https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_w7sT_SfKQ
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Longmont City Council – Regular Session – October 22, 2024
6:24
Good evening, everyone. I would like to call the october 22 2024 Longmont City Council regulars.
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The live stream of this meeting can be viewed at the city’s YouTube channel. You can also view it at the Longmont public media.org,
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forward slash watch or on Comcast channels eight and 880 Can we have a roll call? Please? Don
6:49
Absolutely. Mayor Peck here, Council Member Christ. Mayor Pro Tem o’farring, Council Member Martin, Council Member McCoy, Council Member Rodriguez, Council Member Yarbro here, Mayor, you have a quorum. Thank you.
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As a reminder to the public, only Longmont city council, I’m sorry, only Longmont residents and employees of the city of Longmont may speak during the first call. Public invited to be heard. You must provide your name and address on the sign up sheet before the meeting or I will not call on you. Each speaker is limited to three minutes. Anyone may speak on second reading or public hearing items, and you’re asked to add your name to the speaker list for the specific item before the meeting. But anyone may speak during the final call, public invited to be heard. Members of the audience shall refrain from disruptive, vulgar or abusive language, applause, heckling or other actions that interfere with the orderly function of the council.
8:12
We have
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two,
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two council meeting minutes that we need to approve. The first one is September 24
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Can I have a motion to September
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24 Second? It’s been moved by councilor McCoy, seconded by councilor crest, to move the September 24 2024 minutes. Let’s vote I.
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Are you on white meeting? Yeah,
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just say, aye, aye.
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Okay,
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that passes unanimously. I also need a motion for the October 8 regular session, meeting minutes, October
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8, 2024, Second. It’s been moved by councilor McCoy, seconded by councilor crest to move the October 8 minutes. Let’s vote.
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And that passes unanimously.
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We are now at Agenda revisions, and we do have a revision for
9:41
Item 9f,
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2024, 72 it’s a resolution of the Longmont City Council approving the inter governmental agreement between the city and Boulder County for CDBG funding for personal finance counseling. But it was removed from the agenda and will be brought back at a future meeting.
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Item 12 B, compensation review for employee employees,
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excuse me, I’m going to read this again in its place I 12 B, which is compensation review for employees appointed by council, was added so we had one removal in one addition to our consent agenda. Are there any submissions, abduction motions to direct the city to add future agenda items? I do have just one more. Oh, you do small revision or big? Maybe, I don’t know. Ordinance 2024, 77 which is item 10. E, oh, okay, that item is slated for public hearing tonight, and so we would ask that you open that public hearing since it’s been noticed that way and we posted this agenda that way, and continue that to November 19. That ordinance needs some corrections that did not get included in this second reading packet. Okay, let me just make sure I understand that on the second reading that was, is there 10 E on this one, it is, it is, and we are going to remove it. No, we will open the public hearing and then continue, but not take action until then, November 19, we’ll bring it back okay in its corrected form, okay, complete for your action. But in case someone here is here to speak tonight
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on that item, we would want them to speak Okay. Sounds good.
11:38
Once again. Are there any items that counselors want to add to future agenda items.
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Seeing none. We’re going to move on to the city manager’s report.
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No report, Mayor Council, thank you.
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Are there any special reports or presentations? No, none for tonight. So we’re going to move right on to first call public invited to be heard. Remember that on this very first public invited to be heard, it is for city employees and residents of the city of Longmont, first please say your name and you have three minutes. Mike Baum is the first one you
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Hello,
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hi, Mayor Peck and council members. My name is Mike bound. My residence is 5026, Williams place. I’m here because sustainable, resilient. Low Mont has joined other environmental groups and the Fort Collins Energy Board to recommend that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or another respected organization, review the Platte River Power authority’s recently released integrated resource plan, which includes their plan to build a new gas plant. The Longmont City Council should stand up for their past resolution calling for 100% renewable energy and support this review. Last month, the P, R, P, A, released a presentation that appears to respond to the energy boards and community organizations call for a third party review. The prpa admits that NREL has not reviewed their IRP. They then go on to claim that if NREL were to review their IRP, it would conclude the gas generation is necessary. Well, this argument is a rhetorical sleight of hand, we are asking for a review of the need to build a new gas plant, not for a review of whether any gas generation is needed in the near term, the prpa already has 388 megawatts of gas generation capacity, none of which is scheduled for Retirement. That’s approximately 50% of the prpas peak load. The existing gas turbines, in conjunction with contracts for dispatchable power with other generators, can likely tie the PR pa over until other technologies, such as long term storage batteries and virtual power plants can be implemented at the needed scale. A new gas plant will be very expensive. The prpa has estimated that its rates will increase to cover these costs. That rate increase does not include the potential future conversion of the plant to run on hydrogen. The prpa has refused to provide even a ballpark estimate of these costs, but they are likely to be extraordinarily high. These rate increases will make electricity less affordable for the residents of Longmont and will also make it difficult for the city to effectively promote building electrification. So a review by NREL or a similar organization would have.
