[0:00]

[1:09] I wanted to read a statement from the town of Firestone,

[1:13] as there's been quite a bit of social media

[1:16] put out in the last few days.

[1:19] And so I want to read the comment

[1:22] And this comment is as follows.

[1:24] The town of Firestone believes that it is not

[1:27] productive to conduct the central Weld County Water

[1:30] District building conversation on social media with videos

[1:34] or letters to the editor We believe

[1:37] the importance of this issue to both agencies

[1:39] requires a serious and thoughtful approach The town

[1:42] of Firestone is remitting payment to the central Weld

[1:46] County Water district, consistent with the terms of the

[1:49] current 1974 water agreement.

[1:54] That is the end of that statement moving forward,

[2:00] Becky Duckworth thank you Thank you.

[2:30] You Mr. Thank you, Jack.

[2:46] And Colorado.

[2:48] My first question to you tonight is one that I've been

[2:50] asking since April, the 16th.

[2:53] It is in regard to option B, the sample transparent water bill

[2:57] that was contained in Julie's presentation that evening I just

[3:00] provided you with a copy Why do we residents pay the town?

[3:05] $99.97 for 18,680 gallons of water?

[3:11] That is provided by Central Weld according to the sample bill We

[3:15] also pay the town another $66, which

[3:19] is shown in the in these amounts here circled in red.

[3:24] We pay them another $66, which is shown as central

[3:27] wells cost for providing those 18,680

[3:31] gallons of water to the town.

[3:33] Mayor Cognac.

[3:33] You approached me after that meeting

[3:35] and stated you would try to get me that answer.

[3:37] The answer has never appeared.

[3:39] The town is double dipping.

[3:41] The residents, according to the option B information.

[3:44] Do you understand why that is ?

[3:46] Earlier today I emailed each of you

[3:48] the guest opinion in the town's call.

[3:51] If you recall, it is in regard to the situation,

[3:54] the town manager has created by not paying the town's water bill

[3:57] to Central Weld I find it interesting that the town

[4:01] manager had instructed staff to pay a lesser

[4:03] amount than was billed.

[4:05] Best Inter Weld for two billing cycles.

[4:08] but did not notify or self the board until the April 16th

[4:11] Special Border Trustee meeting.

[4:13] I am under the impression that the town manager is

[4:16] not allowed to spend more than $50,000

[4:19] without the board approval.

[4:22] So my question for you is how could he have authorized

[4:25] approximately $100,000 of debt for those

[4:28] two buildings cycles without the board's knowledge

[4:31] and/or approval?

[4:33] What penalties would be assessed to a resident if the resident

[4:36] decided to pay only 50% of the water

[4:38] bill for three billing cycles ?

[4:41] My last comment is in regard to another question

[4:44] I have asked the mayor, which is where is Sean from?

[4:47] P three.

[4:49] There have been no updates on Central Park since January 15th,

[4:52] at which time it was stated he would be giving us monthly

[4:56] updates on tonight's agenda resolution 2564 is asking

[5:01] for approval for another for $52,490,

[5:06] with Port Points Consulting for real estate feasibility services

[5:11] pertaining to central park.

[5:13] The feasibility study for Sean's p three company is $380,000.

[5:19] To my knowledge, it has never been

[5:20] seen by the board, much less the public So what

[5:24] is going on with Central Park?

[5:26] Is this the board's idea of transparency with the residents?

[5:30] Any information that any of you would

[5:32] be willing to share regarding these things

[5:34] would be appreciated Thank you.

[5:36] Thank you for your comments Amber

[5:40] Kaufman Amber Kaufman 4319.

[5:49] Falcon Point Court loveland, Colorado I'm Amber kaufman,

[5:54] district manager of Little Thompson Water District.

[5:57] I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you today

[6:00] I'm here on behalf of little Thompson Water District

[6:02] and my board of directors to clarify

[6:04] the recent misunderstandings about little Thompson's

[6:06] current and future water service for Barefoot Lakes

[6:09] My goal is to ensure a solid future for the community.

[6:12] We both serve and to reiterate our desire

[6:14] for a transparency with the residents of Barefoot lakes.

[6:18] First and most importantly I want to make it clear that there

[6:21] is no risk to the current water service

[6:23] provided to Barefoot lakes as a Title 32 special district.

[6:27] It does not only our legal obligation but also our passion

[6:30] and privilege to provide water service to all our customers

[6:32] within our boundaries, including the Barefoot Lakes community,

[6:36] suggesting otherwise by any legal body

[6:38] is not only inaccurate, it creates unnecessary concern

[6:41] for both our residents.

[6:43] It is irresponsible for firestone representatives,

[6:46] either elected or employed, to suggest or make

[6:49] misstatements or assumptions in public venues about water

[6:52] service by another provider whose details Firestone is not

[6:55] privy to It only creates more distrust for governmental bodies

[7:00] who are tasked with transparency and service to their residents.

[7:03] Little Thompson's goal is to provide

[7:05] clear direct communication to ensure our customers understand

[7:09] that their dollars are spent wisely

[7:10] and our water resource is are used responsibly.

[7:13] For a water secure future, we are committed

[7:15] to working with our partners to find solutions to issues

[7:18] on a mutually beneficial way Barefoot Lakes did dedicate

[7:22] an adequate water supply for service to the development

[7:25] that water supply, as the town mentioned,

[7:27] included Wendy Gap water, which is available

[7:29] for re-use That re-use was part of the original planning

[7:33] by Little Thompson and the developer of Barefoot Lakes.

[7:36] The proposed reuse relied on little Thompson's exchange

[7:39] decree along the St Vrain River to support irrigation

[7:42] and the development and to supply water to a small water

[7:45] treatment plant in Barefoot The plan for Reuse

[7:48] was the impetus for Little Thompson to join Firestone.

[7:51] Frederick Dickey Snowe and Central Weld County

[7:54] water District in 2015 to jointly participate

[7:57] in a study for water rights and water quality for a future water

[8:00] plant. it was because of that same planning,

[8:03] that little Thompson worked with Firestone to create

[8:05] the safe rainwater authority.

[8:07] We have served Barefoot Lakes reliably since the First tap was

[8:10] issued in 2016 using water right Static added by Barefoot Lakes

[8:13] and treated at Carter Lake Filter Plant.

[8:16] We will continue to work to ensure that the reuse portion

[8:18] of the water supply dedicated for the benefit

[8:21] of Barefoot Lakes is made available to our barefoot lakes

[8:24] customers.

[8:24] Now and in the future Once again, there

[8:27] is no immediate threat to water service

[8:29] but Little Thompson must make decisions about infrastructure

[8:32] and treatment capacity now to ensure future demand

[8:35] can be supplied at a reasonable price.

[8:38] Thank you for your time.

[8:39] Little Thompson Water District hopes

[8:41] to find cost effective solutions for additional treatment

[8:44] capacity for the benefit of all Barefoot Lakes residents

[8:48] Thank you for your comments and for so Stan Linker i.

[9:00] Stan linker 721 Howard Street Brush, Colorado.

[9:04] I am the district manager for central What County Water

[9:06] District And I just want to start

[9:08] with a little bit of history.

[9:11] In 1965, our district was formed by a very brave group of farmers

[9:15] out by courtesy Colorado In 1968, the town of Firestone

[9:19] approached the same group to ask if they

[9:21] would be willing to serve them.

[9:23] We welcome the opportunity to partner with our neighbors,

[9:26] and our agreement was signed.

[9:27] For 57 years, we've been a dependable partner,

[9:30] delivering high quality water a very affordable rates.

[9:34] Our partnership is smooth up until around 2018,

[9:38] when things changed.

[9:39] The town became confrontational, adversarial and incredibly

[9:43] difficult to work with.

[9:45] Which brings me here today Despite paying your bill

[9:48] the same way for the past 15 years,

[9:51] there's been a recent misunderstanding from the town

[9:53] about how billing is calculated Your account

[9:56] is now three months past due with a balance of $155,341.34.

[10:03] We have responded to Mr. Krieger's questions

[10:06] and provided appropriate documentation in numerous times

[10:09] without resolution to clarify.

[10:12] We calculate billing based on the monthly minimum charge

[10:15] plus the monthly volume charge for water use this structure was

[10:20] adopted by our board in September of 2009,

[10:23] and you were properly notified via a letter

[10:26] explaining it would take effect in January of 2010.

[10:30] This marked a formal shift in billing practices

[10:33] and was within the scope of our existing contract Our 1974

[10:37] agreement, along with a special district law,

[10:40] allows for rates to be adjusted.

[10:42] It states.

[10:43] And I quote, The district will treat and deliver water

[10:46] to the town for the prices established

[10:48] by the water rate schedule.

[10:49] In effect, as established from time to time by the district.

[10:54] Therefore, there is no need for an amendment

[10:57] or addendum then or now.

[11:00] Let me repeat therefore there is no need for an amendment

[11:03] or addendum then or now Since January 2010,

[11:08] the town has been making payments, showing

[11:10] clear acceptance of the structure

[11:12] by your conduct and performance Why is

[11:16] the town questioning this now?

[11:19] Why have you deliberately decided not

[11:21] to pay a portion of your bill?

[11:24] Are you continuing to build your community And for why not paying

[11:27] the district water is a utility with set

[11:30] rates determined annually through third party

[11:34] rate studies.

[11:34] We evaluate current and future needs to ensure our rates are

[11:38] fair and aligned with costs.

[11:40] Delivering a reliable service in a letter to Mr.

