City Council - Regular Meeting

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Um, good evening and welcome to the Westminster City Council meeting for May 18th, 2026. Uh, please stand and join us for the pledge of 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 for joining us this evening. Please remember that our meetings are governed by the rules of decorum posted inside the chamber doors. We ask all attendees to rem uh to maintain a respectful environment. No disruptions, threats or audible expressions of support or opposition are permitted. Signs and placards are prohibited and all attendees must remain seated in designated areas. If you wish to speak during public comment, please sign up in the lobby. Sign up closes at 6:45. City clerk, can you please call the role? Councelor Barahas, present. Mayor Carmelia. Councelor Isati, here. Councelor Hot,

present. Councelor Ireland, here. Councelor Johnson here. Mayor Prom Nurala here. Is there a motion to excuse Mayor Carmelia from tonight's meetings due to a family matter requiring her to be out of town? Councelor Johnson. Thank you, Mayor Promp. I move to excuse Mayor Carmelia from tonight's meeting due to a family matter. Councelor Braas, second. All those in favor? I I.

Any oppose? Okay, we'll move on. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? Um, councelor Barahas. Uh, I move to approve the minutes of the May 11th, 2026 city council meeting as presented. Councelor Johnson, I second that. All those in favor? I.

Any opposed? Okay, we'll go along to presentations. Uh, we have two presentations this evening. Um, first, Councelor Zotti will present the proclamation for National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Good evening. Can the folks from Mom's Demand Action come up, please?

Would you like to introduce yourselves? Sure. I am Kathy Kelly. I'm a Westminster res resident over 30 years. I am also the state co-chair for Mom's Demand Action here in Colorado.

Hi, I am Stacy Gregory and I am a uh mother of three kids in Jeffco schools. I'm a Westminster resident um who uh moved here two years ago now and I am the um North Metro local group lead for Mom's Demand Action. So, this is a really important topic for the city. Uh, a few years ago, we banned guns from city hall and all public buildings. A year before that, we had our first ever proclamation addressing this serious issue of gun violence. And tonight, I'm just really proud to be able to present to Moms Demand Action a stronger proclamation that really exemplifies our beliefs and in proactive preventative public safety and the need to actually make sure that our kids and our families are safe. Um, a community cannot seriously address things like child care or affordability without seriously looking at the impact that guns have on kids and our families. And um, if you didn't know, gun violence is the number one killer of kids between 10 and 24. So, I'm proud to present this and I will read this proclamation now. Whereas every day nearly 130 people in the United States are killed by gun violence and more than 200 are shot and wounded with an average of more than 19,000 gun homicides every year. And whereas people in the United States are 26 times more likely to die by gun homicide that people in other highincome countries than people in in high- inome countries. And whereas Colorado has the

23rd highest rate of gun related deaths in the United States at approximately 1,000 deaths every year and a rate of 16.6 deaths per 100,000 people, a crisis that cost the state 11.4 billion each year. And whereas since 2020, firearms have been the leading cause of death for young people ages 1 to 17, surpassing car crashes, overdoses and cancers. And whereas cities across the nation, including Westminster, are working to end the senseless violence with evidence-based solutions. And whereas the city of Westminster recognizes the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution while affirming that keeping guns away from those who are a danger of themselves or others and safe firearm storage are essential to protecting public safety. And whereas mayors, council members, and law enforcement officers in partnership with local violence intervention activists and resources know their communities best, are the most familiar with addressing criminal activity, and are best positioned to keep their community safe. And whereas in in January 2013, Hadia Pendleton was tragically shot and killed at age 15. And June 25th, 2026, which would have marked her 29th birthday, is recognized nationwide as National Gun Violence Awareness Day. And people across the United States will wear orange to honor her life and remember all victims of gun violence and their loved ones. And whereas Westminster commits to reduce gun violence and pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the hands of people who should not have access to them and encourage responsible gun ownership to help keep our families and community safe. Now therefore, I, Claire Chameleia, mayor of the city of

Westminster, Colorado, on behalf of city council and staff, do hereby proclaim June 5th, 2026 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day and encourage all residents to wear orange on June 5th and to support their local community efforts to prevent the tragic impacts of gun violence and to save lives. Thank you. picture. You want

picture? All right. Thank you, councelor Zatti. All right. Uh our next proclamation is for spinal cerebrros spinal fluid leak awareness week. Councelor Johnson will present the proclamation.

Sure. U my name is Autumn Francis. I am a Westminster resident and a patient with a uh CSF leak. um thankfully on the mend after receiving um a long arduous battle with some medical care. So thank you for being here. Yeah.

Yeah. I thank you all for being here tonight. Um I'm going to read the proclamation on behalf of the mayor and city council. Whereas spinal cerebral fluid leak CSF known as intercraanial hypotension is an incapacitating and underdiagnosed but treatable cause of new onset headache. And whereas while the most common symptom is dis is disabling positional head pain that is worse when upright and improved when laying down. And whereas spinal CF leak can also cause a wide range of symptoms and serious complications including hearing loss, vision disturbances, dizziness, tenitis, stroke, dementia, parkinsonism type symptoms and coma. And whereas spinal CSF leak occurs when there is a hole, tear or other defect in the dura matter that the protective sheath that surrounds the brain and spinal cord allowing CSF to seep out of the dura matter and cause a loss of CSF volume around the brain and spine. And whereas spinal CSF leak can cause can be caused accidentally through medical procedures such as lumbar punctures, epidurals, surgeries spontaneously as in the case of CSF venus fistulas, bone spurs and other spontaneous causes and or via accidental or other traumatic injury to the spine. And whereas diagnosing is often missed or delayed due to low awareness among healthcare providers and diagnostic imaging is often insufficient insufficiently sensitive to confirm the diagnosis. And whereas patients report significant delays in access to treatment options due to low awareness. And whereas each of these limitations negatively impacts the outcomes and contributes to additional patient suffering. And whereas the incidence and prevalence of this disorder has been challenging to study due to underdiagnosis and a lack of research funding. And whereas greater awareness to the understanding is and understanding is vital to ensuring a

timely diagnosis and treatment and best outcomes for patients suffering for spinal CF CSF leak. Now therefore, I, Jack Johnson, on behalf of the mayor and the rest of city council and staff, do hereby proclaim June 1st through June 7th as spinal CSF leak awareness and recognize the importance of understanding and impact of this disorder. Signed this 18th of day of May, 2026, Mayor Cla Carmelia. Thank you. Thank you.

Right. Thank you, Councelor Johnson. We'll move on to public comment. Public comment is an opportunity for the public to address city council on any issues or items pertaining to city business. During public comment, each speaker will have up to three minutes for their comments. Staff will follow up with questions and outstanding issues. City clerk, would you please report the number of email or Oh, Deputy City Clerk, will you please report the number of email and voicemail comments received, the number of individuals signed up to speak this evening, and then call the first speaker to the podium. Yes. Thank you, mayor. Uh there were no voicemails received. There was one email received that's been um attached to packet and we currently have seven speakers signed up and the first is Esmeralda Vargas please.

Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening everyone. My name is Esmeralda Vargas. I was born in Colorado. I am raised in Thornton and I have been active in the Denver metro area my entire upbringing. I am here tonight to introduce myself as one of the co-owners of the Rodeo Convention Center. I have over 15 years of experience in this industry. I am here tonight to let the council know more about our convention center. This project was started 3 years ago. We are familyowned, operated, and small business owners. During the past three years, we had been under construction. This project was very time consuming and more costly effective than we had expected. About $1.8 million was invested in the completion of our convention center. Since opening, we have held baby showers, gender reveals, um cake pop shows, music events. We also had a Easter basket giveaway where we are happy to say over 385 baskets were given to the community as a charity event. We work with very with very many nonprofit organizations and are happy to let you know we will be holding more events like this including a back- to-school giveaway where our goal is to donate over 500 backpacks to the community. We are opening up this summer with a farmers market that will be held weekly with local vendors. We also have some weddings, kinsigneras, food expos, and car shows we have uh ready to go for the next few months. I'm here to address any concerns that may have arisen since we um opened. Uh in regards to parking, we addressed the parking situation with our property management. Um they came up with a parking solution. I have a copy here that I will provide. Um the layout with um this was making sure everyone had adequate parking during their business hours. Um we also use sometimes the city parking lot across the street. our customers pay to park there. Um, it is important for us to be good neighbors and maintain cleanliness. So, we paid

three staff members extra for them to stay clean. All the shopping centers parking lot across the street um our our parking lot again, sorry, across the street, the street's parking lot and um we also make sure the street is clean. I supervise this every time we are open. We also monitor the noise level when we are open and we make sure we are under the noise level ordinance because again it is important for us to be good neighbors. Regarding food, we sell pizzas, nachos, to nachos, elotees, churros, pretzels, chips and salsa and we have recently started offering pre prepackaged burritos with hot green chili from one of our local restaurants. With that being said, I would like to invite you guys to come visit our location. Our doors are always open to the community and to the council. Thank you.

Thank you. The next speaker is Gary Bland. I want to thank you for your service. Good job.

Welcome. And just a quick reminder for folks to remember to use the mic microphone.

Yeah, I I was wondering I couldn't hear anybody in the first place. Anyways, good evening council. It's Gary Bland. I just wanted to show how simple it is in life the respect of our police officers. Thank you very much. The next speaker is Ca Kathy Kelly. Welcome. Thank you for having um public comment and giving me this opportunity. I am reaching out just to say thank you for recognizing National Gun Violence Awareness Day and and understanding the importance of gun violence here in Colorado and in particular in Westminster. I also, as a Westminster resident, want to thank you for your advocacy for the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ community along with people of color are specifically targeted by gun violence more so than any other minorities. and the bravery that this council has shown to stand up and represent the importance of open-mindedness and the acceptance of the LGBTQ Q community is really important to me personally and as a resident and to our family. And so on behalf of everyone at Moms Demand Action and um those of us who represent We're Orange, I want to say thank you for your advocacy against gun violence in support of the police and all those who face gun violence in this society and then also for your advocacy of the LGBTQ community. On behalf of myself as a Christian, I am grateful

The next speaker is Stavros Roditos.

Welcome. Hello. Um, yeah, thank you for your time. Um, my name is Stars. Uh, I've been a resident for uh, four years. I'm here to comment in support of Front Range Paster Rail, not because I like trains, but because I hate sitting in traffic. Um, I understand this is an early first step and there's only going to be like three trains, but we got to start somewhere and I think doing anything is something. The next comment I want to have is I urge the city to retract from the lawsuit uh against the state challenging house bills 241313 and 24 uh 1304. Well, I recognize that home rule uh is important. Uh we live in a region. I can't really tell where Westminster starts and the next city ends because we are in a region. Uh one of my neighbors, for example, uh was just like he's been looking for a home. He just found a home in Reunion. Uh now he lives in Reunion. He travels 30 miles one way just to get to work. That's a lot of traffic. That's another person on I25 creating more traffic and that is a direct respon direct outcome of the land use and zoning policies that the state has not allowing for more homes to be built within our existing boundaries. Uh thank you.