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Evaluate whether building a new gas plant is truly optimal from their perspectives of affordability, climate and air quality, and might recommend a better approach. City Council is responsible both for setting electric rates and for ensuring that the city’s climate and air quality goals are met. We believe that the city council owes it to the people it serves to commission and independent review of the P, R, P, A’s plans. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mike.
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Next is Virginia, black. You
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Good evening, Mayor Peck and city council members. I am a member of several environmentally concerned organizations, including sustainable resilient Longmont and the Longmont chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby. However, I must emphasize that my comments this evening, although inspired by my volunteer work, do not necessarily represent those of these organizations. I’d like to begin by congratulating Longmont and the Platte River Power Authority on their pledge to reach the use of 100% renewable energy to generate our electricity by 2030
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and to recognize what has been done so far to increase the use of wind and solar for this purpose, I’d also like to congratulate Longmont on its application for federal funds to seek out and mitigate methane leaks. This will improve air quality along the front range and result in improved health and well being in our community, methane pollution contributes to ground level ozone and has a considerable price tag. It aggravates lung disease and asthma attacks, results in increased rates of premature births,
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cardiovascular disease and increased risk of stroke, all putting greater pressure on our citizens and our health system.
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There are also sizable federal funds available that can be used to increase the use of renewable energy to supply electricity and upgrade as well as increase storage and transmission of electricity. This is a very important power source, while decreasing cost to customers,
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an external review or second opinion on P, R, P, A’s 2024,
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I, R, P, as has just been suggested, would help to ensure that we have done as much as we can to achieve those 2030 goals. What we do in Longmont will have a broader impact as we enter into the United Nations, making cities resilient 230 at their request, as Harold emphasize in his overview of the state of the city, on Friday, this is a big deal, and congratulations are definitely in order for This recognition as the first city city to enter the program, we will be advising others on how to become more sustainable and resilient. What we do in Longmont matters a lot. Thank you, council for your time and consideration of these comments. Thank you. Virginia Heather Gerber, I Yes.
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Good evening, Mayor and members of council. My name is Heather Gerber. I live at 910, Plato road.
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I’m here to ask council to consider its role as steward of our long run community in the face of climate change and to approach the question of adding a new source of greenhouse gasses to our community portfolio through this lens, climate change, as you are aware, is an existential threat to our society and way of life, from biodiversity loss to increased likelihood of drought and wildfire to unpredictable and catastrophic rainstorms, the future of a climate above two degrees Celsius of warming will not look like the world we know yet we’re already on path to hit or exceed two degrees warming, based on current global behaviors and greenhouse gas reduction plans. According to the IPCC, the world’s surface temperatures have already increased by an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius. The amount of warming is having a substantial impact on our society and economy. Now we haven’t had a year that was cooler than the norm in 47 years and 2320 23 was the warmest year on record, and saw the first time when the average surface temperatures surpassed 1.5 degrees Celsius for an extended period. And these impacts are costly. Over the last five years, the US has had a total of $102 billion climate $102 billion climate disasters together, these have claimed nearly 2000 lives and cost a total of $618 billion
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by contrast, in the 90s, we only had 57 disasters like this, and in the 80s, we only saw 33 for the entire decade. The point is that in addition to doing everything in.
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Our power to avoid reaching the two degrees Celsius limit of the Paris accord. We also need to acknowledge that every bit of warming we add has an impact. When we choose to burn more fossil fuel we add to the warming that’s already harming our community and will continue to harm future generations. As stewards of our Longmont community, I ask that council weigh the addition of any new source of emissions in our community’s name very carefully. The energy transition we are facing is highly complex, but adapting to uncertainty and the cost of a warmer climate will not be simple either. We owe it to future generations to be completely sure before we commit to burning more fossil fuel. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Heather. Lynette McLean,
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hi, mayor and council.
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My name is Lynette McLean. I live at 763 Sand Point drive. I’m just going to talk a little bit about fracking to protect human health from the ravages of climate change. We must stop spewing heat trapped gasses into the atmosphere, and one of the most urgent gasses to control is methane. Methane and other air pollutants in Boulder County have been linked to oil and gas development. Boulder County and much of the Front Range have been designated by the EPA as a serious non attainment area for ozone levels and ground level ozone can lead to respiratory problems such as coughing, chest discomfort, shortness of breath. Long term exposure can cause increased asthma attacks and heart disease. Benzene, a pollutant found in burning fossil fuels, can also lead to leukemia. In a 2017 study found an elevated health risk, an eight fold increase in cancer risk for residents who are within 500 feet of an oil and gas facility. So air emissions have been found to damage health up to even 2000 feet from wells and
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just a little bit more about methane over its first 20 years in the atmosphere, it’s 86 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, fortunately, fortunately, methane breaks down over time, so its climate impact declines, but the breakdown products of methane include water vapor, carbon dioxide, both Which heat trap heat. So even 100 years after entering the atmosphere, methane’s byproducts keep contributing to global warming, so the result is an increase in heat, extreme storms, sea level rise, and each of which unleashes dangerous health consequences. Although methane is marketed under the name natural gas, there’s nothing more natural about the way it’s extracted using hydraulic horizontal fracturing or fracking. In the fracking process, a complex mix of chemicals, many of which are toxic and silica sand, are added to millions of gallons of clean water that contaminated water is forced underground at extremely high pressure fracturing deep underground bands of rock where small bubbles of methane are found. The bubbles of methane, along with other naturally occurring dangerous gasses and much of the contaminated water, are brought back to the surface. The result is toxic air pollution and Toxic Threats to local drinking water. A burgeoning literature of scientific and medical studies show increases in serious health outcomes associated with living near fracking sites, which we all are. It’s not only communities located near fracking sites that suffer health consequences from fracking, but an extensive network of pipelines crisscrosses the US, carrying fracked gas through other communities hundreds of miles from frack sites, these pipelines and related infrastructure exposing these communities to accidental the accidental leaks, deliberate releases of gas known as blow downs and sometimes even devastating explosions. And we’re known here in Longmont to have poisonous air, more the most poisonous in the world. Thank you. Thank you.
