[3:44] 2

[10:45] yes and start with roll call mayor pro tem levar president

[10:50] council member alfieri is absent council member case here council member

[10:56] nikai here council member neil here council members of the wagga i'm here

[11:01] thank you [Music]

[11:04] all right pledge of allegiance

[11:25] america

[11:32] on to number three ceremonies presentations and appointments we have

[11:36] 3a which is a proclamation recognizing the organizers of the 2021 old-fashioned

[11:41] fourth of july celebration and michael lawson's going to present

[11:46] yeah thank you mayor pro tem um just briefly

[11:50] we we had a wonderful fourth of july event

[11:53] here something that we went without in 2020

[11:57] and it came back in 2021 and we had a team of folks that helped put that

[12:01] together um led by gail gross and a lot of volunteers and some city staff and

[12:06] some great sponsors and uh it was a great turnout it was

[12:10] seemed like everyone seemed to enjoy it i know i certainly did

[12:13] um and so we wanted to recognize the amount of effort and all the different

[12:16] folks who invested their time in making that

[12:18] happen so um

[12:21] it it should be said that that used to be something the city put on in the past

[12:26] um and with covet and everything else changes in staffing and budgets that

[12:30] wasn't something we were going to be able to do and so we appreciated

[12:34] folks coming in to fill that gap and make that play on behalf of the

[12:38] community so that was really cool

[12:41] all right now i have the proclamation in front of me so i'm going to go ahead and

[12:44] read that out loud for the record the proclamation recognizing organizers

[12:49] of the 2021 old-fashioned fourth of july celebration whereas the city of woodland

[12:53] park takes pride in celebrating american independence with its annual

[12:57] old-fashioned fourth of july celebration a long-standing community tradition and

[13:02] whereas the celebration was cancelled in 2020 due to the covid19 pandemic at one

[13:07] time uncertain to return for 2021 and whereas gail gross of soar took the

[13:12] initiative and stepped in to organize the celebration for the first time and

[13:16] invested many hours and our personal resources on behalf of the woodland park

[13:20] community and whereas was assisted by a large group of dedicated volunteers and

[13:25] city of woodland park employees both leading up to the event and on the day

[13:29] of the event itself and whereas many sponsors both from within and outside

[13:34] the woodland park community pledged financial and in-kind support to help

[13:38] make the celebration a reality and whereas the celebration was a major

[13:43] success evidenced by the largest attendance that anyone could remember

[13:46] and brought a welcomed sense of normalcy and enjoyment to thousands of attendees

[13:51] now therefore the members of the city of woodland park city council hereby

[13:55] recognize gail gross and soar event volunteers city staff and event sponsors

[14:00] of the 2021 old-fashioned fourth of july celebration the celebration faithfully

[14:06] honored both of our our nation and our community giving the residents of

[14:09] woodland park teller county and visitors a much needed opportunity for fun unity

[14:14] and patriotism in the midst of a challenging year on behalf of the

[14:18] woodland park community the council expresses its gratitude for the hard

[14:22] work of all involved in making the celebration

[14:25] success thank you gail very much thank you

[14:34] i'd like to give you this proclamation as well

[14:41] [Music]

[14:56] thank you

[15:09] many thanks to everyone that helped you

[15:15] i want to make this did she want to make a speech

[15:20] council wants to know if you want to speak girl

[15:33] first of all i want to thank you i've never had embarrassed pain so i'm very

[15:37] excited about it and i just want to thank everyone who

[15:41] participated yes it took hours on my part to put it together

[15:46] but without the people that were participating it wouldn't have happened

[15:50] so the the vendors and the sponsors and everybody that helped out on the day of

[15:56] and i do have a few of the people here with me today

[16:00] everyone was invited but a lot of people are on vacation and couldn't be here but

[16:04] we do appreciate the city of whitman park and we look forward to expanding

[16:09] upon it for next year and make it making it even better

[16:14] thank you thank you

[16:22] all right four additions deletions or corrections to agenda none

[16:26] we've got consent calendar number five five a's approval of the august 5th 2021

[16:33] regular city council meeting minutes and b is approval contract in the amount of

[16:37] 35 for 96 timberline electric suzanne

[16:42] you'd like to take a and then if we have any questions

[16:45] about b we can sure we can do that so what i would look for this evening

[16:50] council is a motion to approve the august 5th

[16:53] 2021 regular city council meeting minutes

[17:00] oh i'll make a motion thank you a second

[17:04] thank you peace

[17:07] yes lavar yes nikai yes neil yes zuma yes thank you motion cares unanimously

[17:16] the second item as mayor protem mentioned that we have on the consent

[17:20] agenda is a contract with timberline electrical control corp and director kip

[17:27] wiley is here to answer any questions if you have any particular questions about

[17:32] this contract

[17:36] council any questions yeah

[17:39] so kip i remember when we did citizens academy they

[17:42] took us through that whole process and i remember seeing those uh

[17:47] old-fashioned radios or whatever and that was a way of connection can you

[17:51] kind of just walk through what the technology difference is from what we're

[17:55] placing it with so we're we are replacing those radios

[17:59] with newer versions um in our town we have to go with radio frequency because

[18:03] cellular and low frequencies just don't work and then part of this package is

[18:07] also the controls to that so we have a redundancy backup to the plant if the

[18:12] plant computer goes down we can operate from the control

[18:15] in the scada yeah if i remember that's how

[18:19] the that radio control is actually linked to

[18:22] how it actually communicates or operates correctly

[18:26] correct yeah okay and they said from what i saw in the proposal it's going to

[18:30] last another 20 years is that right that'd be amazing

[18:34] you're not convinced well the original equipment is still in the plant the

[18:38] plant was built in 97 so it's lasted 25 years so okay we would hope this does

[18:43] the same okay and by that time we might have more

[18:46] sophisticated communication ability more than likely technology does

[18:51] feel pretty quick yeah all right thanks thank you

[18:57] anything further

[19:01] can i get a motion i'll make a motion to approve the

[19:04] contract in the amount of 35 496 dollars with timberline electrical control group

[19:10] for the system's controls and data acquisitions upgrade to the water

[19:14] treatment plant oh second

[19:17] thank you yes labar yes nikai yes neil yes

[19:25] yes thank you motion cares unanimously

[19:29] thank you thank you all right number six public comment on

[19:34] items not on agenda suzanne do we have anyone this evening we do ma'am we have

[19:39] two the first person signed up is in the audience kitty

[19:43] walker okay

[19:56] okay am i close enough it's here let's say just say hello hello

[20:02] am i close enough yes yes okay so my name is kit marie walker i'm a resident

