Video Description:
Longmont City Council – Regular Session – May 24, 2022
Note: The following is the output of transcribing from a video recording. Although the transcription, which was done with software, is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or [software] transcription errors. It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings at the meeting, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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Unknown Speaker 0:06
Good morning. Good evening, everyone. I’d like to call the May 24 2020 to Longmont City Council regular session to order. May we have a roll call please.
Unknown Speaker 0:19
Mayor pack present. Councilmember Dogberry. Here. Councilmember Martin. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Rodriguez, Councilmember waters, Councilmember Yarborough? Mayor, you
Unknown Speaker 0:30
have a quorum. Thank you. Let’s stand for the Pledge please.
Unknown Speaker 0:37
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Unknown Speaker 0:56
As a reminder to the public this meeting is being live streamed. You can watch it also on the Longmont public media.org forward slash watch. And also at on YouTube. Anyone wishing to speak at first call public invited to be heard, will need to add his or her name to the list outside the council chambers. Only those on the list will be invited to speak at the first public invited to be heard. speakers who do not place the names on the list will have the opportunity to speak during public hearing items this evening. Or at the final call public invited to be heard on any item at the end of the meeting. We have two minutes. Meeting Minutes to approve. The first one is The April 26 minutes. Can I have a motion? Thank you. All right, that’s the April 26 2022 minutes have been approved by Mayor Pro Tem no I’m sorry by Councillor waters seconded by Councillor Yarborough. Let’s vote. And that passes unanimously. The second one is the May 10 2022. Regular Session minutes. Thank you. Alright, so those have been that motion has been Moved by Councillor waters seconded by Councillor Hidalgo fairy. Let’s vote. And that carries Passes unanimously as well. Let’s see em. Do we have any agenda revisions? No, we do not mer Thank you. Do any of the councillors have anything they want to add two items to future agendas.
Unknown Speaker 2:44
No, I just wanted to pull something from
Unknown Speaker 2:50
thank you for the heads up there. Okay. Can we have our city manager’s report
Unknown Speaker 2:58
or mayor Council All right.
Unknown Speaker 3:00
Do we have any doesn’t quickly any have any special reports or presentations? So this is the first call public invited to be heard. And we did not have anyone sign up for first call. Thank you. Yep, first time we’ve never had that. So now we have the consent agenda. Lucien Would you mind reading the title of the first ordinance reading ordinances?
Unknown Speaker 3:25
I would be happy to. Alright ordinances on this consent agenda will be set for second reading and public hearing on June 14 2022. Unless otherwise noted following the item title. Item nine A is ordinance o 2022 20. A bill for an ordinance conditionally approving the vacation of for utility and storm drainage easements within the exterior boundaries of Lot two of Long’s peak Industrial Park slash sunset diagonal business park minor subdivision be generally located at 1820 Industrial circle. Item nine B is resolution r 2022 89. A resolution of the long run city council authorizing loans from the fund balance in the city’s fleet bought funds to the DDA construction fund and the DVA arts and entertainment fund and providing for repayment of the loans from the DDA tax increment Income Fund. Item nine fee is resolution Rs 2022. Nine D a resolution of the Council of the City of Longmont, Colorado, finding that the petition for annexation and parcels of land located in Boulder County State of Colorado, known as the McIntosh Lake annexation, generally located north of Lake Shore Drive south of state highway 66 west of Harvard Street and substantially complies with the Colorado Revised Statutes Section 31 Dash 12 Dash 1071. Item nine D is resolution Rs 2022 91. A resolution of the Longmont City Council approving contract amendment number one to the intergovernmental agreement between the city and the Colorado Department of Human Services Office of Behavioral Health for grand for a Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program. Item nine E is resolution our 2022 92. A resolution belongs on city council approving the amendment to the intergovernmental agreement between the city and the Colorado Department of Human Services Office of Behavioral Health for contract amendment number four for original contract number 21 IHJ. A 160883 for Longmont Public Safety’s LEAD program. And nine F is resolution our 2022 93 resolution of the Longmont City Council approving an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Longmont and state of Colorado Department of Human Services Office of Behavioral Health for a co responder Services Group Program grant of nine G is resolution our 2022 94 a resolution of the Longmont City Council approving an intergovernmental intergovernmental agreement with the University of Colorado Boulder and Longmont Department of Public Safety for the provision of law enforcement and administrative personnel. Adam nine H is revolution our 2022 95 a resolution to the Longmont City Council approving the First Amendment to the intergovernmental agreement between the city and University of Colorado for professional services for hydraulic fracturing water quality monitoring study at Union reservoir at an EIS resolution our 2022 96 a resolution to the Longmont City Council approving the intergovernmental agreement between the city and Boulder County for the temporary use of a pedestrian bridge at how Valley Ranch open space out of nine j is our resolution our 2022 97 resolution along with City Council approving the intergovernmental agreement between the city, Boulder County and the City of Boulder for a collaboration on a regional grant management system. Item 9k is the resolution our 2022 98 to resolution Longmont City Council approving an amendment to the intergovernmental agreement between the city of Longmont and the state of Colorado Department of local affairs for grant funding for defense counsel first appearance grant program. And item nine now is resolution are 2022 99 a resolution of the Longmont City Council approving an intergovernmental agreement between the city and state of Colorado Energy Office for grant to develop a benchmarking portal.
Unknown Speaker 6:40
Thank you, Lucien. Councillor Martin, you wanted to pull an item?
Unknown Speaker 6:46
Yes, thank you, Mayor Peck. I would like to pull items F h and J.
Unknown Speaker 6:55
Does anyone else when pull items it doesn’t look like it. Can you want to make a motion to move then?
Unknown Speaker 7:04
Sorry about that. Yes, I move the consent agenda. Less items F h and J. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 7:13
All right. So the consent agenda has been moved minus F h and j by Councillor Martin. seconded by Councillor waters Let’s vote.