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The next one is Karen dyke.
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Mayor and council members, Karen dyke, 1855, left hand Creek lane,
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we are on the edge of a new paradigm for electricity generation. A lot is riding on whether we decide to move towards or away from a more sustainable future. Longmont has a history of being on the leading edge of working towards sustainability. In 2012 the residents of this city passed a city amendment to ban fracking. In 2017 Mayor Coombs signed a climate mayor’s pledge that was in relation to being pulled out of the International i.
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Uh climate conference. In 2018 Mayor Bagley signed a resolution for 100% renewable energy for electricity generation by 2030 and in 2019 this council approved a climate emergency declaration. The Sustainability Office has good funding and direction, but unless a closer look is given to matters such as electricity generation, we are no longer meeting a commitment to the resolution for renewable energy or the climate emergency. Speakers before me talked about the need for a review from NREL or similar organization regarding P, R, P, A’s decision to build a new, expensive arrow derivative gas plant, not only is this a potentially expensive mistake, it commits us to fossil fuels, as other have said, this leads to fracking with air pollution that we know is causing health issues and leading to climate change as carbon and methane are released. Jenny talked about the promises of renewable energy and the availability of funds from the IRA maybe the new plant is the only method of ensuring the reliability of electric service that we all know is necessary. However, a second opinion by an agency that specializes in renewable energy and storage seems a wise choice financially and helps us move towards a sustainable future. We are on the edge of a new paradigm. Longmont can continue to be a leader by calling for this review by NREL, or a similar organization of the PRP. ARP, I brought copies of the words that Mike gave of our request, and I’ll give them to Don
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Thank you. Karen Lance Whitaker, applause,
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good morning or evening, mayor and council. My name is Lance Whitaker, 1750
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Lance, can you pull that microphone up? Yeah, you’re a little taller than that. Name’s Lance Whitaker, 1750 Collier street. You all know what I’m here for.
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Today is also national nut Day, National color Day,
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National MAKE A Dog’s Day.
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National tavern style, Pizza Day, and National birthday and events day. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Thank you. Lance Scott Stewart, you
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good evening. Mayor Peck members of council, Scott Stewart, 229 Grant Street, Longmont, been
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a little while
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here to talk about the Longmont airport a little bit and the impacts that it has on the surrounding community.
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Longmont airport is no longer just three miles west of the city. It’s time for the city to take a second look at the airport and its impact on the ever growing community that surrounds it. Some people will tell you that the airport is an economic driver for the city. Wait, take some time to really understand what’s being presented to you by that claim.
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The reports such as the airport economic impact study would have you believe that the airport contributes 10s of millions to the Longmont economy. Please question how these numbers are calculated and how they apply to Longmont the multiplier effect that has been used to achieve some of these totals is not very transparent.
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Just a quick look at some of the airport numbers. The airport reports that it’s roughly 100,000 planes using the runway over a year period, year long period. In comparison, the intersection at third and main receives 100,000 cars in three days.
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I’m not sure. I’m not saying that the airport should shut down, but I’m suggesting that there could be a different future for the airport, the future that might not include expansion for the sake of expansion, it could be closer to the airport’s origins before FAA grant obligations took control the future that can that includes an airport that is financially self sufficient and didn’t rely on FAA grants or creative accounting to balance the budget, an airport,
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an airport that’s.
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Serves the Longmont community for the benefit of Longmont. Doesn’t seem like too much to ask. Many of the noise issues from the airport are not from the Longmont local airport community. Longmont, the airport is being abused by adjacent airports flight schools that do not contribute to our community or to the airport’s bottom line, revenue. Yes, people will tell you that the airport was here before you or I ever moved here, but I would add that the city was here before the airport. The airport is not building the city. It’s quite the opposite. It was the city that built the airport. The airport actually restricts the growth of the city and dictates the use or non use of the land surrounding the airport. How should the airport continue?