The next speaker is Stacy Gregory. Welcome. Hot mic. Hi, I'm Stacy Gregory and I am a mother of three. Um, and I wanted to thank you once again for recognizing um that we are going to wear orange um and for end gun violence. Um, and I really appreciate um everyone's effort um to do to do that and to um work within our community um to always um prevent and then also to end gun violence. Um a thousand people in Colorado die a year and I think that that's um staggering. But what I find even more staggering is that 70% of those deaths are from are suicide related gun deaths. Um, as a mother, that's terrifying to me. Um, and I always want to make sure that everyone is, um, uh, aware of their surroundings. Um, and I really appreciate, um, you know, we left, um, we left South Carolina two years ago and we moved here to South to Westminster. Um, and we actually were able to choose where we were going to live in the area. And we chose Westminster because um you have wonderful allyship within the LGBTQ community um which really means a lot um especially to young developing kids. They want to feel welcome to be who they are um within their community, within their school. Um we were not we were no longer welcome within our church community. And so that's one of the reasons that we felt like we needed to um leave um and come here. Um so I really do appreciate

um that you all have done that. Um and I appreciate that you do fly the pride flag because there are fl other flags sometimes that are flown to intimidate people to make them feel less than and um and that's just sad. Um, so I really appreciate um your allyship um for all your citizens, especially your young citizens um because we want them to be here with us um for the long term and to um be able to come become who they are and not have uh their life ended early due to gun violence by suicide. So, thank you so much Our next speaker is Captain Anakin Elsa Lindseay Skywalker Kendrick.

Welcome.

So, so I attended this last what is it? Wednesday. I'm from Arvada, by the way. Um, and I wanted to see if there's any progress at the new downtown Westminster station just up the block by US36 and Sheridan bus station to see if there was a update on that. And that was a question. We don't answer questions to public comment, but we will have we can have staff follow up with you.

I follow over it too of the Connor Keta service permission to show the council. Um, how would you want to do that? If you have um documents to provide to the clerk, the clerk can make copies. Uh, I'm so sorry. The clerk can make copies for city council of any materials that you want to offer. I'll do it now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And our last speaker is Antonio Vargas.

Welcome. Good evening.

How are you guys doing today? Um, Antonio Vargas. Just wanted to come and introduce myself. I'm one of the co-owners at the Rodeale Convention Center. Um, I've lived in Colorado basically my entire life. We grew up here in West Minister and in Thornton. Um, we have 15 years of experience in in industry management. Um, wanted to let you know a little bit about at the convention center. We're a small family-owned business. We basically poured our entire life savings um to open this place. Um, and after three years, we were finally able to open. Um, just kind of want to give you a heads up on what's coming up on the at the convention center. Um, we have sporting events, trade shows, card shows, food expos, vendor markets. We have some comedian shows. We have concerts. Um, as well as private events like weddings and kinetas. Um, we've also partnered with the Double Tree Hand West Minister um to hold some of their trade shows that are too big for their spot um that we can hold in ours. Um we've also worked very closely with the uh property management on the parking situation. Um, and we've, um, we've worked out a plan to make sure that everything's, um, done correctly and trying to be a good neighbor to everybody and have space for everybody. We'd like to invite you guys to come out, take a look at our place um, and get to know us and get to know the place cuz I know you probably haven't been by, but thank you.

And that was our final speaker. All right. Thank you to all the speakers tonight. Um, city manager Jer Andrews, sorry. Do you have a report this evening?

Uh, thank you, Mayor Prom. I do have a report this evening. If I could have the next slide, please, Katherine. All right. This is a big announcement. I'm happy to report that the city's uh first repaving uh using our new paramedics and pavement uh funding that our uh community supported at the last uh election um has now been completed. The Apple Blossom neighborhood in historic Westminster is the first recipient of our paramedics and pavement initiatives uh under our new um funding stream that's supported by our community. The city will be repaving one neighborhood every year in addition to our citywide uh paving program. So, Apple Blossom was the first neighborhood um of our new uh um additional uh paving efforts under paramedics and pavement. Um, I want to also announce that future neighborhoods uh to be repaved under the paramedics and pavement funding stream will uh include next year the Amhurst neighborhood in uh northern part of Westminster and Countryside in the western part of Westminster uh in the following year in 2028. And I do want to highlight that those are in addition to our annual paving programs uh throughout the city. So if you are interested, you can find our full paving schedule at westminsterco.gov gov and you can go to the Westminster in the works um uh section of the website and find out there's an interactive map. You can click on that and find out when uh your street will get paved. Next slide please. All right. This is another big announcement. We closed last week on the purchase of the land for our north side fire station which is station number eight. So that is land uh you see in the map of the city there. The star, the light uh turquoise star to the upper right is the location for our newest fire station number eight. And that's um going to be um designed and constructed

uh uh beginning now and that will be uh completed and open uh in 2029. This project is central to our commitment uh to strengthen emergency service response in the northern part of Westminster as well as in the central part. There is another station uh we will be advising on shortly which is station 7 uh coming to the central part of Westminster. Uh we've already ordered the two new fire engines for both of those stations and we will be hiring this year an additional 12 fire and emergency service personnel. This is also under our paramedics and pavement funding stream for the new personnel and fire engines. So u uh again thank you to our community for supporting that. um we're getting tangible real benefits immediately from that um from that new funding source. Next slide please. Uh I do want to highlight in that regard um this is uh this is pretty cool. Uh paramedics and pavement engagement campaign uh launched by the city has won several national communications awards. Um, in total actually we've won seven national awards from the National Association for Government Communicators and that includes three awards for our paramedics and pavement engagement campaign. We also earned best in show for our beneath the surface film that features the fire department uh and our ice rescue operations. Best in show is NAGC's top prize and awarded above all other submissions from not just local um cities but state and federal agencies as well. So kudos to our communications team and if members of our community have not seen that film um it's a very uh it's a great um piece of work. So please check out on our website and watch Beneath the Surface. Next slide please. All right. We do have our monthly community update meeting and that's tomorrow night at Irving Street Library. So that is a new location for those folks who come to our monthly community updates. That's uh mayor and city

council and city manager. Um tomorrow uh we'll be um an update on food insecurity and we have a special guest uh Growing Home. So Growing Home will be present and provide an overview of its food assistance programs, supports and services. So, I do want to highlight that that is tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19th. That will start at 5:30 sharp and run right through till 6:30 p.m. at Irving Street Library, 7392 Irving Street, and we'll have snacks and refreshments for anybody participating. And I understand uh that uh because Mayor uh Carmelia is out of town on a family matter, um I'm going to be joined by Councelor Barahas, and we're very excited about uh this one tomorrow night. Um this is a really topical area for us and uh we're looking forward and want to encourage uh any members of our community to join us tomorrow night. Next slide please. All right. We also have another uh great offering for our uh community. That's Colorado Legal Services Tenants Rights Workshop and that will be happening. That's a free workshop free workshop provided by Colorado Legal Services Tenant Rights and Consumer Law. Uh that's uh Monday, sorry, that's uh Wednesday, May 20th. and that will run from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and that's at the MAC. That's 3295 West 72nd Avenue. And that workshop will focus on renters's rights and include a comprehensive overview of consumer law including protection against fraud, debt collection rights, credit report issues, and more. And I can tell you this is a fantastic resource for community members. We're providing that free of charge. We will also be offering free child care. There will be free translation services and also snacks and refreshments. So, please do uh if you are interested in that, it's a great opportunity to learn a lot about what your rights are as renters and consumers. Next slide, please. We also have an important public hearing uh this week. Um sorry, it's actually next uh week, Tuesday, June 3rd. Um that's on our community development

block grant uh program. So, a public hearing has been scheduled for uh the the community development block grant or CDBG annual action plan. That's at the MAC again. Um, Tuesday, June 3rd from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Draft plan is already available for review at our website. You can find that at westminster co.gov and look up community development block grant, CDBG. Feedback on this plan can be provided uh through the uh time period from June 4th through July 6th. You can do that by email at cdbg westminster co.gov gov or you can phone us at 3036582191 and uh give us your feedback over the phone. We also at that session will be providing free child care and Spanish translation services as well. Next slide please. I have two slides on tonight's agenda. Mayor Prom, uh we've had our two proclamations, one on national gun violence awareness, one on spinal cerebral spinal fluid leak awareness. We have three items on consent agenda this evening and we have one appointment uh and that's to our metro water recovery board of directors. Next slide please. Thank you. Uh in post meeting tonight uh we'll move over to the room beside us. We have two presentations. We have outside guests on both of these. The first one is Westminster public schools forward together facilities initiative and next up will be our front range passenger rail uh including station location and connections to regional transit. So the speaker who spoke on this if you have time tonight please stick around. We may be able to answer some of your questions uh right here tonight. We also have three executive sessions this evening. The first of which is consultation with special legal counsel regarding an Adams County District Court case. Second is a proposed development assistance agreement for an income aligned development located at 3,300 West 72nd Avenue. That's the former Vectra Bank site. Um and then finally, conference

with the city attorney regarding special permit and license board procedures, investigations, and enforcement mechanisms. Next slide, please. I have two slides on this week. We have another busy week with our community. Tomorrow night, as I mentioned, is our community update. Councelor Brahass and I welcoming Growing Home um at Irving Street Library and that will run from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. I should mention if you haven't been at a community update session uh with us before about the first half of that we'll be sharing information with you and the second half is a question and discussion period with uh participants and so uh they're they're really popular sessions and if you're interested in the topic of community uh food security or insecurity um please join us tomorrow night. Wednesday is a busy uh day here at the city of Westminster. Uh you can join uh our police officer for coffee with the cop. That's at our target at 14451 Orchard Parkway from 9 to 11 a.m. So if you have any questions at all or would just like to meet one of our fine uh police professionals, please drop by for coffee with a cop. We also have that Colorado legal services tenant rights workshop that's again at the MAC on Wednesday 5 to 7:00 p.m. Uh in addition, there's an Upland's uh A8 village center recreation center project meeting. So this is by the developer at Uplands and uh welcoming anybody interested in that development. Um that will be happening at the Crown Point Academy, 2900 West 86 and that starts at 5:30 and runs through 700 p.m. on Wednesday. Um, also exciting on Wednesday night, I hope the weather cooperates, downtown Westminster live music session featuring Lauren Joy at downtown's Central Plaza Park. And that's located on 89th Avenue, right in the heart of our downtown. And that will run from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Um, also that evening is a special permit and license board meeting right here at city hall, running from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Next

slide, please. This week on Friday, uh, this is exciting. Also, we hope weather cooperates uh movies in the park. This is Zootopia 2 and Cuisine with cops. Very uh fun combination. So, I hope you can uh make that and enjoy uh both a movie and some fine cooking from our very own uh police professionals. That's at City Park Soccer Complex at 10475 Sheridan Boulevard running from 7 to 10 pm. On Saturday this weekend, uh this upcoming weekend, we have another uh free car seat clinic for our community provided by our fire department professionals. This one will be at Fire Station 2. That's at 9150 Lowel Boulevard. And that will run from 8:30 in the morning through till noon. Uh you do need to make an appointment for that. It's often a pretty busy affair. So, please call ahead at 303658-2400 and we'll get your uh slot uh to have your professional have your car seat professionally installed by one of our fire uh department professionals. Next up on Saturday, Kensington Park Art Replacement Project Openhouse. So for anybody interested that either lives in the Kensington Park neighborhood or has had an interest uh over the last number of years in how that art project is progressing to replace those aged uh totem poles. U you're welcome to drop in at this public openhouse. Um and that's at Kensington Park itself at 10200 Countryside Drive and that will run from 10:00 a.m. to noon. So you can check out some of the exciting new uh art proposals for Kensington Park. Next slide, please. Finally, our next meeting of city council will not be next Monday because next Monday is May 25th and that's Memorial Day. So, city administrative offices are closed on Memorial Day. Our next meeting of city council will be a study session and that will be on the following Monday, June 1st uh of uh that following week. So, um sorry to disappoint, but no no no city council meeting next week. Uh finally, you can

contact us uh at any time by reporting issues uh or requests for service through our Access Westminster app. You can also go straight to our website, westminsterco.gov, access westminster. Um and that is a 247 uh reporting service that is GIS uh geotagged so you can report potholes. There shouldn't be many of those left after pothole palooa, but there are other things that you may wish to report to us directly. You can always also phone the city 303658-2400. And if we're not there, we will have uh um uh service provided 24/7 through AI assistance and you can get our uh website um access westminsterco.gov. And as always, I do want to encourage you if have any questions about how the city is spending its uh money. You can uh visit our transparency portal that's right off of our main web page, westminster co.gov. That's all I have. Mayor Portm.