Unknown Speaker 7:34
So that passes unanimously. Thank you. So now we’re going to come to the ordinance on second reading and public hearings on any manner matter. A is ordinance 02022 Dash 18. A bill for an ordinance authorizing a long term water supply agreement between the city of Longmont acting by and through its water utility enterprise, East Cherry Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District, acting on its own and on behalf of its east Cherry Creek Valley Water activity enterprise incorporated Arapahoe County Water and Wastewater authority and united Water and Sanitation District. Is there a staff report on this? No, it doesn’t look like it. Do we have any questions from Council? No. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on ordinance a 20 2218? Seeing none, we would ask I asked for a motion for a council member to move this. Right it’s ordinance 2022 Dash 18 has been Moved by Councillor Martin and seconded by Councillor Yarborough.
Unknown Speaker 8:52
And that passes unanimously. The second one is is ordinance 2022 Dash 19. A bill for an ordinance amending chapter 13.20 sections 13.2 0.010 13.2 0.070 and 13.2 0.90 of the Longmont municipal code on definitions for public lands, facility and shelter reservation and hours of use. Do we have a staff report on this?
Unknown Speaker 9:25
No mayor but what I did want to say is since Sandy covered for me when I was out moving my daughter back I would be happy to answer any questions from Council on this item.
Unknown Speaker 9:34
Okay, thank you. Are there any anybody in the public that would like to address this ordinance? Seeing none, are there any questions from councillors? There you are, sir Hidalgo ferry, Thank you, Mayor.
Unknown Speaker 9:53
You know this has come up at the the liaison for the GLA and there has been concerned over the A change in the park hours. One of the things that came up is, you know, we have residents who maybe walk their dog or, you know, go and we’ll play on swim for a little bit and then go home. And it might end would be after, you know, it would be, you know, well after an hour after sunset. So, you know, I guess I just wanted some clarification on because I’ve heard a couple of things from folks from staff that no, you got to clear out or no, you can hang out. But as long as you’re not there for hours, or they’re really targeting, you know, undesirable behavior. So really, what does that mean when we say the parks are closed, when our
Unknown Speaker 10:47
baby jumped into to help me on this one provision in this that really talks about as you’re moving through the park, and that’s a key provision. So if you’re moving through the park, and you’re not consistently staying in a location, that’s an allowed use under the definition of it. And and David actually can jump in this other piece? And I think the other depends? Are you moving through the park? Are you just staying there your Is it a more extended timeframe, but generally, I think I would say is, if you’re just kind of moving through, then there’s not an issue there.
Unknown Speaker 11:23
Okay, and then I guess it’s so that I’m going to go back. So the moving through, you know, if somebody was playing with their kids swinging on a swing, or I don’t know, who would be playing with their kids at night, but not my house. But uh, but you know, maybe swinging on a swing for a little bit, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, is that would that warrant them being asked to move or they’re picking and Councilmember Hidalgo faring? You know, what we talked about last time was a little bit of this nuance around enforcement, right? The idea is to make sure that the parks are safe for the community. That’s the goal. And, you know, as Harold mentioned, you know, moving through the park, walking through the park, using them as transportation is allowed in the code. If somebody is, you know, walking and playing on a swing for a few minutes, my guess is that we’re probably not going to cite them as if they’re tagging a shelter or doing something like that, right. I mean, the idea is to keep the park safe. And of course, we would ask our public safety folks to use their judgment as they have to us every single day, on everything that they’re looking at in front of them. Okay, and then so just for clarification, then if the individual is, is doing something, you know, maybe smoking or doing something that’s undesirable for that, and then maybe not even part of the neighborhood. That would be something that the police, the public safety is really looking to identify. That’s where we’re asking them to use their best judgment. Is that something that’s that’s really going against the ordinance, right, the idea is that the parks are closed. And so, you know, if somebody is in there, you know, trying to loiter, or like I said, tagging something or doing something that’s after dark, if they’re staying there, then you know, they probably will be asked to move along because the park is closed. Okay. And then yeah, and I think, you know, in the case of neighbors, you know, people walking their dog, there is its intended use, and it’s not a problem. Okay, yeah.
Unknown Speaker 13:14
Yeah, I think I’ll give you an example. Where I was out was actually someone from public safety during the day. So not even I mean, you evaluate what they evaluate what’s going on, in this case is a gathering. You had alcohol use, you have until they’re watching and they’re taking in information and then they’re making they’re, they’re taking their judgment and then dealing with the issue that they’ve seen. And And in Part of this is people call in to, and so we recently had calls about people were in the ditches, storming fires, open fires, and it didn’t come into dispatch, but it came in if that were to come into dispatch, then we dispatch we assess and we go through the process just like we would anything else.
Unknown Speaker 13:58
Thank you. ordinance 2022 90.
Unknown Speaker 14:09
Right so 2022 Dash 19 has been Moved by Councillor Hidalgo fairings seconded by Councillor Yarborough? Discussion? Oh, I’m sorry. You certainly may.
Unknown Speaker 14:25
Number eight went on. Get the floor. Do you want it? Do
Unknown Speaker 14:30
you want to? Okay, first, I don’t care.
Unknown Speaker 14:34
How do we I just Just following up on the questions from councilmember Duggal fairing how do we what do we do now? Right we have an 11 o’clock. Closing time. I’m guessing whether it’s 11 o’clock or an hour after sunset. The patterns of behavior will be that are allowing and if not, it will be the same thing for enforcement will be the same. So what do we do now?
Unknown Speaker 14:55
I think it’s what we said it’s your you’re looking at it. You’re evaluating its education. It’s talking to folks. That’s a big piece of it. You know, it’s not coming in and saying, we’re going to take it you it’s, here are the hours of the park, here’s what we expect, here’s what we need you to do. And
Unknown Speaker 15:13
so who responds to you GLA members or anybody else is there’s nothing changing. You’re just there’s nothing that’s changing in terms of enforcement. Only that the hours in which enforcement occurs may change in terms or people not being I have to say, this time of year, an hour after sunset, almost 11 o’clock. So, right, but nothing. I mean, I know they’re, these are part of the concerns, and it’s which it’s nothing different than what we’ve been doing for the last 30 years. Is that correct? Right.