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Can there be a limited or non increasing impact on the surrounding community? Again, the Longmont airport is no longer just three miles west of the city, unlike what the MC at the recent air show said, we do not all love jet noise. Thank you. Thank you. Scott Strider,
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how do
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Strider Benson 951, was 17th, and
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I don’t know how many people know, but
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Mayor Roger Lang’s wife Jack Jackie died a week ago, and the church service is at St John’s Catholic Church, 10 o’clock Friday morning. And the celebration of life is at ship homestead, which is off of hygiene road out to 61st
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Street and a quarter mile north. And it’s a big place, got a parking lot, so at that’s four o’clock Friday afternoon.
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And
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so anyway,
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130
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230 237
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years ago, on the last day of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin, when he was leaving, was asked by a woman, what kind of a country do we have? He said, a republic, if we can keep it, we’ve had one serious threat to that, and it cost 800,000
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lives,
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the civil war in 1861
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and right now, this month, we’re facing the most serious challenge to our republic, to our Constitution, to everything that this country has ever been or stood for, good and bad,
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and it’s the former president
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has
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well his own staff, Chief of Staff, John Kelly, the top military official in the country, Mark Milley, his own vice president, have all said that he is extreme danger to our country, and That is absolutely the case. The former president said a week ago, and he said it several times. He said, Oh, climate change, that means we’ll have more beach front mansions. And he said, well, the ocean might rise eighth of an inch in 300 years. That is the extent of his intelligence. But the danger is there,
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we had two hurricanes
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last month that each of them like 100 year hurricane. We had two in two weeks. People are not paying attention to how serious the destruction of our class, of our climate is. Thank you. Thank you much. Pay attention and vote. Thank you starter.
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So that was the last person on the list that was from Longmont. So I’m going to close first call public, invited to be heard. But before we move on, I’m going to augment the agenda just a little bit. We only had five people that came tonight to talk about the IRP, but I’ve had a lot of emails, so I would like to know it’s yes.
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Know what Council thinks for me to take back to prpa, to the prpa meeting. Do you think that we should ask for a third party review, whether it’s in RHEL or another type of
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organization? I guess. So take a couple minutes to think about it, but let’s don’t have a huge discussion. Just Yes or No. Should we do this? Or should we not?
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Okay, that’s fine,
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because I do need to bring something up at pr PA, but we are a council. I don’t represent myself. I represent this council.
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Councilor Martin
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prpa conducted an all dispatchable resources, I R, F, P, to
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allow manufacturers of of generation sources
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to suggest alternatives to the aero derivative turbine.
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And that was conducted, but to the best of my understanding,
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or the best of my ability to find out about it,
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the results of that, all source, I, R, P, were never presented.
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So yes or no, because it’s going to be an answer when I finish putting the background together, but it’s going to be I have one more sentence to say, Madam Mayor,
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the the R, F, P, was never presented, apparently, the ADT one, but we don’t know why, before the delay and expense of review is conducted, I would like to see the results of The All dispatchable sources, RFP to be presented and explained, because I believe that it may be true that there is that the
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ADT is the only way to meet regulatory requirements, so I can’t say yes or no until
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prpa explains that outcome. Is there anyone else that wants to weigh in really fast? Yes or no.
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Okay, all right, so I will not,
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I will not bring this up then at the PR PA, because I want to represent this Council. Thank you
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going on to the rest of the agenda,
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we are going to go right into the consent agenda. Don Would you mind reading the ordinances into the consent agenda? Yes, Mayor, the second reading and public hearing for ordinances introduced tonight on this consent agenda will be November 12, 2024
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- Is ordinance 2024 dash 78 a bill for an ordinance conditionally approving the vacation of a 20 foot wide mutual access easement and a sanitary sewer easement, generally located southwest of the intersection of Highway 66 and alpine Street. 9b. Is ordinance 2024 79 a bill for an ordinance conditionally approving the vacation of two electric easements, two sidewalk easements and three sections of satisfaction circle right of way within the Wallace addition, fourth filing, generally located southwest of the intersection of pike road and US Highway 287,
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nine. See are the ordinances for the vacations of Fletcher and sunset easements for enclave at the peaks project c1 is ordinance 2024 dash 80 a bill for an ordinance conditionally approving the vacation of an electric easement on lot one of the Fletcher minors subdivision plat generally located southwest of the intersection of Nelson road and court a way. C2 is ordinance 2024 81 a bill for an ordinance conditionally approving the vacation of a portion of a utility and drainage easement on lot two block three of the sunset diagonal business park, generally located southwest of the intersection of Nelson road and corte way. 90 is resolution 2024 dash 69 a resolution of the Longmont City Council authorizing the transfer of a portion of the unencumbered appropriation balance of the employee benefit fund to the employee pension fund 9e r the 2025 budget resolutions. E1 is resolution 2024 70 a resolution amending the financial policies of the city of Longmont for 2025
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e2 is resolution 2024 71 a resolution of the Longmont City Council approving the city of Longmont 2025, classification and PayPal plan for city employees.