[11:43] Krieger on April 29th, 2025, we reiterated that your rates are

[11:48] among the lowest in northern Colorado In fact,

[11:52] your base rate alone is 60% of our retail rate.

[11:58] Our policy for all customers is that payment

[12:00] are due in full and on time to maintain service Partial

[12:04] payments or negotiating establish rates Especially

[12:08] after water is delivered is not acceptable To say

[12:12] this has been disruptive for the district is an understatement.

[12:16] We are disappointed that our long standing partnership has

[12:18] drastically changed I'm asking you to bring your account

[12:22] current immediately to avoid disruption of service

[12:24] to the residents of Firestone and our relationship

[12:29] And in reference to the opening statement,

[12:32] the district had decided that if we can't get board

[12:36] and management to listen to us, maybe

[12:39] you will listen to the public.

[12:40] Thank you Thank you for your comments Yes, sir.

[12:46] Anybody else in the room that would like to opine ?

[12:50] All right.

[12:51] Moving on Moving on to consent agenda We have item

[12:59] approval of May 14th, 2025.

[13:02] Board of Trustees regular meeting minutes

[13:06] item B resolution 25 dash six three, A resolution of the Board

[13:09] of Trustees of the Town of firestone,

[13:11] Colorado, approving a change order.

[13:13] Number one, to the 20 2025 agreement

[13:17] for professional services sES with RV planning for the town

[13:21] of Firestone downtown development Authority

[13:24] formation project Do I have a motion for approval?

[13:30] Motion Approve Second roll call, please Mayor Pro Tem minutes.

[13:41] Yes Trustee Morton.

[13:43] Yes.

[13:44] Trustee doherty.

[13:44] Yes.

[13:45] Trustee.

[13:45] Hold them.

[13:46] Yes All right.

[13:48] Motion passes Moving on to presentation 2024.

[13:54] Audit presentation Good evening, Mayor Board

[14:00] of Trustees Jessica Clayton here finance director

[14:03] and I'm going to let Abby take over Abby Irvine from Haney

[14:07] and Associates is here.

[14:09] They're the ones that conducted the audit.

[14:11] Once she's finished, Chris and I are also in the audience.

[14:14] If you guys have any questions Thank you You got up here?

[14:19] Yeah.

[14:20] Thank you Good evening Mayor.

[14:33] Board of Trustees and thanks for having me.

[14:37] My name's Abby Irvine with Haining Company CPAs.

[14:39] I'm here to go over the annual financial audit.

[14:43] Presentation and happy to answer any questions regarding that.

[14:46] At the end So just a quick agenda.

[14:51] We'll go over, I'll introduce myself

[14:54] and then the audit partner who unfortunately, wasn't

[14:56] able to make it tonight, go through just standard audit

[14:59] procedures that we performed to be able to do

[15:03] the audit, the financial audit for the town this year,

[15:05] go through some highlights Let's go

[15:07] through our standard communications.

[15:10] I'll go through a couple of the audit adjustments.

[15:13] And then some new accounting standards

[15:15] that are coming on board.

[15:17] And then Q&A at the end.

[15:20] Just a quick introduction.

[15:23] I'm abby Irvine.

[15:24] I was the audit manager this year for the audit.

[15:26] I've been the audit manager for the last Three years

[15:29] for the town's audit.

[15:30] Christine MacLeod is the audit partner There's our contact

[15:33] information that is made available,

[15:35] and we're engaged by the town.

[15:39] We're independent auditors and engaged by the board

[15:42] And so you always have access to us.

[15:45] If there's ever any questions Just a quick overview

[15:49] of audit procedures.

[15:51] So the audit process is there's quite a few steps for us

[15:55] to be able to get here today.

[15:57] So it starts with our audit planning, which really starts

[16:02] back in November or December when we start

[16:04] getting ready to be able to to get here today

[16:08] with a final results.

[16:09] And we do.

[16:10] Come on site for a couple of days in that time frame.

[16:13] And then we also perform the audit on site this year in April

[16:17] So that was wrapped up as about the middle of April And we were.

[16:22] And we gave a presentation to the Finance

[16:24] Committee or discussion with the Finance Committee last week.

[16:27] And here to just go over the results with the board today

[16:30] part of the audit process as we go through our process

[16:35] of understanding policies procedures,

[16:38] kind of processes of the town to help us

[16:41] plan our audit procedures that we're going to perform.

[16:43] We take a risk based approach when it comes

[16:45] to a financial statement audit.

[16:46] So what that means is we identify higher risk areas

[16:49] from our perspective as auditors to determine

[16:52] what audit procedures that we're going to do.

[16:54] And we're looking at risk from a purview of misstatement

[16:58] to the financial statements.

[16:59] So areas that we feel like could be subject to error

[17:03] or miscalculation And we're going

[17:05] to dig into those a little bit deeper from our

[17:08] for our processes as we don't test everything,

[17:12] we use a sampling approach.

[17:14] And so we look at a sample of transactions across all

[17:17] the various funds and areas of the town from that,

[17:22] once we're completed with our audit procedures

[17:25] and we then go and review the report, which

[17:28] you have a copy of today and then we issue our audit opinion

[17:31] So ultimately, all this work that we do

[17:33] comes down to issuing the audit opinion which

[17:36] is in the first couple of pages in the report

[17:41] As far as status of the audit goes.

[17:43] So we have issued a clean or an unmodified opinion

[17:46] on the financial statements as the 2024

[17:48] financial statements that audit opinion was dated may 23rd.

[17:53] Just overview of what that covers.

[17:56] So we do look at all the funds of the town

[18:01] So those are broken into various Kattegat areas.

[18:03] The governmental activities the business type activities

[18:06] or your enterprise funds Each major fund non-major funds,

[18:12] and then the St Brain Water Authority,

[18:14] even though that's a separate entity

[18:16] it is included in the audit of the town's financial statements

[18:20] So we're required we have to follow audit standards

[18:24] and accounting standards So our audit

[18:27] is, is performed in accordance with generally

[18:30] accepted auditing standards.

[18:31] So we're required to be independent of the town

[18:34] in order to be able to perform the audit

[18:36] and provide an opinion on the financial statements

[18:39] and the objective of a financial statement audit

[18:41] is to provide reasonable or not absolute assurance

[18:44] about whether financial statements are presented, are

[18:48] free from material misstatement by obtaining

[18:52] appropriate and sufficient audit evidence to provide

[18:55] a basis for our opinions So again, we're looking for just

[18:59] make sure financial statements and the note disclosures are

[19:02] materially correct from our perspective

[19:07] So I'll just go over a couple financial statement highlights.

[19:10] And so this is just graphically demonstrating what

[19:14] the various financial statements that are included in the

[19:18] in the financials, in the in the report show and so first,

[19:23] we start with the statement of net position.

[19:25] So essentially, this covers all of the towns funds

[19:30] both governmental funds and enterprise

[19:31] funds, all of the assets, liabilities and net position.

[19:34] And so you can see from the graph

[19:37] here that the total assets, which

[19:38] is the large half of the circle on the left

[19:41] totaled around 313 million for everything.

[19:44] So that's a large component of the statement of net position.

[19:49] Up top is total liabilities And so that's going

[19:52] to include long term debt.

[19:53] And then any sort of other liabilities, standard accruals.

[19:57] And then the difference or the residual between those two

[19:59] is going to be the net position which was approximate.

[20:03] And these are all round numbers rounded approximately 231,000.

[20:07] And so the graph on the right just breaks down,

[20:11] not position a little bit further There's

[20:14] various components of that, the net investment

[20:16] and capital assets essentially represents

[20:19] how much of the town's net position

[20:21] is tied up in capital assets, less the related debt

[20:24] There's a portion of net position

[20:26] that's restricted either legally or contractually

[20:28] leave for various reasons or various commitments

[20:31] that the town has And then there's

[20:33] a portion that's unrestricted So that's that purple kind

[20:36] of pie slice that's out.

[20:37] Let's cut off.

[20:39] So that was around of the total 231 million, 4048 million

[20:44] was considered unrestricted on unrestricted

[20:50] essentially is is available resources

[20:53] for future future obligations or future projects.

[21:00] There's a next is the government wide statement

[21:05] of revenue expenditures as in change in net position.

[21:09] So again, this is just a highlight of the revenue

[21:12] So revenues broken out into various categories.

[21:15] There's general, which includes taxes charges for services

[21:20] A lot of that's going to be what your enterprise funds are

[21:22] collecting water charges, things like that grants,

[21:26] and contributions, which is a smaller

[21:28] piece and then the offsetting program expenses.

[21:32] So the residual of those for 2024 was 21 million.

[21:36] So that did increase.

[21:37] And this is, again rounded but that

[21:39] did increase your net position, which I showed

[21:42] on the previous graphs graph.

[21:43] So revenues exceeded expenditures by that amount

[21:52] There's another set of financial statements

[21:54] in the report that covers just the government funds.

[21:57] And so I guess going back to these sets

[22:00] of financial statements, the government why those are again,

[22:04] including all the funds, but those have

[22:06] a different accounting focus.

[22:07] So those are on full accrual basis

[22:09] similar to how the private sector is going to report

[22:11] their financial results So it includes all your long term

[22:14] assets and liabilities, whereas governmental funds are

[22:18] a little bit different They don't include long term

[22:21] assets and liabilities.

[22:23] And so that's why there's different sets of statements

[22:27] included in your report because they have

[22:28] different focuses and then, of course report

[22:30] on different types of funds.