Unknown Speaker 15:48
Thank you, Mr. Peck. Is this an appropriate time to move? I support this ordinance, and I will be voting for it. But is this an appropriate time to move some guidance on enforcement? And let the staff vote on that? I’m sorry, let the council vote on that. Excuse me?
Unknown Speaker 16:13
I guess that’s a hard question for me to answer because enforcement is inherently an operational component.
Unknown Speaker 16:19
Yeah. So it’s not it’s a part. It’s it’s a it’s probably policy. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll just agree to calmly withdraw it and nag everybody afterwards, if it’s not appropriate.
Unknown Speaker 16:30
I think understanding that’s the key for me. Okay. We can have that conversation.
Unknown Speaker 16:36
Sure. Then what I would like to do is say that we have some safety upgrades that are going to be made to the restrooms in the parks, as each park is renewed on the standard cycle. And I think we upgraded Lanyon in advance because we were having problems there. At least there’s a camera there, I’m not sure if there’s an oily
Unknown Speaker 17:01
rolling upgrade of the lighting, and the Pokemons. But there’s more that we’re going to work on, generally in the park,
Unknown Speaker 17:08
right. So the the upgrade model is, is present and operational now at Apple after Park, and when may enter the restroom, safely, because when someone’s in there, it’s locked. And when they come out, it unlocks. And you’ll always know when there’s someone in there, which makes it a lot safer at night. And, you know, there’s an obvious way of abusing a park when you’re walking through it at night. If the restroom is closed, and since it would be safe for it to be open. I would like to move that as parks are renewed the enforcement policy for restrooms is not to close them when the park closes, but leave them available to people walking through the park.
Unknown Speaker 18:11
Is there a second for that? Motion? Can we
Unknown Speaker 18:15
okay, I was I was waiting. Yeah, I was waiting for Harold say is it appropriate or not before expecting?
Unknown Speaker 18:22
So what I would say at this point is I think there’s other components that we have to have in place. It was interesting, I had a resident talk to me about this issue. And I said, you know, when we’ve evaluated the challenges that we faced, wasn’t one park, it was multiple parks, and I just started going down the litany of you know, it was laying in his car, it was golden ponds, it was an altar Park. It was a partner Fall River, David. Steven de Park. And I think what I said to him is, this is what we needed to do to control the issue and get our hands around the issue today. I think there are many components that will need to come along with it. It’ll need to be cameras. You don’t need to be smart lining. Because the other challenge that we’re seeing in this, it’s not just the fact that they’re open for us. It’s the fact that the destruction that’s actually occurred, and many of our restrooms, close to what half a million in cost and and those are when restaurants are open.
Unknown Speaker 19:30
Yes, sir. But you do understand I’m saying this should only be applied to the hardened and locking restrooms as they come into operation. Correct.
Unknown Speaker 19:39
Correct. And I think what I what we would have to say is we need some of those other components in there to ensure that it’s hardened can mean a lot of things. I think we talked about this or seen examples in schools where they literally stolen the urinals. And so I think those are things we have to Evaluate to go. What’s the risk, and I think we’re willing, we want to look at keeping them open. Because on the other side of the equation, our park staff have to clean up. So we understand the issue. And so I think as long as we have the ability of staff to evaluate and ensure that we have all the parameters in place to ensure that we don’t go into another round of vandalism in the restrooms. I don’t see an issue with it. But I think it’s it’s more than just the hardened facilities.
Unknown Speaker 20:33
So does that mean I should withdraw this now and keep nagging? Or does it mean that we can vote on this, but you’re going to decide what hard enough is,
Unknown Speaker 20:42
I think I need that capability to decide what hardened enough is. Okay,
Unknown Speaker 20:50
then let’s move that we will leave the restrooms open for people crossing the parks when the city parks operations declares them to be hardened enough on a case by case basis. I can second a case by case basis. But they have to be hard enough
Unknown Speaker 21:13
to have any discussion on this motion. Oh, okay. Well, I would have to say that I am not going to vote for this because I think it’s too early in the operational component to make a hardened motion when we don’t know where it’s going at. I would rather wait and see. Maybe next year actually, after we’ve after we’ve worked through this, to see where we are and get a report from. My other problem with it is that even though they lock when you get in and unlock when you get out, we don’t want people sleeping in there. And in those bathrooms, so to leave them the the ability to be able to go into them at any hour. Makes me nervous. I would rather wait. So I’m not going to vote for this motion. Number five. Number eight, Councillor waters?
Unknown Speaker 22:29
Just go by? That’s okay. I’m gonna vote against it as well. Not because they don’t think it’s a good idea. I think there’s a bigger policy frame. When we get down there, I think just just crossed the line in terms of operations. I think it’s too early for us in this Tuesday night for us to be given this kind of direction. I see are some of our public safety folks out here. I think everybody understands the intent. I just think I just am not ready to start getting to that level of direction unless it’s unclear on what the policy frame is and what we’re what the objectives are we’re trying to accomplish, not just in terms of restrooms being open, but what we’re trying to create what we’re trying to accomplish through this whole approach with with parks and, and civil behavior in the parks, etc. So not not that it’s not a good idea. I just think it’s too early and I think it’s too detailed or too narrow.
Unknown Speaker 23:23
Well, I don’t think a narrower incremental beginning is would preclude a broader policy at the end but for the mayor’s information, the installation in our filter precludes people sleeping in the restroom because after a short period of time, if the person has not exited the restroom, the alarm goes off and they can’t sleep in there and it can end it’s recurring. So
Unknown Speaker 23:56
okay, thank you for that. So let’s vote the motion has been made by Councillor Martin seconded by Councillor Hidalgo fairing on leaving the restrooms open. After they have been what you had said was hardened. Okay. So let’s go
Unknown Speaker 24:27
so that fails with counselors, Hidalgo. Hidalgo, faring myself Tim waters. Mayor Pro Tem Rodriguez, Councillor Yarbro voting against it. And Councillor Martin voting for Thank you, everybody. So now we’re going to go to items removed from the council. Quick, I’m sorry, what? What motion
Unknown Speaker 24:53
motion was just to pass the ordinance.
