City Council - Regular Meeting

How are you?

Doing great. I know. I will now call to order the regular city council meeting of February 23rd, 2026. Members of the public are invited to attend in-person meetings in council chambers. Public access is also available by telephone by using the call-in numbers posted on the meeting agenda. And tonight's meeting will be broadcast on the city's YouTube channel online. Will the clerk please call the role? Mayor Lightidy

here. Mayor Prom Lukeman Heramasa here. Council member Burns here. Council member Severs here. Council member Condo will be late. Council member Roer here. Council member Goff here. Council member Noiki here. Council member Lighty here. Thank you. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance.

I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. City Manager Guyire, are there any responses to resident inquiry? Nothing this evening, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any additions or deletions to tonight's agenda?

Nope. All right. Moving on to public invited to be heard. This is an opportunity for public comment on any item not set for public hearing. Statements are limited to five minutes per speaker. Statements must be related to city business and limited to matters of community interest. City clerk Small, did anyone sign up tonight? Yes, Madame Mayor. We have five individuals who signed up in advance. The first person on the list is Tim Long. Welcome. State your name and address or ward and provide your comments to council.

Tim Long, 10661 Utriddle Lane, Ward 4. Good evening, council members. I come to you tonight with two challenges. Um first is talking about the town hall meeting which I challenge you to have and secondly I'm going to talk about some legislative communications which uh I think need to be shared more than they have been. First of all in the town hall meeting um the uh six colleagues of yours from the Democratic persuasion had a town hall at Goodshipeperd Presbyterian Church this last Saturday morning at 10 o'clock. was fairly well attended and I must say though that u the presentation in terms of a town hall didn't really follow the lines of what tall hall town halls are about in our legacy. uh we always have an exchange taking place, but for the first half hour of the 1-hour aotment. Uh it was mostly proilitizing and and candidates talking about themselves and what they've been doing. And then they got interrupted by several people in the audience that said, "Wait a minute. We we want to have an exchange here. We want to have a chance to present some of our thoughts." And they demurred and said, "Okay." So they quickly shored it up. Curiously though, there's a fib being said by the speaker who was controlling the the audience, and that is to say that this was limited to one hour. I checked with the pastor afterwards, and I said, "Did you limit this this town hall to one hour?" She says, "Oh, heavens no." They could have gone on for as long as they wanted. So, I'm challenging you folks to have a town hall meeting. Uh I talked to the pastor at uh Good Sheeperd. she's willing to have you come and you can arrange the pews if you will in a great circle because I've done that many times and you pass the microphone around and we can have a give and take back and forth in a conversation as opposed to these one-dimensional statements that I'm

hearing and seeing all the time. So unfortunately um that has not taken place. So I would ask you possibly to look up the definition of town hall. Not to be pendantic about it, but it's the same way that I would ask you also to look up the definition of fiduciary duty, which I think there should be one of these days the fiduciary duty hearing so you fully understand what that means. On my second subject, which is to talk about legislative communications, I want to share with you the fact that um you talk about legislative this and legislate, but you really don't get to the heart of the matter and what some of the controversies, pros and cons might be. And as you well know, we have some many bills being drafted right now in the legislature, but they never seem to make airing here in front of us in the community uh at these meetings. So, I would implore you to take time to talk about some of these bills. First of all, right now taking place, there's a life sentence for sex trafficking. Um but no participation from the Democrats came this year, but last year uh they voted against it and it's it's four and a half to five years right now and we're talking about a lifetime. One of the presenters on Saturday morning said, "Well, you can't do that because if you pick up your neighbor's kids, that'll be sex trafficking." So she took that specific example and turned it into a generality which is called inductive reasoning which really doesn't make a great deal of sense. So, life sentence for sex trafficking uh is one of the bills not being shared with us. No more transgender surgeries on minors without the parents consent. Again, that's not being shared necessarily. Um I think some judges are waking up across the country to that effect though because the lawsuits are all winners now. No boys and girls sports. That goes without saying that should be talked about. And no more grooming language should be allowed in schools. This is again something that's being discussed, but again, you folks fail to represent and

talk about these things openly with all of us or amongst yourselves so we can hear it. Also, there's a proposition to legalize prostitution in the state of Colorado. Well, the FBI will tell you that we're already 13th in the United States ranked for prostitution, but you didn't know that. By the way, the FBI provides great information if you dare to Google their website. FBI research also says that Colorado is the ninth most friendly to pedophiles in the entire country. Also, for the first time in the state's history, we've had an out migration of population. We're the sixth most regulated state in the union and most expensive state to live in per capita. And it's also the most difficult state to buy a house. These are some of the facts that come across if you dare to look. But again, folks, if you just open up and share some of this with us, we'd really be appreciative so you can have an understanding as to what's really taking place in the legislature other than to say check mark. We were we attended the meeting. Check mark, we were there. Check mark, we were there. We really liked your insights as to what's taking place and maybe some opinions being shared. Thank you for your time. The next person on the list is Chris Bomb. Yes. My name is Chris Bomb and I'm in Ward 4. And on June 14th, I wrote to the mayor and asked, "At the last council meeting, you said or implied that ICE was doing wrong, and I asked that you please elaborate on that with as much detail as possible."

On February 17th, you replied, "How can I help you? Can you tell me more so I can answer your question? A little context will help." I did not understand that response. So I went back on the same day and said, "You commented, this is you, Mayor Ley. ICE is doing some bad things and it's not okay what they're doing and there is a a need to actually call it out and say that was murder." As I read this, you are saying that ICE is guilty of wrongdoing and possibly even murder. I would just like you to substantiate those comments with evidence including the source of the evidence. Thanks. And I have not gotten any response to that. So today I wrote and I said I either missed your reply to this or one hasn't been sent. Could you please meet with me prior to the meeting tonight? I will be available from 4 p.m. on. Thanks. I never got a response to that either. and I would just like to know how and when I might get a response to my questions.

Since February 14th, you've been at work. No. And we're we're not going to go back and forth. I will respond to your email from today. Well, I would greatly appreciate it. Yep. I take these things very seriously. Great. Thank you. The next person on the list is Tom Lampo. Welcome. Please state your name and address or ward and provide your comments to council.

All right. Thank you very much. Hello to everyone in North Glenn. Hello to you before me. I'm Tom Lampo 3951 Jackson Way. It's a privilege to stand before you and I hope all of you are doing well. I'm here to lift up the city of North Glenn in prayer. So please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, in Jesus precious and holy name, we come before you tonight and ask that you would be a part of North Glenn. Psalm 100 150 verse 6 states, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. You inhabit the praise of your people. So we give all honor and glory to your name. You are God and there is no other before you. You are holy and worthy of our admiration. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest and stands above all others. All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions are under you. You were lifted high. The angels and all creation cry holy. You are forever worthy of all praise. Holy are you, Father. Our state is experiencing a drought. Our high country needs snowpack for spring runoff so our rivers and streams can deliver water to our farms and reservoirs. So we come before you tonight and ask that you would deliver cold weather and moisture to our mountains. And in Ephesians 3:20, your word states, "Now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Nothing is too great for you to accomplish. Nothing is out of your reach. You are our provider. We are asking you to provide the moisture for our mountains to fill our rivers and reservoirs. We know you are working to create a better tomorrow for all of us. Living in the moment can be difficult. Nothing seems normal. Everything seems out of place. Help us to slow ourselves down and rest in your peace and comfort. It states in 2 Corinthians 1 3-4, "All praise to God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful father

and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are in troubled, we are able to give them the same comfort God has given us. We can rest in you. Help us find comfort in knowing you are working to make our lives better. You are our God and we are your people. In Jesus precious name we pray. Amen. Thank you guys. Have a nice night. Thank you. The next person on the list is Roger McCain.

Welcome. Please state your name and address or ward and provide your comments to councel. Uh yes, I'm Roger McCain. I'm in ward three. Um just a couple things. Uh last uh the last uh council meeting. I had uh introduced the uh some question about uh who uh and who was responsible for um making sure that the uh the uh halfway house was in compliance uh with regard to its agreement. uh notably the fence in the in the rear which has caused problems for one of the residents which we heard from uh whom we heard from um and the uh and this is uh this isn't a question that I need the answer to but somebody needs to respond that u who's responsible for following up the uh city end of that uh questions about the compliance over at the at the sex offender or whatever it now is, whatever that's called. I' I'd like them to I really would appreciate it if they put a big sign in front of the place and tell us what it is. You know, if it's a sex offender house, I want to see that. And uh if it's only for uh mental issues and I say

that with some caution only mental issues uh we know that too. And then one more uh thing that uh I I won't go on too long about, but uh regarding last week's council meeting, which seemed to go a drift after um after uh Chief May uh had his uh delivery, which I thought was pretty clear, And uh it doesn't matter how they agree with everything Chief May said. That's not important. The importance is that he did it according to the law and we are usually a law-abiding people and uh we are governed uh uh in tears. We we have our our local ordinances. We have state law uh which um um cause uh which has its ways and we have federal law but to hear uh the council members one by one during the clarification of Chief May's words commiserate so much about federal law, which we are all governed by, and that I find it unusual and a little concerning that government officials openly reveal their

policies or uh their politics by talking openly in some ways about the way things are going with the feds. So whether we agree with it or not, it's not good for the people to hear that from their officials. They want to hear the people want to hear the straight story. They don't want to hear politics. They don't want it. They want they want municipal politics. Okay. And Chief May made it quite clear that he had had no reports of any ICE activity within the city limits in North Glenn and I took him at his word. So why were we talking about it? And that's uh what I have to say about that. And thank you The last, excuse me, the last person on the list is Melissa Ryan Council. Melissa Ryan, ward three. On Saturday, February 21st, I went and spoke at the joint town hall meeting held by North Glenn, Thornton, and Westminster House representatives. I gave the following speech. I have come here today to ask for support with HB261285, admission to mental health residential facilities drafted by Lorie Goldstein and Kyle Mikica. Two years ago, North Glenn along with PBLO, Colorado Springs, Westminster, Lakewood, and Highlands Ranch residents were informed that the state approved and supported Cypress Cares to operate mental health facilities on behalf of the state. What they tried to hide from the public was that they intended to house convicted and registered sex offenders. When

residents were made aware of concerns for community safety, a thou community safety grew. A thousand residents attended a special meeting to demand safety. The state agreed on a 2-year temporary ban on housing sex offenders. In April, that agreement is set to expire. I'm here to say we cannot let that happen. We need and deserve a permanent ban. The North Glenn facilities are less than 900 ft from a public school. They're nearby daycare centers, parks, youth groups, and recreation centers. How are children and parents supposed to feel safe walking or living so close to predators? Since the two facilities in North Glenn open, there's been several issues. There's been over 70 calls to the police for assistance, which includes a recent stabbing. So, now we know there are weapons on site. There's also been drugs found. Cypress Cares has done a poor job of maintaining the property. I'm sure the issues will worsen if rapists and child molesters get to live there. The state needs to acknowledge that there is a difference between housing and helping victims of depression or schizophrenia versus criminals that have done time for rape or molestation. I think the state is being lazy and tried to make their jobs easier by grouping them together. Mixing medical patients with forensic predators is bad medicine and poor public safety. I also spoke directly about two house representatives and expressed my discontent for the way they are currently voting and misre misrepresenting their district or ignoring their constituents and not perform their duties as our house representatives. I stand by my statements to them on Saturday. I was also confronted by a house representative that they do not appreciate me hurting their friends and colleagues feelings. I will say now what I told that representative. I am sorry if telling the truth hurts their feelings, but I will continue to speak up and do what I can to protect our North Glenn children. So, council, I hope you will soon announce another special town hall for North Glenn where residents can come and speak. I hope House representatives will agree to attend and listen to facts and feelings of residents. One House representative said on Saturday that if I don't like the way she votes, they come with facts, not feelings, because she votes based off facts and doesn't care what our

feelings are when it comes time for her vote. So to that rep, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, in 2024, Adams County had the highest reported levels of sex trafficking at 34%. Adams County reported 211 minors as sex trafficked victims between 2008 and 2024. There are 37 trafficked victims in 2024 alone for Adams County, the highest recorded year so far. If sex offenders have easier access, I doubt these statistics will look any better for us in 2026. residents, please start calling and emailing all of your House representatives asking for their support for HB261285. There will be an assigned date for sometime in March to speak to the House on why this bill should pass as well. So, look out for that and come make our voices heard. Thank you.

Let me try that again. Is there anyone in the audience who did not get a chance to sign up but would like to speak to council at this time? No. Okay. I don't see anyone on the phone. Thank you very much. We are going to move to an interview. So, I'd like to invite Cassie to come on forward um to be interviewed for a position on our planning commission. So, can you kick us off by telling us about yourself and why you're interested in serving in this way?

Absolutely. My name is Cassie Chabaro and good evening, council members. I um live in W1. I've been a Northland resident for a bit over 10 years and spent half my time in W 2 previous to to my current home. Um I have enjoyed living in the city for the decade and it's been a wonderful um place to have a family and I started my career um years ago in local government after completing my masters in public administration and spent two years for a municip working for a municipality uh east of St. Louis in Illinois and enjoyed many aspects of working with the planning department there from a staff perspective. Um, I took a a big old detour into retail management and now I've landed um as a business manager in the nonprofit world. I work for a nonprofit law firm now. But I always knew that my goal was to get back into working with the local government in some capacity and the planning commission feels like the the right route.

