDAs and we are one of the two. And then there is no city in the state of Colorado that doesn't have two DDAs. So I will continue to maintain my current vote of no on this particular one. not because I don't want to see anything prosper from this. I do, I think there's a better model for this, but I don't want to vote on the ordinance to remove something and then there's a lot of other legalities of things that have already transpired and taken place. For example, there are fees that were collected that should have not been collected and those fees are in the process of being pushed back to the entities it was collected from. So before we jump into an ordinance that removes these properties, I know there is on the schedule, I believe later, either in a month or the next month where the DDA will be here, that board will be here and we'll be discussing through those items. So because of that nature, I'll continue to vote no until we hear the larger picture of what transpired from beginning to end. Thank you.

Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, Madam President, I'd like to second the motion. And also, I believe a citizen who's not confused could have said, you know, I believe there should be a DDA, but I don't agree with this specific mill levy. So they could vote yes for the DDA, no for the mill levy without being confused. That's all.

So I have a motion from Councilman Williams and a second from Councilman Donaldson. Let's vote.

And the motion passes eight to one.

Moving on to item nine C, will the clerk please read item nine C into the record?

Item nine C, ordinance number 26-32, annexing into the city of Colorado Springs, the area known as PTAA addition number one, annexation consisting of 14.12 acres located southeast of the Stetson Hills Boulevard and North Mark Shuffle Road intersection.

Just for clarification, was that 9C and 9D?

That was 9C only, and I can read 9D as well. Please do. 9D, ordinance number 26-33, ratifying and applying ordinance number 25-71, amending the zoning map of the City of Colorado Springs related to approximately 14.12 acres located southeast of Stetson Hills Boulevard and North Mark Shuffle Road, and establishing mixed-use medium-scale with airport overlay district, and the related land use plan for PTAA charter school.

Councilman Risley.

Thank you, Madam President. My firm has been retained as the architect of record for this school, and while I believe I could be impartial and fair in my decision-making, I don't want to have any perception of impropriety, so I'm going to recuse myself from these two items. Thank you.

Good morning, Chris.

Good morning.

So this is just the follow-up to last meeting's hearing on the PTA annexation. So this includes the second reading for the ordinance of annexation and then the ordinance for ratification of the zone change and land use plan. Other than that, I don't really have anything else to add unless you have any questions for me.

Councillor Mulroney.

Thank you, Madam President. In regards to this particular annexing of this item, there was only one concern I had and I hadn't received an answer just yet. In the previous proposal, there is supposed to be a very specific left turn, but from my understanding, there's a thought process of not doing that and only making it a right out. Has that been addressed or is that still the same?

That is still the same. They have a right turn out onto Mark Shuffle and then their primary access is gonna be through an easement on the east side of the property, extending up to Huber Road.

So for anyone who's coming out on Huber Road, they will not have the ability to cross, I guess, cross Mark Shuffle into like a left turn lane to go south on Mark Shuffle?

That is correct. So anyone coming out of the property onto Mark Shuffle can only take a right out.

So they can only take a right out and if they have to go south, they're gonna have to find another way or U-turn or go all the way down?

They would, in that case, go up the easement up to Huber and then have to go out and down.

Okay.

Thank you.

I don't see any other comments. I need a voice motion.

So move.

I have a motion from Councilman Rainey.

Second.

Second from Councilman Casey, let's vote.

And the motion passes, eight yes and one recusal.

And item 90, I need a voice motion. I move. Councilman Gold?

Second.

Councilman Rainey? Let's vote.

And the motion passes, eight in favor, one recusal, which will have to be corrected in the record, as I didn't check the button.

Moving on to item 10A. Will the clerk please read item 10A into the record?

Item 10A, an ordinance amending ordinance number 25-95, 2026 budget appropriation ordinance for a supplemental appropriation to the retail marijuana tax fund in the amount of 458,000 to fund a contract with Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority to provide security services in the South Nevada corridor.

Good morning, Jariah.

Good morning, President Crowe-Iverson, Pro Tem Risley, honorable members of council, Jeriah Walker, executive director of the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority. Today, just have a brief presentation that I'll click through, just reminding council of the maps of this area. I did want to bring up just a couple of quick things before I got into it. One, you know, in your packet there was a report that DC Jensen put together for your own Carly Hoff that really does a great job of illustrating the heat map of where certain things have been occurring in this area where CSPD has had calls. Obviously the goal of this security contract is to reduce those calls from CSPD and actually be able to get them to go to other parts of our city or areas where there's a more violent crime being committed. The other thing I wanted to point out is during our last presentation, there was a couple of answers that we were a little fuzzy on, in my opinion, when I went back to review everything. One of those being with the drones. So there was a question about if those drones would communicate with each other. I do wanna say I've been working with DC Trainer on having that just be a CSPD drone that would be funded through this URA process as opposed to, using the Fidelis security drone. And really, that was mainly around just communication through those drones. Obviously, if they have one going into that area that is going for whatever it may be, they don't want to run into a system that they're not operating that's maybe just patrolling the area. still going through those talks still the same amount of money and if there was any shift in that we would just put that towards more boots on the ground so i did want to bring up that too um also councilman casey you had asked a question kind of around measures of success you know i had told you that from the ura perspective obviously building out the public improvements and that east side development was extremely critical uh councilman risley was great and and also mentioning that It was also critical for the success of the existing businesses that are in that corridor because they're really the lifeblood of what's going on. But also what we measure, similar to what we do with the downtown clean and safe program with whether it's a camping violation, a drug violation, sit lie, whatever it may be, that's actually giving us real data and touches on some of these vulnerable individuals to get them into the care that they need. So that's another stat in a measure of success that I wanted to mention. And then lastly, Councilman Rainey, I wanted to come back to you. I know you had mentioned Springs Rescue Mission through these conversations. I did wanna tell you that we do have a meeting scheduled with them later this week to talk about their partnership potentially in this program. Obviously the biggest thing with Springs Rescue Mission is just getting outreach workers into that corridor. And so the security is helping with that and being able to push people towards services or let them know what's out there. But we'll try to work with Springs West Commission too and make sure we're coordinated on that. And I will say there does seem to be interest in them being on this particular committee as well. Hopefully this is successfully formed. So I wanted to address that for you too. That's why they're not here today. I also would be remiss if I didn't mention our own CFO, Sharae McDaniel, being in the audience. Obviously with the Finance Act, she's here for any questions for you all as well. So if I could, do we have the presentation in there? You did not.

I can pull it from the agenda, though, if you give me a second.

Okay. Well, it's up to Council. Would you like me to go through the presentation that I went through last time? It essentially just highlighted the maps of the area, really the cost of the security contract, and then really the piece that was in the packet, which is from CSPD with their statistics.

Councilman Hendren would like you to go through it. Sure. Councilman Lineweber.

Sure.

Fair enough, fair enough. And I also agree. So that's at least three of us would like you to do it.

Fine with me. Thank you, Emily. Okay. So again, very brief presentation, but here is a map of the actual security area. This map covers the entirety of the South Nevada URA, which was formed in 2015. And then really everything north of the interstate there, that's encompassing Dorchester Park, going all the way up to really Mill Street in Nevada. That area is outside of the URA, but we're seeing a lot of traffic in these issues and the heat map obviously responds to this too, really throughout that entire corridor. So it's not just a URA thing, it's everything that's within that green boundary. Again, calls for service. You know, again, big thank out to D.C. Jensen for providing this. But really shows, this is obviously from May 25 to April 26, but really shows just kind of what we're dealing with in the area. One of the biggest challenges to the URA has really been that eastern side development of Nevada. And frankly, we've lost some very, very big people. very big retailers that were going to go there and did not feel comfortable with the area or the state of things at this time. Obviously the URA is funded through the dollars that we get, our net new dollars that we use towards public improvements with Cheyenne Creek, the trail system, streetscape, all of these nature, all of these things. And that doesn't work until this east side comes along a little bit more.