[22:33] And so the governmental funds.

[22:34] This is just graphically showing the trend in your balance sheet.

[22:39] So assets, liabilities, fees.

[22:41] And then fund balances The residual of those two over time

[22:45] So from 22 to 24, you can see generally

[22:48] assets which is the bar on the left is increasing.

[22:52] And then fund balance is also increasing.

[22:54] That's the black bar.

[22:56] So not a whole lot of activity and liabilities

[23:00] And that's and that's pretty standard.

[23:02] I mean, those are covering just your standard day

[23:05] to day expenses and accruals and then assets are primarily

[23:09] going to include cash investments Those are

[23:12] the main amounts that are going to be

[23:13] shown on governmental governmental funds.

[23:18] And next is the statement of revenues expenditures

[23:21] and changes in fund balance related

[23:23] to the governmental funds.

[23:24] And so this is this is showing the change over time

[23:30] of both revenue expenditures.

[23:32] So you can see in each year presented

[23:34] the gray bar, which is revenues was higher than expenditures.

[23:38] And then the difference is the change in fund balance.

[23:42] So again, that that contributes to fund balance on the balance

[23:45] sheet When fund balance grows, that just provides

[23:49] more resources to the town.

[23:51] Again, for all available future projects future spending

[23:58] So then there's yet another set of financials financial

[24:02] statements in the report and that covers business type

[24:05] activities So your business type activities, what's

[24:07] going to be your enterprise funds

[24:14] So that's primarily going to include the water storm water

[24:18] and then also the Saint Brain Water Authority falls

[24:21] under that category as well So these funds,

[24:25] the accounting basis is similar to the government way

[24:27] that I showed in the first set of slides.

[24:29] So it's full accrual.

[24:30] You've got all your assets and liabilities, long term assets

[24:33] and liabilities and these sets of statements

[24:36] And so you can see the trends over time

[24:40] with regard to the business type funds for assets liabilities

[24:44] and the net position, not a whole lot of change

[24:48] really over the last couple of years.

[24:50] It's been pretty steady.

[24:52] There's not been a lot of activity in liability

[24:55] So you can see that those are going down

[24:56] as you make your standard recurring debt payments, which

[25:00] then control leads to net position,

[25:04] increasing for those funds and then

[25:10] finally, the revenue expense and change in that position

[25:14] related to the business type activities

[25:19] or your enterprise funds.

[25:20] So these are just for accounting purposes,

[25:23] have a few more categories when it comes to how it's

[25:26] presented its operating revenues on the left,

[25:30] operating expenses next.

[25:32] And then capital contributions and transfer hours

[25:35] and then non-operating expenses which is fairly small,

[25:38] and then change in that position would be

[25:40] the very the bar on the right.

[25:42] So there was a big increase in revenue

[25:45] last year that was primarily related to some native water

[25:51] credit that was received and that's

[25:53] going to fluctuate every single year So I wouldn't expect that.

[25:56] You know, that was a large year, there was also some this year

[25:59] not as significant And so that's why you see

[26:02] the large increase last year.

[26:03] And then a dip this year Finally,

[26:12] just like to point out some of the key areas

[26:15] as you're going through the report

[26:17] and so I didn't listed on here.

[26:18] But I always like to mention the M&A, which is the management

[26:21] discussion and analysis that's written,

[26:23] the whole reports prepared by your staff

[26:25] But that is written as a summary from staff

[26:27] on what happened during the year It's a really good.

[26:31] Just a high level summary of what's

[26:34] included in the financial statements.

[26:36] Basically what happened and why the accounting

[26:39] policies start in No.

[26:40] One.

[26:41] So accounting policies essentially just go over

[26:43] and a little bit more detail the why from an accounting

[26:47] standpoint behind the numbers that you're

[26:49] going to see in those financial statements

[26:50] that I just talked about, the capital asset footnote, there's

[26:54] a lot of activity in this area.

[26:57] It's also an area of audit focus for us

[26:59] just because there is a lot of activity.

[27:02] So that is detailed in one of the notes,

[27:04] long term debt, even though there hasn't

[27:06] been a lot of detail or a lot of activity in that area,

[27:09] there's a lot of disclosure when it comes to debt

[27:12] and what you're required to repay.

[27:14] There's also a lot of disclosure here.

[27:16] I didn't include it in here because it's not

[27:17] really fun to read, but there is a lot of required disclosure

[27:20] on the pensions The town is a participant in two pensions that

[27:24] are PPA and pair of pension.

[27:26] So that is actually a big chunk of the report

[27:29] And then throughout the report.

[27:31] There's budgets, actual schedules for every fund that

[27:34] has a budget It summarizes what the budget was original

[27:38] and if there is any amendments to that.

[27:39] And then where the town ended up in the difference as far

[27:46] as required audit communiques And so there

[27:49] was a new accounting standard.

[27:51] This year.

[27:52] It was related to compensated absences

[27:55] So compensated absences is essentially

[27:58] where you accrue liability related to employee time

[28:02] off that's taken and previously what

[28:06] what was accounted for was vacation time.

[28:08] So that's earned by employees and is paid out when they

[28:11] leave under the new standard.

[28:14] What's changed really is that other types of earned

[28:18] employee time off is now eligible for accrual

[28:20] in the financial statements.

[28:22] And so it doesn't change what the town pays.

[28:23] It doesn't change the obligation of ultimately what the town's

[28:27] going to owe, which is accelerates the recognition

[28:29] of that liability once additional time off

[28:33] is recognized in the financial statements.

[28:36] So for this year, it was i believe it was

[28:40] Peter yau is included in that.

[28:43] And so previously that wasn't there that it did increase

[28:46] the liability for compensated absences

[28:49] by about $200,000 this year.

[28:51] So that's a one time jump.

[28:53] And then this, of course standard isn't, is

[28:55] in place going forward.

[28:57] So that will get adjusted as each year

[29:00] that will get looked at again.

[29:02] And then just it'll always be factored

[29:05] in Part of the accounting and auditing process is that we

[29:10] look at accounting estimates.

[29:11] Again, those are a little bit more

[29:14] subject to scrutiny just because they aren't as cut

[29:16] and dry as some of the other as receiving

[29:19] cash and recording in into your financial statements.

[29:21] So we look at things like depreciation

[29:24] We look at the pension and Opeb.

[29:26] Opeb stands for other post-employment benefit

[29:29] liabilities and so there is a portion

[29:31] of the pay for a plan that includes that So

[29:34] those those liabilities are required to be reported

[29:37] in the financial statements.

[29:38] Because you're a member of those two plans.

[29:40] So you report your portion of the liabilities

[29:44] as in your financial statements, because you're

[29:45] a member of those two plans.

[29:48] There are certain estimates that require You to estimate

[29:53] what your discount rate is.

[29:54] And so last year, there was a new accounting standard

[29:58] where you it required governments to start

[30:01] capitalizing subscription.

[30:02] I t arrange ments if long term.

[30:05] I arrangements where you're making payments under a contract

[30:09] that relates to basically software

[30:12] or other intangible type agreements over the long term.

[30:16] Well, you have to add up those payments.

[30:17] And then apply a discount rate to them.

[30:19] So you have to estimate that.

[30:21] And then the employee time off that I just mentioned for PTO.

[30:27] So essentially what went into into calculating

[30:29] that was looking back at historical employee time

[30:33] off trends and just coming up with a determination of what

[30:37] would be reasonable to accrue for that liability

[30:42] The audit went really well.

[30:44] Again, we're reissuing we're issuing

[30:46] a clean, unmodified opinion on the financial statements

[30:49] Everyone was very timely in responding to our requests

[30:55] So in order to issue the final opinion,

[30:58] we did ask for a management representation letter

[31:02] to be signed last week, which was signed.

[31:04] You have a final copy of the audit report The audit is

[31:07] required to be filed with the state of Colorado by statute,

[31:10] by July 31st.

[31:11] So it's completed with plenty of time to do so.

[31:14] The town also does participate in the giveaway certificate

[31:19] program It's an award for financial reporting.

[31:22] If you meet extra criteria that's set out

[31:25] by the government, finance officers associate

[31:28] And so that's required to be submitted to them,

[31:31] I believe, by June 30th.

[31:33] So both, you know, both deadlines were well in early

[31:38] for both of those deadlines With regard to the audit opinion,

[31:42] just want to touch on a couple of things that it doesn't cover.

[31:45] So the management discussion analysis portion.

[31:48] And then the pension and Opeb schedules

[31:51] that are for Para and for FCPA.

[31:53] So our audit opinion doesn't cover that.

[31:55] We did as we do.

[31:57] So look at it, make sure it makes sense

[31:59] that it's consistent with other numbers

[32:01] within the financial statements.

[32:02] And then there's a couple of other schedules

[32:06] included in there.

[32:06] So budgets, schedules, budgets, actual schedules, and then

[32:09] the local highway finance report.

[32:12] So we issue.

[32:13] And in relation to opinion regarding that.

[32:15] So what that means is that in relation

[32:17] to the financial statements, those look,

[32:20] those are material correct?

[32:21] So we again reconcile those numbers

[32:23] and make sure everything looks consistent And then

[32:27] just a couple of items to note, because these were new

[32:29] and different one time events.

[32:31] And again, it goes back to your pensions If PPA did

[32:35] have a plan merger this year.

[32:37] So what that means is just add the FCPA level.

[32:41] They merged a couple of their plans into one.

[32:43] And so you had a larger adjustment.