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9f is resolution. 2024, 73 a resolution of the Longmont city council, conditionally approving the LFM business improvement districts. 2025, operating plan and draft budget. 9g is approved. One cap.
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Improvement Program. Amendment,
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I’m sorry, yeah. And 9h is an appointment of Darrell Han, Director of electric services, to the Platte River Power Authority Board of Directors. Are
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there any councilors that we want to pull items off the consent agenda? Councilor Crist,
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in regards to
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9e
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one, I actually just want to make a comment, and I want to appreciate the accounting department for presenting this information to us the financial policies of the city. And particularly note that the asset management plan, although aspirational, is very difficult to do in an organization, and I would ask in the future that so are you we keep keep us, keep us honest with that, and with that, I am going to move the consent agenda unless anyone else has something they would like to remove. Second.
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Okay, so,
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counselor Crist pulled nine. Well, she just wanted to make I just, I know I got it. Okay.
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So councilor Crist moved the consent agenda, and that was seconded by councilor Martin. All those in favor. Let’s vote, and you can tell me, i
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i Thank you.
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Get off track. I get confused,
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and that passes unanimously. Thank you.
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We are going now to ordinances on the second reading and public hearing on any item on any manner. The first one is a 2024 70. This is a bill for an ordinance making additional appropriations for expenses and liabilities of the city of Longmont for the fiscal year beginning January 1 2024
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are there any questions or comments from Council? Seeing none. I’ll open up the public hearing on 2024
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- Is there anyone in the public that would like to address this item?
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Seeing no one, I will close the public hearing on 2024, 70 and ask for a motion. I move
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ordinance 20, 24/7
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Second. It’s been moved by councilor McCoy, seconded by councilor Crist. Let’s vote.
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And that carries unanimously.
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The next one is a bill for an ordinance 2024, 71 amending section 3.0 4.885
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of the Longmont Municipal Code adopting amendments to the city of Longmont, old hire police pension plan. Excuse me and old, hire fire pension plan. Are there any comments or questions from Council?
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Seeing none. I’ll open up public hearing on 2024 71 is there anyone in the public that would like to address this bill?
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Seeing no one. I’m going to close the public hearing on 2024,
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71 and ask for a vote a motion. I’m sorry. I move ordinance
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2024,
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71
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it’s to move it councilor Chris, seconded by councilor McCoy. Let’s vote. Okay.
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Bill, and that carries unanimously.
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The third one is C, which are 2025 budget ordinances. C1 is 2024 72 it’s a bill for an ordinance fixing and living taxes upon the real and personal property within the city of Longmont for the year 2024 to pay budgeted city expenses for the 2025
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fiscal year.
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Are there any questions from Council on this bill?
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Seeing none. I’ll open up the public hearing on 2024 72 Is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on this bill?
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Seeing no one. I will close the public hearing and ask for a motion. I’ll move ordinance 2024, 72
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It’s been moved by councilor Hidalgo ferry, seconded by councilor Yarbrough. Let’s vote.
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And 2024, 72 passes unanimously.
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The second part of C. C2 is 2024, 73 it’s a bill for an ordinance fixing and living taxes upon the real and second personal property.
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Don that says two, okay, second personal property within the Longmont Downtown Development District for the year 2024 to pay budgeted expenses of the Longmont Downtown Development Authority for the 2025 fiscal year. Are there any comments or questions from Council?
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Seeing none. I’ll open up the public hearing on 2024 73 Is there anyone in the public.
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Public that would like to speak to this bill. Seeing no one. I’ll close the public hearing and ask for a motion. I
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move 2024,
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I didn’t get that. Could
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you try again?
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I’m sorry about my phone. So that was moved by councilor McCoy, seconded by councilor Martin. Let’s vote.
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And that passes unanimously.
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The third part of it is 2024, 74 a bill for an ordinance adopting the budget for the city of Longmont for the year 2025,
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are there any questions or comments from Council?
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Seeing none. I’ll open up the public hearing on 2024, 74 Is there anyone from the public that would like to address this bill?
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Seeing none. I will close the public hearing on 2024 74 and ask for a motion.
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I move ordinance 2024, 74 second.
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It was moved by councilor Chris, seconded by councilor Hidalgo faring, let’s vote.
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And that carries unanimously. The fourth part of that bill is of the city budget is 2024 75 a bill for an ordinance making appropriations for the expenses and liabilities of the city of Longmont for the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2025
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are there any questions or comments from Council?
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Seeing none. I’ll open up the hearing, public hearing on 2024,
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75 is there anyone in the public that would like to address this bill?
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Seeing no one. I’ll close public hearing on 2024, 75 and ask for a motion.
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I’ll move ordinance 2024
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75 moved by councilor Hidalgo ferry, seconded by councilor McCoy, let’s vote.
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And that carries unanimously.
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D is 2024, 76 this is a bill for an ordinance amending title 14 of the Longmont municipal code on public services, water utility and whales rates.