Unknown Speaker 24:56
That’s right motion. Yeah. So now we are going back To the main motion to pass 22 Dash 19 That was Moved by Councillor dunkel fearing seconded by Councillor Yarborough. Let’s vote. And that carries unanimously Thank you. So now we’re going to the items removed from the consent agenda counselor. Martin, you are up again you pulled or F h n j. ordinance f this was resolution are 22 Dash 93?
Unknown Speaker 25:43
Ah, thank you, Mayor Peck. Yes, this is the CO responders program. And I support and CO responders program and will not vote against it no matter what answers I get right now. But I do have a question in terms of maximizing the utility of the program. Do we have data on the frequency of calls in which there is a mental health crisis aspect during business hours, or versus evenings and weekends when co responders are not available?
Unknown Speaker 26:38
Okay, my name is James Brown, I’m the assistant chief in charge of cloud services, which is where our core unit is. So as far as the actual data goes, we do we’re constantly analyzing the data and we’re taking a look at the most effective hours where we should have our quarantine staff. I think that’s maybe kind of what you’re asking. And so it’s a constant evaluation. In fact, as we take a look at it, so last year, we coordinated about 5000 contacts. Half of those were directly related to mental health crisis calls. As far as the ratio as far as how many calls are police responding to that have a, a mental health component to it? I don’t have that exact figure available. And, you know, it might be difficult to get an exact figure without having information, as far as you know, on the calls that we get where we get the information, if there’s a mental health, someone’s in crisis, or there’s an issue going on, we have that information. And we have that data. But I would speculate that there’s quite a bit more calls that we go on that have that element piece to it, that maybe we’re not aware of in the moment, or isn’t part of the information that we’re receiving at the time? I’m not sure if I’m answering your question.
Unknown Speaker 27:58
Well, no, because the the biggest concern I have is when a call happens when there is no CO responder available. But maybe there should have been, for example, I was in the middle of a mental health crisis call not for myself, but for a person staying in my home. And the CO responder staff wasn’t on duty. Sure, at that time. So I think that that there are two things that should be happening. One is, is that dispatch time that information should be recorded. And second, that that the corresponding hours should be adjusted accordingly. Because it doesn’t make sense to me that most most of the calls would happen during business hours, and what are the CO responder on duty times now
Unknown Speaker 28:49
with varying degree their run from about 8am to 10 o’clock at night, that gets adjusted for seasonal adjustments. And when we see trends, or we see needs to adjust those hours. So it’s a it’s a flexible, it’s not a set, that they’re only here during these timeframes, we take a look at the data that our calls for service and try to schedule our resources during those times where they’re going to be highly utilized. And, you know, part of the long term vision of this is to continue to, to grow that and have more availability of the corresponding resources. I think the ultimate goal would be to get it to where we do have that 24/7 coverage. We’re not there right now, but that’s what we’re working towards in the future.
Unknown Speaker 29:32
Okay, so I wanted to add to that. So that is a conversation that Chief artists and I are having, in this part of James, what James is going to look at me to call him JB. But what he’s going to look at and the example I will give you in terms of what he’s going to bring to this scenario. So when we were having the staffing issues in terms of patrol, what they started doing was evaluating call volumes, evaluating what was happening, really identifying peak times of calls. And then they started shifting patrol to really get out to ensure that we have the appropriate staffing at the right time. That’s the work that he has to undertake now, so that we can really watch the data and ensure that we’re where we need to be until we can essentially get to the point where we have a 24 hour operation. And every day shows its own characteristics. Every season shows its own characteristics. Thursdays for some reason, Thursdays from about what four to about 10 o’clock tend to be high volume. That’s the day that they’re going to be watching so that they can adjust to ensure that we’re doing we have a one as often as we can. But we know we’re trying to figure out how do we eventually get to a 24 hour operation core?
Unknown Speaker 30:52
Okay, that’s a perfectly good example, or I’m sorry, explanation. And I would also like to ask about weekends and holidays. Yes, no, case by case.
Unknown Speaker 31:07
Yeah, no, I mean, we just like any other police services, we operate during holidays during weekends. Again, it’s all it’s all data driven, right now, but we, just because it’s the weekend or the holiday doesn’t mean that that our core team is not going to be there. There may be some holidays, that our core team isn’t there for whatever reason, but as as a general practice and as a as a general rule that weekends or the holidays, don’t don’t play into the equation. It’s we need to be we need to have our resources here and and serve our community at the time that our community needs us. And so whatever those times dictate is those times where we’ll be there.
Unknown Speaker 31:49
Okay, thank you very
Unknown Speaker 31:50
much in that to that what I’ve learned from them. During that time, certain holidays have their own characteristics too. And so there’s certain holidays where they say, probably not this one. There’s other holidays when you look at mental health and things they may go we really need you here. So that’s part of all that they’re looking at.
Unknown Speaker 32:18
Counselor mind would you like to move that resolution?
Unknown Speaker 32:27
Okay, I move resolution
Unknown Speaker 32:33
2022 Dash 93
Unknown Speaker 32:35
Thank you. 2022 Dash 93
Unknown Speaker 32:39
So it’s been Moved by Councillor Martin seconded by Councillor Hidalgo fairy. Let’s vote. That passes unanimously. Councillor Martin, the next one is yours to it is h resolution are 2022 95.
Unknown Speaker 33:02
Yes, thank you, Mayor Peck. This is about monitoring the water quality and you reservoir. And I just have a couple of questions about what what we expect the sources of the contamination to be I understand that we have not found any to date, which is an excellent thing. I also understand that some of the planned excavations around union reservoir are now off the table. And the only ones remaining are on the opposite non long left side of union reservoir still close enough to be a concern. But that’s that’s all there is left. So my question is, do we expect that the possible sources of contamination are already in the water table under the reservoir from earlier fracking attempts or operations? Or do we expect that we are looking for contamination that would result as result out from from new fracking or from RE fracking of for example, the night Well
Unknown Speaker 34:26
Mayor pack members of council Annie noble Environmental Services Manager. I think we don’t expect to find any fracking fluids or any contamination in your reservoir but we feel that it’s important to continue to test we’ve been testing for three years. We sample monthly between April and November and they sample five locations in the reservoir. We also do Groundwater Sampling at five locations north of the reservoir. We also test not only for these fracking fluids but also new to gradients, algae fall to organics, we have, you know, an ongoing baseline monitoring study that we’re looking at all kinds of constituents. So, you know, we don’t expect to find fracking compounds, but you know, we’re continuing to monitor for them. And we’re also monitoring the quality in the reservoir. I mean, we, we know that algae is a concern. It’s, you know, we’re having hotter summers. And there’s also separate from our testing, we test the Rangers, I believe, test for E. coli at the swim beach on a weekly basis. So we’re doing all kinds of, you know, a comprehensive evaluation of the quality of the, of the reservoir. So we hope that we don’t find any of these constituents that we are continuing to test. So we’ve been testing for fracking fluids for three years. And this IGA is for a continuation of that or once a month for the summer periods. So I hope I answered your question. Okay. Any other questions?