[32:45] This year as you recognize your portion of the liability

[32:48] because of that.

[32:50] And then para had a disaffiliation

[32:53] with a large member.

[32:54] And so there was some accounting adjustments that were required

[32:57] on there side for that.

[32:59] And so again, there's a little bit more of an impact

[33:03] as you record your liability related to that.

[33:06] On your financial statements not significant,

[33:08] but because it was mentioned in their reports,

[33:10] we just want to make sure that we point that out Then

[33:15] regarding audit adjustments.

[33:18] And so last year we had a comment in the first year

[33:21] that the town transfer worked with Ukg for their payroll,

[33:27] that there was certain employee benefit

[33:28] accruals that were not included in their year

[33:31] end accrual adjustment.

[33:33] So that was corrected this year it was included.

[33:36] And we just wanted to point out that that was a comment

[33:38] last year and was corrected when we were looking

[33:41] at the calculation for compensated absences

[33:44] The standard does require certain salary.

[33:49] We call them salary related payments, basically

[33:51] like payroll taxes and other employer related amounts

[33:56] be included in that accrual.

[33:58] But it specifically says to not include

[34:02] defined benefit plan match So the town did include that.

[34:07] It was a little confusing reading the standard.

[34:10] And then trying to understand it.

[34:11] So the match was included and so we talked about it,

[34:17] decided we'll leave it in there.

[34:18] It doesn't materially misstate the financial statements

[34:21] to have it in there.

[34:23] It's increasing the liability So next year

[34:27] that was that will be excluded.

[34:28] But again, we don't feel like that that materially misstated

[34:32] the financial statements.

[34:33] And so we were comfortable all by not removing it.

[34:36] It was it had an impact of less than 1%

[34:39] when it comes to overall liable parties

[34:42] And then these this comment, neither one of these items I

[34:49] guess the other one that one was from last year.

[34:51] But on no material misstatements We do look and any time

[34:57] we have any kind of audit adjustment

[34:58] we assess those whether or not there should

[35:01] be any sort of material weakness or a significant deficiency

[35:04] over internal control.

[35:05] We do not audit internal control but we do look at controls

[35:08] on a high level None.

[35:10] There was nothing that came to our attention

[35:12] that would cause us to have either one

[35:14] of those in our reports.

[35:15] So i just want to point that out as well.

[35:18] So there's a couple other So uncorrected misstatements

[35:22] means we found something and it didn't it didn't get changed.

[35:26] And we were comfortable leaving it in there.

[35:28] And then corrected means we've there was something found.

[35:30] And then it did get adjusted So there was a property tax

[35:35] receivable and then related deferred revenue item

[35:39] for 172,000, truing it up to your 2024 assessed ment's that

[35:44] are collected at in 2025.

[35:46] This essentially just goes on your balance sheet It doesn't

[35:49] affect any sort of net income.

[35:53] So it was less than 1% of total assets

[35:57] and a small percentage of liabilities

[36:00] And then there was a billing error

[36:02] that the town actually identified through its control

[36:04] process in the water funds.

[36:07] It was corrected.

[36:08] It was discovered on January 25.

[36:10] It was corrected.

[36:11] It just it pertained to 2024.

[36:14] So we recommended that it get adjusted in 2024 rather

[36:17] than 2025, just to make sure it was reported in the right period

[36:24] And then finally, so this was the last year that the Arpa

[36:27] funds were required.

[36:31] Well, they're required to all be spent by the end of 2026.

[36:34] So the remain Arpa funds were spent by the town.

[36:37] So those are federal dollars.

[36:40] When you have federal dollars that exceed $750,000.

[36:43] And it's federal expenditures that exceed $750,000,

[36:47] you're required to either have a single audit which is a special

[36:51] type of audit or Treasury came out with this alternative

[36:55] compliance examination And when you have arpa funds that are

[36:59] raising you over that threshold of $750,000,

[37:02] so that's essentially what brought the town over.

[37:05] So this is the last year.

[37:07] We'll be doing the alternative compliance exam for the Arpa

[37:10] funds that there's no was no findings from that

[37:14] that all looked clean and good.

[37:16] I just want to that's not included in the in the audit

[37:19] report But just want to mention that we did do those procedures

[37:22] and we'll be issuing a separate examination report related

[37:26] to those dollars It's basically like

[37:28] a watered down single audit.

[37:30] So it's oh, it's less work less cost to the town.

[37:35] And allowed by Treasury only with regard to those funds.

[37:39] So in the future, if there were federal expenditures

[37:42] over the threshold, which the threshold is increasing

[37:44] to $1 million next year unless the government comes out

[37:49] with some other alternative then the town would be

[37:51] required to get a single audit.

[37:53] And a single audit essentially is just a more detailed audit

[37:56] into your federal spending or your federal grant

[37:59] expenditures Controls compliance over the grants,

[38:03] things like that.

[38:05] Finally, we just always want to talk about upcoming

[38:08] King Gadsby pronouncements.

[38:09] So the town is a government entity.

[38:12] You're required you're required to follow government accounting

[38:15] standard is the ones that are coming up

[38:19] aren't super significant So there's statement number 1 or 2,

[38:23] which will be in effect next year.

[38:25] It's goes into more detail on certain risk disclosures

[38:29] And so if there's a certain concentration or constraint

[38:33] related to a government or reporting unit,

[38:35] then those would be required to be disclosed in more detail.

[38:41] They are making some changes to the financial reporting model

[38:45] They call it improvements.

[38:46] It's just meant to be more transparent.

[38:49] So this will affect more of the Mdna

[38:53] Some of the presentation on the statements as well

[38:56] as the budgets schedules will have additional commentary

[39:01] regarding the budget.

[39:03] The original budget amount.

[39:04] And then any sort of variance as to the budget.

[39:07] So there will be additional commentary.

[39:08] So that's coming down in a couple of years

[39:11] and then expand a disclosures over certain capital assets.

[39:15] So you're already required to provide information on capital

[39:18] assets And so they're just going to expand and a little bit more

[39:23] on those.

[39:23] And that mostly affects disclosure

[39:26] not necessarily reporting all of these affect disclosure.

[39:29] So what that means is that they'll just be more notes

[39:31] than the financial statements.

[39:33] You don't have to change your accounting.

[39:36] All right.

[39:36] Well, with that I definitely want to thank everyone and thank

[39:40] the staff for having us here.

[39:43] And happy to answer any questions.

[39:45] Thank you Trustees, any questions Dougherty

[39:51] Thanks very much for that.

[39:52] That was that was great Just one question on the 500 550,000 ish

[40:00] adjustment the water billing issue What

[40:04] was the nature of that issue?

[40:07] Do you remember ?

[40:09] OK.

[40:09] I and staff will give you a little bit more detail

[40:12] on that Mayor trustees Chris Morrison,

[40:17] Accounting Division Manager That was an over billing.

[40:20] There was a read error on it.

[40:22] And it was caught and corrected and we just didn't adjust it

[40:26] in the right time frame and over billing to the read that came

[40:31] in was incorrect when they went out and rechecked the read,

[40:35] they found out it was a lower than what it should have been.

[40:39] So they put it in correctly.

[40:41] So that they were billed properly.

[40:42] OK.

[40:43] And so who was the so so people got

[40:45] bills bigger than they should have is it did not go out.

[40:48] We caught it.

[40:49] We went out.

[40:50] We have processes where we look at bills that

[40:54] are over certain threshold.

[40:55] And if they follow within that category, we look at them

[40:58] and make sure that it's correct before we send it out.

[41:01] So we make sure billing is proper It's great.

[41:06] Thank you.

[41:07] Good It just proves that the process works Thanks, Chris.

[41:13] The other questions.

[41:14] I and it was just one customer, just One customer

[41:18] doesn't do Thank you very much.

[41:20] Awesome.

[41:21] All right.

[41:21] Well, that was easy.

[41:22] Appreciate it.

[41:23] All right.

[41:26] Yeah Yeah.

[41:27] All right.

[41:28] We'll move on to discussion action items item Resolute

[41:32] and 20 5-5 to a resolution to the board of trustees

[41:36] of the town of Firestone, Colorado,

[41:38] approving construction contract between the town of Firestone

[41:42] and A-1 Chip seal pertaining to street

[41:44] resurfacing Nathan George takeaway or A.J.

[41:53] do you want to start.

[41:54] Do you want to make a motion?

[41:56] Oh, yes, yes.

[41:57] Motion to approve this.

[41:59] Thank you.

[41:59] So moved.

[42:01] So Second, the mayor.

[42:04] Good evening, Trustees I'm Nate Hays, this town engineer

[42:08] along with George Hubert, the operations manager with town

[42:12] Again, this is a construction contract between the town

[42:14] of Firestone A-1 Chip Seal pertaining to the street

[42:17] maintenance resurfacing project Road resurfacing projects

[42:21] are essential for maintaining road infrastructure They restore

[42:24] the structural integrity and the service

[42:26] quality of the road over time.

[42:28] Traffic, whether other environmental factors will

[42:31] deteriorate the road and the entire content

[42:34] of these resurfacing projects are

[42:36] to extend the lifespan of the roadway as far into the future

[42:40] as we can most economical way possible The resurfacing project

[42:47] and this one specific to Chip Seal

[42:49] is a preventative maintenance cheap and effective.

[42:52] Again, there's some overlap with our next item

[42:54] as well, so I'll combine some of the details,

[42:56] and then speak more on the next item.