Thank you, city manager. Are there any questions on the city manager's report? Councelor Brahas. Yeah. Uh uh thank you, Mayor Prom. Uh and thank you, city manager. Do we have uh you know, I know it doesn't need to be answered today, but just a request for maybe the next city manager update on the drought watch update. Just what impact the recent precipitation has had. Uh I know residents have just been wondering. I know we still have a lot kind of in the bucket we need to fill, but uh I think just attending to that question would be great.

Mayor PMI, if I may, Councelor Brahas, I will put an update in at the next meeting of council. We are anticipating and it's projected we have precipitation all week on and off. Um you'll you'll know that Westminster went into a drought watch versus mandatory uh restrictions. We still are encouraging people to please uh minimize your irrigation. Um we hope that the precipitation helps but um it's been a long dry winter and u there isn't a lot of snow pack up there. So I'll be able to provide a more detailed uh update on the next meeting of city council.

Thank you. I did have a couple of questions if no one else. Um just on the neighborhood paving that we'll be doing each year. Um one, are we also tackling ADA accessibility? So I know we may have curb cuts that um and crossings that may be not in alignment with ADA. So is that something that we're tackling with these paving projects?

Mayor Prom, I appreciate the question. Thank you. Um there are two parts to our ADA work. Uh the first is anytime we go into a street or a neighborhood, we will make all the ADA related uh upgrades as part of that work. So at the same time that 3H funding has increased uh funding for asphalt, it's also we've also used that to increase funding for curb and concrete work uh which will allow us to upgrade those ADA um uh to make ADA upgrades as part of those projects. We also have a a program that sits beside that where we go through the city and upgrade ADA um for ADA accessibility even when it's not a street that's getting paid. So, we will be looking at uh those and that's a that's ongoing work for us. Ultimately, the two will coincide at the other end and we'll have all of our uh crossings upgraded to ADA um standards um sooner rather than later.

Okay, great. Thank you. And with those paving projects, just a thought that um as we go in strategically to each neighborhood, it would be interesting to be able to have some an input opportunity for that neighborhood to identify if there are any issues with crossings, pedestrian crossings or unsafe areas. I'm just thinking of Amherst where there's a like kind of a blind spot where curbs painting some curbs would be great so that we don't have people parked in an area where the visibility is a concern. Just things like that that could be improved with the paving and it's hopefully something easy. So, okay. Um, and then can you clarify whether we'll have translation services at the update at the um, Irving Street Library to tomorrow?

Mayor Portim, let me get back to you on that. I had not included that in my slide and I noticed the same thing. So, I'll get back to you as to whether or not we will have um, update uh, updated translation services for tomorrow night's meeting as well. Okay. And then just a clarification on the CDBG meeting. Um I'm assuming it's a public meeting on CDBG, not a public hearing. That the public hearing would be here at council. So just clarifying that people can attend that meeting, give input, but the hearing would be here. It is a public meeting. I believe we use their terminology. Uh but it is a it's a public meeting. Yeah.

Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Let's move on to city council comments. Um, all right. I have councelor Barahas.

Uh, thank you, Mayor Prom. And just, um, while we're have the audience attention for, uh, the community update tomorrow, while I can't do live translation, I would be able to attend to any kind of Spanish language needs. Um, so please, if you don't hear an update, please still attend. Or, um, yes. Um uh just a quick update on uh stuff that I did this week. I was uh maybe some people knew I was out of commission uh and pretty sick this week, but recovered in time for a busy Saturday. Spent the morning at uh with the Westy Dog Park Guardians and had a chance to kind of engage uh the community and hear from a lot of various stakeholders uh within there. There was a an event where they did a lot offormational uh for informational tableabling for for the community walking in and out of there. So, I was grateful for the invitation and gladly took them up on the chance to to meet with community. Um, us and the rest of council here uh or myself and the rest of council here attended the armed services ceremony uh this weekend as well uh at the veterans memorial uh excuse me uh the veterans memorial um location at the at city park. And uh it was a really nice service uh and it reminded me uh a lot of of the services I would go to growing up with my grandparents uh as veterans. Um and then finally, um went had a chance to uh check out the station 5 open house with the with other members of council as well. It was a great time to to get a chance to chat with uh the the police and fire who were at the event along with the the community and the volunteers that were there as well. So special thanks to Sefire for putting that on along with our community services team uh in the fire department. Counselor Hot.

Um yes. So, uh, first I want to thank everybody who came out to speak tonight. Um, so, uh, I did attend the ribbon cutting for the Big Dry Creek Steam Bank Restoration Project that is at, um, City Park. If you have not had a chance to see uh, what staff has done um, and the team has done, you should really go check it out. It's really amazing. And then I also attended arms armed forces day um the celebration and that was um wonderful like it um was last year and the year before. Um and then I also wanted to announce that we are having our second annual pride event and that's going to be on Saturday, June 6th from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Uh last year we um partnered with the butterfly pavilion. This year we are um we are partnering with Broomfield. So this will be Broomfield and Westminster Pride event and it will be at our Aerostat Park in our downtown Westminster. So I hope uh people can join us there. Thank you so much.

All right, Councelor Ireland. Hi. I want to thank everyone that came out to talk and give give their perspective. Um, I attended the Staples ribbon cutting on 120th in Westminster. They have combined with Party City, which is a brilliant merger for one-stop shopping, and they are a great at matching prices on any of your your printing needs. So, that was impressive. Um, I attended the National Police Week ceremony and proclamation, and it was truly a privilege to honor the men and women in law enforcement for their service and sacrifice in keeping our community safe. I was disappointed the police department was unable to fly the blue line flag at city hall during National Police Week, as has been the tradition in our city for many years. Instead, the blue line flag was displayed in a much smaller form on the back of a bag pipe playing Amazing Grace. I want our police officers to know that I deeply appreciate their dedication, courage, and sacrifice. I am grateful for all they do for the community, and I regret that their blue line flag was not flying over the city hall during National Police Week. I attended the parks, recreation, libraries, open space advisory board meeting. Um, they had an overview of the parks and uplands and possible plans for regional parks. Um, I was also shown plans for the remodel of the Irving Library and there's a survey online for the teen area because we have a grant for the teen area and there was three choices to choose from. So, if that's interested interesting to you, go on and choose one of those choices. Um, and we're also updated on the golf courses. Sales are 15% above last year, which is great to hear. Um, especially in our economy. Um, it was an honor to attend the armed forces ceremony on Saturday and give honor to our veterans and read new names

of those who have have bricks in the armed forces park in their honor. I also attended the fire station 5 open house. It always a great tradition activity traditional activity for families. Kids really seem to love riding on the new the old fire truck. So, it was great for families. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councelor Ireland. Um, I was going to just add to councelor hot that we also are partnering with the butterfly pavilion for um on June 18th for another um adult pride um day uh event. So, um we have some options so in June. And I was wondering uh city manager Andrews if with respect to the flag on the police ceremony um for the police ceremony um that I was able to attend this week. I was just wondering um if you had any context for the flag um I guess concerns over the the police flag not flying in the same position it normally would. Mayor P, I appreciate the question. Um so the organizers uh decided to make a change this year with the format and the way I understand it it was to have everybody facing um the recognition statues in front of the and the speakers. Um that's my understanding of the changes this year and then actually display there were multiple flags displayed um as part of that ceremony. Um so that's my understanding that was the choice of the organizers to do it this way this year.

Okay. Thank you. So, I appreciate getting that extra context because I know people are concerned. Um, so, okay. Any other comments? Okay. All right. We'll move on to uh requests for future agenda titles. Do any counselors have any potential agenda items for future agenda item discussion? Councelor Isati.

Thank you. And I I wanted to um ask council for June 1st. So our city council meeting on June 1st, the youth advisory panel would like to send some members to present on their year. So last week was the final meeting of the year till the next school year and we would like them to have more facetime with city council and this is one of those the first opportunity that they can come and present to us for 10 minutes on how the year went, the projects that they worked on, what's coming next year. you know, this has been an amazing group of kids to watch as the leazison to to that group. Um, and we have a lot of plans on figuring out how to to expand the size, the scope um, and make sure that they can become even more integrated with uh, with the city council processes like strategic planning and having a youth perspective

is really important and I think this could be the first opportunity for them to do that. So requesting a poll for them to come in on June 1st. All right. Um let's take a poll. You want to start, Councelor Brahas? Yes. Yes. Yes. I think it's a great idea. That is a study session, right? Is that what you want them to? Study session. Study session. Are you good with that? We have room for that. Thank you for the question, counselor. Uh it is a study session. We only have one item on that night. It's a budget evening. Um, so I think we could, if council directed, we could certainly have uh the students come in uh begin with a study session item and then we could transition to the other item that night. I'm Yes. Yes.

All right. Thank you, councelor Sadi. Thanks for bringing that up. Okay. Uh let's move on to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion? I have councelor Ireland. Is this the time that we bring up policy when what he was talking about or is that later? Say it. Say it again. When we bring up policy issues that we want to bring up. Oh, you had one. Yeah, I had one. Okay. I went to the Let's go backtrack to item eight.

I actually have two. I've brought these proposals of the strategic plan, the hybrid um ward system where we have four wards, one in each ward plus two at large and the mayor. And I would like to propose that to be put on this year's ballot. Also, that the city council no longer um um fills vacancies. Instead, the the those that vote in the last election, whoever got fourth place of their twothirds of the person above them that they fill the vacancy. Um and and then the next one down the line, those two with any vacancies that we may have, I would also like that on the ballot and to bring that proposal forward. Okay. Um let's take a poll on the first do one question I guess for my fellow council colleagues. Um do you at all want to have during this item? Do you want to have any discussion or you just want to take a poll after? I was planning on saying it while I gave mine if that helps.

Okay, that Okay, maybe that we can go with that. Does that sound good? Okay. All right, counselor Zadi.

Um, so a few years ago before my time actually, we had a words question and a few years ago I I really fought hard to have a wards question. We had the words question and the city still said no. Um, I think we've tried it a few times and there is ballot fatigue. I I I don't know if it's necessary to continue to ask the same question to residents and have them not take us seriously if we're not listening to them. Why are we keep, you know, why keep asking residents if they have said no to us multiple times? Well, the last proposal was the hybrid was coming later at the next election. It was all not on one ballot. So, that was very confusing. And it's another thing. We did not really back it like we did 3H.

We didn't even say anything hardly. So, that's the difference. It barely did not pass. By the way, for the second one, I'm a no. Uh, but for this Wards one, if my colleagues agree, then sure, we can try again if we can word it differently, but I'm not a strong yes. But I can be a yes on that. If if you have a vision on how to frame it the right way and let's do the first topic first and then we'll go back around do the second. Council Braas.