That's great. Thank you. Do we have any comments or questions from council? Council member Severs. Thank you, Cassie. Good to see you again. Obviously, uh we spoke to Cassie at the planning commission few weeks ago now, uh the 3rd of February. So, uh I appreciate that your schedule freed you up to uh be able to do something like this. Seems like uh you have all the the qualifications to get in the nitty-gritty of the planning commission. So, I'm excited to work with you. Thank you, Council Member Roer.

Thank you again, Cassie, for coming forward and just for your love and um joy of service of serving our community and can't can't wait to see what you do. Thank you, Council Member Goff. Thank you, Mayor. Basically the same thing. I just uh really appreciate that you're willing to volunteer your time uh for our city and welcome on board. Uh we look forward to seeing what you do with us. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor Prom.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I just want to welcome you to our city and thank you so much for volunteering. Um, I was reading through your experience. You have a really great background. I'm not familiar at all with Collinsville. How big of a city is that compared to Well, compared to Northland, I guess it's a bit smaller. It's 26,000 or it was the time. That's a decent size though. Okay. Thank you. look forward to uh hearing all about the great things that you'll do and the expertise that you'll bring to the commission. Thank you. Yes, it's lovely to meet you. Thank you for coming tonight and congratulations. Awesome. Thank you all so much. Thanks. Have a great meeting.

Up next is a presentation North Glenn Arts and Humanities Foundation annual update. So, we'd like to invite NAHHF Director Michael Stricker to present this update to council. Good evening.

Good Excuse me. Uh, good evening, uh, Mayor Lightidy and city council. Um, thank you so much for having me here tonight. Um, I am the arts, culture, and community manager for the city. And one of my main responsibilities is working as the uh, director of the Northland Arts and Humanities Foundation, of which there's a few board members here tonight that I wanted to introduce real quick. Uh, so we have um our board chair Jill Parsons is here um as well as board member Steven George. And then somebody y'all might know is former mayor Joyce Downing is here who is also a board member. Hello.

So uh so yeah, we always really appreciate being able to make a presentation as to what we've been working on uh all year and the impact that we're having. So thank you again for having us. Um let me make sure this going. Okay. So, uh the NHF was established in 1990. Uh it exists to ensure access to the arts for all. Uh its mission is to nurture, engage, and uplift our dynamic community by providing performing arts, performing and visual art experiences and opportunities for creative expression. It is a separately 501c3 currently with 10 volunteer board members of various backgrounds and expertise. Uh we actually have two additional individuals that are interested in joining the board in 2026. We're excited to be welcoming them. The board has two non- voting members. Uh Mayor Lighty is the new uh council liaison and myself as the director. Uh in 2025, our council liaison was former former council member uh Jay Hadio. The NHF complete their own 990 each year, manage their own budget, meet monthly throughout the year, fund raise, and volunteer for events. The NHF also hires an outside firm to provide an annual financial audit. The NHF board of directors job is to provide funding, advocacy, and guidance for North Glenn Arts programs and to work on a very hands-on level with public art programs. They are very dedicated, a very dedicated board putting in several hours a month beyond board meetings to ensure that the ME uh mission is met. Northland Arts is the marketing term um or messaging umbrella for the many many programs that the city in partnership with the NHF provide to the public. Northland Arts includes these three categories of programs that you see here. NT is our flagship program that started in 1994. NYT Junior was created uh to better meet

the needs of our younger performers ages 8 to 12. NT Academy includes numerous specialized classes, camps, and workshops. Missoula Children's Theater is a great one-week program that introduces kids to the theater process. And the North Gun Arts Presents includes world-class touring shows as well as local collaborations. uh studio performances are new. Um and they are small audience development performances held in the rehearsal room or community rooms and then you see here all the special events that we do along with public art. Uh art on parade is our oldest program. Uh there's the city's permanent collection uh which in includes large-scale commissions, the sculpture garden and indoor galleries. Uh Northland Arts continues to work very closely with the events division as well. We always like to notate uh on many levels including equipment and information sharing uh collaborations on some events sponsorship recruitment and stewardship and for general planning purposes. The Parson's Theater is currently the largest facility of its kind in Adams County. Not only does it house all of the Northland Arts programs, it also welcomes 30 or more local organizations that rent the theater every year. These rental uh groups represent a wide range of missions, but are primarily dance, heritage, and school groups. So the 2025 impact over 42,000 people attended a North Glenn Arts program in 2025. The vast vast majority of them attending an event at the Parsons Theater. People of every age and background benefited as audience members and as active participants through Northland Arts expanding scope of programs. The 39 rental organizations that use the theater also added to that number. So 1,222 participated in Northland Youth Theater. Junior Missoula Children's Theater, NYT Academy, and other adult and youth cultural classes. The extremely popular program in growing NIT Academy continue

to provide rigorous and specialized theatrical training for youth. Last year, 776 youth participated in often uh soldout NT Academy programs, which includes skill and age-based performing arts classes, and much more. demand continues to grow, so we will continue uh certainly continue to surpass um these numbers. Um in 2026 is looking good as well. Many of the NIT Academy classes and camps end in what's called a share formance. Uh and we had over a thousand people attend one of those. The NHF contributed $295,552 to Northland Arts Programs in 2025. Every dollar raised goes directly towards a cultural programs uh program. Uh the NHF did this through grants, donations, fundraisers, and investment income. NHF uh just a few details I wanted to highlight. NHF received a Tour West grant of $2,700 that helps provide funding for the touring shows, $7,500 from the Colorado Creative Industries, $2,500 from King Supers to support Junth, $2,800 from Anything Libraries to support a summer concert collaboration, $5,000 from the DICE board to help support Junth, $3,000 from Alt House Law to support Northland Northland Youth Theater, and then about $16,000 in other sponsors. sponsorships and individual donations. And uh the NHF also contributes just under about $8,000 in investment income. NHF also received a national endowment for the arts grant of $10,000 to support the development of North Glend Youth Theater participants by executing a disability audit of the program with the Family Theater Company and a Latino engagement study with Empowered. It was a really, really interesting process. And then most significantly, the the NHF

received $152,000 from the SCFD, one of the largest awards in all of Adams County. The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, or SCFD, grants over $80 million to arts and science organizations in the Denver metro region every year. The SCFD is a voterapproved 7count tax district created within Colorado law, approved by Colorado's General Assembly, and renewed by voters multiple times over more than 30 years. It funds everything from the Denver uh from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Denver Zoo, uh the Railroad Museum, Arvvada Center, the Northland Arts and Humanities Foundation, and nearly 300 other organizations. The Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, or CBCA, of which Mayor Lightidy is a board member, reported that the arts and culture sector in 2024 uh created $3.12 billion in economic activity. This includes job creation, attendance, school outreach, hitting a restaurant before the show, and various other activity. The CBCA reported that total employment in the arts, culture, and scientific organizations is at an all-time high. There has been uh growing uh this has been growing across full-time, part-time, and contracted jobs, now totaling almost 15,000 jobs in the Denver metro area. The CBCA also reports that in-person attendance in the sector was up 12.5% or 14.5 million engagements. These are just a few highlights of the creative sector reported by the CBCA. The SCFD funding is the core of all of that impact. North Glenn Arts is a part of that story. We bring hundreds and sometimes thousands of people each week to the city through our programs creating equality of life certainly but

also crucially economic impact to other commun to our community. And so 2025 theater programs um just a few highlights here. North Glenn Youth Theater turned 31 last year. To further expand our services we added a seventh production full- length production. These are fully realized productions with professional designers and builders helping create a large scale uh large-scale theatrical experience for youth. 209 youth performed. 74 youth provided tech support through the new theater technology training program called NT3 with 37 public performances to an audience of 6700 attendees. Northland has been hosting Missoula Children's Theater since 1988. They returned once again for a residency in 2025 with 56 youth performing in two public performances. 2025 also included special events like the Daddy Daughter Sweetheart ball um and others. We also held our second year of the studio performances. These are small intimate performances in either the rehearsal room or the community rooms where the goal is to develop new performances in either uh we've been doing singer songwriters, jazz trios, comedians, uh contemporary dance. Uh the goal is to provide unique experiences that would help grow audiences as well as support local artists. Some collaborations of note. Um, we partnered with the Northland senior organization on an NYT dinner theater, silent films with a live orchestra and helped bring the Colorado Chord Company ac capella group to the Veterans Day celebration. We also partnered with Northland High School on a poetry performance night. We've been doing that for about eight years now. also welcomed Northland High School as well as Adam's 12 five-star online academy students to the art on parade selection committee. We also partnered with the Colorado

Symphony on their mini musica program. The bilingual interactive children's story program promote promotes music education uh and uh played to 416 elementary school students in one day. The fourth year of the Northland Arts Presents series was an extraordinary success, partly uh given that many of um or particularly given that many offerings are new to North Glenn residents and the local market. Overall, the series welcomed 7,500 attendees, representing a 21% increase from 2024, and generated nearly $225,000 in ticket revenue for the city. This includes local favorites face vocal band uh featured productions by local partners Cleo Parker Robinson Dance uh Colorado Jazz Repatory Orchestra, Boulder Phil, the Colorado Symphony was back and the disability affirmative family theater company among many others. We also welcomed Colorado Conservatory of Dance for the first time uh with the Nutcracker in December and Swallow Hill Music with Tom Rush. National tours included everything from um uh we had concerts of tribute bands. Um we had Irish Christmas in America was back from Ireland. Um so a lot of variety there that we've added. Productions and collaborations such as these allow Northgun Arts to deliver diverse high impact programming that would otherwise be beyond the division's capacity to produce independently. So then moving outside, celebrating its 36th anniversary, the summer concert series included five concerts uh and the Junth celebration. Junth greatly expanded in 2025. The June 19th concert and festival celebrated the culturally significant holiday with sponsorships provided by King Supers and the DICE board. And the event was curated by a local blackowned business, DCI Tours.

That's been great to work with. Approximately 2500 attended the concerts and Junth the summer movie series was back for a 12th year and was partnered with the neighborhood nights that you're all familiar with. Uh they played to approximately 775 attendees. Residents select what is shown every summer through an online vote in the spring. So if everybody would like to vote uh for the summer for this summer uh just jump on uh the city website and you can vote for your favorite movie. And then the teddy bear picnic celebrated its 33rd anniversary with 125 little ones and their favorite little stuffed animal being entertained by hunk demunk the music. And then public art. The NHF first venture into public art was in 2000 with art on parade. Art on parade is an annual sculpture on loan program that is driven by resident and park visitor selection. Submissions come from around the country. A large volunteer committee selects the six that go into EB Reigns Junior Memorial Park and then North Glenn residents and park visitors vote on those final six to select the people's choice winner. The NHF then purchases the winning sculpture, installs it, and then gifts it to the city for its permanent collection. Last year, the Bronze Eagle Red Rover by Golden Colorado artist Patty Staggar was the winner. So, I'll be back in just a few months uh with an NHF recommendation for the permanent location to present to council. In addition to Art on Parade, we've done large scale uh large-scale commissions such as the Veterans Memorial, RTD light rail station, um artwork, and many others. NHF also completed the wayfinding, walkability, and vinyl wraps project. So, 30 traffic signal boxes were wrapped in vinyl with the artwork uh titled This is North Glenn, which includes representative portraits of people and animals along with a vibrant background that also includes a map of North Glenn and with a QR code to the city website. It was a wonderful

collaboration between the NHF, public works, parks department, and many others. We also welcomed the monarch butterfly that you see there uh artwork you see there by Jay Harmio uh that now hangs outside of the children's programs uh rooms at the recreation center. And I also like to note that the entire public art collection is listed on artwork archive an online platform that provides interactive uh an interactive uh public portfolio. The archive can be accessed through northclenarts.org. And then with regards to the Lucio Royal Rivera Gallery, uh we continue to work with partner nonprofit nonprofits to curate the gallery. So we don't curate them, we work with partners, our longest one being the Chuco Humanities and Arts Council. Um they exhibited in the spring and then Access Gallery uh was in the summer and winter. Access Gallery creates opportunities for artists with disabilities. And I'm excited to say that we now have a third partner, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, and they start in 2026. So, a couple years ago, in 2024 was a big year for the NAHF. In that, uh, they invested in their very first endowment. Thanks to city council guidance and approval, the NHF was the recipient of a portion of the Denver Broncos sale funds. Those funds were used for the NHF to launch the Northland Youth Theater Scholarship Endowment. The NHF chose to invest the money to grow and ensure that youth for generations have the ability to participate in NITT and its many programs regardless of economic ability. The NHF was accepted into the Rose Community Foundation, a prestigious organization that holds the investment, grows the funds along with other organizations like the Girl Scouts of Colorado, uh Denver Public Schools Foundation, and over a hundred others. So, I'm happy to say that the endowment is now over $85,000. The last highlight on the slide here is