[42:58] But for every $1 of chip seal, it

[43:02] covers about 5x to ten x in an overlay, which is our next item.

[43:07] So again, it's it's a very effective tool that again,

[43:10] stretches the town's dollars in a very effective way

[43:14] This project scope, again, it's chip sealing

[43:16] of arterial and collector streets including

[43:19] the preparation of road surfacing

[43:20] patching service treatment, fog, seal striping

[43:22] and restoration as needed.

[43:24] There are five locations for the chip seal on Sable Avenue

[43:30] essentially from the frontage road to frontier street,

[43:33] Birch Avenue various locations, Frontier Avenue,

[43:37] Colorado Boulevard and Pine Cone Avenue

[43:42] The contract is for a not to exceed amount of $977,277.15.

[43:50] It's staff recommends approval of this contract,

[43:53] and we're happy to answer any questions.

[43:56] OK Any questions from trustees comments.

[44:01] Roll call, please Trustee Holcomb Yes.

[44:07] Trustee.

[44:08] Doughty.

[44:09] Yes Mayor Pro Tem Minutes.

[44:10] Yes.

[44:11] Trustee Morton.

[44:11] Yes.

[44:12] Motion passes.

[44:14] Moving on to item B resolution 25.

[44:21] DoorDash 53A resolu of the Board of trustees of the town

[44:25] of Firestone, Colorado approving a construction contract between

[44:29] the town of firestone and A-1 Gypsy, or pertaining

[44:32] to street mill and overlay.

[44:34] Do I have a motion Some of our motion to approve Second.

[44:40] All right.

[44:40] I did.

[44:41] Mayor Excuse again.

[44:43] This is another resurfacing project

[44:46] like we just talked about.

[44:47] It is construction contract with the town

[44:49] and A-1 Gypsy seal again pertaining

[44:52] to the street maintenance mill.

[44:53] Not really project again known overlays kind of next iteration

[44:57] after Gypsy all again addresses deeper damage than Gypsy or will

[45:02] And again, this project location there's

[45:05] two locations on Oak Metals Oak Meadows

[45:08] Boulevard between Colorado Boulevard and Colorado.

[45:12] 26 from Colorado Boulevard about 625ft east of that,

[45:18] again the way, they'll simply mill down about two inches.

[45:22] The asphalt and then fill in all the cracks,

[45:24] anything subsurface, and then repave over the top of it.

[45:26] So is for a not to exceed amount of $84,854.25

[45:34] and staff recommends approval of this resolution.

[45:36] And we're happy to answer your questions.

[45:38] Okay.

[45:39] Any questions on this contract Roll

[45:42] call, please Mayor pro Tem Minutes.

[45:46] Yes.

[45:47] Trustee Holcomb.

[45:48] Yes.

[45:48] Trustee Downey.

[45:49] Yes.

[45:50] Trustee.

[45:50] Martin Yes.

[45:53] All right.

[45:53] Motion passes Moving on to Resolution 25 dash five nine.

[45:58] The resolution of the board of trustees

[46:00] of the town of Firestone in Colorado

[46:01] approving an agreement between the town of Firestone

[46:04] and mC Green Water Engineering LLC pertaining

[46:08] to the town of Firestone own alluvial well

[46:10] number Two project.

[46:12] Do I have a motion?

[46:13] A motion to approve Second, I do.

[46:18] Good evening, Mayor.

[46:19] Trustees Dave Linsey.

[46:21] Color of civil Group, a civil engineering consultant

[46:23] for the town I think the name pretty well

[46:26] explains everything we've got over this one.

[46:28] Several times.

[46:29] But this is the exploration project

[46:33] that we would like to engage in up

[46:35] on the north side of the same grade sanitation district site.

[46:39] We don't actually have permission from the landowner

[46:41] yet.

[46:41] We're still working on that.

[46:43] But I've got all these other contracts from McGrane

[46:45] and so we want to go out and get this one in front of you

[46:47] and get that one approved as well.

[46:50] But it's effectively the same program that we've been talking

[46:53] about for quite a while.

[46:54] We did actually sit down with the groundwater engineer

[46:58] and the du hydrologist and sharpen the analytical pencil

[47:02] a little bit.

[47:02] We're able to pull.

[47:03] We had a couple of other wells test holes and monitoring wells

[47:07] that we wanted to drill on the south end of their property,

[47:10] but we were able to determine that we could move those north

[47:13] up into the permanent easement area

[47:16] that we had identified with the sanitation district

[47:19] So we won't have to do anything there

[47:21] on that South property line.

[47:22] So that's really the only modification

[47:24] to what we had proposed before.

[47:26] But this is an update with the approval of this.

[47:31] This is just the design portion.

[47:33] One of the first things that they would do once we get going

[47:36] would be to put together bidding documents

[47:38] for the drilling contractor.

[47:39] So I'd come back to you with that drilling contract

[47:42] after we get done bidding that But that's

[47:45] kind of where we stand.

[47:46] But right now, we still need to get approval

[47:49] to get on the property.

[47:50] So we're still working on that.

[47:51] But like i said, I wanted to get the contractor for you,

[47:53] get that approved.

[47:56] Any questions or comments from the trustees?

[48:00] Christie So i just might think it didn't

[48:04] maybe not process that we do.

[48:05] We don't yet have permission.

[48:06] We anticipate permission, and then we will

[48:09] we have we can't go out there until we have permission.

[48:11] So, yeah, but we're improving the design

[48:14] contract before the permission.

[48:15] Do we think permissions forthcoming?

[48:17] I mean, is that.

[48:19] I'm always hopeful.

[48:20] Yes A qualified yes Yeah.

[48:25] That's just that my concerns right

[48:28] But obviously, we would move forward

[48:30] until we did have the approval.

[48:31] But like I said, given the meeting spacing,

[48:33] I just wanted to get this box checked.

[48:36] Okay.

[48:37] Trustee Dougherty, anybody else?

[48:40] Trustee Morton.

[48:42] I do.

[48:44] On, on page three of the document that was provided it

[48:51] it indicates that for monitoring if not allowed to access

[48:56] to monitoring of the well locations located on the north

[49:00] side of the river Then you would request that the town seek

[49:04] permission the land or to install

[49:06] temporary sand points instead of monitoring the wells.

[49:11] And I'm assuming the answer is the same as what you gave me

[49:14] at that, that until all of this has been approved,

[49:18] nothing would happen.

[49:19] Right?

[49:20] That's a different landowner That's on the north

[49:21] side of the river But yes, we would need to reach out to them

[49:25] and seek permission.

[49:26] Ideally we would like to be able to go there and drill,

[49:28] test wells.

[49:30] If they don't want us to get on there, that our next request

[49:33] of them, there's a way for us to go over there and basically

[49:35] hand dig what we need to do.

[49:37] We wouldn't actually have to bring a drill rig back there

[49:40] And so we would ask them for that.

[49:42] If we can't get permission to get over there,

[49:44] it's not the end of the world.

[49:45] But it just it improves the data.

[49:47] If we can see what the transmissivity

[49:49] is across the river.

[49:51] So it does help us.

[49:52] But no, same thing.

[49:54] We would have to get their permission OK.

[49:56] But if we don't and we get permission for the other part

[49:59] of the project.

[50:00] You can still move.

[50:01] Absolutely.

[50:01] Yes.

[50:02] It's not contingent on those two spots.

[50:03] OK, great Thank you.

[50:08] You or so.

[50:09] So will we be spending any design money before permission

[50:14] or will we wait till we get permission?

[50:15] No, we're going to We're going to wait.

[50:17] Yeah I do want to wait until we get any of that stuff.

[50:19] And there's no sense of putting together a bidding document.

[50:21] So I can this stuff until we move

[50:23] forward, until we get that permission So, no, we

[50:25] have not yet.

[50:26] And we will OK.

[50:28] OK Anybody else woke up with christie Morton?

[50:35] Yes.

[50:36] Trustee Doherty?

[50:37] Yes.

[50:37] Trustee Holcombe.

[50:38] Yes.

[50:39] Mayor Pro Tem.

[50:40] Yes.

[50:41] All right Motion passes.

[50:42] Moving on to resolution 25, dash six zero.

[50:46] A resolution to the board of trustees

[50:48] of the town of Firestone Colorado,

[50:50] approving an agreement between the town of Firestone and McRae

[50:53] water Engineering, LLC pertaining

[50:55] to the development of a gas tool I have a motion to approve.

[51:02] So second All right.

[51:08] Thank you.

[51:09] So this contra act is a little bit different

[51:13] We have a number of potential alluvial well locations

[51:19] that we've been looking at along the same river between 25

[51:24] and Highway 66 as potential sources of groundwater

[51:28] to feed the water treatment plants with We have a water

[51:33] court case that is pending right now that identified several

[51:36] of these location as we may need more in the future,

[51:40] depending on you know, we've got a pretty good estimate of what

[51:43] we think these wells will deliver,

[51:44] but we really don't know until we get there, and build them.

[51:48] So the the groundwater team that we've been working with

[51:52] developed a system where they can take gIs data that's

[51:57] available from various state agencies that have in this case,

[52:03] what we're looking at these there's seven different criteria

[52:06] that we look at.

[52:07] But it has to do with a lot of data that's

[52:10] already available based on wells that have

[52:12] been drilled over the years.

[52:13] So it gives you an estimate of what depths to the bedrock

[52:17] and how deep the groundwater is and some other parameters

[52:22] they're able to compile all of that

[52:24] and score them based on its applicability

[52:27] to what we want to be able to do to go out and develop

[52:30] these alluvial wells and then they can present

[52:33] this information graphically.