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Are there any questions councilor Crist,
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I just want to make the council aware that councilor Martin and I were at the Water Board on Monday, yesterday, and they were concerned that they were not did not get a chance to weigh in on rate changes. They have tools in their toolbox to help mitigate water costs, and so they would they’re in agreement to go ahead this year with the 6% rate increase, but would like to come up with some suggestions when we go to review it for next year.
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Thank you, and I’ll pass the baton to councilor Martin, who is also at the meeting. Councilor Martin,
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I’d like to clarify that the Water Board does not have jurisdiction for approving water rates. It’s not part of their charter.
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And I think their actual concern is that there be more context about the reason for water rate increases when they happen, and whether there are alternatives
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to the rate structure that that has been proposed.
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So we have already given direction to
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renew, to review the water rates annually going forward, because of the sticker shock for you know, for a proposed 10% annual resource
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rate increase, and I think that people with no staff and and advisory board members who are knowledgeable about factors in in affecting
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water rates
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should be invited to provide context to the council about the drivers of cost. So, you know, for example, the main driver here for these was the extreme increase in the year we had 9% inflation that impacted the cost of construction materials for the Nelson flander
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expansion and other major water projects.
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And I think that you know their their actual idea was that that you.
50:00
Should be it should be clearer. So it’s this is really just kind of dovetails with the direction to review it
50:08
every year and and maybe have a little more emphasis on what the drivers of the rate increases are, rather than just talking about comparable rates in other cities.
50:23
Thank you for that.
50:25
So there are, there are no more comments from Council, so I’m going to open up the public hearing on 2024, 76
50:34
is there anyone in the public that would like to comment on this bill?
50:39
Seeing no one. I’m going to close the public hearing on 2024 76 and ask for a motion.
50:46
I’ll move ordinance 2024, 76 second,
50:50
it’s been moved by councilor Hidalgo fairing seconded by councilor Yaro. Let’s vote.
50:59
And that carries unanimously. The next one is E 2024, 77 a bill for an ordinance amending chapter 11 of the Longmont Municipal Code. Concern concerning utilizing an automated vehicle identification system. Are there any questions or comments from Council?
51:20
Seeing none. I will open up the public hearing on 2024 77 is there anyone in the public that would like to address this?
51:29
Seeing no one. I will close the public hearing and ask for a motion.
51:35
2024
51:36
mayor, I apologize to interrupt. This is the one that’s the one. This is the this is the one that is not correct at this point. So we don’t need to make a motion on it. A motion to continue to November 19.
51:51
Okay, so, um, Council can I have a second for that councilor Yarborough, okay,
51:59
that was moved by councilor Martin to continue 2024 77 to the November 19, 2024 meeting that was seconded by councilor Yarbrough. Let’s vote.
52:20
And that passes unanimously. Thanks for correcting me on that.
52:26
And now we don’t have any items that were removed from the consent agenda, so we’re going to move on to general business. Do we need a break up here or a bio break?
52:36
Seeing none, no consent. We’re going to move on to general business, and I need a motion to recess as the long run city council
52:46
Go ahead. City council, board directors of the long run general improvement from
52:55
district number Second. Thank you. That’s been that. Motion was made by councilor McCoy, seconded by councilor Martin. Let’s vote.
53:06
And that carries unanimously. The first thing on that agenda is the 2025
53:11
Longmont, general improvement district number one budget resolutions.
53:17
The first one on the resolution is R, L, G, i, d, 2024, 03, this is a resolution fixing and levying taxes on the real and personal property within the long month general improvement district number one for the year 2024
53:36
to pay budgeted expenses of the district For the 2025 fiscal year. Are there any questions from Council?
53:45
Seeing none. May I have
53:49
I would like to open the public hearing on this item. Is there anyone in the public that would like to address 2024, 03,
53:59
seeing none. I’ll close the public hearing and ask for a motion.
54:05
I’ll move that we pass our LG, Id 20, 2403
54:12
It’s been moved by myself, seconded by councilor Martin. Let’s vote. I
54:23
that carries unanimously. The second one is R, L, G, i, d, 20, 2404
54:29
this is a resolution of the Board of Directors of the Longmont general improvement district number one, adopting the annual budget for the district for the fiscal year 2025, are
54:41
there any questions from Council on this resolution? Seeing none. I’ll open up the public hearing on 20 2404 Is there anyone in the public that would like to address this resolution?
54:55
Seeing no one. I’ll close the public hearing on 20 2404 and ask for a motion.
55:00
I’ll move resolution LG, ID, 2024, dash, oh, four. Second, it’s been moved by councilor Hidalgo fairing seconded by councilor Christ. Let’s vote.
55:16
And that carries unanimously. I move that we adjourn as the Board of Directors of the Longmont general improvement district number one, and reconvene is the Longmont City Council second, been moved by myself, seconded by councilor Hidalgo fairing. Let’s vote.
55:34
And that carries unanimously.
55:38
We are now at the compensation review for employees appointed by Council. We have a staff presentation by Jo Ann Z
55:47
No, oh,
55:50
that’s what it tells me.