[20:07] of woodland park and um i would like to start

[20:12] my comments with the gospel of matthew chapter 12 verse 25 and it says

[20:18] jesus knew their thoughts and he said a kingdom divided

[20:23] will be ruined and a city or household divided will not stand and i'm bringing

[20:30] this forth as the last few months i've

[20:33] attended the council meetings and it is apparent that the council is divided and

[20:41] the members of the

[20:44] woodland park citizens and business owners that have

[20:48] addressed the council also appear to be

[20:52] divided against the council or the council against them

[20:56] so anyway um

[20:59] the lord gives a solution psalms 133 says where there is unity god

[21:05] commands a blessing so um

[21:08] i believe that the hearts of the council is not for division

[21:13] and i would like to pray over the council so

[21:17] father i just lift up the willow park city council right now in jesus name and

[21:21] i thank you lord that you know their thoughts you know their hearts and

[21:27] as i believe their hearts are not for division and i

[21:31] thank you lord that you give them the solution that unity is a solution i

[21:35] believe that they would like they they want will in part to be blessed and in

[21:41] unity woodland park is blessed and the citizens and business owners of woodland

[21:46] park want woodland park to be blessed so we just call upon unity and we thank you

[21:53] for your blessings in jesus name amen thank you

[21:57] thank you thank you

[22:00] okay next i'm not sure if he's in the

[22:03] audience but i do have a sign up online for justin epperson

[22:10] and justin if you are on zoom can you please

[22:13] just raise your hand

[22:19] okay no justin

[22:21] okay that's all the public comment this evening okay thank you

[22:26] so we're going to move on to number seven unfinished business and that's 7a

[22:31] the approval of legal services agreement between the city of woodland park

[22:35] and wilson and williams llp and the reason

[22:41] this has come back is because i think that council

[22:44] uh had some questions um of the attorneys to get some answers

[22:50] by um

[22:53] some false allegations from a critic and i think that council's

[22:58] had that time i don't think that we need to wait until november and i do

[23:03] have something i'd like to read because i'd like the record to

[23:07] accurately reflect the correct law because it was posted also

[23:13] in the papers and it was inaccurate and i just

[23:17] normally when it's a person's opinion or

[23:20] interpretation i don't think it needs to be corrected but when it's

[23:24] um presented as if it was the truth and

[23:26] accurate it does need to be fixed so at the august 5th 2021 regular

[23:31] meeting of the council it was alleged that the council hadn't

[23:34] held an illegal executive session at its july 1st meeting and a complaint about

[23:38] the quality of legal advice provided to council by our current city's attorneys

[23:42] were made several members of council have asked

[23:45] the attorneys to respond to these allegations regarding the legality of

[23:48] the july 1st executive session and to clarify which law was misread and what

[23:53] law actually applied so the purpose like i said of bringing

[23:56] back the attorney's contract and what i'm about to read for the record is the

[24:00] clarification of the law which was asked for by council and a clarification of

[24:04] our attorney's advice during that meeting

[24:06] i also want this issue clarified for the public and for the purpose of the record

[24:10] there were there was false information relayed in a public meeting and

[24:14] published by our local papers had it been one simple opinion or

[24:18] interpretation of the law stated then there would be no need for clarification

[24:23] however even the papers published these false legal

[24:26] infor the false legal information and the record must be corrected and i would

[24:30] like to see the attorney's contract approved this evening

[24:33] so for clarification the criticism of counsel and its legal counsel began by

[24:38] citing the wrong law and then proceeding to excoriate counsel for violating a law

[24:43] that had no application whatsoever to what council was discussing

[24:47] the critique statute cited was crs 24-6-402

[24:53] sub-section f-2 a portion of the open meeting law that

[24:58] permits executive sessions to discuss public employees

[25:01] this personnel matters basis for an executive session contains language

[25:05] clarifying that members of the local public body who are convening the

[25:09] executive session aren't personnel of the local government so discussion of

[25:15] filling a vacancy on a governing body shouldn't occur in an executive session

[25:20] called to discuss personal matters personnel matters

[25:25] we met in executive session to discuss the

[25:28] appointment to fill a vacancy and appointments to fill vacancies can and

[25:32] commonly are discussed in executive sessions convened on some other basis

[25:37] provided in the open meeting law under the assumption that section 402 f

[25:42] applied it was also observed that it sure seemed like it was illegal

[25:47] and then he encouraged council not to indulge in

[25:50] technical or legal thin ice so let's clarify that the executive

[25:56] session held on july 1 was not convened pursuant to section 402 f

[26:01] roman numeral 2 but rather pursuant to an entirely different subsection

[26:06] it applies to subsection 402b which permits executive sessions for the

[26:11] purpose of receiving receiving legal advice from the city attorney

[26:16] in this case concerning potential conflicts of interest of a dda board

[26:20] appointee this use of an executive session is

[26:24] common unremarkable and completely legal

[26:29] the second criticism regarding the july 1st executive session focused on the

[26:33] city our city attorney nina williams response to a question from council

[26:37] member neil who asked whether going into executive session to discuss the

[26:41] potential conflict was appropriate nina responded that there was a legal

[26:46] basis for going into the executive session but she added in a in different

[26:51] communities different councils have a different preference and customs as to

[26:55] when they choose to go into executive session

[26:58] nina expressed this well-understood fact by saying that different councils around

[27:02] colorado have different feelings about going into executive session

[27:07] in this advice nina was exactly correct the opens meeting law permits but never

[27:12] requires executive sessions on specified basis

[27:16] advice from attorneys or personal matters etc so municipal attorneys are

[27:21] regularly asked are we permitted to go into executive session on this or that

[27:26] basis attorneys are not asked do we have to

[27:30] have an executive session because no one is ever required to have an executive

[27:35] session council member neil's question combined is it a legal

[27:40] inquiry with an is it a good idea inquiry the first inquiry is for the

[27:45] lawyer to answer is it legal but the second inquiry is a policy matter for

[27:50] counsel to decide not the lawyers respectfully the legal advice that nina

[27:54] provided was completely correct we had the legal right to go into

[27:58] executive session to seek legal advice by our attorney but did we have to no

[28:05] council member zulawago could have asked his question on the diocese regarding

[28:08] the conflict of interest and nina would have answered it there but instead he

[28:13] asked to go into executive session which we had the legal right to ask for the

[28:17] council voted on it which requires a two-thirds majority and it passed

[28:22] therefore under section 402 b we adjourned temporarily into the session

[28:27] nothing about it was illegal there was a grave mischaracterization of

[28:32] the law and our attorney's advice in that last meeting i believe council has

[28:36] now had the time to meet with and ask our attorneys to clarify what had been

[28:39] misspoken and understand that the attorneys really

[28:43] do know that their job that's why this contract

[28:47] has been brought back before november i don't think four or more months is