[52:35] This is one of the nice tools with guys.

[52:38] They can present it graphically.

[52:39] It's almost like a heat map where you can see the areas

[52:43] along the river that tend to lend

[52:44] themselves better to being a good productive alluvial well

[52:48] location.

[52:49] So this is just a tool to help us identify locations.

[52:52] And in this particular case, to help us confirm some

[52:55] of the locations that we've already identified But again,

[52:59] depending on how productive those facilities,

[53:03] those locations that we are going to develop,

[53:04] do we may need to develop more This will be a tool to help us

[53:08] do that.

[53:09] So that's really what this is for.

[53:11] It's in support of the water court case

[53:14] that we're that we're working through right now.

[53:16] But like I said, this is a tool to help

[53:18] us be able identify properties.

[53:20] If we start to see something that's going to come in and be

[53:22] developed, there's a gravel operation or some sort

[53:25] of a land development project.

[53:27] It might this tool will help us make a decision about whether we

[53:31] want to start talking to that landowner

[53:33] about perhaps acquiring some sort of an easement or something

[53:36] like that to be able to get on the property in the future,

[53:39] to do some more testing like the contractor just

[53:41] approved Any questions first?

[53:47] OK.

[53:48] OK.

[53:48] So we just we just did the design for alluvial wells

[53:52] and in in the sanitation districts

[53:56] This is outside that along along the river between 66, correct?

[54:04] Yeah So it's that whole stretch of the river.

[54:05] So this would be inclusive in that it's

[54:07] essentially like theoretical drilling, essentially Yeah.

[54:11] This is like i said, this is taking data that's

[54:14] already available so that.

[54:16] But, you know, that's why all of that data

[54:18] is spread out quite a bit.

[54:19] But it's USGS information.

[54:21] There's other information that the state keeps with regard

[54:24] to wells and things like that.

[54:26] So it's it's an evaluation tool.

[54:28] We would still, if we did identify something

[54:31] as being a good location, like the ones that we have now, we

[54:33] still need to go out and do what we are going

[54:35] to do on these other sites where we need to go out

[54:38] and actually drill holes and see on those sites.

[54:40] So this is not anything that we would

[54:42] use to make final decision.

[54:44] It seems to just jump right into a final design

[54:46] It's just a tool to help us identify it.

[54:48] Or more importantly weed out sites that would not necessarily

[54:53] lend themselves based on that existing

[54:55] if we get in the block or the neighborhood

[54:57] that we exactly what might work both just as an example

[55:01] if you look at on the north side of the river

[55:03] where the Barefoot Lakes development that even

[55:06] though it's very close to the river,

[55:08] it really wouldn't lend itself to being a very good alluvial.

[55:11] Well supplied the bluff that sticks out

[55:13] there is there for a reason It's really hard rock

[55:16] and it's that kind of information

[55:18] that is available through some of these government

[55:20] agencies in this format.

[55:22] Now that they're able to compile all an overlay and like i said,

[55:26] we could rank all of these different things

[55:28] What are the ranking criteria that we have as well?

[55:31] The properties already developed,

[55:32] not the geologic information, may

[55:35] say that it would work really, really well,

[55:37] but if it's already developed or has been mined out,

[55:40] then it really wouldn't make a good site.

[55:41] And so that's what this tool is, is able to help us identify

[55:47] any other questions, comments you

[55:51] have real quick on that, Dave.

[55:52] I believe the biggest portion of this

[55:55] would just be identify showing geological formations that are

[56:00] known to hold water Like I said, it's a relative Lee speaking

[56:04] inexpensive tool to help us stay focused on the properties

[56:09] that would be most beneficial to us Rock our place

[56:18] mayor Pro tem minutes yes.

[56:20] Trustee Holcomb Yes Trustee Morton Yes.

[56:23] Trust Garrity.

[56:24] Yes.

[56:25] Motion passes We have the resolution 20 5-61.

[56:30] A resolution of the Board of Trustees

[56:32] of the town of Firestone Colorado,

[56:34] approving an agreement between the town of Firestone

[56:37] and Mike Green Water Engineering LLC pertaining to the town

[56:41] of Firestone on BFR.

[56:43] Vogel steiner, Alluvial well Project to have

[56:48] motion to approve something.

[56:51] So I can take my interest is at your June retreat You're going

[56:58] to be getting a lot of information from the water team

[57:00] about the update of the water action plan

[57:03] that we've been working on and obviously, as the town continues

[57:08] to grow, there will be a need for both more treatment and more

[57:13] raw water rights to be able to augment with

[57:15] But we'll also need additional alluvial well

[57:18] sources to continue to feed water to the treatment plants.

[57:22] So as part of that, that was why the town

[57:25] had filed this water change case to try and secure water Right.

[57:31] Conditional water rights at some of these locations.

[57:33] One of the ones that we have identified

[57:35] as being a very enticing candidate

[57:39] is a piece of property.

[57:41] There's an exhibit that's in your in your packet.

[57:43] So that you can see it a little bit better.

[57:45] But it's due south of Barefoot lakes They actually

[57:50] own a small piece of property that little triangle that's

[57:53] on the South side of the river.

[57:54] It's owned by the metro district.

[57:57] Number one.

[57:58] That's part of that project over there.

[58:00] The rest of the property that we're interested in

[58:02] is owned by a family.

[58:03] It's the local Steiner family We've had some dealings

[58:06] with them, very positive dealings with them

[58:08] over the past few years on some other things as well.

[58:11] But again, this is all property that's up in the flood plains

[58:17] and they don't actually even farm

[58:18] it Most of what we would be in there is a little bit of it that

[58:23] had been irrigated pasture for a long time,

[58:25] but they don't even run livestock up there right now

[58:28] So it's not really property that they're utilizing

[58:32] And like I said, even with the Barefoot

[58:34] Lakes, the little triangle, it's nothing that they could

[58:36] really ever reasonably utilize.

[58:38] And so we started a conversation with them about doing something

[58:41] similar there that we would like to be able to do up

[58:45] on the sanitation district site This again, is just investigated

[58:48] Three because with the growth projections

[58:51] that the town has got, growth can happen very, very rapidly.

[58:56] And so with the fast alluvial well

[58:58] site with alluvial well, number two,

[59:01] those will take us out just so many years.

[59:03] And then we're going to have to be moving on the next ones.

[59:06] And this one is similar to the sanitation district.

[59:10] So it is a very enticing one because

[59:12] of its proximity to the river.

[59:14] This one is further away from the water treatment plant

[59:16] It's much further upstream.

[59:17] A lot of pipe that I got to build to get

[59:19] it back over to the plant.

[59:20] But the site itself tends to appear to lend itself

[59:26] very well to a site like this.

[59:28] Or to a development like this with the alluvial well systems

[59:32] we've been talking to both of the landowners

[59:35] the Metropark district.

[59:37] I was on a conference call with them a week

[59:39] or so ago They need to take it to their board, their board,

[59:43] their next board meeting is not until July

[59:46] But they did not throw up any issues.

[59:48] And the Vogelstein family has already given us the okay.

[59:52] So there are still think a couple of hoops.

[59:54] I asked them if they wanted us to execute

[59:56] some sort of a trespass agreement or anything like that.

[59:59] And they kind of shrugged and I said

[1:00:00] Well, what you think about we'll get this contract approved.

[1:00:03] And then i'll circle back with them.

[1:00:05] But similarly, because it takes so long to develop

[1:00:10] these facilities, I'd like to get this one to be a little bit

[1:00:14] more of a known quantity.

[1:00:15] So that down the road, several years when we need to,

[1:00:19] we already know that we've got a site organized and ready to go.

[1:00:23] So all this is exploration.

[1:00:24] That's all that this.

[1:00:25] That's all that this is going to be.

[1:00:27] We'll come back with some recommendations

[1:00:29] as to a potential wellfield configurations

[1:00:34] but we really wouldn't take it any further than that.

[1:00:36] This will just help us identify by what the potential product

[1:00:40] tivity of a of a wellfield on that site

[1:00:42] would be so that like i said, as we start to exhaust once,

[1:00:45] this would be a logical one to move to, then.

[1:00:48] So any questions or comments ?

[1:00:54] Roll call, please Trustee Holcomb.

[1:00:57] Yes.

[1:00:58] Trustee dougherty.

[1:01:00] Yes.

[1:01:00] Mayor Proton women.

[1:01:01] Yes.

[1:01:02] Trustee.

[1:01:02] Martin yes.

[1:01:05] All right.

[1:01:06] Moving on to Resolution 25, DoorDash 62, a resolution

[1:01:09] of the board of trustees of the town of Firestone Colorado,

[1:01:12] approving an agreement between the town of Firestone and McWane

[1:01:16] Water Engineering, LLC pertaining to the development

[1:01:19] or another just to yes or a motion to approve

[1:01:25] a motion to approve So, again.

[1:01:30] Okay.

[1:01:30] Thank you.

[1:01:31] So this gIs tool is actually our second endeavor.

[1:01:36] I we did this once before up on the Rouge property.

[1:01:40] We took a look at alluvial or that potential

[1:01:44] managed aquifer recharge sites that

[1:01:46] would be able to make return flows

[1:01:48] back to the south Platte River.

