Remarks by Nancy Henjum
109 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 5
“I'm considering, but I want to hear my other council members speak before I decide to second. If that's okay, I'd like to hear from other council members first.”
“I was getting consultation from Michael. I'm gonna go ahead and second to allow the conversation to happen.”
“Thank you. Wow, what a conversation. I don't know how many city employees are listening right now. I bet quite a few.”
“is that we care about them and we appreciate them. And we know that this has been a very, very difficult year for our city employees, who I want to uplift. And I want to say they're regular citizens too, Council Member Donelson. They are. We all are. And while some may say, well, I don't get my employer to do this for me, they're not working for the city of Colorado Springs. It's tough, right? I mean, I get the points here and I get what the chief of staff has presented in trying to really weave a very fine line and deal with folks who can't take the day off because they have to protect the…”
“Thank you. I hear your question, Councilmember Casey, and, you know, our sworn officers who are there to protect us take that job knowing that that is a part of the work. And I think one of the ways that we can show those members of our city staff is to look at the revenue we need to bring into the city to raise their salaries and to give them the pay that they deserve. We're not all equal in that sense. I mean, I think there's equity possible here. And there's different ways to get that. And so I think what we're finally, what I'm hearing we're finally coming to a little bit, at least as I'm…”
“I'm sorry. Madam President, I just waited too long to hit that. But if I could, please. Thank you. I just want to appreciate you and thank you for coming regarding Meadows Park. And I think it's important for you to know that we voted yesterday, that I do believe that the soon-to-be owner of the property will, in fact... support the community in those deed-restricted areas. Furthermore, there will be a meeting. He will be meeting with the community to talk. I just can't, I was waiting because I couldn't remember the date. Do you remember, Council Member Gould? Do you remember, Council Member…”
“Thank you, Madam President. Renee, it's a little bit more of an additional cheer than it is a question, although I think there's a question in here. This is so impressive. I mean, I am like really blown away. I knew that some of this was happening, but I had no idea. Like you are, you're getting close to being in every county here.”
“Well, I just wanted to say, just given that, see, I'm in my sixth year on council, and I remember a presentation the very first year and going out and touring, and it's astonishing what you've done in six years, and I can't remember, it didn't seem like, When was it started? It didn't seem like it had been around that long.”
“So it hadn't been around terribly long. Anyway, it's very impressive, and I'm looking forward to a little more.”
“Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Renee. I just really wanted to say thank you. You know, so much of what we see and hear is not necessarily things that bring great tears to your eyes. And I appreciate that you share that story. You know, it's meaningful. It's very meaningful. So thank you for sharing it and for all that you do and Careers in Construction does. And I'm sure you know this, but Careers in Construction got a shout-out from A.G. Weiser in a gubernatorial debate in which he highlighted the really great work that you are doing. So well done.”
“Thank you, Madam President. Morning, Davis. Morning. So talk to me a little bit, if you could, about Springs Rugby. Vic Tice is... I've talked with him quite a bit, and I know they're very... interested in growing rugby in Colorado Springs and they have a lot of activity happening and they're very excited about the fact that Flanagan Park field is being improved and that park is being improved. What can you just talk a little bit about the opportunities for rugby?”
“Excellent. And just one more question for you. What's your personal favorite sport to participate in?”
“Why are we not going to 100% recovery? I don't understand why the city would subsidize these services.”
“And why such a long time for ramping up? I can appreciate the intention of not going from zero to 100 overnight, but can you say a little bit more about the length of time?”
“You know, I understand that we are a city and historically have a culture that's very low regulation and, you know, licenses are some sort of oversight and regulation. I think they're important. They're necessary. Your office is very busy. You're short staffed. You don't have the revenue that you need to tend to the business that you have. So I'm not personally comfortable with going to 90%. I would argue that we should go to 100%. And I would like to see it happen over two years, not three. And I may actually vote against it for that very reason if we can't collectively as a body kind of…”
“sure that makes sense we don't want to collect more than we need so i really appreciate that um i would just ask my fellow council members to consider um you know my comments and uh and i don't know i haven't talked about this with anybody prior to this very moment but um again i think we have a real revenue challenge in our city we have a lot of expenses to cover and this is a fair to be able to have the expense meet the actual cost, or the cost, the recovery meet the actual cost, seems very, very fair to me, and supports our taxpayers, albeit maybe not significantly, but in spirit. Thank…”
“Is there another slide related to lease terms on?”
“Okay, so I guess my question, Kim, and I know you and I have exchanged, I don't know that we've really had a conversation, but we've exchanged emails about this. And, you know, I've heard from I'd say a handful of people who have expressed concerns about the, and this has to do more with pools and use of pools. the affordability of the use of the pools through the Y. So if you could just speak a little bit more to their program. Obviously, if you're a member, you don't pay to use their pools, which is also a city pool. But if you're not a member of the Y and you're using on a per day use, How…”
“I would leave it up to the president, but I would like to hear. Okay.”
“That's really helpful, and you raised a question for me that I've not thought about before. The city, and I'm not going to get all the exact number of pools because we have pools that aren't functioning right now, but I hear concerns and frustration that we don't have enough city pools in our city, which raises the question for me, are there pools at your Y's in the region that are not associated with the city, but that you offer the same accessibility to anyone?”
“And how many pools is that? Yeah. that aren't co-joined with the city?”
“Of course. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I really appreciate you adding in on this session, Kim. Thank you. And we are going to be looking at the Parks Master Plan. I think I've learned some things here in this conversation and would like to talk more offline later with the Parks Department about how we maybe expand our communication on the city's website, both about the partnership that we have with the Y and the various ways and the money that you helped save for the city, but also what is available to people that isn't through the city, but is available to the Y in terms of these memberships…”
“Well, thank you very much, and I hear loud and clear the investment that you are putting into these facilities and grateful for it. Thank you.”
“Thank you, Madam President. Thank you for the summary of the Parks Board action. Was there anything in their conversation prior to the vote that you think would be helpful to highlight for us as council members, either recommendations, suggestions, concerns, things that would be helpful for us to know?”
“Okay. Councilman Hengim. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councilmember Limeweber. That was really a very interesting suggestion that you just made. Having served on that solutions team and having been a part of those conversations with that community and actually hosting the community meeting shortly after the announcement was made, and you're absolutely correct that that community felt really quite frankly very betrayed by the city and that community center built in a former strip mall and retrofitted to serve that community is super important and a lot has happened and many of those…”