[28:51] needed that to see that our lawyers who have

[28:54] doctorates in law and years of experience in this topic are less

[28:58] competent than an untrained unexperienced critic

[29:01] jeff wilson who represents us was the lead lobbyist on open meetings at the

[29:05] general assembly for nearly 30 years he wrote the first and second editions of

[29:10] the colorado municipal league's books on open meetings and open records of

[29:14] colorado he knows our open records laws he knows the open meeting laws

[29:20] and he certainly knows when we can go into executive session as does nina nina

[29:25] is also an expert in land use and zoning laws and together they cover every area

[29:29] of the law that we are concerned with and they come with stellar reputations

[29:35] given that the correct information has now been put forth and it's understood

[29:38] that nothing illegal occurred in regards to an executive session nor was there

[29:42] improper legal advice given and council chose by vote to enter

[29:47] executive session i would really like to recommend that we

[29:51] approve this contract this evening i would like to recommend it without

[29:54] further ado however if council would also like to speak i welcome that

[30:00] thank you hillary

[30:04] counsel anything further

[30:09] it's interesting that all i hear is crickets right now

[30:14] don i took your uh statement to heart and i want you to

[30:18] know that i have not spoken to anyone here

[30:21] not to nina not to michael

[30:25] nobody about this issue after i saw the rendering

[30:28] the legal opinion that hillary just saw the one correspondence i had was with

[30:34] mayor pro tem labar when i

[30:38] saw this on the agenda and i said do we have a problem

[30:42] and the conversation we had in the in the

[30:45] text was simply let's not discuss it let's

[30:50] vet it in front of god and everybody and and see where it goes so i was one

[30:56] that voted to hold off the um

[31:00] [Music] contract uh that's how i cast my vote

[31:04] last time once i saw a legal interpretation of what we were we were

[31:09] being accused of i formed a different opinion on the legal services and i am

[31:15] ready to cast a different vote so for the record those are all my thoughts i

[31:20] have discussed this with no one

[31:26] well i would like to simply start by saying

[31:30] good folks can disagree and um

[31:34] as technically accurate as all of what you've just read is i think that the

[31:39] public perception which is what i see is that

[31:44] they had no knowledge of what went on in the executive session so it would only

[31:48] be speculation on their part but they sensed that something wasn't

[31:53] right in the way we conducted ourselves and

[31:56] that i think is the issue that underlies it

[31:59] and so to

[32:02] take a legal opinion against one of our citizens i get it i understand it but i

[32:07] think in terms of what the undertone is what the people are seeing and saying is

[32:12] we want transparency you didn't do it council and that's

[32:17] something that we will pay the price for one way or another it was not done

[32:21] properly it was done way out of context of how we normally do business

[32:25] so have absolutely nothing against our

[32:28] attorneys but my vote will reflect the fact that i thought some space since the

[32:33] breathing time was a good thing and four of you did as well and i understand why

[32:37] it's changed thank

[32:40] you kelly or catherine i got nothing i would just say that i appreciate your

[32:46] opinion robert it's not one that i share um first uh the general the person in

[32:52] question is not a citizen of woodland park

[32:55] as a business owner but i

[32:58] have the utmost respect for this firm and think that it

[33:02] the the two issues are not related and i don't see what the other issue is

[33:08] because we've we have responded many times and

[33:12] there was no shadows or shade for anything else

[33:16] that occurred it was a vote

[33:19] and

[33:22] the folks that were appointed were appointed

[33:25] on that vote and will move forward thank you

[33:31] thank you kelly all right so then council can i get a

[33:35] motion

[33:40] i'll make a motion to approve the legal services agreement between the city of

[33:44] woodland park and wilson and williams llp

[33:48] i'll second

[33:51] lavar yes nikai yes

[33:54] neil yes sue lavaga

[33:57] no case yes thank you motion carries 4-1

[34:04] thank you council and we're going to move on to

[34:08] item number eight ordinances on initial postings eight a's to consider ordinance

[34:12] number 1403 and

[34:16] the presenter is nina

[34:25] good evening council um this

[34:28] um franchise this agreement renews the gas franchise with black hills energy

[34:32] for 20 years five years the prior franchise was for 20 years

[34:36] jeff wilson negotiated all terms beneficial to the city were

[34:40] carried forward um they originally omitted but we made sure to get them you

[34:44] know get back into the agreement just to go over a few points um the

[34:49] franchise continues a three percent franchise free fee that's pretty

[34:53] standard like a rental fee for the use of city streets

[34:56] um for infrastructure the franchise fee is adjustable every five years if

[35:01] desired some new asks from black hills in this

[35:05] franchise were primarily towards cooperation when street cuts impact them

[35:10] and their infrastructure and when the city projects

[35:12] which city product projects require relocation of their infrastructure

[35:17] i believe the uh carly dollar west is um attending via zoom if there's any other

[35:22] uh questions for um her she represents the franchise

[35:26] um if i have any questions or if i don't want to annoy

[35:30] um no the franchise agreement is pretty much the same as it was before

[35:35] with a few exceptions like nina said um just primarily oriented around the

[35:39] additional proactive communication between the city and black hills energy

[35:43] if a major construction project like redoing a street is

[35:47] going to be happening we need to let black hills know so if they need to

[35:50] relocate their their infrastructure they can do so

[35:54] there's also some new language in there about

[35:56] advanced communication on annexations uh the city does annex new property into

[36:02] its city limits that needs to let black hills know with a little bit more

[36:05] advanced notice so they can get those properties set up in their

[36:08] system but pretty pretty straightforward three percent as nina said it was pretty

[36:12] standard um so not not too many changes

[36:17] council any questions it's been three percent as long as i've

[36:21] been around a long time

[36:27] i i do have a comment because i did receive a

[36:30] [Music] comment from a citizen and here's some

[36:33] transparency folks um patricia stinner who's sitting in the audience

[36:39] helped run my campaign and she is one of my

[36:45] biggest critics she will challenge me on anything

[36:49] and she asked me to look into some language in this particular contract

[36:54] which i did now a little bit is because i have

[36:59] studied law i'm aware that you don't list

[37:04] negatives i guess it's the best way and i don't know the exact legal term for it

[37:07] need i'm gonna struggle a little bit you do that it has to do with

[37:12] the document is giving the franchise the access over

[37:16] public right of ways the question that i was asked had to do with what

[37:22] about private right of ways or private

[37:24] easements because

[37:29] we are not specifically putting it into the contract that does not imply

[37:35] that it's there so by the mere fact that it's not

[37:39] in the contract it means

[37:42] it's not implied that they get easements over

[37:48] they have the rights to go on private easements

[37:51] and i think i've captured that and i hope i've captured

[37:55] the concern adequately and i've addressed it to everybody if you had a

[37:59] similar concern over that language and i'm kind of a head nod are you

[38:04] comfortable with the explanation okay

[38:09] yeah it's up to the mayor pro tem whether

[38:12] there's public comment sure that's fine you can come up to the podium if you'd

[38:17] like

[38:22] good evening counts good evening council citizens patricia stinner woodland park

[38:28] so i hearken back to a similar franchise agreement

[38:32] that it came at an awkward time for the franchise because at that time in 2015

[38:39] when peak internet approached the city

[38:42] internet and fiber optics were not yet legally recognized as utilities they are

[38:48] now they are legal public utility functions so um

[38:53] when peak internet um

[38:56] operated on their agreement with the city they did come through our public

[39:00] easements and i allowed them to i invited them to

[39:04] i thought that um fiber optic was going to improve

[39:09] everybody's property values and it was a little intrusive they're

[39:13] water boring damaged some things they did cause some erosion that they

[39:17] did not come back and repair not on my property they repaired my property but i

[39:22] continued to hear people complain about those two or three years when they were

[39:25] active and this isn't a slight on peak internet

[39:29] they certainly went through the right channels they received the city

[39:32] administration permission to access the eastmans the easements were not

[39:36] specifically defined nor acknowledged nor addressed

[39:40] in that agreement similarly um

[39:44] i don't believe private easements are addressed in the old tds agreements or

[39:49] any of the other agreements um is the law has changed it's come to

[39:54] my attention because i was doing my diligence and

[39:57] finding out about the whole fiber optic thing coming

[40:01] through my private easement and i was told five years ago that

[40:06] if a subdivision is planted with utility eastmans those utility easements are

[40:10] presumed to be for that development

[40:13] and what we saw coming in um in 2015 2016 2017

[40:20] we saw the existing properties of northwoods

[40:24] sacrificing and being burdened by um

[40:27] utility installment for uh

[40:31] future developments that still aren't developed

[40:34] so i understand what you're saying councilman neil and i thank you on such

[40:38] short notice by the way mr neil didn't get this letter until like

[40:42] 15 minutes before the meeting or something it caught me by

[40:46] it caught me off guard that this was going to be coming up tonight but i

[40:49] think you understand my concerns the private easements were not specifically

[40:54] addressed nor defined nor specifically omitted and peak internet did use our

[40:58] private easements and not all citizens were okay with that i'm wondering if we

[41:02] can prevent future turmoil and and i am not a no growth person as i said i

[41:08] invited peak internet to come through my property

[41:11] and to board through my property and to have access through my property to get

[41:15] to another property and that's why i got in trouble with another developer

[41:19] because they use access to my property they didn't otherwise legally have

[41:24] so private easements i think should remain private

[41:28] um seeing fiber optic buried in the ground is a lot different

[41:32] than a gas line coming in so i asked council to please

[41:36] work towards the effort of protecting our private easements in the city for

[41:40] the residents of city park not just the residents but for the developers as well

[41:45] and please look into that before you sign this agreement that's all i'm

[41:48] asking and councilman neil thank you um i i understand what you're saying you

[41:53] ask me if i accept your statement can i live with it absolutely i'm just asking

[41:57] for counsel to be a little more astute and just take into consideration that

[42:02] private easements might be temporarized here

[42:05] mayor pro tem may i respond sure um since this is the initial posting yes

[42:13] and we're going to take a vote whether to move it to the next phase

[42:17] [Music] may i make a commitment to you that i

[42:22] will sit with the attorney and if necessary or the

[42:26] the city staff i guess it is would be the appropriate people sally i'm

[42:31] kind of watching your head shake and if we need to we'll get a

[42:36] zoom call and bring you in so that we if there is some language that would make

[42:41] you more comfortable or we feel is appropriate i'm not making any promises

[42:45] i'm just saying i'll facilitate a follow-up situation well certainly

[42:50] that's all i that's more than i could ask and i'm not trying to be an

[42:53] obstructionist i'm not trying to put a damper on the agreement obviously we

[42:57] need that agreement right i'm just asking if we can do it better

[43:01] i agreed thank you thank you thank you thank you so patricia i'd like to

[43:06] pick you back on what you have a friend down in colorado springs

[43:10] and he just spent ten thousand dollars on his driveway

[43:14] and the

[43:15] fiber optics came through and they wanted to bore through his property they

[43:20] talked to him they negotiated what it was supposed to be and then when the

[43:23] workers came they totally changed the plan

[43:26] so the the boar which was shallower than

[43:30] was proposed and it was going to affect his brand new work

[43:34] so he had a heck of a fight

[43:38] and as far as i know that's not even resolved yet in terms of getting

[43:42] satisfaction to the protection of his own property they had the right to come

[43:46] through the easement but he had no say in it so i think you're making a really

[43:50] good point thank you i know that um standard by

[43:54] standard anymore utilities go in through the street eastmans those are public

[43:58] eastmans different from private eastmans when when you have a utility coming

[44:02] through people's backyards and destroying landscape and not coming back

[44:06] because there was not foresight enough to put

[44:11] repercussions in for the utility that came through what if you damaged

[44:15] property you're going to fix it that wasn't in there it was never addressed

[44:19] so again i'm not trying to be an obstructionist to

[44:22] black hills energy to come through they need to develop we have populations

[44:25] growing i'm just asking for city council to please put some thought into

[44:29] protecting our private easements we do have public right-of-ways most paved

[44:34] streets and even dirt alleys have easements that are broader than the

[44:38] street itself and perhaps your friend's driveway was paid over one of those

[44:41] eastmans i don't know the city there was a sidewalk easement okay well in a

[44:45] sidewalk is a public right-of-way so anyway i appreciate that council let me

[44:49] come in tonight and speak i wasn't expecting to

[44:52] so and thank you councilman neal for

[44:54] bringing it up thank you robert also

[44:58] and i'll be willing to anything that i do

[45:02] definitely a chair because i think your concerns are very valid also

[45:07] we can work kind of with the attorneys in the cities

[45:11] well well i have a second i have a second question i don't know if this is

[45:15] directed at you michael or with this is in the law of it

[45:19] so this has been going for 25 years they have a three percent fee that they um

[45:24] pay us for that use has a costing been done by the

[45:29] treasury by the uh finance department to see whether that is offsetting the cost

[45:35] to the city and whether that is still a profitable margin or a fair margin for

[45:40] the city or we just assume three percent is fine and we're just going ahead

[45:46] as far as i know there's been no analysis done i'm not sure

[45:50] if it's possible to quantify the impact this is a rent it's not like a

[45:56] construction project or something that we're incurring costs that need to be

[46:00] covered it's a rental for the use of our public right-of-ways

[46:06] so it's not a cost recovery

[46:09] position does that make sense for you it makes

[46:13] sense but it doesn't cost us anything when they come in and use that easement

[46:16] does it cost the city any money at any point i think so no okay well i could

[46:21] that's and it's just generally to recoup the cost of wear and

[46:25] tear on city infrastructures generally what franchise views are

[46:33] anything further needed

[46:36] oh um yes i know you know rust is gonna speak with sally to explain and you'll

[46:40] sit down um you know with your constituents but i just wanted to point

[46:43] out you know this is an agreement with the city and

[46:46] in in the first section franchise granted it's um granted

[46:52] on president future streets alleys avenues

[46:54] bridges public right-of-ways and public easements

[46:58] um of the city so it it it it uh

[47:03] quantifies or explains that it's the public yeah anything public

[47:07] so then the question is quite like it's been presented here when it comes to

[47:12] having to go across private land what is the protocol what's the law

[47:18] say in terms of that access what if what if for example

[47:22] mrs sinner said no uh i don't want you doing that this time

[47:25] what would be the impact the city said yes but the private

[47:29] uh homeowner said no well we're granting the franchise on

[47:33] public streets right-of-ways um i can't speak to the um each individual prior

[47:39] property because they might already have utility easements that are on the

[47:42] property when they purchased the property but um

[47:46] so does that make that utility easement is the city easement shared with the

[47:50] homeowner so it's a moot point is that really the point

[47:54] it depends on each property but we'll have a better um

[47:57] i guess explanation point out you know which sections

[48:01] have this type of provision that makes make sure that everyone is comfortable

[48:05] fully comfortable that it's over public right-of-ways and

[48:09] public easements that already exist all right it's fine

[48:16] i just don't i i guess i'm having struggling to see where our authority

[48:21] lies in private easements i have a private utility easement on my

[48:27] private property and if there's something going through

[48:31] there i'm notified of that but i knew that

[48:35] that easement was there when i purchased the property

[48:39] and so i accepted the property with that knowledge and condition of the property

[48:44] and know that i can't put any permanent structures there that would inhibit

[48:49] the access of utilities to run through there

[48:52] because it is a use and it's recorded it's on the plat it's a utility easement

[48:57] so i struggled to see the relevance of the city's public right

[49:02] of ways which this franchise agreement addresses

[49:06] and the public right or the private right of ways because i don't see them

[49:10] as being related i agree

[49:16] this is the 25 year old contract and um once again uh only because i know

[49:23] personally miss dinner has an issue at her is that your backyard side yard

[49:28] whatever between you and your backyard and it's a huge beagle pit now i don't

[49:33] know whether the cause of that was by a utilities company or not but

[49:38] if it's been 25 years and we haven't challenged how it's happening and there

[49:42] is an issue like if you want to explain what's in your backyard go ahead but or

[49:47] on in that easement area there but uh from what i know that the city can't get

[49:52] in there and fix it i don't know all the details of it but it's like

[49:56] it's it's an issue to those homeowners and it's not resolved so if what this 25

[50:01] year old contract is plays into some of those things that aren't being resolved

[50:06] is it value to look at it that's smiling yeah and we would have as a city as xero

[50:09] saying we don't have the authority to um grant anything over a private easement

[50:14] and this is clear that it's above streets alleys avenues bridges public

[50:18] right-of-ways and public easements i can't say that i know my property this

[50:21] utility easements over that i purchased you know with the knowledge of but

[50:25] that's not a city easement over the private property this is you know

[50:29] the city's is con is um the party to this contract and

[50:34] when it's versus franchise granted it's clear that it's only public right of

[50:38] ways in fact it says public ease and doesn't

[50:41] include private easings we have no rights you know um

[50:44] to that streets alleys avenues bridges public right aways and public easements

[50:48] okay that's true it's clearly not it's not private and

[50:51] trish understand i'm not belittling or making any less of your concerns by any

[50:56] way i just think that they belong in a different place

[51:00] because this is strictly over public um right-of-way easements and access

[51:06] thank you councilman case i i understand the intent um of of your comment again

[51:12] i repeat private property

[51:16] was not specifically addressed in the peak internet negotiations they

[51:22] came through private property and citizens did not have a say about it now

[51:27] most citizens were it just like myself it wasn't a problem the drainage thing

[51:32] that's a problem but that came that preceded me okay so i

[51:37] bought the property like you know about your easements what we're finding in

[51:41] colorado law and this is something i'm not an attorney and i'm not going to

[51:44] pretend to be one but one of the issues i would like to see council

[51:48] address or at least entertain and consider is easement law has changed in

[51:53] colorado with the introduction of the expansion of fracking

[51:57] what used to be of easement in perpetuity in colorado law apparently is

[52:01] no longer in perpetuity it has a lifespan of 15 to 20 years therefore if

[52:06] you're in a subdivision that was planted into the years 2000 or earlier

[52:11] and those utility easements have not been built there's no infrastructure

[52:15] within the easement those property owners could very well

[52:18] come to you and say my attorney's recommending that i close

[52:22] off that easement and for peak internet would i do that no

[52:26] i invited them on to my property for a gas line i might think twice

[52:30] also

[52:39] thank you

[52:42] okay council can i get emotions

[52:47] no it's a long one but i'll go ahead and make it

[52:52] i'd like to make a motion to

[52:57] approve the initial posting of ordinance number

[53:01] 1403 series 2021 granting black hills colorado gas

[53:06] incorporated dba black hills energy it's leasing successors and assigns a natural

[53:12] gas franchise and the authority to construct operate

[53:16] maintain and extend a natural gas distribution plant and system

[53:20] granting the right to use the streets alleys and other public places within

[53:25] the present or future corporate limits of the city of woodland park consent the

[53:29] public hearing for september 2nd 2021 very good

[53:34] i'll second

[53:37] nikai yes neil yes

[53:41] yes yes

[53:44] yes thank you motion carries unanimously thank you

[53:48] moving on to nine public hearings we've got 9a for um to approve number 1401

[53:54] series 2021 an ordinance approving the purchase of certain water shares and kip

[53:58] wiley is presenting thank you council before you tonight

[54:02] ordinance 1401 um as you recall on august 5th 2021 you rep you approved

[54:08] resolution 878 for the purchase of this water share and this is coming back

[54:13] forward forward to you because water shares are considered real property and

[54:18] you need to accept it as that real property so

[54:21] before you tonight and i recommend an approval of ordinance 1401 for the

[54:26] 0.6 shares in twin lakes reservoir in colorado canal company and

[54:32] recommend approval after the public hearing

[54:36] council any questions or comments

[54:40] seeing none can i get a motion please

[54:46] it's okay suzanne do you have anyone online no man okay is there anyone in

[54:50] the audience seeing none

[54:55] may i have a motion i'll make a motion to approve num to approve number 1401

[55:01] series 2021 and ordinance approving the purchase of certain water shares

[55:09] i did you you know you don't have to read the

[55:11] whole thing can i get a second

[55:15] oh i'll second it

[55:18] neil

[55:25] yes thank you emotion gears unanimously thank you thank you

[55:31] and now moving on to nine b's approval of ordinance 1402 series 2021 to vacate

[55:37] common lot lines and the presenter is sally riley

[55:43] and i'd just like to briefly remind council this is quasi-judicial please

[55:48] stick to this topic and this topic only thank you mayor protem

[55:53] labar this is ordinance 1402 to vacate a

[55:59] common lot line between

[56:02] and easements between lot 14 c in fairway pines filing number 2c

[56:10] which is 240 iron eagle point

[56:14] and lot 15 which is fairway pines filing number two

[56:21] and addressed as 250 eagle iron eagle point

[56:26] as requested by john paul and jill shulman

[56:30] they are the property owners and this is in a pud

[56:35] in fairway pines

[56:39] so sharing the exhibit

[56:42] this is a private access easement that

[56:48] dead ends so to speak at these two lots the shulmans have purchased both lot 14c

[56:57] and lot 15 they intend to build a home

[57:01] after these lots are combined so as a result

[57:06] the common lot line and the easements these are public easements across

[57:12] private property are proposed to be vacated

[57:19] uh i think the shulmans were going to be here but i'm not

[57:25] right right behind me

[57:28] so the owners are here if you have any questions of them staff does recommend

[57:34] approval and all the utility companies have reviewed this as well as our own

[57:41] staff and recommend approval thank you council just briefly for the

[57:46] record i did sell those lots but i worked for the

[57:51] seller not the buyers and i have no interest in these lots whatsoever so i

[57:56] just want that on the record um council do you have any questions or

[58:00] comments or would you like to hear from the party at all

[58:04] well i think for the record i think i've met them

[58:07] and they don't even know it i've walked my dog by their you you have that

[58:12] little rv right now yeah we're future neighbors

[58:16] um hello so full disclosure

[58:21] they're my neighbor [Music]

[58:25] very good council can i get a motion for approval then publication

[58:30] oh public hearing every time every time

[58:35] we're here for you suzanne do you have anyone online no ma'am okay is there

[58:39] anyone in the audience seeing none

[58:43] now may i please have the motion i'll make a motion to approve ordinance

[58:47] 1402 series 2021

[58:52] to vacate the common lot line in public utilities and drainage of private access

[58:56] easements as described in the presentation by the

[59:00] planning director

[59:06] yes yes

[59:09] lavar yes nikai yes neil yes thank you motion carries unanimously

[59:16] thank you thanks sally

[59:20] all right moving on to 10 new business we have 10a approval of resolution

[59:24] number 881 and kip wiley's presenting that as well

[59:30] thank you before council's resolution 881 to

[59:34] allocate 32 taps to a this project on brecken heights now

[59:40] the reason this comes to council is any multi-family project triplex or larger

[59:45] tabs can be allocated because in 1997 our tap management plan limited the

[59:50] number of taps you could sell to a developer or a builder in any given

[59:55] month and this allows for multi-family projects to build

[59:59] multiple units at the same time

[1:00:02] so before you tonight is 32 taps these taps would come out of the

[1:00:07] multi-family bank currently the multi-family bank has 64 taps in it

[1:00:13] where do we get those taps those come from the single family bank so

[1:00:17] council also has to approve transfer from the single family bank to the

[1:00:22] multi-family bank first of the year when we did the

[1:00:26] the annual allotment we had around

[1:00:29] 503 taps don't quote me on the number in the single-family bank and we had

[1:00:37] we had additional taps in the multi-family bank but to date uh council

[1:00:41] has already approved eight multi-family taps for um a project on

[1:00:47] baldwin street uh and then this would also come out of the same bank

[1:00:51] uh what's interesting i was just telling sally is it's the

[1:00:55] year of 32 we've sold 32 taps so far this year we are requesting 32 taps for

[1:01:01] this project and we have 32 tabs left in the multiple bank

[1:01:05] so good job yeah kind of interesting fact

[1:01:09] sorry um

[1:01:11] [Music] so uh

[1:01:13] the developer has requested these taps there is a list of criteria that have

[1:01:17] were established there are 11 criteria and then the staff report i went through

[1:01:21] in indicated which criterias they met they

[1:01:26] they met most of the criteria not all but most there is no

[1:01:30] uh definition on if they even have to meet them all or any so it is up to

[1:01:35] council's decision on whether or not to allocate these taps to this project

[1:01:40] this project is 16 duplexes that are built on a crawl space they

[1:01:45] consist of about 1400 square feet

[1:01:49] 484 square feet of garage space it's approximately a two-car garage

[1:01:54] there are two floor plans available that include two or three bedroom units with

[1:01:58] two bathrooms next year finishes will be stucco and

[1:02:02] stone and available in earth tone colors

[1:02:07] wrecking court also will be a road that's put in with five

[1:02:10] foot sidewalks and access to additional sidewalks that are in the

[1:02:15] area with connection to

[1:02:18] across the street which would be walmart i'm here to answer any questions but

[1:02:23] staff has looked at this and recommends approval

[1:02:25] uh for the 32 tap allocations

[1:02:30] chair council yeah i have one question kip uh on the

[1:02:34] um the background information that was

[1:02:37] provided under the conditions of approval there's a sentence that says

[1:02:41] the developer is requesting the approval of 53 water tap allocations for the

[1:02:46] multi-family project um can you connect the dots in my head

[1:02:51] 53 versus the 32 yep that is a typo in my staff report the resolution is

[1:02:56] correct uh so thank you for pointing that out and i swear i put in 32 months

[1:03:02] okay so 32 is that number correct way to go

[1:03:07] i just have one comment just for the record um this development is going in

[1:03:11] across the park from my house so if anybody thinks i'm going to be biased

[1:03:14] let me know

[1:03:18] so um back to your 32 so do you see any other

[1:03:23] development happening that's going to require more allocation multi-family

[1:03:27] caps this year great question uh if my crystal ball was

[1:03:32] that clear i would not be sitting here um however what is interesting about

[1:03:36] this project and i failed to point this out is the developer actually could

[1:03:40] build up to 80 units on two lots here they are

[1:03:44] basically dedicating one lot to the city that they could have built a number of

[1:03:48] lock or units on and then even this lot one where the 32 units are going they

[1:03:53] could build up to i believe it was 46 so we are actually

[1:03:57] getting units back into our bank with this development

[1:04:01] yeah i recall when this was before us a while ago i i like this development i

[1:04:04] thought it was very very sound so

[1:04:08] my question was simply with regards know forward moving

[1:04:12] it simply means it's got to come back to council to allocate more into

[1:04:15] multi-family if there's going to be more this year uh for a different development

[1:04:19] for any other for any other project yeah anything triplex or larger okay

[1:04:23] great no other questions thank you counsel anything further

[1:04:29] can i get a motion public hearing

[1:04:32] suzanne do you have anyone no ma'am

[1:04:35] is there anyone in the audience okay seeing none now they have a motion

[1:04:42] i will move to approve resolution number 881 series 2021

[1:04:47] establishing 32 multi-family residential water tap allotments for lot line of

[1:04:51] breaking heights

[1:05:03] yes thank you motion cares unanimously excellent

[1:05:09] council we're at number 11 already that's six minutes remember i said

[1:05:14] because no it won't be 30 minutes all right so rondo 11 reports

[1:05:21] i don't have any special announcements just um the motorcycle that's right yeah

[1:05:26] the veterans rally uh is um saturday and i think tomorrow well as

[1:05:33] well it's also tomorrow yeah so i was going to give that to you so i'm happy

[1:05:37] too good um the 39th annual

[1:05:42] 2021 salute to american veterans rally and

[1:05:46] the

[1:05:49] uh is it the 30th 29th uh pow mia recognition ride to

[1:05:55] creek or through creek is this weekend beginning tomorrow afternoon

[1:06:01] um they will have the red t-shirt giveaway

[1:06:05] in the park you'll probably notice there were some tents and things going up in

[1:06:09] the north end of the park in preparation for the rally

[1:06:14] it's it's a

[1:06:16] very timely celebration of our veterans in our

[1:06:21] community in our state in our country we've seen some pretty disturbing things

[1:06:27] as of late going on and

[1:06:31] i think there's a number of veterans that have served that are

[1:06:34] feeling some disappointment or some different feelings right now so it's a

[1:06:39] great opportunity to honor those that have served

[1:06:43] and protected our freedoms there will be a

[1:06:47] boatload of them here over the weekend so please thank them when you see them

[1:06:52] for their service join us if you can the tomorrow

[1:06:56] afternoon is friday in the park there's vendors there's going to and saturday is

[1:07:01] the ride we are gathering between 7 30 the ride

[1:07:05] will leave probably at 10 o'clock the last

[1:07:08] registered motorcycle will be ryder will be at night at

[1:07:13] 9 30 promptly leaving at 10. the roads will be blocked and highway 24

[1:07:19] blocked from 9 30 until about 10 45 i believe so plan accordingly

[1:07:26] we all know that we all know how to get around town without the use of 24.

[1:07:31] um go east and you'll get behind them um and then the rally in town on

[1:07:38] saturday and the ceremonies they are actually giving away a

[1:07:42] modified motorcycle three-wheeler for a veteran

[1:07:47] that has many different special needs they've

[1:07:51] flown him in i believe from chicago to honor him by presenting that motorcycle

[1:07:56] to him getting him back on the road um here at our rally so that'll be a a

[1:08:02] tear jerker i'm sure and then

[1:08:06] there will be bands there will be a beer garden there will

[1:08:10] be vendors and good camaraderie and opportunities

[1:08:15] to thank those that have served our country so i hope to see you all there

[1:08:19] i won't be riding this year but

[1:08:22] look forward to celebrating with everyone

[1:08:25] thank you hillary catherine i don't have anything

[1:08:32] i had two liaison meetings the first one was a special

[1:08:36] meeting for the historic preservation committee on

[1:08:40] august 9th it was a very simple meeting in which a historical building

[1:08:46] located at 720 west highway 24 was requesting to re-roof

[1:08:52] uh the building it was approved that's all i have for the historic

[1:08:56] preservation um in terms of the dda we had a meeting

[1:09:00] this past tuesday it was

[1:09:03] a little confusing at first it was going to be a workshop that it

[1:09:07] was announced as a special meeting we did go through the process

[1:09:11] of voting to make sure went back to a workshop

[1:09:15] status officially no business was conducted there was a

[1:09:18] lot of topics that

[1:09:24] are under consideration nothing

[1:09:27] that i i'm going to go into any depth for sake of time

[1:09:40] um yeah firstly with regards to the

[1:09:43] veterans rally if any of you know any veterans who are struggling with

[1:09:48] post-traumatic syndrome or depression or suicide or

[1:09:52] anything like that one of our prior council members paul

[1:09:56] sonja is part of a team who's organizing a

[1:10:00] retreat fishing kayaking stuff like that

[1:10:04] i'm not sure when the the closure date of applications is but it's coming up

[1:10:08] here in september the events coming up september so if you

[1:10:12] do want to refer somebody either

[1:10:15] contact me or paul paul paul probably is a direct one but if you don't have his

[1:10:19] contact information um

[1:10:22] secondly i also i'm excited to see how uh this

[1:10:27] maiden voyage for the veterans rally uh flies here in uh woodham park so

[1:10:33] it'll be an experiment and the debriefing afterwards to see how how uh

[1:10:38] we all do with it so i welcome them with open arms and look forward to what's

[1:10:42] going to happen as far as the ppacg

[1:10:47] some interesting workshops been happening uh this week

[1:10:51] educating coloradans about some laws that are coming down with regards

[1:10:55] electric vehicles with regards uh transport train transport and stuff like

[1:10:59] that um

[1:11:02] a little disturbing a number of us were concerned that these mandates are coming

[1:11:05] down from the state to turn the state majority of electric vehicles in a short

[1:11:12] period of time and forgetting the fact that as a at

[1:11:16] least one of my concerns was you start making all these electric

[1:11:20] vehicles well all the all the batteries are

[1:11:23] manufactured in china so what's that do for uh energy

[1:11:28] independence what's that do for uh security

[1:11:31] secondly is all issue of the disposal of the batteries um you know nothing said

[1:11:35] about it oh yeah it's free energy it's it's clean energy but it's not when you

[1:11:39] look at the recycle end of it so those issues haven't really been discussed

[1:11:44] and uh there was a number of people on the ppa

[1:11:48] zg who had different tactful questions about where this is all going

[1:11:54] so that's one and then of course like here we are where it's so cold a

[1:11:58] battery's supposed to last 300 300 miles but when it gets cold it's not going to

[1:12:03] go that far and just imagine yourself in a snow drift with your battery going

[1:12:07] flat so there's a few things that don't seem to be worked out but it's coming

[1:12:11] our way the second one is electric train or not

[1:12:13] electric trains uh is trains across the state and there's a whole deal with

[1:12:19] what that infrastructure is going to look like it's not going to affect us

