City Council - Regular Meeting

Hey, hey, Hey, hey, hey.

Let's see. Hey.

Uh oh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. What else? Hey. Hey. Hey. Ooh. Ah. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Hello. Heat. Heat. Heat. Nothing. Peanuts. Pean.

Hey. Hey. Hey.

Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey, hey.

down. Hey Heat. Heat. Hey.

Heat. Heat.

Hey. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. Tell

Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Come on. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat.

Beautiful. Yeah. Heat. Hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. Oh yeah.

Yes. Okay. should be pages or I'm going to write all over it because All right, I'm going to let everybody finish their conversations here and there. Okay, good. Give it one more. Make sure our clerk is ready to play. We're good.

All right. Good evening everyone. The time is 7:18 and we are going back to our regularly scheduled study session at this time. We will uh move on to city council reports uh before we move into the presentations for the evening. Um, with that, I am going to do my report first this time to bring up an item that's been on my mind to help us resolve some of the um ongoing issues that I've seen around uh getting our policies moved forward in a somewhat timely manner. And so I'm hoping that we can find uh support on this to help us because we have a council that is very uh excited to make things happen, which is good. We have a lot of energy behind us and uh I have found that the agenda itself doesn't necessarily accommodate change quickly in a manner uh that helps us get things done. And so I have had some discussions with our attorney and with the city manager over what we can do to address that and really find a place for council to bring forward items. So then there's a break in the agenda and you have a chance to have yourself heard so that we can then schedule a discussion on a future agenda to get that item taken care of if that makes sense. This eliminates the need to really make sure that you bring it up in your report because it's kind of an awkward place in the report. You can of course bring it up in your report. But now we will have a break in the agenda to if if we agree with this method to ask for your item to be placed on a future agenda and then once we have that discussion on the future agenda then we can decide you know if we want to go forward with that policy and now we have that discussion scheduled. So, um, what that does is eliminate, uh, some of the concerns that we've heard from our city attorney,

which has been to there's a risk when we have our discussions held, uh, on the spot that then that item is not agendaized and we can't have that discussion right away. So, what this does is it gives you a place to say, "Hey, I want to talk about this topic. We don't have a place to uh, bring that up other than our report." And so now it would be right after council comments and if there's nothing to bring up we can move on and there's nowhere you know we just say nothing and we move ahead. So um what the agenda would look like and what we would do is put it into uh the city attorney has already got his rules out. So we would just add it into those suggestions of the rules uh change but the agenda would look like it normally does for our regular meetings and then right after council comments there'd be a place for policy uh discussion. We wouldn't discuss the what would it be called not policy discussion.

Yeah. So, so the council rules set the outline of every meeting and when we revisit the rules on the 13th, I think one option to consider could be adding a standing title that could live in our agenda such that if a council member had an issue that needed to be raised, um that item would invite a a motion to direct the city manager to add an agenda item to a future meeting. Then with council's consensus, the manager adds an item to an agenda. That way, it's noticed publicly and an appropriate venue in which to have the public policy discussion about how to best address that issue.

Thank you so much for that explanation. And so, what I'm trying to do is make it easier for us to make change because we've had this question. I know in the past councelor hot has asked I have asked I think councelor has asked when and where do we bring up items that we want to discuss and how do we get something on the agenda and it's been email it's been our council reports but it makes it awkward because there's no real formal way and what I want to do is put it into our processes that every single meeting we each get the opportunity to bring up something that we want to see done so that you don't have to wait several months for that topic to come up or uh fight to be heard or if you forget it within your council report, you know, it eliminates that risk. So, I'm trying to make it easier for us to get things done and uh make this agenda change so that we can move quickly because we are moving quickly.

Yeah, counselor.

So, I think it's a great idea to formalize because it's obviously a concern right now, right? We have a council that's very innovative and we'll be pushing for a lot of things. So, it we need that mechanism for doing it. My only not concern but suggestion would be that it's not just for discussions but for votes. You know to move things quickly as the goal right as the stated goal. We need to be able to get agendaized actual votes not discussions for votes. Sometimes it requires speed and not just continuous study sessions and continuous discussions. So sometimes it won't be a discussion. Sometimes it's a hey, so we we'll use that title, that section of time to say, hey, I have this thing I want to get a vote on. Boom. And then we and then that's the moment. Does that make sense? And that's the concept, I assume.

Yes, that is the concept. And so, uh, yes. And then I want to make sure that our city attorney has the chance to raise any thoughts on that. So that um there there may be instances where if that item has not yet been discussed publicly in an open meeting that there might not necessarily be consensus for next steps. So that's the challenge I think how do you generate consensus as to what to do on an issue. Uh I think voting saying there shall be a vote on a given evening before there's consensus makes it challenging for staff to prepare materials for that vote. So that's just a a consideration. There may be circumstances where council's direction isn't yet um clear for action, but but agendaizing the discussion could be um a way to have that discussion in an open meeting. um and generate consensus.

So that's that is not aligned with the purpose, right? Because it we don't need consensus. Consensus be the the word implies 70 to move forward. I think you mean majority vote, right? And yeah, I think

with a majority vote, right? So a four person majority vote. Uh that's what this I thought that's what this would be about. So you would have this time period where if if mayor says, "Hey, I want to bring up a thing for a vote in two weeks, you know, the next council meeting, she should be able to in that there's discussion in that moment, right? So we'll all have the opportunity to discuss and if we don't get a majority in that moment to to agree with you, then you don't get that vote." That's what that's for is what I thought. Well, if it's not agendaized, it's challenging to raise a public policy issue that's not on the agenda and have the policy discussion unaggendaized. That's that's what I'm uh thinking about in terms of having the motion be to direct the city manager to put something onto a future agenda. That way, it's publicly noticed and you can have that conversation at that meeting. I think the challenge is having a a discussion on a new item that's not on an agenda.

But again, that's not solving the actual problem. The problem we have to move innovation forward faster is we have too much bureaucracy in between. We either don't have enough discussion, which is piece a piece of this, but the bigger piece is we have a lot of discussions and we actually don't move on. We actually don't actually get to vote on things. I think the need in my opinion, what the bigger need right now is how do we get agendaized actual items in a city council meeting that can be voted on. A city council meeting item has builtin discussion time. It built in, right? It has that's already built into that moment. So, it's not like we're just going to go and vote without talking about it. And so so so I don't know what your vision was mayor. If if it's just a discussion that's not really valuable, but if it's val if it's both, you know, either or then that's a that's a significant change.

So to all your points, that's what I came to try to resolve, right? And so you know, how do we get things moving? How do we get these things done? And the feedback I got is what you just heard, which is, you know, we can't have an open discussion on something that hasn't been agendaized. And so that's why the feedback came back. What is nice about the current proposal is if let's say the agenda says policy, you bring up, you know, saving puppies. What's nice about that is that that would not require a vote. I don't believe it would require a vote at that time that we could just bring up that we want to discuss that in the future or would we have to have a majority poll just to discuss that in the future as well?

So the the having a standing title where there could be a motion to direct the city manager to agendaize an item. um whatever the policy issue is that that could be the request like I would like the city manager to agendaize this issue that we haven't yet discussed so that it's on a future agenda and that would require a majority vote well that's that's one way to do it you could have a majority direct the manager to add a title to a future agenda

um the the reason you know That process is probably worth considering is just to ensure compliance with the open meetings law where there's a notice to the public of what's going to be on an agenda so that people who are interested can come and tune in

and so so and so sorry to pick that up real quick. So that was some of the discussions that we've been having to try to figure out how we can quickly do this. So to your point, it does add a middle meeting in there, but then because it would be publicly agendaized for that full discussion, then we're letting the public know that they we're going to talk about this item. Once it's agendaized, then any uh interested parties can also do public comment and offer their feedback. And then we have that broader discussion. And at that time, that's when we would decide, okay, do we want to put something on the agenda to vote? So it does insert one extra meeting, but it also speeds us up by having a formalized process to get things done, which is what I'm really help trying to find a way to do.

So I think I So I I so I appreciate the merits, right? There's merits to building in titled agendaized time to discuss and for dialogue. But this would slow us down if it is used in that way of hey if someone says for example um saving puppies, right? We want to save puppies. We want to draft a ordinance to save puppies. We want it in the next city council meeting. What this says is we have to first agendaize the discussion. So we might get it in two weeks, we might get it in four, two to four, you know, so whenever that is and then have another vote in that discussion to put that on as a draft ordinance. So this actually is slowing down. That's not the intent. I don't think that was not your intent, I assume. Right. So I don't really see the value if it's if it's slowing us down. I I know counselor hot. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. No. Um their opportunity for public comment is there. We don't have public comment on study sessions on discussions. So that there is no public comment. People can email. They email us all the time. They can call and that can be transcribed. This does not take away public comment. I do have an issue with the word discussions. I don't think anytime somebody wants to bring something up, we need to have a discussion about it. And I really had an issue last week when I tried to bring up three things and I was going for a vote and the word discussion kept being used because that was not what I was asking for. And the entire council knows that's not what I was asking for. And so no, I I I do not agree that everything needs discussion because we dis we can have a discussion. We can ask questions. We can talk about things every time we have a vote. and you've had 3 weeks from the time I asked for something to be agendaized before it's agendaized. So everybody has 3 weeks to do any research that they need to do. It to me it's not okay to ever come and say I don't know enough about an issue when you knew at least days beforehand what we were going to be voting on. So if people need to do their own research, that's fine. But I don't think we need a discussion on everything because I have been talking about things that I brought up last week since November since I was in NLC in November. That's where a lot of these ideas came from. And so we are now in April voting on it. So no, we don't need to have a discussion on everything. We're also trying to shorten our meetings. That doesn't help us short shorten our meetings. So yes, I'm for the process, but I'm not for making everything a discussion. Not at all.

Thank you. And before we move on, any feedback again because I'm trying to comply with the advice I've received. So I just want to make sure that this is are we do are we able if we eliminate that piece is that still satisfying public laws? Mayor, I think a challenge is what's the vote on if if council hasn't had a public policy discussion establishing the direction that's desired. Um, I guess the question is, is staff expected to prepare um, materials to effectuate a policy before staff is directed by council.

And that's advice. That's not how we have to do things. We don't have to do things by the advice. I appreciate the advice. I still don't that's I'm no and and just to be, you know, fair here, right? So this is my fifth year on council. I've seen a lot of different ways of policy getting brought forward right to for a vote and so forth. It's been a lot of different ways. A lot of Sarah has to right. We have always had the right as a counselor to bring any resolution. We could write I could write on a piece of paper

save puppies oneonone you know you know whatever and say I want to vote on this piece of paper and that is a valid legal way. I mean no one no one would ever do that but that is an extreme example of we should be able and Jod has told me this a million times. Any one of us if you have any idea you can write on a piece of paper your idea and bring it and have a vote on that and that's the new law. I don't want that taken away with this with a but yeah I also appreciate that you know we don't want staff over

what's the word um burning the midnight oil on but but again we're not asking staff to I think there will be some counselor proposed things that we we are not looking for staff's full write up on and we may not need it sometimes right there are a lot of stakeholders in the state we all talk with a lot of organizations who are really big. So sometimes it's not a um staff we need you to write this resolution for us. It's say hey we have one already or we have the concepts of one right and that should be okay. I think that's always been right and we shouldn't take that right away.

Agreed. And I just want to add to that before I get to any everyone else real quick. This doesn't change any of the other ways. Of course you can add it to an email. Of course, you can add it to your council report if it ends up fitting into there. Of course, you can come that that day and say, "We need to make sure this vote." This is just standardizing a process in general so that our staff have a way to keep up with us and so that they have a way to fit these items into future agendas, especially if we say, "This one's a priority. We want to see this quickly. This is less of a priority, but I want you to make sure it comes back in the next couple months." uh because I've heard that they need that time to figure out what all fits in the agenda to keep us tight each evening. So, just adding on some of that context. Council Brahas.

Thank you, Madame Mayor, and thank you for bringing this uh important policy uh discussion uh to this meeting.

Yeah, I think one of the strengths that, you know, I I try to bring is by asking really dumb questions. And one of the really dumb questions I've been asking a lot is like how do we do our job, right? Um, and I think that this is a result, uh, so I thank you, um, city staff for kind of listening to listening to my complaints. Thank you, mayor, and then the rest of council for kind of offering your your advice on that. Uh, so I see this as kind of a product of of a lot of proddding, as you've mentioned. I know I've kind of just started proddding, but um, so I'm grateful. I I I kind of see the the conversation around as as a both and. one, you know, if if you know, someone were to bring up let's take a poll on saving puppies right now, you know, and you know, we have a discussion like councelor says, I think that's a great kind of time. One of my issues that I've run into just in this short time that I've been on council is not necessarily knowing if like how to adjust on the fly. Let's just say we have a bit of a discussion, but you know, I'm thinking when we say say puppies, we're going to have to provide food to everyone who has puppies, but that's nowhere in the bill. And so, do I bring it up the day of the vote? And then, so are we how do I officially notice or officially like note that my addition of this, you know, is is included in the policy or the code that we're doing. So, I I see kind of the the need for agendaizing and giving direction, especially when we're leaning on staff for doing stuff. Though, to councelor Zot's point, I I I feel like there's opportunity to say like, you know, if if councilor Zotti says, "Hey, this is the thing that I just wrote right now, right here, and then we in that moment, you know, I I hear the advice that uh that our city attorney is offering us. I would say that if it's critical enough, right? If let's say like you

know the city is in a dire need of this one thing that we can take that action and move forward with it and say no this the poll is specific to councelor hot's like uh notice like hey this is exactly what we're doing and it's going to come to us in a week or two weeks or whenever it is and like this is the verbiage and you know that kind of clears up a lot of those concerns that I have. So, and on the other side, just to complete it, like a lot of times I don't really have that kind of expertise in that moment, but I do want to start the process so I can see why a lengthier process where I can bring it, get staff feedback, get council feedback is important for something that I might want to do that I'm that I'm okay kind of policy-wise taking the time. So, I guess I see both being able to happen. So, I am uh in favor of this. I did want to clarify though, you know, if I say something really silly like, hey, I think we should agendaize building a gold statue of me, right? Obviously, no one here is going to support that. So, does this does it die there or does it die at the next meeting that we have the process, right, is is kind of my question. My my thought was that council can update its rules and if council would like to set a process in its rules that is tied to a standing title in an agenda. Um then yes, council can establish how that is utilized. Yeah. So, if a motion is made, I want to direct the city manager to add a title to an upcoming agenda and no one agrees with me. I I might not get my title on the upcoming agenda, right?

If council wants it to be a majority, they could be. It's it's up to council. May I add also council could decide that a single member of council could put an item on the agenda for voting at the next meeting of council. And and so you would set the process. You would say it's either uh everybody has to agree to get agendaized. Uh four of you have to agree to get agendaized or nobody has to agree to get agendaized. And you just say I want I want you all to vote on putting a gold statue of me in front of city hall next week. and and and then we would have that

the puppies. So that would be the title and there would be no memo or anything and then the counselor who requested it in your case you would say uh here's my uh my motion tonight is to uh for for the city to uh design and construct to my satisfaction a gold statue of myself to be erected in front of city hall and called to vote and if there's any discussion that's when the discussion is called once the motion's made and then councelor hot would say that's a great idea um but I would like it to be a statue of um a puppy instead Um, and then you would say that's a friendly amendment. I like poppies better than myself. And that would get uh voted on and and moved forward. And so I think if I could recap, I think what the mayor uh is suggesting is um and if I could start with an observation first um this has been a short a shortcoming for our city councils. It's not been a very clear process for you uh as individual members of council or as a body to advance policy items um in a timely fashion that are important or timely to you or the community that you that that we all serve. And so this this is simply a a Colorado Open Record Act compliant method for you to expediently get an item on an agenda for for which you can vote and and it wouldn't be uh one shoe fits all in in the case of some recent I was I wasn't there last Monday, but in the case of councelor Hut's um um um requests, those can be agendaized as stated and those would be called to vote at the next meeting of a regular city council and if there was one item that needed further uh exploration um that would be raised at the time of the vote and uh you know if let's say there are three items the first two are voted on and then the third item council gets into quite a discussion and they decide you know what I think I would actually like to have a memo from the city

manager or the city attorney on this one can you bring that back at the next meeting and could we agendaize that and that would get voted on um and then that would be decided upon But but I I I would the way I'm hearing it, councelor hot, is that um if it's a vote question and it's a simple title, then that gets agendaized uh at the next meeting of council and you take that vote. I think it's incumbent upon council to decide how something's agendaized. Is it 70, which probably isn't um consistent with maybe past practices? Is it four or more? Or is it simply one member of council asked for this to vote because I want the public to see or the community to see how you all vote on this item? That that's actually happened in the past to say I want this to be voted on in public meeting because I want to see how uh a counselor votes. So those would be the three options to enact this this this forward.

Yes. So I would totally agree with that that so my personal just to throw this out there would would be a standing title right and to get an item agendaized onto that requires four or more to get it agenda so you don't have to build statues right that takes away that risk and then but you can get agenda is two things either a discussion so you're asking for a discussion or you're asking for a vote I think that makes it a more flexible if it's there if there is urgency then the vote itself would be in the city council meeting which also has builtin public comment has builtin council comment it's already built in from open records that's how we do our city council meetings now we don't agendize every item on the actual city council meeting right because it's built in to the actual agenda item so that's how that would be my suggestion All right. Anything else to add?

No. I think I just Thank you, uh, city manager. I think that kind of sums up exactly how how I was approaching it and I think that makes sense and I'm with kind of like the past tradition of four kind of votes. I mean, just we're not solidifying it yet, but that's kind of my commentary. Thank you. Before I move on, I'll just go around. Councelor Ireland, did you want to

um I just want to do the will of the people and it's not my agenda, it's their agenda. And so the more I can hear from people, the better. the more they turn out to city council to say how they feel the better. The more they turn out, the better. So I when people bring things to me, I will agendaize them. But most of them are not mine. They're the people's. And that's why it's important that it's agendaized so they can come and speak to how they feel. Not how we feel, how they feel. And that's why I was elected. I wasn't elected for myself. I was elected for the people of the city. So you guys might all have an agenda, but I do not. My agenda is for the people and that's where I stand. Four is great, but the people deserve a voice and I am their voice. That's all I have to say.

Thank you, Councelor Johnson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. And I really appreciate that. And I like the idea of, you know, in my day job, we get a lot of public comment and public testimony on specific items, and it is incredibly helpful in the process. And I feel like that's one of the things we often miss is not having enough of the impacted people here at city hall to give comment on some of these. I mean, we get a we get great input on our um you know, our ODP amendments and we have those hearings, but you know, I can't remember the last time someone came and commented on a city council bill. And you know, my my for a large part of my profession is publicly commenting on uh legislation. And so, I like the idea of being able to put on the agenda further in advance um some of the work that we're doing and hopefully drive people out here to give us their feedback. Um I I want to make a clarification. And I think this is clear with the intent, but if in the example that we talked about, council Barahus wanted to put on the agenda, not a discussion, but an item to build a gold statue of himself, and I wasn't prepared to do that, but I did want to to have the discussion. I could make a counter proposal to say, councelor Bhouse, I don't know if I can vote on that yet, but I would love to vote on a motion to put that on the agenda for discussion. I think that's a great mechanism of flexibility that, you know, if a counselor really wants to put some a title on, you know, for a counselor's bill, but the rest of council is not there, there's at least a middle ground where maybe some council could get there with some discussion and some policy amendments. And so those kind of I think this standing item allows some of those counter amendments to give council the flexibility to move at the speed of the majority. So, if we all agree, yes, this needs to be an agenda item like something I'm going to bring up later, we can all vote on that and move it forward. And if we all agree we want to slow it down but still discuss it, we can make that motion. And if we don't

want to move it forward, we kind of have that power. So, I'm I'm in favor of a a majority for counselors being able to put something either a discussion or a counselor's bill on an agenda. Thank you.

Yes. Um well this this conversation has evolved well so um I I I do appreciate that we would have something on the agenda. I think Broomfield has something similar when I was last looking for something like this. Um and so I do love having a dedicated time to it. I do appreciate um the ability to um maybe do a counter um to the question at hand. You know, even was it last week? Um, you know, there were some things where I felt comfortable with and some things that I didn't, but I wasn't sure, you know, as because you're trying to respond on the fly. Um, like how best to, you know, um, or how you can have some input or ask for what you need. Um, so I do appreciate us having the time and kind of taking our taking a breath and and the organization around um, voting for each individual item. I think that was you also something that the clarity over each item, you know, last week got a little bit lost and us trying to on the fly um, handle the questions. So um, hopefully this will help that. Um, I do like having four people in support for whether it goes on individually as a vote or if it needs more discussion or is just a discussion item somebody wants to bring forward. Um, all I ask is that there be clarity for staff in terms of what responsibility they have with respect to, hey, are we expecting a memo? And if that's the case, that's time. And um, you know, we have to balance that with our other priorities. And then um if it's just or if it's just an item. So we need to be make sure that's part of the the ask um that and that staff actually

make sure they walk away feeling clear about it. I'll just say, you know, um there's a lot that we have going on um with budget going, you know, we have opportunity for budget requests soon. Um to be thinking and balancing our requests in relation to, you know, the budget we already have for this year, the strategic plan, and just kind of what we already have on the the work plan. Um knowing that staff's already doing a lot. So, um, you know, not to curb our enthusiasm, but to just be thoughtful about it and to maybe ask and get responses back from staff on what they can accommodate.

So, we're saying during the policy, make sure that we have that short discussion as well with staff if we're asking them. Understood. Yes.

Yeah. Um, I think there are um a lot of people who don't understand how I came to where I came. I had spoke to the city manager. He knew what I was bringing forward on Monday because we talked about it in our one-on-one. And um so I talked to staff about it before I even brought it up. I've spoken to organizations. I did not come up with this on my own. Um I have continued to speak to people. I've continued to talk to people. So this is not something that I'm just doing on my own. This is something that I've been talking to people. I've been talking to organizations. I've been talking to heads of organizations and staff knew that this was coming. So, and also um to to um counselor Brahas's um point, you can ask questions of staff the night of the vote. We have had votes that completely changed because of questions that were asked at the meeting by staff and we heard answers that were concerning and so we changed our vote because of the So you can ask questions in between um of staff or you can ask questions that night, you know, if you hear something and and it you can you're not you know your ability to ask questions doesn't end because it's up for a vote. So, I just wanted to be make that clear for you.

And I I'll just say, you know, I'm glad that you brought it up in the way that you did because I also was wondering where some of these things were because you did bring them up a long time ago. I also was wondering, councelor Ireland to our strategic plan had brought stuff and it was kind of like now we have a place, right? And um so I I think this will be good because Yeah. And I I agree with four a poll of four.

Thank you. And so, so it sounds like yes, you know, let's modify the agenda. It sounds like we agreed to four to put it on the agenda. Um, and now it's just what does it look like? Um, I'll say, uh, for my point or for my my part, um, I'm excited about this. I hope folks see that I am trying to help each counselor be heard and make sure that we get these things done because often they are left you know months ago and then and then it's you know then you feel like you're pushing to figure out where it is and you're you know I want to help us be cohesive and I want to help staff get their job done smoothly and so um I'm here just trying to optimize and make things more efficient. Um as far as you know what is the ask I I think that um the suggestion can just be it just says policy. We just bring up whatever it is that we want to bring up in that policy and that really does mean anything because for me a burning question in the back of my mind that's been brought up a few times is what are we doing for you know in regards of Senator Faith Winter and that memorial you know and um that's not necessarily an ordinance. It's not really a vote. It's just, you know, and then this gives a place to bring up anything that's been burning on our minds that we can say, "Hey, where is this and and what are we doing?" And I would like to have a discussion or I would like to uh have a memo. I know councelor Zud asked for a few memos, especially around housing or I would like to call this to a vote. Now, um because as I said earlier, this doesn't negate any of our powers, right? You can always do things however it is that you already wanted to do them. This just hopefully makes it easier and have a place so you don't feel like your time is forgotten. I know uh for my last few years here, I've often felt like the council report piece ended and then you remember something and that's it and now you have to wait a couple more weeks and it's just so frustrating. And so trying

to ease that frustration, trying to help us get things done. We have a really energized council and I think that's really exciting. Um I do think that you know the public deserve a chance uh to chime in and especially interest groups right u we want to be able to tell them or if you know there's residents affected etc we want them to know about it um and so to that I don't think that I can really push one way or another on this because if someone asks for a vote then that's what we're asking for so I don't think that it's really a discussion one way or another because I can't negate that right I can't take that power away But I think all we can do is listen because both the attorney and the city manager said it tonight individually which is the risks around the open records meeting act and making sure that the public is notified and that is just something that they have done their due diligence on reminding us every time we've tried to accelerate a process. I think that they will continue to do that and so I don't think that we need to change anything really around that. Right. If we want to make something happen we will.

Yeah. Plus the by putting it on the agenda in the standing title that already makes it better, right? That's right. Because that's a public meeting. They'll have they'll see it. The public will see it like they see all all the agendas and they'll they can come in and make public comment. I think it there's no downside to making it both an item or discussion. Right. And that's what I'm hoping is that at least now it's there's a place to help give a little bit more notice and a process for staff. So, yes. Can I just clarify uh process? Will it be like comment where you just kind of read the title and then we press the button or is it going to be like a roll call where we have to say no? I just want to be clear on like what the process will look like? That's a good question.

I don't think we got that far, but because this is informal and it's to put something on the agenda, our standard practice has been just a poll. So, if uh you want to bring up something under this policy piece of the agenda, you'd say, I want to bring this forward for consideration. Um and then we would just do a poll. I just want to see uh are there any questions? I have one more question

and this is related but not really but the premeating council comments they're useful but I feel like we also have council comments on the dis you know can we is there any support to saving time in general by make becoming more efficient just saying hey put all your comments during council comments out there versus doing it twice because right now it's kind of duplicated I I tend to save mine for the dest if I have any. Right. It's it feels inefficient.

I appreciate you bringing that. That's crossed my mind and it felt like I might be making too many changes. But since you brought that, thank you. Uh is there any support or thoughts on that? Are you talking about city council reports? Yes. 631 in our premeating. I I think councelor Zotti suggesting that we eliminate that in here and just save it for out there if people care at all. I mean, do they care about our report that so much? That's the thing. You do. I care about your report. Okay. I don't know if they care about it as much as what's on the agenda, but Well, plus you said, you know, you want to represent the people, right? So, they need to hear from you. I guess they did all week. Sure.

Yeah. To your point, like there are some really dry reports that be talking about Dr. Cog or something. um which I don't know if I want to you know give that report out on the dis I it's almost like hey I attended this and here's what we did and I don't mind kind of sharing report outs from events or um uh representative uh organizations that we're all all a part of here in this premeating. Um maybe it's just like it is I I don't know guys. Um I think that there could be a difference between what we talk about on the dis versus

any dry stuff that we might share with one another. Council Brahas. Yeah. I'm glad for this conversation even if it's just for clarity. You know like Dr. cog gets bring brought up a lot like at NATA or um like an AC rep sometimes and so I don't know nec like if I have a question for you or if I have a question that I want to throw to you or staff like if the dis like yeah these are a lot more boring but if the if it saves time I'm okay with that too like if we can be boring and dry on the das if it means we're more efficient you know particularly around so I'm open to feedback I just don't I don't like it's if it's a weird I'm okay with weird if it's more efficient for sure I but we won't unless we're starting our meetings earlier out there. We're not saving any time.

No, we're only saving breath like at that point. Um well what what we could do is we can move post I post meeting up to the time where we we'd all be doing the pre right and that saves time at the back end. Councelor hot. Yeah. Um I think we do a lot of things already that are very dry on the dis so that doesn't scare me. Um I I do think um sometimes things are repeated and so I'm for consolidating them. I I mean obviously we still need them for our study sessions. Um but for um when we have a meeting I'm for saving it for the meeting.

To another point the people out there will have to stay longer if they are not into coming till 7 and they have to listen to our our reports too. People already think we talk too much by the way. So I think that so so to that point like pe people I mean some listen to this anyway but if they're coming just to speak

no so I I disagree because I think pe people are in need of information they are thirsty for it I talked to a lot of people and a lot of them are like hey can you teach me about this what is Dr. hog, right? They might want, you might think it's boring, but we need to trust their intelligence and trust that they are actually good actors and they want to hear from us. And that's what we're supposed to be here to do is talk to the people. They would like to know what our acronyms mean. Some are like, don't what's Dr. Cog, you know? I do try and say it most of the time, guys. Okay. So, I'm gonna I'm gonna tidy us up real quick. So, um I think Are we somewhat clear on the first item?

Yes. Yeah. On the first item. Yes, absolutely. And may I add also because I heard a couple comments tonight from council members and and then in the past, this has been an area that will help staff also uh serve council better because when individual members of council raise in their comments, I want to do this, but then no one else says anything and then the next council member speaks and then they that happens three meetings in a row and staff are like, what do I do though? Because it's only one member of council said something about that and this will eliminate that that missing of the gears for staff. So, so when you raise something or you raise something in your uh under the new agenda item that you all will actually talk about it with each other and vote ideally vote on it and staff will have crystal clear direction so that 3 months from now um you won't you won't need to say I raised that 3 months ago and nothing has happened right and that's been the biggest u that's been the toughest area to serve you accurately and expeditiously. So that that alone will make a big difference for how you feel your staff is responsive to you um when you want something done. So thank you. I think that will help a lot. So we'll go ahead and land this as a standing item on an agenda. We'll reflect it in the draft uh city council rules and regulations as you described and outlaid uh tonight and then you'll actually have a meeting on that to pass those rules and regulations and hopefully we capture it accurately and you could go ahead and uh cement that. But in the meantime, we'll start with modifying the agenda to reflect your direction tonight.

Thank you. And then um just for the second portion that was raised, I'll just say for my part, I'm in favor of eliminating our reports in back this room. I'd rather have them on the dis. I think that it gives folks the opportunity to hear what's happening and um have a little bit more insight behind the doors of what we do. um I think as a very active member before I was elected, I still had so little idea of what is actually happening and I found that frustrating. And so, you know, for the folks that are showing up, I think they deserve the chance to understand what boards were on um what is happening, what might be in motion, and then they can have a little bit of insight when they have come to future meetings about what was brought up and when and what we're talking about. And then we can be a little bit more layman's terms perhaps um and explain the acronyms. Yes.

Separate study sessions. Do you or do you want to keep it for two weeks? I think study sess I think that we should have well I'll let folks offer their insight. Personally I think study sessions we should have the opportunity to speak each meeting um especially if something important has happened. So study sessions obviously we would keep in here. Yeah, because that would be the only opportunity if you have a item for the future. The only time in a study session would be the premeating. So I think we keep it for study sessions but not for city council meeting nights.

The last thing I want to do is remove people's voice. I'm trying to give more opportunities to be heard and heard quicker. Um so that's my choice is to eliminate. I heard two yeses. Any other yes? Um yes or keep it for study session. Um the the first item that we talked about that staff has direction on now will that not happen then during study sessions the policy the policy that is only for the the dis right that is only for a regular meeting. Okay. Because that is the amending the agenda for our regular meetings. Study sessions are study sessions where we just do presentations and whatnot. Okay. So that is only for Yeah.

Okay. Um, so then, uh, yes, we can still do updates here. And then again, as always, if you have a comment, you bring it forward in the study session. Great. Okay. And then I heard you're not for I understand that. Yeah. Um, any other thoughts? Way is fine. It's not a big deal. Okay. Yeah, it's for the people, Christine. What What are you doing? It's fine. Me about when I did that for the week. I'm fine with it. I'm good for eliminating it during weeks that we have uh just in pre meetings during weeks pre meetings. Yeah. Okay. Sounds like you're not but

I'm just sensitive to how long our meetings go and so um and I think it'll just add like I don't know 10 15 extra minutes to our meeting. So if we are judicious about how we use our premeating time like we have been of late um I'm happy with that. Okay, I think that's the goal. Okay, well, we have a majority, so that's okay. Thank you, Abby, for all the changes. Okay, with that, um, I didn't get to everyone's reports, so um, councelor Zati. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Uh, went to the Mezer Foundation. The Meder Foundation is a joint uh to explain uh what it is. It's a joint uh uh NG or IGA with uh Broomfield and us. Uh it's an open space up federal and 120th area and um all is great. You know, uh both uh the mayor and I are are on the board and uh things look good. Some some kind of typical uh maintenance stuff going on. Uh but the place is as beautiful as ever and continues to be. So, uh, the environmental advisory board met on Wednesday. Uh, we received a a presentation from city staff on what is currently done with light pollution. Uh, so that was really helpful. Uh, if this body is interested in kind of receiving that information, I'm sure we can kind of give direction. They offered, uh, EA, uh, the environmental advisory board, uh, referred to as EAB, uh, was curious about ways to influence policy, uh, kind of offer us feedback that we can kind of take forward, particularly in this new method to influence policy. And so they are kind of having uh discussions within the board on your or you know they'll have continuing discussions within the board on how to influence that. A few of us were at commuting solutions on Wednesday. I had the chance to meet our our CEO commissioner um and or one of our CEO commissioners and they mention an important date that uh everyone who is uh listening should should keep track of. April 29th here at city hall, the front range passenger rail, we'll have a town the group doing it will have a town hall here at city hall. So, and I'll I'll be echoing this date until that happens. Uh it's, you know, the last Wednesday of the month and uh I think it's really important for all residents who are even remotely interested to be there so that way they can share their thoughts particularly on kind of what we've paid into already on rail and what Front Range Passenger Rail is looking for. So get information on it and express their feedback because while they can kind of tell us uh I think

those uh town halls are really important to really get that that kind of large group. So uh encourage all residents to be there and then the NA uh which is the north area transit alliance which is a group of municipalities uh in the north area uh like around north I25 um met. Uh it was a good meeting though. I did get an update that the 10-year strategic plan uh from CE DOT which I had been mentioning the last couple of meetings was supposed to be adopted shortly after our meeting like COT was supposed to meet and do it. They met but did not adopt the plan. I'm not sure entirely why. There wasn't a rejection. They just kind of postponed the discussion. So if you still have feedback or if anyone uh in the you know in the community has feedback on that they can offer that to me.

Thank you. Or us. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. So, I did I did um attend a community commuting solutions also. They talked about the passenger rail that they will have numbers for us what it's going to cost. It's to go from Denver to Fort Collins and that should be coming soon hopefully at our town halls. I hope they have the numbers. Um I I attended a class on wine just to help with retail in our city to drive sales tax. It was called shop state experience and they had some really good ideas. But one of the main things I've been thinking about is what is our theme? They say you should have a theme for your city and you should push that on social media all the time to make it so people want to come to your city because of because of the theme that you have. So maybe we should all be thinking about what is our theme. Um and they did have some good businesses I thought for the new downtown that they suggested. So I can send you guys all a list of the businesses they suggested that are really doing well right now and some and lots of them we do not have. So

I'll send that to all of you. Thank you councelor Johnson.

Thank you mayor. Um I too went to community solutions and I think councelor Zyl Brahas covered that pretty effectively. But before that that morning was also able to attend Rotary and Judge our chief just municipal court judge uh gave a wonderful presentation that I had to leave early from but uh you know he always does a really good job and I really appreciated him taking time to present there. Um, and on Friday I was able to be joined by several of the counselors here to talk a little bit about our municipal financing, which was a really great conversation about the current financing situation for the city and learning all of the the work that has been done and all of the complexities of municipal financing and how do we utilize it to to make our city better. That was a great conversation. And I really appreciate the uh staff putting that together and bringing in our municipal financing partners to that um because I know it takes work to organize that all. But I don't want to speak for the rest of the counselors that were there, but it was really valuable um valuable use of my time. Um and on Saturday I got to have coffee with you and that was wonderful and everyone that came was great. Um and you know I we just had this long conversation around uh polling and the rules. So, I hate to be a little bit of a rebel here, but I am going to ask for uh two polls to be taken in this meeting. Um, and uh the the first motion I would make is to agendaize an executive session for our next study session on April 6th to discuss changes to Westminster's municipal code 1341 ETSC and the conversations that have been had between representatives of fire union and the city attorney's office. Um, and I can pause there for that first motion if if you want to take it the poll or I can go to the second.

Okay. Uh, just a moment then. Um, we'll do a quick poll then on around having an executive session around labor for the fire department. Yes. Yes. Yes. No. Yes. I'm open to it. Sure. I'd like to hear what you're working on. So, yes. Thank you.

Thank you, mayor. And then, and then the second one is related to that, which was um I would like to put on the agenda for the April 14th um Westminster City Council meeting, a councilor's bill, related to updates for that same 181XX section based on the conversations that have occurred and the progress that has been made. Is that the 13th? 13. I think it's 13. Did I say the 14th? Sorry. Correct. It's the same municipal code ordinance. And so say that one more time. I'm sorry. So this would be to um vote or just What are you saying?

Uh yes. Thank you. I apologize. Um it would be to put on the agenda uh or direct the city attorney to draft and then put on the agenda a counselor's bill for that meeting that updates the Westminster municipal code at the direction of council based on the conversation that happens in executive session related to our risks. Understood. Thank you. Yes. Um I would like to see if you would be open to changing the poll. Um, I want it to be what the union is asking for and I would like it to be the union's draft, not staff's draft.

I'm I'm happy to respond. Mayor,

um, I appreciate that, uh, councelor. I would say that ultimately I want it to be our direction after the executive session and I think that executive session will enlighten us about our risks and the opportunities and the progress that have been made through those negotiations and then ultimately it will be the council that puts the bill on. I have a lot of faith that the city attorney's office and the city manager have been working really diligently to on negotiations. And I al also have a lot of faith in our colleagues around the importance of um labor in the city and what we believe. Um I I don't think there's like a a unions draft. I think there's like a working draft that has been going back and forth between all of us. Um and I I think the final bill should be drafted based on the direction. I mean my motion would be for the final bill that's drafted based on the direction of the executive session and the council's determination. I have a lot of confidence that we all will do the right thing based on that direction and our conversations with our city employees and city manager.

Can I add to that real quick please? Yeah. Um to put it a little more blunt, right? We are giving a lot more leeway, right, to city manager's office and city attorney's office to come to an agreement with the union. If they can't by the executive session that we've approved, council will step in and determine what we would like to see. Okay, that's what's happening, right? And then

at the ordinance and then hopefully then the ordinance would be drafted based off of council's direction. Okay. Cuz I just don't want to see what they've been working so hard towards being watered down to the point that it's not what they wanted. That's my fear. So, but yes. Thank you. Um Yes.

Thank you. I'm happy to color that. This is outside the motion, outside the body of the motion. And I will just say that I too have a a lot of uh trust that the city attorney's office and we know that the city attorney and the people that work for him have been working really hard on this. We also know the city manager and our fire chief have been really involved in this. Um I will echo that, you know, while I appreciate all the work that has been done, I understand that there's still some more conversation to be had. um is my intent that as I laid out um in my proposal, I think that it is both in our fiduciary best interest and a policy best interest to ensure that we support our labor union here in the city and labor unions here in the city and that we support the workers of the city and make sure that we're retaining this highest quality talent. So, um that is more to color for the conversation of next week. Um, I have a lot of faith that we will do what we need to do to support those workers. Um, but I don't want to prejudge based on um, not having heard how things are going and maybe how things will continue to go for the next seven days had the executive session and and I hope that there can be uh, some great conversation in those days.

I have heard in my discussions and that's why I'm worried. Councelor Ireland. Um, forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't mediation about give and take? You don't get everything you want. That's how it works, right? Just because you're union, you don't get everything you want. And then yes, and then we need to pull and we really need to move on. So, yes. Final.

Yeah. I I I'll just close by saying um I look forward to the executive session. And I think our city manager and our city attorney will do a pretty good job of walking us through the give and take of both sides in this conversation and where there may still hopefully not by the time we have that executive session, but if there is still some some disagreement where there is disagreement and why and what the risk associated with it is. Um but you know this is maybe just to give some direction to those presenting at the executive session that I look forward to seeing the progress that has been made from when this original conversation and the give and take that both sides have made as a part of that as a part of that presentation. Thank you.

And this is all for fire. Correct. All right. I'm guess I'm fine with it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Okay. Well, that's the majority without us either way. So, all right. Thank you so much. And sorry, we're gonna uh slide now on um Oh, I haven't finished everyone's reports. Where were we? Mayor Prom, I'm good. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. And then um I'll be brief, but I do want to just um mention very quickly that I did meet again last week with the anti-semitism task force that um our district attorney Brian Mason has formed with our uh police chief and with some of the school systems and with um our neighboring mayor uh from Broomfield. And as of now, they have set a date, I think it's June 25th, for a press release that will announce to the public everything that they are working on. And um they're also working on uh some information that'll go out to the anti-bully or no bully day for our local schools and that is I think that's in April. Um I hope I don't have all the dates wrong. Uh and then they we are also following up with our uh police who do a um faith in blue I think it's what it's called in October. And uh so our police force every October does a faith and blue where they work with our local churches or um different whoever it is in the community that might want their services or want them to show up for a certain cause. And so this year they were offering that you know they could show up uh for the Jewish community. And um our own Rabbi Benji is in this task force as well helping direct uh the direction of this for our community here in Westminster. And so, um, we've been listening to his guidance on what he'd like to really see in the community around this and what's important for those folks to hear, feel, and make sure that they feel safe and supported within the community. So, wanted to call out um the work that's happening there. Um, with that, I will move it to uh our city manager and your report.

Thank you, mayor. I do have a brief report tonight. The focus of the evening is the next slide. Uh, if I could. Uh so this is uh notice from uh the city tonight that in two weeks on April 15th uh the city is enacting uh what we call drought watch. Um and so during a drought watch the city encourages residents and businesses to voluntarily conserve water. So this is an entirely voluntary uh uh step in our drought management uh plan that's that's in effect. Um I want to describe there are five levels of drought uh management in our drought management plan. The first one is the is the status quo and that is that we're not in we're in a non- drought uh phase. So that's typically where uh where the city resides. Um the next level is this one which is the drought watch and this is uh alerting uh folks um that we do have a very low snow pack this year in the mountains which which drives water down our uh canal system into Stanley Lake which is where it's stored and then uh sent for treatment and distribution. And so this is uh the formal uh notice to our community that we are going into drought watch starting April 15th. We have a ton of information on this. We uh midafter afternoon today uh brought online a uh special city web page uh where there's all the information that uh our community would would need to get and that is westminster.gov uh/dout um and it it includes our drought management plan um what it what it means to be in a drought watch. We have two weeks to um get people ready for uh the drought watch. Um and um in effect uh what we will be encouraging folks to do is u limit their outdoor irrigation to no more than 3 days per week and to do that irrigation when it makes the most sense for water uh efficiency. And that is from 6:00 p.m. at night to 10:00 a.m. in the morning when it's the coolest. Um

and that will and when it's also not our peak water use time. So that allows us to shave the peak off and um get the water out onto the landscaping when it's most effective. Um and so I do want to highlight that since 2000 and notwithstanding the changes in our community and the uh development uh toward a a builtout city uh that since 2000 Westminster and this is kudos to our community has reduced its overall water consumption by 20%. We're confident that uh the drought watch uh will be wellreceived by our community uh with the awareness that they already have around how our water system works and where our water comes from in Westminster. Um next slide please. Um and very timely. Uh please consider uh this is for our community's benefit, our uh April community update session and that is coming up uh on Tuesday, April 7th from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. That's at our Westview Recreation Center. Um the drought watch and our drought management plan was the focus of that community update session. And uh this is an exciting uh change for our community who's been uh coming to our mayor city manager updates. this uh is the turning point where uh all of city council or those members of city council uh who who are able to be there that night uh will be up there uh going through this with our subject matter experts with our community that comes. And so this is a really exciting transition for both the community update format um as well as the topic is very timely for uh getting information and all the questions that folks might have. And then of course in the meantime that website is now live and people can start to pre uh research uh what what's involved and what's coming and then bring some great questions for our subject matter experts who will be there um that night. All right, next slide please. For tonight's agenda, uh we did hold this evening uh an executive session before this uh public session and that was to consult with the city attorney concerning the North Huron interceptor sewer project.

And I want to thank our members of the community who patiently waited while we had that executive session. Um that's concerning legal advice. And so those are uh done behind closed doors with our attorneys. Uh we are now in the public uh session of the meeting. I do want to highlight that in the uh public packet this evening is an update uh this is update number two um on paramedics and pavement uh program implementation. So this is ballot measure 3H and implementation of that and the progress. And I commit uh to regular updates. This is our second one. And you'll see those being numbered as we move forward. So you can track and our community can track um how every dollar of that uh new tax increment uh is going towards our fire department and our streets um um rehabilitation efforts. Um and then uh next up after I talk I stop talking uh will be two department uh budget presentations. The first will be public works and utilities uh with director Paul Caniple and then next will be our parks, recreation and libraries department with director Eric Hutzelberger. And then finally uh tonight uh you will be uh pleased to know that this is the last scheduled concept plan review that you will be reviewing uh per your direction. This is regarding Northgate Westminster station. you will then be addressing in um regular meeting um a change to the concept plan review program to have it shift over to only as directed by council uh if necessary. So these this will be the last if you will of the mandatory ones that are in in process tonight and then finally an executive session to discuss a personnel matter and that is reviewing the process and the goal setting for the city attorney. Next slide please. Oh sorry did question. Um,

I'll tell you after. Okay.

Uh, this week, Wednesday, April 1st, is a meeting of the Special Permanent and License Board. That's right here at City Hall, starting at 6 p.m. On Saturday, April 4th, two events in our downtown Westminster activation program with our Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Westminster Business Association partners. Uh, the first is Downtown Westminster Easter egg hunt. And I'm uh very pleased to announce that that is a family uh event uh focused on family Easter egg hunt. And that's right at Central Plaza. And um that's so that's Westminster Boulevard and 89th Avenue. Also uh on Saturday the 4th is a Pause and Treats with the Easter Bunny. Um that's actually in our dog park uh which is located at Eaten Street uh and 90th Avenue. And so that's an exciting uh programming for uh the city's dog park in downtown Westminster. Next slide, please. Uh two slides on our next meeting. Uh that is also a study session. very rare that we have two study sessions in a row. Uh that's just the way it worked out this quarter. Um the city manager report uh will be uh including uh an update on our short-term rental licensing program and this is something that city council's asked about uh recently and this is a response to that providing you with information on how the short-term rental program is going. Uh next up we have four presentations. The first is a midsession state legislative update with that's including uh a presentation from our state lobbyist. Uh next up will be 2027 initial budget development priorities. And so this is where um we connect um I believe these uh these two are out of order. We'll first do our 2026 strategic plan update. This is where we bring back uh the first draft of what you laid out in the strategic planning workshop. Um, and I went through that today and I can tell you I'm excited to be able to bring that forward to you to to review. Um, and then uh then we will go 2027 initial budget development priorities which will build on your strategic plan work. Uh, and then finally selection of our water

task force members. I'm pleased to report that we had a great response to uh the um the drive for membership for that. So water stands for water affordability to every resident. Um and our city uh clerk has personally interviewed all but one of those uh uh members and those are now uh available for you to review those interviews. Um you can do that and then uh this night we'll be going through those and uh determining um the makeup of that um task force and getting getting that launched. And then finally an executive session regarding an intergovernmental agreement with Highlands uh sorry Highland Hills Park and Recreation District. Next slide please. And then finally uh that evening there will also be a meeting of the Westminster Economic Development Authority or uh WEDA and that's a study session meeting that starts at 6:30. Uh the presentations uh there will be one and that's an update from Greyar on tenant concerns and communication enhancements and this is something else u that's a follow-up uh based on city council um u comments and uh concerns in the past. And so staff has been working with Greyar to directly address tenant issues at their buildings in Westminster. And uh this is Greyar coming in to present to you um how those concerns are being addressed. And then finally, there's an executive session uh which is a proposed development agreement and the possible sale of property on block D5 in downtown Westminster. This is one of our bigger, denser blocks in in Westminster. So that's an executive session to review that possibility. Next slide, please. So, that's all I have. Access Westminster. Uh, please keep using that. That's a great way. We're still fine-tuning that tool. It has a lot more power in it. So, the more our residents use that to interact with us, the better it will get. Um, and always reach us 3036582400. And our website, um, as you heard a little bit earlier from me, uh, will always be a wealth of, uh, current information for you. Um, and, uh, should

answer all of the questions that you have. That's westminster co.gov. And then finally, our transparency portal, which is updated uh practically daily uh to tell you where every dollar uh of the city is going. And that's westministerco.gov/903/transparency. That's all I have. Mayor, thank you so much. Questions? Councelor Zotti? A few questions. Thank you for that presentation. Uh city manager, regarding the drought watch, could we go back to that uh second slide, please? So the first question is related to the communication plan. What is the the comm's plan? Are we that I think the biggest piece for this would be the water bills?

Are we going to have something in everyone's bill, you know, like a flyer or something to communicate what's going on?

Councelor Zotti, thank you for the question. Short answer to that uh specific question is yes. Um so the uh communications team has put together a very comprehensive uh outreach uh plan in in uh close partnership with uh public works utilities that will uh mean that residents will begin receiving notifications and educational material starting tomorrow. So, we launch the comm plan tomorrow. Um, and that will be through the city's all of our digital channels. Uh, yes, through the utility bill and also in our Westy magazine that goes out which gets big uh readership and so we've been planning ahead uh in this for this eventuality and um that's highly organized and and launches tomorrow. Paul, do you want to add anything to that? Good summary.

Okay. Thank you. Will the comms increase as if hopefully it doesn't you know get worse but if it gets worse will that increase the intensity of the comms?

Thank you for that question. Uh so we we are continuing and increasing our monitoring of our snowpack and the water conditions. Um and at the same time uh the big work that our team does is model not only this year but next year. And so our modeling is very very uh complex uh and sophisticated. And so as we do that modeling and refine it and and monitor the snow pack and how it's coming in and how it's melting, um we will get more and more uh information and closer to whether or not Westminster will need to go into a stage one drought uh um activation. Stage one is the next stage after this voluntary compliance and that and that invokes mandatory um restrictions u watering restrictions specifically. And so uh if that were to happen, we would exactly ramp up our outreach. well in advance of that and it does have also like this one a pre-notification uh component so we would let people know it's coming before uh before it goes into effect.

Perfect. Thank you. Um next question. What operational changes are we going to make to our irrigation because I think from a comm standpoint we need to lead with that. Like here's what we're doing. If we're going to suggest that they reduce their watering we need to be walking you know show that we're walking that that walk. So, do we know what we're going to be doing to reduce? Thank

Thank you, um, councelor Rosati. So, it's a great question because the biggest customer for us is ourselves, uh, with respect to irrigation water and we do have our director of parks, recreation, and libraries uh, coming up shortly to do his presentation and I know he's planning on commenting for you on our current efforts uh, to uh, uh, reduce water consumption through through irrigation. Um it's in the multi-millions of gallons already uh that we're proactively uh reducing our water use in our um in our parks and open spaces. We're also actively reviewing the designs of our own uh street medians uh with respect to water use and consumption. And that's that's work that we've been undertaking for a number of years and are now accelerating as we head into this summer. So yeah, so s similar to 3 and how we led the messaging on here's what we you know we we searched for money before we came to you I think there's going to be a psychological element of the drought notifications that people see and they'll question well what are you guys doing why are you forcing us to you know so we should try to leave with that and my last question is more so curiosity when was the last year we hit the drought watch level and what was the most extreme level we've hit and when was that? So, just some history for anyone watching.

I think 2020 is the last time we hit a drought watch and then uh 2000 around the year 2000 I think is the last time we had very low snow pack and I don't know which level we wound up in at that point 2002 restrictions. what stage one I don't I don't we didn't have this this policy was in 2019 so this was developed post that but yes it essentially was stage one it was two days water and that was the worst in 2002 24 years ago was the last time we went into mandatory restrictions to recap and then 2020 was the most recent where we elevated to a what effectively would have been a drug watch well thank you

yes councelor

um yeah I have a couple things to bring up. So, um it's related to your update. Um we're not having the adult Easter egg hunt this year, and I'm only bringing it up because I've had several residents complain to me and ask me why we're not having it. And um some of what I've heard um from some of the res residents is that um not everyone has children and some people their children are adults. And so while they're fully in support of having family-friendly events, they also feel it's important to have events for them too. And so they kind of feel like um the events for them are going away in favor for family friendly when we should have both is what I've heard. So I I just thought that was a good time to to bring up what I've been hearing. And then also I just wanted to disclose to the rest of council um that I have been invited to sit in with meetings with Greyar UN and tenants. And so I've had one of those meetings a couple months ago. Um I was supposed to have a meeting last week. That meeting got cancelled. It will be rescheduled for some point in the future. And so since Greyar is coming to speak to us, I just wanted all of council to know that I have um been sitting in um with some of those discussions. Mayor Bertton,

I will also say that I have also met with um UN and I did meet with Greyar as well um probably about a month ago both of them. So similarly um and I also just wanted to parent that yeah I have heard um that people really do miss the adult Easter egg thing. Um, and just as a reminder, I know families are awesome. I have one. Um, and uh, but I also do appreciate uh, the fact that our demographics are certainly changing over time. And so just for us to be thinking about how we can change with that. Councelor Brahos.

Yeah, this is just a uh, thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, thank you, city manager. This is just a request. If we could put some sort of whether it's just the slide with the the drought restriction uh actual URL in the comm's go bag that we take the tables uh that would be helpful I think especially in this time. I'm not going to ask too much but I think anything akin to what councelor Zotti was talking about in terms of leading with the you know like ourselves first and kind of information will also be helpful because I think that's going to be the first question that we we get. So, um, something some sort of water sheet would be helpful in that way. Councelor Island.

Yeah, thank you for updating us on the water and because I've been asking about it for a while, but um, and we've heard it from the golf course people legacy ridge and so just be mindful what they're seeing. The golf courses are getting watered and their lawns are not. So um so we may we need to have a good message there. Also this this graph here probably to be really in the forefront of our our website right now um I think is a good idea. Couple other things that people are bringing up to me is the rodeo what we're doing there. Nothing has been done. Do we know if we're going to shut it down? People are still upset. They say nothing happening. And now we're hearing about another one, Legacy, which I didn't even know about. Is that a nightclub also that was on an email today that they were making noise, too. Thank you for the questions, Council Ireland. Regarding the the first one, the uh believe it's the Rodeo Convention Center. uh on Harland Street. Uh staff is actively working with the management of the uh convention center as well as the neighbors um and the tenants and the building and and including uh work with the uh property manager who actually controls that private property. Um the I I can confirm that the that the uh Rodeo Convention Center is correctly permitted for the use that they're undertaking under the regulations that were in place at the time uh which were the current are the current ones and that um the city has been actively working with them

uh to monitor their uh their activities and um they staff confirms that uh they are compliant with the licensing that they've been issued. Um, what about the parking situation? Cuz they don't, according to what we've heard, they didn't have enough parking to begin with to open that business if they're allowing the other businesses to have parking also.

So, that thank you for that question. Uh, that is the that is the active area. That's where we're hearing most of the complaints is around the parking. Um, the parking is controlled by that private entity which is the land the landlord uh through the property management company. But the city is offering all kinds of ideas and expertise uh to help them work through those parking um issues and is very proactive. Uh right now we've assigned uh a dedicated lead uh to um to do that work um as well as a dedicated lead on the uh monitoring side of all uh isn't because we also hear concerns uh worries that there are non-compliant activities happening. Um staff confirmed for me this morning that the that there are not non-compliant activities happening that they're uh performing according to what they were permitted to do. Um but that the work that needs to be done is around the parking management um and um and the effects of uh a lot of people leaving the premises at the same time which contributes to traffic and noise. And so those are the areas where staff is focusing on uh helping them work through uh mitigate those for um the neighborhood. Uh both

well I've heard about underage drinking fights outside of it. So I don't know how that complies with and please having to have more presence there which you know if we have to have a business with police there all the time that the strain on our police

and um I'll just offer my apology to city manager Andrews because technically we should constrain these questions to his report right now and I'll say that that is so high on our radar and relevant that I'm glad you asked it because I do think it's something we need to have an update on at this point every meeting until we figure out what what the resolution is and we didn't bring it up in the report. So, thank you for that. I just want to acknowledge. Any other questions on the report? Okay. In that case, I have uh a couple comments which is that um I'm really excited about council's update and it's uh somewhat timely because I'll be traveling for work. So, I'm really sorry that I'll be missing that. Um but thank you to those that'll be there. Um, and then also, uh, the Adams County Youth, uh, and Commissioner and Mayor's awards, those are happening this week. And so, thank you, Mayor Prom, for covering that. I appreciate you. Um, and then, uh, as far as the Strat plan update that's coming to us next week, I just wanted to acknowledge, uh, for council that there's kind of two areas that I've been pushing pretty hard in. One is how do we update the agenda that we just discussed to really make sure that we're heard in a timely manner when things come up, but the other is that we each individually have an awful lot that we want to address that we didn't get to at the strap plan. And I'm very aware of that and want to figure out how we get that covered and it's more than what we can really cover in one evening. And so, um, I know that plans are forthcoming. We're going to get an update next week. Uh but we've also discussed over the next several study sessions just bringing up sections of our strat plan you know under that vision bringing up a topic and just know that uh that this is coming we are going to get to everybody and so I want you to know to bring up all your thoughts and your ideas that you wanted specifically to mention for whatever uh study session that that will

be agendaized for over the next ensuing months because really my goal is just to make sure that we address the many things that we are here to do and um I'll just take the moment to say that you know a lot of my priorities were around water in the city and I can't wait to get to some of those right and so I'm really excited to talk about you know how do we prioritize natives over grass etc within the city that's one of the many things I care deeply about and so hopefully again we'll fit that into what's coming but then I know that there's a lot else around housing and affordability and transit and so just know that um that's not forgotten and my number one priority is making sure we get to all of that. Yes, Mayor Burton.

Just a question that maybe staff can be thinking about with respect to these um you know agenda items just how they relate to our budget process and asks that we might be wanting you know I know the strategic plan but I mean this is sort of like that's done so it helps guide the budget piece. So, because I also have ideas for budget items and we're talking about like, you know, specific things we wanted to do that were maybe policy items too out of strategic plan. So, just helping us carve out when and what uh we should be asking for during these.

Mayor, may I may I address uh both your uh comments and mayor prom an exciting teaser for what's coming your way. Um the there will be two pieces to what we bring back uh at the next council meeting on the strategic plan. The first piece will be the strategic plan itself. So council will provide uh final direction on the city's mission statement as you already developed at that at that workshop on the city's vision statement. So those would be the first two tasks. Uh confirm the city's guiding principles for the strategic plan. there's a change there that you directed which is to move organizational vitality from um the priorities into the guiding principles. So that's reflected and then of course to finalize the priorities of the plan. That's where most of your work was that day. In parallel to that we will present to you so to the side of that at the same time the list that you already gave us of things that you would like to accomplish uh uh in the near term. Um, and that's the outcomes or task list associated with the strategic plan. That's the list you'll want to look at that you referred to, mayor, to make sure that's complete because Saturday went by pretty quickly. We whiteboarded uh uh some of those uh items that you have. This will be the opportunity then to review that list and make sure um that what is not on there that you want to be on there gets on there. So, but that's all that we'll do with that list for the uh for that'll actually be kind of a homework assignment. So the the focus of the night will be mission statement, vision statement, guiding principles and priorities for the plan. With your direction, we will then turn that into a Fort Coloness uhesque uh uh first draft for you to look at, which will be the graphical version of the city plan that uh should represent what you want to see for this city. And at the same time, we'll keep that list uh making sure that it's a wholesome list for you. Then we'll address what mayor prom uh raised which is then we can start to go through that list and turn it into a work plan

and that that list will then move into what's already under underway. I think over half the items that you've raised are resourced or resourceable with current resources. So we'll indicate those are greenlighted uh for you. Um and then we'll indicate where a change needs to be made either in the budget process um where we will direct it into the budget if it's a big ticket item that requires money or resources that we don't have or I can't repurpose um or we have another solution that we would advance and then those can be um uh planned in for you based on your direction around urgency and uh and responsiveness and you may find that some of the things that you're thinking of to report back on uh sorry to add in uh have addressed in that new standing item are already in that list and that will help us uh start to work through in in an expeditious manner some of those those items so that it will come to you in parallel. So please do think of that list as kind of a homework assignment go through it make sure it's complete but that you can land and want to land the strategic plan uh now so that we get that in place and then that that that list will be accomplished through that plan that you adopt. Does that hopefully that makes sense? Thank you. Yes.

And yes, I think that all makes perfect sense. And and I would just add too that to Mayor PM's point, we we do want those to guide the budget process. So we shouldn't be it shouldn't be months of I hope it's not going to be several months of going through that list because the budget process has started already and we need to really wrap that up as soon as we can. If we need to add special meetings, let's do that, right? But I don't want to drag out feet on that list on the work plan list at all. If possible, can we push that through? That's my only addition. Thank you,

Mayor. May I and counselor, thank you. So, that is why we we will move from the strategic plan work that very night right into the budget discussion. Those will happen the same night. So then we'll build that bridge from the strategic plan into the budgeting process and we'll already be pre-identifying our staff has already been going through this uh the the current list that you've already given us um to map that into the budget process where we where we would need to and then anything else that you would add in. We'll get that in time um to then also map that into the into the budget. So it's not a stale list on the side. You're actually already looking at that. Staff is already looking. So that's great.

Right. And sorry when I Thank you. When I said to the side, I meant that you can move forward with confidence to approve the strategic plan that you want for the city knowing that that list is exists on its own merit and we'll you'll flesh it out some some more and that we'll tie that if where and if necessary into the budget process because as I mentioned more than 50% of the items um I can commit to you that we can get done without a change to the city's budget um or resource allocations. That that's that's the work we're doing right now. What can we do now? uh with what we have in repurposing and redirecting and then what would we need to suggest uh that you would decide on to say we need an extra um school resource officer for example if we don't have one that's just an example right that would be you would direct that that change

just will want to say that as always you've thought of everything so thank you thank you thank you okay um with that that brings us to this evening's presentations city manager would you like to uh introduce uce the first presentation. Yes, Mr. Paul Knipple, director of public works and utilities. Thank you, Jody. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim, and Council. Um, I've got a brief presentation. We're getting queued up right now. So,

can I drive with this? Yeah.

All right. So um got seven slides here to and also on behalf of our public works and utilities uh department I would like to present our our 2026 priorities uh carrying into 2027. Um so our place in the overall city organizational chart is down at the lower left. Uh I report directly uh to deputy city manager Barbara Opie. Um and our staffing the uh our budget and staffing in in public works and utilities. We have three principal divisions. Uh one is the operations division that includes our street operations, fleet maintenance and and facilities maintenance. Uh the utilities division has pretty much all things water. uh our our water treatment, water distribution, wastewater collection, wastewater treatment, our reclaim system. So, all of the treatment and operation of those utilities, and then our our uh engineering division, and Mr. John Burke back here to my right is our city engineer. Uh we met earlier this evening that handles all of our capital projects, uh construction inspections, uh development review, traffic engineering, and our water resources as well. And then there's a a small uh administration branch too that helps us keep things running. Um the authorized personnel for 2026 is 217 full-time equivalent employees. And our capital projects and our overall budget uh is uh just over $73 million a year. That's split among uh three different funds. The utility fund, the storm water fund, and the general fund. And then u our capital projects that are approved in

the 26 budget are $59.7 million again over over all of those different funds. So our priorities uh this year really around three uh four focus areas uh capital projects uh water transportation and then our operations and employees. And so, um, with respect to the capital projects, we've got some ongoing things right now that are very large projects, the drinking water facility and then the the two pipelines that feed the plant and then also the finished water pipeline that leaves the plant. Uh, the municipal courthouse is underway right now with construction. And then we're really uh into the fire station. So, we've got fire station 8 initially selecting the the consulting and the construction teams for that and getting underway for the design and then shortly thereafter we fire station seven and three as well. So, that's going to keep us busy working with the fire department uh for the next several years. And then we have a this summer we'll be bidding a a major water line project on along l between um uh between 88th and 97th. It's we've got a couple of segments of this water line. It's uh it's a it's for additional capacity for primarily the uplands development but then also just due to the age of the pipeline. So that that's going to be a fairly significant project. So the capital project delivery uh and most of that falls under uh the city engineers office. The other category of priorities uh relates to water. And so we have our our our water task force which uh you heard earlier this evening you will be making selection for the membership to that that starts that'll be on in on April 6th and then we'll have a fairly aggressive schedule to uh uh of eight

meetings thereabouts to to bring to culminate with our budget process and and a water rate recommendation. Um drought management is another element underwater uh that we've been talking about tonight. So we have a couple of things significant uh related related to water. Um transportation u there's variety of things here but I lump them all under the heading of transportation. Uh the our paramedics and pavement projects. We want to make sure that we deliver on those. the additional $2 million a year that the ballot issue will generate for us uh for the city. We want to make sure that we get that applied and and uh engaged. Um the roadway improvement fee uh we had a information only item back in January that recaped what we had talked about with this roadway fee changes in in 2025. We are uh in the uh in the middle of our engagement process with the business community on that. We're we're laying our plans and getting started and we're we're working toward that and and this year we will be bringing back a recommendation to the council for adjustments to that current roadway improvement fee. There's an existing fee now. We're proposing some structural changes to it and a dollar amount that will help further generate uh money to uh enhance our roadway system. Uh and then also in the element of rightaway management and this is somewhat of an internal process uh element. Uh we we have a lot of people that work out in the streets. We've got the uh the fiber optic companies. We have other contractors that are are building things in the streets that impact the condition of the pavement. Those those actors uh we are they require a permit. There's a fee associated with that. And then there's some follow-up inspections. And we we have some improvement we need to

do uh internally in PW with respect to how we're how we're uh policing uh people out and contractors out working in our in our pavement. And I think there's also some opportunity for an adjustment to the to the to the fees associated with permitting and and the damage to the roadways that we haven't adjusted in some time. So we're we're going to be looking at that. And then also with respect to our traffic operations, our traffic calming, speed abatement and safety and then also our traffic signal operations. So I know Jody has laid upon us to really try to bring our signal operations up into the current error. Uh many of our roadways through the city as you know are are controlled by S DOT and the traffic signals, but we the majority of the signals within the city are within our control. So we want to be looking at that. Then the last one has to do with our operations and employees. And this is um and we're going through the accreditation the journey of a self assessment on the road to accreditation through the American Public Works Association. So it'll be nice at the end we'll be accredited for all the world to see. But what's most important is the is the process by which we go through to achieve that accreditation. And what that requires is that we go through everything that we do and we ask ourselves is this the right thing to be doing and are we doing it the right way? We document it and uh when we think that we're in a good spot, there's a national team that comes in and spends a week with us and goes over looks over our shoulder and and and uh gives us gives us an outside perspective on what we're doing. that le that lends a lot to process improvement. It um what we've been doing, we've been we've got a lot of tenured employees. Um and so we want to make sure we're taking a good fresh look at how we're how we're

operating. And that's coupled closely with the other uh item there, which is asset management, getting a good inventory, condition assessment of of all of the pieces and parts that we have out there. Uh we've got about 13 different asset classes whether it's pipelines, whether it's pavement, whether it's equipment, treatment facilities. And so all of those we're we're into we're in we've been in the last two years of really strong data collection mode where we're um learning about all those and getting them mapped out. And hopefully this year we'll get to where we kind of have report card on everything and understand our gaps going forward with respect to all of the things that we have. And in process improvement, we're going through that. It's it's coupled closely with accreditation asset management, but we're going through internally about how we're the the the things that we're doing and how we're operating. So, just a a further look at at that um factors influencing progress. So, these are somewhat qualitative and I think they really really any decisions kind of come through these different quadrants here. if if you would. Um the our success is going to be influenced a lot by the the level and quality of our community engagement. How how much are we conveying uh information about what we're doing and getting public support for that or not? Are we get public feedback into it? So our community engagement is going to uh to really I think influence the the success that we have with with that. Um the second one is I have here competing interests. I guess we could put the correlary there which would be u uh shared interests. I think on on several fronts here with our our water rates or our roadway improvement fee for example. You know, I believe that the shared interest would be that we I would presume that most people want to have a

a good quality and reliable water system and good quality and reliable roadway system. The competing part of it comes into do we want to pay for it quite frankly. So there that's this is just a dynamic that we have to work through as we propose additional revenue or we propose how we distribute the revenue requirement acade structure. So um there and then the the next one really is is closely related to competing or shared interests is is is the tradeoffs. Um, you know, a couple of examples with that, um, my is really internally is we're looking at at at the no stone unturned paradigm about how we're repurposing staff potentially or uh, current positions or someone uh, moves on and now there's a vacancy. Do we redo that? They were probably doing a job that has some value and and and meaning in the first place. And so if we're going to trade that for something else new or different, we we have to prioritize. So there's there's trade-offs associated with that. Um so we we recognize that and that's that's that's a factor that will influence our pro our progress, our ability to to work through that. um risk risk tolerance and risk is really the the likelihood of something failing against and the consequences of that failure. And so we we think about that and with the water and roadway systems and our operations and employees. Um I I think where this is going to particularly come into play is when we get into the water rate analysis. Uh we do our cost of service study which we're in, you know, alongside of the the water task force and we we look at the the revenue requirements going forward both on our operations side and on our

capital side. And we we don't know what kind of rate that that's going to turn out yet. Uh what kind of rate increases that might turn out, but there may be a challenge of trying to reduce some of that operation or capital expense. And we need to be able to communicate and and talk about and consciously make decisions about do we are those tradeoffs and what's our risk tolerance associated with that. And there's way there's ways to look at that. Um so it's just uh it's another dynamic that we're going to be grappling with I think this year. Um and similarly with with repurposing staff and doing doing with what we making do with what we have. Um there's with the trade-offs comes different risks that we need to understand. And then finally, cost pressures are something. Um it's I think it's somewhat leveled out. The last 5 years there's been a lot of escalation. Um I think our bids are starting to flatten a little bit. Um, but there still continues to be we're seeing cost of material of of of contractual uh items, construction contracts and other services that we contract for uh tend to go up. Uh, you know, oil and gas and and uh and asphalt that comes from oil is is going up. That'll influence how much pavement we can put down on the ground. Uh, and you know, concrete is another one that that seems to go up. So these are our factors that that I see that influence our progress against capital projects, water, um our our operations and and transportation, the priorities that we laid out. So to summarize here, um uh PW contributes to the implementation of the strategic plan by uh through planning, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining resilient infrastructure.

And we believe that this in turn supports a health healthy and safe community and a and a and a vibrant and diverse economy. And there's my contact information. That concludes our public works and utilities report.

Thank you. Questions or comments? Mayor Ban. So, um just thank you for your presentation and um just kind of curious with respect to the way that you budgeted this year. Um would you think of making any changes um in your approach or thinking in next year? Is there any thing that you realized I didn't put money enough into that or or seeing this kind of in the future? or I'm thinking we may need to put more dollars into XYZ or maintenance or etc. Are there things that are kind of making you think this time around?

Well, I I know that for the 27 budget, we'll probably have some employee we will have some employee asks for the water treatment plant that's coming online.

Um that that'll be different than what we've done in 26. Um, I I think we will probably continue to form the transportation fund. Right now, we we set that up in the 26 budget and just I think the only thing in it right now is the the the the paramedics and payment money that we're getting, but uh some of the other external transfers that come in or that the general fund, all the things that we've been doing, funding transportation, that may be a change. Um, we'll see how we do this year. We we we it depends on how the year goes as to kind of what we're going to ask for in terms of what we're able to accomplish with what we have. I mean, we're trying to trying to stay as flat as we can. It's it's a challenge against

rising costs because the service delivery needs to remain. question. Quick reminder for me, where are the or where is the analysis at regarding um our transportation fee with respect to um in our utility bills like everyone's paying $6. We're looking at commercial. We we have we have the material together uh and and it's basically what we have shown council back in in on January 29th I think was the day of the meeting there was an information only item.

So we're we're taking that that information the progression in there and and then sort of the fees that were shown and uh we're identifying members of the business community right now to go out and engage with individually. then we'll do a more broad approach with them. Uh and and um so I'm just this week meeting with folks internally to try to nail down uh who exactly we we go and talk to. So we we we have a an initial uh plan, an initial structure and and and rates that uh and we've had some count feedback from council on that. We want to go and socialize that and take that input and then revise it into something that we feel comfortable presenting to you based on what we get back from the business community.

Hopefully we can wrap into next year's budget. Okay. Um that would be the plan. It it's going to take some time once council says yes, go do this for us to build a business system for that. It's gonna uh and so there'll be a delay with that. But I I don't think that we won't see any other revenue from it in this year. Yeah, there may be a little bit next year. Okay. Thank you, Council Rosali.

Uh thank you so much for the presentation. Uh and to echo Mayor Pro may the mayor prom's comments regarding the trade-offs and um so re regarding the element of are there are there expenses that you didn't foresee right that you might need to put in what I love about you Paul is that you're quite analytical and you you see things on both you tend to take in the whole situation before you. So maybe you'll understand my weird my weird brain when I say this, but my my question is the inverse is also true, right? Where so the way that I see I get at least the budget process for your department this year is kind of a three-legged stool where the one leg is whatever comes from the water task force, right? The one leg is the piece on what's out there that we haven't even budgeted yet. you know the employee stuff with the new plant and those sorts of things. But then the third leg is this element of can we take advantage the timing potential of the supply constraints. Right? So we have economically we are in this mode where we are severely constrained with supply with contractors with materials right within and that's all driven by the inflationary environment that we have with that comes timing rationalization if you will right where you can't get to everything you can you know if you have to pave a million miles of road you can't do that in on budget year because there's not enough supply or materials, right? So, you have to kind of spread the money across multiple years because you can't do as much as we

want to be done. So I imagine that there's opportunity particularly in this budget process on this inverse piece of significant cost savings from a timing standpoint of well we can only do this much for 3H or we can only do this much for you know because there aren't the materials and there aren't the contractors to that we can take advantage of a let's not you know raise rates so much or let's not do put in so if we don't if we're not going to utilize the actual dollars. Does that make sense?

Do you I think I understand what you're saying. And um first off that comes to mind is that anything that's in our that we're proposing as a project or something. We are I'm asking our staff, can we deliver on this? Do we have the people? Do we have the contracting community? Let's not put something in there ask for something that we can't get done. Uh the second thing is is that if if we're limited on what we can put out, there might be an opportunity for the capacity that we have as a staff to do some other things too.

Um that that's a a general thought, you know, that that that could be that opportunity for only able to do half of what we would want to do. maybe the people that would be working on that could maybe address some of the other things to the that we need to get done. And similarly with the snow budget even right I guess the the the analogy is we haven't had snow then there's savings built in right to whatever you budgeted for 2026 there's savings there because we haven't had the snow to right so there's probably a lot of opportunities to rationalize your budget if that makes sense. Yes. And and especially if we have a transportation fund and that that the snow budget could potentially come out of that. It would be funded through that and it would go back into that toward other things related to transportation.

Well, thank you for this. Other questions? Councelor Ireland. I have a question about 3. How is the money allocated for the 2 million for the roads? Is it half and half till you get to 2 million or how's it work? So, we we're going to apply $2 million worth of work to the roadway system this year. Well, it will you'll get your 2 million a year and then the buyer gets what's left over. I think that's the way that it's working because the initi the issue said 2 million. I think it had that dollar amount in there. So, I would think that.

All right. Thank you. and and councelor I can confirm that the that the projections are matching very very closely with the collections and so we are right on track for what the what the voters supported so 2 million to streets neighborhood streets and the and the rest and I won't give you that number so I always get it wrong by one slight amount um the rest goes to fire okay so you get your 2 million and then they get what's left in I'm glad to hear that because the roads need Other questions?

Okay. Um I had a couple questions which is um you touched on it so I'm have a feeling not much has changed but last year we had heard a bit about how constrained we were with our traffic engineers and so I just wanted to hear maybe just an update. Are they surviving? How are they? Uh

so we we had some constraints with our our traffic signal technicians. the the folks that are out in the street in the bucket truck operating and them being uh between the two of them on call 247 essentially and being having to be responsive. We did we through through the current this year's budget there was a third addit.

So you all approved of an FTE to make that better. So that has been a relief for that that team. um in in terms of the bigger traffic and we have a presentation this week. We got an hour with Jody to go through through some things. We have a good traffic management plan. We're we're we're staffed appropriately at this point. I feel like um we have some consultant help coming that we'll be able to to to go through the nuts and bolts of some of the things we're looking at. But we're we're gathering this the the resident input and and and concerns that they expressed to us and keeping track of that and we'll work through all of those uh accordingly this year. It's been slow to get to that point, but we're we're right at the point of doing that.

I just want to acknowledge that, you know, thank you and thank you for all the folks in your team for making it work. I know they've been going a long time now on a really constrained uh size of the team and and budget and um I know that can't last forever and I want just want to acknowledge that and I remember hearing that you know the traffic light technicians alone they need at least four to even really be whole and so um you know I just want to acknowledge that and thank you for making it work and I'm really hoping that soon we can um take a deeper dive into what absolutely needs to be done. And then um I want to say too, you know, this past week I got my flyer in the mail for the water pipeline work that's going to be done for the water plant. And uh it was beautiful. I'm really grateful. I I think our team is doing a good job of letting folks know what's to come. And there was a QR to scan if I want to keep up on the updates and so of course I signed up for that. Um, so just good job and letting the folks know what's happening and when and how to stay informed because that's been top of mind, I think, for all of us, but definitely for me on how do we keep residents with the most updated information, you know, with the, you know, okay, they can find something if it's announced this week, but what's the update next week, you know, and so I think this is a good way to do that. So, thank you. Um, and my only comment was it might have been too nice. It was pretty big. I know how expensive those things are. So, I don't know if we can cut the size down a little bit, but just want to note that it was pretty pretty big. Pretty very very clear though. That's for sure.

You didn't see it, but I I'll just say our comm's team had a lot to do with Yeah. for the good. Yes. They did a great job. It was big, colorful, very nice, very clean. Maybe we could make it smaller, but anyway, thank you for everything. Appreciate you so much. Thanks, Paul. All right. Um, that brings us to our Sorry, I can run. You guys can like start without me. I just need to run. Okay. Uh, can we do Can we do a two minute instead of a five this time? All right. Let's go ahead. Let's do a two minute. All right.

That's okay. My legs are so we're on break. Yeah.

Are you like Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

found a lot. She and I have been fighting over We're just calling it in right now and we're ready to go. Thank you so much. Uh, director, I believe that we're handing it over to you for our next presentation. Take it away.

Sounds good. Mayor, mayor Protown, City Council, Eric Odsilverberg, Parks, Reck, and Libraries Director. Uh, I will move uh smartly through this presentation, and I'm most curious about any questions or ideas you may have as we um work forward in this year and look forward to 2027. So, first off, I just want to say um as a department, we're about nature, wellness, and literacy. And we can kind of boil everything down to to one of those three um buckets. And, you know, I'm just really thankful and I have deep gratitude in working with uh such dedicated and passionate professionals in this department. the people make a difference and and this is a department that sincerely and authentically engages the community every day and I think there's tremendous value in that. So just want to celebrate that and the people and the team that makes it happen and uh yeah let's get uh going here. So you see the ORC chart where parks recon libraries lives right next to uh public works and utilities and worked for Barbara Obie uh deputy city manager. So we have four divisions operations park golf and open space library services and rec services. Um you see expenditure summaries there. Um we we are in the people business. So our personnel uh budget is at roughly 64% of our overall operating budget. You know, we roughly operate on a $9 million capital program per year that's largely funded by the parks open space and trails sales tax. Um, Adam, our partners in Adams County and Jefferson County with open space dollars and the uh conservation trust fund, which is uh lottery proceeds. So we we we our capital program is largely um restricted in dedicated revenue sources versus general general capital improvement fund

and we are one of the few departments that produces revenue. Um and last year was a little north of $16 million total in revenue production. So priorities looking ahead. Um couple exciting things ecosystem management plan and I just want to highlight you know engagement is such an important thing for us as a department and not last week but the week before we had our kickoff with and we have a uh pretty impressive group of Westminster residents um serving on this this committee. I just want to run down their their professions just because I think this is really cool. We have an ornithologist, a botonist, uh a member of the prairie dog coalition, the director of horiculture at the butterfly pavilion, a retired professor from the University of South Dakota that actually has done an abundance of research on prairie dogs, um someone who works for CSU extension, HOA representatives, um someone that has a fairly high level position, Colorado Parks and Wildlife. um pretty impressive folks we have living in this community and and I think for us it's important how we tap into that expertise and the passion and this group who's willing to give of their time to help advise you all. So that's ecosystem management plan I that's going to I think encompass a lot of things I heard in the strategic plan retreat. So really excited that that's underway and oh by the way our open space supervisor is a master's educated wildlife biologist. So Mr. Hemple is you know leading the charge on that. Um couple things of course our human services uh is important will be of increasing importance. Um arts week is arts years arts and culture. We're doing a lot more with that. Heard a lot from you about connectivity and and trails are important in that. Um you all approved a pretty important project with the Ranch Creek open space that you know

talk about you know linkages links single family residential multifamily um commercial uh amenities community garden t-ball complex and and kind of this missing halfmile gap that that connects a lot of things. So, I think you know kind of revisiting a trails master plan will be a very worthwhile effort to help you guide and prioritize our investments because we heard loud and clear from the community um in the PRL vision plan that trails is really amenity number one, the top the top priority through that exercise. um underserved populations, uh continuing our our uh partnership with the state of Colorado for universal prek at three different facilities, uh park renovations. We have a very exciting project on the way soon with Bishop Square renovation, uh Irving Street Library renovation that that's under design phase right now. And and scholarships, you know, I've heard loud and clear, you know, we we want to make sure that our programs and facilities are accessible. And so we worked within our existing resource to enhance our sponsorship this year uh from what was a limit of $250 per family. That doesn't really get you too far to 250 per individual in a family. So we're we're trying to just you know we don't want um financial hurdles to be a barrier um to that and and partnerships are key. I think we're we're at an evolution stage where going it alone probably isn't the most sustainable path anymore. Um so we're uh you know whether that's special district partners or nonprofit partners that's that's very important for us. All right. So I'm I promised Barbara I wouldn't gripe or you know you have a lot of the usual suspects here but but just a couple things I want to touch on. Um, and and my team might be getting

mildly tired of hearing this from me, but but really our our our the drum we've been trying to beat is taking care of what we have. I mean, we're very fortunate as a community to have the foresight, the planning, the the investments made and new things are fun, but things age and to keep them in good condition and so community can keep enjoying those, you know, it takes it takes vigilance and and uh discipline, I think, to to do that. So, you know, and some of that is just going from growth mode to maintenance mode as a community. So what what does that mean to really uh take care of what we have? Um but that doesn't mean that there can't be you know a few um prioritized targeted new things in addition to that um you know costs priorities pressures all all those things for us I I I believe parks reck and libraries is at a point where after years if not decades of no we'll absorb this we'll we'll absorb this I think we're past that point so now now we're at the point where I would offer Hey, okay, there's a new idea. Great. And and we're fortunate in the parks, Reck, and Libraries world, all ideas are good. You know, it's all good stuff. It's just that finite resource and the competing priorities. But for the the the new thing, I think we're at that mode of okay, well, we can do this, but which of these five things are we maybe going to, you know, mildly reduced level of service or, you know, are we at a point of stop doing certain things? Um and and I know that might sound dramatic, but our rec services team, they they do this all the time, you know, with uh the offerings we have, you know, hundreds of classes and programs of, you know, based on okay, where is community interest, where is increasing need, where is decreasing need, and just

and just trying to prioritize those finite resources is important going forward. Um on the regulatory side of things, I'm I'm not going to to gripe about that. Um but I think for us what that equates to globally is just a you know there's an excitement oftentimes from the community and to to deliver projects deliver things the increased regulatory environment for us and we're following things that um private developers have to follow. So it just means more time. So it's it's the the art or the challenge of just expectation management. Um, you know, there there's some things and and you know, and whether it's for liability reasons, risk management reasons. I know sometimes, well, well, what why can't we throw some boulders out there and, you know, some nature playground and just let the kids kids have at it? Well, okay, there there's some liability considerations and and other things, too. So, it's just it's it's uh I think for us, it's just important to be realistic on project delivery. Yeah. and and we, you know, getting back to that community engagement, we like to involve folks early and and you may have heard directly from some folks when we we do our grill outs. So when when a park is up for a park renovation, we we we invite the neighborhood to come out. We do a grill out and we really want the neighborhood involved with ideas, prioritizing ideas for the park at the concept stage. So they're they're literally involved from the get-go. The challenge with that is you get people excited. Well, you know, you have to do design, you have to might have to do storm water permitting and some other things like that. So, sometimes it takes a little while. So, it's like we we want that sincere engagement early. But getting back to that regulatory environment, you know, there are things we have to do in due diligence before we can actually deliver a project. Um, and

like I said, I mean, the balance between individual and community desires, we get a lot of great ideas, we, you know, we can't do them all at the same time. So, it's just, you know, it's a a hard game of tradeoffs. Uh, just just a few um highlights here of PRL contributing to implementation of the strategic plan. So, um, a few things, you know, under opportunity to thrive, uh, come April 13th, we're very excited to be presenting a item for your consideration, uh, to support homelessness prevention. Uh, the navigator program is a big priority right now and something we'll be looking at. How do we turn over rocks and and utilize our existing resource to um, maintain and enhance what we have there? Um, mobility, trails, connectivity, that's going to be key going forward. um connected and inclusive community. You know, it's really important for us to have meaningful participation. So whether it's empowered committees, you know, through the ecosystem management plan or the area specific management plan for the the who's dona or the uplands open house that we had, you know, we're doing, you know, basically four months of stakeholder community engagement before we even start putting pen to paper on doing the master plan there. So, we really want to walk the walk and I think the team does a pretty good job of frontloading that engagement. Um, healthy and safe, you know, wellness is a big part of what we're we're all about. Um, you know, the ecology, the wildlife corridors, you know, pollinator corridors, you know, things that we heard in strategic plan that's really important going forward. and that vibrant diverse economy and infrastructure. You know, those goals, you know, getting back to taking care of what we have, you know, we really want to walk the walk with that. And, you know, very pertinent right now, water conservation and sustainability. So, to per the question that was asked, um, a couple things, you know, the department

has made significant investments over the last couple years for water conservation and water savings. Those investments basically equated to savings of 24 million gallons of water per year and an additional 27 million gallons of capacity through the reclaim system. So a lot of PRL amenities are fortunate and and investments have been purposely m been made to leverage the reclaimed system. So you know what does that what does that mean? It's, you know, so we're we're creating or saving 73 acre feet of water. Okay, nothing to sneeze at, but not tremendous, but the last couple years, you know, we have removed 36 acres of irrigated turf, and that is, you know, there's there's more more to go, but that that's a start. Um, related to the drought watch that we'll be going in. So with the drought management plan, it's very prescriptive and and things like athletic fields, golf courses, parks all have very specific criteria. You know, under drought watch, it's we're we're kind of the same as don't waste water. But when we get into stage one and stage two, then those restrictions begin. um you know and depending if it's reclaimed like we've been purposely working to get you know leverage the reclaim to the maximum ability but with potable um you know there are restrictions and so like take parks for instance um in stage one we'd be at a 70% evapo transpiration rate which you know basically is reducing that right at at stage two it's down to 10% so you know we work very closely with our public works and utilities friends um you know stage one and stage two just for things like a golf course. Um stage two would get to the point

where you'd be focusing on tea boxes and greens and kind of have to forego other things. So it's um the the water water drought response plan we're working in, you know, it's very prescriptive things like, you know, splash pads. So actually our rec services team, our aquatics team has um the folks the technicians, mechanical folks that work on those um you know in stage two those those seas. So you know kind of those non non-essential things today had some questions on community gardens and what what is okay or not okay. So, um just you know have our team's firm commitment uh with uh our our division manager with park especially with parks golf and open space and our four superintendent uh over four districts. Um you know we'll be working very closely with public works and utilities as we go forward with that. So we've you know we're proud of the investments we've made with water conservation sustainability but of course acknowledge there's more opportunity as we go down the road too. And that's what I have. Open up for your questions or ideas.

Thank you, Councelor Hawk.

Um yes. So, um you're doing a lot of amazing things. Um and I just want to say thank you so much for all of the amazing things that that you are doing and um you've been listening to us and you know, working on. Um so, um I'm going to try to to get this out in a way that makes sense because my thoughts are kind of all over. Um, so what I'm my idea and what I'm asking for is just to see if it's feasible. Like I'm not ordering or asking like for sure um for parks and recck um to do this. Um but it's something that fits under partnerships. It's something that fits under um programming for underserved populations and it also fits under um a connective and inclusive community. Um so um when I was at NLC, I like to meet a lot of people when I'm at these events and and so one of the the people that I met with um their organization does soccer fields um for kids and they pay for half of it and it's a partnership. Um and I got really excited because as you all know I'm a teacher and I work for WPS. Um, most of the schools in WPS are title one. I work for a title one school. 80% of the, um, population in WPS is Latino. And what I've noticed during recess is my kids take off their shoes. Not all of them, but some of them take off their shoes and they use that for their goals to play soccer. So, there are kids literally kicking balls with no shoes so they can have their goals and their bounds and all of that. Um, and then also I just happen to be talking to one of the teachers at the school I work work at because we're trying to figure out how I might be able to get out of the classroom for like 45 minutes so I can talk to her students about city

council related stuff because they're doing a project where they're learning about local leaders and they're writing letters and she told me their number one request was a soccer field. So, um, I did get an email from them that I did pass on to our city manager. And so, I'm just curious to see if this is a a partnership that would be feasible and if we would be able to afford it because of the financial help. And but it would be very important to me that if we are able to do this that it's put in the area um that our our um underserved kids are. I don't want it being put up north where you know all the kids that already have all the resources. I want it to be um specifically placed um somewhere where our kids who are taking off their shoes to play soccer can go and not take off their shoes to have their goals. Um so that that was something I I I might have I don't remember if I added you in when I forwarded that email

to the city manager. I don't recall, but I would be very curious. I would have to get in my email right now to remember the name of the organization. Of course, as you were talking, it just reminded me of all of this. We'll get it to them. Yeah. Yeah. So, but yeah, so they've kept in contact with me. I've passed on the information and I just want to see if it's doable, especially since especially after, you know, watching the kids and then finding out like the kids, city council's going to be getting a letter from the kids requesting soccer fields. So, um I just thought it was just too perfect um to not look into if it's possible.

I would be very interested in that sort of partnership. And and since and and I appreciate you raising this because since 2010 in what we'll call I mean effectively we have four districts right now, four park districts in the city. I mean, we just implemented that last April, but in what what we call our south district. Um, since 2010, it's been identified as underserved for fields, you know, and and soccer primarily, but, you know, could be other things. So, you know, granted, we're we're letting the community lead, but from a staff perspective, you know, of course, we have an interest in, you know, take the Uplands and the PLLD, it's like and and the schools at 88th and Lowel and 11acre parcel there. like hm that could be an opportunity. Um there may be an opportunity um from the folks you're going to be hearing with a concept plan here for after me um related to a one field concept. So you could ask about that because we may have

asked them about that. You know, granted they're early on in stages, but but even even uh you know, something that's not this doesn't have to be a mega complex. It could be literally one field that gives access in an area where there isn't that access to your point. So I would be Yeah, we would excited because you already identified that and there's a partnership that wants to work with us or or partners that would love to work with us on this. So yeah. Um yeah. Cool. Awesome. Councelor Zi,

thank you for that idea. I think that's cool. And uh thank you Eric for the presentation. Two two things. one and this is this just came to mind because it's recent. I had a few people come to my office hours older residents and to your point so you had a slide about the service level expectations right and it's hard to balance the trade-offs and everyone has ideas. I think sometimes there are opportunities to reorganize existing resources that we already provide just reorganize in a different way repackaged right and I think this is maybe one opportunity of so the opportunity that they brought up is we have senior programming in multiple places it's there there is no central resource for an older resident in Westminster to go to one place and see there's no one website there's no one, you know, Westy page that has all of the senior programming all in one place so that they don't have to go hunt and find. So, a lot of them are giving up because they're like, "Oh, well, I don't even know where to start." You know, she talked about North Glenn and Thornton and and many of these other cities have senior resource centers specifically. We don't need to have an entire center, you know, an a building that actually that is a one-stop shop. That would be a nice goal eventually, but I think that there's probably opportunities to just reorganize what we already have so that it's easier access for folks who need those services.

Yeah, absolutely, counselor, and I appreciate you bringing that up. Um, in that spirit, we're we're trying to take some baby steps in that direction toward providing more resource. So, a couple months ago, we hosted the Adams County Aging Network at the MAC, you know, kind of more of a resource fair because for for a variety of reasons in the past, there was sort of direction to get get away from providing those resources. But to your point, you know, I think our our team has heard that need, too. So, we're we're trying to get back in into that um opportunity. And uh literally today, Director Kimell and I were talking about um I I think we we perhaps have talked a little bit about with the Blossom Commons uh the 50-UN affordable senior project, you know, moving forward with with some sort of hybrid library and maybe it could even, you know, the senior resource um folks center in uh Wheatidge have expressed a desire that or an interest of, hey, if there was some partnership that we could do shared space there. So I think you know being open to those opportunities and that it's that it's okay to sort of be a a convenor of that resource um and look for more ways to to do that. Of course the MAC is a is a good gathering place but but I hear you too on just a variet you know there's a lot of resources out there and it can be a tad overwhelming at times for folks too. Yeah, just want to throw that out throw that out there. And to the point about drought rout drought watch

I think we are doing a lot of great things. It's just a matter of making sure we lead with that messaging with the drought ro the drought watch the drought watch we should lead with that and the messaging is is is the point that and not what we've done in the past. I mean that's all great but it's like we want you to do this residents we are also doing and look what we're doing. you know, we're walking with them. Yeah, that's all.

Yep. And and and counselor, to that point, I think being conscious of okay, watering at the correct correct hours and and with with the significant investments, I just want to throw this out there and not to rest on our laurels and it's it's about going forward, but just to show the the benefit the the irrigation investments have had. So, so looking at the last five years, um the average annual consumption for parks, wreck, and libraries was was roughly 298 million gallons. That's despite adding to the portfolio, that's a 16% reduction from the annual um total between 2019 and 2015. And when you look at 2014 to 2010, it's actually a 30% reduction. So I know you heard he heard you know overall citywide that 30% reduction too. So, and it's interesting because if you really start adding up all the additional parks and facilities and things that were brought on the system and to still have that kind of, you know, 30% reduction, but but that's where the work is certainly not done and and some of those areas where, you know, we have opportunity to, you know, and as we're we're leading the way here with four acres we took out at at uh city hall, I mean, we'll continue to look for those opportunities and and and try to prioritize our limited capital dollars for irrigation improvements.

Thank you, Councelor Brahas.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, director, for the presentation. Um, you know, I just wanted to highlight an aspect that you mentioned about the stakeholder and community um gathering process. You know, a a lot of residents first and only contact with the city is through the parks uh department. And so having um you know that high level of skill is really beneficial. That was my first interaction with the city was like you know some some at the MAC there was some sort of listening session where it was very well done. you know, you had the the stickers and the dots that you put down and you voted and it got a lot of uh community feedback and you know, when I was there, I was, you know, this was many years ago and there weren't a ton of people, but I went to the one most recently at the MAC um and I saw a ton of my neighbors there and I could not like leave to my next event because there were so many people kind of uh chatting with me and so just doing a really great job and to councelor Rosat's point where you all tend to kind of really sub in to a lot of different places and so there's a lot expertise from senior service management to communication management um along with what your actual job is like you know running libraries and doing parks and stuff. So this it's it's more wondering I mean I' I'd love your your your insight on it but you know as we leave no stone left unturned you know I wonder about this department's ability to streamline communication improvements that other departments are looking to um to engage with. I know we have like an incredible comms department that you all work with for a lot of these programs. Uh and so whether it's just simply sharing best practices or um kind of coaching the members of different departments who are taking on more of those

communication roles and you know it's just whether it's increasing efficiencies or even you know kind of sharing labor whatever that looks like. uh you know I think that's that's kind of a part of it so that way you all can continue to do kind of that good work of being the catchalls that you tend to do. Um so that that was kind of the one thought that you know I have a lot of other stuff that I think I'll follow up with with the council and and the city manager's office down the line just in terms of program programmatic stuff but in terms of this presentation and budget that's kind of where my thoughts are going. Yeah, I I appreciate that, counselor. Just looking at last year and and um Alex Reeves and Lauren Gliddoo that lead our our marketing um communications team. It it's it's tremendous. They're inter internal requests like different campaigns from hey, you know, uh I've got some stickers here, great global cleanup or you know, requests for campaigns internally. they they supported 80 different campaigns plus 18 larger community engagement um campaigns. So really I mean we're we're fortunate to have that team because really we rely on them to to do a lot. I mean of course you know central comms will amplify what we're doing but we we have to carry a lot of our own water. So to that point of turning over stones it was important to me to give that team a little more horsepower. So we repurposed an FTE to create a PRL digital media specialist because you know it's not just the engagement but you know we to balance the budget we we've got to hit some revenue targets too and there and there's a balance there but there's that marketing piece and that's like so so critical too. So no, I I appreciate that and that's something you know quite frankly it's a challenge for us because it's it's a very dedicated and high-erforming team and and you know the the greater team is you know so it's

it's a it's like more more but you know we don't want quality to diminish or to shortcut that sincerity or the kind of the time that's necessary for that engagement. So, it's it's something I appreciate that it's we'll we're we'll certainly be mindful making sure we're resourcing that appropriately within our existing resource and and to the degree we can collaborate with others, you know, that's that's good. But what we uh Yeah, it's it's a lot. Yeah, for sure. And and definitely certainly my my goal on that wasn't to kind of like dig in, but just really highlight and share, right, the the the model of good communications that this department does already

like doing it in that incredibly cost-effective way like you mentioned. So thanks. Thank you, Councelor.

Thank you for all your engagement. I've gone to a few of those things and I I I appreciate it. In fact, that's where I met Eric the first time was engaging with the who's dog park situation. So, I know he's got the talents. Anyway, um to council Zadi's point, does the activity guide that we sent out have a section just for seniors? it it has um a section of older adult programs and and and both both with those you register for and then just examples of like drop in because there variety of things you know primarily at the MAC but elsewhere too where they're dropin. So we we have that and I mean it's all it's a good idea. It's something we could look at enhancing too

because I see get the Broomfield guy too where I live and they're really into the senior programming. So, if we could, you know, use that guide to its fullest, would probably be the least expensive way to tell seniors what's going on. Um, also, you mentioned regulations. What new regulations are causing costs to go up for the parks and recre? um you know things things that aren't out of the ordinary but I I think you know whether it's um and not not not to we have good friends in storm water but just you know because we're dealing in land and large areas and and quite frankly you know through partnership with our storm water team at the city and like mile high flood district you know that's where we've been able to do some pretty cool things like at city park with the big dry creek project and things like that um but we you know it's it's for regardless of the scale of project you know just just whether it's procurement whether it's um you know are we are we replanting so Bishop Square is a good example so okay we're very exciting you know we'll be turning dirt later this this this year um successful in a $1.5 million Adams County grant um million dollar city to the table so so older part of the city it's part the dreaded 1894 Westminster plat and and you know it's just it's just this okay you know old plat that has a lot large part of the city and so okay well we're just going to renovate this park well we should really replplat it because the old plat shows like streets going through the park that that aren't going to happen so it's it's not the end of the world but it's just something to out of respect for our engineering friends

and like okay we'll as part of this project we'll replplat this area but now this is an additional cost some additional time um Oakhurst Park that that's that's a park renovation that's that's coming down the pike and and we've heard some displeasure from residents that were at one of the grillouts like hey what's taking so long we we had some challenging storm drainage things that we had to address um so it's it's it's nothing horrible It's just, you know, the the due diligence. I think sometimes folks look, you know, at parks and well, this isn't that hard. Like, why aren't you all like moving faster? And, you know, but there behind the scenes it is a little more complicated at times, I think, than you know that understandably than the lay person understands. So, you know, we we try to move expeditiously, but it's like we, you know, or or for instance, you know, we're midstream right now with uh Sheridan Green Park, you know, formerly Stratford Park, and um we're requested to do an official development plan. Okay, we we can do that, but it's not magic. our landscape architect has to you know and with our consult team. So it just it just takes

longer than longer wanting it to take. Okay. Thank you questions. Okay.

Um then with that I just want to say um I've heard a lot of good things lately from residents uh on the parks which is what I was going to talk about. Alo great leadin and so thank you to the teams working on those parks. Um just last week you know three residents came and said how beautiful um I forget which one but one of the more recent ones is. So um with that I was hoping you could just give a list of all of the ones that have recently been updated over the last year or two and then which ones are coming up so residents can hear that.

Okay. So Squire's Park was our our biggest quite frankly the city's largest park renovation in probably 15 years. Um and and that's you know substantially you know more of more of a larger community park versus a neighborhood park. Um we we of course do more tactical uh playground replacements and so like Waverly Acres Park has playground replacement. um certain things for safety. I know it's not as exciting, but like at McFall Park replaced the uh um port in place, you know, there were chunks missing and it was a great great park, but it like kind of looked ratty because of the the playground surfacing. So, this is, you know, the taking care of what we have. Um yeah, we're we're you know, making smart progress on Sheridan Green, formerly Stratford Park. So, that's that's you know, appreciate the neighborhood's patience there. I know, you know, to be in in the middle of that project. You know, there's some things going on, but that'll be exciting. Um, Bishop Square should be under construction uh later this year. So, that'll um new new playground equipment, new tennis courts, uh a lot of ADA improvements, uh just site improvements there. So, that's and and for the existing neighborhood and proximity to Uplands, I mean, that should be pretty pretty exciting. So, um, yeah, and and then, you know, on the open space front, I think it's it's kind of forgotten sometimes, but there's some pretty cool work going on right now at McKay Lake and, you know, like trails that and kind of accessibility with some boardwalk there that that I mean, McKay Lake is, you know, it's, you know, northeastern part of the city, but it really is a gem and I think this will create better accessibility um for that. Uh, so that'll be excit Ranch Creek Trail under construction soon or is underway. So, lots to look forward to and uh Wolfrun Park and Oakhurst are around the corner.

Thank you. Um and then as far as you know, you you kind of spent some time on items that we might need to pull back on. Are you looking for direction on that or is your department handling that? you know, I I think we'll proceed uh with with the overarching policy direction as as we receive it. Of course, we're always open to feedback and and input. Um and you know we're not contemplating dramatic things because it's it's you know when we look across the spectrum um you know we see satisfaction and appreciation for a lot of things we do from everything as you know from peuckle cards to you know the the trail system you know it's it's you know we want to be mindful that you know we have users and a constituency for for everything. Um, but yeah, it just get it gets back to that that balance and just trying to, you know, use that finite resource to the the best degree we can. But

we all love you a little too much. But, um, and then last one, um, golf. I just want to reiterate, uh, something that councelor Ireland said earlier this evening and, you know, around water. What is it that we're doing with our golf courses right now? what is our plan going forward while we're under this drought monitor?

So fortunately both courses um made significant investments with irrigation efficiencies. So just just those capital investments have made for a much wiser water use. um during drought watch of course you know between hours between being being more judicious um you know we'll we'll proceed accordingly with that it gets very if we go to stage one it it gets um there's an actual schedule and that's where we work hand inand uh with public works and utilities I mean the good news is you know coming into the season now um and and being able to leverage the reclaim system that that that's um you know beneficial from from the reuse and the conservation of the portable water. Um I I think some previous concern with Legacy and you know with how dry the winter was and complications with the Farmers Highline Canal and the you know there there was some concern understandably expressed from the neighborhood of like well what's going on cuz you know that both golf courses have pond storage and in a typical winter you're not drawing down the pond as much but as we all know this winter was was so dry and it's that you know to if you if you water irrigate judiciously, you know, earlier, that pays more benefit than, you know, I was my coach coached my son's soccer team and we were up in Fort Collins uh this this Saturday and um the the the Fort Collins soccer complex was was was quite quite dry and you know, you just when you when you know, whether it's golf or athletic turf, you you start to worry about do you reach a point of no return on it if you're not keeping up with it. But but we we will you know follow all um you

know and stage two is where it gets a lot more serious even for reclaimed where it's a focus on the greens themselves and the tea boxes and a lot of the extraneous um land is maybe maybe let go but but we have you know the good especially I mean both courses but Walnut Creek you know is an Audabon society designated um san you We we have a lot of native built in there, too. So, that that that helps, but um yeah, we'll be judicious.

Thank you. I realize that we need the greens, but I hope and I realize too that zero scaping costs as well. That's not free either, but I hope that we're starting to look if things are lost permanently that we start to look at, okay, what does that look like in the future? Um, okay. Any other comments? We're good. Thank you so much for your presentation. Appreciate it.

Thank you. All right. Okay. Well, that moves us now to our concept plan review. Um, we have a concept plan review for Northgate Westminster Station. And, uh, as we have the folks come in, I'll read this through. The next item is a concept plan review for the Northgate Westminster station. And our concept plan reviews are not a hearing on a development application. The purpose is to allow a city council to learn about a proposed project in its beginning stages and provide feedback to the applicant on city council's general impressions of the proposal in accordance with the Westminster municipal code. Concept plan reviews occur after city staff complete the pre-application review for a proposed project, but before staff perform a technical review. Technical review, which involves an official application for an ODP, PDP, or an amendment there too, will occur only if the applicant chooses to move a project forward after the concept plan review. As part of the review process tonight, city staff will provide a brief introduction and then the applicant or representative will present an overview of the applicant's development proposal. City council may then ask questions of the applicant and provide the applicant feedback on the proposal. City Council comments on the proposal are gratuitous in nature and are not binding on city council, the planning commission, city staff, or the applicant. Hello.

Hi. Good evening. Evening. Um,

good evening to Mayor Mayor Prom and Council. My name is Nathan Lawrence, senior planner. I'm here tonight to provide the staff intro of this concept plan review for Northgate at Westminster Station. Here's the project location. Um we're located on the east side of Federal between um 72nd and 70th Avenue. Um and the sites address is 7120 Federal Boulevard. The property contains 28 acres. Um it's currently zoned um B1 business and M1 industrial and is designated predominantly residential medium density and the 2040 comp plan um with a small portion along federal that is the designated commercial and in red. You can barely make out there. Sorry. The proposal includes 579 residential units, which puts it at a density of 21 dwelling units per acre. Um, the proposed unit types include multifamily town homes and quadplexes and some single family detached homes. Um the current residential medium density designation allows up to 12 um units per acre when located within a half mile of a transit station. Um so that wouldn't be enough to accommodate the applicant's proposal. Um so um their required applications include of course a comprehensive plan amendment um that would propose and there'll be some more detail on this in the applicant's presentation a combination of urban multif family and residential medium density on the site. Um they'll also be required to provide um to do um a resoning preliminary development plan and official development plan as part of their um entitlement package.

um to give an overview of the staff analysis. Um the scale of the proposed multif family portion of the project is similar to um what what what is proposed across Federal Avenue in and the station area plan. Um however, it's a higher density than what's currently allowed um under the residential medium density designation. Um the site is lo is located a third of a mile from um the Westminster station RTD station. Um and it's along the future the future federal boulevard bus rapid transit corridor. Um it's currently under uh under design. Um reductions in building height and massing are going to be a a key focus for staff should the the application could go forward to provide um um a good transition to the single family detached homes to the east and the south. Um, according to the 2022 retail strategy, um, this sub area is in need of more housing, um, to support existing retail and encourage additional growth in retail. Compared to the previous concept that that you all saw um, in November of 24, the project density has come down from 27 units per acre to 21. Um and and the proposed commercial uses that you saw in the last plan have been taken away. Um as far as infrastructure, the city has existing water and sanitary infrastructure adjacent to the site. Um the the developer is currently

undergoing um a study for the water and sewer um capacity in in the area to determine what off-site improvements are going to be needed. Um there is um adequate water servic anticipated for the site. Um when considering other priorities um in the current comprehensive plan and in the immediate area um sewer is expected to be constrained for capacity um based on current assumptions in the service area. Additional analysis of course will be done um once development phasing is better understood and that modeling work is completed. Um, our city code requires that that development within our city be served by city of Westminster water and sanitary orthough although Cresby water um and sanitation um service area is located adjacent to the site. um Excel capacity for power in the area has not been confirmed, but um we have spoken about them and there might be some some constraints in the near term. Um as far as parks, uh 16 acres of land are required to dedicated based on the the proposed density of the site. Um and of course, council can choose to accept um a portion um or all of it as a fee and loot payment. Um approximately 1.7 acres of private park space will be required per part of the current multifamily guidelines that are being applied to this project. Um and according to the PRL vision plan and needs assessments,

um there's been identified a need for public park land in this area. um and particularly asfield as we talked about just just earlier um for public notice. Uh 10 signs were posted on the property in accordance with code and over 1,900 um notices were mailed. Um that concludes this intro and an o overview. The applicants here tonight um to talk about their concept um and again they'll be seeking high level input from council on their future requests for resoning uh comp plan amendment and and their preliminary development plan. Thank you. First

thank you Nathan. Yeah. Um good evening and thank you for everybody for taking their time tonight to speak with us at this late hour. Um we're excited to be here to um continue the conversation around West Northgate Westminster station. Um you know in our opinion it's one of the most transformative opportunities in the city today at 28 acres right across from the light rail station. Um, you know, our goal here is to briefly reintroduce the team, walk you through our concept plan, and most importantly listen to your feedback, um, as we work together to bring this project to life and to align it with the city's goals. Um, at the same time, we understand it's late, so we'll try to move quickly through this. Um, my name is Joel Cohen. I'm the development partner with the Situs Group. Uh we are a locallyowned family business that's been in business for 30 years owning and developing uh real estate across the state. Um our focus is really on attainable and missing middle housing. Um and we've spent the last six years owning and working to entitle this property. So um we're very much committed to to getting this right for Westminster. Um, we've assembled a highly experienced, locally grounded team to help deliver this vision. Uh, this includes Palona next to uh next to me, the Pockner Company, and Cage Engineering, all of whom bring deep expertise in attainable housing, transit oriented development, and sustainability. over the past year since we saw you most of you um last. We've also gone out to the market and brought in three best-in-class development partners. Uh we're excited to share that we're now now working with these three builders um covering forale housing, cottage and

town home build for rent and multifamily development. Uh to to really truly deliver a mix of of missing middle housing. Um, importantly, these partners aren't just capital. They've helped shape a plan that is more executable today and that again helped bring a true mix of of middle missing middle housing. Um, and I'll explain that a little bit more as I kind of get into the evolution of where we were a year ago to where we are today. Um, and again why we're here. We're here to help build on the city's vision and substantial investment the city has made in the station area. Um, this is a true TOD opportunity as I brought up, you know, just being just eight minutes from the light rail walking. Um, and really a key gateway into the city along Federal. And, you know, at 28 acres, it can really help catalyze the neighborhood with a sense of place and gathering. Um, it also is going to fill in a long vacant void in the city and community and help connect the neighborhood to the station area into all the retail along Federal. Um, and again, number one, the goal here is to to provide missing middle housing. Um, number two, to really improve walkability and access to green space for the community. and three, help catalyze um the neighborhood with fatal with economic fatality. Um and we're, you know, we're also working with the shopping center in the corner, our neighbor in the corner there, um to help bring a grosser back to the area and help fill the food desert. Um which we're super excited about. Um again, with the three builders we brought in, we really envision this site as three communities in one. um a single family for sale community in the

southeast corner. Um a kind of cottage build for rent community in the northeast corner in uh in pink. And then really a multif family community closer towards federal. Um really all integrated around shared public space and infrastructure. And again, the point of which was to bring a mix of housing, you know, and the the goal with the density here was to really phase the density from east to west and be respectful of neighbors um while also providing, you know, sensible density in a TOD location, you know, and again, these three communities would then be centered on the on the central park. that would be a public amenity to the entire community as well as um additional amenity space in the detention area you see on the south end and and likely a dog park. Um this plan really remains consistent with the vision that we shared with you all a year ago. Um as Nathan mentioned, we've reduced the unit count by approximately 200 units. um which was really eliminating structured parking on the multifamily at you know which really just brings down the the price point and makes it more attainable. Uh we we increase the size of the central park. Um as Nathan mentioned we did eliminate um the mixeduse proposal we had we had proposed last year. Again that was largely driven by the market. We went out to the market and and sought to kind of stick with the original plan. And I, you know, I'm somewhat speculating, but mainly based on the mixed use in the station area and all the retail along Federal, there was not one one person who came forward who was willing to build that, which really drove that decision. Um, and again, I think the main thing is we're in a much higher level of execution readiness with these three partners in the fold and ready to

ready to go. Um, so I'm now going to pass it off to Ronnie Palusio to explain the concept.

Thank you, Joel. Hi everyone. Um, thanks for the opportunity to present. My name is Ronnie Palio. I'm an architect and land planner and co-owner of Palona Architects and Urbanists. Um, the images on this page, as Joel has mentioned, are images representative of our our development partners on this project. Um, but when we looked to the site conditions, we really were seeking inspiration from your community. And so I'm sure that these images are very familiar to you with housing type examples on the left that are reminiscent of the images that you saw on the previous page, parks and green spaces in the center that are demonstrative of the types of spaces that we're imagining in the community that we're proposing, and then aspects of walkability that are found in successful communities um across Westminster. It's important to note that the image on the left um not only depicts building scale and massing but also the relationship to the road and the lack of exposed parking. You'll see that that's a principle that we um also believe in and tried to implement in our proposal. The park spaces are u relatively similar to the park spaces that we are proposing on our site and there's a gradation of different types of outdoor amenities that I'll speak in greater detail about in a moment. And then the walkability piece is important to us. In particular, what's happening in the public realm of the road um and the types of things that occur between the sidewalk and a moving car, including a tree lawn, um on street parking, um and the friction that that creates between a pedestrian and moving vehicles. As Joel mentioned, um we're in a very interesting location in your community where the context is a little mixed in that in the northwestern area of the site and across federal um there are commercial uses and larger apartment

product. And then on the east side of our property, there is lower density residential. And so our proposal really aims to be compatible with the existing context while providing much needed housing in your community. Um and so the gradation of housing um has larger buildings as you might imagine up against federal um that are fourstory multifamily product with more compact multif family to the north and then the lowest density that we're proposing on this site um with detached single family homes um demonstrated in yellow on the southeast side of the site. It's important to note that the central park um is about 1.4 4 acres and that the streets and building product kind of pinwheel around it. It's meant to be open to the greater community. Um, as is the network of streets that provide connectivity through our neighborhood and to adjacent roads. Um, but 71st AB, which is the road that is central to our plan that heads east and west, is discontinuous. And that's intentional to help limit cutthrough traffic from our neighborhood into existing neighbors um, homes and neighborhoods to the east. This is an aerial image that we think best shows kind of the overall disposition of the mass and scale of buildings with the largest buildings being on the left side of the site with Federal Boulevard um kind of on the furthest left heading north. And then the central park is actually on the upper area of the plan that is highlighted with the darker development footprint. Um that is the 1.4 acre park. This land area in the front is actually predominantly detention. It's not shown as recessed, but it will be. Um, but there will be land area in front of it that is more of like a passive outdoor space um that homes front onto. Um,

there's a gradation of outdoor spaces. You can see other aspects of um green pocket parks in the center as well as on the east side of the property which will be better highlighted and planned, but I just wanted to point them out. At this level, you can see that building forms are larger to the left and then smaller as they move to the right. Um, and that with larger building footprints, oftentimes you get larger fields of parking. But we purposefully tried to bring buildings close to the street edge to give building presence and to conceal parking and to make it a pedestrianoriented neighborhood. And the land plan I think helps to exemplify some of the things that I just described um in greater detail. Um what I wanted to point out here is really um the different types of outdoor spaces that are available. The single family homes that are at the southeast side of the property sometimes face onto common green courts. They will have outdoor spaces on their sideyards and front yards. um and so they have the greatest amount of private outdoor amenity. The multif family product in both cases um have club houses as they have the least amount of private outdoor space. They have internal amenities that are larger format clubhouse um um uses that come with pools and other gym equipment. And so there's a gradation of outdoor spaces and um you know recreation amenities across the site depending on the use. In the lower lefthand corner you can see a um green arrow that is the primary pedestrian connection to the transit station. There's a proposed street light and crosswalk at that location. And then taking a step back, you can see that the smaller ring, which represents a quarter mile radius, and the larger,

which is a half mile radius, is meant to demonstrate that there are area amenities that are within walking distance. The most obvious being um the transit station in the lower left. Um but there are also other types of outdoor spaces that are very close by. We think that we have right-sized our outdoor space for this community in an attempt to balance um bringing muchneeded housing to an area um that is close to the transit station um and then also balancing the need for outdoor amenities. Knowing that there are other amenities within walking distance um 1.4 acres seemed right to us. In conversations with staff, there have been some suggestions about offering um the amenities of the park, including so a soccer field. And so what you see here is a diagram of a 9V9 soccer field overlaid onto our outdoor space. And we'd love to hear your feedback on that and whether or not um you think that's an appropriate amenity to offer within that area. And so, you know, you've heard us talk about the design ideas uh behind the neighborhood, and I'll just point them out here. Our goal is to offer a diversity of housing. Um to be compatible in scale and density, to have a diversity of outdoor spaces and make sure they're right sized for this community, to create a walkable and connected neighborhood, and then also to follow water and energy use best practices. um by limiting the amount of irrigated area on our um site to the areas that are most public in nature and those are the parks.

Thanks Ronnie. Um so really where we go from here um you know first and foremost we're here to listen to your feedback and make sure we're aligned on priorities um before moving into the formal submitt process. Obviously Nathan mentioned our next step is to formally submit for PDP reszone to PUD and comp plan amendment. Um again where you know a portion of the site would not be changing the comp plan and a portion would be changing the comp plan to urban multifamily. um you know during that process obviously you know with the Pockner group we'll be engaging the community um and also um advancing the infrastructure studies on water sewer um power and traffic um and then moving on to ODP permits and construction um but again just to recap um you know as I mentioned we have three builders ready ready to go and we're excited to move this forward Um the it's remains a long road ahead. I mean we've got a long process to reszone this site. Um you know market conditions, build costs and entitlement costs um remain a challenge. development fees and standards are significant and um you know I I know there's um some some conversations with city council and staff on on some of those elements and PLLD requirements that um you know I think are are a challenge for for our site you know being a TOD site with really attainable housing in mind um you know there are some big question marks still on infrastructure um particularly there's likely going to some some sewer work and um we have engaged with Excel and had a um a preliminary review done and um you know

the there the likelihood is that you know there is not power at this site currently. Um, you know, I think uh we approximately need like 6 megawws and I think the feeder heading down to this site is a 10 megawatt feeder and so there remains some questions on whether there's room in that feeder or not. Likely not. And so it likely means that another feeder would need to come from the south. I think there's a substation. It's the Arvvada substation 2 miles south. Um so there's some substantial infrastructure elements here to be figured out. Um there's still there's some minor environmental work to be done on the site. Um and really to bring in the mix of housing with the three different partners that you know it's a 28 acre site but with three partners it it it all of a sudden becomes a tight site when you have you know when you net out roads and central parks and elements like that and you need every partner needs a certain level of scale. So, um there there's a number of challenges we're working through here. So, um, you know, we just wanted to bring bring all this up to you guys and, um, you know, just keep wanted we wanted you guys to have this in mind and, you know, really as we go through this process, we'd love to get your feedback and, uh, we request, you know, your support on our plan um, and to keep, you know, the the the major unknowns in mind and as we go through this process. And you know, I know the PLLD is an element that that you guys are talking about. And um again, as we described, you know, we we tried to rightsize that central park as best we could for a TOD location. Um and you know, again, for for an attainable project like this. Um you know, it's likely that in the future we'll be requesting waiverss on on the remainder of PLLDS andor sounds like they may be changing in the future. So, it's just

another puzzle piece that we're trying to keep track of. Um, similarly on that central park, you know, in the preapp process and discussions with staff, they've mentioned, you know, they'd like to see that as more like a two to two and a half acre park with a soccer field. And I mean, we're we're committed to working collaboratively with the city and staff and um coming up with the best solution for the community. Um, so you know, any feedback you have on on what what you guys think the goals are, we'd appreciate. So, thanks for your time. We appreciate it. Thank you, Councelor Rosati.

Uh, thank you so much, Joe. I think for this to be the final concept plan review, I'm this is like, you know, I I can't support this any possibly, you know, more because there's so many elements of this that are obviously aligned with all of our priorities that you've been hearing about and that we're pushing towards. And thank you, Ronnie. And you know, I situs is a very um you're always forwardlooking. You know, you and Hugo and the whole crew it so just thanks. I want to start there that it's a very important project. I love everything about it. Honestly, the 100% AMI, you're addressing food desert, right? You're addressing middle housing, missing middle housing, it's for sale and for rent. You know, these are all things that we've brought up over and over and over again these last several months. Um the walkability, the green spaces, the density, near transit, right? It's everything that we want. And this is a great example of um as we're going through our strategic plan and we're trying to reimagine some things like you mentioned the PLLD and um and and mainly how can we and you've heard me say this a lot is how how can we accelerate these projects by reducing the red tape right for the ones that we know are aligned with our priorities how can we get this going right so because time his money and it does need to pencil out for you guys and it the benefit to us is actually much greater, right? For all the reasons I' that I've already named. So, it's a great example and you didn't even mention the dog park. You have a built-in dog park in there, right? So, there's a lot of benefits to the community and I think it's a great example for staff to look at and use as a case study of how can we accelerate a project like this and wrap

around the incentives for a project like this versus a lot of other projects that that we might be looking at, right? Because this one really does align with where we're trying to go to go to. So, that's the my first point. Second point, I'm glad you mentioned power. you know, we're having a lot of Excel challenges with past and present projects. So, I'm glad you're talking with them and I'm hoping staff is I mean, so I assume staff is

helping you with those conversations and if there is a need for this south megawatt, you know, entry, I I hope and please don't be shy to come to us if if there's anything from staff that we can do as a council. maybe a letter to Excel or something to push them, you know, towards making sure that this is a priority for them as well. Please let us know um affordability. You mentioned now that it's a slightly different project, you were able to bring down the price points, right? Do you have any idea of what the range? I mean, it's hard to say given how long of a timeline we have and kind of what build costs are going to look like at that time, but certainly the the programming was meant to bring down the price point and certainly for for rent product, uh, the builders have discussed, you know, a target market that's really like 100% AMI and below.

Well, that's all I have to say. Just a lot of praise. So, thank you. Thank you, Councelor Hawk. Anya, I'm also really excited about this and I hope that you're able to overcome the challenges that you um outlined. So, um I I only have one question and a lot of praise a lot like councelor, but um would you consider this a mixed income neighborhood?

Um I would say yes. That's what it looks like. It's the closest that I've seen.

Yeah. Um, so I I'm super excited about the three communities in one. I'm really excited about the walkability and access to green space. Um, I I love the mix of multif family and single family homes. And um, one of the things I talked about in our strategic planning was wanting to see more mi um, mixed income neighborhoods because like you were saying, on one side is all um the multifamily units and on the other side are all the single family homes. And so a lot of times um depending on people's um incomes, they're very separated by their neighborhoods. And I would like to see more mixed income neighborhoods where um people at different incomes all live in the same neighborhoods together because it helps reduce the stigma um on what neighborhood you live in. And then um um I also love how it was touched on how important housing is when it comes to supporting and attracting our businesses. Um people are super excited about um um Trader Joe's. We wouldn't have Trader Joe's if we did not have the people to support the businesses. So businesses aren't going to come here if we don't have the the people to support those businesses. So I love how that was touched on. Um I also love that it's in um near our light rail station because that's exactly where this type of product needs to be. Um also it is in my school district. So, a soccer field there would be a great place. Um, just just wanted to share that. But, um, no, I think this is great. This is the closest thing I've seen, um, to a mixed income neighborhood since I've been on council. Um, I I I I just I love it. I think it's perfect for the area. And, um, I I Yeah, I can't say enough good things. I I I really love I love this.

Thank you, Councelor Brahas. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh, yeah. Thanks. Could you would you mind popping back to like one of the slides that has some of the the Yeah, that one. Uh, maybe the one with like the the colors on it or something. That's perfect for this one. Anything is fine. Yeah, sure. Um, thank you. Uh, so a few thoughts. Um I mean yes certainly echoing a lot of the things uh the connectivity um and I think the walkability uh in design will do a lot to alleviate any sort of like traffic concerns because if the goal is to get more people walking and less people in cars that means

there's honestly this is just kind of a net win where people can kind of make their way to federal via a lot of different routes instead of just the two that are already just currently built out. So I feel like this is um

like designwise we're we're trying to do a win. I want to to and this will be the theme on a lot of my comments is larger designwise and this goes to like our city manager's office and this this the body of this council kind of really understanding this too is you know like yeah the light rail station's right there and I think that's really important and I think that no one will be walking across federal without really safe infrastructure to ensure that pedestrian safety goes there and so making sure that you know you all have the correct design to encourage that will be absolutely useless if people are not feeling uh safe and secure. And so, uh, and that's not necessarily on you, don't you're not C dot and you're not like the city on this stuff, but I think being good partners in communication so we know what where your infrastructure starts and ends and we're able to kind of take on those pieces is crucial. And I would hate to have uh really missed the mark and people aren't able to really access that in a car-free way because this you know I have a lot of friends who are you know live in downtown Denver or live here in Westminster and try to make their way to downtown Denver and this is the exact solution for them living here um in a car way. A lot of people are moving to this area trying to live carfree and and I think that that's you know if this is an option for them we have to make it so that it's a usable option and they don't opt somewhere else. A note about the dog park. Uh it's pretty far functionally it's just pretty far away um from a lot of other spots and I know that if this is a fenced in dog park that's kind of okay. Uh I'm excited for this because it's some other like a lot of the community surrounding community can also use this. But in terms of just you know if if it is if there is a soccer field like kind of that more central place or something a lot of just short trip for residents for in the north part uh who are kind of making their short trips will not go all the way down to the dog park for a quick kind of jaunt. So and we've learned this lesson in downtown Westminster. I'm sure

our planners can kind of talk to that. Um, you know, having at least some infrastructure for dog relief usage at any sort of green space is important and I would hate for, you know, the if it's a cold soccer field or whatever it turns out to be to just be kind of littered with with dog refu or kind of torn up by that because we haven't really planned around that. So whether it's moving the dog park more centrally or having just trash cans, just thinking through that process, I think the city does have a lot of wisdom on on what some best practices are, particularly with our downtown. And then a few Yeah, a few other thoughts. So certainly crossing to walkability in terms of crossing to the light rail station, which I think think is crucial. Um, you know, the 72nd is well known, but we get a lot of commentary, you know, and personal experience of of being really fast, like there's a lot of speeding on that. So, the kind of safe pedestrian infrastructure also going to there's an really awesome kind of retail area right there that you highlighted there, the 72nd and Federal, you know, there's the the commercial gym, there's kind of small retail stuff, there's um a lot of restaurant and food options. And so just really trying to engage that connectivity in a safe way that will encourage usage because then maybe that would impact the greater community, the surrounding community's ability to go there in a car freeway and again still reduce that traffic uh need and we'd be again good partners. final thought on just um kind of building with the future in mind which I think and I guess that's why I'm I'm inspired by this design because it is kind of forward thinking you know as we look at uh water usage and particularly with Excel usage you know something that we've heard a lot of is this you know Excel doing these preemptive shut offs and you know builds that that deeply impact residents and if

this could be like a gift if we do some sort of from substation you know, feeder that is immune like I I don't know if that's even possible engineering wise, but like if this could be an area that is future thinking in terms of that and then all the residents in the surround the existing houses then can benefit from some of that uh future looking infrastructure and obviously this is not on you to build out all of that stuff but you know as we look at what the design needs for this entire area that kind of we'll probably be seeing a lot more of of this, you know, this need for these utilities and and infrastructure needs. I think being in good communication again so we don't kind of miss the mark on on making things cheap and easy for both the city. So although those are just some thoughts certainly no no need to kind of comment on them, but I just wanted to thank you for your time. Thank you for your your thoughtfulness and give some of those insights from the city.

Thank you. Yeah. You ready? She wants me to go first. You can go. You go ahead. I'll go after you this time. You might say everything I need to say anyway. Um, can you go to the next slide? This one? No, sorry. That one. Yeah.

Um, I am a little disappointed to see where we're at with this site. Um, in general, um, I was hoping for better connectivity. Uh, that's one of the things that with the TOD being there, um, I I'm not seeing where, you know, we're connecting to streets over into um, our TOD area and Westminster station area. It's not really obvious if you've actually achieved that. Um I saw that you had the just talking about connectivity across federal um you know this street um whatever this street light are you actually

that that is an existing street light there and so that is the only viable crossing path on federal. I mean, we would love to have an additional crossing path at 71st kind of in the middle there, but last year we kind of went through this and uh were given the direction that that uh C dot would not support another light there. So, it kind of makes it we would love to see connectivity in the middle as well. Um your your next opportunity is really 72nd at the very top, but yeah, the really the only crossing points are where there are existing lights, right? Okay. So, short of short of building a crossing bridge or

Yeah, this whole area frustrates me because Adams County and SE dot are not were not helpful at the time when um the project to the south was being designed and there's a long history to it. Um but I you know regardless of that I think councelor um Brahas kind of got into the connectivity need

um and the importance of that. I think internal to the site, I I think I commented on this last time as well, there's not a lot of internal connectivity north of 71st. It's very um car centric. You're walking through parking lots um if you are walking. Uh so it kind of loses its um character as a walkable community north of 71st. and you know, you're showing imagery of great neighborhoods that we have in Bradburn, but you're not achieving it here. Um there's a little bit um on the south side, but it really does break apart, particularly to the north. I really the bane of my existence is these build to rent um projects. They are there's no connectivity. There's no sidewalks internally. There's no green space. It's all alley. And it's um they're terrible projects that I see popping up all over the place. It's not a good environment to throw people into. And then it's not affordable unless you're doing deed restriction. Are you doing deed restriction?

No.

Okay. So there's nothing to say that while right now because the market in this area is 80 to 100% AMI, that's the natural market in this area. They're going to build to that for sure, but there's no guarantee this is going to be a long-term mixed income neighborhood. It is what it is because it is the market right now. So, we're getting products that are just subpar. Um, and don't, you know, they they don't achieve what you're showing the imagery would be achieving. Um, you can if you really showed imagery of what these projects look like, I don't think anyone would be excited to see that. Um, or to live in, you know, it it's I don't know. I I really hate them. Um, I think I've made that clear. So, I guess um regarding the park, um I'm open to having less acreage here because we do have a 40 acre park like right across the street as long as we have good connectivity to it. Um I am a little concerned about the current size of the center park and trying to actually get a soccer field on there. I think there would be a lot of conflicts the way it's currently designed with homes right up against the soccer field. You don't have a lot of street space around the soccer field. So if it were actually going to be used for games, it would be a conflict. Let's just put it that way. Um

parking

for parking. And so I do worry about that unless you made it bigger or you put a street in between the home, you know, you just put more streets around it. Um, so, uh, let's see. And yeah, I think that's that's mainly it. I am just I I'm disappointed by the that build to rent product. Um, and I I wish that we had something a little bit better. Um, I get where you're going with the multif family. I think that's fine. And I don't think we need to have retail in it. Kind of hating the transition of just, you know, parking or parking on the north side, but it maybe another pass at that and like a big eraser to the build product. I'd love to see town homes in that area um as have been proposed in the past. You know, I this is when you get to that point, you know, you look at the is it Midland project? Midland

mid midtown Midtown. um you know, we're not even achieving that and you know, so um yeah, I I would love to see something better on the north side. Um otherwise, get a team for the south side. Councelor Island. Well,

I have to agree with the things she said, but also I'm for for sale properties and we have too many apartments in our city already that are vacant and we don't need anymore. So, the fact the town houses aren't for sale, the houses for sale is great. The apartments, we have enough apartments. I don't think we need anymore. Um, I think the dog park area is too small. There should be more green space throughout the development for dogs. Um, the soccer field, to her point, there's no parking for it. Um, only thing I was for is to have a grocery store to lead through. So, I'm I'm not happy about any of it except for the grocery store. Any thoughts?

Sure. Council,

I appreciate that. I'm I am um maybe somewhere in between the mayor promp and councilors in Ireland. I'm really excited about the project. I live in this neighborhood. Um and I think the the bringing this level of density to that area will really revitalize what has been a struggling commercial corridor for a long time. Um, you know, I'm pushed outside the city to do my grocery shopping because there's this quarter does not have uh have quick groceries. Um, and I like the the kind of transition approach to having multif family be closest to the transit hub and kind of working your way back into the community. Um but there, you know, I will echo that I uh the way the grid structure as you get north kind of lays out and um the way the the um build the rent it lays out. You know, I would much prefer uh kind of a mix of the single family and the build the rent if if that's the direction to go throughout the the eastern side of the project rather than have them segregated to council hotsp like more actually of a fully uh kind of uh mixed uh environment along that side. Um, I also want to echo some of the the connectivity especially around the grocery hub and I know that uh, you know, at these renderings at this early in the stage that's not fully developed yet, but making sure that if we're going to incentivize a ger and we're going to build a community around an existing commercial center that it's connected to that commercial center. And to that point, um I am a little bit disappointed with the the sea of parking around the multif family. I think especially with the to you'd hope that people could are living there are using

the transit and don't need the parking as much and the the parking to parking I really think cuts the connectivity among the between the multif family and the the uh existing grocery store. And so I would prefer a better use of that space even if that means uh more density. Um and then to the point of the soccer park, you know, I'm soccer field, I'm probably in also in between where if it's a kind of an available use for that space but not a dedicated use, I think that that may be kind of an appropriate middle ground. I like the idea of, you know, making it available for that use and having it be sized appropriately but not specifically dedicated for that use and u maybe not fully kind of graded to that use. Um, you know, I've never played competitive soccer, but when I did play soccer, you just kind of went out in a field. And so, um, you know, I I think maybe there's some middle ground there to get the use out of it without having to dedicate it in a way that maybe restricts some of the the other uses it could have.

Um, thank you. And so I just want to say overall I'm really excited about this project. I think it's where we want it to be. As you to all your points, it's in the TOD area. Um, and you know, this is an area we're trying to build up and we are we've been trying to solve for this food desert for a very long time and if we can incentivize that, that would be incredible. Um, I think my priority lies around I want to echo really all the sentiments I've heard. Um, to your point about the walkability, it does have that and yet, you know, and so to what I heard councelor Johnson say, you know, I just want to see can they safely get to that grocery? Can they safely get, you know, they're traveling a lot of parking lots, which I realize to some level is somewhat necessary, but you know, ease of access is everything. And so, um, and the same I I do agree somewhat with councelor Braha's point about the dog park, you know, ease of access and use and whatnot. And if that can't be achieved, is there any way to add some green belt around, you know, especially some of the multif family areas? Um, and I do want to emphasize if we could make some more of this for sale, um, that would be helpful, too. And I I also the integration of the homes I think would is a good idea. Um, so just safer, more connected, which is obviously a highlight here, but I think that it there's more ways to do it because I do see a lot of cement and that always gives me pause or concern. And so, um, wherever there's ways to mitigate the cement is really helpful. But then, um, just to all of your concerns around, um, I'll start with the grocery, you know, how feasible do we think that is or what kind of timeline are we at or is there anything real or would we need this whole thing to be built first to even get close to that?

I mean, I think density would help. I I think they are negotiating right now with a few grocerers. We've given them an easement and actually are in the process of actually selling them that little sliver easement behind the behind the grocery store that gives them truck access. That was the big issue there. Um but yeah, I believe they're kind of in the process of getting that going. That's exciting. That's huge actually. That's much better news than I expected. So that's great. Um and then as far as Excel, obviously that's a major hurdle. And so I guess my question to you is you know if that doesn't come through then what?

Good question. Um I don't know the answer to that. I mean I I think there is some some uh availability in the feeder currently but yeah again I think to bring the power we need for the entire community I think it'd be another feeder. I mean, our understanding is there's a discussion around a Westminster substation, but that's a site to be determined and five five plus years out. Does this whole site depend on that? Is there a phased approach possible? Good question. We haven't gone down that road, but perhaps

feel free to do the south side. I mean, at the end of the day, I I think our our goal is certainly to go through PDP and and and get the comp plan amendment done at minimum and then I think we'd be looking to develop what we could get done and and work with the constraints we have. Well, I do want to say that overall I am really excited about the project. I think it's what we need, what the community needs. So, thank you. Any other thoughts? Can

I add one one thing on the concrete parking lot situation? So, I I I believe we have pretty excessive parking requirements. So, if that was the reason why there's so much parking, um feel free to ask for exceptions. Honestly, if you need to make it more dense, make it more dense. Um and make the connectivity better with the grosser. That would be my I agree with council body.

But if we're giving away anything on the rent to own, I wouldn't. no standards should be like I wouldn't bend over on any of the standards that we have um for a product like that. So I' I'd want staff to push that. Okay. Any final thoughts? All right. Thank you. Thank you all and thank you for your patience and staying up with us. Thanks. Appreciate you. Thank you.

Okay. As stated at the outset of this concept plan review, councelor comments are gratuitous and do not bind or obligate the applicant, city staff, the planning commission or city council to any course of action or future decision. With that, the time is 10:54 and we will close the open portion of tonight's meeting. Executive mayor, we have to vote. Let's vote.

Thank you. Yes. So, thank you, mayor. Before concluding the open portion of tonight's meeting, uh there is one additional executive session on the agenda and that is a discussion of a personnel matter, the review process, discussion and goal setting for the city attorney pursuant to Westminster municipal code section 113C1 and Colorado Revised Statute 246 4024F1. Thank you. Uh, with that, we will go around the room and, uh, agree to go into executive session. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yep.

Yes. Yes. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you for catching me. Um, okay. With that, it is 10:55 and we will now adjourn the public's portion of this meeting. Thank you so much.