Town Council - Regular Meeting

It is 700 p.m. We will call this meeting to order. reconvene this meeting at 7:00 p.m. Um this is the May 4th, 2026 meeting of the Parker Town Council. Thank you for our uh temporary digs. Appreciate you making the drive. Um we will be back in um a refurbished town hall, the big room uh mid June, late June. Late June. And in the meantime, we'll we'll be hopping and skipping around to different locations. So, thank you for making the drive over here. But thank you most of all to Parker Water for sharing their space with us. What a great space it is. Uh, first up, if you would please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I

pledge allegiance 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.

All right. Thank you all. First item in front of us is special presentations. Um, one of the opportunities that we truly enjoy at town council is recognizing those outstand outstanding citizens that come before us or volunteer for us or whatever the case may be. Um, in this situation, we are presenting a scholarship to an outstanding teen court member. Uh, Rowan Agarwal is an outstanding example of the impact young people can have when they commit to service and leadership in their community. Over the past two years, Rohan has dedicated 20 hours to our teen court program. He has demonstrated responsibility and integrity while also fostering empathy, compassion, and collaboration with his peers. Through his involvement, Rohan has contributed to the program that empowers youth to make positive choices and learn from their mistakes and their peers. This fall, Rowan will continue his academic journey at John's Hopkins University, where we are confident he will excel and continue to make a meaningful difference. We are proud to recognize Rohan and as this year's Teen Court Scholarship recipient and look forward to all he will accomplish in the future. I now will turn the floor over to Judge Vincent White, sir. Please.

Good evening, M. This is Rohan. He's he's been wonderful. One of the things I would like to explain about Rohan is that he's actually been doing this for about four years and he's been doing it for us. And not only has he been a jured to be amazing because Noah is a part of team, but he actually he actually is not a part of a kid who was a partner. uh he's so he's a leader in the village recruited his sister back who does a great wonderful job for us as well and he's been everything for us and uh he's been a very big leader in terms of the team court but even outside that goes to Shaker High School and he has been on the honor roll I think every year that at the school uh he also participates in uh a soccer club he has a soccer club where he participates which I can't imagine does as well as team sports stuff and uh he has done speeches which he finished at pretty high in the state I think right top 20 years though right in the teaching of the day so this is a well-rounded gentleman he's going to go to Johns Hopkins as you heard he's a valuable member of our team court community he participates he recruits and we could not have done the things that we've done uh with the Harper team court without him I mean his uh his letter to us about rehabilitative justice could have been written by a lawyer it was just wonderful about and about the effects on the community and how things happen here in the town of Parker and now the effect of the teenagers uh the effect that rehabilitation has on the teenagers here and the effect is very positive about that I just the only minor defect is unless you go to law school in those case going to chemistry or engineering that uh we won't try to go to law school and switch that back here but that's it so we leave it up to you and thank you so much for your Thank you.

Actually, we're going to turn this over to you if you don't want to address council or maybe we've got some questions for you. Whatever you'd like to do.

Um, yeah, absolutely. Just first video to everybody here. Um, I think I would just like to talk about personally how thankful I am to all of you and what they have provided me over the last 3 years. I think for me it's been a monumental learning experience. It's something where when I came in I was relatively new. I didn't really know what the program was all about and I've gotten to learn so much through that program. I think being in my own community, obviously outside of Parker, you know, I'm enclosed in that community. I'm isolated from a lot of the state of Colorado, a lot of other people, a lot of other situations. I think on a personal note, what team court has brought to me is just the ability to see how others live lives, how others like me, my age, going through their high school situations, how they live their lives, and the experiences that they have to go through. And just being able to engage in that and engage with the larger community has been absolutely monumental for me. And so, just from the bottom of my heart, I do want to say thank you to all team. I want to say thank you for that opportunity to learn and to grow as a person. and I will be able to take that with me into my college careers which like mentions um I will be at Johns Hopkins and I will be doing something in an engineering or medicine sort of field. But I think my bottom line is just team court for me wasn't necessarily a program that's only dedicated to a field of law but rather someone something that helped shape me as a person and I can go and take that into the rest of my life. So once again, very hard. Thank you.