[1:12:22] but anyway that's all from ppacg

[1:12:26] and i like oh bye

[1:12:31] i did forget one thing for my ladies

[1:12:34] and it didn't occur during the workshop but as a liaison

[1:12:39] i wanted to report that elijah murphy did resign effective yesterday

[1:12:45] for the reasons that he stated uh at the last council meeting i had reached out

[1:12:50] to him and asked him to reconsider i think he's got some concerns that i

[1:12:54] too have and was hoping that we could put both

[1:12:58] sides of you know the division of the city into the room and work together and

[1:13:03] work through it to see that people on both sides are

[1:13:06] hardworking he reconsidered but still uh stood on his resignation and it was

[1:13:12] effective as of yesterday very good and suzanne that reminds us that we need to

[1:13:17] advertise both positions now thank you thank you

[1:13:21] all right nina

[1:13:25] i don't have a report but i just want to thank the council for their faith in us

[1:13:29] for the city attorney um when we first were asked to apply in february a lot of

[1:13:33] people warned us about the challenge but it's something that isn't

[1:13:36] the least but it's something that's important um

[1:13:40] to us it's part of our mission why we do this work um especially where we embrace

[1:13:44] the challenge but also where we see that there's um

[1:13:48] you know the impact that you're all collectively making and you are all are

[1:13:51] um you know really making steps

[1:13:54] good really good steps to for that towards your community and you have a

[1:13:57] really good staff that we're also honored to work with um

[1:14:01] so thank you very much and also i think you all met elliott brownies our new

[1:14:04] attorney so now

[1:14:06] he's uh started we had meetings about half the day with different staff and

[1:14:10] working on different um things so we we really enjoy working

[1:14:14] here and um thank you thank you nina is he old enough to have

[1:14:18] gone to school and really graduated

[1:14:21] he didn't know what e.t was [Laughter]

[1:14:26] but that's a compliment yes he's he's um i've been a lawyer about two years um

[1:14:30] graduated from colorado so nice yeah very good welcome

[1:14:35] and yes welcome let me get you

[1:14:41] um so first a question for the council very

[1:14:43] important question what is the difference between a well-dressed man on

[1:14:46] a bicycle and a poorly dressed man on a tricycle

[1:14:52] one wheel a tire

[1:15:08] um in a little bit more serious vayne um

[1:15:11] [Music] if you'd like to know more about the

[1:15:14] veterans rally uh there's a really helpful website the

[1:15:18] veteransrally.org uh has a lot of details about the ride itself it has a

[1:15:22] very well detailed program in terms of the timing and everything

[1:15:27] and i believe routes may be on here as well a list of closures and locations of

[1:15:31] closures are on the city's website citydashwoodlandpark.org so some some

[1:15:36] final helpful resources for you um

[1:15:40] we are full on the citizens academy we

[1:15:44] filled up quite quickly and so uh we do have a waiting list the waiting list is

[1:15:48] also quite long um but you know there's always a chance

[1:15:51] um but we we thank folks who have signed up and taken interest in that that's

[1:15:55] really exciting um the keep woodland park beautiful

[1:15:59] community cleanup is saturday august 28th

[1:16:02] uh from 9 to 12 registration will start at 8 30 in the

[1:16:06] morning at the upass cultural center uh midland

[1:16:10] pavilion so we'll get another

[1:16:13] shot at cleaning up our community went really well last time we hope to see you

[1:16:17] there thank you for considering that and then finally a really exciting note

[1:16:22] to end on sales tax and lodging tax that you know it actually is kind of

[1:16:26] exciting in a sense the city is doing uh pretty

[1:16:29] well in these areas sales tax year to date is up 13.4

[1:16:34] percent over 2020. um

[1:16:38] things slowed down a little bit in may of this year uh you know 7.6 percent

[1:16:43] growth in me i'm still pretty good but we've in june we started seeing this

[1:16:48] double-digit year-over-year growth again so um things continue to do well here

[1:16:54] um i know that there was a 15.8 percent

[1:16:57] increase over june of last year for sales tax just for the month of june

[1:17:01] um as we all know and probably are feeling at this point inflation's a big

[1:17:05] part of that um

[1:17:08] the consumer price index increased 5.4 over the 12 months prior which is the

[1:17:12] biggest increase uh since august of 2008

[1:17:16] and so um i i found uh some

[1:17:21] yes yes i found it interesting that uh the price

[1:17:24] for used cars has increased 41.7 percent over 12 months prior

[1:17:30] um sell our cars sell our houses i just

[1:17:34] will just have to walk and i can't help you with that yes

[1:17:40] yes um

[1:17:42] and so energy costs obviously are going up across the board to regardless of

[1:17:46] what they are so um on lodging tax it's it's much the

[1:17:50] same story uh year to date we're up 68 and a half percent uh through the end of

[1:17:54] june over 2020 um we're gonna start to see some kind of

[1:17:59] stabilization uh in that

[1:18:02] lodging tax we were having triple digit growth over last year because if you all

[1:18:08] recall we've told you for months about microtel opening and then having this

[1:18:12] lodging rev software system uh to better capture watching tax revenues well it's

[1:18:17] been a year since then and so we're kind of we're kind of doing one of these

[1:18:20] leveling off things um that said we we still have lodging

[1:18:24] tax increase by uh 10.7 percent in the month of june

[1:18:30] well and wasn't lodging still closed down pretty much at this point last year

[1:18:35] or had we started to open again i don't remember

[1:18:39] you know we forget those awful things that happen in our lives dad miller is

[1:18:44] shaking her head no thank you were we okay

[1:18:48] thank you so much she should have known she would know

[1:18:53] so even better news on that point so people are coming to win the park

[1:18:57] they're staying in woodland park and hopefully well they're spending money in

[1:18:59] woodland park i mean here it is so um and that's uh that those those are

[1:19:04] the highlights we do of course have supporting documentation uh if you like

[1:19:09] that's all i got

[1:19:14] the finance directors oh

[1:19:17] our brand new finance director this is dave four from mr vasilati he has joined

[1:19:21] us online um he's jumping in with both feet

[1:19:26] hair on fire no doubt but he's got a great attitude you never

[1:19:29] know it um i don't know if aaron can speak but uh i don't know if i want to

[1:19:34] put him on the spot either but uh um he

[1:19:39] uh aaron is is working remotely for us at the time as as all of us know it's

[1:19:44] kind of difficult to find housing in this area

[1:19:46] uh right now and so he's working through that he's doing his best but uh he's

[1:19:50] he's already made great contributions he's

[1:19:53] teaching me stuff about accounting already um and so i'm grateful for that

[1:19:57] in a matter of speaking um

[1:20:00] but he he knows it all so we're grateful to have him

[1:20:03] awesome great anything further

[1:20:08] all right and this meeting is adjourned

City Council Regular Meeting 8/19/2021

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