the total earned revenue brought in through Northland Arts Programs. $592,000 includes ticket sales, registrations, concession sales, and theater rental income. It's a 15% increase from 2024. So here is how the financial relationship works between the city and the NAHHF. Northland Arts revenues are divided between contributed and earned income. Generally speaking, the contributed income, which is grants and donations flow through the NHF and the earned revenue goes to the city. So, as an example, during a Northgun Youth Theater production, all SCFD grant funds and donations go through the NHF to pay for the show, and then all of the ticket sales and participant registrations generated by the show go to the city. So, as you can see here, the per capita funds are what sort of kicks this whole process off. Once per capita funds are released by city council, the NHF is then able to apply for the SCFD grant, generate donations and other grants to then pay for programs that generate earned revenue for the city. The NHF also generates revenue through outdoor concessions and merchandise sales as well as some investment income. As I've mentioned before, as you can see on the city side, all theater rental income goes directly to the city as well. And so this is how the money is spent. The NHF mostly covers production costs. So that's sets, costumes, rights for shows, those sort of nuts and bolts pieces. The NHF also covers the majority of the theater contractors used throughout the year like designers, technicians, and builders. And then the NHF also covers all public art purchases and the majority of public art maintenance costs. So the city pays for salaried employees that make all of this happen. The city also pays for uh all the

facility and equipment costs, ticketing and registration, custodial services, our presenting partners and class instructors. And as you can see, there are a few shared costs, but this is the basic structure. So the long range plan, the NHF contracted Stillwell Consulting of Fort Collins back in 2023 to create a long range plan 15 years out. The plan works in tandem and complements the parks, recreation, and culture playbook. So, in other words, the new North End Arts Longrange plan is both a standalone document for the NHF and an addendum of the playbook. The extensive document highlights a refreshed mission, vision, and values as well as outlines fa five major goals with 110 action items. 2025 represented the second full year of that plan. So everything I've reported on tonight is in alignment or the result of that plan. Uh a few highlights uh from 2025 include we started the beginning stages of the rebranding of the NHF and the many Northgun arts programs not only to increase sales and participation but is to also complement the city branding in communications work that is beginning in 2026. Prioritization of partnerships uh with SCFD funded organizations was another development of culturally sensitive communication materials. Partnerships with guest curators for gallery spaces. An articulation of a theater booking hierarchy so that the public knows how the space is used. Um we updated um and council approved public art policies and capacity building for marketing and fundraising efforts. So, this included the NHF hiring of two part-time contractors to meet the growing needs of marketing and fundraising to achieve those numbers. I've been reporting on collaboration with the economic develop or with economic development through the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts

membership was a goal of ours last year. Um, the expansion of the endowment. Um, but also wanted to highlight within economic development, they've also been a great partner in providing guidance regarding potential facility availability for anything libraries and the Colorado Conservatory of Dance to help elevate arts and culture in city planning efforts. So, that's been great. And then these are just a few of the highlights of the work that the NHF accomplished in 2025. And as always, I could keep talking, but we'll end it there. Um the uh release of per capita funds is on the consent agenda this evening, but I'd be more than happy to answer questions now.

It's not a question, but this as always this was a wonderful presentation. Um I've gone to several of the shows that you know we've had this last year, certainly participated in like Junth and some of the you guys do a great job. Um I think um one of the big things that people recognize or remember or notice or comment North Glenn is the theater program we have here. So good work. Thank you. I should turn my mic on. Council member Roert.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Thank you for this presentation. There are so many things that I love about what we do for our community. I know I've said this till I'm blue in the face, but the teddy bear picnic, which I can't believe it's 33 years old because I took my children there when they were babies and then that means I'm pretty old. Um the neighborhood nights is amazing. Also, just seeing my own students go through the programming there and then my own children um has been amazing. You know, even my daughter was exposed to the arts through school and here in the community and now she's a working artist. So, thank you for all you do and thank you for what you bring to our community. Thank you, Council Member Condo.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and I apologize for being late. I actually was at a meeting uh that was being held in the City, County of Broomfield auditorium, and uh I ran into their manager who really gave you lots of props in terms of the connections and everything that you do here for the arts in the North Metro area. So, I wanted to just share that uh with you. your your contributions and the value that you bring are uh obviously very uh well valued here and within the city but well recognized throughout the Denver metro area. Council member Lighty,

thank you. I just wanted to say well first I am a youth theater graduate. I went through our youth theater. It was amazing. I loved it so much. It wasn't as cool as this one. It was at the old rec center which I'm still a little bitter about but it's okay. Um, I love it so much. It's amazing. I actually get to go on Thursday and see one of the Cleo Parker shows. So, I'm really excited. Um, I just wanted to get again say thank you so much for all you do. I worked at studio school for a little bit and a bunch of my students ended up coming through your theater program because their middle school wasn't the same as elementary school and so it was one of their favorite things to do. So, I just wanted to give you props. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you. I always appreciate this presentation. um the CBCA, thank you for the economic report summary because that is really important to remember that arts brings such just wonderful things to our community and to our spirit, but also to our economy. So, the program you run is special. Your team is amazing. Um and you work so hard. it just like council member Condo said well respected AC across communities but also it's the networking the connections you make like you were named dropping some really fun things like DCI tours love them access Gallery that's a huge partnership um and that brings me so much joy so you're really working hard and we see it and I am I just want to put a quick plug because we're wrapping up um, Black History Month and there are still tickets available for the We Have a Dream Cleo Parker Robinson show on Friday. I also get to see them on Thursday and I'm very excited for that. But if if anyone listening has an open Friday night, I highly recommend it. So, but thank you. Have a good night.

Thank you very much. Okay, we're going to go to council communications. Council member Burns, can you hear us? I can. I'm gonna say thank you to everyone who came and spoke. Council member Burns recovering from RSV. So stay healthy everybody. We can kind of hear you. Yes. Can you hear me better now? Yes.

Okay. I don't have much of a voice. We are recovering from RSV. Uh so stay healthy. I haven't done a lot because we've been in a children's hospital. So thank you. So sorry, Council Member Lighty.

Um thank you. So, I was able to attend our police banquet and hear all of the amazing and intense things that our department goes through. Um, that was really cool, but also really intense. So, thank you again for everything that you guys do. That crazy. Um, I also wanted to say thank you to the residents that attended that town hall this weekend. I was not able to make it, but thank you so much. Oh, I thought that was me. I'm so sorry. Um, I just wanted to say thank you so much for actually going and making sure that your voice is heard and that they know that they represent you and not themselves. So, thank you so much, Council Member Noiki.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, good evening everyone. Nice to be with you again. Let's see. Um, since our last meeting, we the CCP meeting met. And for those that don't know, it's the community co-production policing advisory board of which, uh, I'm proud to be a a new board member of. Um, we met. Uh, couple of things that stood out. Uh, program manager Jessica Hulse came and talked about crew. Um, DC and chief were there as well. They talked uh again about the flock camera, immigration enforcement, and safety sensitive zones as well. And then a couple different programs. There's a safe exchange program. So, if you're selling things or you need to uh selling things online or if you're going to be kind of picking up and dropping off at kids and there could be a little bit of contentious separation there. um outside the police station, they're looking at kind of setting up a safe exchange program, which is really really a cool thing. Um so, uh those were the things we discussed at CCP and we welcomed a new board member Matthew Phillip as as well who you all got to meet. He was great. Um, on the 13th, as council member Lighty said, I also attended the awards ceremony, uh, banquet and huge shout out to the PD. Uh, that was really my first opportunity. Usually I have to work. I had to take some PTO, but it was worth it cuz I got to see all the neat things they do and uh, really all the ways that they just kind of uh, you know, kind of the unsung heroes of the community. not really just got to show up, do the job, and you know, and go above and beyond. And it was really nice to see that. Really nice to be able to break bread with them afterward, and I

had a great time. Um, lastly, I did attend the town hall this weekend. Um as well in addition to kind of talking uh there was some discussion about I want to thank the residents and uh their representatives that came out. In addition to kind of talking about the mental health transitional living home um there were also some concerns expressed around data centers um things like that uh as well. So again thank you was uh informative in that regard. Uh that is all for me.

Thank you council member Severs. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, so it's been a busy two weeks since we last really met. Um, I'll I'll try to make it quick. On February 11th, uh, I attended my first ADCOG meeting, the Adam Adams County Council of Government. Uh, thankfully I have Council Member Condo to pick his brain because I'm new to it. It's good. It's It was a lot of detail that I wasn't prepared for, so I got to get caught up. Um but it's it was a good meeting. Um on February 13th, obviously I attended as well the North Glenn Police Department awards. It was good to celebrate those who put their line on the their life on the line sometimes, you know. And when I got to the Parsons Theater, I walked up was like, "Oh, is there a science seating?" And they're like, "Oh, yeah, you're on stage." I was like, "Oh, yeah. I got to get used to that, right? I don't feel like I deserve to be on stage, but I appreciate you guys." Uh uh on the 14th, I don't want to steal any thunder, but I I swung by Madame Mayor's uh coffee uh date at uh Panera and I believe the next one's at the Legion Post 22. So, we'll celebrate there. Um I just wanted to thank once again the city clerk office and Miss Small for hosting a passport day uh uh the 14th as well, Valentine's Day. Um, it's important come, you know, I would tell people to get their passports just for voting concerns. And, uh, on Tuesday the 17th spent, uh, I, as you guys may have heard, I went through back surgery like two weeks ago, so I had some time off my normal job, so I took advantage. On the 17th, I spent six or so hours at the state house. Um, I got to hang out with our lobbyist, City Adam Berg. I saw Representative

Lori Goldstein, Senator Mullika brought me on the the Senate floor, so that was cool. Um, but just generally, it was good to wrap my head around how it's going down at the state house. I was also able to testify uh in a committee for HB 1071. It basically just allows the city to put speed traps on the federal highway. Uh we know that there's always a lot of accidents and we need to bring down the temperature. It just allows them to do the same that um we can do on state highways and local roads. So it really it just gives them the tool. Whether they use it or not is up to them. Uh if it passes, of course. So follow legislation as it goes on February 18th. I uh went with Council Member Condo to Dr. Cog uh the Denver Regional Council of Governments. I'm the alternate, so I'm the spare tire. he's taken all the workload. So, I'll let him talk about it on February 19th. So, it's been a busy week. Um, I spent all day at the History of Colorado Museum for the CML legislative day. We uh it was mostly about local government control, county control, working with the state and federal legislatures and just hearing um you know from the National League of Cities and kind of best practices and how we move forward uh together. Um on February 21st, I also attended the town hall at the church. I appreciate everyone that showed up. uh you know, council, we a few of us were there. Uh but you know, it was for residents and for them to explain their situation. Uh I'm sure we'll have a town hall to announce at some point very soon. And then also on the 21st, uh myself, Mayor Prom, and Council Member

Condo went to the governor candidate forum uh downtown at the Denver Athletic, and it was good. It was uh Senator Bennett and Attorney General Weiser talking about transportation and housing. So, it was good to see where they sit on things. I'm not here to promote any candidate, you know, but just pay attention to it. And the last thing I will say is that there's about 127 days till the primary election for parties on June 30th. Uh also, there's 253 days until the general election on November 3rd. It's my birthday, so please get out and vote. If not for me, for you. Thank you,

Council Member Gooff. Thank you. So, we have to wear party hats when we go vote. Is that what you're saying?

Okay. Thank you. Um, uh, February 12th, um, I had my first meeting with the Parks and Wreck Advisory Board. That was very interesting. It was, um, probably one of the longest meetings they they've had, and I got was lucky enough to be there for it. But um they did approve a fee waiver um for the Muslim youth for positive impact um that has just opened up here in North Glenn to uh grant them 40 punch passes so that youth can go and uh partake partake of the benefits of our rec center. Uh and then they also spent a lot of time discussing CR54 which is the public uh facility standards that we've had lots of meetings about and so they worked through and uh will be coming forward to city council with some recommendations on that in the future. Uh February 13th was the police award ceremony and this award ceremony is like the least very least we can do to honor our police officers. I'm so impressed every time I go and hear about um the amazing hard work and life life and limb they put on the line for us. Um so thank you uh thanks to them again. And then um on February 16th, the Northland senior organization uh met and um they asked if you would check on the Northland website, they in honor of Women's History Month, they have women's uh women's history month recognition that they're sponsoring and you have to search for that language. I couldn't find it quite as easily as I hoped, but um that gives you a spot to click and then you can uh just write a little paragraph or a couple of sentences or a whole story about a a woman that you um feel has impacted your life and that's to honor women women for the rest of this month. Uh and that's it. That's all I've got. Thank you.