Have you ever thought about speech and debate? I'm just kidding. Um questions real quick from council if there are any. Um I just have one.

The only question I have for you is what brought you to Parker Teen Court since you don't live anywhere? Um that was primarily my mom. Um actually she knew I had an interest in the law sort of process and how that works and she found it online and was like I think you should go check this out. So she came down with me my first time and you know ever since I've kind of just been involved in it but that was really just something that we kind of together found online and felt like it would be a good fit. Thank you. Any other questions? Go ahead. Yeah.

So, um, you've done some great work and thank you, Judge White, for for mentoring also. Um, and I think there's hope for you yet. I grew up in Greenwood Village and lived in Parker now almost 25 years. So, you're going to end up here. All right. With that, I would invite council for a picture if we could. I'm not sure we have our beautiful background as you all see. Apologies for that.

Yeah, we can kind of squeeze it in this corner. Look at the tall council members behind us right here and Thank you. Appreciate Thank you. Appreciate it, judge.

All right. Thank you for that, counsel. Uh, very well-deserved. Uh, very smart young man. Um, especially smart that he came down to Parker to learn how to get it done.

Um, next up we Next up we have public comment. Um, public comment, no action will be taken on these items. Public comment is an opportunity for town residents and other interested individuals to speak about items that are not on the agenda. This comment period is limited to 30 minutes of total time with each individual allowed a maximum of 3 minutes to speak. You must sign up ahead of time in order to comment and that sign up period begins 30 minutes before the start of the meeting. The town council will accommodate as many speakers as possible during this time with preference to town re residents. But if public comment extends beyond the allotted 30 minutes, town council will continue the comment period at the end of the meeting prior to adjourning for those who already signed up before the meeting. As any matters raised by individuals during public comment are not on the agenda and other potentially interested parties would not therefore be aware of discussion of these matters, town council will not gauge will not engage in dialogue regarding any items raised during public comment this evening. With that, I have no one signed up. Is there any member of the public wishing to address town council tonight? Kelsey, Chief, Tom. Seeing none, we'll open and close public comment at 7:10 p.m. and move up move on to reports, items, and comments from mayor and council. Eric, would you like to lead us? Yes. Pulling up my calendar. Um so over the past two weeks, one, you know, was able to attend the centennial state of the their city um and kind of hear about things that they're doing um in their city that works well for them. And um I was there with several other council members. Another important thing that I I did, I was able to participate in a ride along with our chief on gosh, maybe it was two weeks ago, Friday, um was able to witness firsthand our our our discussions um about e ebikes or maybe not ebikes, but scooters, electric motorbikes. Um

e devices. E sure, e e devices. Um I know we're working on better defining that, but um it it was it was a good day. We actually had a kid elude us. We We pulled up slowly and the kid went across traffic into traffic to get away from us and the car. So, pretty dangerous. Had me pretty concerned, pretty worried, but it was good to be able to see that and uh understand, I guess, what what our police department's going through and education that they're doing and hopefully uh enforcement soon. So, thank you. We'll just clarify. You were in the front seat, correct? Yes. Good question. No comment.

John, please. Yeah, I'm I'm I think I'm I'm good. Thank you, Randy.

So, um I met with Sheriff Weekly and our chief um getting more traction on the SRO bill that I've been working on for our public safety and crime prevention. So, that was a good little uh meeting there and getting good support for that. Um also did the Centennial State of the City. Um, and then I had a ribbon cutting through the Chamber of Commerce. It was a 10-year anniversary celebration for Prism Restoration here in Parker. I got to learn that they do pretty amazing things. Um, when you've got fire damage or water damage or even vandalism on memorabilia and not just your house items, they're they're pretty wonderful at their restoration. So, it was great to celebrate a business that's been successful here for 10 years and wish them many decades more.