Uh, thank you, Mayor Prom, and thank you for the the questions. Uh, councelor Ireland, would a point of clarification, would they be presented as uh an ordinance as stated or would this be something that we can kind of hear feedback from staff and give kind of more detailed responses to so we can form it into like an official, you know, I guess I want to say yes to both, but I I also would like a chance to kind of hear from staff and kind of develop it as a body with some discussion and some research.

Okay. I officially the the wards thing we beat to death. We had a we had a group to talk about it and it came back that they really wanted a hybrid, but that's not what was on the ballot, you know, going forward. That's the way I worded it was probably the preferred and I've talked to some others. I haven't talked to our attorney, but the attorney Graham, I talked to him and he said that was the best way to go forward. Okay. Anyway, so that's the one I as far as the other one we can discuss because we really have not discussed it the way we want to word it. So,

okay. Yeah. I mean, maybe um yes to the I mean since we're talking about the first one right now, yes to the first one with the request maybe of some FYI um stuff around it uh at you know before we go into voting and stuff. But uh yes, before Councelor Johnson goes, city attorney Frankle.

Thank you, Mayor Prom. So item 8A 8 on your agenda tonight is really to propose future agenda items for discussion. It's not necessarily to have a public policy discussion on a non-aggendaized item tonight. Right? If you as a council want to agendaize an item for future discussion, we will post it on an agenda. that would be uh my recommendation so that you could have a full discussion perhaps at a study session on the subjects of your choosing. Thank you for that clarification. So I'm going to take it that um regarding having this on an agenda future agenda councelor Zadi.

Yes to the first one. Okay. And Brahas. Yes. Yes. Councelor Johnson. Uh yeah. Thank you, Mayor Prom. I'm a yes to the first one as long as it's a study session item because I want to have kind of more thorough conversation. Um, and I think a study session is the appropriate venue. Okay. I'm a yes as well. Councelor Hop. I'm a yes to a study session. Wor. Yes. Yes. Great. Okay. All right. We'll get that on a future probably sooner than later agenda item. All right. On the second item, which I totally I don't know why I'm spacing what just for clarity. Appointments.

Appointments. Yes. So sorry. Um would you like to have the appointment u process on a future agenda item? No. Uh yes. Uh yes. Yes. No. And of course I'm a yes. Thank you. Okay. All right. We'll move forward with both of those items in the future. Okay. Anyone else? Okay. Uh we'll move on to the consent agenda. And do I have a motion? Councelor Barus. I move to I move to approve consent agenda items 8A through 8 C. Councelor Johnson.

Second. Right. Do roll call. Councelor Baras. Yes. Councelor Isadi. Yes. Councelor Hot. Yes. Councelor Ireland. Yes. Councelor Johnson. Yes. And Mayor Pert Nurmel. Yes. The motion passes on a 6-0 vote. Okay. And that moves us on to item 10 in the agenda, appointments and resignations. Um we do have a Metro Water Recovery Board of Directors appointment. Do I have a motion? Councelor Johnson.

Thank you, Mayor Protemp. I move to appoint Kurt Alstat to the Metro Water Recovery District Board of Directors with a term of office effective July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2028. Councelor Hot. Second. All right, we'll have a roll call. Councelor Zadi, yes. Councelor Hot, yes. Councelor Ireland, yes. Councelor Johnson, yes. Mayor Pertim Nurmela, yes. And councelor Barahas, yes.

The motion passes on a six-0 vote. And thank you to Mr. I'll stop for continuing service on the board. Okay. Uh we're going to we don't have any public hearings this evening. Uh we have no new business and there is no old business. So, um, before we adjourn, I do believe we have a reason for we're going to be adjourning to a, um, postmeating study session for a couple of public open presentations and then we have reason for executive session.

Thank you, Mayor Prom. Uh so yes, at the conclusion of the two uh public sessions that are on tonight's post meeting agenda, uh there are three executive sessions listed and if council's willing, I would offer the title of each and you could ask your colleagues whether or not they would like to convene an exact session for those titles. Um the first one is an executive session for consultation with special counsel regarding Adams County District Court case number 2025 CV 31337 which is Lopez atall versus Zowski atall for legal advice and to instruct negotiators pursuant to Westminster Municipal Code 113C3 and 7 and Colorado Revised Statute 24642 4B and E1. one.

Can I have council state whether they're willing to go into executive session for this item? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Next item. Thank you, Mayor Prom. Second executive session on tonight's agenda is to obtain direction on a proposed development assistance agreement with Wazi Partners for a proposed income aligned housing development located at 3,300 West 72nd Avenue and to instruct the city's negotiators pursuant to Colorado Revised Statute 246424E1 and Westminster Municipal Code 113 C4 and 7.

All right. and my council mates let me know if they want to go in this. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Next item. Thank you. The final executive session on tonight's agenda is for conference with and receive legal advice from the city attorney regarding special permit and license board procedures, investigations, and enforcement mechanisms related to business licenses and liquor licenses. Pursuant to Westminster Municipal Code 113C8 and Colorado Revised Statutes 246424B. Council. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

All right. Um with that time is now 7:31 and the May 18th, 2026 meeting of the Westminster City Council is adjourned. We will go into the boardroom for our post meeting presentations and ex executive sessions in five. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh wow. Oh.

I feel Oh yeah. I'm a

See?

All right. You all ready? Windy in here. Yeah. All right. Welcome to this evening's post meeting study session. City Manager Andrews, do we have a post meeting presentation this evening? We do. I'll turn it directly over to Director Lindseay Kimble. She'll introduce our guest tonight.

Great. Thank you, Mayor Prom and counselors. Lindseay Kimell, director of community services. I'm happy to have with me tonight representatives from Westminster Public Schools, uh, great partner of the city and all of our economic development efforts, and it's really a pleasure to work with them always. They're here tonight to present to you about the Forward Together facilities initiative, which staff has been a part of probably for the last 18 months. um we've been attending the community meetings and been engaged in this process evaluating data and discussing different options uh for Westminster public schools. So with that I will turn it over to Dr. Duffy and Dr. GTO.

We um hold one second. We're going to confirm. Will you say we have check check? I will just say it's a little loud down here, so use your your stage voice. Teach your voices. Great. Okay. All right. Thank you. Please go ahead.

So, good evening, Madame Mayor Prom, council members, Mr. Manager, thank you for the opportunity to allow us to talk about our four together facility initiative. As Lindsay said, the work has happened over the past year and a half and Dr. God and I can go into excruciating detail. We have been told keep it short, keep it quick, provide time for questions. So, we will do that. And to help me do that, I will use a script. So, we're here to share the work of the Ford Together facilities initiative, but more importantly, we're here to talk about what the work reveals about Westminster as a community. Over the past several decades, our district has seen enrollment decline from more than 13,000 students to just under 7,000 today. On the surface, this sounds like a school issue, but what we've come to understand through this process is that it's something much broader. It reflects changes and who can afford to live here, the types of housing being built, and the number of families with children in our community. For us, declining enrollment is a school metric, but for you, it's a community indicator. And that distinction matters because the decisions we're making about our schools are not just operational. They intersect directly with housing patterns, land use, infrastructure, and long-term economic vitality. Tonight, we're not going to walk through every individual school change. Instead, we want to share what's driving these

trends, how we approached our decisions, and where there are opportunities for alignment in partnership with the city moving forward. Because ultimately, this is not just about rightsizing a school system. It's about aligning public resources with the future of the community. And that's the work we share. As I mentioned, over the past several decades, Westminster public schools has experienced a significant decline in enrollment from over 13,000 students to just under 7,000 in our latest October count. So, this slide is slightly out of date. But what's important for this group is that it's not just a school issue. Dec declining enrollment reflects broader changes in Westminster. Fewer school-aged families, shifting housing patterns, and impacts to long-term workforce and economic vitality. As I previously mentioned, for us, enrollment is a school metric, but for you, it's a community indicator tied to housing, economic development, and long-term planning. Data indicate that fewer births are occurring amongst families living within the school district's footprint and that the overall district resident population is also declining. Last week, we received updated figures from our demographer and the downward trend continues with district specific births falling to 95 for the 2025 year. Lower birth rates are the clearest indicators of future elementary enrollment. Fewer births mean fewer students.

Our enrollment decline is being driven by three major structural factors. Fewer children are being born. Global, national, and regional data all point to downward trends. Housing is less accessible to families. In the Denver metro region, housing is on average 24% higher than the national average. And community demographics are changing. We're aging. And for us, we're aging in place with many retirees staying in their homes, further tightening the housing market. These are the same macro trends that influ influence your work in housing planning and economic development. This is not something the district can reverse alone. It reflects broader community conditions. One of the most important insights from this work is more housing does not necessarily mean more students. While we do have some larger single family home developments, much of the development we see, town homes, apartments, smaller units, generates far fewer school-aged children. Much of the development we are experiencing in the southern portions of our district is infill. Older homes are being scraped and higher density multi-units take their place. It is also important to note that most of the single family home developments are sprinkled throughout the district and they are typically are smaller similar to infill developments with 50 or fewer homes per site. This directly connects to land use and housing policy because housing mix influences whether families with children can and do live

in the community. So while units increase, student population may not. We look closely at developments like the Uplands. Even at this scale, the mix of housing types limits the number of students generated using standard student generation rates and after an in-depth analysis by our demographer. We believe our anticipated enrollment from the uplands to be somewhere between 3 to 600 students. And if you look at the lower right hand corner of the chart, we believe it'll be closer to 310 students generated out of the 2300 homes being built. From a planning perspective, this means growth in housing units alone will not translate into growth in school age population. It is also important to note even developments of this scale will not offset enrollment decline without broader changes in the housing mix found throughout the rest of the district. Just as enrollment declines, it impacts how we think about our facilities. School buildings are major public assets just like roads, utilities, and other city facilities. And like any infrastructure system, assets age, maintenance costs increase, and decisions must be made about reinvestment or repurposing. These are the same asset management decisions you make as a council. How to responsibly invest in infrastructure over time. We are facing the same challenges within our system. To support our decisions, we used a facility condition index. This compares

the cost to repair a building to the cost of replacing a building. This is similar to how cities evaluate infrastructure life cycle cost. When continued repair is no longer the most responsible investment, the FCI provided us an objective way to help guide our decisions. But facility condition alone is not enough. We evaluated each school using multiple factors. Building condition, enrollment trends, cost efficiency, and community context. This mirrors how you evaluate projects, balancing condition, utilization, cost, and community impact. No single factor determined the outcome. To ensure consistency, we applied a datadriven rubric. Each factor was scored, weighted, and combined into an overall evaluation. This ensures decisions are transparent and defensible similar to how the city applies consistent criteria across planning and investment decisions. As a result, we are recommending a phased set of changes over several years. These include consolidating underutilized schools, repurposing facilities, and aligning programs to enrollment. So, for example, this coming school year, we are taking Flynn Elementary and Shaw Heights Middle School and combining them into a PK8 campus that we have renamed Upland's Discovery Campus. Within that building, we have our day

treatment program, the instructional service center, and that will be moving. Yes or no? It the instruction it will be moving. It has to it's in the basement right now. And to fit both schools in one building, while our Upland's construction is happening, we do have to relocate the instructional services center.

And while we have targeted one school, we are having discussions about whether that will be the best fit for that particular school. Um, one thing throughout our plan, we a number of years ago moved to PK8s in a lot of our schools and we found that our small PK8s did not have the number of students in the middle levels needed to provide robust educational opportunities um and enrichment for those students. So, we are now looking at PK6 models and consolidating our middle level programs into four of our larger PK8s. And so, Cheryl Wood on the east side of our district will become a PK6 school. And as students metriculate, they will move into Colorado Summit Leadership Academy um down in the southeast corner of the district. a minister academy for international studies will be combined and rolled into Harris Park and Harris Park will become a PK6 and then the seventh and eighth grade students will move up to Upwind's Discovery Campus. The following year, Fair View will become a PK6. Their seventh and eighth graders will roll into the larger Colorado Summit Leadership Academy. Um that same year, Tennis and Nolles on the southwest side of the district. Um same model will convert from PK8 to PK6 with seventh and eighth graders moving over to Hodkins Leadership Academy. In 2829, the new construction at the Uplands Discovery Campus, we're adding about 40,000 um additional square feet to the

Flynn building. Um we will then be able to open the campus and have both buildings functional at that time. Um for the next two years programming will be in the Shaw Heights building. Um Sunset Ridge will transition PK6 with their seventh eighth graders rolling into Discovery um campus. Mesa we will close that building. We are currently under a reboundarying um process and working with the committee. Uh we will look at how we will reboundry the Mesa Elementary footprint right now and where to assign those students and then hidden secondary school at 73rd and LOL will move into the Mesa building. Um, so basically we're happy to go through each individual change tonight. Um, but I want to highlight the broader implication. These decisions won't change how some publicly owned sites are used across the city and that has direct connections to land use, neighborhood dynamics, and future redevelopment opportunities. So I want to close with what this means moving forward. These changes create opportunities for partnership between the district and city. Specifically aligning housing strategy with family retention strategies, planning for the reuse of school sites and coordinating long-term community development. These are shared systems, housing infrastructure and community planning, and they work best when aligned. Declining enrollment in school use is not just a district issue. It is a

shared community challenge that requires coordinated solutions. We look forward to continuing that partnership with you. Thank you. Well, thank you. Um let's go around and get council questions. Councelor Rosati, you want to start?

Thank you. And thank you guys for being here. I appreciate you. I I've heard for some time now that you guys have been a really great example of partnership. you know, you've worked with the city, you've worked with other stakeholders, and they all are speaking highly of you. So, thanks for the work that you've done on this. I have a few questions. First one being the 13K to 7K. Do do you know what the cost per student was on average at 13K versus what it is at 10 at at 7K? Because if cost per student was your is a I'm guessing is a major metric for your efficiency. Right.

And every building as as we we do look at that data. I don't have it with me at this moment, but every building depending on we have some buildings that have 200 students, some buildings that have 700 students. And then um depending on the the the programming at that building, Hidden Lake Secondary School um as an alternative school, we do staff that building very different as we look to have smaller class sizes with our alternative education students. So the cost per pupil in that building um is significantly higher than say a um a Fairview Elementary. So it is different. Um our state funding changes, our peral funding, which all comes from the state changes every year. Um, and especially as the school finance act has went through a variety of changes. So, it's a it changes pretty significantly. I know at board the board meeting on Tuesday night that came up and um today it's about $19,000 per student is what it costs to educate a child in Westminster public schools, but it is it is different depending on the building that the student is attending, what that true cost is.

So, so the the district is about 19 perkide. Um, and as Dr. God was saying we did work building by building and it ranged from about a little under 10,000 per student in some buildings to as she mentioned Hidden Lake is one of our more expensive buildings to run and that students the cost per student in that building was a little over $15,000. And do you have an estimate of so with the school finance act and what the state has done to the school budgets across the state? Jeffco public schools for example they did an analysis that said I think it was 2 billion that have been lost over the last 13 years or something. How how much has WPs lost out from all the state levels? It's it's um not obviously the two billion that that Jeffco has experienced as um we're not nearly as large as that district,

but it's been I think around a billion. Yeah. A billion. Yeah. Wow. And and you are much smaller than Yes. And over time have gotten significantly smaller.

So you mentioned about declining enrollment. You know that's important to me. So one of my biggest priorities is childcare and I believe that we have a real intense childcare crisis. So um I do think there is an intersectionality between declining enrollment and the crisis that's happening right because if you're if we see that the data shows that we're aging and um we know that the childcare crisis is impacting particularly young families that can't find access or affordable care. there has been a mass exodus of young families from Westminster

and as as older residents are aging in place so that those dynamics I think are significant together from a from a perspective from your perspective where you're looking at declining enrollment and you're studying the trends and the data past and future do you see any relation um to child care particularly the lack of the from a pro of provider standpoint and cost standpoint and how that has impacted your enrollment. I I think over time the district I think probably for 15 years long before the state provided um free preschool. Our district and our board of education made the decision to pay for full day pre full day kinder. Then the next um I don't know how many years down the road preme um the decision was to start providing free prek. So now full free day preschool we knew we needed to provide these opportunities to draw our families in. And for many of our low-income students, we knew that they needed that extra kickstart.

Then um 5 years ago, I believe it was 2020, we um took the big leap to put in a child care facility to try and another way to capture enrollment. And we did make the decision through the forward together this whole process that we took that that program offline because it wasn't the intent was that is it another way to draw families in and we weren't keeping any of those students. they were coming in from another district and then when they got to school age they were moving back to that district and um as we looked at the cost analysis of that our our funding stream is meant to pay for K12 education and so we put about $2.5 million in that program over the past um 5 years. So it was a strategy used to try and pull kids in um because we we did believe that there's there's something to the childcare desert that exists within our community. Um but our funding is not meant to go to that. So we did make the hard decision to to close down that child care facility for outside students. We are still um we moved four four or five classrooms were still in the works of this over to the Gregory Hill campus. So that's still for Westminster public schools families that have um babies to threeyear-olds that we still will have a spot for them to that we will provide child care at a cost. and then also a retention model for our staff is providing child care at a cost um to our our staff members as well. So we do know that that that has an impact. So we've tried to implement strategies to address that as much as we can within

and and we're always looking for for partners and as we're looking at space in our buildings that is one of the sectors that we have said we would like to target and you know for example uh we do have a small school building we call it Shaw Primary it's down on Circle Drive Adams County Head Start leases that at a very nice rate from us to provide community child care. So, you know, it is something that we realize we want to get the kids in as early as possible. Well, I think with all the budget challenges, right, it was really smart of you to keep it for Westminster versus for, you know, because you had a lot of outside folks using those, right? Yeah. Yes.

Um, and you mentioned about housing. So, more housing does not necessarily or has not historically correlated with higher enrollment. What kind of housing would you say is the most impactful or the highest ROI for enrollment? Let's call it,

you know, I I I really would say it would be single family, you know, familyfriendly type homes. what we're seeing, especially in the southern end of the district, um you take what was a 1940s, you know, a thousand square foot home and someone comes in and buys it at a fair price and they scrape it and then they build eight town homes on that same lot that they're now selling for $700,000. that is not going to attract families or or young people who are starting families. I mean, they're priced out at the market for the most part there. So, you know, we need to find what's affordable and what are the amenities that someone who's starting a family wants and whether, you know, it doesn't necessarily need to be a big yard, but a place for the kids to play, you know, access to a local park, you know, a friendly type community, but, you know, We're in the south end of the district. I call us Denver adjacent and you know we butt up against the highlands and we we all are aware of what has happened in the highlands and it it becomes cost prohibitive and so people are just moving north and you know slowly gentrifying the district

and and we do see that you know Westminster is built out to we have 2.2% 2% land left available land. Um, so and we also see a cost of living crisis, right? And I and like I mentioned, there's the child care crisis that's kind of silent, but most families are facing this right now. Um, so it sounds like from what you're saying though that the best way, the highest ROI is to for us as a city to figure out how to reduce people's cost of living, which is our priority, right? but also to make sure that we have a balance of our of the right kind of housing in the remaining 2% that we have and as you know it's really expensive for new first-time home buyers to even get and that's why we're looking at that too. So, but thank you for the work that you've done.

Councelor Hawk, do you have any questions?

Um, no, I don't have any additional questions. I was fortunate enough to see I was one of the first people that got to see the changes. Um, I'm going to go on a quick tangent. Um, this is my first year at WPS and I've had nothing but good things to say. Um, my council members can even attest to that. Um, I think it's a wonderful district. I have felt really supported um my first year and um the kids are just great and um yeah, I've had some um really really wonderful um classes um this week so far today and I well I'm in the same class I was last week. A great great group of kids and um I'm enjoying it so much that I'm coming back next year and um yeah I I actually I'm like you know I'm 42. I got a good like 20 25 years left in me. So when when I when I term out um I plan to become um I would like my own classroom and middle school is my favorite. Um and so um yeah, I just I cannot say enough good things about the district and and um the support that I feel um as a teacher there. And so I just um I I I think I think Westminster public schools is wonderful. So, I just want to go on that quick tangent. Thank you,

Councelor Braas. Uh, thank you, Mayor Prom. Uh, thank you for the presentation. A few quick questions. Do you have any um or can you anticipate any logistical concerns with some of the shifting um populations uh like and kind of incre potentially increasing student population in certain school buildings? I'm thinking like uh traffic concerns with pickup, drop off, and buses or increased need for SRO's, things like that that the city should be aware of. Is there anything that you can anticipate and maybe even like uh community or cultural impacts like uh uh food banks and other things that might be housed in them? Is there anything that the city should be aware of uh with some of these changes that you can anticipate? Yes. Yes. And yes.

Okay. It would be I I think it would be helpful either right now. Please feel free to share or Yes. So, I don't believe if council received a letter, but I did send a letter um in support of and asking folks to consider an additional SRO for the district. Um, you know, as we look at our schools and we realize safety is not just a high school issue. Right now, the the city has been great. The partnership with with PD is great. Um, Rich is is a great commander, Rich Salazar. And we have two SRO's. They're housed at Westminster High School, and they do a lot of support over at Hidden Make, our alternative school, but we do have um some other schools that we would like, you know, at least a little check-in coverage. And I know the guys, you know, do their best and to to build those relationships, but um we we all know if something happens, the district and the PD, no matter how great the response is, we are going to take it on the chin in any crisis. Um so yes, additional SRO's we are um again as we look at some of our buildings. Um we have put out an RFP to see if there are any nonprofits in the area that would like to look at um some sort of joint use of the building. We know food insecurity

is an issue that um a lot of our families face and we have partnered and we're growing our partnership with community table but we would like to have something within the Westminster footprint. Okay. I mean community table isn't our vetta. It's, you know, just Westminster adjacent, but um, you know, we would like something in Westminster. And then your transportation

transportation. Yes, it is an issue. Um, I will use an example that right now I am trying to work out not to put Lindsay on the spot. Um but I have been reaching out to the city. Uh I talked about the consolidation of Westminster Academy and Harris Park. Okay.