Unknown Speaker 36:08
Looks like we’re good. All right. Thank you. Thank you. So would you like to move that resolution?
Unknown Speaker 36:16
Stupidly turned might Yeah. All right. I move adoption of resolution are 2022 Dash 95. Second,
Unknown Speaker 36:26
so it’s been Moved by Councillor Martin seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Rodriguez. Let’s vote. And that passes unanimously. And the next one is also yours. Councillor Martin? It is resolution J. R. 2022 97.
Unknown Speaker 36:53
Thank you, Mayor Peck? Yes. I have a very strong interest in upping the city’s game when it comes to securing grants straight across the board. And I’m very happy that the city is is doing a lot of stuff. Yeah, come down here, Becky, because my questions are software. So, you know, I’m I’m really happy that we’re working on that. And if this means good, you know, upgrading the software, then I’m I am for it. Here are my questions. I think that the council should be aware of what is going on on the grant front earlier. You know, I know the council obviously has to get award permission for a specific application, and then has to award acceptance for money when it comes. But I would like us to be able to be aware of the pipeline. And based on policy beliefs and considerations that we have to know whether the right stuff is in the pipeline. And to be able to say something about it. If it’s not, we’ll just new software enable us to have any more awareness of what’s going on on that front than we have now, which is not.
Unknown Speaker 38:26
So this is a software for the grants that we give to human service agencies. And so this software is grant management for us internally in our funding streams.
Unknown Speaker 38:37
Okay, so this is not document management for applications at all.
Unknown Speaker 38:41
No, this is our grant process where we give funds correct.
Unknown Speaker 38:45
So Mahopac and color mountain customers. Yes, that there is the documents are coming to us. This is for our for our grantees that we fund through the Human Services Agency set aside.
Unknown Speaker 38:56
Okay. Right. So my questions are, are, are not appropriate for this vote. But while I have the floor, I’d really like to say that I still think it’s important that council has more transparency into the application process, then we have now.
Unknown Speaker 39:14
And so when we can talk about, I know that there’s an info item coming in terms of the federal funds and and that we’re going to give to you all it basically says here’s what we qualify for. Here’s what we don’t qualify for. Here’s what we’re in the pipeline for. I know Sandy just gave me a draft on that. And then I know, Chief artists just restructured one of his positions for grant management work. Becky has one of those positions, and we’re going to start working holistically to kind of answer some of those questions.
Unknown Speaker 39:47
Yeah. You know, an example of doing the right thing is the active developments login map, where anybody can look in any time and at least know where to start and who to start with and So that was my concern and I apologize for not understanding what this particular software was for. Thank you Okay.
Unknown Speaker 40:11
Councillor Martin Do you want to move that
Unknown Speaker 40:18
okay, so I do move adoption of resolution are 2022 Dash 97.
Unknown Speaker 40:25
So that’s been Moved by Councillor Martin seconded by Councillor Yarborough Let’s vote. That passes unanimously. We are now at general business. And I believe there’s probably a presentation on participation in Colorado’s paid family medical leave insurance program. Here packed before Gina gets started on her presentation, I just wanted to kind of tee this up a little bit, because it seems that there’s been a miscommunication on what family applies to in this context. So I just wanted to be really clear that what we’re talking about is family medical leave Insurance Act application to the city and employees as an employer. Okay, so we’re there’s there’s no rule or law that we the city of Lamarque can make that would affect other businesses, or any of their decision making. I would say that, you know, most private businesses are do fall under this Insurance Act. There are a few exceptions where people can opt out. Municipalities are one of those. So the conversation tonight is to discuss what family is what it is not, why our recommendations are what they are. So with that, I would love to turn it over to Gina and let’s Harold, Wanda, anything else.
Unknown Speaker 41:44
I think there’s also the piece of this is us as an employer, not us as a city where we’re not making this decision for other employers in the community. I wanted to reiterate, it’s for us as an employer. And then we’ll I’ll jump in as Gina’s going.
Unknown Speaker 42:02
Yes, we’ll turn it over to Gina to give you some information, and then happy to help you walk through the conversation. Great, thank you.
Unknown Speaker 42:10
Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of the city council. My name is Gina Perino and I am the compensation and benefits manager for the city. Tonight, I am here to talk with you about family, which is the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Act that was passed in 2020 by Colorado voters. And essentially what it is, is it is 12 weeks of paid leave for an individual to take in which they will receive a portion of their pay for a qualifying event. So now I think let’s start with what is you know what is family? So we went through that. Now let’s talk a little bit about what it does. Your screen or your pocket?
Unknown Speaker 43:00
You’re fine.