[1:01:50] So very quickly with the water rights

[1:01:54] that the town gets that we use for augmentation those water

[1:01:58] rights a component of that has to be returned back

[1:02:02] to the river at certain locations, at certain times

[1:02:05] We are set up to be able to do that on most

[1:02:09] of the stretch of the state brain river

[1:02:11] with the reservoir and future reservoirs

[1:02:13] that we've got because there aren't

[1:02:16] any intervening water rights along those stretches

[1:02:18] of the river.

[1:02:18] However, as we look at more growth

[1:02:22] further down the road in the town,

[1:02:24] we are going to need to be looking

[1:02:26] Get some water rights that are a little bit further away.

[1:02:28] And in this particular case, these would

[1:02:30] be primarily water rights.

[1:02:32] Over on the other side of the interstate that would have

[1:02:35] return flow obligations to Idaho Creek and/or boulder Creek

[1:02:41] We don't have any infrastructure over there right now to make

[1:02:43] return flow obligate liens.

[1:02:46] There are reservoirs over there.

[1:02:47] There would be the potential to buy something like that.

[1:02:50] But we may not need to because the number of water rights that

[1:02:54] are over there that might be available to us

[1:02:56] are a little bit more limited.

[1:02:57] So we might not need to go to the major expense of a reservoir

[1:03:01] pump stations ditch diversions, all that kind of thing So what

[1:03:04] we'd be able to do is develop these,

[1:03:06] manage talk over recharge facilities.

[1:03:09] What are the things that our water brokers,

[1:03:11] they negotiate with these landowners about these water

[1:03:14] rights and sometimes they want to sell the water in the land.

[1:03:17] A lot of times that land doesn't have any value to us,

[1:03:20] but if it's in the right location

[1:03:22] and it could be developed as a managed aquifer recharge,

[1:03:26] then that might make that a little bit more appealing to us

[1:03:30] So that's one of the potential uses for a tool like this.

[1:03:33] But then like I said, even without that,

[1:03:35] just us being in flow, identify locations over there.

[1:03:39] If we're going to acquire more of those water rights

[1:03:41] where we might be able to go secure a piece of property

[1:03:44] to develop a managed aquifer, recharge facility and just very

[1:03:48] simple terms, what that is, is just it's a pond that we would

[1:03:52] build that you bring water into and you

[1:03:54] let it soak into the ground It doesn't go any place.

[1:03:58] There are some evaporative losses

[1:03:59] that we have to deal with.

[1:04:00] But the rest of it goes into the ground

[1:04:01] just like it did when it was a cultivated field.

[1:04:04] And so that's how those returns are

[1:04:06] made at the proper time in the creeks that it's supposed to.

[1:04:09] So again, this is just a tool to help us identify

[1:04:13] potential locations There would still need to be testing

[1:04:16] that would need to be done.

[1:04:18] But again it's a tool to help us identify those locations.

[1:04:22] And when we do have landowners that

[1:04:24] want to sell the water right with land,

[1:04:26] it helps us make that decision.

[1:04:27] If that land does have a secondary value for us I guess,

[1:04:33] any questions We'll go may your time.

[1:04:40] You minutes.

[1:04:40] Yes.

[1:04:41] Trustee holcomb.

[1:04:42] Yes.

[1:04:42] Trustee Morton Yes.

[1:04:44] Trustee Diary.

[1:04:45] Yes.

[1:04:45] OK.

[1:04:46] Thank you Thank you, Dave.

[1:04:49] Moving on to ordinance 1064, an ordinance of the Board

[1:04:52] of Trustees of the town of Firestone, Colorado,

[1:04:55] enacting Section 9.20.090 of the Firestone municipal Code

[1:05:01] regarding the regulation of unmanned aircraft systems

[1:05:05] I have motion motion approved.

[1:05:08] Second it evening, Mayor okay.

[1:05:13] I'll be presenting tonight.

[1:05:15] Good to see everyone again The ace for the ordinance

[1:05:18] has a pretty good job of summarizing

[1:05:21] the ordinance Very high level.

[1:05:22] The two goals that accomplish so I won't regurgitate that.

[1:05:25] I also won't go through every line of the ordinance,

[1:05:28] but it's broken down into four sections.

[1:05:31] We have definitions as subset action B of the new section

[1:05:36] is prohibited acts so I won't go over each one,

[1:05:41] but I'll highlight a couple.

[1:05:43] The first one is the ordinance prohibited?

[1:05:45] It's prohibited.

[1:05:46] Excuse me, operating drones recklessly or carelessly

[1:05:49] in a way that endangers people or property.

[1:05:52] It also prohibits operating the drone equipped with a firearm

[1:05:57] or deadly weapon.

[1:05:58] Stop.

[1:05:59] There Does anybody have any questions about that section?

[1:06:01] And in the acts that are prohibited and then subsection

[1:06:06] C imposes operational restrictions on drones again,

[1:06:12] just highlighting a couple you're restricted from flying

[1:06:17] over specific town facilities.

[1:06:19] For example town hall the PD building,

[1:06:23] municipal court building town hall,

[1:06:27] Town maintenance Facility is our water treatment plant.

[1:06:30] Anything that's critical infrastructure

[1:06:32] without the prior written authorization from the town

[1:06:35] manager or his designee.

[1:06:39] The other major highlight of that section

[1:06:41] is that it restricts the operating landing or hovering

[1:06:44] a drone over private property without the property

[1:06:47] owners consent.

[1:06:49] So another way this is codifying drone trespass

[1:06:53] is is anybody have any questions about that section?

[1:06:58] And then the final subsection D importantly,

[1:07:03] it exempt or excepts out from the prohibited acts,

[1:07:06] the drone operational restrictions

[1:07:11] town employees is law enforcement and emergency

[1:07:14] services personnel that are using drones lawfully

[1:07:18] in the course of their duties.

[1:07:20] And then we have kind of a final catch

[1:07:22] all to avoid any sort of preempted federal preemption

[1:07:25] problems.

[1:07:27] We set out lawful drone operations that are authorized

[1:07:30] under FAA regulations.

[1:07:33] And I'm happy to answer any other questions you all

[1:07:35] might have about the ordinance.

[1:07:37] Any questions on that Just important.

[1:07:42] So keep on the, I think, Section three, restore acted operations.

[1:07:50] I okay, So we've had this happen where

[1:07:55] and it's been in the evening and so but it's like what do you do?

[1:08:02] I mean, by the time that I mean you don't really

[1:08:06] want to call police or you know I mean,

[1:08:09] by the time you would report it, they

[1:08:11] would be gone So yeah, oddly there there probably

[1:08:15] will be some potential enforcement issues given

[1:08:19] the nature of how you can operate a drone from large just

[1:08:22] from pretty far distances.

[1:08:24] But in the event that you happen to identify

[1:08:29] the operator of the drone or the owner of the drone, the pilot

[1:08:33] you have a mechanism and enforcement mechanism.

[1:08:36] Okay.

[1:08:36] OK, great Thanks.

[1:08:39] Any other questions?

[1:08:41] So there's no differentiation between say, a commercial drone

[1:08:45] operator or a there is there This only

[1:08:48] regulates recreational drones.

[1:08:50] The town cannot regulate commercial drone tracks

[1:08:53] And I'm thinking like kids versus somebody on a commercial

[1:08:58] was what I was thinking.

[1:08:59] So i'm not going to drill drone.

[1:09:03] So much familiar.

[1:09:05] So if somebody wanted to say i see there was a they navigated

[1:09:11] around a property on a street and doesn't the drone have like

[1:09:15] an automatic return function?

[1:09:18] You it can.

[1:09:19] And it would if it's turned on, they can it can remember,

[1:09:23] it's path there.

[1:09:25] But like if it returned home.

[1:09:27] It might not be under operation of anyone,

[1:09:29] it would just be returning home.

[1:09:32] Is that is that an accurate way?

[1:09:34] I don't understand technology or is

[1:09:36] it does it always under the influence of an operator?

[1:09:40] It has to be.

[1:09:41] If you want to if you want to fly recreational drone

[1:09:45] in compliance with federal law you

[1:09:48] have to abide by the FAA regs on Molokai craft

[1:09:52] recreational drones, which is always operating

[1:09:54] control an operator a pilot.

[1:09:55] But again, we the town.

[1:09:58] I mean, we the town can't regulate

[1:10:01] things with respect to drones like the actual aircraft

[1:10:05] excel itself.

[1:10:05] We can't regulate design safety standards weight limits,

[1:10:10] all that.

[1:10:11] But we have some areas of the subject matter

[1:10:14] that we can regulate.

[1:10:15] This ordinance is a proper reflection of that area

[1:10:19] that you can't regulate Yeah.

[1:10:22] Yeah.

[1:10:23] Interesting I know that drones have the capability of following

[1:10:27] the path that they flew and flight back,

[1:10:30] so i guess the operator being the operator,

[1:10:35] you can just say fly, fly, return

[1:10:38] and you still have to do visually look at it,

[1:10:42] but it can fly.

[1:10:43] So interesting Yeah.

[1:10:45] Contradiction there still has to be within visual line

[1:10:48] sight per FAA regs.

[1:10:49] OK So that's what they're saying.

[1:10:51] Visual line of sight.

[1:10:51] Got it.

[1:10:52] All right You have the questions.

[1:10:57] Look up, please Trustee Morten.

[1:11:01] Yes Trustee Dougherty.

[1:11:04] Yes Trustee.

[1:11:05] Welcome.

[1:11:05] Yes.

[1:11:06] Mayor Pro Tem Minutes.

[1:11:07] Yes that's it.

[1:11:11] All right.

[1:11:13] Motion passes Moving on to resolution 25, DoorDash six

[1:11:17] for he resolution of the board of trustees

[1:11:20] of the town of Firestone, Colorado

[1:11:22] approving an agreement between the town of Firestone

[1:11:25] and Points Consulting LLC for real estate feasibility services

[1:11:30] pertaining to Central Park.

[1:11:31] Do I have motion to approve some second?

[1:11:37] Good evening Mayor.

[1:11:38] Board of Trustees Raymond fryer, Assistant Town Manager.

[1:11:40] The agreement before you is to enter into a consulting

[1:11:44] agreement with points consulting for them to perform, to perform

[1:11:48] a feasible study that feasibility study will include

[1:11:52] a market impact submarine along with an economic impact

[1:11:56] and an implementation plan, all of which

[1:11:59] will be performed over the next Six months

[1:12:01] and a deliverable of the final report

[1:12:03] will be due to staff in November of this year.

[1:12:06] Staff sent out an RFQ in May, received three sealed response

[1:12:10] hours after review points Consulting was selected based

[1:12:14] on their response available for questions

[1:12:18] any comments or questions on that trustee during Ringling?

[1:12:24] What's the difference between this engagement

[1:12:27] and past feasibility studies that we've done?

[1:12:30] I would say this is much more specific

[1:12:32] and delve into some topics.

[1:12:33] You'll see the terms economics in there.

[1:12:35] You'll see if you remember the past feasibility study.

[1:12:38] I believe sEC presented last summer

[1:12:41] was specific to athletic fields.

[1:12:43] This is a broader approach approach.

[1:12:45] And this has more of an economic outlook.

[1:12:48] Can i quickly add to that?

[1:12:50] As the board knows we've started to engage

[1:12:54] a couple of specific users and have learned more about it

[1:13:01] Some specific type of development, such

[1:13:03] that we can study that a little more with a little more

[1:13:05] specificity.

[1:13:07] I think as Ray Allen mentioned, and I agree, the SEC and there

[1:13:11] was nothing wrong with that study and it's been useful

[1:13:13] and I think they did a good job with what they were tasked with.

[1:13:16] They were mostly tasked with looking

[1:13:18] at something in an abstract.

[1:13:20] And in this case, we anticipate seeking some more specific work

[1:13:24] on a project specific and more use specific data to eventually

[1:13:30] guide, not only our decisions but the future development,

[1:13:33] whether in Central Park I think the comments will

[1:13:40] accomplish Trustee Holcomb yes.

[1:13:46] Trustee Morton Yes.

[1:13:47] Trustee.

[1:13:48] Darity Yes.

[1:13:49] Mayor Pro Tem Minutes yes.

[1:13:51] Motion passes.

[1:13:53] Moving on to item.

[1:13:55] I appointment of the members we need to appoint to parks trails,

[1:14:07] recreation and open space committee members.

[1:14:09] Tonight And we received four applicant

[1:14:15] surnames were Paul Long, Elizabeth Fox,

[1:14:19] Kevin Arnold and Molly Rushing.

[1:14:22] I've looked at the applicants and I

[1:14:24] would like to nominate paul Long and Molly Rushing

[1:14:29] to the board Would you?

[1:14:34] I will do this one at a time.

[1:14:37] If anybody has any comments or whatever.

[1:14:39] But regarding Paul Long, can we get a roll

[1:14:44] call vote on Paul Long please ?

[1:14:48] Roll call is okay.

[1:14:49] Or is this just a voice vote?

[1:14:51] It's good enough, Keith I would go a little.

[1:14:55] OK, good Mayor Pro tem minutes.

[1:15:02] Yes Trustee Doherty.

[1:15:04] Yes.

[1:15:05] Trustee.

[1:15:05] Martin.

[1:15:05] Yes.

[1:15:06] Trustee Holcomb Yes.

[1:15:07] All right.

[1:15:08] And then regarding Molly Rushing roll call, please Thank you.

[1:15:14] Trustee Martin Yes.

[1:15:15] Mayor Pro Tem Minutes Yes.

[1:15:17] Trustee Holcomb Trustee Doherty.

[1:15:19] Yes.

[1:15:20] All right.

[1:15:20] Well, congratulations to paul Long and Molly Rushing for

[1:15:25] and thank you for being willing to do that.

[1:15:32] All right.

[1:15:33] Now we're moving along to our second public comment.

[1:15:36] We do have somebody and it's Chris Good evening, Chris kim.

[1:15:45] Good evening, Mayor.

[1:15:46] Trustees, Mayor Pro Tem timers good.

[1:15:50] OK Good evening.

[1:15:52] As you guys know, I am Chris Campion, your district manager

[1:15:55] for the State Green Sanitation District

[1:15:57] I'm here respectfully to address the town's current approach

[1:15:59] to its water portfolio development, an approach that

[1:16:02] imposes significant operational environmental risks

[1:16:05] upon existing critical regional infrastructure,

[1:16:07] especially in light of decisions made earlier this evening.

[1:16:10] And to urge the board to lead us towards a more

[1:16:12] collaborative and responsible path forward.

[1:16:14] Our core mission is to protect public health

[1:16:17] and the environment by providing high quality rec water

[1:16:20] reclamation, collect through collection and treatment We

[1:16:23] fulfill this mission daily by serving 50,000 citizens and over

[1:16:27] 15,000 connections regionally across our 208 service area,

[1:16:32] which includes Firestone and the multiple

[1:16:34] neighboring communities.

[1:16:36] This significant regional responsibility

[1:16:38] frames our perspective.

[1:16:40] The town's ongoing efforts since 2019

[1:16:42] to secure conditional water rights

[1:16:44] and augment its water portfolio directly

[1:16:46] proposed to encumber property essential

[1:16:49] to our district's only wastewater treatment plant.

[1:16:52] The heart of the critical wastewater

[1:16:54] infrastructure for the region This is a long standing issue.

[1:16:58] Recently underscored by a Colorado Supreme Court ruling

[1:17:01] that formed the previous water courts ruling, which

[1:17:03] agreed with the district's objections

[1:17:05] and consequently rejected the key elements of the town's

[1:17:09] original 2019 water court application we understand

[1:17:14] the town's the town has refiled a related water rate application

[1:17:18] in December of 2020 for the Supreme Court ruling

[1:17:21] on the initial initial case validates

[1:17:24] the fundamental concerns about the location

[1:17:27] that the District has raised.

[1:17:28] Our specific site with this planned service life

[1:17:31] of decades, an irreplaceable part

[1:17:33] of the critical regional infrastructure

[1:17:35] vital for our collective ability to maintain a safe, clean town

[1:17:40] As stated in the Board of Trustees.

[1:17:42] Goals number Five Attempting to co-locate new water

[1:17:46] infrastructure as proposed poses foreseeable and unacceptable

[1:17:50] risks, undermining not only our operation, but also

[1:17:53] your primary objective to maintain town

[1:17:55] infrastructure and facilities.

[1:17:57] Goal number one in a responsible and sustainable manner.

[1:18:00] A key tenant of your public works objectives

[1:18:03] Build sustainable water storage and infrastructure.

[1:18:06] The town's continued pursuit of this location

[1:18:08] and despite years of conflict and a clear statement

[1:18:10] from the Supreme Court in the original application

[1:18:13] directly contradicts Firestone's own published

[1:18:15] goals of fiscal integrity and civic partnerships.

[1:18:17] Is already led to a significant expenditure of public funds

[1:18:20] by both of our entities We note with concern that the board

[1:18:24] earlier this evening approved the design contract

[1:18:27] of 175,000 for this very alluvial very

[1:18:29] well alluvial well project.

[1:18:31] My apologies.

[1:18:32] Committing significant further taxpayer funds in design

[1:18:35] to a project on a site with such resolved questions

[1:18:39] as trustees The path to litigation over this approach

[1:18:44] has proven costly on its initial merits.

[1:18:46] Flawed.

[1:18:47] While we acknowledge Firestone's objective to diversify its water

[1:18:50] portfolio method repeatedly chosen

[1:18:52] is untenable and jeopardizes existing critical infrastructure

[1:18:56] we urge you to lead.

[1:18:58] Instead of pursuing a course already fraught with

[1:19:00] legal and operational problems.

[1:19:02] Thank you.

[1:19:04] Thank you, sir.

[1:19:05] Appreciate your comments.

[1:19:08] Moving on to reports staff other than financials,

[1:19:14] we have none tonight OK, everybody get out of financials.

[1:19:19] The only question is on the financials Okay, Mary,

[1:19:24] report met with the numerous residents over the last few

[1:19:31] weeks regarding several issues Other than that,

[1:19:38] that's about it for right now All right,

[1:19:42] then trustees all right Then we will move on to an executive

[1:19:52] session Item 20, an executive session pursuant to CRC 20

[1:20:00] 4-6-424B for a conference with special counsel for the purpose

[1:20:06] of receiving legal advice on specific legal

[1:20:09] questions regarding Central Weld County Water district Services.

[1:20:13] Is there a motion to go into executive session?

[1:20:16] Some of the second?

[1:20:18] All right Motion carries time is now 720

[1:20:23] and the board will adjourn into executive session

[1:20:39] Oh, we didn't vote.

[1:20:42] Got a vote Sorry, but the county.

[1:20:46] All those in favor I all those opposed

[1:20:49] Okay, thanks Minor thing, Keith Minor things I

Board of Trustees Meeting

Agenda

Transcript