Um Harris Park being where it is located within that community and the design of the school traffic especially pickup is a nightmare. And we have, you know, the first few weeks of school usually have conflicts with the neighbors. We we try to be good neighbors. Um we try to work with our parents. Um putting more kids in that building we anticipate will increase traffic. We are looking at what we can do to extend parking. But what we would like to do is create a joint use with the city that would allow us each afternoon, you know, especially for drop off to encourage our parents to park at Wolf Run Park and then we run a shuttle bus from the school over so we keep the traffic out of the neighborhood and, you know, hopefully keep the neighbors a little happy. Yeah. Uh, thanks for that. And, uh, Director Kimble, if I could just make a request to keep, um, kind of us and public works and utilities kind of in terms of like road design, traffic, like all that kind of things. Um, particularly in some of these hotspot zones, uh, would be helpful. Just a quick I mean, if you're recommending it, I'm imagining you're you've gone through kind of the the security and and kind of other protocols around uh, maybe the difficulty of shuttling students and having like continued supervision offsite. Um, but I think we'd be uh we'd be welcome we'd welcome any partnership in trying to alleviate resident concerns around any sort of impact on that. So I thank you for for talking through those points. Um just a quick this is something that kind of came up as you were going through some of those slides. uh council Ireland, myself and the mayor went to a

um a couple of months ago a summit for Adams County um around dem there was one of the big pieces was demographic and it's come up a lot kind of in a lot of the conversations that we've had. So, I'm curious if you know it's it's it's helpful to have some of these conversations obviously here as we kind of uh think through policy. Uh but it going through some of these demographic changes as we're kind of shuffling uh downstream seems a little uh I mean it's important to do and it's important to discuss but kind of I'd like to move the conversation proceeding right like uh to the to the other end of of this kind of decision-making process. So I'm curious if there's a possibility uh and maybe this is more for staff uh to kind of think through but like a periodic summit with around demographics uh child care development and like job growth sectors I think that was really helpful. Front Range Community College really did a great job housing that uh information. Uh but if it would be helpful to kind of have these uh you know policymaking bodies like the school districts and and and various u municipal governments just all together for for some sort of summit would be I think helpful so it can help influence our policym more regularly. I think that would be helpful and if you would be willing partners in that I I would

and I think all of the the Westminster school districts we're we're all in the same boat. Numbers are different a little bit where we're losing 400 kids they're losing 1500 students. So, we're all facing very similar challenges and having to do this work where we're hearing every night um new closures in each district across the metro area. So, this is it's real and and working together I think is how we'll we'll get through it.

Yeah, I appreciate that. Um and just a few highlights, no need to necessarily respond to these, but just some community feedback that I've been hearing around and not necessarily uh solely on your school district. As you mentioned, there's multiple school districts in this municipality and and all of them are sharing similar struggles. But as you kind of share the updates on some of these changes, it's an opportunity to share budget uh impacts as well. Like, hey, look, we're being responsible with budget. Hey, here's the shortfall that we're avoiding. Hey, here's the current shortfall. I think that is part of the communication, but just maybe bringing that to the front because everyone's wondering right now about uh you know, taxation, school uh school funding, all of those things. And I think uh just the lesson that we've learned is overcommunicate is undercommunicate, right? And so uh just uh encourage you to to kind of join us in that that uh you know constant mission. And then finally uh you know I think some of the the parents uh that I've been engaging with and to your point right like fewer and fewer families with with students. But um you know as these schools kind of shift they're worried that they're going to miss out like you know their kids' favorite club or this um auxiliary personnel paraprofessional someone who kind of makes the school really the gem. And I would just be remiss to not just voice and echo that uh concern that you know again maybe communicating that we're still you know hey parents what is it that makes this one school that's going to be moving into here uh different? Here's how we're going to attend to those things. Obviously, it's a budget question, but even if it's an afterchool program that's that's kind of low cost instead of kind of budget um impact, high budget impact item, just attending I think to that concern. Everyone everyone's scared with these changes and that's and you know that better than than than us for sure, but um that's kind of the the the concern that I've been getting. I think even with the committee that was one of our biggest concerns is um with the the smaller PK8s we know we were losing some of the great performing arts opportunities because in a small school with 200 students we couldn't offer

those types of things and with our random innovation campus we want to provide those CTE opportunities. So that was actually one of the reasons we made that shift back away from all PK8s to we're going to have four where when they get to those middle school years we can provide the great opportunities that our families want. Um, as I went and had the conversation with our Westminster Academy families, um, as we made the decision to move them over to Harris Park, those were exactly the things these I know who my teacher's going to be. I have the relationships. I don't want to lose them, which those relationships, I think, as as councelor Hawk mentioned, are in every one of our schools. So, we immediately set up um visits to that school, special for our our Westminster Academy family to go be introduced to the to the staff at that building to know that they will love your children's just as much as the the teachers at Westminster Academy as well as many of those staff members will follow the kids over to that school to maintain some of the relationships that mean so much to parents and students. But a big piece here in these changes is to bring back opportunities for students that were lost in the small school model.

Thanks. So, I appreciate your attendance to that. That was kind of what I was going to ask how much involvement the parents had with the decision making process of of um switching schools around kind population because I I have grandkids going through this in their public schools. So, it's really disruptive for special needs parents. I don't know what you're doing with their kids or where they're going, but I talked to special needs parents. you know, they're always upset where their kids's going to end up in the shuffle. So, I hope that we're talking to parents. Yeah. Absolutely.

Also, in these demographics, how much are you considering charter schools, homeschooling, and those demographics leaving public schools? Well, throughout this process, one of the things that we did is typically um the Colorado Department of Education will just give you, you know, um numbers to say how many students you lose to another district and how many students are coming in, but they don't necessarily tell us where.

Okay. We were able to work with CDE and they gave us a two-year trend. So, we were able to identify where the students were going when they left the district. And so, we found some hot spots in neighboring districts right on the border around us. But um charters and online were you know another large you know segment of where people were going. So that gives us information on you know what do we need to do as we look at our programming to enhance it make it attractive to try and attract people back.

I know safety is a big thing because I've talked to kids I've talked to parents. Safety is huge. Um, also where's one other thing I was gonna ask? Oh, I know the Mong community has reached out to me looking for a place to have events, community center. So, you might reach out to them with schools that are closing because they need a kitchen, they need a place, they when they celebrate, it's a week, you know, it's a lot of celebrating. So, they are looking for a place. So, that's what I did

and that's good to know and thank you for that. I mean, we always partnered with them for many, many years to do their summer festival on the Shaw Heights, you know, campus. So, it's it's a community that we we do support and something like that would be a great of their own. So, or even share would be great. So, Council Johnson,

yeah, thank you. Um, I got on council in December and one of the first things we had to deal with, the first big things um where I had to really dive in deep was the acquisition of Zer Elementary School by uh developer um and the that the district had sold. And it raised I think a serious question. what you had mentioned is that our decisions affect you all a lot and how we plan and develop, but your decisions also affect us a lot and especially as you are choosing to close or consolidate schools. Um, I would love to hear I heard a little bit about nonprofits and things, but the the a more comprehensive overview of what the plan is with these publicly owned school sites as it relates to the district's planning at district level, but then also interacting with the city level because when it lands in our lap without us having conversation, it makes for really difficult conversations for us versus front-end conversations and partnership. And so I'm curious about that. So, um I'll use a specific example. I mentioned Hidden Lake um secondary school moving up to Mesa. So, that is going to leave a building on the corner of 73rd and W. Now, the building's facility index rates it as critical. That building has significant significant needs and as a district we believe it probably should come down. We know there are members of the community that believe there is a way to breathe life into that building. I have met with Lindsay and her team just because of where that building is located and the

proximity to Westminster Station and any future TOD development or development the city is looking at doing down there. Over the years, I've worked with a number of people at the city as plans have been developed and you know, we realize sometimes it takes years to get things off the ground, but trying to look future forward. What's going to happen to that segment of Southwest? How are you looking at revitalizing it? And then what might be something that we could put there on the corner of 73rd that would align with your vision and help elevate the district and the community. We've looked at um for Westminster Academy, we've looked at the Harris Park redevelopment plan and we've had conversations there also. So, you know, we've been trying throughout the process to, you know, work with staff here at the the city to say, "Okay, what are you doing? What are we doing?" I know, for example, in talking with St. Lindsay, the the school that reverted back to you folks in um Jeffco, at one point there was a um church who was looking for a daycare and it fell through there and it was well send them our way. You know, we might be able to work something out. So I I think what's important is for us not to go it alone, for you not to go it alone, but for us to be at the table together and have ongoing conversations because as you said, what you do impacts us and what we do impacts you and at the

end of the day we don't want you grumbling at us and vice versa. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, well, I appreciate the, you know, presentation and really just where you are at with respect to the declining enrollment. Um, I know there's not really a solution to that that um something that we can handle in this, you know, in a generation. Um, so it's it is sad to hear, but it's kind of our it's our nation right now. We're just not producing more children to replace us. Um, and so I do appreciate that you're looking to see how you maximize the benefit you can get to the students. I've always loved hearing your presentations about how thoughtful you are as a as a district about the student experience. And so I wish more people knew that um because I think they would pick your district, you know, instead of sending off. So, um the um the only I guess questions I have were kind of similar to some of my council colleagues with respect to just um hoping that you'll continue to work very closely with our staff, particularly around the transportation side. I know that I I hope you don't feel like you have to come up with the solutions all the time that our staff know these areas. um our police officers know what's happening and so the more collaborative we can be on the solution and

trust me we le mean heavily. Okay. All right. Um and then um with respect to the disposition of the properties um yeah there you know hopefully there are some great partnerships that you can find with community organizations. Um, I was just thinking about Alante who was saying they need a building. And so there are organizations out there I think would actually both benefit our community here in Westminster, but the the Westminster district community as well. So I'm hoping that um we do a lot with Autoante at the VA center. So they utilize that facility quite a bit.

Great. Okay. And so I know you're working with our staff on um on those uh different opportunities. I don't know, do we have an IGA with you? We have a number of different IGAs. Um you know, we have an IGA with the police department. Um we have an IG with park and wreck. Um trying to think like

Okay. Well, the only thought was that it, you know, as you continue to look at, you know, the um repositioning of properties, it'd be great if we had some type of opportunity for a right to repurchase, not repurchase, a right to a first refusal or something like that on properties. um if you are going to you know move on from from a specific site just so that you know we have the option that would be fantastic. I know that we're trying to figure out other ways to utilize buildings but you know if you're going to demolish a building you know that starts to set us on a course. So um yeah that's all I had. Thank you so much for your presentation.

Yeah. Thank you so much. We appreciate we I feel like we do have a great partnership with the city and and your full team is always um willing and and right there to support us and and work together and partner on on all the projects that we engage in. So we very much appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.

Everybody good to move to the next. Great. Little hot in here. Turn it on while keep it going. It's a joke. Let's go for it. Yeah. No, it's not a joke. It's hot. I'm going to take off this. Come on, guys. Feeling pretty comfy. You're probably You're the closest at the door. That might be I feel pretty comfy. You guys need some traveling. Well, then how do you explain that I'm comfy? I have I have no idea.

You tell me where I've been at early and you get stuck at the stop sign.

arranged passenger rail project and the joint service plan that we've talked to you about in the past. If we could, as we go through our slides tonight, if I could ask you to hold your questions until the back end of the presentation, uh I think we'll get a lot more uh faster through the slides and that way we can get to your questions as quickly as possible. And the last thing before I turn it over to Sal to begin our conversation, this is going to be the first time of three three things that we're going to be talking to you about over the next say six to sixish months. Tonight we're going to start with a presentation. We're going to set the stage for you about what Front Range Rail and Joint Service at the downtown location is going to bring to the city. On June 8th, we are scheduled, not formally yet, but scheduled to bring a resolution that supports that uh topic. I'll be back with you with a presentation and we'll have a conversation. Then later this summer, staff will be receiving and reviewing an a memorandum of understanding which we will be then taking to you for formal action. That's on that. We're not sure exactly when that's going to be scheduled. We are expecting Brandon and I were talking about that before this meeting within a couple of weeks we should get the first draft of thisou and start to elevate this for staff review. So that's actually news to both Larry and Jody because I just found out about it literally a half an hour ago. So and I haven't had a chance to bring it to their attention. So anyway, with all due respect to that, we're going to turn it over now to executive director Pace for our presentation.

Actually, we're going to start with Brandon. Oh, okay. Turn it over to Brandon.

Okay. Move this away. Good evening, counselors. My name is Brandon Schaefer, special adviser working for passenger rail and transit here for the state of Colorado. I think it was about a year ago uh around this time last year that myself and my former colleague Diane Barrett had came to this council in a study session to present to you all the findings of the March 1st report which was a legislative report mandated by Senate Bill 224184 which really asked us to examine the revenue to support this project look at the feasibility of it of what we could start with of three or five daily round trips to start. Um, since that report to this council, um, the good news is all of the boards who are part of this project, six public agencies spanning from the Colorado Department of Transportation, Front Range Passenger Rail District, the Regional Transportation District, and the Governor's Office, and then two enterprises housed within SOT, um, entered into an IGA to form the negotiation team for the purposes of negotiating an access agreement with BNSF. Um, that negotiation started in August. The IG was voted on by the end of June of last year. And since then, we really went from a study phase of initial cost estimates, initial estimates of what the capital projects would be to now actually having just a few weeks ago a signed term sheet with BNSF really enumerating the cost of the project, the known capital projects as well. Something that this region has never really had before. There's been really phenomenal planning and studies done by RTD, done by the state, done by far passenger rail to really look at this corridor to bring passenger rail to it. Um, but since uh the last presentation to you all, enormous progress has been made and I know tonight GM Pace is going to talk to you all about a local return program through the Birmingham's passenger rail district to kind of start actually adding more meat to this project that you all have not heard about yet. So, I'll turn it with that update, turn it over to S. Uh thank you. Uh good evening and um first let me acknowledge my boss sir Nurmela in the audience also mayor prom

um or not in the audience at the table. Um and also joined today by staff from Front Range Passenger Rail District, James Flatam and a couple consultants who have been helping us out. uh Grant Bennett with Proximity Green assisting with stationary planning and uh Sean Walsh who's been assisting with all the uh coordination and outreach with uh municipalities. So um Colorado connector uh is going to be uh connecting the communities along the front range from Fort Collins through Westminster to Denver and ultimately on to PBLO. Over 25,000 Colorado residents help vote on the name of the new uh service uh the train service connecting Colorado's front range. Uh that is not to be confused with our governing body which is the front range passenger rail district which is delivering the service the Colorado connector or cocoa. Uh we have the statutory direction to uh plan, operate and build front range passenger rail. Uh as Brandon uh led into, we are doing a phased approach starting with phase one which is being p paid for with your uh payments into fasttracks. And in fact, uh, the term sheet that was, uh, passed a couple weeks ago contemplates RTD putting about 75% of their fasttrack savings account or $150 million into uh, phase one starter service. Phase two gets delivered upon uh, upon passing a future funding measure. Um phase one is three round trips, phase two is 10 round trips and also additional funds for stations and station areas. Um quick uh

description, what is intercity passenger rail? We're traveling longer distances, faster speeds. If you can imagine uh trains with cafe cars and restrooms and reclining chairs and uh Wi-Fi versus commuter rail which is intended for shorter service. Um that is the difference of uh front range or uh Colorado connector versus traditional RTD service joint service as a at a glance. Um, this is what Brandon uh outlined. Uh, three round trips per day, seven days a week, eight stations, 69 miles from uh Fort Collins to Denver, including the Johnson to Boulder, an hour and 40 minutes um versus full service overview. And this is connecting from uh PBLO up through Colorado Springs, Strong Ranch, Littleton, Denver up to Westminster. And ultimately 10 round trips going through uh Westminster. That means 20 passenger trains a day going through Westminster. Uh this is a really uniquely Colorado approach to delivery. We hear about uh California highspeed rail and how they had massive cost overruns. This is a different approach. So we are leasing the tracks from the private freight industry uh versus California or other approaches where uh they need to acquire new rightway, they need to lay new track, they need to do the service from uh from scratch from the beginning. In this case, not only are we leasing from the freight freight railroads, but they're also our partners. uh the term sheet with BNSF is a unique approach

that hasn't been done in other states. So uh under federal railroad law, the uh uh the states can go and contract with Amtrak and use what's use 209 powers under the Surface Transportation Act. And essentially it's considered a contentious approach to getting passenger access on freight tracks in Colorado. We've done it differently. We went straight to the freight railroads. Uh we skipped the 209 service and contracted directly with BNSF. Uh this means that we were in partnership with the freight railroad. Uh they the term sheet they uh that was signed proposes that they'll receive 50% greater pay for meeting on-time performance. uh they are a partner in this process as opposed to uh what you've seen in other states and what uh what has failed in the past in in in Colorado. Um there's obviously an economic driver. That's why there's such a big push for the downtown location here in Westminster. Um we are working on special event stations and stops. We met today again with the Broncos. probably our eighth or ninth time we will have special events stop at the new stadium there, but also talking with Denver Summit and South Broadway and the ability to connect to special events there as well as with potentially the Air Force Academy. Um, a cool proposal, I think it's a cool proposal, but I'm promoting it is what we're talking about for local return for station areas for local municipalities. And these will be funds that will come directly from the taxes that the district is collecting back to municipalities uh with stations. And I really like the

comparison of Union Station pre-development and post-development on the right hand side to really demonstrate the type of activation that can happen with a station. I truly believe that that the train service can be transformative but that the anchors of the stations can be even more transformative for driving uh economic development, multimodal development, uh commercial activity and infill. And uh that's why we support the concept of local return. that's been approved by our board. Um, including uh proposing uh sending $80 million to Westminster over a 25-y year period. Um uh we have a stationary map that's been uh developed here uh to show the opportunities around uh the future Colorado connector station uh just south of downtown Westminster and the opportunities for economic development around downtown uh around the downtown station. We'll possibly return to that. Um, moving forward, uh, we are undergoing stakeholder engagement. We thought it was pretty important to get in front of you before we potentially refer a ballot question. When we refer a ballot question, uh, we will no longer be able to be doing external communications as a district. Uh, we are wrapping up a development plan and, uh, we are looking at a 2026 ballot question. Um, and wanted to make sure to get in front of you before then. Uh, one item with the station narrative is we'll be coming back or there will be a station narrative coming back for a resolution that's been drafted jointly between uh our staff and your staff describing the

possibilities of a downtown station. And uh with the approval of that station narrative, we'll be adding 10% onto the local return funds. So instead of 80 million um uh it'll be 80 million. 75 million grants glaring at me. I can feel it. 75 million. Wrong community. It's based on population. Um it'll be uh 82.5. Um, and really what we're trying to do is ensure that before the district is out there defining what any community wants in their station area that the community itself is given the uh the thumbs up on for those uh for those narratives so that there's no confusion or we're in October and someone says I had no idea what was happening in my community. So happy to pass any questions on to Brandon. Do

we have any questions? Councelor Brahass.

Uh, thank you, Mayor Prom. Uh, thank you, Sal and Brandon, for this. It's great. Um, so I have two questions. Maybe one uh for um our transportation manager as well, but um do we have an estimate uh for you all? Do we have an estimate on what ticket prices would be looking like? Um once well, I guess two questions. So, what would ticket prices be looking like? Uh and would that shift, you know, like kind of given initial service, phase one versus phase two service? And I I guess just to color that question a little bit, I think residents in downtown Westminster using this to go just one stop over to to downtown Denver. And so paying like a full fair ticket would be probably not uh that would not be ideal for our residents downtown. It's just one stop. Yeah. The the answer is for the RTD service area, it's going to be, you know, consistent with uh RTD service for front range passenger rail or for Colorado connector for the full build buildout. Uh we've modeled 19 cents a mile. Um you know, so 10 miles would be a couple bucks maybe. So, it's it's supposed to be an affordable

ticket.

Great. That's helpful. Uh, and then in terms of the local return for tax dollars to municipalities for those kinds of outline, would that just be like a a you know a transit restricted revenue stream for the city or would it be grant kind of uh how would that work? Um so the way we're modeling it out in the uh financial modeling the dollars would start flowing in uh 2028 and then they would flow for 25 year period. Uh we imagine spending a brunt of 2027 uh working with you to define what those uh dollars would be used for. Uh there's sort of a broad list rubric of of several different categories that would fit such as first mile, last mile, connectivity, to walkability, etc. Uh but we think it should really be defined by the city. We would formalize an IGA between the district and the city at some point before 2028.

Great. Um and I don't want to speak for the mayor, but I know uh she often talks about, you know, multi-municipal relationships. I know that this is uh we share a boundary with our bata right here and I wonder what kind of conversations you've had with them, what kind of conversations maybe we should be having with them as we kind of think through any important decisions. Obviously, this is well within uh Westminster's boundaries and mainly our budget, but also, you know, I'm just kind of cur and I would I don't know something I want to bring to the council as well.

Yeah, counselor, that's a great question. Uh, one of the things that we started to do before this process actually began was talking with my peers in Narvvada. How do we get their residents, those neighborhoods just south of 88th over to this station location. The challenge is because we're Colorado, everything's flat and so tunnels and bridges cost a lot of money and when you're going under or over a railroad, you're talking 20 ft minimum that you would have to clear on either side. Both of which are cost prohibitive to both of our respective governments. So, we have not embraced or we've not engaged with Arvvada since we've begun this process. Instead, what we've said is the travel shed now opens out to unincorporated Adams County, Broomfield, kind of southeast Broomfield, Arvvada, and us. So, we we haven't really gone to that next level of talking to Arvvada about how we could get those in. You could talk about trail or path accessibility along 88th. You could also bring them up from the south, say up from 84th on Sheridan. We would have to talk about the bridge over the railroad right there. Uh how do we deal with that? Um on Sheridan and that's now a C dot discussion as well. So lots of moving parts to get that, but it's easily done. Uh with the Adams County people, I think that would be a more easier conversation because we wouldn't have that many hurdles that we would have to overcome in order to access. I mean, Adams County literally is across the street from us right here. So, um, there's not too much that we would need to worry about making that connectivity. I think it it's important that the city does everything that it can. The map that shows you here, you can see the city hall in the upper right hand corner. You can see the bikeway in the center top. Those are the things that we need to focus on as a staff and then later with your support moving forward to ensure that we've got connectivity to all of that. We don't need three-foot sidewalks, we need 12oot sidewalks, etc.

Thanks. Um, yes. And and um thank you Chris for bringing that up. I one thing that I'm going to start advocating for at NA as well and and in this body is you know as Uplands is kind of developed out um trying to figure out with RTD's help or some sort of first mile last mile and getting them at least to the pedestrian bridge right here um and then up and over. But just kind of to that point I think really trying to figure out how to how to increase that connection to

Absolutely. The council has brought our to attention to staff before about first mile, last mile, micromobility and other types of alternative transportation options. I can share with you that we did have a conversation with Adams County with a community development grant that came out of Dr. Cog about providing some type of flex ride service along the federal corridor north of 50th up to about 80th. So, it didn't quite move this far north to where we could have this discussion. At that time, we were not prepared from a budget point of view to provide support to Adams County. They said, "Fine, we'll go to another project. Let's have this conversation next year." So, we'll elevate that again, say, at the first of the year and see if there are opportunities for us to move forward in a partnership with the county. Of course, we'll circle you back in with the study session or other type of dialogue, but I think at the end of the day, that's where we're going to have to go is going to have to kind of create our own transit. Okay?

I mean, RTD is in a deficit situation now. They've not announced what they're going to do to solve that budget problem, but service cuts could be on the table. Staff cuts could be on the table. So, we just don't know those answers yet. But at the end of the day, I think any type of partnership would be better for the city because we would not carry the full burden of that cost. Thanks, Chris. Really exciting. Thank you for the presentation, Councelor Ireland.

I'm kind of being the devil's advocate because this is what I'm hearing from the citizens that talk to me. Um, so we've been paying into FastTrack since 2005. And so how do So is Westminster expected to pay more into this since we've got nothing but buses the whole time? We didn't get fasttrack. So how much more do we have to pay to get this?

Councelor, really good question. Um, one of the uh, obstacles I think that was recognized years ago for BR passenger rail success is actually solving the fasttracks problem for the Northwest communities and really acknowledging that we kind of need to get that out of the way to kind of pave the way for front passenger rail. So, what is contemplated right now is um, all of the boards just a few weeks ago voted for that term sheet saying yes, they adopt it. Yes, they agreed to the numbers. What they also authorized was around $10 million um between BNSF and an architecture and engineering firm to really actually start the engineering, the preliminary engineering to get to 90% by the end of this year. That includes all of the capital projects for BNSF. So that's curb speed improvements and all of that. But in addition to that, it's also station development. Um and RTD authorized $5.58 million out of the FastTracks internal savings account, the various sales tax money that you're talking about right now. um to actually study what would it be to put a station and what do we need to do to connect it to the train. Um that is part of the answer there for you. We would also be once we get through 90% designs that $333 million estimate that the project cost will fluctuate between now and the end of the year. And so we'll have to go back to the RTB board and others and walk them through here's what the here's what may have shifted. Here's the new cost what we have today. Um, but we have really strong confidence levels with the numbers since they're provided to us by BNSF and we're looking at a really minimal viable product to really put a platform in. And what's currently assumed is that through a partnership with the RT with RTD and the state, we would leverage the FastTrack sales and use tax revenue and that savings account. And so we would be taking money that's been collected over a decade plus from that and really leveraging it to build a station, make sure that it connects to the train that comes through. So, it's not that we're dismissing it or leaving it. It's also $156 million is assumed to be the capital investment for RTD. And so, we

are leveraging all of those dollars to build this out and really show uh those in Westminster your money has not disappeared. It's actually being reinvested into a viable project that RTD can also partner with. When they studied peak service feasibility a couple years ago in 2024, it was going to take them anywhere between 2045 and 2050 if they went this alone. So we've already been waiting for 20 plus years to get this service and we are saying now we think we have a viable project now that can get up and running by 2029 leveraging that those dollars finally and kind of trying to move past this regional transportation hurdle.

Okay, great. Thanks. Um also um people want to know if fasttracks wrership is down and bus ridership is down how do we know that people will write this? I think we've seen when the state invests in bus service and transportation and transit. We look at busing for example year-over-year double digit ridership. I did see busings doing better, but we're still 25 million in funding gap from the federal and state.

Oh yeah, we are solving for that administratively at C dot to ensure that busting still continues. But I think in the housing space, this is analogy that I use internally with our teams and stakeholders is when you look at housing kind of ADUs and granny flats as being the quote missing middle in transit. I think passenger rail is the missing middle in our transportation network here in Colorado where we don't have that service. There are some u Coloradoatans who would rather probably take a passenger rail train like Amtrak where they don't have to worry about an hour 30 minute bus ride from Fort Collins or car ride down to Denver. They can actually sit on a train, get coffee, work, and have a leisurely way. Less cortisol because you're not worried about who is not using their blinker on the freeway. So, I think we can get around that. And I think once we start connecting major population centers and really connecting our major universities too, we're going to see writership that's currently not maybe seen in wrership models. Um some of my colleagues will refer to writership models as like Ouija board math. You don't know what actually is going to pan out and that's been the case for busing. We've actually seen huge wrership demand for it. But I think once we have something new and people actually for 20 years have been waiting to ride a train, I think everyone will start wanting to ride this to and from. So, the first three trips that go to Fort Collins, right, from Denver to Fort Collins,

how long do people have to wait to go back on those three trips? I don't have the schedule in front of me. Um, I think

is it like school? Is it like is it going around the college kids schedule or how's it going? As a just as a reminder, I sent out uh I can't remember how long it's been, but essentially what it boils down to is there's going to be an AM uh uh trip, a midday trip, like a noon, 12:30, 1:00 trip. All these are going to be Westminster times, not north or south of here, and then one evening somewhere around 6:00 to 7:00. So approximately three trips would be spread out over the course of the day. Um, so we could pick up all of that type of I work early, I work late, I get off early, my class doesn't start until two o'clock, you know, those type of trips. And I think as we expand to the 10 now, of course, that opens up a variety of different things. Do we go heavy in the morning and afternoon peak and leave the middle one trip or do we spread it out over the course of the day? Obviously, that's something the state can work through, but for now, we'll start out with, and again, I don't have the times in front of me, but it's like a 7:30, 7:45 in the morning, approximately 12:30, 12:45 in the afternoon, and approximately 6:45 to 7:15, 7:30 in the evening.

All right, great. Thank you, Council.

Thank you. This is was this a great presentation, great summary, concise. It it it really did go through everything that we've been hearing about. Uh I have a question. Uh so we've talked a lot about user experience. Really I'd like to talk a little bit about marketing. So I'm a big believer I've been accused of overcommunicating. I like to overcommunicate because it because I believe that communication is inefficient in the current kind of this the the um defragmented media ecosystem that we currently all live in. So therefore you need to overcommunicate in multiple different platforms for anyone to even hear for one person to hear your message. Right? So with the history of fasttracks and rail in Colorado and in Westminster, there's from speaking with a lot of people. Do you have So the first question is what's your marketing budget? If you don't have that yet, do you perceive that to be significant? Because it's going to take really effective marketing. You know, I actually believe the success of this will be directly correlated with how effective your marketing will be, right? Because you need to not only change hearts and minds of folks who have been here for a long time and have that history, that baggage, but then you also need to convince a new generation, young professionals, working professionals, etc. And doing that is a balancing act. That would take very specific type of marketing. So, what's your marketing plan? How are you looking to message this? Because this is going to be a messaging exercise.

I couldn't agree more with you and uh I've been really focused with our marketing, our branding, our outreach, and what that looks like. Um, as a rail district, we four months ago, we had 6,000 contacts within our uh database. We now have 40,000 um and uh we're undergoing a sort of branding and marketing exercise right now. I spent a lot of time on that today actually uh with a real excellent firm uh from this part of the state actually and um it's it's an important focus. the uh the new newest intercity train service corridor in the country to come online was produced by the Southern Rail Passenger Rail Commission uh connecting the Gulf Coast and they rebranded it their their service name the Marty GR Express and they're about a year into service now but they exceeded their writership projections within like six months and they did really really good work on their outreach and their their branding and their marketing. Um, we're putting a lot of effort into that and uh I plan on putting some dollars behind that as well.

Yeah. So, my my my hope would be that you you invest in not just doornocking but focus groups, you know, a diverse group of focus groups of of individuals who within these groups because testing the messaging would be even more important, right, than launching it, right? So you don't want to launch millions of dollars on messaging that that won't be effective. And this is such a sensitive issue and and and really is in Westminster. There's very sensitive rail and the history of rail here. So I'm glad to hear that you're going to be focusing on it. So thank you for for being here and I'd love to do some followup with you just uh yeah time yeah to share ideas. Yeah.

Good. I have one more question. So, what is the ballot question going to say? Do you know for November?

Uh, we haven't decided on whether or not we're running a ballot question. If we do, in all likelihood, it would involve a uh sales tax. Right now, we're modeling out with Ernston Young um on various various different scenarios. We're also trying to get the sales tax number as low as possible and deliver uh service to all the stations within five and a half years. Um so we're still we're we're we're really deep in uh in financial modeling exercises right now. I'm hoping in the next couple of weeks we can have uh some service uh delivery plans uh maybe not finalized plans for for maybe a month or two but some some models that we can share publicly that we're looking at.

All right. Thank you.

I'll go. But um I definitely want to say that yeah, Councelor Rosati would be a great resource. he is a guru at um you know social media and connecting with people and um so yeah uh thank you for the presentation. Obviously I know a lot of this material but I did actually come up with a couple of questions. Um one was when um we get this service going. I think we talked a little bit about this, but would there be a seamless um payment option to go between like a if you're taking a bus from because one of the great aspects about our station location is that there's the Sheridan Park and Ride. So, people may be taking a bus to get to this station. So, are we thinking about um that possibility? Well, I Brandon might know this better than me, but I know that SD dot is under division of transit and rail is undergoing a study to to look at how you can have seamless ticketing between the various transit agencies.

Yeah. Did I get that right? Yeah, that's right.

Great. Um, and then the local share, which I think is an amazing concept for communities. Um so we t I know there are different um zones in and around the station that you know can be invested in and what this can uh what the local share can be applied to. I was thinking um it would be helpful to just talk about the different types of investments and ways that that local share can be utilized for a community. Yeah, it's supposed to be broad. And so in our local return uh policy that was approved by the the board, it lists a number of uh opportunities. So obviously a they a station hall and you think about Denver Union Station, there's a hall there. uh but also first mile last mile connectivity as an opportunity and to be imaginative about what that could look like. Um bikeability, walkability, uh commercial activity, to um I think all of these fall within uh the vision of making a great station and a great station area.

Let me if I could just add two cents to that. Mayor Pro Tim, I will tell you that staff has had some preliminary discussions already talking about the area of influence of what we can use these funds for. Essentially, the railroad crossing over to Eden Street on 88th and then into up Harland a little bit, maybe a block or two up Harland and a block or two up Westminster Boulevard as well. The main concerns I think that we're looking at is what do we not have out there already? We already have bike lanes and a full sidewalk network on Harland, great sidewalks and kind of bikeability on Westminster Parkway. It's not dedicated for bikes, but it's enough room. Eaton is the one that's got all the bike lanes. It's getting all that across 88th. So, we've had chats about, well, can we repurpose 88 lanes on 88th? That road was built for a mall. It's not built for the train station in a TOD. So, is there opportunities there? But let me be very clear, this is a preliminary discussion that staff has had. Uh, we've engaged the city engineer and the public works departments and the community services departments are all talking right now about how we go to the next level. Hopefully we'll have some answers for you on that soon.

Yeah. Great. Thank you. Um well, without any more questions, I'll just Oh, yes. Go ahead.

Actually, I'm going to go back to your ticket question. I think once shall all the boards at the end of this year actually approve the expenditures to go into capital construction next year. I think there would be much more serious conversations between RTD, an operator of this rail line, and C dot to look at how to integrate tickets. So, I just want to put that out there that there is a really big while the term sheet was a monumental success of the project so far. There's another very big vote where the city of Westminster will need to let your RTD board directors know from your region that you want to see the project move forward later on um where we can actually go into the implementation phase beyond just design and preliminary engineering. And then to the question that the other counselor raised at the end of the table to disring the project contemplates paying for all of the um the rail platform itself, the fencing, the rail infrastructure, um everything within the ride of way we would the project would pay for. And then as particular to the city of Westminster, what we are also contemplating is that and this is dependent on each municipality along the alignment if this makes sense or not. But we are also proposing support with property acquisition where necessary and appropriate looking at parking um ADA access parking as well. Um and then also looking at road extensions and modification as well. And so the city of Westminster, we have a line item just for 72nd and 88th, but even there we have um money dedicated. We added $2 million more for outside of the ride ofway improvements to really support connecting people to the parking as needed too. So, I just want to add that in addition to the comment on the zones.

It's very helpful. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Well, this concludes the public portion of the post meeting study session. City Council will now enter into some executive sessions. Um, so thank you for attending everyone and I think we probably need a five minute break to set up for the air conditioning. All right. Thank you. How should I do that?