55:53
Okay, we need a couple of motions, and I think that we agreed that councilor McCoy would make those motions. So councilor McCoy,
56:06
Thank you, Mayor Peck I would like to make a motion to move the city manager to 100% of market compensation. Whoops, we got that there
56:15
compensation for 2024, plus a 3% adjusted adjustment to account for the for 2025,
56:26
range, range movement, consistent with the city wide Pay Plan, the new total compensation is 320,998
56:39
per year. Adjustment to be effective, retroactive to September 3, 2024 based on the data,
56:49
based on the date the city manager’s performance review,
56:53
in lieu of exceptional pay, I move the city manager
56:58
a one time grant of an additional 120 hours of vacation or the cash equivalent thereof to be applied this year, the cash or one time equivalent of this grant would equate to 5.7
57:15
76% of exceptional pay.
57:22
Second R All
57:25
right,
57:27
I’m sure that councilor McCoy will give you the script.
57:32
So councilor McCoy made that motion on the city managers annual compensation, seconded by councilor Martin. Are there any is there any discussion Seeing none? Let’s vote.
57:50
And that carries unanimously. The next motion is for the city attorney. Yes. Thank you, Mayor Peck, I would like to
57:59
sorry that just popped up there. Like to make a motion to move the city attorney to 100% of market compensation for 2024 plus a 3% adjusted meant to the account for 2025 range
58:13
movement consistent with the city wide Pay Plan, the new total compensation is 272,203
58:21
per year. Adjustment is to be effective retroactive to September 10, 2024, based on the data, based on the date of the city attorney’s performance review, in lieu of exceptional pay, I move to offer the city attorney a one time grant of an additional 120 hours of vacation or the cash equivalent thereof to be applied this year, the cash or one time equivalent of the grant Would would equate to 5.76%
58:56
of exceptional pay second
59:02
so second, the motion for compensation for the city attorney was made by councilor McCoy, seconded by councilor Rodriguez. Is there any discussion
59:11
Seeing none. Let’s vote.
59:17
And that carries unanimously.
59:20
We’re now at the final call public invited to be heard. Is there anybody in the there is someone who actually signed up, and I did not call her because she was from Fort Morgan, so let’s see if she’s still here.
59:34
Linda allure,
59:37
Fort Lupton, what did I say?
59:40
Oh, sorry,
59:42
no,
59:47
absolutely yes,
59:56
don’t, don’t forget to turn on the microphone, open.
1:00:00
Thank you. Red lights on. My name is Linda allure. Good evening to y’all. Do you need my address? Sure. Go ahead. 605. South Park fort Lupton. Thank you.
1:00:12
I am the Goodwill Ambassador for the flight 629 Memorial organization. My father was born here in Longmont, and I’m third generation native to the area, and I had never heard of this particular flight. We have found that there is not a lot of awareness of the November 1 1955 crash that happened just outside of Longmont, approximately at highway 66 and road 13. Brief summary, a man put a dynamite bomb in his mom’s suitcase in order to collect her insurance.
1:00:48
Unfortunately, 44 people were killed.
1:00:53
This is actually the first recorded sabotage of a commercial airline.
1:00:59
It is our desire to create a memorial to honor the 44 victims, as well as the hundreds connected to this crash, the police departments, fire departments from area towns and cities, from me to Platteville to Fort Lupton, the Longmont Greeley, where the armory held The victims and let all the state and federal agencies were involved. And what we like to call community champions, local farmers who heard and saw the crash, they were the first ones on the scene, naively thinking there would be survivors, but no, I have personally met Conrad hop, who still lives on the hop farm, and that’s basically where most of the crash site was.
1:01:46
I’ve also met
1:01:51
what’s his name, Phil beardie, who was just five and a half years old when he witnessed the crash, and his father was the manager of Johnson’s corner and help provide food and drink for two days during the investigation, Phil told me that the Imperial hotel, just a couple blocks that way, at third and main here, in long run, was the headquarters for the investigation. Since it was the only location with enough phone lines to handle all the communication needed, there are so many parts to this bombing that I’m not able to share in such a short time. This event is a significant historical event, and Longmont is a key piece. A few flight facts. Laws were actually changed because of this. The man who blew the plane up, John Graham, was actually only held accountable for his mother’s death. There were no laws in place for commercial airlines, so he wasn’t held accountable for the other 43
1:02:50
baggage checks, of course, are now standard. The Event changed how the FBI performs forensics, and this crash scene became a case study for training. The case was intentionally handed over to the state of Colorado for the death penalty. I’m so sorry. Oh, thank you. This is very interesting. Well, what might just the last sentence was, the reason I’m here is to ask if there’s any way you could provide some financial support for the memorial.
1:03:21
We would have to discuss that right. Right. Definitely will right. I’ve given, I think. Did you all get the email? I sent it through the website. Okay, so it gives you more of this. But that was basically, I just want to give you the scoop of it. Thank you so much. Okay, thank you. Can I give the flyer for the Sunday
1:03:41
and then pass it out, yes, please. Okay, well, thank you for your time,
1:03:49
mayor and council comments.