Councilman Lineweber. Yes.

I just wanted to kind of add to the fact that, I'll say it, we lost Starbucks. And it was actually a great spot and they really put a pretty large investment in that building and everything like that. They just eventually said, we just can't deal with it anymore. And they were dealing with lobby issues and other type of things. So we had a rather large company just say, it's just not safe. We need to leave. And I think that's important to understand that when you say big, I mean, we're talking Starbucks, who really wanted to be there, but they had to pull out. And now their building's gone.

So now it is gone. That is correct. And, you know, in addition to Starbucks, there was ones that new ones that we were having wanting to come in to that corridor and then ultimately chose when they got there. Matter of fact, one of the site selectors in particular wouldn't get out of their car.

I mean, one less place for me to get my coffee is a crisis.

This is true. This is true. Lord knows we all need our coffee. And then going over the security fees, the URA brought in several different security firms to talk through this with. Fidelis really came to the top. One, former PD, so they're very trained in de-escalation techniques. I thought they brought an extremely high level of professionalism and really understood the importance of building rapport, being able to push people to services that they need, and being able to just show them what's out there, but also with their communication levels with CSPD. They're just gonna be able to speak that language and know when a call needs to be elevated to the next highest thing to get our great officers involved. again you know i know i know i mentioned their names earlier but a big shout out i i do want to mention uh you know be remiss if i didn't mention dc coke who was commander coke at the time who really got the sit light ordinance pushed into this area uh that has been a huge help um you know dc jensen obviously for doing such a great job when we asked for him for this data and then also dc trainer I really have felt a partnership with PD on this level. And so, you know, what are we doing with cameras? What are we doing with drones? How are we communicating? And just, I feel like we're in the right place at the right time to make South Nevada truly what it needs to be. So other than that, I will happy to answer any other questions from Council, and I'll open it up to that. Thank you.

Councilman Hingem. Thank you, Madam President. More comments than questions. Sure. You may be on this mailing list for an organization called Safer Cities that is dedicated to cities that are working on public safety in all kinds of ways. And we just received a newsletter this week in which they highlighted Three cities. This is a trend. Our city is not the only city doing clean and safe programs. They highlighted Portland, Maine, Austin, Texas, and Seattle, Washington in their story. And that would be a website we're checking out. If you'd like to learn more about that, that we are one of many cities who are focusing on their downtown, keeping them clean and safe. understanding the importance of vibrancy for any city to have a healthy, clean, and safe downtown. So I wanted to make a point of that. I also wanted to, and I certainly will vote in support of this. I also wanted to just make a note about what I think is a, you know, we're working on in many ways. We heard yesterday from Amy Cox around point in time count, some of the impacts of the unhoused population and how that's impacting things. But I think it's really important important for us to take note in particular to a portion of the population that is often referred to as people with severe and persistent mental illness with whom a lot of these folks are and that we need In my opinion, I think we need a more coordinated and collaborative effort among those providers in our city who serve that particular population. It's a subset of folks that we're dealing with, but it is a set that years ago were released from state mental hospitals, We've been up and down in terms of how we've dealt with that particular population with those needs. But as I talk with the homeless providers in our city, that's a need that we have is to actually, and I think the city could support. It's not our job to provide those services, but I think we could use our platform to help bring those providers together to look at how do we better coordinate for that subset of population, as Amy said to us yesterday. When you deal with people who are on a list with a name and you can address those specific individuals, you're making good progress. So I just wanted to make note of that as well. And then lastly, I just wanted to say, this is also just a comment, that this revenue, as I understand it, is really coming more from our retail marijuana funds. And I just want to make note that our lodging auto and rental tax, which is those revenues are collected by the tourism industry, the hotel and auto rental. And they have a say in and they participate in determining somewhat where those dollars or at least a portion of those dollars go. But the marijuana industry is not invited to the table in this decision. And I just wanted to make that point.

Thank you. Thank you.

Councilman Williams. Thank you, President Kerr-Iverson. As was mentioned, as we've heard this throughout, what about me? What about my parts of the city? And as this one is in my district, as soon as the newspaper article hit, I had text messages and emails saying, again, what about me? For me, I think we're gonna play trial and error. Like there's parts and aspects of clean and safe that we're learning from and it was a pilot program and that was the point of it was to be a pilot program. And this is not exactly like clean and safe. This is a different approach, something that you've put together that's, Not, I'm gonna call it as holistic as clean and safe, but more focused. And what I view both of these as is we're learning. I think no one's gonna argue that eventually something like this is going to be spread throughout the communities, but the point is to then make it effective pointed cost effective using our dollars as as wisely as we can and right now we're in that learning phase and we're in the how do we make our city safer phase and i don't think anybody has said that that this is the end i think this is really the beginning And we're going to learn what we can and then implement it in different parts of the city. I know that's what the mayor is looking forward to. So I don't want anyone to think this is a, this is it. We're only going to be focusing on these 2 areas. It's going to expand and. You know, we're going to have the conversation of what 2027 dollars look like for those men of medical marijuana funds and. i think it might be 28 dollars where we can start talking about expansion because then we'll have more information but i don't want anybody to think that you know we're only focusing on certain parts we're gathering information we're seeing what works and what doesn't so that when we spread it out we know what the right answer is thank you councilman donaldson yeah madam president um

When you were here last time, Jariah, I expressed my concerns with this, and it's an approach where we're gonna pick certain parts of the city, and we're gonna give them, like, basically the, you know, level of security and order which all parts of this city should have. And we're gonna do it with private security, not with our police force. And I'm gonna vote yes on this today, but only because our chief of police said even if we gave him these funds, he couldn't hire police officers right now. Because in the end, I don't think it's right to create specific parts of our city, we're gonna make sure that you don't have a scary experience with a vagrant. But if you go to Austin Bluffs and Academy and you go to the Walmart there, you're on your own when you walk across the parking lot. I think it should be done with CSPD and the community service officers and other things inside CSPD and not private security unless the private business wants to hire those themselves or a DDA wants to hire those people themselves. But to use tax dollars to do it, I'm afraid we're picking winners and losers And I don't want Colorado Springs and the rest of America to turn into a third world country where you live in your gated community, then you get in your vehicle and you run the gauntlet to the next secured area. And it worries me that this, I'm gonna accept that it's necessary today, but I don't want it to become the norm. Thanks.

Councilman Casey.

Thank you, Madam President. Naraya, I do appreciate you answering all my questions and the follow-up as well, but I do remain opposed to the approach of using a contracted security company to perform the inherently government task of patrolling and securing our city streets. I'm concerned that the proposed contract of $458,000 does not have any specific outcomes or metrics. There are no incentives for exemplary performance or financial penalties for ineffectiveness. per Councilman Donaldson's point from the Chief of Police about hiring new folks, but I would rather see the funding go to the Colorado Springs Police Department to pay our police officers overtime to increase patrols across the city. Thank you.

May I make a quick comment to that, sir? Sure. Again, and I think CSPD has ultimately said that this is something that they see as a positive for them too. I don't wanna make it look like we're just paying security to pay security and trying to take that off of CSPD. I mean, we're a city of 200 square miles. Obviously, police is one of those factors, even with open positions, they still can't fill them all. And that's a struggle that we're just dealing with as a community as a whole. I do think that the security aspect frees up police to get over to other areas of our city much more quickly. And so as opposed to getting a call where maybe they wouldn't have to pull off of the road and spend time with that individual, if we're able to deescalate, get that individual in the service that they may need, that could mean minutes, hours quicker to another call. So I just wanted to throw that out there too, that CSPD is fully behind these efforts.