Thank you, Brandy. Yeah.

So, on the 21st, I um was not as a council member, but I as a board member, I was uh I attended a Castle Rock uh town council meeting, city council meeting, and it's just town. It's just kind of interesting to go and attend other meetings just to see how they're set up and how they do things a little differently. And so that was interesting. Um on the 23rd, I attended a ribbon cutting for a new Douglas County Housing Partnership uh senior community. And should I leave the last?

Yeah, I'll talk to that one. Okay, I won't say uh I also uh had a a conference call for the energy environment natural resources committee for the National League of Cities. Those are always a lot of fun. And I have an update for Douglas County Housing Partnership. Should I just

just a couple I won't do all of it for but I was I have some notes from the last two months but I just kind of wanted to talk a little bit about um there's going to be a a mural project that is going on one of our senior communities also in Castle Rock. Um and it's going to be tied to the Americas 250 and Colorado's 150. And it's pretty meaningful. It it incorporates residents stories and adds just a sense of identity to to this property. It's not a super attractive building, but I think this is going to be just fun. And for anyone not familiar with this, it's it's the building itself is called Renrock. They're going to be renaming it, but um it's on the edge of downtown Castle Rock. So um you've got that historic small town feel. in this mural is basically going to turn the side of that building into something people actually really notice when they walk by. And some people might wonder why I'm even talking about Castle Rock, but just to connect the dots just because it's located in Castle Rock, the Douglas County Housing Partnership, it's a multi-jurisdictional partnership. So Parker, Douglas County, and all the other municipalities, they participate. um you know funding comes from a mix of lo local contributions and grants and housing related sources. So these projects are really a shared regional investment and something that we can be proud of just as a county and I will leave it at that.

Thank you Todd. Thank you mayor. I attended the progress senior center board meeting. That's it.

Thank you Todd. Um busy couple of weeks, apologies. Uh started off last week uh coffee with the cops at Target, which was an outstanding event. I've been, I think, to most of them at random coffee shops throughout the community. Um this first one I've been to at Starbucks at Target. And what I think the difference here was that it was predominantly kids. It was insane how many kids were coming up to uh talk to our officers and our command staff and whatever. Really, really good outreach to the families. Um usually the coffee shops is the morning, so you get the grumpy commuters. Um but uh this was was families and a bunch of stickers got handed out and and just a outstanding event. So I was I was happy to be there. On Thursday the 23rd um started the day with Metro Mayor's uh legislative committee which is uh 38 Metro mayors get together and talk about positions on policy that our state capital is u um thinking about and put positions on those policies. And then um later that day on Thursday the 23rd, I had the distinct honor of being inducted into the Ponder Ponderosa High School Hall of Fame. Um which I think there's probably another gentleman up here that deserves it more than me. But uh um either way, I I I am a proud uh member of that group now. And so there was an induction ceremony. Um four folks were inducted. U former district uh um uh board member uh David Ray, former principal. Um Mr. Snyder, a math teacher at Ponderosa and then oh my god, I forgot the other kid's name now. Um yeah, there's a baseball player and I'm so sorry, sir. I forgot your name already. Um anyway, the four of us were um inducted and I, as I usually do, had a wellprepared speech and I was going to speak um about the principal back then. Um I had an interesting story on how my journey to Ponderosa happened and the uh heavy um position that this principal um Dr.