Thank you, uh Council Member Condo.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, as was mentioned previously this past Saturday, uh, there was a town hall that was organized by Representative Wilford, other state representatives that were present, Lori Goldstein, Kenny Wen, Lorena Garcia, and Senator uh, Will Lindstead. And I just want to thank the residents that came out who spoke. I I noticed that several of you are here. It requires a great deal of courage to share your personal trauma and to relive that again. And I I fully am sympathetic and I understand what happened two years ago uh across the street there at at the Parson's community room. I wish you didn't have to relive that again, but the fact of the matter is your elected representatives need to hear from you. We are doing our best here to try and facilitate conversations and to hold the state accountable to some of the commitments that they made to us in the spring of 2024. Um and and again I I just want to say thank you for your courage. It took a lot for a number of you and I I am just so moved and impressed. Second item is uh and again the reason why I was late was I was attending the city and county of Broomfield's uh fire prevention town hall. As you may recall, January 5th was the Haststake fire uh which had eerie sort of appearances of what it looked like when we had the Marshall fire. And so today is a actually a joint town hall with North Metro Fire on which I sit on that board, city and county of Broomfield, uh the police department to just kind of do an afteraction conversation to discuss what happened exactly and to explore ways to better keep the community informed with reliable information so that you all not

only before the incident, you know, you have to take actions obviously before it's a good idea to do that. um can minimize the likelihood of your house catching fire during the incident and after. It's really an integrated sort of response cradle to grave. And uh I was really happy to at least just be there at the very beginning of it. Uh Jen Hoffman uh the city county manager is leading that discussion right now. Um would like to thank the staff for different things that I've seen from time to time. Uh, I walk around my dog and I really appreciate, uh, parks and wreck and what they're doing to fix the broken bench there along Grant Ditch. Thank you, uh, Director Peterson. Also, the signal wrap that was defaced at the corner Mali and Northland Community Center Drive. It's a picture of a Afghan woman that had been defaced for quite a while, and I see that is now uh, cleaned up. And actually, a very brand new rap is on there. And I I just think that it's so important that we respect people from all corners of the earth and to deface is just again it's just a sign of disrespect and it's it's unacceptable. Uh the last thing I'd like to say besides what uh council member Siver said is is at the last Wednesday's Dr. Cog meeting, we elected a next new board of officers and I will now represent the city as well as serve on the Dr. COG executive committee as your vice chair. So, uh, thank you for having me continue to serve for you for the city. I will continue to look out for your best interest, uh, in a fair and balanced way as as an executive committee member of Dr. Cog. Lastly, please don't forget if you're a W three member or if you want to come anyway on uh March 14th, we will have our W3 meeting in this building at 9:00 a.m. Uh some topics that we're going to talk about flock cameras. Uh we're going to talk about uh

immigration, federal laws, and and local policing. Uh so those are I I believe the right hot button topics for you all. If not, you know, we can we can readjust, but certainly we want to make sure that we're addressing your concerns. So feel free to come irregardless whether you're a W3 resident or not. Thank you,

Council Member Roer. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Thank you to everyone who came out to speak tonight. Sorry, clearly I'm struggling tonight. Um, thank you to everyone who came out to the town hall. It was great, as Council Member Condo said, for you to be able to have your voice heard. Our representatives and legislators need to hear your voice. again they are representing you so it's really important thank you for that um I also attended the youth commission this past week and they are if you if you think our youth are going down a wrong path go to the youth commission you will be blown away just by their initiative their innovation their authenticity I feel really confident that the world is heading in a great place they are incredible they are working on an addiction awareness program and safe haven program. And then their next big event is they are putting together an art jam and that's really for teen engagement and they're going to partner with some local organizations and really um allow teens to come in and create art together and spend some time in community together and then make it into kind of a contest. So that's going to be fun. I also attended the North Glenn Police Department awards and again as everyone said it was just incredible to hear the unsung heroes but just also to hear the incredible service to our community. They really live out that character, commitment and courage every day. And I think a lot of things we take for granted or we just don't know that are happening behind the scenes but our police department is doing a fantastic job. So that was fun to celebrate them and that's all I have. Thank you, Mayor Prom.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, let's see. Lots of things in the last couple of weeks. On the 11th, uh, we had a Nura meeting, and I'm happy to say that there's been a permit, uh, for demolition issued for the two buildings on 120th, 112th, sorry, and Irma. So, that's exciting. Those buildings will hopefully come down and then RFPs can be issued for redevelopment. Um, exciting news there. We also heard from Max Dilla Bruier, I don't know if I said his name right, from Lafayette Properties um regarding the potential Washington Center acquisition. So Washington Point. Yeah, Washington Point. I get those mixed up. So hopefully something will come out of that pretty soon. Um Lafayette Properties acquired Al acquired and redeveloped at Alama Crossing Shopping Center. So if you're interested in seeing what some of their previous work looks like, you can look at that as well. Um, on the 13th, I also attended the police awards ceremony. And I think it's fitting that we are talking about um police officer uh mental uh wellness programs tonight because when you hear everything that they do for our city and for our citizens, I think it's important to keep that uh top of mind and I'm so appreciative of everything that they do. Um, it's really an honor to be a part of that and to hear their stories and understand the sacrifices that they make for their families and their families make for them and for our city. I also attended a family justice center committing community engagement and education planning committee meeting. Easy for me to say. I've been taking care of a kid all day today that I think might have RSV as well. So, if I sound a little tired, I definitely am. Um, so I am co-chair of that committee and we're starting to ramp up um all the communications necessary to get that family justice center rolling. Uh we are meeting probably every two weeks now. So there's lots more happening. We're

working on getting out flyers for the community um so people can learn about what an FJC is. A lot of people don't even know what it is. So, com complete wraparound services provided for victims of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and elder abuse that we're hoping to set up here in the in the 17th judicial district. Uh, also attended the CML legislative day as council member Sever reported out and that was a long day, lots of legislation. And that reminds me uh just to kind of t uh touch on a point that one of the residents brought up about wanting to know more uh in terms of legislation that we're currently taking um positions on here in the city. Uh the legislative committee does meet once a month. We may be meeting more often soon depending on how fast things move, but there has been a lot happening since our last meeting even. So um we don't take a vote on something until it's pretty much introduced. So, a lot of that legislation that was mentioned earlier um has just been recently introduced. So, we haven't even taken positions on it yet. Um do know that the policy committee's um purpose is to review and take stances on legislation that affects our city directly. Um so, a lot of the legislation that you might be interested in, if it doesn't impact the city directly, you might not hear about it. So, we do encourage you to go on the Colorado uh General Assembly's website and look up legislation. Um reach out to your representatives if you want more information on bills that are going through. Um for example, the prostitution um bill that was mentioned uh that was just recently introduced. So, we haven't taken a position on that and that would affect the city. A lot of these bills may be even um killed before you know it gets a chance to to reach the committee. So, um, one other thing to note too is that

we do have a website, uh, set up for the legislative policy committee, and I encourage you to visit that if you want to know what stances we are taking. I don't believe that it's been updated recently yet, just because the session really just started underway. Um, but it does have our 2026 legislative policy guide, which is what we use to um, make our decisions when it comes to legislation. Um so please visit that website uh as part of the city and hopefully we'll have the bills that we've taken positions on updated on that soon. Um also attended CML policy. I just lost my notes um all day the next day after our legislative day. So we talked about the same bills and then attended the town halls. I would like to thank all the residents that showed up for that. As was said before, um the one legislator that uh a resident mentioned uh said that she focuses on facts and not emotions, that is Rep. Lorena Garcia. So, if you want to get your facts together when it comes to our bill, then that's the person that you need to think about, Lorenna Garcia. She is the one that said those words. Um but our bill has been introduced and that is HB26-1285. So, if you are interested in reading our bill, um that is titled admission to mental health residential facilities, uh that is now official and uh we're pretty proud to have that now introduced and we're working hard for you thanks to Rep. Lauren Garcia. And that's it in my tired brain. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Um a couple things I just want to highlight. Um, I am on the Mile High Flood District board and they sent out some communication that I will share with staff and council, but they put together these really nice onepage flyers that talk about the projects that they have in each city. So, in the city of North Glenn for 2026, they will be doing watershed planning studies for the following areas. uh Big Dry Creek tributaries downstream of I25, the Brandner Gulch and tributaries and the Highline Canal. Um they have special projects across the region, but they will be continuing the stream maintenance efforts um that we very much appreciate, especially along 112th. And so the 2026 work plan includes routine vegetation management and debris removal, sediment removal to help maintain stream capacity, stream restoration projects, and repairs to existing stream infrastructure. So I will share that with everyone. It's sort of in a press release style, but it's nice to know what projects are happening in our area. I also attended the RTD monthly breakfast with the Adams County Mayors. that is an excellent opportunity for us to do some regional collaboration about important issues, especially issues that impact Adams County. Um, so a little different than the Metro Mayor's group, but certainly uh a good use of my time. Then I I sort of had a general theme of let's wash our hands and maybe take some vitamin C. I think everyone has in every corner of my life has gotten sick um either with influenza B which is going around. You've heard RSV a few times tonight. That is definitely a

respiratory illness that we don't want our children getting and just in general cold and flu season. So try to stay healthy and it's it's really all about. We're back to the washing our hands all the time because it's just a little germy out there. the I I loved council member Condo saying I like to shout out staff and I thought oh I have a perfect shout out. Uh so thank you for teeing that up. My mayor's coffee on the 14th was at Panera Bread and it was nice. I we've been moving the location each time so that different residents if they choose to walk or if they want someplace a little more comfortable, we're kind of varying the location. And so we were at Panera Bread and it was hard to hear. I don't know that that's the best place. Very much looking forward to the Saturday, March 7th. We will be at American Legion Post 22, 9 to 10:00 a.m. But my shout out goes to uh McCall. McCall Rafess is so amazing. She's our executive assistant to the city manager and she does such a great job keeping all the details of things like that in check. But it was so beautiful because we had um I did not know that she was fluent in Spanish. And it that's that is something I'm so jealous of like she it was just beautiful and she was able to really connect with residents in a different way and I so appreciated having her there and we had some really rich conversations with uh residents where their primary language was Spanish. So I appreciate her being there but also all the setup the takeown but then that additional support was just such a gift. So, thank you. And again,

shout out uh March 7th, please join me at American Legion Post 22 and we will continue some conversation. All right, city clerk Small, how are you tonight? I am doing well. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I do not have any updates tonight.

Okay, city manager Guyire, in keeping with the theme of acknowledging staff, I wanted to draw your attention to next week is employee appreciation week. So, while we don't do any sort of formal proclamation in advance of this um week, I wanted to share with the public and with you that we will be internally um doing a few things to recognize and celebrate our amazing staff throughout the week. And so, if you happen to be in city hall and, you know, want to say thank you, say hello to staff, please feel free to do that. Um, we have a tremendously committed, hardworking staff here at the city of North Glenn as as you all know and um just even though it's designated as a week, you know, we really strive as an organization to recognize and value our staff throughout the year. So, um, thank you in advance. That's all I have.

City Attorney Hoffman. Good evening, Madame Mayor, members of council. Um, Mayor Prom Lukemanurasa stole my t thunder about uh house bill 1285 being introduced which is fantastic and we will all work hard to try to get that across the finish line but beyond that nothing to report. Great. Thank you. Okay, moving to the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Please open the vote. The vote is open. Please vote. Council member Burns, how do you vote? Yes. Yes. Little voice.

Okay, I will close that vote and the consent agenda passes unanimously. All right, we have one resolution tonight, CR53. Will the clerk please read the title? A resolution authorizing contingency funds for the agreement between the city of North Glenn and Bristle Cone Construction LLC for the JC Park renovation project. Move for approval. Seconded. Director of Parks, Recreation, and Culture Amanda Peterson will provide a summary of this item. Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm here tonight to request an additional or authorization of an additional $20,000 in contingency for the JC Park project. That project includes renovation of the restroom and the scorekeepers booth. Um, as some aged facilities, there were some things we uncovered that we were not anticipating during the design process. Primarily some door frames that we anticipated re being able to reuse. Um, and then some pieces of the plumbing chase. Again, thought we were going to be able to reuse those elements and just they were the space was too constrained. We need to reconstruct that chase so that it provides adequate room for future maintenance as well as for the team to be able to do that installation for as a part of this project. Additionally, our staff have identified um that we do need to put a new roof on the building and feel that it's most cost-effective to have the current contractor do that while they're already mobilized on site. So, for this project, we have an additional $338,000 that are currently unassigned. Um about 60% of that is grant funding. We do have some other elements that are outside of this contract, replacement of the scoreboard, some other site amenities that'll happen again outside of the contract, but well within the budget that's available for the project. With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions about that request.

Council member Severs. Ah, yes. The more you take apart things, the more you find there's something that isn't savable. So, if you've been in any kind of property management, I feel you. Sorry. I don't see any other questions. Thank you so much. Please open the vote. The vote is open. Please vote. Council member Burns, how do you vote? Yes.