Councilman Lineweaver.

Yeah, I just wanted to point out that I think efforts like this are necessary because of really the financial component. It is nice to say, hey, we just need more police, but sworn officers are quite expensive. There's a lot involved when we add sworn officers, and there's a pretty large expense, where often when we kind of have these security guards or Parks Ranger program or a number of other officers, security people that aren't at the same level as sworn, their pay is virtually half of what they receive. And so we can put two people out in the field versus One, now obviously they can't do the same things. They can't write a citation. They can't arrest someone or something. But they're eyes and ears that are out in the public and that's kind of what we need more of. They know how to respond. They're gonna be able to pick up the phone and say, hey, this has kind of been elevated. We're gonna need some additional support and they can call in the Calvary when needed. And I think that's the greater point. That's what's been experimented and done with Clean and Safe. We have these different levels which are actually less expensive to kind of put in place social workers, some of the security people that are walking downtown and stuff like that. It costs less. They can't do as much, but they can be the eyes and ears. The Parks Department has done this with their ranger program. They have rangers now out. We've even got a program now on Pikes Peak, where we got a whole ranger program that has started on the Pikes Peak itself, where we have, I believe, three of these individuals who are out on the trails, kind of observing and seeing kind of what's going. It's just a way to kind of put more eyes and ears on the ground. I think that's important to kind of understand what we're looking at. We're not looking to hire people that are going to put people in handcuffs. That is not happening. What we're looking to do is just have responsible people paying attention to what's happening and keeping a record. And then if needed, they elevate it and contact the appropriate people to kind of come in and take care of. So I think that's important to understand.

Yes, sir.

I don't have any more comments from the dais. Can I get a motion and a second?

Motion.

I have a motion from Councilman Leinweber. I'll second. And a second from Councilman Williams. Let's vote.

And the motion passes on a seven to two vote.

Moving on to item 10B. Will the clerk please read item 10B into the record?

Item 10B, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Colorado Springs approving the Southeast Strong Neighborhood Plan and Community Strategy together known as the Southeast Strong Neighborhood Plan.

Good morning, Kevin. Good morning.

How are you?

Good, long time no see.

Yep. I know that we appreciate the opportunity to present this today. A number of our supporters who wanted to speak are running late, or were running early, whichever, but I apologize for the inconvenience. We'll run through this, and I know this has been a presentation we've done several times, but if there's a question on anything here, please stop me and we'll go from there.

Sometimes when the images are larger in a presentation, it takes in a minute.

I forget that. Keep clicking, keep clicking, that'll be really, really fast, because we'll be on the last slide. Okay, so it looks like we're getting ready. Okay, again, this is a Southeast Strong plan. It is an outgrowth of the plan COSC, there we go. Backwards. It is an outgrowth of the Plan COS Neighborhood Planning Program, which is one of the seven key initiatives in Plan COS. And we have, that is to take small areas and neighborhood land use plans, initiate a plan publicly, and then do a plan that is manageable, community scale, address the needs of that part of the city and supports livability. and updates existing aging neighborhood plans, which we are always in the queue for doing that. The neighborhood program should be advisory, so this is city and community goals and strategies, evaluate the existing conditions, strengthen neighborhood pride, and coordinate and partner with neighborhood organizations. There was a steering committee and a technical support team that should always be a part of doing a neighbourhood plan like this, and we certainly accomplished that here. City departments are looking for a plan at this particular scale to guide the efficient use of public and community-based resources. Those would be infrastructure items, it would be support for housing and parks, schools, not schools, but parks, roads, sidewalks, trails, et cetera, to stimulate economic development and redevelopment, promote housing development, and expand the public infrastructure for safety purposes. This is the area that we're talking about, Plan COS Southeast Strong Neighborhoods. So there's the area as it relates to the city as a whole. And those are the six neighborhoods that are part of the Southeast Strong Neighborhood Plan. The project team included both the Comprehensive and Land Use Review Planning Department. It's been going on, I think, for the last four years, so it started certainly before my tenure. Economic development, housing and homeless response, public works, utilities, parks and rec, police department all have had a role and input into the plan as it's developed. Community partners, you've got a list there. Substantive support and effort from Rise Southeast and Thrive. School District Two was always there and a lot of the others along the way. So a lot of community partners that were participating in the steering committee. Process on the timeline started in 2021 and did a lot of visioning, a lot of drafting. We've had a lot of different ideas about big ideas in terms of goals, priorities, and strategies for each one. They were all in your plan that you have a copy of. Community engagement in public meetings have continued on, our last one being about three or four months ago. We've had draft plan, refinement, final drafting, and we're here for adoption and implementation. As I said, community engagement, these are some pictures, but there's been certainly a lot of interviews during committee members, attendance at public meetings, and a lot of survey responses that help guide the development of the plan. And what we have here is basically two pieces of this puzzle. The Southeast Strong Neighborhood Plan, which is really what the city's role or it will guide the city's investments in Southeast. So that's a direct city programming. It includes parks, trails, roads, sidewalks, all of those kinds of things that the city does. And so it provides guidance for economic development. It provides guidance for police safety and fire safety. And so these are the kinds of things that the city administration and the city council will use to help guide investment in the neighborhood. Then there is another piece of it, which is the community strategy. piece, which is kind of what the community and their programming is for their own community. That would involve a lot of the things that nonprofits would do, just general guidance in terms of what the general tenor for what we're trying to accomplish in Southeast. And this is really the neighborhoods part. So this is the piece where they have their ability to, or their sort of guidance as to what they're trying to accomplish in their neighborhood. The big ideas from the city side, grow and support businesses and entrepreneurs and housing. We do a lot of that already, have been doing that for a long time. Live, better live, upgrade how we move, which is basically the transportation pieces, and support our safety, which is the police and fire aspects of that. In the community strategy big ideas, they're trying to create special places and community hubs, so that would be more private investment. reflect and celebrate their diverse culture and to continue to work on community strategies for health and food access. The priority topics from the neighborhood plan, infrastructure and capital improvements, economic development, job growth, housing, transit, parks, trails, sidewalks, and safety. From a community strategy standpoint, it's the highlights of the cultural assets, identify community hubs and community partnerships, and food and healthcare access. Those are the things that the nonprofits and the community are working towards. This is an idea of what the development has been in the last couple of years. So this is an area that shows you what development opportunities there are as well as what has occurred. I don't know if I wanna go through all of these. We've gone through them before. And so there's economic development goals, housing, mobility, and safety. All of those are outlined in the plan. And then it's a community strategy in terms of health and food security, as well as community hub goals. There's been a lot of public and private investments since we started this plan. This will give you an idea of some of the projects that are going on. And there's a list of them as you go forward. But there's a lot of investment that has occurred and continues to occur in the southeast part of Colorado Springs. We do have an economic revitalization strategy. It is complicated and complex, but that's what's needed in all portions of economic development. So it's basically a wheel that feeds back and forth on itself, but there is an economic development strategy and we will continue to work with the neighborhood to implement economic growth and development in this particular part of Colorado Springs. We have had $350 million of known city investment in this area, including roads and housing primarily, but a lot of infrastructure parks, as well as infrastructure in job growth and development nearby in the Peak Innovation Park. as well as Urban Renewal Authority and Housing and Homeless Prevention. So there's a lot of city investment that has occurred in the last eight to 10 years. We do have planned capital investments that will continue to go on. So these are city planned efforts, 2C, PPRTA, forestry, sports complex, et cetera. So there are still plans to continue capital investment in the southeast part of Colorado Springs. Again, this gives you a little bit of a session or an idea of where we've been, started in 2021, and done a lot of meeting, a lot of work behind the scenes. We presented this informally at city council in 2025, made a lot of changes based on your comments back at that particular meeting. This was taken to the City Planning Commission January 14th and received a unanimous approval recommendation from City Planning Commission. We brought this to you at work session two weeks ago and we're here today for final approval, we hope. We will continue to do short-term, mid-term, and long-term economic revitalization strategies in Southeast. This is not the end of this discussion. The plan is not the end. The plan is just part of the overall investments that we continue to do to make sure that part of the community is strong and vibrant and economically sound. And I'm here to answer any further questions.

Councilman, line member.

So I'm not sure that you might be the exact right one to ask on this, but we hear often, and we just had a conversation about trying to hire more security and stuff like that to reduce crime in a particular area. this is an area that has had a lot of crime. And what I'm concerned about and wondering, and I didn't really see, have we set up tools that can measure the outcome? Because often the statement is, we don't need to hire more police, we need to do more programs that help these communities. Well, this is the program. This is a program, but have we put measurable outcomes? Are we measuring things to see if there's a result from all this investment, $3 million investment? I support it, I'm gonna vote yes, but I don't know if we've attached measurable outcomes to this to see what's working, what's not, and those things need to be kind of set up in the beginning to kind of really see the results of this, I think, worthwhile piece because, I mean, this would be a test case of saying, hey, we don't need more police, we just need better programs or better infrastructure. Is there something like that set up or, I just didn't see anything like that in the presentation. I understand it's maybe more of a police thing or some kind of data thing, but what, I'll let you.

Sure, let me take a shot at that. There isn't anything specifically in the plan that has a target like that. It basically says do better. And these are some of the strategies to help do better, economic support and housing support, those kinds of things. But like I said earlier, this is not the end of this discussion. And what we are doing in support of all of our neighborhoods like this, where we do a plan, is to follow up with an annual report that has some of those measurables in it. I'm sure the police department has those kinds of measurables in terms of crime statistics. We know what our investment has been in public works and parks And we just need to highlight those things. The plan isn't really the place specifically for that, but it is certainly a neighborhood planning function that we will continue to do. So there'll be an annual or biannual report that will create those measurables and show whether we're making progress or not.

Well, that's what I would really like to see is I love this kind of investment, but at the same time, being a responsible government, we need to say, how are we going to measure the outcomes? How do we know this worked? I'd like to try to understand that question more and I'd love for that to be explored more because I want a vibrant community and I think it also will help us be able to tweak the plan as we go to kind of consider You know, what's our end goal here, right? And I think our end goal is to make it a vibrant community, which means reduced crime and better neighborhood engagement and great kids playing baseball in the parks and you know, all that kind of stuff, right? That's what we want. We want the American dream piece, right? Well, how do we get to that? And so I guess those things, I feel like if we don't set the measuring tools in the beginning will be down the road and say, gosh, we should have probably have considered some of these things. And so I guess that's where I'm kind of pointing to on this. And I don't know why I didn't really kind of look at it earlier, but I've been kind of having this greater moment of all government of saying hey what what is our expected outcomes do we have something that we're measuring and um i think that's more and more the role of city council to ask what's the outcomes yeah i don't think i think that this plan is much more is more aspirational than that but i think the annual report is where we really need to focus down on

What did we do last year? What were the statistics from last year? How much did we invest this year? And what measurable outcomes have we gotten? So we'll be doing those in our annual reporting through the neighborhood.

I'm anxious to see that.

Thank you. Thank you.

Councilman Gold. Thank you, Madam President. Kevin, would you mind going back to slide four real quick? Just wanted to check that out. And while you're- That's a lot of slides. I know. While you're pulling that up, I do want to thank the council president. If I'm not mistaken, my memory tells me that she personally delivered the Southeast Strong Plan to all the council members' desks a few months ago, so I want to thank her for her advocacy of the Southeast Strong Plan. And speaking of an update for the plan, with maybe the Council President's permission, we could do a one-year from today kind of review of what we achieved, lessons learned, what we need to work on, et cetera. I'm not sure of the process on how we do that, Madam President. And I just need to look at slide four. I just wanted to see something real quick.

We'd be pleased to have that opportunity. And so we can schedule it today if you want.

Chief of Staff, while she's looking.

Good morning, I just wanted to acknowledge that, and Kevin briefly touched on the allocation of some of the city's investment. Council Member Rainey asked me last week to add some more detail around that, so I am working on that for him. I just want to acknowledge that, that that request came in from Council Member Rainey last week, and I'm still working on that for him.

We do have one person signed up to speak on this item in support, and so I'll have Renee Gonzalez come forward now. Good morning, Renee. Thanks for rushing up here. We're moving quite quickly this morning.

Yeah, I logged into city council on Facebook and I saw what number you're at and I rushed over here to make sure that I was able to be heard. So thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Again, my name is Renee Gonzalez and I'm a proud resident of Southeast Colorado Springs. Not only am I a resident, but I'm also a resident leader with Rise Southeast. And since, unfortunately, I'm the only one here to represent, I am here to represent them as well with the Youth Advisory Council too. So with that all being said, over the past several months, I have had the opportunity to follow the process attend meetings, and learn more about the vision behind this plan. What stands out to me the most is that it reflects the voices of the people who live, work, and care about Southeast. To me, this plan is about more important than the future of development. It's about making sure growth happens thoughtfully and mindfully with the community at the table. It's about investing in our neighborhoods, and to Council Member Lineweber's point, improving safety, stronger in parks and transportation, supporting local businesses, and creating opportunities for the families who already call Southeast home. As a resident, I've seen firsthand what can happen when neighbors, city staff, nonprofits, and local leaders work together. I watch people come together to solve problems, build relationships, and create positive change. This plan reflects the same spirit of that nature. One single document will not solve every challenge that we face, but it gives us a roadmap. It gives us direction. Most importantly, it tells the residents of Southeast that their voices matter and that the future is worth planning for. I respectfully ask for your vote to support the Southeast Strong Neighborhood Plan and continue investing in the people and neighborhoods that make Southeast such a special place to live. Thank you for your time and support.

Thank you, Renee, for rushing over here. We do appreciate that and the work that your organizations, RISE and all the other organizations have worked on this. To your point, when community comes together and develops a plan with the government entities and the free market, it does come together because everybody's intentional in making it happen. So I just want to commend you for all the work. This has been going on for years. Oh, I hear. So it is really nice to have it all come together today and have your true north and a book to guide you as it will change, as you said. There's a lot of economic development happening in that area. And it's because of the intention of the citizens and the people that have come together. You have a wonderful park.

um you know i live right next to it so i know come around it so thank you for being here and being such a supporter of this plan and bringing all the people together councilman risley thank you madam president renee i also wanted to just thank you for being here today and for representing the southeast community i was hoping that more of your uh fellow residents would would be here also because as you have observed i don't talk a lot at council meetings i am very uh I guess intentional about when and where I choose to comment, but I do wanna comment on this item because I feel very strongly about it. Over the span of my career and my time in Colorado Springs as a resident, as a native resident, I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of great groups in the Southeast community. I've worked with Heather McBroom at the Thrive Network I've worked as a volunteer with the YMCA on the Southeast Armed Services Y. I was the board chair of the YMCA actually for a number of years. I was honored to help United Way stand up the Family Success Center, which I think has had tremendous impact in that portion of the community. I've had the honor of working with Pastor Ben at Solid Rock Community Development on some childcare initiatives. I've worked with Matt Craddock at Craddock Development and his property that he owns at the Mission Trade Shopping Center. We've developed some urgent care and physical therapy, occupational therapy clinics, and helped to stand up some restaurants in that area. And I've been involved in some work at the Peak Innovation Park, which is an economic driver, certainly for the Southeast part of Colorado Springs. And so because of my involvement over the span literally of decades in economic development and business development and even some social services, I'm honored to vote in support of this plan and certainly look forward to working with the community over the next hopefully decades to continue making great strides in that community. So again, thank you for being here and please convey my appreciation to your I will, thank you. Fellow residents, thanks.