1:03:52
Are there any Council comments? Councilor ya,
1:03:57
Thank you, Mayor. I just want to bring up Saturday Council, Chris and I had coffee with council, and
1:04:07
there was a participant of the coffee with council that was there, that was Spanish speaker, and we did not have the accommodations. I mean, although we use the What’s that line called, yeah, it was very challenging. And Sandy was a rock star. She was she, she helped in pull that off. But the woman had to be kind of separate, because the only way it kind of works, she had to have her phone on speaker, which, which was,
1:04:49
you know, it was really difficult for everyone else to pay attention while the, you know, while she spoke in Spanish, because she had to hear us. Anyway, it was challenging. So.
1:05:00
So what I if we want more participation with coffee with council from all of our constituents, we need to be ready and have accommodations for everybody as much as possible. So I just wanted to tell Council how challenging that was. It was so amazing that the officer called another officer who was Spanish speaking to come and translate for her so that she can participate with coffee with counsel, and she also had questions too. So that was very, very important, and now she’s going to be on our task force for vision zero.
1:05:38
So it’s very important that we have some accommodations set up for we. I know they supposed to call in, let us know they’re going to be there, but that doesn’t happen all the time. We need to be right. We have to stay ready. And so I just wanted to put that out there. So I don’t know if we need to talk about that separate with council, but I do wanted to. I wanted to make sure that staff know, and I’m pretty sure Sandy probably brought it up, but we need to get some accommodations available for people, especially with growing Spanish speaking population.
1:06:14
And we were told that on Saturday that the officers are seeing more than 50% of the people that they stop are like monolink, you know, monolingual, so we need to be prepared to accommodate our community. Thank you.
1:06:35
That’s makes me think
1:06:38
you don’t think about all those things in the moment. So I don’t see any other
1:06:44
councilor Christ,
1:06:49
you were a rock star to councilor Yarbrough through that whole thing and getting everybody to participate with speaking into the microphones, which was a challenge. But what I went to the Kensington Park neighborhood meeting, and it was a similar thing. It was both in English and in Spanish. And what was helpful is we had someone Spanish speaking on site, and we just learned that you speak and you wait so that they can translate and you speak and you wait. And so that pattern went very well. And I think we could somehow get that pattern going in on these coffee with councils.
1:07:30
And then additionally, I just want to open the discussion about the flight 629
1:07:38
experience. And it happened. It happened about five miles east of
1:07:43
of my ward, in the Barefoot lakes area, and we’re approaching the 70 year anniversary. It seems I don’t know if it’s appropriate for Longmont to commit funds to the city next to us, although it is the plane was traveling north, northwest, and probably given a few more minutes that explosion would have handed, helped handed it would
1:08:09
have we would have experienced in our farmland instead of east of us. So
1:08:19
thank you.
1:08:21
You know, what I was thinking is that it would be nice if the museum could do something as far as educational, you know, because there aren’t very many people who know about that.
1:08:32
So now we’re at City Manager remarks,
1:08:37
Mayor Council. I just wanted to say thank you for the review process that we went through,
1:08:43
and your support of me, which ultimately is support of the amazing staff that we have in this organization. As I said to you all during the review,
1:08:53
the only way we can accomplish things is as a team,
1:08:57
and that also includes you all, and the partnerships and the work that we do collectively as we tackle some of these significant challenges of our community.
1:09:08
I absolutely love Longmont, and I just want to thank you for your support, and thank the staff of this organization, because every day, they’re the backbone of the services that we provide to our community,
1:09:23
and they deal with some pretty tough situations, but they’re really the reason that we’re successful in the endeavors that we move forward. And then reiterate that
1:09:34
in the cities I’ve worked in, and cities that I see, cities that accomplish a lot, have a great partnership with the City Council and the staff, and we do have that here, and I appreciate it. So thank you.
1:09:45
You’re welcome. Thank you as well, City Attorney,
1:09:52
mayor and council. Eugene May, city attorney, I would just want to add on to Harold’s comments that I too appreciate Council support. I.
1:10:00
Job, and I want to give a shout out to my staff, who really help support the entire organization on what we accomplish every day. And it’s such a great privilege to work and try to improve the community in which you live, and I think that’s the greatest reward for me. And I wanted to say a special thank you. I was the one who requested the 120 hours of vacation, or cash equivalent.
1:10:27
Right now, in this time of my life, my kids are growing up, they’re in college. They’re probably not going to be around very long. My son’s graduating from college next year. My daughter wants to do spring break with me, and I really want to be able to take advantage of those opportunities while I have the time, and they have the interest in me. So thank you for that.
1:10:49
I know exactly what you mean. So
1:10:52
thank you.
1:10:54
So that’s it. Second
1:10:58
It’s been moved and seconded that we adjourn all those in favor, All those opposed.
1:11:04
That passes
1:11:06
unanimously, we are adjourned. You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai