City Council - Regular Meeting

0:00 – 1:36•RARoberta Ayala

Good evening, everybody. I'd like to call to order the 1,635th regular meeting of the Thornton City Council. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone in the audience to please turn off or silence your electronic devices. The audience seating area is provided for observing council meetings from a seated position only. Audience members wishing to stand must stand the aisle along the rear wall opposite the council dais also if there is any anyone in the audience who needs assistance in listening and or participating in the meeting and has not indicated so on the sign-up sheet please raise you

1:37 – 3:05•JAJohn Alge

Thank you, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. The City of Thornton respectfully acknowledges the land on which we stand is the traditional territory of the Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Navajo, Pueblo, Shoshone, and Southern Ute tribes and nations who were the original stewards of this land. We honor the history, culture, and contributions both past and present of these indigenous nations and tribes. We pay respect to their ancestors, elders, and present-day members and extend our gratitude to the indigenous peoples for their ongoing care and stewardship of land, water, and resources.

3:07•RARoberta Ayala

Thank you. Item five is council roll. Clerk, will you please call the roll of council?

3:35•RARoberta Ayala

Thank you. Item six is approval of the agenda. Are there any staff changes to the agenda tonight?

3:44 – 4:11•RARoberta Ayala

Thank you. Item seven is presentations. Item 7A is a resolution commending Peter Duong for his service on the Thornton Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Council Incorporated Board of Directors. Who would like to introduce this item? Councilmember Chris Russell.

4:14 – 5:41•CRChris Russell

Thank you. I'd like to introduce a resolution commending Peter Duong for his service on Thornton Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Council Inc. Board of Directors. Whereas Peter long served as a member of the thorn art science and. Humanities Council in cash co order directors from February 11th, 2025 to June 8th, 2026. and whereas Mr long helped update cash goes bylaws goals, policies and roles to support the presentation of arts. and culture programs and events in the Thornton area. And whereas Mr. Duong participated in Tashko retreats held in March and May of 2025 that confirmed Tashko's role

5:43•RARoberta Ayala

It has been moved and seconded to approve the resolution. Are there any other discussions? Oh, yes, Council Member Russell.

5:54 – 6:57•CRChris Russell

Yes, Peter, I remember years ago, I was also just getting going into city involvement and that's when you reached out and you were just looking to be a good resident, trying to be involved and you were open to so many opportunities, whether it's a council role or serving on this board or any of the other boards. So it's been a pleasure seeing you just grow in your involvement with the city. And I commend you for doing so at such a young age. There's not. A lot of youth, or at least I don't believe there's enough youth that actually takes time to get involved with their cities. They just get bu

6:58 – 7:21•JAJohn Alge

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. And Peter, congratulations again. Well done. You're one of our rising stars here in Thornton. Though we're bummed that you're leaving Tashko, we still know you're going to be very much involved in our community in more ways than one. And I am honored and humbled to call you my friend. And if you ever need anything, you let me know. I'm always here for you. Thank you.

7:25 – 8:01•JMJustin Martinez

Thank you, Peter, for your service to the City of Thornton. I know Tashko is not an easy board to be on. There's so many activities, duties, strategic planning, you name it, and you've excelled at all of those. i echo the comments from my colleagues but i just want to also express my gratitude for your willingness to serve and i look forward to what's next for you in the city of thornton so i encourage you to you know take some time think about how you want to continue your service and we will continue to be grateful for everything that you do councillor morris

8:03 – 8:15•DMDrew Morris

Peter, I just want to say, echo the comments from fellow council members. Thanks for your service. I know it takes a lot for citizens to step up and serve on a board, so appreciate you doing that. Best wishes for the future.

8:20 – 8:34•RARoberta Ayala

Okay, well, I'll save my comments for when we present your plaque here at the dais. But at this time, can the clerk please pull the council? Council, please cast your votes.

8:40 – 10:30•RARoberta Ayala

Thank you. Peter, would you like to join me up here in front of the dais? So this is the first time I've done this, and I get to do it with Peter, so I'm pretty happy. I have known Peter for a while. I think I was the one that did the nudge nudge to join Tashco and help out. And it's been an honor and a privilege to see your dedicated service to the city and the capacity of Tashco. I know from personal experience, it's a very time intensive board. It can take up a lot of weekends, evenings, and discussion time on the telephone with your colleagues on the board. And it's nice to see all you guy

10:32•RARoberta Ayala

And so here, we'll present this to you, and we'll have the rest of council come up, and we'll take a picture with you.

12:10•RARoberta Ayala

Oh, yes. Apologies. Can we have a motion to approve the agenda tonight?

12:14•JAJohn Alge

Second. I'll make a motion. I'll second. Sorry. Okay.

12:35 – 12:58•RARoberta Ayala

Okay. Our second item is resolution conveying gratitude to the City Council's gratitude and appreciation to Kent Moorman on his retirement from the city. Who would like to introduce this item? And I believe we have Justin doing that tonight.

12:59 – 14:54•JMJustin Martinez

Okay, I'd like to introduce a resolution conveying the city council's gratitude and appreciation to Carlton Kent Moorman on his retirement from the city. Whereas Kent Moorman has served the city as a regular full-time employee for 25, almost 26 years in a professional and loyal manner. And whereas Kent began employment on July 31st, 2000 as a traffic engineer, was appointed on April 26th, 2015 to regional transportation engineer And whereas Kent received multiple distinguished service awards over the many years of service to include, but not limited to, the iWatch Speed Awareness Team, 120th A

14:55 – 15:06•RARoberta Ayala

It has been moved and seconded to approve the resolution. Are there any, anybody would like to discuss this? And first we have Council Member Martinez since he introduced the resolution.

15:06 – 17:18•JMJustin Martinez

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. So Kent and I first met, I think it was in 2015, the year he was getting all those Distinguished Service Awards, when I was an employee as an economist at Dr. Cogg. I remember meeting Kent in one of the many meetings we had, I think it was around the stamp meeting and i was thoroughly impressed with his breadth of knowledge not just over the city of thornton but transportation planning in general we were grateful to have your advice and your input at dr cogg and fast forward nine years later on City Council. I got to have the honor of working with you on various board

17:24 – 18:50•CRChris Russell

Kent, um, you know, there's. I'll, I'll start with the city council members. We, we serve on many different boards. And I don't know many of the residents realize that, but as you finish your campaigning as a newly elected, you're drinking from a fire hydrant. There's just so much to absorb. And council member Martinez was touching on just that depth of knowledge that you have didn't really know what to expect when I got on the highway 7. Or over 470 or any of these and the reality is, is that. You take a very tender approach to bring us up to speed to catch us up on, you know, the previous me

18:56 – 19:34•DMDrew Morris

Again, good evening. And I want to say our first interaction actually was several years before City Council. We've had the pleasure to work together for just a few months as I'm new. But we actually, believe it or not, I reached out about an e-bike related question. a few years ago and you were very helpful then and you of course have been very helpful in the first few months i've been in council so you have a record of service to be proud of you've done a lot for the city thank you for your service to the city thanks for the help that you've offered council over the years i wish you best in y

19:37 – 20:12•DBDevin Byrd

want to echo the sentiment there is 25 years is a long time to um really build up the reputation that you have in this city and the city's gonna have a massive hole with you leaving so we're greatly appreciative with all the support and the structure and stuff you put in place for us um all of the uh service that you put into it does not go unnoticed and we're greatly appreciative so thank you so much um And I will equally say that I hope you enjoy your next endeavor. I'm sure your wife's going to be very happy about you not coming into work and having a lot more fun.

20:15 – 21:18•JAJohn Alge

Thank you, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. Kent, you know, what can I say about you? You know, we kind of met in passing over the years since I moved here, you know, before I decided to take the leap and run for the seat and be up here and Um, and you're definitely a rock star in this, in the state. No question about it. Your knowledge of transportation, uh, is practically unparalleled. Um, but you've made a positive impact on so many lives and my deepest thanks to you for that. And also for helping me, you know, on the NATO board, you know, helping me, giving me advice and, and keep me updated on what's

21:30 – 22:02•RARoberta Ayala

Motion passed unanimously, Your Honor. Awesome. Thank you. At this time, I'd like to ask Kent and his family and Brett Henry to join me at the dais. Here we go. Thank you. I think I got my fingerprints on it. I'm sorry. It's so shiny.

22:08 – 23:11•RARoberta Ayala

Well, Kent, congratulations on your retirement. One thing I can say is that for the most part, I think we have some of the safest pretty you know nice streets in the city of thornton and i've lived here almost my whole life and it's just nice to know that somebody like you had been working on it for so long and i can't imagine what it's like to know as much as you do about how traffic engineering works and to hear over the 25 years all the residents that come and bring you this input that's probably you know everybody thinks they know how to do city workers jobs and i always think You guys kno

25:32 – 27:01•RARoberta Ayala

Now I'll ask the council to come up so we can take a picture. Okay, next we have item 7C. It's a resolution declaring August 2026 as National Immunization Awareness Month in the City of Thornton, Colorado. John Alge is going to read that resolution for us.

27:01 – 28:18•JAJohn Alge

Thank you, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. I would like to introduce a resolution declaring August 2026 as National Immunization Awareness Month in the City of Thornton. whereas National Immunization Awareness Month is an annual observance to highlight the importance of vaccination for people of all ages, and whereas many students begin their school year in the month of August and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, encourages parents and caregivers to use this time as a reminder to ensure all immunizations, physicals, and dental health checkups are up to date, and whereas on-time imm

28:20•RARoberta Ayala

It hasn't been moved and seconded to approve the resolution. Are there any discussions? And Councilmember Elge, you have the option to go first since you introduced the...

28:28 – 29:04•JAJohn Alge

Thank you again, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. Yes, this is a very important topic. Obviously, immunizations are very important. If we weren't aware of that, we were during the COVID-19 pandemic. Immunizations do save lives. I'm an Army veteran, so I have had more immunizations in me than I know, but still is why I'm here and why I'm healthy at the ripe young age of 62. So I am very honored and humbled to introduce this resolution tonight and make sure families that you get your kiddos vaccinated. And that's all I have. Thank you.

29:07 – 29:39•RARoberta Ayala

Thank you. Yeah, I brought this resolution forward as a school teacher. Being in the classroom for the many months moving into August and the rest of the year, we have a lot of kids coming, a very communal type of environment, and Just want to make sure folks are remembering. It's a good time of the year to remember to get your immunizations when you need them and get other things taken care of as far as health care to move into the new school year. Clerk, can you please poll the council? Council, please cast your votes.

29:46 – 31:17•RARoberta Ayala

Thank you. Item 8 is audience participation. This is a time for members of the community to speak on any item that is not on the agenda as a public hearing or is going to be on a public hearing in the future. Pursuant to City Council rules of order and procedures, speaking time is limited to three minutes per person with a one hour limit on the segment of the agenda. In-person speakers will be heard first, followed by remote speakers registered before the end of the in-person comment segment. Residents of the city, as indicated on the sign-up sheet, will be given preference in the order heard

41:35•RARoberta Ayala

The three minutes are up now. Was there anything else to wrap up?

41:43•RARoberta Ayala

No, thank you. Can we get a member of staff to follow up with Ms. Luz and her concerns?

41:56 – 42:08•JMJustin Martinez

Was there anybody else in the... Mayor Pro Tem Ayala, I'd like to ask something else of staff in addition to that, if you'd give me a chance to speak.

42:08 – 42:23•RARoberta Ayala

Not right now. We have to move on with the agenda. We have to move on with the council, with the comments. Was there anybody else in the audience who needed a chance to speak? Or didn't know they needed to sign up? Was there anybody online that...

43:47•RARoberta Ayala

Okay. I think there were a few council members that had comments, but we can save those to council comment time. Okay.

43:56 – 44:21•CRChris Russell

Excuse me. Can we get clarification on that? Because there's been many times where a resident speaks and then we're able to just give some clarity on the direction. That's been the process almost the entire time I've been on council. So I'm curious as to why I had my request to speak as well, too. So it was concerning the last speaker. Can we have that clarification? Are we not allowed to do that, considering we've done that for years?

44:24•CRChris Russell

to help give direction to staff in addressing the residents' comments.

44:34 – 45:47•CRChris Russell

Okay, I know comes from Martinez want to speak to, but I had my request to speak. So that's the only reason why I'm bringing it up. Um, the ask was going to be is yes, that if staff could help address. The issues that she's brought forward, but I'd like to go a step further and just ask that at the next planning session that maybe we can get a list of these issues brought forth because it has been. Probably close to a year now that she's taking time to come in and through the translation. I don't. Actually know where we are in terms of a progress report on these issues and I want to be respect

45:50 – 46:39•JMJustin Martinez

Thank you, Council Member Russell, for starting that conversation. I had generally the exact same points. This has been ongoing for a year, and it's hard for the council to track all the different interactions that the city has had with Ms. Peinado. And I would just like for... I was going to ask rather than planning session, but I'm okay with the planning session. But in addition to the planning session, could the staff please send out a summary of just the different interactions and resolutions or discussions that you have had with Ms. Peinado about all the different issues she's brought for

46:54 – 47:26•RARoberta Ayala

Can I ask that we get those in an email? We've, council member Algie and I have met with the resident for a very long time, so just want to make sure that we're moving along. okay it looks like um okay we're moving to council comments and we'll start with ward four tonight council member morris

47:27 – 52:12•DMDrew Morris

Good evening, everyone. Just wanted to, first of all, thanks for everyone that showed up for public comment. Looking forward to seeing some of those issues getting addressed. I do want to have a couple of thank yous or shout outs I want to give first. Thank you to Allegro Coffee Company. This last week, they had a group of volunteers who helped regravel a portion of the trail at the East Lake Nature Preserve. They installed about 46 tons of crusher fine on the trails out there. So with our park team and the volunteers, they actually were able to resurface about half of the trail loop. And so a

52:18 – 55:06•CRChris Russell

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem, Council, residents, and staff. Recently, many of the council members had an opportunity to attend the Thornton Area Chamber Awards at Coors Field, where we celebrate the year's outstanding award recipients while enjoying a Rockies game. It was a great evening recognizing the businesses, organizations, and individuals who make such a positive impact on our community. I also had the privilege of touring the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus. Seeing firsthand the collaborative efforts to address homelessness through coordinated services, housing support, be

55:12•DADavid Acunto

No report. I'll defer to the wonderful Councilman Byrd.

55:19 – 55:53•DBDevin Byrd

Thank you, sir. Not a whole lot from me as well this week, but I am looking forward to Thursday's meeting at Troen's. And then also some big news coming from our ward next week is going to be the Anything Nature Library opening up, so really looking forward to that. I know that my daughter is going to be dying to get in there and see everything as well, so the kids are going to be really excited, and I think just as much as some of the adults. but we got a chance to look at it when they were doing the construction, and it's an incredible facility, and I can't wait to see what it looks like now

55:58 – 1:00:29•JAJohn Alge

Oh, I am up. Okay, thank you. All right. Good evening, everyone. It's great to be back here on the dais and completely healthy. So I've attended many City of Thornton events since my last time here on the dais. I'm just going to rattle them off. Ward 3 and Ward 4 Rhythms and Reels, Ward 3 Community Meeting, Ribbon Cuttings in Ward 1 at the Red Point Center, Deja Foods in Wing Shack, and K1 Speed in Ward 4. Check out Councilman Morrison-Russell's video. It's pretty amazing, by the way. Sashko's 90th Anniversary Bash. Coffee with Councilmember Morris at Cafe Vietnamese Cafe. Thornton Area Chambe

1:00:31 – 1:03:13•CSCherish Salazar

Council Member Salazar. Thank you. Every single day, residents across our city reach out to us for help like Maria. They call about a broken water main, try to navigate a housing permit, or look for instructions during a severe weather warning. But for thousands of our neighbors who have limited English proficiency, these basic interactions turn into insurmountable brick walls. Right now, our city handles a language act access on ad hoc basis. Departments do the best they can, but relying on formal translation or goodwill isn't a strategy. It leads to delayed services, miscommunication during

1:03:15•DBDevin Byrd

Point of information. Second. Is this being requested right now?

1:03:27•CSCherish Salazar

I'm asking that they bring it to any planning session. There's a motion on the floor and it's been seconded.

1:03:39•DBDevin Byrd

Well, the motion on the floor is a point of information where I'm asking, is this being pushed right now? Is this being asked of for the council right now?

1:03:48•DBDevin Byrd

Then I would call that it's a point of order and that this is not the time or place to be introducing motions at this time.

1:03:58•JMJustin Martinez

Point of order. I don't think that is something that you can call point of order on when there's a motion and a second on the floor.

1:04:03•DBDevin Byrd

The point of order is that you enforce the rules of procedure, so that's what I'm asking here.

1:04:32•RARoberta Ayala

There's been a motion on the floor, and it's been seconded. Can we please pull the council, or is there any other discussion?

1:04:42 – 1:07:16•JMJustin Martinez

Yeah, I think this is quite relevant tonight considering we had Ms. Peñado come in once again. You know, I'm actually grateful that the staff has been able to accommodate Ms. Peñado over the years. Luce has come in, or not years, but over the year, Luce has come in and it was very challenging. We didn't have anybody to translate Now that we're using the language line, I think that's a step in the right progress. But speaking to Council Member Salazar's motion, I think it's needed to prioritize this on our agenda to make sure that we come up with a further, more comprehensive plan when it comes

1:08:20 – 1:08:32•RARoberta Ayala

Yes, so should we continue? Because I have like a line of people that want to speak. Should I continue that? Sure, council can speak to the motion. Okay, so... Direct staff to do further study. Okay, great. Thank you. Council Member Acunto.

1:08:32•DADavid Acunto

I'd like the motion to table this discussion. Second.

1:08:39•RARoberta Ayala

Now... Okay, this is where I get messed up. We have a bunch of motions on the floor now. So we had a motion on the floor to direct staff.

1:09:02•RARoberta Ayala

There's been a motion on the floor to table the discussion or the first motion. Can we pull the council? Yes, if there's no discussion.

1:09:15•RARoberta Ayala

Okay, let's discuss the second motion now.

1:09:20•DADavid Acunto

Point of order for a motion to table. It's not amendable. It's not debatable. It's passed by a simple majority.

1:09:37•RARoberta Ayala

So comments, not discussion. Council Member Martinez?

1:09:43•JMJustin Martinez

Point of information, what's the difference between comments and discussion?

1:09:50 – 1:10:08•JMJustin Martinez

Okay. All right, now my comments are that I think this is a relatively small ask, and I don't see any reason to table it when it's pretty simple that we're just asking to, I mean, the motion is just asking to put something on a planning session agenda.

1:10:15 – 1:10:40•CSCherish Salazar

Yes, when I did my training over a year ago, I asked that we put the flyers that the city set out at Rockview Terrace to be done in other languages. I remember one of the families worried about their children being picked up by the policy because, by the police, because they were sent a letter that the children Interpreted that they needed to be in by 8 o'clock. I have known for many years that there has been this problem And I was vastly ignored and that's why I'm asking for this language access plan.

1:10:51 – 1:11:44•RARoberta Ayala

You have a motion to table councilmember akunto is correct It is not debatable So you need to go ahead and take a vote on the motion We do a poll poll the council on the second motion, which is a motion to table the first motion correct Council please cast your votes Motion failed to receive a majority three to five your honor Is there any other discussion on the first motion And there does not have to be that that issue can be brought up totally optional to not discuss this further Can we please pull the council on the first motion which is a motion to put on a planning session agenda that we

1:12:10 – 1:12:21•RARoberta Ayala

Is there any other comment from councilmember Salazar for the evening? You have two minutes and 57 seconds Okay, thank you. Council Member Martinez.

1:12:23 – 1:17:53•JMJustin Martinez

Okay, thank you. Well, threw me off on the whole comment. So I just want to say that one of the meetings that I attended just recently that I think is worth discussing is the NATO meeting from last week. We heard a great presentation from CTIO, which is formerly known as the High Performance Transportation Enterprise. They presented a little bit about their background and their successes. CTIO is a part of the, it's the Colorado Transportation Investment Office, I believe, and their main role, which they were established in 2009, was to serve CEDAW when it comes to private, public-private part

1:17:53 – 1:23:50•RARoberta Ayala

keep transfer transportation in your mind and don't forget to advocate for thornton whenever you get a chance thank you um there's a few announcements or reminders i have today the city is currently advertising for planning commission and board of adjustments for ward 2 and ward 3 deadline is july 31st Thornton Active Adult Board for Ward 2, the deadline is August 8th. Thornton Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Council Board of Directors for Ward 2, deadline is August 20th. Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission, Wards 1 and 3, deadline is August 21st. Building Code Advisory Board, Ward 1, the

1:24:05•RARoberta Ayala

Can we ask the clerk, do we swear everybody in right now? Is that the way it usually works?

1:24:14•RARoberta Ayala

Oh, okay. I just had some of my scripts. Thank you.

1:35:24 – 1:36:16•RARoberta Ayala

Any questions or comments? Does council have any questions or comments at this time? Okay. if there are no further questions from the council i'll open the hearing up for public comment is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak but did not sign up to speak about the resolution okay thank you just in just a moment each oh no we don't have any folks that'll do that um let's see here Clerk so nobody else has any questions. I think now we can pull the council. Is that correct?

1:36:20 – 1:36:57•RARoberta Ayala

Yeah, we have to take a motion first. I'm sorry I haven't done one of these yet. So a little actually you need to close a public hearing if there are no cow Yep, so the clue is since there aren't any other questions or public comment We'll close the hearing at I'll entertain a motion on item 11A, and it looks like we have Devin introducing that motion. Councilmember Byrd? Or 11B? Oh, it was Justin, I'm sorry. Councilmember Martinez? 11A, yep, sorry.

1:36:59 – 1:37:11•JMJustin Martinez

All right. I would like to introduce a motion approving and authorizing submission of the 2026 Annual Action Plan and the Associated Projects for Community Development Block Grant funding. And I move for its approval. Second.

1:37:13 – 1:37:25•RARoberta Ayala

The motion has been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Now the clerk can pull the council. Mayor Pro Temayella, I'd like to... Oh, sorry, sorry, Martinez, sorry.

1:37:26 – 1:38:32•JMJustin Martinez

So first of all, I would just like to say thank you to Cheryl and her team and everybody in Community Connections who's worked on this project. Every year you all do a fantastic job. I know how difficult, well, actually, I can only imagine how difficult it is to navigate Department of HUD grants. You know, we had the opportunity to meet with HUD appointees and HUD administrators, and the lay of the land is pretty difficult. The grants are shrinking, the needs are growing. It's a very difficult position to be in, and I think the plan that you and your team put forward is really gonna serve the

1:38:33 – 1:38:57•RARoberta Ayala

that align with our priorities so thank you Cheryl thank you to the team that worked on this and of course I will be supporting this okay are there any other council members that have that would have any discussion on item all right thank you for bringing this forward for us can you please pull the council council please cast your votes

1:39:04 – 1:39:30•RARoberta Ayala

Thank you. Item 11b is a public hearing concerning the revoking and reassigning the city's 2024 and 2025 private activity bonds and authorizing the assignment of the city's 2026 private activity bonds. The public hearing is open at 839, and we don't have the, I'm sorry, Jessica Prosser is going to be presenting this for us.

1:42:21 – 1:42:34•RARoberta Ayala

Thank you. Are there any council members that have any questions at this time for staff? Ms. Surgeon, do we have anybody signed up to speak in favor or opposition to the proposed resolution?

1:42:39 – 1:42:56•RARoberta Ayala

Is there anybody in the audience who would like to speak that did not sign up? Okay. I will ask Council Member Bird to... Oh, yeah, I have to close the hearing.

1:43:00 – 1:43:17•RARoberta Ayala

I'll close the hearing at 8.43 p.m. And I will ask... I will entertain... Actually, let's see. I will entertain the motion on

1:43:19 – 1:43:46•DBDevin Byrd

item 11 b1 thank you madam mayor pertin i would like to introduce a resolution revoking and reassigning the city's 2024 private activity bond allocation to maker housing partners for the benefit of related affordable llc and colorado housing and finance authority pursuant to the colorado private activity bond ceiling allocation act and i ask for its approval second so moved

1:43:48•RARoberta Ayala

The motion has been moved and seconded. Is there anybody who would like to speak on the motion?

1:43:54 – 1:44:22•DBDevin Byrd

I would like to say that I'm excited to see that a lot of the money is going towards first-time homebuyers. I think this is a great credit that's going to help some of our citizens out through the communities and be able to get into the homes for the first time. Growing up, I know how important this is to families, as my family had to do a similar program when I was younger. So I'm excited to see that cities will be able to help families out do this.

1:44:26 – 1:46:08•JMJustin Martinez

Yeah, agreed. These private activity bonds are going to serve our residents well. And I just want to, you know, express some gratitude for the fact that we even have these as an option for financing. They allow, not only can they be used for first-time homebuyers, but they can also be used in the the plan that we have will be used to help finance affordable housing projects. And more often than not, those types of lower interest rate, lower cost forms of financing are what make affordable projects even possible. And so I'm glad that we have those things. You know, this is authorities given to

1:46:12 – 1:46:54•JAJohn Alge

Thank you, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. Cheryl and Jessica, great presentations this evening. It's a great thing about being up here, learning new things every single day, learning what private activity bonds are. I've really been nerding over that this month. Even with my health situation, it really kept my mind off things and really helped me. focus and pay attention, you know, how important these are to especially to residents and neighbors that definitely need to get into affordable housing and give them the opportunity to do so. And, um, like Councilman Martinez said, I'll be definitely advocatin

1:46:59 – 1:47:25•RARoberta Ayala

okay um i'm do you have to read the other one too no okay um can we pull the council please for the first council please cast your votes point of information do we need to read the resolution first i don't think it was done yet

1:47:28•JAJohn Alge

My apologies, stand corrected. Apologies to council.

1:47:41•RARoberta Ayala

Point of information, does each resolution need to be read, each separate one?

1:47:48•RARoberta Ayala

Okay. I'll entertain a motion for resolution 11, you did 11A, 11B?

1:47:57 – 1:48:19•DBDevin Byrd

I'd like to ask a resolution 11 B to a resolution revoking and reassigning the city's 2025 private activity bond allocation to maker housing partners and to make your housing partners for the benefits of Walter and pursuant to the Colorado private activity bond ceiling allocation act and ask for its approval. 2nd.

1:48:21•RARoberta Ayala

The motion has been moved and seconded. Are there any council members that like to discuss? Well, I'll allow Council Member Byrd to go first.

1:48:32 – 1:48:52•DBDevin Byrd

I like the similar one before. The one thing I would wish that we could have for the 2025 and 2026 would be the first-time homebuyer credit. But I do like the fact that we're going to be helping out with our senior living assistance. And I think that's going to be a great benefit. So I will be definitely voting for this.

1:48:56 – 1:49:29•RARoberta Ayala

Is there anybody else who'd like to speak? Clerk, can you please pull the council? Council, please cast your votes. Motion passed unanimously, Your Honor. Thank you. Does every other resolution number underneath need to be read, too, or is that? Okay. Yeah, you need to do three next. Right. So resolution B1. 11B3. Right. I'll entertain a motion on that.

1:49:29 – 1:49:49•DBDevin Byrd

I'd like to introduce a resolution authorizing the assignment of the city's twenty twenty six private activity bond allocation to make your housing partners for the benefit of related affordable LLC and make your housing partners for the benefit of router Walton. Pursuant to the Colorado private activity bond ceiling allocation act and I ask for its approval second.

1:49:52•RARoberta Ayala

Is there any council comment on the next resolution? Council Member Burge, you have the floor to talk first.

1:49:58•DBDevin Byrd

No, I would second my comment for number two as well.

1:50:01•RARoberta Ayala

Okay, thank you. Is there any other council comment? Clerk, can you please pull the council? Council, please cast your votes.

1:50:16 – 1:50:31•RARoberta Ayala

Thank you, and now we'll entertain a motion on 11B3. Or was it three? Okay, we're finished, huh? All right, next we have number 12. We have staff reports. And the first one is from our police department public safety report.

2:01:52 – 2:02:37•JMJustin Martinez

Yeah. Thank you for sharing this automated enforcement data. There's a lot to cover. So my first question is, you know, you're not recommending the expansion of the program because we are uncertain about the data. So you're also, does that mean you are recommending continuing it as is for another year, correct? Correct. Okay. And then what types of facts or recommendations you know, items will you use to determine, you know, the effectiveness? You said after we get a year of data, you would be able to look at it more closely. So what kind of things would your department

2:03:48 – 2:04:00•JMJustin Martinez

Okay, let me see if I understood that right. So you're saying that in 2024, when there were 30 crashes, that was the year you're talking about, right? There were more at the tail end of the year? Correct.

2:04:04 – 2:05:08•JMJustin Martinez

Okay, okay, that makes sense. All right, then the other question I had was going back to the slides about the the initial slide in the public safety report where you break down those numbers. In particular, I think there's some concern about the higher profile homicide cases like that. I think that you know i'm very grateful that the um family justice center is about to open and i i would hope to see some of those domestic violence related lethal cases you know go down uh that would be the whole objective one of the objectives of the family justice center but for the non-domestic violence case

2:05:44 – 2:07:00•JMJustin Martinez

Okay. Okay. And then I'm going to – comes to the uh the manner of non-natural death you know accidental you you mentioned a big part of that is overdoses and um i think that there is certainly you know overlap in that community with the people living out on the streets and having a hard time and they're often addicted to drugs um not always but it happens and and it's actually happened in neighborhood where we've had that overdoses on opioids in the in the parks and in the open spaces so my question is about the other side of it when it comes to investigating and prosecuting drug dealing in th

2:07:52 – 2:08:14•JMJustin Martinez

And do you think that that, you know, has our effort been consistent over the last few years that we're talking about? Or have we made more contributions or less? You know, it's just something that I think people want to be reassured that we're investing in that. We want to make sure that we keep the really awful criminals out of our city.

2:08:19 – 2:08:30•JMJustin Martinez

I'm just asking, have we put more resources into the North Metro Task Force, or have we seen more of our officers partner with the federal agencies over the last few years? Is this a trend?

2:08:40•JMJustin Martinez

Okay. Thank you for answering my question. You're welcome.

2:08:46 – 2:09:15•DBDevin Byrd

Thanks, Chief. I was going to hold mine to the end, but you opened the door, so I'm going to go ahead and throw mine out for you. I have a couple. One is, with 120th and Colorado being one of our more dangerous intersections, the crash data that we have, do we have any kind of information regarding if that's people rear-ending each other when they're just not paying attention, or if it's running the red lights? people making right turns without stopping and thus getting a ticket and crash?

2:09:41 – 2:10:02•DBDevin Byrd

And then as far as the automated speeding, I realize that a lot of people are upset by the fact that the random car on the side of the road is catching them. But at the same time, I know that in my neighborhood and in my areas, we have seen a dramatic decrease in speed. So I really appreciate the program.

2:10:33 – 2:11:23•JAJohn Alge

Yeah. Thank you, Chief, for the presentation. Great job as always. And also thank you for the quick reply concerning my neighbor and friend who's been, who had a red light camera ticket and dealing with that. And thank you for following up with her about the process. I am glad that we look at it before then we authorize the ticket. But still, it goes to this question, right? You know, we need clarity and consistency. You know, just like in baseball, our home plate empire has their own version of what a strike zone is. We need consistency on how long you're supposed to be stopped at the red lig

2:11:31 – 2:12:15•JAJohn Alge

Okay, sounds good. Excuse me. Also, I also brought a request with the crossing point, what calls were coming in. I know that was an issue, especially when phases 2 and 3 were open. Because those are affordable housing, not 55 plus, that there was a couple of fireworks incidents that took place that one of my friends and neighbors brought up at Robert and I's community cleanup when we had. So. Just want to make sure that we're staying on top of what's going on. Plus, they have a homeless situation that's been ongoing, too. But thank you for bringing that report up. And obviously, we'll get more

2:12:17•JAJohn Alge

Thank you. And once again, thank you for the reply. I'm done.

2:12:21 – 2:12:46•RARoberta Ayala

Yeah, thank you. I have one question. I know there was a lot of data that was given to us when we had first gotten the, starting the discussion around red light cameras. Do you know, were these two the highest number of fatalities in the city as far as like, They may have been like high crash numbers, but were the fatality numbers the highest as well?

2:12:57 – 2:13:16•RARoberta Ayala

Yeah, I'm just curious, because, I mean, it's really awesome that we're at, like, 88th is at zero fatal crashes, which is, you know, for the last, since 2024, we haven't had a fatal crash there. I know we, I remember we had the fatal crash on Thornton Parkway, and I know there's been some other ones, so I'm just curious which intersection has the most fatalities.

2:13:42 – 2:14:52•RARoberta Ayala

injury and fatality, because I think the whole intent of getting these cameras was to work on Vision Zero. And just looking at this, I mean, we don't have... This year, we haven't had a fatal crash on Colorado, thank God. But I'm just wondering if there are any other intersections where there might be fatal crashes that maybe, just as we look at this long term, might be a better intersection, if that's what we're looking. I don't know. Just kind of thinking out loud here. But then also, yeah, I think that was my main concern. The thing is, is like serious crashes or serious injury crashes are

2:15:00•RARoberta Ayala

Thank you. You're welcome. All right. So next we have not quite done yet.

2:17:36•CSCherish Salazar

National Night Out's coming. Can we take these cards around to all the people that are participating in National Night Out and leave them, and maybe that'll increase them? Sure.

2:22:22•RARoberta Ayala

Does the council have any additional questions? Council Member Russell?

2:22:28 – 2:22:51•CRChris Russell

Chief, I just wanted to thank you for charting the information that I made the request in the planning session. It was very helpful, as well as your email response. You looked into it personally and got back to me right away, so I know that we're Being asked to make less asked as of tonight, but you seem to have handled that pretty well. So I really appreciate that. Thank you.

2:22:51 – 2:23:07•RARoberta Ayala

Yes, absolutely Are there any other questions? Okay, thank you Item 12 B is the fire department public safety report and Jason Hollins assistant fire chief will present this item tonight. I

2:27:26 – 2:27:49•DBDevin Byrd

Not so much a question, just a comment. On slide two, the fire calls being consistently 60 to 100 there that one last quarter and seeing zero civilian deaths, that's amazing news. And I want to say thank you to all you guys for all the hard work you did. That's great to see that even with that kind of number of issues that nobody's losing life over it.

2:28:33 – 2:28:56•RARoberta Ayala

Are there any other questions from council? All right, thank you. Okay, our next item is item 13, is consent calendar. Is there any member of the council who would like to remove an item from the consent calendar? Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar as presented?

2:29:02•RARoberta Ayala

Approval of the consent calendar has been presented and has been moved and seconded. Clerk, can you please read the appropriate titles into the record and pull the counsel?

2:32:12•RARoberta Ayala

The technology was a little glitchy. It was like just said I voted yes, and I didn't even touch it, even though I was going to vote yes.

2:32:27 – 2:32:44•RARoberta Ayala

Okay. Item 14 is action items. There are no action items this evening. Item 15 is adjournment. Being that there's no further business, we'll adjourn the meeting at 9.33 p.m. Thank you.