I see no other comments. Can I get a voice motion and a second? So moved. I have a motion from Councilman Hengim.

I'll second.

And a second from Councilman Risley. Let's vote.

And the motion passes nine to zero.

And due to a technology issue first thing this morning, we didn't have a motion and a second on the consent calendar. So I need to go back to item four. And can I please get a voice motion and a second for the consent calendar? I have a motion from Councilman Gold and a second from Councilman, I think it was Donaldson. Well, everybody wants to move these. The agenda item's on. So we need to now vote on the consent calendar.

And the motion passes nine to zero.

Now the attorney and the clerk are happy. Thank you. Moving on to citizens discussion for items not on today's agenda. Citizens will have three minutes to share their comments. I have a list of those who have signed up. When I call your name, please come forward. Introduce yourself and limit yourself to topics that are relevant and germane to city business. The first one I have signed up is Steve Dant. Oh, Councilman Risley.

Yeah, thanks, Madam President. Just before we get started with citizen comment, we've been made aware that there may be some other members of the Southeast community that might want to come and speak during citizen discussion. So it's a little unorthodox for us to do that, but I did want to just comment that there may be some other speakers coming from the Southeast community to talk about that plan. So thanks.

Steve Dant.

Excuse me. Good morning, everybody. As just mentioned, my name is Steve Dant. I live at 2011 Pine Mesa Grove, Colorado Springs, which is in University Park. and just a little bit about my background before I get started. I retired about five years ago. I was vice president general manager of Fox 21 TV. I've served on several boards in the community, including Red Cross, Homefront Military Network. I'm past chair of the Chamber's Military Affairs Council. And along with that, I'm a Army Vietnam combat veteran. I came here this morning to speak to you about something that I think has grown to be very annoying in the city of Colorado Springs. I moved here, we moved here about in 2003. The city was probably about half the size that it is now. And it was a problem then, but it has really grown to be annoying. Well, everywhere I go, if I bring up a subject, people go, yeah, what do we do about it? So I thought I would start here this morning and try to bring it to your attention because I do think it's, and I think you'll agree with me, it's in your power to get something done on this issue. We all know that there are ordinances in effect that says that you can't be, as I understand it, maybe the city attorney will disagree with me, if you're operating a vehicle at above 85 decibels, then you're breaking the law and you can be fined. we all know that it's there's no way the police are going to handle this problem they couldn't handle the red light problem and so you found a different way to go about making an impact there and i think it has made an impact it slowed people down going through um red light or lighted intersections especially if they know that there's a camera there and so um I believe we can start by not asking necessarily the police to take care of this, but start with something simple like signage. And I am here to offer a few suggestions and not just complain about the issue. There isn't a sign as far as I can tell coming into the city that we have restrictions on noise levels of how you can operate a vehicle. And it seems to me that would be a start. And then various signs throughout the community posted with speed limit signs that says there's a limit on decibel levels. And I don't pretend to know what the language would be on that. I'm running out of time already. But if there's red light technology, why can't that same technology apply to decibel levels? Why can't we put up meters throughout the city that measure noise, take a picture of a license plate, and send them a ticket?

Councilman Donaldson.

Thanks, Madam President. I just want to be sure Mr. Dant is finished.

Well, that's basically the ideas or the sorts of ideas that I think I had a couple more written down here. Bear with me for one second. Signage, oh, along with the signage, posted signage, use your electronic message boards throughout the city that notify people or warn people that if you're operating a vehicle at this decibel level, you're breaking the law. That's starting someplace. It starts the ball rolling to help alleviate this problem. So I would just ask, in closing, your help and your support. And you're kind of my first stop. I want to get some kind of... of message board going on the internet to ask people to get behind this movement. And I thought I'd come here first and see if I could get your support.

And thank you, Madam President. And Mr. Dan, you sent me an email, is that right, about this or no?

I don't think so.

No, sir, I did not. Someone else has. Yeah. This has been an issue since I got on council. There is technology like that out there, it's just how accurate is it and does it stand up in court is part two. And I've spoken with our chief of police about this, so we're looking into it and it may just be a matter of technology getting a little bit more defensible in court. So, That is a real concern where I live. I live not very far from you, like in Garden Ranch, and it's basically a racetrack up Union, down Academy, and across Austin Bluffs, and then you just go back around again and again.

I think it's all over the city, sir.

It is all over the city, but there's certain areas where it's more convenient or funner to ride the bikes. So something we're looking at. I believe Sam has your contact information. I'll pass you the information I have from the chief and also some information about that technology.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. I appreciate your attention this morning. Thank you.

Steve Lightfoot.

Good morning, Council. Steve Lightfoot. I drive that tan pink van, LennonMurderTruth.com. It's about Nixon and Reagan and Stephen King's role in killing John Lennon. It actually is Stephen King getting the autograph, advertised one great big Zippo lighter, which is what he will look like in three months. The day of the murder, Reagan's in, Lennon's out. This book talks about why we have to kill John Lennon, fitting together the pieces of a complicated jigsaw puzzle, and I was on the way to the biggest discovery of evidence ever in America. It does matter to counsel because, Hinckley, who shot Reagan, supposedly, and Brady, supposedly, his father lives on the same block in Colorado and has known the Bushes for 18 years before that. Turns out Chapman's father is an Amoco oil executive. Now, this sounds preposterous, but Reagan never got shot. Brady never got shot. They deceived you. They had to have that smoke screen after Lennon's murder because there was going to be a trial for Chapman, but there was no trial for Chapman because Hinckley switched the topic. Now, I know that sounds ludicrous, but when you do what I do, you learn a lot of things. So we have two oil man sons killing John Lennon. Why? Why? Well, they want that oil in the Middle East, and John Lennon would have stopped all the wars to get it. That's the only reason we're in bed with Israel. They know it, we know it, but the people of America don't think about it. And if you break my story, you're going to have the most powerful voice you've ever had since John Lennon, backing all this stuff up. In fact, we don't even really need oil, but the reason you don't have the car... and the truck and the 18-wheeler that taps into the rotation of your wheels like a windmill to create energy to shrink your battery pack to charge you as you drive is because they're not going to make any money off of it. Oh, man. Do you know they're some of the very biggest, most powerful things in the world? Oil industry and the electricity industry. They're not going to allow that to happen unless I force the issue through my voice and my celebrity-dom, which I really don't like celebrity-dom because the masses are asses. And they really need to be whipped in the butt rather than have them adulate over me. But until you have someone to speak for you like John Lennon did... You're screwed. Look at the weather in America, the worst on earth. On earth, east of the Rockies, on earth. It's biblical, it's biblical. And the reason there are mass shootings is because Stephen King's influence. He wrote a book about a school guy shooting up his classmates in a rage in the 70s.

Next up we have Michelle Wisblot Dane. Hi. Can you make sure the green button is on so we can hear you? Thank you.