Larson played in my life. And so I was going to speak to that and then I was found out just moments before my speech that he was in the room and I lost it. And so I got up there and I started talking and it didn't take long, but as council knows I I might might I may may tear up once in a while and so I teared up significantly at this, but it uh it was wellreceived and it's an incredible honor and there will be a brass plaque at Ponderosa. Um and I received one myself and uh so I'm very very honored uh thanks to the committee. Um it was an impressive room. uh the Douglas County uh school district who's who was in the room. Um former principles, former board members, former inductees. Um just uh very humbling when you realize that you're they're there for you. Um so I am incredibly proud and grateful for that. Um and thank you to council for for attending. I I I truly appreciate I couldn't think of uh people more deserving um to be there at my table. So thank you guys. Um Friday I had CML executive board, caller Miss Bik executive board. Proud to sit on that. Um and then on Saturday something special I had the Mile High Sangam um which is a gathering of Indian-American um families and they are they were handing out Indian language awards and then the teacher recognitions for teaching those students. So students wrote essays in different languages. Um just for trivia there are 121 languages spoke in India. 22 of those languages are recognized in their constitution. Um so folks come over here and they have different language um than than maybe people think maybe than Hindai they have you know there's there's many other languages under Hindai and and so to to learn about that and to be participant there um I had the honor of being there with a few state representatives um a few Cherry Creek High School was or Cherry Creek school district um um Brad Gerger from Douglas County School District was there um just an incredible honor to hear these kids and meet these kids and these families. Um and it was hosted at Legend High School. So, in a

roundabout way, I was the proud Parker host, but I'm so grateful for them inviting me. Um, then on Monday, I had Vibrancy in Business and Economy, the committee for the Metro Mayors, um, an organization chaired and initiated by our neighbor, Mayor Marissa Harmon, um, to discuss a, u branding for a, uh, common um, what's the word? Common language for businesses to do business in the metro area. And then Thursday, I was also at Centennial State of the City and then scooted out of there fairly quickly to head down to the state capital. Uh my goal was to testify on House Bill 26308 uh generically called lot splitting. Um which would have superseded our own zoning and allowed uh people to split lots at their um at their whim. And uh we of course were against that and as were most everybody else. Um so with some hard work by CML and other partnering organizations that bill was postponed indefinitely or PI as we said say uh right at the meeting at at the hearing. So I didn't even get a chance to speak but thankfully that is a dead bill. So House Bill 1308 is dead um and uh we can we can move on and and tackle some other bills but very very uh um great end to last week. So with that uh we will go ahead and move on to consent agenda. Consent agenda items are considered to be routine and will be enacted with one motion and one vote. There will be no separate discussion for consent agenda items unless council votes to remove an item for individual discussion. Ordinances on the consent agenda are for introduction only and cannot be removed for discussion. Council, in front of you are consent agenda items 5A through H.

I move to approve consent agenda items 5A through 5H. I have a motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. I have a motion from um Wils and a second from Bington. Hris, how do you vote? Bington, yes. Wilks, hi. Dak, yes. Franen, yes. Consent agenda passes unanimously. Next up, item six, ordinances. We have two ordinances in front of us. First, 6A, ordinance number 1.61.2 on second reading. A bill for an ordinance repealing and replacing chapter 2.05 05 of the Parker Municipal Code concerning the code of ethics for mayor, town council, and boards and commissions of the town of Parker. Presenting today, Miss Kelsey

Hall. Thank you for having me. I'm here to discuss the code of ethics and adoption of so in previous years especially in election years, I get a lot of calls and ethical like how does this work under our code and also what are really the responsibilities. Did you turn it on?