Unknown Speaker 43:03
Boy, my second time doing this? I’m not a pro yet. Neither am I. What am I good company. So the one thing I think that we should start with now that we know what family is, is let’s talk through how it compares to what the city of Longmont already offers. And we’ve prepared a slide for you. That shows that for our full time regular benefited staff. The entry level amount of sick leave we offer is 96 hours per year. During that leave employees are compensated for 100% of their salary. And if they get into leave usage donations, they’re compensated for 75% of their salary. And currently full time benefits employees we have 857 that fall into that category. The next group we have our pipe part time non benefited and our temporary employees. They receive up to 48 hours of paid sick leave lick, excuse me sick leave, and it’s accrued by pay period. I one thing I want to say about that is that is a new program that the state of Colorado just put into place so that temporary and part time employees also accrue sick leave. Secondly, if they are on that approved leaves, they’re getting paid 100% of their salary. They are also eligible for a portion of leaf donations in which they would be receiving 75% of their salary. So now if we look at that, compared to what family offers, it is the 12 weeks of paid leave if you meet the qualifying event. However, the leave is only a percentage of your salary, and it falls between 37% to 90% of your salary to cap at $1,100 weekly. The cost of the program is point 9% of an employee’s salary 1.45% being contributed by the employee. And the other point four or 5% is contributed by the employer. One thing that makes it unique is they allowed him they allowed municipalities the ability to be able to opt out of this program. The reason why that would be attractive is because if we have employees that really want to participate in this program, they can do so the state has allowed employees to opt in on their own and receive the exact same benefit as if they were part of the employer group, they are not required to pay the full point 9% of their salary, they would only be required to pay the point 4.04 or 5%, that they would be collected anyway, if they were an employee. Why that becomes attractive is if you have employees that want to opt in, they can. However, if we opt in as the city and we have employees that don’t want to participate, don’t feel like they can afford to participate, then they don’t have the ability to opt out once the city opts in it is as a whole. And there is no ability for people that just don’t want to participate or wouldn’t use the benefit. Therefore, our recommendation for this would be that we would opt out and use it as a tool, though, to highly educate our employees coming in signage in our buildings, which is all very closely regulated by the state that if we do opt out, we have to have signage stating that employees do have the right to opt in, we have to notify new employees that they do have the right to opt in. And we have to make sure that they’re well informed. One thing that we’ve looked at to ensure that this happens is including this, this information in all new hire packets, and in all new hire orientations. So the employees are very well, very well aware that they do have this option, even though the city opted out.
Unknown Speaker 46:40
You know, let me add one other thing too, in addition to making sure that employees understand their options, right. So if the city did opt out, as Gina said, employees still can opt into the program at the same cost. And it’s up to them, and the city, which is willing to administer that program for them. So we would be collecting that and remitting it to the state on their behalf. So not everybody who’s opting out is doing that. But it’s important for us to make sure that people understand their options. By opting out, we’re not requiring everybody to do it, it doesn’t create that requirement. And at the same time, we will absolutely assist people who determined that this is something that’s beneficial for them to make sure that they’re able to participate in the program. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 47:29
So just, just to reiterate why our recommendations are to opt out, is one that staff that wishes to participate can do so in either scenario, it really is focused on the ability for staff to choose what they want to do, and really to make the decision on if it’s something that they feel would benefit them, or if it’s something that they feel would not benefit them. And staff has indicated that they would actually rather choose to participate versus being forced, we actually put out and notice to all employees, and gave them the option to either come tonight to make public and open comments, or we gave them an email address that they could send to the HR email, or some have even just emailed Sandy. So we have gotten a fair amount of comments. And quite a few of them have been from people saying that they would prefer to not participate and have the choice to do so if they determine it’s right for them.
Unknown Speaker 48:28
Or whatever, we also have the conversation with the employee advisory group. And so So you all know, the employee advisory group is made up of representatives from across the organization. Really, we only have one administrative rep on the group. We had this conversation with them. And I think once we got through and once everyone understood it. I mean, because it was really kind of hard to understand at first, they really reiterated the same component, there were a couple of individuals that said, you know, we want to do it, but everyone else was really at the point of saying, you know, give us a choice as to whether or not to participate. And, you know, and they also talked about the fact that I think this was about a half a million dollars, and we would have to contribute and and they said that’s a half a million that we could look at in terms of salary and and the reason why I think they said that to me is because they can participate at the same contribution rate no matter what we choose to do. And so that, just to know, we were really trying to engage our staff, and that’s what we actually if you haven’t heard about the employee advisory group, those are the kinds of things that I bring them I meet with a monthly and those are the kinds of things that we talked about.
Unknown Speaker 49:43
Just a little bit of additional information. I have been emailing with the state of Colorado because we have had some employees that have been interested in it and they have asked for what is the path look like? Is it an open enrollment? Um, how do they get in? So I actually have been emailing with the state and I got an answer back this morning, and they don’t have a clear path yet. I know, it’s only going to be in six months. They do know right now that it will be a full online enrollment, and that employees will have the opportunity ahead of time to opt in. One unique thing is by the city actually collecting contributions and remitting them on a quarterly basis, that will actually take some of the work out of it for the employee, because the way it stands now is that an employee that opts in on their own or a self insured employee would actually be required to go in and quarterly report all their earnings and then remit their own contribution where the city would be doing that for them. And one last thing I found out today that I thought would be pertinent information is that I think that initially, people, when they look at this think that it’s going to be just a replacement of income. And the way it’s actually going to be administered today is that employees will actually have to file a claim, and it will go so they’re administering it similar to unemployment, so the employee would file a claim, it would go before a committee for review, and then they would either approve or deny the claim for the leaf to be paid. So it doesn’t appear that it’s quite as easy as initially thought.
Unknown Speaker 51:22
Are you open for questions? Yes. Okay. It’s Councillor Martin.
Unknown Speaker 51:28
Thank you, Mayor pack. I think you’ve answered two of my questions. And I’m just going to go over it again. The city is going to administer the process for employees who want to opt in. Yes, ma’am. So that’s a good thing. It doesn’t cost more to opt in, then if the city as a whole opted in per employee. That is correct. That’s also good. And then we don’t know yet whether it’s open enrollment all year long, or whether they’re just going to be Windows. So that was the biggest question, and we can answer that yet. That is correct. Okay. So one other thing is, is, which groups of employees already have long leave provisions is that the public safety contracts that have that or who does our full time employees have sick leave benefits that accrue over time as they’re employed within the city? It’s all full time, including those that are collective burn. Okay, I’m misread the the Council of communication then because I thought it said that some employees have and others don’t do. I was thinking about part time. Yeah. Okay. The other thing is, can I assume? Can we assume that a, an employee family benefits begin after they have exhausted their accrued sick leave benefits?
Unknown Speaker 53:05
So I believe
Unknown Speaker 53:07
that another we know that Yeah. Councilmember Martin, I mean, you can have both. I mean,
Unknown Speaker 53:11
you can have benefits through the city and also participate in family. But I don’t know that there’s necessarily I mean, you can’t kind of double double dip with respect to lead share, for example, if you choose family, then you’re not eligible for the leave Share Program, also. But I’m not sure that we know necessarily. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 53:29
you know, I
Unknown Speaker 53:30
actually, I didn’t understand your question. I apologize. Okay. So the way that it is designed is that they want family to run concurrently with FMLA. So if you work for an employer that has FMLA, they want that family to run concurrently. So an example that I can give you where we would actually have multiple things possibly in play would be is if someone has a baby. So they take their 12 weeks of leave, and say they have opted into family. So then they’re on family. So that would run concurrently and at that point in time, so they needed additional time after that, once they come back from their FMLA and go into an unpaid leave status, they would be able to accept leave donations at that point in time.
Unknown Speaker 54:10
Okay, that was actually that’s a good answer. But that was not my actual question. My question was, suppose that I have four days of sick leave. And I use that to, you know, to take care of getting my mom into hospice, and then it turns out that it’s going to be a long haul in hospice. And I want to use my family benefits then. If I apply for family benefits, they don’t go back to the time when I was using sick leave and didn’t need those benefits. They would start after I had exhausted my sick leave.
Unknown Speaker 54:46
That is correct. It is a full leaf replacement. So it is a income replacement program. So you would exhaust your leave. And then you would use the family, which the city allows anyway you can exhaust your labor Prior to going on an FMLA, so that would still work well with that program for that employee that chose it.
Unknown Speaker 55:05
Well, I do want to point something out that we do, it’s not common as employers. So a lot of employers they run FMLA concurrent with sick leave. And, and or the sick leave donation program, we don’t do that. We don’t start FMLA until you’re done with the sick leave program. And so then that comes after, which when you look at it, it’s actually a greater benefit for the person versus running them concurrently. And so those are distinctions, that when you start evaluating all of this, we said, you know, we’re putting more on the table. So you could use your sick leave, you could do sick leave donation, and then you could utilize FMLA. And there’s not many employers that actually approach it that way. But I wanted to bring that in, because that’s a nuance to what we do.
Unknown Speaker 56:03
Councillor Hidalgo?
Unknown Speaker 56:05
Thank you. So you actually your statement helped answer my question with the FMLA. So thank you for that. You know, I. So the city does not have like a sick leave bank,
Unknown Speaker 56:20
do we have the city does not have a sick leave bank, what we have instead is a leave share program. So if I were to go on leave, and then I exhausted my leaves, and I still needed additional time, whether on FMLA. Or if I’m even on an unpaid leave status, I would apply then for donated leave. Okay. And I can say, you never know. But the city’s employees are very generous.
Unknown Speaker 56:47
Okay. Thank you. And then the so the other you know, I saw that, okay, even if the city opts out, employees can still opt in. So I, you know, I, my concern with that is, you know, how would it be more of a process for the employee to be able to get back on if the city as a whole is already opted out? I guess I just kind of wanted to visualize what that look like. So
Unknown Speaker 57:14
that would be what you will either be either an open enrollment period, or a period of enrollment. And what I got from the state, because I specifically asked that question is, what is this look like? Is it paper forms? Is it cumbersome? And it looks like there will actually be a dedicated website, you will, they’ll sign up as a user, and then there’ll be able to go on and sign up for the program fully online.
Unknown Speaker 57:39
Okay, and then how come? So now if the city just says, Okay, we’re going to stay with the program? And if you choose to opt out, how come? But did you? Did you look at that as an option? would that even be an option?
Unknown Speaker 57:54
It is not an option. So this the city as a whole can opt out. But if the city as an employer, as a whole opts in, then individual employees cannot opt out. Every employee is locked in at that point in time to the plan. Okay, so then in the end, this actually gives employees more choice and autonomy over what they choose what’s best for their family and themselves. Yes, ma’am. It lets employers make a decision to fit their personal circumstance as opposed to us making a decision for everyone. Okay, okay. Well,
Unknown Speaker 58:30
that that clarifies a lot for me. Thank you. Yes, ma’am.
Unknown Speaker 58:34
So seeing no one else in the queue, I do have a point of clarification for myself. If the city decides as a whole, if they wanted to opt into this program, does the program that we have in place now go away? Or do we have double programs?
Unknown Speaker 58:53
It would be double programs, Madam Mayor, okay. It’s meant to be an addition to something existing or replacement for a small business that perhaps has nothing.
Unknown Speaker 59:04
Okay. Thank you for that. Yes. So now, it looks like staff was looking for a direction here. They want to know if we’re going to form a vote to opt out of participating in the State Family Program, if we want to direct them to do that or move forward with automatic participation in the program. So can we have a motion here? Either to opt out totally. And go with what we have or to go with the State family. And do I have that correct. Those are our two options. Well,
Unknown Speaker 59:45
if we opt out, it means we’re not in it as an organization, employer, but our employees can still participate in
Unknown Speaker 59:53
it. Okay. So as an employer, what are the options that they’re Looking forward direction is as an employer, should they be formally vote to opt out of the program? Or do we just want to move forward with automatic participation in the program? He’s made clear signs and
Unknown Speaker 1:00:17
staffs recommendation is to opt out. Right?
Unknown Speaker 1:00:21
Thank you. So
Unknown Speaker 1:00:25
you have the option to opt out so that all employees will be able to opt in or opt out.
Unknown Speaker 1:00:38
Okay, so your motion is to opt out as an employer. Thank you. Do we have a second? So the motion to opt out of the family program through the state was made by Councillor Yarborough? seconded by Councillor waters? We have any discussion here? Are we good? All those in favor? Let’s vote. Yep. So that passes unanimously.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:10
Wonderful. Thank you, Madam name. And members of the City Council.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:14
Thank you to you. Before we go on to the rest of we need a bio break here for five minutes. So we want to go through. All right. Looks like we’re all good. So we are at the final call public invited to be heard anybody out there want to talk? I see no one in the public. So we’re at Marion Council comments. Do we have any comments from looks like Councillor waters?