Thank you. I will close that vote and CR53 passes unanimously. Thank you. We have two discussion items tonight. The first one is neighborhood services discussion number two. Uh interim director of planning and development Becky Smith will present this item. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you Mayor Lady Council. Um here tonight to sorry I haven't used this one before. Um present on our second discussion on code enforcement. Um and this is the second of ongoing conversations. Um, tonight we're really going to focus on the neighborhood services processes, procedures, and their staff training that they go through. Um, we did include in the packet the results of the survey that we asked you to take after our first meeting. Um, but after going through the results of the survey, we thought it would be best to split it up and try to address the comments that were related to the topics I just outlined that we will discuss tonight and then talk about uh the what we enforce at the next meeting. So, um, the purpose of code enforcement is really to maintain community standards, uh, and public safety, protect property values and neighborhood integrity, promote fairness, consistency, and accountability. And North Glenn's process, as we went over at the first discussion, um, has really changed over time to reflect the, uh, evolving needs of the community. So um if you recall we we talked a little bit about the history of North Glenn and we've learned a lot through each of those phases and we've adjusted after or during each of those phases based on the demands of the community. So when we did clean sweep the division learned a lot about standardizing procedures and code uh interpretation and coming out of that they developed a procedural man procedural manual to formalize the

process and consistency. um that manual is a living document and gets updated based on the um direction of council and the um community values. Following that period, we actually moved to a more friendly code enforcement um style where we used door hangers and we worked for long periods of time to resolve code issues with residents. However, we learned that that wasn't exactly responsive um to the community because some violations were taking too long to resolve. And so that's where we got to the current um model that we're following right now, which includes using the tools of um summons. Oops, I went the wrong direction. Um so the philosophy, our approach really prioritizes voluntary compliance through education and collaboration before resorting to enforcement action. Our our goal is to get to that voluntary compliance and use enforcement uh only when necessary. This is just an overview of the process. Uh we start with case initiation. Um this can be either complaint or officer observed in the field and then they inspect the the case based on the complaint that comes in. They verify that a violation exists and then they issue that notice of violation. And that notice is really that first educational piece. And I'll get more into the no um notice momentarily, but it is that first opportunity to provide the resident with uh understanding of to what the violation on their property is, what they need to do to resolve it and work with them to uh reach compliance within that deadline. Um then we get to the follow-up where the code officer goes back at the end of

that compliance period to check and see if the um violation has been resolved. If the violation has not been resolved, uh they work with a resident or business on why the violation hasn't been resolved and decide if there's reason to extend um give them an extension or um if the resident has not taken any action and and they want to elevate it to a summon. And then the final step would be a summon if that case has not been brought to compliance. So, this is just a little bit of information about the notice of violation. Again, it's really um that first line of education. Um it's a description of the specific violation. Um the municipal ordinance that's being violated. Um information and resources that the resident can utilize as well as the timeline to correct that violation. um contact information, especially if the officer is not able to make contact, physical contact, and talk to the resident. Um they usually do try to make personal contact, but if they're unable to, they do post that notice of violation on the door and then follow up with a mailed copy for documentation. As mentioned previously, the officers are allowed to grant a one-time extension uh for different reasons in working with the residents. So they can decide if the resident is working towards compliance but needs an extension based on a hardship or there's weather that got into the way of them being able to comply. Um there's several different reasons for um offering that extension. Um after that, if additional extensions are warranted, the officer does have to work with the neighborhood services supervisor to issue them. So, um, once the compliance period has

been reached, an officer on an open case goes out to inspect and see if the case was brought into compliance. And if it was, then the officer just closes the case right there. If it hasn't, then the officer tries to figure out why is this case not resolved yet? And that's when they really start to review if there's a need for an extension. um if there's a need to maybe bring in the crisis response unit to see if they can help with additional resources, etc., etc. However, there's also potential that the officer will determine that the case really just needs to be escalated to enforcement, and that's where we would issue the summons. And that's when residents fail to communicate with staff um refuse to work towards compliance or is a chronic violator um that's unable to resolve the issues uh working with staff. And so I'll get more into what that um summons looks like momentarily. So these are the different enforcement exc escalation options. Um the one that we mostly use is the municipal summons and that's when they issue that municipal court complaint. Um we do have some other tools that include administrative hearings. Um and that's for properties that have vacant or absentee owners. And then we also have an ad uh administrative citation tool that we don't use very often. And that's because um we don't want to start stacking up fees on properties that may get into the ability or get in the way of their ability to achieve compliance. There are some special circumstances where we don't issue that notice of violation where we will just go ahead and issue a summon and those are in

cases of chronic violators or if there is a health safety or risk um that uh results in an emergency abatement and the case officers do create a case file for each case. Um this the case files include photos, notes, notices, and enforcement actions. And then it includes um an an an a log of the outcomes. So if the case achieved compliance, if a summon was issued, or if it required the city to do an abatement. We do try to do some education and outreach uh especially as we approach certain enforcement seasons. Um so letting residents know what code violations will be out there looking for and what they would need to do just to keep their property maintained. But we are planning to expand our articles and social media posts and uh working to prepare some canned articles um as well as uh develop a flyer to give residents at city events this summer. Our code enforcement officers also go on business walks with our economic development department to hand out commercial flyers to businesses. And so with that, I'm going to pause because that was sort of the overview of the process and procedures and ask if there's any questions specific to process and procedures to the flexibility and special circumstances or um complaint and proactive enforcement before we jump into the officer training piece.

Council member Goff. Thank you, Mayor. Um, so I have two questions. So the first one, I think I think it was animal control. I don't remember what department where we had a resident come in with concerns about a summons being delivered at 11:00 p.m. at night. So I just was curious about what hours these, you know, um, citations are where they try to reach out to people. What are the hours? So, um, our neighborhood services division does not work at 11 p.m., so it probably wasn't neighborhood services, but I have Tom Carlson here, the neighborhood services supervisor, to help answer any questions. And so, I'll just ask Tom to confirm that we wouldn't deliver a notice at 11 p.m. Yeah, I was just curious what the hours would be.

Yeah, we we don't uh work at 11:00 unless Good lucky. Good for you. But um but yeah, our hours are typically uh from 7 till 5 Monday through Friday. Okay. And we don't we won't go out and interact uh with residents till after 8. Okay. So the first hours they answer phone calls, get emails, everything. Get ready, get out in the field.

Great. Thank you. I'm glad to hear that. Um the next question I have is about trees, which is really um an issue especially for our seniors or um you know people on fixed income. And um I just I don't know if if neighborhood services would be the vehicle to communicate this, but the senior North Glenn senior organization does have a one-time grant program for seniors to use on things like if they needed to pay somebody to come and trim a tree or replace a water heater or something. So, um, you know, that might be something you take a note of or or maybe the crisis response unit needs to be communicated with on that so that the residents know they have as a senior they have that as an option.

Yeah, thank you for sharing that. That is u something that would be really useful to include in our communications especially if we reach an understanding that there is that type of hardship. Yeah, trees are very expensive. So, thank you. That's it for me. Council member Noiki. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you for being here. I have a question with regard to how does how might the chronic violators kind of uh work within the administrative citation piece and primarily like the progressive fines piece? What does that kind of look like?

Yeah. So, um, with the chronic violators, we actually typically, um, elevate those to a summon to municipal court, and that's why we've moved away from the administrative citation because that is the progressive fines. So, um, let me just go back to that slide. It's this one. Sorry. Um, so the administrative citation would be where we're just issuing the fines. And we've moved away from doing that in most uh nuisance cases just because we don't want to create that extra hardship that could get into the way of them being able to bring their property into compliance. So when we get to a municipal court summons, it's really actually an opportunity for us to work more with that resident for a longer period of time. So, we work at that point with the prosecutor and the resident to continue to try to achieve that compliance without getting to a point of um any surmounting fines.

Okay. Do we know what that is that successful? Like what is that kind of like I see him shaking his head. Yeah, I I I will let Tom jump in and help answer this, but yeah, I think it has been pretty successful.

Okay, Tom. Yeah. Can you tell me a little bit about your experience with that? So, yeah, when we started, uh, we kind of moved away from administrative citations because it was a progressive fine base. Started out with a $150 fine, moved to a $500 fine, then $1,000 fine, and you you had succession up to $10,000. So, and these are 15-day increments if it's not brought into compliance with that. So, we talked talking with the city attorney um and looking at the process. Really, the municipal summons is the best due process for residents. And with that, we've worked really closely with the courts, with the city prosecutor to um work we we can work with people longer and better through the courts. Um, as officers, we have to balance, you know, three different things. What's right for the the person that we're working with, what's right for the complainant, and what's right for the community as a whole, the expectations. And so, equitability uh really comes into play. And sometimes there are situations that go beyond what is reasonable for us to uh provide. And that's where we uh issue them a summon and they go and work with the prosecutor. And it's not uncommon um for them to come back to court two or three times and usually the fines are very low um depending on the situation. But we get compliance. Um, usually through the courts it's a almost like a 90 to 100% compliance

rate. Um, so and the fines are very low. So it's a progression of what we can do to work with residents. Sometimes there's situations um where if the person is uh can't f for themselves, they have a a special um attorney or I I forget what the term is, but that can advocate on their behalf. And so that's appointed by the courts. And so it just kind of helps out the resident in in that process. if we don't like to get there,

you know, um our voluntary compliance rates 97 98%. Which is very good. And of those uh that uh three two or 3% that end up in municipal court, we try and help them further. Okay. Madame Mayor, could I add something to that? Because um couple of things Mr. Carlson said I want to focus on. First of all, because this is compliance-based and that is the goal, that was really the basis for go moving away from the administrative citation, which again achieved fines but did not achieve compliance.

The other thing Mr. Carlson said that I don't want to get lost in this conversation is due process. Um, there are communities that abate nuisances without a court order that after notice go ahead and just do it. And a number of years ago, um, I recommended to the city that that was, while potentially legal, not providing the most process to citizens that were the subject of a violation. And so the city, unless it is an unoccupied property, doesn't abate without a court order. And that's an important distinction because that is the ultimate process. you are going before a judge to make a determination that there is something that requires an abatement. Um, and so that's a shift that's happened over the years that I think is an important component of achieving compliance, albeit in that case through enforcement.

Okay. Thank you. I know we have some more questions coming. I just wanted to ask a couple of things. So, we're going through enforcement process. Is this are we open to revision or are you just giving us the information today? I'm providing the information but then we're open to revision and discussion and questions about it. Okay. I was I wasn't sure. Um I know are are we going to look at the survey results together ever or is that a plan for tonight or no? That is so we are planning to look at the survey results on the 16th. Okay.

And really get into the what we're enforcing because there was definitely more dispare or there wasn't as much alignment on certain areas of enforcement that we want to talk more specifically about and so we decided to put it into two separate meetings. Okay. And that makes sense to me. I think the overlap in my brain though is that if we're I guess I'm I'm very scenario based, right? So if I'm picturing one of these images that you had shared with us in the survey and you know code enforcement is alerted to it and then we go through this process depending on the picture. Yeah.

The process may be different and so it's really hard to separate the two conversations in my brain. Uh, and so I'm trying to do that, but looking at the survey results, there are some where councils all over the place, which tells me that residents are also going to be all over the place. This is an interesting sampling of North Glenn residents up here. But I I guess I just wonder about that. And when I think about enforcement and the process and procedures, you know, the violation letter, I'm just wondering if we're open to revising that. Um, and I wasn't sure to Council Member Goff's point, we did have a resident that was contacted at 11:30 at night. It was obviously not your team. So, my question is at what point is it handed over to law enforcement because that's who had knocked on the door. So, and where does that fall in the process?

Yeah. Um, so first, let me I thank you for bringing up the letter. I meant to mention it on the slide about the notice of violation, but in your packet there is a another letter. There's a sample of what we currently issue as our notice of violation. And then we provided a friendlier version of that which is called a courtesy letter um for your consideration. Uh we can even go back and reddraft that more if there's a different way you want us to make that initial communication and education. We're open to that feedback as well. Okay. So,

I'm glad you said that because I was like, "Oh, did we start it?" February 5th started a new process. That's just the sample. I get that now. Okay. Um, so thank you. I I would like to talk about that. And then I also wanted to make sure that we're talking about any recording of residents when we approach. If if our code team doesn't have body cameras, are we looking to that? Is that going to be something we're going to use as a practice going forward? Was that a oneoff thing?

Yeah. So, I would say that if council gives us direction that we should have body cams, then we would be recording, but otherwise, I don't think the department should be recording unless you give us that direction this evening. Okay. No, I'm not a fan. I just know it's a question. Okay. Would you like me?

Sure. specifically um the concern about the use of videoing in one instance that I'm aware of. We have not had we've had some internal discussion, but we are not recommending the use of body cameras. Um that was a one-off situation and um staff's addressed that situation. Okay. Council member Lighty,

thank you. I just had a quick question about might be in this sort of way somewhere if there's a lot of very small words. I'm assuming it's not just based off of all the things I've read so far. Um, how long is the vi like say I have weeds in my yard and they're huge but I'm out of town. How long is this violation something that like how long can I be violating this before there is that notice of violation or is there like is there contact with the resident and then you have 5 days or however long and then if I don't do it then do I have however long after that what's what's the time period

that is an excellent question so some of the timelines are written into ordinance and those are in chapter um I believe chapter 7 and chapter 9 of the municipal code and then some of them are in the uh manual that code enforcement uses. So the ones that are not written into code are more just to set a standard for our code enforcement officers to enforce equally across the board. Um so for example um in Tom provided me a list of the different timelines before the meeting tonight. um an abandoned vehicle um left has 72 hours. Now, if the code enforcement goes out there and issues the notice and then the person tells us, "We were out of town when you issued the notice," maybe the officer gives an extension. Maybe that's not the best example because it's one of the really quick turnarounds, but um they can talk to the resident on any situation and an officer does have that one-time extension where they can extend the compliance period for the same amount of time as what's in the code or the manual. After that, um, if there is an extenduating circumstance where they're trying to work with the resident, they feel the resident is trying to fix the issue, but they, um, have different barriers that they're trying to work through, that's when that officer can go to the code supervisor, Tom, and they can work on another extension and another extension. Now, where we're trying to find the balance is with the community as well because there is an expectation of community members that we also take care of some of these things. And so that's where we introduce the additional tools per Corey's direction with the summons to court.

And then just one final thing, if there I mean this is probably not super common, but if there is that dead or dis deceased whatever the trees and the shrubs, if that is kind of accumulating in the same area, is there a way for you guys to connect with parks and say like, "Hey, a lot of these yards are all dead and they're doing their best. How can we help them?" like is it it's not necess like how do we make sure that it we're not just going against the residents basically and like make sure we're supporting them too if it's not their biggest issue. It's just like the way the ground works.

Sure. Um so as far as I know we don't have parks do any maintenance on private property um because we don't want to set a precedent that we maintain some properties and not other properties that aren't city properties. Um but we do um since the crisis response unit has come on board try to identify cases that have um specific types of barriers where the crisis response unit might be able to connect them with resources that can help them take care of those violations. Um, a theme that did come out that we'll discuss more at the 16th is if there are any programs that the city should be considering that help in addition similar to like the snowstormers program.

Council member Severs.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, I want to thank uh the city for moving away from administrative citations. It makes sense. We're workingass community and if you ring up a bill of 5,000 because you're not trimming a tree, it's a lot harder to trim the tree. Uh I spend every year 10 to 15 grand on trees trimming removal. So it can get pretty expensive and I know some of the yards with weeds slash lack of healthy growth is also challenging. That's why the city does some of these programs to refit people's front yards with more water uh sensitive uh plants. So, I appreciate that because in reality, you know, workingass community. So, thanks

Mayor Prom.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um thank you for this presentation. Very informative. Uh my question is around um not absentee owned but like rentals or short-term rentals. So if the renters are not in compliance, I assume you notify the owner as well. And let's say the renter I don't have a specific example. Well, actually I there have been some cases that I know of, but the renter is a chronic violator um not complying. Is the owner ultimately responsible for bringing bringing the property into compliance or like what is that process I guess? Um is the owner responsible for municipal summons?

Yeah. So with every case we do send that mailed uh notice as well as a followup after we hang the notice on the door and make contact with the resident um to the um owner record through Adams County. And so the property would need to be brought into compliance through the property owner. If it is an issue that the tenant is creating, we would want the property owner to work with that tenant to resolve the issue. Um, and I don't know if Tom has anything to add to that from his experience because I know he does experience this a lot. So in situations where there's rental properties and 41% of our um housing is is rental properties. Um with that

there's uh we try and and through strategic enforcement basically uh work with whoever is the author of the violation. So, if it's a bunch of letter and trash that the tenants putting out there, we'll work with the tenant to try and resolve that issue. If it's more of a housing concern, say there's a big hole in the roof or um the sighting is ripped off, that's more of an owner issue, we'll we'll try and work with the owners um to resolve those issues. Um and so that's how we try and uh work it. And we we don't really know until we actually go out there and talk with them and at the initial onset when we issue the notice then we kind of find out more of the circumstances and can adjust our approach based on that. That make sense?

Yeah, I think so. I mean, ultimately we get back to finding out what the reasons are first, but I was just wondering if there was like somebody w wasn't complying despite, you know, trying to get them to comply, then I I assume at that point the owner should take responsibility to bring it to compliance. Sounds like it's a gray area. Well, it's you know that I think there's uh different rights and we've heard from the owners in the past um that they only have uh when they're renting the the and you know uh Cory could probably talk more on this, but owners uh the tenants have certain rights

um so that the owner just can't come in and uh take care of these issues um on their behalf. But we we try and bring everybody into the loop um right from the start. So when we issue a notice, we're sending it to the occupant of the home as well as the owner of record and um whoever's on utility billing as well. So we're trying to to uh bring up the situation to everyone. We try and uh adjust our approach so that the appropriate person can take care of it. Well, ultimately, yes. If there's an abatement, it would go um on the property and the owner would have to resolve that issue.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, I know you sign a lease and usually in the lease there's, you know, you're you're responsible for taking care of XYZ, which is usually mowing the lawn or whatever the case may be. I still have questions and thoughts in my head, but that's good for now. Thank you,

Mayor Prom. If I could just add one other thing cuz when you answered the qu asked if it was an either or I was going to answer yes cuz it's both. Um because while the landlord certainly has to be aware of tenant rights um if a case goes all the way to court and there is a judgment that is unpaid that lean gets um recorded against the property. So it really is being navigated in each case to make sure we're with the right we're dealing with the right folks. But if the landlord doesn't take action against a tenant that continues to violate, it's a problem in the community. The city has no choice but to go against the owner because it's the owner that ultimately owns the property and and is ultimately responsible subject to the tenants's rights. So each each case is different, but they're both responsible.

Okay. I appreciate that. That really helped clarify what was going on in my head and what I was I was thinking through. Um, just because I've gotten a lot of comments on, you know, all these houses are are for renters and they're not taking care of the property as Thank you, Council Member Burns. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I'm going to try and speak as quickly as possible. My tea is not working. Um I have questions around the escalation to enforcement under occurs when a resident fails to communicate with staff or refuses to work to towards compliance. Um could they speak more to that please?

So the question is what would we do if a resident refuses to work with staff or bring their case into compliance? That's when we would um use the tool of the summons to municipal court and then try to keep working with them in the process. My question was more what does that mean? What does that look like not speaking to staff or not working towards compliance?

So So I'll let Tom correct anything that I say, but when we make that first initial contact for the uh with the notice, and that's that educational piece. You have a violation on your property, you have this amount of time to correct it. We include contact information to city staff and that and um there's also some resources I think listed in the letter, but mostly just an encouragement like if you have questions, call staff. Um and so if they don't communicate or reach out to us if we weren't able to talk to them the day that the notice was issued, we would still go back and check in on that property at that end of the compliance period. If we haven't heard from the resident regarding needing an extension or that they were they're working on doing something, then we would assume they're not working towards compliance. Is that

Yes. And also, if we go out and we work with someone and we give them an extension, we're representing uh both the the complainant and the the community. we have to set uh make sure that we're um addressing the standards that we do for everybody. Um, so if we go out there and someone says, "Hey, I'm going to have this done within 30 days or 60 days and we follow up and they haven't done it and there they give us no reason or uh recourse of of why it wasn't done, you know, we we typically that that ends up going to some enforcement action, which is usually the municipal summons. And that way um you know they can work with the prosecutor a little bit more if there's a hardship case. Um and most of the time you know um it's out of the 2ome cases we have we issue 50 summones. So most of the time people are working with us and they're um getting things taken care of and and addressing things in in a proper fashion. So

thank you for that. Um but it it's kind of the opposite though of what you said though, Mr. Carlson, right? Like we have a 30 days or 60 days compliance. So it's not the the resident or the community telling you, "Oh, I'll have this done at this date." We give those mandates. Correct.

Yeah. So the code or the manual do set the timelines and then if the resident says I do want to fix this but I have this reason why I can't fix it within this timeline. That's when the officer has that extension that they can provide for that same time period that's outlined in the code. And then when they go back for their um compliance check, if the resident is like, I still haven't been able to achieve this because of X, Y, or Z, and the officer is like, that seems reasonable to me. Let me talk to my code supervisor. That's when the code supervisor can issue an additional extension and work with our code neighborhood services department that way.

Right. And I think just for clarification for people listening, these extensions are 30 days or 60 days. And so depending on the violation or whatever it is, you know, people might not get the money in 30 days or whatever it is. Correct.

Yeah. So the there's different timelines for different violations and that is something that we can discuss um as far as if there are appropriate revisions to those timelines. And one thing that I was thinking as I asked Tom about the different timelines is if it would be appropriate to include that in our next discussion just as far as a list of what timelines are in code because those would require an amendment to the municipal code and then what timelines are in their administrative manual to maintain that consistency because that's a living document that we can easily just update based on your direction.

Thank you. Um, so now I'm back to still wanting to talk about the survey at the same time. Um, only because I the what I wrote down is the levels of violation matching the levels of response. I think that's where I'm stuck and that's where we hear a disconnect from residents as well. So, not to go too deep, but if we talk about that survey and we had we were assessing levels of violation. So if it was a five, it was a significant health or safety issue, right? That to me seems like the level of response would match.

And so if it's a level one or a level two where it's maybe a a beautifification piece, not necessarily a safety piece, then maybe the level of response would match. And I I feel like we have the same level of response for every violation. Is that true? We have the same process for every violation in how we contact our residents and then work through the process to the vision um possible es escalation but we don't have the same timelines in those processes. So, I feel like including the timelines for the violations and talking about what we do as proactive versus reactive

in terms of those rankings will be something that we hit on at the next discussion. And then following that, we're we want to take whatever recommendations and direction you're providing us and kind of summarize it and say this is what we heard. Do you agree? and this is what we'll change about our process or our timelines etc. Okay. So

I think overall what I'm hearing from residents and from council during discussion is that it seems like we have a very harsh process that has like a level five response for everything. And the flexibility in special circumstances can be fair is not the right word, but inconsistently enforced. Right? So, we'll get as many times as I get a a a complimentary email about neighborhood services, we get a pretty um harsh and upset and critical response. And so it's tricky if we think, okay, well, if we're doing the same for everyone, that's not working.

And the flexibility and special circumstances piece might not be consistently implemented. I go back to the letter. And while the new draft is a little softer, it still has the the threats that were in the first one, right? If it's so maybe there's one before that, maybe there's one that's a warning or an educational letter. I liked the word courtesy notice. Um, but then it's still if it stopped at page one, it would have been fine, but then it keeps going and it hits it really hard with with this like it feels it does feel like a threat. Feels like a threatening letter to start with. And so if it's your first time, maybe you just moved in, maybe you just moved in and went on a work trip and it snowed and you know no neighbors and so you can't text someone and say, "Hey, shovel for me." But then you get this letter. You just got here and now you're feeling like, geez, this I mean it it doesn't feel good.

I know we're not talking about feelings. We're talking about facts. Um, but I I guess I'm I'm still in this muck of code going, "Thank you for bringing all this information. I just don't know how we move forward with new ideas like or how we take this apart and say, yeah, let's talk about specifically the letter or specifically the timelines without going back to levels of impact." and we were really all over the place on some of those, right? And that's gonna make it tricky and we did it in isolation without discussion. So, I think that was a really great place to start.

And then if you read the comments, thank you for putting this together. It's very well done. um lots of information for us to review, but you can take the comments and realize where people are thinking about the images, but there's so many questions like what if it's this, what if it's that? And then your team is on the streets having those personal conversations with people. They're learning their stories and with just images, we don't know the story behind it, right? So, it this is a lot of really good information. I just can't quite figure out where we go from here.

Well, we are taking feedback tonight and so I do like the idea of if there's an initial contact that you'd rather see. We did used to do the door hangers and we could look at doing something similar again prior to the courtesy notice or the notice of violation. It does extend the process. And so there is a consideration. We're hearing from residents right now that think we are heavy-handed and we could hear from residents more so that also think we're not doing our job. So there is a balance to be found through all this and we are completely opening open to changing our process and then if we realize that that wasn't what the community wanted to come back and also try something else. that is something that could happen as a result of this is

okay we realize that we want to extend the process so that people have more time to come into compliance but then we hear more from other people in the community that are like why is this taking so long so yeah that that is true that is true uh council member Severs

thank you madam mayor this is more of a statement but um based on you know the economic situation across the country. I'm always going to bring this back to the working class city that we are in. Uh based on the facts, uh owner occupied 43.9 53.9% renter occupied 41.9%. Uh the number of renters under the age of 54 is 77%. So probably a lot I would based on those statistics I would guess that the home owners that are owner occupied are on the older side. So, I appreciate uh council member Goff for bringing up the grant. We should definitely push that out. And then I know the strategic plan has something about maybe standing up something that helps with code compliance in the future. I know we're talking about that in March. So, uh I would just push for that to be kept regardless of financial cuts. Thanks.

Okay. If there are not questions on this part of it, I still have the overview of the field officer training program. So, um, and the program is really, uh, designed to prepare officers to operate independently, safely, and professionally through a structured and standardized process. Uh, we use the San Jose field training model, and this is a nationally recognized model um that law enforcement agencies use. Um and it's uh program emphasis is really structured training phases um with objective evaluation criteria um giving the officer that's in training progressive responsibility along with daily feedback so that they understand how they're growing as a field officer and they're also understanding how they can advance. The program is 11 weeks long and so the first two weeks is the prefield training and that's when they go out and they just observe um an officer that's already uh working for the city that's already been trained through the FTO program. Um the second or phase one I guess is the foundational phase and that's where they start getting more responsibility in the field but with that field training officer with them. So that field training officer is there to provide guidance and structure and over the four weeks slowly starts giving them more and more responsibility. Um after every day they do come back to the office and go over everything that they learned and what the officer that's training them had observed. Um phase two is another four weeks and this is where that um officer in training gets more independent and so starts doing more of the work on their own with that field officer um doing stepping back a little bit more and just doing more observation and giving

feedback later on. So letting those officers in training make more decisions. And then the last phase is the shadow phase which is one week and that's where the um code enforcement supervisor goes out shadows the officer while they're working but doesn't provide any guidance or feedback during the day and does that at the end of the day as far as their decision-m in the field. These are sort of the buckets of training topics that the officers go through. So they um learn about legal and constitutional issues, uh city ordinances. They also get some professional skills training such as uh report writing and customer service and building trust with the community. They go over safety and tactics, so uh deescalation training and techniques as well as officer safety protocols. And then they also get some operational um training. So they understand seasonal enforcement and the geography of the city. There are 29 performance categories included in the uh San Jose training model and the officers are evaluated on all those 29 criteria before they go out on their own. And every uh day and week they do these daily observation reports and they go over it with the officer that's training them. And uh what we've found is that there's benefits for the organization by using this model as well as the community and for officers. And it includes just more consistent enforcement uh standards that the officers use u reduced risk and liability to the city and alignment with best practices um for the community. We uh think it creates a more professional and fair enforcement environment. um it's a a trusted model that is used for the training and then for the officers it really gives them that clear

expectations um structured development and a strong foundation for their work and so that is the end of the presentation. I am happy to answer any questions or take additional feedback. And if there is specific things that you want integrated together at the March 16th because I was really framing that right now to focus on the what we enforce, but if there is a need to how we enforce with the what we enforce, um we can try to integrate that into the conversation. Okay. Council member Goff,

thank you. This is really um helpful to see this laid out like this. Um great presentation. My question is um how long have you been doing this San Jose field training? I mean is this program changed at all? What's what's sort of the history of that? I gota let Tom answer that one.

So um it started when we were in the police department when we had code enforcement animal control together. Um that's where we started using the field training officer program. Um and we went with the certification process. Um when uh we went from uh the police department over to neighborhood services and we uh go through the National Field Training Officer Organization, NAFTA, and they all of our officers are certified. If you're uh FTO, you're certified through that program.

Okay. Thank you. And then the sort of a followup on that is if we make substantial changes, um do you have ideas about how you're going to train officers to the new new way of doing things? Sure.

Yeah, we'll we'll adapt. And that's the uh beauty about um this job is we've adapted over the years and um through this process um our FTO manual is a living document as she said you know as changes or um situations have come up either through council or through the community um we've been able to adapt and make changes and so it's constantly evolving. It's one of these things that you have to grow with the community. So, all right. Thank you, Council Member Lighty.

First, I just want to appreciate what you said that you have to grow with your community. That's amazing. Thank you so much for being so open-minded. Um, and then I have a few questions to go back cuz I I now have um City Attorney Hoffman's words in my brain of the it was the anonymous complaints. Um, just because you always say you have the right to know your accuser and so I feel like that is that something that will be like or I don't know what I'm trying to say. Is that something that we would violate if it's an anonymous complaint? That's my question. So, uh, we don't, uh, respond to anonymous complaints.

Okay. Then second question, um, just like maybe an idea for the March 16th meeting. Is there any communication around the way that you enforce within HOAs or or apartment complexes? I'm not sure. I know we have a few in Ward One that like I think the Reata has gate that's a gated apartment complex. So, I'm not sure how that would work. Um, but just communication on how you guys work alongside them and then what really what the inner workings of HOA with code enforcement goes together. Um, so I will take a stab and then Tom will jump in and save me if I go off track. But, uh, we would enforce city ordinances in an HOA. Um, and if it was a violation on HOA maintained property that related to a city ordinance, we would address that, but we won't address HOA regulations. The HOA is responsible for um, maintaining their own regulations with their residents. Anything? Okay,

Council Member Condo. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I guess to build on Council Member Lighty's line of questioning, uh, you said that you would not act on an anonymous complaint. So, the last time I been on Access North Glenn and I cited perhaps or wanted to enter in something about an issue, an alleged code enforcement violation, I think there's still the option to report in anonymously. That's frustrating. Yeah. And I think that has been

I was frustrated myself personally. I mean that this is something that has been in place for quite some time. Um that that the policy to not accept anonymous complaints for exactly the reason of not being able to confront your accuser. So I I don't know why that is still an option. It should not be.

Yeah. Because I mean I think it sends the wrong signal to residents. Right. I mean you may feel comfortable. First of all, in this day and age, I think people have a hard time trying to have crucial conversations. And so, there are instances where maybe a resident would feel a lot more comfortable reporting their issue and doing it anonymously through the app as opposed to just walking next door and knocking on the door and trying to have a civil friendly conversation with your neighbor. and and

and so offering that option, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Offering that option is giving the the perception to the residents and our citizenry that that's an option and that they could do that and hopefully they will get some satisfaction and they won't could not agree more. And remember that there's a lot of reasons. It's not only the the um need to confront your accuser if you're actually in court as a result of that um but also one of the concerns that that it had been weaponized and weaponized significantly among neighbors in the neighborhood. So um I don't know why it's still up but it shouldn't be. Okay. Thank you.

Um can we go back to the almost the final slide? It's the one right before it says program benefits. So, I wanted to highlight a couple of things. Number one, the training. Um, I do appreciate that. I think that's a couple slides before, but specifically, I think, um, if there was any way to increase the customer service and deescalation components. I mean, I see all the things that you have to train on and it's a lot, right? they need to know so much for that job. But I think those sort of soft skills, I guess, of being able to have a calm conversation with someone who's going to be mad possibly. I mean, I'm sure you have many conversations with residents that are like, "Oh, yeah, thank you for bringing that to my attention. I'm going to take care of it." Right? But that's not the case always. And so to have extra skills with customer service I think would be really helpful. Um when I look at the program benefits the the one in the middle I'm just wondering what are the action steps if we don't believe those three bullets are in place consistently. So if it's not feeling fair, if it's not improving trust and engagement and if it's not a higher quality service. So if if we're seeing a lacking in that area, what are our next steps?

I think we're open to feedback. So, if the next steps include we would rather have you put a door hanger out first and then go back and check with in with the resident. I think that that's an opportunity. So, we definitely want to hear if we're not meeting the community's needs and that's why we're having these conversations and we're open to your ideas. So, okay. Tonight was to outline what we're doing and also hear from you like what do you want us to be doing? Yeah. So, and are the officers feeling like they have the clear expectation? Like, how are they feeling? Because these are hard jobs.

How are they feeling about it? Do they feel efficacious? Do they feel confident? Are they feeling like, "Yeah, I got this and I'm really giving back in a positive way." Like, what are their feelings about their work? I think they are. I think they're also looking to these conversations for a little bit more guidance as far as feeling more confident in meeting the expectations of the community and what city council wants them to be doing. Um Tom, I'm happy to let you. You were about to stand up.

So from the officer's perspective, um it is a tough job. Um usually we have a burnout about after about a year, year and a half. uh just because when we show up it's never usually a happy thing. It's always uh you have to fix something, you have to take care of something. So having support and direction is very important to us. Um the officers take uh a lot of pride in their work. Uh trying to work with people. Um we we when we when when we enforce the code, we have to be objective and when somebody calls and you you had mentioned the levels, every one of those pictures based on the description of the ordinance are violations.

Some are differing levels, but they're all violations. And so we don't have the luxury of picking and choosing. We have to be objective in our enforcement um of these. And so that's the difficult position sometimes. And our biggest tool is is communicating and working with people on time. That's the biggest thing we can offer.

Um there's not a lot of resources out there. Um we learned of uh some, but we've worked with about every nonprofit organization to help out problem properties and people that are dealing with hardships. There's just not a lot out there. and the ones that have been out there, they just don't they don't last long. And so it's it's pretty difficult. Um but yeah, given direction, um when they go through the the training, uh they feel like they're confident that we have confidence in them that they can do the job because we've uh discussed it with them on a daily basis, a weekly basis, and work through any hardships they had. so they can provide objective enforcement to the community.

Yeah, hopefully that helps.

No, that that was exactly what I was wondering. I think the the the burnout is not surprising but can also impact the productivity of the department if you're having to rehire and retrain that frequently, right? Um, and I wonder if I I know it's a small example, but as an example of using the door hanger, maybe that provides the opportunity to learn the story to sort of gauge what the level is. I mean, I keep going back to some of those images where one, you know, stuff on the porch kind of thing. And if if a warning and a conversation happens first and you're like, "Hey, I know you just moved here. This is not allowed as opposed to the perceived threatening email or or notice." Maybe that can build trust a little bit and also soften the conversation that your team is has to have, right? It's going to not sound so here's a violation. It's a hey, we need to educate you on the code and do that first. Now, I know you have repeat offenders and I know you have really tough cases and you have stubborn residents. I think what we're hearing from, we've got the outliers, there's outliers on all sides, but we're hearing from people that, you know, back to Council Member Severs and the workingclass community, that is where we live. And so a significant violation that's going to come with a lot of fines, those fines are going to take the money I have to remedy my situation. And so to try to figure that out and some home ownership is expensive and when things break or trees die, it's very expensive. Um, and

so any way that we can support our residents to make it feel less top down but more we're coming alongside you to help and some of that is in that written communication. So that that may just be the one suggestion I have for tonight but um we still have more hands. Back to you, Council Member Severs.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. This may sound silly and you're free to feel that way. That's fine. Uh, but sometimes psychology is tough and maybe implement a thing where some of the door hangers can be positive like, "Wow, your place looks great. Keep it up. Good job." So maybe people can feel like, you know, five times a month I I cannot complain. I can say kudos. Council member Burns.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I think to like build off of Council Member Siver's point there, like I think the philosophical place I'm finding myself in is that instead of being code enforcers, even that word is harsh, it's more about being community advocates, right? like we should be advocating for whatever it is that our community is looking for and helping each other out instead of enforcing, you know, rules that people may or may not have agreed to or signed up on because again, many of our residents don't live in an HOA. So, they might not be aware of those rules when they bought their home. Okay, any other hands? Any other questions, comments? I I look forward to the conversation that's coming.

Thank you for your time. This was a ton of information. Very helpful to get us started for sure. Um and we'll see you in a little bit. That's good. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Next up, Chief of Police Jim May to talk about our funding for officer Wellness. Mayor, council, good evening. Um, actually going to talk about a very important topic when it comes to mental health and wellness and law enforcement. Uh, I can tell you there's been a lot of changes. The stigma around it. Um, when I started as a young officer a long time ago, it was like, you know, I guess we were called like the stuffers, right? and the generations, you know, that were before um us, right? So, I started with a lot of Vietnam vets um at that time and I can tell you it's coming through. We're doing a much better job. Um however, there's still a lot of improvement to do. Um but tonight, instead of me talking about it, I'm going to turn it over to someone that really um made a difference in our organization and really brought it forward. and she's pretty much, I would say, the expert um when it comes to uh mental health and wellness when it comes to law enforcement. And so, I'm going to stop talking. I'm going to turn it over to Commander Kelly Shelley.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um you should have received a packet that is the overview of the last, you know, three years that I've been involved with the mental health and wellness program. Um this was something that was rejuvenated by our deputy chief um Peter Rice when he went to the FBI academy. He came back and brought a wealth of knowledge um to our police department and put me in charge of uh our peer support and wellness team. Um, so just an overview because I know we've presented on this before to council, but there's new council members that weren't at that presentation. So from 2023, we had a grant from Dola. Um, it was in the amount of uh $35,000. I got into that part of it like um into the wellness program and using those funds very late. So mid year in that first year we started off with uh voluntary wellness visits and we didn't get a lot of participation because in our line of work the stigma to seek out help is um it's there you know we're supposed to go and see the things that we do every day and compartmentalize and not talk about it. Um, I come from the generation also that we didn't have any of these things. If we had a officer involved shooting or if we had a horrific scene, you just were supposed to suck it up and go back to work. Um, that is, you know, why we have suicides at the rate nationally that we do. You're two and a half times more likely to commit suicide as a law enforcement officer um than to die in the line of duty. To me, that's not acceptable. That's why we're trying to

smash that stigma and create a culture in our police department that it is okay to seek help. It is okay to go to a wellness visit. Um, that's the way it should be. Uh, like I said, we see things that nobody wants to see. We see people on their worst day and it does affect us. I would be lying if if I didn't, you know, be honest about the fact I've went home and cried for all these families that I have been involved with these horrific scenes in our community. Um, you don't get to do that while you're there. You don't get to fall apart when you're the one who is supposed to be helping our community. And it's important that we are there. So, what ended up happening in 2023, we started this culture uh of change. In 2024, because we didn't get a lot of participation, we made those wellness visits mandatory. So then it's ending the stigma. You're starting to see every person go to talk with a clinician. In 2025, we also did training. Sorry, let me back up. We did mandatory training um yearly training for our officers. We did some of it wh which was like the enog where we learn about ourselves so that we can be better communicators and relate better to our our community members. Um we've continued that training. We then in 2024 had peer support oversight which is very important. Um Brower Psychological is our provider. Um so they come in and do peer support training. they are doing our mandatory uh wellness visits and they are also doing our police training throughout the year. So that was like sort of that culture shift when we made it mandatory. And I don't know if you're aware, but across the nation, um officers will be asked, "What is the one thing your department can do for you?" And the number one thing, we learned

this at ICP. I went to a number of different um conference classes. They said the number one thing is mandatory wellness visits. So, if we normalize seeking help to the point of everybody goes, and this isn't just our police officers, we do this for all of our civilian employees that are um housed within the police department, our crew, our admin. That's mandatory for them as well because they're exposed to our secondary they're exposed to secondary trauma. They hear what we're talking about. Crew goes out on these scenes. So, it's not just the police department that we are taking care of and trying to end that stigma. It's everyone that works in the police department. So, in 2024, mandatory wellness visits, continued training, and if you look at um part of your packet, it shows the amount of officers that are now seeking counseling. So, we get two um visits provided by CERSA, which is the insurance company. And then if there is someone that has more need then they have that um ability to go to Brower Psychological. The reason why that's important to have someone that is first responder specific is they understand us differently. I mean we are not the same as you know the things that we see and talk about could actually traumatize some of the clinicians. So you need someone that is first responder specific. So that's why it is so important um that we use those types of um psychological um providers. In 2025 um sorry let me back up. 2024 we applied for the DOA grant a second time and were awarded $41,700. Uh we were able to do all the things in 24. We applied for it again in 25. However, because of the fact that we had

funds left over, we were denied the grant. Um, we were able to make that grant last from 2024 to 2025. Therein um you all are aware of the tragedy that we had in um August 6 when Detective JC took his own life. Um that obviously caused a lot of usage um from critical incident response to us that night. A lot of you were there that night with us. Um also, you know, getting through the funeral and then having them come in and talk to investigations because they were impacted a lot. and then other um sessions for other officers to be able to go on that one-on-one type of um situation. So that prompted a lot more cost. So the first year we had about in 2024 about $18,000 for all those services. Last year it was over 30,000. So we've depleted our funds and we were denied in 2025 for this year. So, we're behind $1,300 and we're looking for uh ways to fund this mental health, which is so important. And DOA is not knowing if the legislature is going to fund the grant for 27. So, I'm just giving, you know, the overview of the benefits and you can see that from 24 to 25, we have more officers now that are going to counseling because I think we have done such a good job of changing that culture in our department. And it's it's more important, you know, to start addressing those issues with our officers than to have like what I had when I was first

coming into this. I want to leave it better for the next generation of officers so they are healthier mentally, physically. Um we also do um activities where we get together. We went four-wheeling with the chief. Now we don't pay for that with the DOA grant. just us um doing things that they did pickle ball. I mean, all these things that we're trying to incorporate into our wellness. We have the um market uh of healthy eating. Um it's like the marketplace that we have inside our PD. So, that was another piece of it. Um so, it's an overall encompassed mental health and peer support. So, I'm just here to answer any questions that you may have in reference to what we're doing, what we're trying to do, forward thinking.

Great. Thank you, Council Member Goff. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for the presentation. This is really important. I know you're asking for 30 or expecting $30,000 to cover the remainder of the year. Um, my question is like what what happens if you spend all that money and there's still the need? I mean, what's the what do you have something in place to or you're you're going to come back to us or or what's going on there?

Well, the my understanding is that we already have the funds. Um it would be for council if you said yes, we can use the funds that we already have in in that amount. um we will apply again if they open up the DOA grant um and ask for funds to hopefully continue that because we're not the only metro agency that uses it and that would be our plan to continue once you know I talked to the DOA grant um person who's in charge and she said that legislature hasn't um said yes or no so to keep looking in April and May. We also have EAP. Um if say we run out of funding, we can fall back on our EAP. We can fall back on Kaiser. And our FOP has, which I recently learned, they have providers that if if we were to come to a place where we're like, we're out of funding, we can't do this anymore because of budget. We have other opportunities to go outside of that. It's just this is what we've been used to with Brower, the training, the mandatory wellness visits.

I'm trying to keep it as consistent as possible. But if you know, like you said, we just run out of money, we don't have anything um to be able to continue using Brower, then those are the things that we would fall back on. Okay. Thank you very much. Yes,

Council Member Roer. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you for this presentation. I think it's so important what you are doing and so vital to the work. It really goes handinhand with what you do front-facing, but also we need to support our officers behind the scenes as well. So, I think this is great and would definitely be in favor of of this. Council member Condo,

thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh, thank you for presenting. Um, to kind of build off of Council Member Roer's comment, I I too am in support and I I think I have a unique uh appreciation being on the board for North Metro Fire. Uh, firefighters equally see a lot of things that they don't want to unsee. And when you think about it, most of us just regular civilians in our lives, maybe we have maybe up to five times where we have maybe a death in the family or an accident or something like that, that's sort of psychological trauma. And when you think about the occupational psychological trauma being a a peace officer or a firefighter, it's usually about 10 to 15 times more. And u our mayor pro Tim, I think she uses the term stack trauma, which I I've started to take that moniker up in my language. it it really can affect your personal well-being mentally and your performance. And so I I too am also very much a prevent supporter of this. I I just again if if you can't imagine it yourself, go back to the awards ceremony and think about every single year putting life and limb at at risk. And um so again, I I my hats off to you. I I am definitely a strong supporter and would be in favor of this.

Council member Lighty, thank you. Just going off of I mean, this worked out perfectly going off of what Council Member Condor just said. I mean, we we all just listened to why our officers need this program so much. We got to listen to the stories firsthand. We got to shake the hands of the officers that went through these horrific things. And I think it's I mean I just wrote down in all caps we need to fund this and then just kept writing exclamation points cuz I'm like this is so important and I just I appreciate so I would also like to share my support. Council member Severs.

Thank you Madam Mayor. Um a few things. Thank you commander. Thank you deputy chief for bringing this to the forefront. Uh I think it goes without saying that we should support it. uh for those that are worried about uh peace officers health, mental health, we've heard that brought up a lot at city council. Also those that are budget hawks, for example, the police department I think was under over a million, you know, so 30,000 isn't a big deal. And then um also all this legislative and state legislator uh experience I've had recently, you know, everyone's talking about cuts, cuts, cuts, cuts, a billion dollars, $800 million, etc., etc. Also, there's some other things that uh I don't know how to put this. Um there are grants that are possibly blocked because of other things with the governor and state. And I look at 16 DOA grants, Department of Local Affairs. I'm not sure if we could possibly be blocked if we're not in some certain compliance from that regardless. So, it makes sense to support it.

Council member Noiki.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, thank you, Commander, for being here and for your work with this program. Um, I just want to highlight a couple of things uh as I was kind of looking through uh in 2025. A few of the things you added that I think are great are EMDR therapy which is especially good for trauma. Uh peer support I think is a huge thing. That way you know they get to be alongside maybe folks who have kind of gone through a lot of that stuff. And I kind of did the math. Um the voluntary counseling it looks like it kind of increased by about 30%. Which I think is fantastic. Um I also would from my understanding I just want to clarify really the the ask is kind of transitioning from Dola funds to kind of city funds right um so you know I do want and somehow I feel like I always get kind of put more to the the conservative side here. Um, I do I do think this is important to fund. Um, and I want us to uh seriously consider this and yeah, you know, when budget times come that we may have to make some difficult tradeoffs if this is important. So, just going to put a pin in that discussion for later. Um, but again, thank you for your work. I do think this is important to fund. I do think uh again investing in officer uh well-being is vital to the community. Um, so thank you,

Council Member Burns. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to echo everything everyone else said. I'm in full support of this and I won't talk anymore. Thank you, Mayor Prom.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, thank you so much for being here and for all the work that you've been doing around um, officer wellness. I mean, I've seen it in the last, you know, since 21, since I've been on council, um, how much work has gone into providing these programs and it just gets better and better every year. Um, you all know I'm a big supporter. I'm a mother of a law enforcement officer who is married to a law enforcement officer and so going back to that stack trauma when they've both been in it for 16 years, I see it. They see the worst of the worst. And the stories I've heard, I could never repeat. Um, and sometimes I think how do you guys do it, you know? So, I just want to say I appreciate you. Um, all of you, I say you in plural. And I think this is so incredibly important to continue to fund. Um, to Council Member Noiki's point, even if it means we may need to to look and, you know, make some tough choices, I think this is important because not only does it help you as an officer and for your own mental wellness and prevent, you know, reduce that suicide rate, which is so horrible, especially with the the tragedy of Detective Paul Jaci. Um, but how you interact with the public, too. How you feel, I think, reflects outward as well, right? how you're able to deal to deal with the public in a very stressful situation. If you're stressed out, it's not going to be handled as well. Um, so extra extra important for all those things. And then the state's a mess. So, I don't have I don't have any hope. The budget's a mess. The state's a mess. Everybody's fighting with each other for funds right now, cutting everything. And I didn't see this as one of the top things they were wanting to keep funding. I don't know. I'm I can't say they will or will not. I hope they do, but I don't think we can count on it. If they do, yay. Um, the other thing that I will advocate for in our next public safety and crime prevention meeting,

which is the federal advocacy committee, is for that funding from the DOJ, like the the cops grants and things like that that fund more of these programs because that's also important. So hopefully that'll trickle down. Everything's a mess right now, so who knows? But all of that to say, yes, you definitely have my support. We need to keep this going. Thank you. Council member Condo.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I would like to just say I'm also in solidarity with council member Noiki and what the mayor prom just said. I I think that, you know, as as we are looking at some headwinds and we're going to have to make some tough budget choices, we have to figure out how do you prioritize core services, core government services to make sure that we're doing everything possible so that essential core functions happen and that our people are best prepared to be able to be on their top game because these these things are what ensure safety and security in our city. So, that's one point that I'd like to make. The other, and I'm sure the fire chief is going to kill me for saying this, but I I'm I'm going to say it anyway. Um, and I'm not speaking on as as a board member of North Metro Fire, but the epiphany that I had is, you know, clearly sometimes you can realize some cost savings or maybe a price break if you have multiple agencies kind of going to the same provider. I don't know if that's also an option for you all to consider. Um, I know that we work with code 4, I believe North Metro when I say we. Um, but I I I would encourage you to kind of think out of the box and see if there's opportunities to find some savings if there are any to be had. Thank you,

Council Member Noiki. Uh, thank you, Madame Mayor. Just wanted to add one point. Um, Commander, if you and you probably have, again, being the new guy, I guess I don't have the benefit of that kind of what what's kind of come before me. Um, with the, uh, the CC with regard to the CCPP piece coming and making a presentation to them. And I'm sure again Jamie and Joel being kind of on on there know all about this. But I do think uh you know that way the community knows and you know those representatives know kind of the good work that this program does would be important. So I just want to put a little plug right there for that. Thanks.

Thank you for being here. The memo is outstanding. I really um appreciate the data table and all of the thought that went into the memo. Obviously, I agree with everything that has been stated so far. The work you're doing is commendable and so vitally important, but I wanted to highlight a couple of things that you said um because they really struck me. One of them is the first responder specific clinician because many organizations have EAP and that is a valuable asset. However, you do need different people. And so, I think that really speaks to needing this as opposed to relying on, you know, health insurance companies and because they just aren't trained to listen because then we're going to just exacerbate the secondary trauma. So, I appreciate the first responder specific clinician piece and because of that, we do need to find the funding for it. We can't rely on outside partners as a fallback. We need to be able to prioritize this. Um, and I also know that there's sort of a I don't know historical rift maybe between police department employees and general city employees, right? And we do care about the mental health of all of our employees, no matter what their role is to our community, but this is different and we just have to call it out. It's specific. It's you guys do different work. You see different things. You experience different things. And so this is this is vitally important to maintain city safety as well. So, um, it looks like from the memo that you're okay through 2026. There's a little bit of a shortfall that you can consume in

the department budget. Is that correct? The 1300. That's correct. Okay. So, there's like a 1300 shortfall for this year, but you're going to be okay. And then you will put forward a package for the 2027 for council to consider. And it sounds like it will be a priority, but we are not, you know, we are very aware that we're going to have to make some decisions to make sure that this is a priority. So, thank you. This was very helpful. Thank you for your work, all of you. And the the therapy dog friend. Thank you.

I forgot. I see you back there that the therapy therapy dogs we also brought in. And then this would if we had our provider, our sole provider, it would cover retirees for free. So they were also very impacted after detective JC took his own life. So yeah. Yeah. Thank you.

Okay, we have a final public invited to be heard opportunity. Statements are limited to three minutes per speaker. Comments must be related to an item previously addressed by council during the meeting. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak to council at this time? It's okay. No pressure. All right. Well, we are going to move into an executive session. So, I will entertain a motion that the city council hold executive sessions. One, pursuant to section 4.5E of the City of North Glenn home rule charter for pending litigation, city of North Glenn versus FCI constructors and more. and pursuant to section 4.5D for legal consultation and advice regarding potential litigation and pursuant to section 4.5D for legal consultation and advice regarding the application of certain federal grant certification requirements.

Move to adjourn the executive session as so stated. Seconded. Please open the vote. The vote is open. Please vote. Council member Burns, how do you vote? Yes. Thank you. I will close that vote and the motion to adjurnn to executive session passes unanimously. Thank you. We will adjourn to the executive session.