Oh, it's so echoy in here. I thought it was on. I'm so sorry. Um, so I get a lot of questions about like what is the difference between the mayor's role, the council members roles, uh, you know, just asking for clarification. So, for some background, we have three documents basically that govern your conduct and your roles and responsibilities. The first one is chapter 2.05 of the Parker Municipal Code. That's your code of ethics. That was drafted in 1994 and not updated since. So, we're um you know, little little old for that. Um in 2006, y'all passed resolution 06101 pertaining to gifts. And if you did not know it existed, then you might not know that you had rules about that. You also have articles three and four of the charter that discusses your roles and responsibilities as the mayor and council members. And then finally, last year you passed the elected officials guidelines, which governs your administrative procedures. The code of conduct and ethics is intended to be a supplement to that. So, since it's been about three decades since we updated the code of ethics and um I know that you guys like being able to just find information at the source, especially if I'm out of town, in order to keep with best practices, staff had recommended that we just do a big overhaul of the code of ethics so that everyone is on the same page. Um really the ordinance has all the same language and prohibitions as before, but a lot more detail. Um, and then, uh, we also supplemented with a code of conduct and ethics that goes with your elected officials guidelines. And that is going to be a resource that really delves into those common situations where you might have ethical issues, especially around campaigning. So, let's get to it. Um, so for the proposed updates, uh, we have greater guidance on acceptance of gifts. Um, so I mentioned that you have this resolution 06101 that um, it it talks about when you can have gifts, like what is your amount, what is considered okay or what's considered not okay. There was some language that was a little outdated. So, for example, it had a list of things that was presumed completely

fine. On that list was travel and sports tickets. Um, I don't know if you guys know how expensive ABS tickets are for the for the playoff, but um, I sure do. And I feel like that would be a little inappropriate for an elected official to maybe to take um I don't know a $1,500 ticket from a friend who might you know potentially be um you know have business before council for example. So we decided to one codify the parts of the resolution that make sense so that everyone can find it because again if you don't know about this resolution how would you know and then to also expressly repeal the provisions that might be problematic in this day and age. Um, next we have a prohibition on using the town's name and logo for non-official purposes. This is a new section of the code, but is best practice um in other um jurisdictions, including um our own Congress and other municipalities. So, the intent here is to prevent someone from giving the false impression that the town or town council as a body approves or sponsors a particular business or issue, activity, campaign, what have you. Um, for example, we wouldn't want a um person who's campaigning for office to use their official town letter head when asking for donations. That prevents presents a bit of a conflict. Um, next, uh, we added a new section on advisory opinions. If there's a gray area, you now have the ability to get an advisory opinion on the code of ethics. So, this means that if you have a question, you would go to the town attorney and she can um refer that to outside counsel, especially in a a case where it might be a little um dicey or might pre present a conflict. That person would, including Jamie or this outside counsel, would give you an advisory opinion. If you um follow it in good faith, you were found to not have violated the code of ethics so long as you're in line with that opinion. Um, next we talk about what happens when there is a potential violation of the code of ethics. Currently the code just says that we can investigate investigate

and prosecute violations. What does that mean? So we thought it would be helpful to add an independent ethics council who would actually investigate and prosecute alleged violations. Again, this is a third party who would have no conflicts and really no dog in the fight to make sure that the process is fair. Um, we also flushed out that process for investigating and hearing complaints. We talk about things like burden of proof, if there is discovery, what types of complaints might be dismissed for certain reasons, um, if you can be represented by council, how the hearing looks, um, so that everyone is on the same page and everyone is treated the same if there is a potential investigation and hearing. Um, next we have, um, violations for penalties. We kind of flesh those out a little bit. So, one option would be a formal censure. That would be in the form of a resolution by town council basically saying, "We don't approve of this action. You should stop doing it." Um, you could receive a fine if the um ethical violation um resulted in a pecuniary gain to yourself or your family. You could be removed from your committees or from conducting official business out in the public. Or the town could refuse to pay for optional memberships and travel. So, like um the National League of Cities, you could be like, "Nope, sorry. you cannot go to a conference this year because of whatever ethical violation. Um and then finally um it would formally adopt that code of conduct which um you know talks about a little bit of of everything under the sun but really does focus on those campaign related issues and then just general conduct with you know each other members of the public staff. So that's kind of um the update in a nutshell. Do you guys have any questions or comments?

Start with questions. Todd, no questions. Ann, so this isn't about removing or losing any ethical standards. No. Yeah, it's just intended to provide greater clarity. Like I said, there's a couple new things in there like not using the town's name or logo improperly, but it's really just helping to make sure that people have the information they need so that they can follow the um the code in good faith. Randy, no questions. John, I have nothing. Thank you, Eric. No questions.

So, I think just to piggyback on an um the words in the title of this is is to repeal, but if you read a little bit farther, we're instituting a new code of conduct. So, in an all-encompassing and maybe that's where my question is, is this this isn't is this more transparent? Is it easier to find for the public and for council to check themselves? I think so. Um, and you know, to be completely transparent myself, the reason we did a repeal and replace was it was such a bloody red line that it would have been so confusing to follow that we thought it would be simpler and cleaner just to do a full repeal and replace so you didn't have to constantly kind of read through the lines. Simplification of government even to a point. Yes.

Okay. And um, how was this initiated? What what would you say the impetus for this this action was? Um, I would say in the last election, so the the 2024 election, I just got a ton of calls. Um, that was, you know, you know, we all know how campa campaigns can get. They can get a little uh feisty. I got a lot of questions about like, "This seems like it should be illegal. Is it?" And I had to answer a lot of times like, "It's really gross. Not technically illegal. It seems like something we should put in a code because it's a norm, but it's not written down anywhere." So, I started talking to my colleagues in the municipal space and saying, you know, what does your code look like? Did a lot of research and I thought, well, ours is a little out ofd. So, um I thought before we go into this next election, it would be really helpful to have a very clear set of guidelines that we're all willing to follow.

Excellent, Brandy. So, question on that. We're obviously already on council, so we've got these code of ethics around campaigning and like you said, it's gross but not illegal. Do these same rules apply for somebody who hasn't been elected yet that's running for one of these positions? No, this would only apply to um council members, the mayor, and um boards and commissioner or um commissioners on our boards. We must behave. Anybody else that hasn't been elected do whatever you want essentially

necessarily. I mean, they still have like the Fair Campaign Practices Act, but I think that there's more opportunity for someone on council. So, a lot of it is just um are you running as a candidate or are you really representing yourself as a council member? It's like an independent person who hasn't been on council yet might not have that opportunity for conflict. But if you're in your office and you are using your town letter head, your town email, you're wearing your pin when you're campaigning, that's a big conflict. or you're, you know, showing up and and maybe at a um a campaign event for somebody else again in your council gear. Does it look like you as a body are endorsing a candidate as opposed to you as an individual? So, that's what we're trying to to flesh out here is there's a lot of gray area. So, how do we how do we help protect that?

Would you even say it levels the playing field? Yes. With a a non-elected person versus an incumbent? I think so. Okay. Any other questions for Thank you very much, Kelsey. Appreciate the presentation, but more appreciative of the work. Thank you. Absolutely. Um, next we'll open up for public comment at 7:30. Any member of the public wishing to address council, please make yourself known. Seeing none, we'll close public comment at 7:31 and go back for dialogue or uh questions or no, I'm sorry, comments. Todd,

I think this is a good example of uh of all of us, you know, trying to hold ourselves to higher standards and uh reassure the public that we are doing so and I'm in support. Thank you, Todd. Again, at the end of the day, I think it's just about keeping all of us accountable again and just to each other as council members, but more importantly accountable to our our citizens and u making sure we're all operating from the same set of expectations. Thank you, Miss Brandy.

No, I think it's good anytime we can um give as much clarity and transparency to the public and to ourselves, it's always a good thing. So, thanks for the work. Thank you, Brandy. John, u always good to let the public know that we're accountable to um to them as well as to to this council right here. Thank you, John and Eric. I appreciate the the clarity, the thoughtfulness that went into this and appreciate too not having a massive redline document and just saying this is our this is our policy. We're not giving up anything. We were actually adding and clarifying. So, this is uh I think this is really really well done. Good work.

Thank you. And I just I would I just would thank council for bringing this in front of yourselves today. Um I think it's it's a very uh I don't know honest move um to realize that uh it was a little gray as Kelsey put it where stuff was and finding out what the laws were and asking our incredible staff to rewrite the code of conduct to make it more transparent um to make it more um black and white uh for everybody for ourselves and for future representatives of our committee. I'm just incredibly proud to uh to sit here tonight. Thank you guys for doing this. And thank you to Kelsey. This is not just a little rewrite. This is a a big job. And thank you to the entire legal team because this was not easy. And and so it took a lot of I think almost a couple years of work of of going through what needed to be done and getting to where we are tonight. Um so with that, I would entertain a motion. Councel

and I move to approve ordinance number 1.61.2 on second reading. Second. I have a motion from Wils and a second from Franen. Hendricks, how do you vote? Yes. Bington, yes. Wilks, I. Dyk, yes. Franen, yes. And that passes unanimously. Thank you, council. Thank you, Kelsey. Next up, we have item 6B, ordinance number 5.06.42.4 on second reading. A bill for an ordinance to amend chapter 7.3 of the Parker Municipal Code concerning restrictions of certain vehicles for the use, I'm sorry, excuse me. a bill for an ordinance to amend chapter 7.03 of the park and municipal code concerning restrictions on the use of certain vehicles. Presenting our town attorney, Jamie Win.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, council. And along with the mayor's comment about the last couple of years of work by staff and the legal team, we realized in the last few years that our code was significantly outdated. There are provisions that are up to 40 years old. A lot of things have changed within the town during that time. A lot of things have changed just along with state law, federal law, all of those things in that time. And we realized that our municipal code needed a lot of updating. So with that in mind, the um staff and the legal team have been continually reviewing the sections of our code and looking at ones that needs updating, clarification, changes, and being able to come into compliance with current laws. One of those sections is chapter 7.03 03 of the municipal code which is regarding restrictions on the use of certain vehicles. As council is aware and as our public is aware, we have had a lot of discussion, a lot of issues, um, as council member Franen saw recently with these electric motorbikes that are throughout the town, throughout the metro area and a number of our, uh, sister and brother jurisdictions have looked at increasing their code provisions with respect to being able to enforce on these e- motorcycles. We actually already have the ability based on our code to do some enforcement and to also hold parents responsible for those. However, in reviewing our code and in talking with our police department, we realized that our code was not clear enough where people were not comfortable taking action. When we looked at the code sections related to this, specifically 7.0310, 03 010 which is our definition section. We had the term recreational vehicles as a definition in there which technically would include these electric and motorized dirt bikes. Um however with the term recreational vehicle it showed

up into other sections of our municipal code with different definitions. So just adding to the confusion that our outdated code provisions were bringing for our citizens. So, for purposes of clarity and to be in compliance with how other jurisdictions are handling it, we are bringing before council today a change to that term to change it to off-road vehicles. Along with changing the term from recreational vehicles to off-road vehicles, we are including more specific definitions. Previously it included motor scooters, motor bicycles, trail bikes, minibikes, but we are now also specifically including other things such as dirt bikes whether electric electric or gas powered. We have further clarified this definition to say for purposes of this chapter, it does not include electrical assisted bicycles or ebikes which are defined under our title 12 of our municipal code which are the class one, class 2 and class three electric but pedal assisted bicycles. So we are adding that clarification so people understand. We are updating throughout the definition of recreational vehicle to off-road vehicle. We are including a specific reference to all town owner operated parking areas or parking structures with respect to these um different types of vehicles being prohibited. Just as a clarification, they would have previously also been included under town property, but we wanted to be specific, especially since the town did recently open our brand new parking garage. and we have had multiple meetings with um other involved entities throughout the town including the school district along with their concerns. There is a provision in this code section with respect to school property. We are um also updating the definition for clarification for the use of off-road vehicles on school property. The other changes we have are really

just administrative changing the town administrator title to the town manager since we have updated that as well. and just bringing clarification throughout this entire section. Um, and then since we are looking at modifying our fine schedule based on a charter provision that our citizens put into place two years ago um to be more compliant with what state law allows for municipal court fines, we're taking out the specific dollar amount and um allowing that to be determined by the municipal court based on their fine schedule. And with that, those are all of the changes in the multiple sections on this chapter, and I'm happy to answer any questions related to this.

Thank you, Jamie. Uh, questions for town attorney Eric. So, this this clarity, I guess, is this is going to help with our enforcement. It will it will help with our enforcement. We we've looked at the sections that were allowable to enforce against really any type of off-road vehicle, but specifically with this increase in these electric dirt bikes. So, it is to allow clarity so our officers understand more what they're allowed to do under these sections and so our citizens understand more what we mean by these off-road type vehicles. And I guess to clarify too, ebike are electrical assisted with pedal.

Correct. I misspoke I think initially too as I think I called them ebikes and they are not ebikes. We all do it. Um we're all trying to figure out the best way to define these because they're electric motorbikes. Um so we've gone through a number of different iterations of this. But yes, ebikes as in our code are the class one, class 2, and class 3 pedal assist bikes. Got it. So pedal assist is not something that will be enforced under this code

under this section. We do have um provisions under our title 12 with respect to parks and trails. Uh class three ebikes are not allowed on our trail system, things like that. Class one and two are, but we those are all spelled out in different section. We wanted to make sure we cross reference so there wasn't any confusion. Thank you, John. No questions, Brandy. No other questions. Thank you, Ann. Um, no, I I don't think I have any questions. Thank you. And Todd, no questions. Thanks.

Excellent. With that, we'll open up public comment at 7:40 p.m. Any member of public wishing to address council on this specific item? Please make yourself known, Chief. Sorry. And we'll close public comment at 7:40 p.m. and go back for deliberation. Eric. No, I like the uh the clarity and making this simpler to understand. Um, you know, anything we can do to help PD uh better enforce this kind of gray area is really great. So, this is this is well done. I appreciate the cleanup, John. Yeah, I think it's a good first step. Um, and obviously enforcement comes next. Um, you know, our ultimate goal is to uh make the community as safe as we can possibly make it and uh hope this helps.

Thank you, John. Brandy. Yeah, I just want to reiterate this is not about not letting kids be kids and have fun. I've got four. I love them going outside. We want them to go outside. This is allowing our law enforcement to be able to enforce rules when there are people who are breaking them like destructing prop destructive property and like rolling down the trails or being unsafe and taking these bikes on the streets when they don't even have a permit to drive a regular car. So, this is I just want to make it clear to the citizens. This is not about taking away the fun from your kids. It's about making sure that they're doing it the right way and if they're not, giving our police the opportunity to make sure that they can educate and enforce the rules. So, I just wanted to throw that out there before we get blown up on social media. So, thank you for all the work on this.

Thank you, Brandy. And well, we'll still get blown up on social media, but um no, I think this is a a really good first step. Got to start somewhere. And thank you for addressing it. Thank you, Ann Todd. Yeah, thank you for all your work on this and I'm in support.

Thank you, Todd. For myself, I I just appreciate the the clarity. Um, you know, just redefining this as off-road vehicle and and taking it away from I mean, everybody in this room, when you think of recreational vehicle, I think of Winnebago, not a, you know, Amazon bought battery powered motorcycle. and and so I'm just glad that we're getting clarity. It makes it easier for our men and women in blue to write uh the violations and gives them clarity, gives our our judicial arm clarity and so I'm very very happy that we identified this and as John said, first step in many and very appreciative of everybody working on this council to entertain a motion. I move to approve ordinance number 5.06.42.4 on second reading. Second.

I have a motion from Frans and a second from Wilks Hendricks. Yes. Bington, yes. Wils, hi. Uh, Dak, yes. Franen, yes. And that passes unanimously. And unless I'm forgetting something, there is no other business in front of this council. We are adjourned at 7:43.