Can you hear me now? Is the green button on? Was already green, sorry. There you go. Okay, I'm sorry. Hello, my name is Michelle Debra Weisblood Dane. I am a Colorado resident, a computer scientist of over 40 years. I hold a degree in computer science and psychology. I am the author of the foundation of standard for ethical data centers. I know that you guys cannot speak on Project Taurus at this point because it is in the planning. I did put in a letter to them, but I have not received any response. But what I'm asking you here today is to read my foundation. It's a set of principles to help guide us on building data centers, both Taurus and any other data center that we are considering. And I'm asking a part of the citizens here for your protection. You should have gotten a copy of my packet, which includes, right? Thank you, my foundation. The reason I'm asking for this is that I feel I am very much in favor of AI, but I also think that it's upon you to help us protect ourselves, including making sure that there is a closed-loop cooling system, that the power that they are using is renewable energy. They can put solar panels on their roof. or other means of renewable energy to produce their own energy. That they help pay for some of our grid use that they're using, including redoing lines, because our lines are almost 100 years old. So if they're going to use them, please understand, I sit in my house between five o'clock and nine o'clock every night with the lights off, the air conditioner off, hot, so that I can help conserve energy, because that is what you ask us to do as a city. My yard is completely brown right now because we are in a drought and I don't use any water for my yard as the city has asked me not to do. And so I'm asking you to please help me put on restrictions, put on codes, put on rules that help guide these data centers so that they have to pay for the same quality that we have as the citizens have to live under. If you have any questions, I'm open for questions. Please read my foundation rules and guidelines. I'm sure they would help you. I've talked to the city attorney and the chief of staff about trying to put some of these together so we can have these standards that I feel every data center can, and I think we can be the standard by which everybody in the United States follows. Thank you.

Councilman Gold. Thank you, Madam President. I have two things that I just wanted to say real quick. One, may I ask a personal question? Sure. Are you a homeowner? I am. Okay, great. Mr. Diehl, I see that you're talking to our city attorney at the moment, but I was hoping that you could kindly give Michelle a little bit of information about the, I believe it's the low energy, low...

That's what I'm on, is the Low Saver Energy Plus program.

No, I'm speaking about this program, Mr. Deal. It's the one where somebody can basically give you an inspection of some sort to let you know how you can reduce your energy cost.

Yeah, we have a process there, so if you want an efficiency survey done at your home, we have an employee that'll come out and actually take a look at ways to save money, whether through windows, air conditioning, look at different things in your home.

our mesa conservation center is where that's located out of or you can just call csu which is 448-4800 and they can get you in touch with them yeah i appreciate that this is in regards to the saver plus program that they've created so that you can have a cent that you pay between 9 a.m and 1 p.m to save on electricity and then in exchange it's a higher rate between 5 and 9 p.m And so we're doing that to be able to conserve and save money. If you go to my sub stack page, which you can get to off of here, you will see I've written all that up and you may appreciate that.

Thank you. And I'm familiar with our peak usage rates. I mention that because you did say that you're sitting hot in your home from five to nine. And as a hot natured person, I certainly don't want that for anybody else. So if you can utilize some programming within CSU, I would love that for you.

So we can all just cool down a little bit.

The second part, I did want to ask the city attorney if she could just really speak quickly on quasi-judicial and what that means to us as city councilors.

Madam President, through you to Council Member Gold, Stephanie Boster, city attorney. Quasi-judicial is when we have a matter pending before the city council where the council serves as the hearing body. Currently, there is no matter pending before this body related to a data center. But if it were, the council would not be able to speak to the matter until it has the opportunity to hear it. formerly at either a regular meeting of the city council or a special meeting. That would be a quasi-judicial matter. Did I answer your question?

Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much. And I do want to say thank you to our city attorney's office. I actually did ask several attorneys to help me with a statement on quasi-judicial. However, being out of town for a family emergency, I have not yet shared that statement publicly. So thank you, and thank you, Michelle, for commenting.

How do we get something in front of here that would be quasi?

I mean, what would be the procedure? Madam President, through you, to the member of the public, again, Stephanie Bonstra, city attorney. Typically, it's a matter that went through one of the boards and commissions, for example, the planning commission. Quasi-judicial would be appealed then from that body to this body. That's typically the way that it happens. There are other avenues, but you need to have something that was pending before another entity that then is appealed to the city council for consideration. Thank you.

Councilman Lineweber, were you finished? Councilman Lineweber?

Yeah, I wanted to just kind of talk about briefly, you talked about not watering your grass. And at the state level, a lot of communities operated their water system more like cashflow. They have so much come in and so much goes out. And when not enough comes in, then they got to shut off what kind of goes out. So it's kind of like they're receiving and delivering. Colorado Springs is very, very different than all the rest of the communities. because we have a really large savings account. So we have a three-year supply of water sitting in our reservoirs, I believe. Is that correct, Mr. Deal? So three years of water based off of our average use. we have done the work to protect us during times like this. And I can't applaud our utilities and the way they have made great planning for events like we're experiencing. So our situation is a little bit different. Now we still ask citizens to conserve and that, which they've done an excellent job, but please know that we have a large savings account just so you can keep your grass alive.

well if we put rules in place so that the data centers have to use a closed loop system it means that while they would use an initial amount of that water that we have in savings they would not be using any more of that water on a continuous usage for the rest of their existence and so we would not be giving up that water that you speak of, and I would love this body to be able to put that in place that requires them to have a closed loop system, either this center or any center in Colorado Springs, so that they do not use that, which you've just asked us to, you know, you've said we have in reserve.

No, I understand that. So we have a three-year supply, and I'm going to let Mr. Diehl kind of address how we look at any industry. I mean, there's lots of other industries that use high amounts of water and they come before us. They actually come before utilities. What's actually the process? What actually takes place and how do we kind of determine whether they come into the city or not? What kind of standards do we put to them? Could you just explain the process?

Yeah, most all your data centers currently in the community use that radiator closed loop system because water's a huge cost for them, just like it is anybody else. So they try to minimize the cost with them. So they come in and basically tell us what their water usage, and that depends on what rate structure they're gonna be on. Also, it affects what their discharge permit is. So if they're using water coming through, they're paying on the water, but they're also paying on their discharge. So they do that financially to conserve water. So all the ones currently and all the ones that approach us in the West are always gonna look at that type of a system that you're referring to, ma'am, which is closed loop. They also let us know what their energy usage is going to be. Anything more than that 10 megawatts or more, they can't come on until we find a contract to purchase power for them. So they're not really bringing additional power strain onto the system with that. We have enough power. We send stuff out to conserve energy to help our customers save money. I always say we're the only industry that actually tries to encourage people not to use our stuff. So when it gets into the energy side of it, they're required to have that power in there for anything over the 10 megawatts. So you're seeing a lot now, we've had a lot of heat this summer, so you're seeing us send notices out, hey, try to conserve power, and it's really more for the cost of the customer than it is our system's very stable, we have enough resources. But I think that also puts sometimes questions out about these other type of industries coming in town, but it's really a separate issue.

And can you speak to the safeguard that the utility board put into place on heavy users?

As far as the large load? Large load, yeah. So the large load tariff is where they're required to pay all of the contract cost for that energy. And then they pay on top of that, which is more of a reserve for us to be able to pull money ahead to build something in 10 years. So at no point, you know, is our customers out of any money for these facilities that are considered large load, which is above 10 megawatts.

So I just wanted to kind of tell you that we've done some hard work and really are planning well. We have a large savings account of water. Now, should we conserve? Yes, we do. So we still have some water restrictions. But we're not asking any customer to not water their grass. We like green grass, but preferably not bluegrass, but other type of grass that's good conservation. And so I appreciate your effort, but I just wanted to make clear for the record that we're different than other municipalities because we're not cash flow based. We have a huge savings account that we've put water in four times just like this.

Well, the only thing I ask at this point is that you all consider making rules that they have to abide by, not just suggestions, not just, yes, we're willing to do this, but real consequences. As you said, you're obligated to try and help us, and I just want to make sure that these companies have obligations and that have punishments if they don't abide by these rules, if they don't respect the sound barrier for their properties because as you said, they're creating generators, well those are outside and they create noise. So I really request that you all look at my rules and maybe implement some of these that have consequences, real consequences to these companies if they don't abide by them and that they are checked and rechecked to make sure that they do. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up we have Ali Smith.