Unknown Speaker 1:01:45
Here back to comments, one, just reflecting on the questions that Councilmember Martin had regarding a co responder program. And I’ve been just ragging once. But it does, it did remind me, we have had multiple conversations at times about external evaluation of city programs. And in many cases, those that are in public safety. That’s where, you know, we’ve got a handful of pretty innovative programs. And while Commander Brown, you know talked about the data, and I have no doubt what Dan even has collected. And when he’s doing that there is a lot of data. That’s a little bit different than somebody from the outside coming in and evaluating not just are you doing what you say you’re going to do? But are you achieving what you say you’re going to achieve the outcomes, not just the outputs. So I know a couple years ago, we encourage you to budget to do at least three programs have external evaluations of city evaluate city programs on an annual basis, I hope when we see the budget, because I’ll be it’ll be a question I’ll ask when we get into just as a heads up, I think we ought to keep doing that. I think we ought to the part of the response to the question is yes, here’s our external evaluator, like we did with the rewind and, and ltj programs a couple years ago, number one, the second common would be everybody today in the country, is horrified by what we saw in Texas, and what’s happened over and over again. So I’m reminded as I watch what what is unfolding, what we were able to get started not to accomplish in the fall of 2018 and into the winter of 2019. And what came to the council, ultimately, as a report. And in that report four areas of common ground that whether it regardless of where one is on a continuum of gun enthusiast and rally for the rights to Moms Demand Action, and folks who are would like to see, you know, way more regulation than what what’s happening in the country right now, regardless of where people were on that continuum. And we went through a process that gave people a chance to sit and listen to one another. And they did. It was a remarkable moment, in my mind, my recollection. And there were those four areas addressing the causes of violence in our society and firearms being one of the instruments used, but how do we reduce risks of violence generally? And then what does it mean in terms of firearms? Number one, number two, educating about the use of firearms and from safe storage to you know, what one does and, you know, firearm safety programs. In what, what people ought to know not to do kids in particular when there are firearms around number three was to do more and better with mental health. And I know this is a theme that we hear from the mayor on a regular basis, and it’s a shared concern shared by everybody in this worth was advocates. And that could mean a lot of different things to, you know, whoever is advocating for policy solutions.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:08
But I hope
Unknown Speaker 1:05:10
in the in the country as we continue to, to experience the angst that goes along with what’s happening in the country, that at some time, we might come back to those four areas of common ground on which we can work together to increase to reduce risks of violence, generally in this community.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:33
Councillor Hidalgo, fairing
Unknown Speaker 1:05:36
Thank you, Mayor. And thank you council member waters for those comments. You know, I learned about it in the classroom. And I was debating whether or not to even say anything, because I didn’t know how I would react. But his third grade teacher, you know, this situation really hits home. In my classroom, I have this large cupboard right next to the door. And for the last, I don’t know, 15 years, I’ve always had that cupboard or, when similar depending on the classroom, I’m in by the door, because I think about how I can barricade the door in the event of a school shooting, how I could protect my kids. And that’s enough. You know, I’ve heard from so many teachers today, through my, you know, not just colleagues and st reign, but throughout the state and throughout the nation to any nothing of and I really do hope that we come together, and we come up with solutions, because it’s not going to be one answer, it’s going to be a myriad of answers and topics that we need to discuss. You know, mental health is something that I’m very passionate about, my daughter survived three suicide attempts, I have a son with autism, and he struggles daily. And so you know, I know that mental health you know, it’s a it’s a big impact. But our culture of violence has to be addressed. It has to be, we have to be open and okay to talk about it, and criticize it and make changes to to fix it. You know, my husband owns guns, you know, he’s a gun enthusiast. I am not. But we managed to set aside our differences. And we have things locked up, we are safe, we keep them out of the hands of our of our kids, they weren’t even around our house when my daughter was a threat. They weren’t even on the side of the continental divide. They were with my brother in law. So you know, and so that education piece also needs to play a role in families making the right kinds of decisions to keep their families and our community safe. I do want to applaud our public safety. They’ve done a lot over the over the years with the Corps and leads team. In 2013, when my daughter attempted, and we were scared, she was stepping up, we’re just being really aggressive. And we we call the police. And this was before prior to the change to public safety. And I tell you 30 seconds, and we I realized I made the biggest mistake, Sandra pinned to the floor and treated her like a criminal. And she was in crisis. And I see how much public safety has evolved over the years. And I commend the work that they do with the core team, the league team, you know, my family is living proof that these these programs work. And, and they save families. And you know, I want to be able to build off our strengths. So we can keep our community safe. You know, we thought there wouldn’t be a shooting in the in the church. It happened there wouldn’t be a shooting in a movie theater. It happened in our schools. It happened. Nowhere in our grocery stores. It happened there. There isn’t anywhere. That’s that safe. And so it is up to us as lawmakers it is up to as a city, staff and community to take the lead and keep our keep our community safe. So
Unknown Speaker 1:09:23
thank you. Thank you though it was you’re correct. I agree with both comments. And I do remember the community conversation that we had and it was good. And just as an FYI, the commissioners reached out to the different mayors and want to know if we want to have a county conversation so that we are all on the same page about how we want to support our cities. So we will be having that conversation. But I would like comments from councillors as to what you want me to bring to the table in that conversation. And then at some point, sooner rather than later, I would like us to have a special meeting with it would be open to the public with no public input, just the council needs to sit and talk about this and decide what we want to do as a city. So that that will be a conversation I’ll have with the city manager and see how we can work that out sooner rather than later. So thank you for those comments. Anyone else? City Manager. Do you have any
Unknown Speaker 1:10:44
comments? Mayor Council?
Unknown Speaker 1:10:45
Thank you city attorney. Eugene. No comments, Mayor. Thank you. Can we have a motion to adjourn? Thank you. So it’s been Moved by Councillor water seconded by Councillor Martin to adjourn. Let’s vote. That passes unanimously. Thank you, everybody. See you next Tuesday.