Hi, I'm kind of tired of talking about data centers, but I'm here again. Originally, I came here to talk about noise, so I'm glad someone else brought it up. But over 124 of us signed up to speak in opposition of Project Taurus. There were locals who've lived here their whole lives, people who drove down from Denver, people who, took PTO because, yet again, it was during work hours. People who live less than three miles away from the site with young children or severe health conditions and veterans. So quite a wide variety of people. We need to be building the right things Like this site used to have 3000 jobs and they wanna use it for 60. I don't think that makes sense to me. And at some point they'll have to flush their systems, which have so many chemicals and it's gonna pollute our water. So maybe we have water, but we don't wanna pollute it either. So solving the budget problem by polluting and poisoning the people isn't the way to do it. So please, I know you can't comment too much right now, but prioritize the people and decline the project and show us that you're listening by passing a moratorium too. Because we need time. so that we can update the codes and zones and zoning regulations and plan for the future and protect the future generations because this is, it's gonna have a big impact on our city. And I still have a minute, so. Also wanted to again mention to put the City Council living wage on the ballot again. so that average people can be on city council too. And then we'd have quite a variety of views. Thank you.

Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, thanks, Madam President. I'm gonna also abuse our CEO and ask him to describe something, the Colorado Springs Utilities CEO. Sir, could you just explain for industrial users of our water, do they just discharge whatever they discharge into our system? How do we monitor that and make sure pollutants aren't being added to our water.

Yeah, industrial pretreatment. So basically there's a continued monitoring system that they have to install that gets reported to the state as well as to us. So they have to meet all standards that goes into the discharge. That's continuous monitoring through the state as well as us. So there's really no chemicals they use in the cooling system for the most part. So there's really no discharge coming into it, but they do have to monitor it. So there is no waste from this type of industry or any industry going into our system. It's continued monitored. The state is required to track that as well. So it's not just CSU, but it's also the state on discharge for any industrial type of facility. Just for education.

And have some industries, or I call them industries, but businesses, been found to be exceeding standards and had to install new equipment or find out what's going on? Has that happened?

Yes, we've had some industry and they've since shut down that exceeded those limits, but we catch those immediately. Like I said, it's continued monitoring and basically it's shut down immediately if they exceed those.

And that's a good point too. They're not allowed to continue doing it while they try to figure out a solution. They have to shut down.

They shut down operations.

Okay, and I'm not talking about anything in particular, just that's the standard for any customer of Colorado Springs Utilities. Thanks.

Councilman Gold. Thank you, Madam President. One, I just want to acknowledge that the Youth Advisory Council is in the house. Hi, guys. And to Ali, I just wanted to tell you anecdotally regarding city council. I just traveled from Nashville for a family emergency where I was there for an extended period of time. And though it was a family emergency, I made time to go check out their city council meeting, which was surprisingly at 6.30 p.m. And the first meeting that I attended, there was actually some conversation on data centers. And when I say that, some, I use some very lightly, 178 people signed up for public comment. Their city council meeting did not end until roughly two o'clock in the morning. So kudos to them for honoring that public comment. And the last thing I wanted to share is as I met with Nashville City Council members, they inquired about how we operate here in Colorado Springs, and of course salary came up. And when I told them that our salary was $6,250 a year, they all said, you know what, I don't think I'm gonna complain about my 24,000 anymore. So thank you for speaking up and advocacy for that. I appreciate that.

Next up we have Representative Paschall.

Hello, council members. Thank you so much for giving me time this morning. I appreciate it. I'm Representative Amy Pascoe, State House District 18. And I'm also here to talk about data centers. I want to talk in general, not about a specific project. And one of the things that I've noticed in watching this specific project go along is it doesn't appear to me that we have any data center-specific projects. or ordinances or any rules about planning. And I think that's very problematic, given the explosion of data centers in the country right now. We also have no regulations at the state level. I am hoping we will change that. But for now, there are no rules. And I think that's really problematic. And what I'm here today for is to urge all of you to consider very strongly putting in place specific criteria for data centers in the planning development planning process. And that criteria would include closed loop cooling systems or some other resource, natural resource preserving cooling system. And we have spoken a little bit already about electricity and how we have this large load tariff, which I think is fantastic. I'm glad we have that in place. But I noticed when looking at the current data center under consideration, there didn't seem to be any documentation in there. so what i'm recommending is that there be some kind of memorandum of understanding between the utilities uh colorado springs utilities and a potential developer so that there's some kind of documented reassurance to people that um a specific limit maybe if we're giving a limit on megawatts or whatever the costing is that people are assured that that's actually going to happen I also recommend that we have noise limitations, which I do know that we have noise limitations in city ordinances, but I'm sure as you're well aware of what has been happening with the Ford Amphitheater, there's great concern about how effective that is and whether or not it is being enforced. And if there's some understanding system written down that explains how it's gonna be reinforced and give people some assurance that it will be reinforced, I think it would go a long way, because there is a lack of trust there. And also I think we need some kind of environmental requirements for the backup power and what type it is, how often it can be tested, and for how long. So that's my list. I just wanna urge you very strongly that you put in place some kind of a criteria. I know y'all like local control. I'll tell you what, we will be passing something at the state level. So I urge you to get something local first. Thank you. Happy to answer questions if there are any.

Next up we have Caleb Miller.

Hello, City Council. Caleb Miller, I've lived here for my entire life. I love this city. There are a lot of things that I could address at this table, as you already know, but the one that I want to today is that every time when I walk into this space, we begin with prayer. And I think it's funny that Travis is walking here right now because he knows what I'm about to say. We begin with prayer, and then this council sits here, and I genuinely, genuinely would like to know, we don't live up to the words of Jesus. We don't make his decisions in our city. Jesus specifically said it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. And yet this body unanimously voted to give a single officer a raise to $700,000 annually. I understand that's maybe not a lot of money to some people, but that's besides the point. The point is that there are 12,000 people in our city who cannot pay their utility bills. Excuse me, 12,000 people in our city who literally cannot pay their utility bills. The COPE matching fund that CSU gives is $500,000 to those people. You have unanimously voted to pay more to your CEO than back to the public beneficiaries of the literal publicly owned utility company. Please raise the co-matching fund so that we can actually be living out Jesus' words in the way that we run our city. And remember that this is a community. It is not a corporation. In addition to that, another thing that Jesus said was love your neighbor. And our neighbors are the homeless people, are the vagrants, are the people who are unhoused. But this body voted 7-2 to criminalize car camping. We're paying $468,000 to a private security company. We're literally subsidizing private security as a city to deal with the homeless people. Instead of just fixing the issue and loving the person that's in front of us, on top of that, when people come up and they talk about data centers, we're not talking about like, oh, this is a specific issue like the water, the infrasound, the EMF, the utilities. That's not really the issue. The underlying issue underneath all the things that people are saying is that they don't trust this body. They don't trust the city government. They don't trust the mayor. They don't trust you. They don't trust the planning commission anymore. Because you can say, hey, there's a million dollar bond on it. A million dollar bond is nothing. to a company that's spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build this project. They don't trust you to enforce the guidelines that we are saying exists. We're just going off of pinky promises with a corporation and you can find many examples around America why you can't do pinky promises with corporations. Your job is here to protect the people of this city and I hope if we're praying before city council meetings to exemplify the words of Jesus in our actions and we're not doing either of those things.

Ted Brassfield.

Thank you, Madam President, Council. My name is Ted Brasfield, and I was raised in Colorado Springs and returned to our beautiful city during lockdown, a beautiful city that is under threat from the heat and the noise of data centers. You spoke earlier about the importance of intention with regards to the Southeast Plan. Let me respectfully request that we address data centers with intention as well. I tuned into the Planning Commission hearing last week, and I was amazed at how our city came together, where everyone from democratic socialists like me to Tig Tegan took a full day off work to speak in favor of the appeals. But another point of unity was with the commission itself. Most of the commissioners noted that our code may need updating so that hyperscale data centers and our local telco offices aren't treated the same. I think it is incumbent upon this council to announce a moratorium on new data centers so that the city can figure out regulations around water usage during a statewide drought emergency. What sort of chemicals they can dump in our water, which you admitted, I believe, at the commission hearing that they were dumping things and that were not regulated. what sort of power and noise limitations the data centers can have, and the risk to our incredible outdoors from heat and fuel storage during our increased wildfire risk. I think it is incumbent that this council join our neighbors in Monument and Woodland Park, join cities from across Colorado like Denver and Lock Bowie and hit pause until we can analyze the issues raised by the experts and the concerns raised in the community and intentionally create a rational and responsible regulatory framework around data centers. On a separate issue, I also agree that having a living wage for those of you who are currently volunteering your time would help encourage more citizen participation in our civic life because you might be more willing to hold committee hearings, to hold council hearings at times where people who are working full-time are more likely to attend. Thank you very much.

Next up, we have Jacqueline Ostrom.

Thank you, President Crow-Iverson. Thank you, City Council. I attended the meeting last Thursday with the Planning Commission, and my takeaway from that was the comments from the Commission who stated that we do not have the UDC, the Unified Development Codes, in place to manage data centers. And as the last gentleman spoke, I also recommend a moratorium until we can put those UDCs in place. And that's, I don't know who makes, who decides on the UDCs, if it's the Planning Commission or if you do, but it does deserve, some time to put some thought into that. This is a small data center that's coming forward right now, and I don't see it as much of a problem, but I think once this one does go through, you will see larger ones will come here, and you'll be happier if you have the codes in place to regulate them. My primary concern at this point is that it's in a wildland urban interface, a UE. which I know is a fire danger problem there, a forest fire or any kind of fire. And they're going to have, I don't know how many thousand gallons of diesel fuel on their property in a Yui. So I'd like to see what the fire department would say about that. And obviously we need some kind of unified development code to restrict that kind of fuel being in a UE. So there are other issues as well. I don't know them all. A new one that's coming up scientifically is infrasound. It was Commissioner Engel on the Planning Commission stated that the countries of Germany and England now have codes that restrict infrasound because that's been shown to affect humans and also wildlife. It raises the cortisol in our blood. It creates anxiety. It upsets our sleep. And so those are concerns for something close to a residential area. You might wanna consider setbacks of where these could exist in our community. And so that's really what I recommend to you is to have a moratorium so you can look at these serious issues. Thank you.

So that is the end of public comment, not on today's agenda, but since we do have some folks that showed up for the Southeast Strong, we're gonna hear from a few of those. And we're gonna start with Joyce Salazar.

Hi, my name is Joyce Salazar. I am the Executive Director of Resilient, Inspired, Strong, Engaged, or Rise Southeast. Good morning, President Crowe-Iverson, Pro Tem Risley, council members. I am sorry that I was not here for the presentation of the vote. We anticipated it would start at 11.30, so my apologies for not being here. We are... But I'm excited about that. I will say I'm excited about that because the plan passed without us being here as it should have as the work should continue beyond far beyond me far beyond the people who initiated the southeast strong plan this plan. is our hope to continue working in Southeast Colorado Springs to improve quality of life. So thank you for passing it with a unanimous vote. I will just say a few words. I've been told I can be kind of windy. So I just want to appreciate the people who have worked in the past in Southeast Colorado Springs to enhance the community. For decades, people have been working siloed to improve sidewalks and neighborhoods. reduce crime and things like that. And in the past 10 years, I have been so fortunate to work with so many wonderful people who have seen the people of Southeast Colorado Springs, not just the infrastructure, but they could see how the people are valuable assets to Colorado Springs. And by passing this vote, you are also saying Southeast Colorado Springs, we value you. However, this will not stop with us today. As you see, there are many people with us today to also hopefully say something about this plan. I will say for myself, I feel like my work is done, right? Because it will continue. Yes, I will lead the charge, I'm not going anywhere. I will continue to lead the charge as long as I'm asked to. And so I just wanna say again, thank you to each and every one of you who have seen the residents of Southeast Colorado Springs and have voted to pass this plan that will improve the quality of life for our residents. Thank you.

I just want to reiterate my comments this morning, not all of them, but a few of them, that this plan has been going on for a very long time. And so it's very nice to see it finished in your true north. There will be another rendition, if we know, over the course of the years as the district changes. But if it wasn't for the intentionality and the dedication of the citizens, we wouldn't be here today. So I just want to personally thank you for sticking through it, ups, the downs, the intentionality, economies and whatnot. You've really put your heart and soul into it. And it's showing across, like I said, we talked about the park this morning, a lot of economic development going on at the airport. It's kind of like not going south, it's kind of coming back in and it'll meet in the middle. So just thank you so much for your efforts that you've put into this plan. Thank you. You're welcome. And next up we have Ace Cordera,

Hello, city council members. My name is Ace, I'm 16 years old, and for the majority of my life, I've lived in the Canterbury neighborhoods of the Southeast Colorado Springs. We are the RISE Southeast Youth Advisory Council. I wrote this statement on behalf of my fellow council members for our hopes and dreams for the Southeast. As of now, the Southeast has a poor reputation. We're often described as trashy or uneducated. While neither of these descriptions are true, there's a clear consensus. We're seen as a negative. The Youth Advisory Council wishes to change the stigma surrounding the Southeast. We want to prove that the people of the Southeast are as capable as anyone else, regardless of our limitations. If you look around the Southeast neighborhoods, you'll only find gas stations, fast food places, or other large corporation-owned businesses. There's a lack of small-owned family businesses for the community to support. In the near future, we want to eliminate the vacant buildings and fill them with a variety of shops and cafes for the community to enjoy. I want to acknowledge we aren't given the same benefits for our communities are given to others. I've witnessed firsthand how the environment I'm surrounded by has influenced my care. A couple years ago, when I was around the age of 12, my brother had an accident when we were home alone. He was unresponsive, and I didn't have a phone to call for help. I walked to my neighbor's house and was able to ask them to call an ambulance. Thankfully, my brother's okay now. But as the paramedics arrived, I received judgmental stares. The people who were there to give treatment to my brother spoke to me in a passive-aggressive tone, followed by questions that alluded to our environment being the reason for this incident. Now, there are two main points I want to illustrate from this story. While I personally experienced a decreased quality in treatment that likely wouldn't have occurred if it weren't for me being a Southeast resident, I also want to acknowledge during this traumatic event, I was able to rely on the community in my neighborhood. Without the assistance from my neighbors, this would have had a vastly different ending. I want to highlight that our community in the Southeast is far more valuable than people may think. As such, in the near future, we hope for a stronger community to emerge by opening public spaces that are accessible to anyone and everyone so that the community can enjoy. or by hosting community events that families can enjoy. Our end goal is for the people we are surrounded by to have a sense of belonging, to have a safe space for us to rely on each other through thick and thin. The Youth Advisory Council will continue to advocate for the Southeast community because we believe the Southeast is worth fighting for. That's our hopes and dreams for the Southeast. Thank you.

Thank you.

It seems we have one more signed up for public comment that didn't get on the list, and then we will end public comment and this meeting, and that is Taylor Gray. Okay, well that concludes our Council meeting for today and we are adjourned.

Madam President, Madam President, I'm sorry, put my name up. I was just wondering if we could offer to do a photograph with the Southeast members with City Council and with the plan.

Sure, we can take a celebratory picture down front if all the Southeast, but I'm going to adjourn the meeting first. So before, after I adjourn the meeting, we are going to have a picture and then we do have a lunch item that we do need to get to. So that does conclude.