City Council Regular Council Meeting — November 18, 2025

is now five o'clock and we have five proclamations. As in true for every proclamation we do at the city,

anyone who's here to support that proclamation or

any proclamation that you hear of, you can come up and stand up here in order to honor your proclamation.

So I will go through the list and the first one is

declaring the day of November 18th as GIS day. So whoever's here to support that, come on up.

Don't be shy. If you like GIS, you can just come on up. Good. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, of course.

Okay. Whereas the city of Fort Collins recognizes that the understanding, use, and application of geospatial technology is crucial to operating our infrastructure,

sustaining our natural resources, and stimulating economic growth, thus benefiting the welfare of the general public through the city of Fort Collins.

And whereas geographic information systems or GIS technology allows us to see and model complex relationships and patterns to more intelligently respond. And whereas there is a need to promote GIS awareness, education, and technical training to use this rapidly developing technology to its full potential.

And whereas the CFO Collins acknowledges those who have chosen GIS as their profession or as part of their discipline to improve the lives of our citizens. and whereas to recognize and support the efforts of nonprofits who work on activities to improve conservation, human services, and various humanitarian efforts to better our world.

And whereas having a day of GIS activities open to students, citizens, and government leaders will help promote STEM education and inspire others to a higher calling to use technology for good. Whereas the City of Fort Collins is committed to utilizing GIS to inform decision-making and better serve its residents and make useful geographic information open and easily available

to the public as a platform for innovation. Now, therefore, I, Jenny Arntz, Mayor of the City of Fort Collins, do hereby proclaim November 18th, 2025 as GIS Day. Congratulations. Thank you.

Thank you. Let's see.

I came prepared this year. I just want to thank everybody for taking the time to recognize GIS Day.

So GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems, and GIS is what helps us understand our community through the power of place.

The technology allows us to visualize, analyze, and interpret data spatially, giving us a deeper understanding of how everything in our city is connected.

Here in Fort Collins, GIS is more than just maps or data. Instead, GIS represents a geographic approach to problem solving.

By combining data, people, and location, GIS helps us see patterns and relationships that

guide better decisions, support sustainability, and improves how we serve the community.

Through a geographic approach, we can use location intelligence to plan smarter, respond faster and better connect people to the resources they need. It's the foundation behind everything

from maintaining infrastructure and planning parks and new developments to supporting emergency response and supporting environmental stewardship. GIS is also about connection, connecting data to

decisions and connecting departments, partnering agencies and residents through shared understanding

and the world around us. We're proud to celebrate GIS day as a reminder of what's possible when we

look at challenges through the lens of location. So thank you for supporting this work and helping us build a more informed, connected, and resilient Fort Collins.

Great thank you very much. The next day is declaring the day of November 20th 25 as

Transgender Day of Remembrance. Anyone who's here to support that proclamation, please come on up.

Okay.

Whereas the city of Fort Collins strives to be a place of belonging where transgender, gender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary, so that is TGNCNB, individuals are accepted and embraced. And whereas on this day and on all days, we strive to create greater visibility and awareness of the transgender community in memoriam, in honor, and in celebration. And whereas Transgender Day of Remembrance is observed worldwide on November 20th to mourn and honor

those in the transgender community who have lost their lives through acts of anti-transgender violence, including Fred, Frederica, Martinez Jr., Cortez, 2002, Angie Zapata, Greeley, 2008, Jane Thompson, Orchard Mesa, 2020, Kelly Loving, Colorado Springs, 2022, Jack Scraton, Lakewood,

2025, and other misgendered in death. And whereas the TGNCNB community suffers from higher rates of violence and abuse than cisgender or non-transgender individuals, which the media does not acknowledge. And whereas the city of Farquhans condemns crimes and violence against the TGNCNB community in our city, state, and our country, and invests in efforts to promote health, well-being, and livelihood of the community, and allow all to pursue lives without discrimination. And whereas this day is an opportunity to inspire, inform, and educate about contributions of and challenges faced by the community as well as its extraordinary ongoing resilience. And whereas the City of Fort Collins is committed to uplift and support our TGNCNB community and reaffirm their right to live visibly, authentically, and unapologetically without exception. Now, therefore, I, Jenny Art, the Mayor of the City of Fort Collins, do hereby proclaim the day of November 20, 2025 as Transgender Day of Remembrance Act and call upon all community members to joyfully celebrate the diversity and authenticity that transgender and gender non-conforming individuals bring to our community.

Hello, everyone. My name is Riley Hart, and I wanted to say thank you to everyone here tonight.

It's kind of especially meaningful to be accepting this proclamation tonight because Fort Collins is my hometown. I was born here. I was raised here. I came of age here. And eventually I found myself and my people here.

I know a lot of folks have really complicated feelings about their hometown. And in the last few years, especially the number of trans people I know who can never really go back to their hometowns for fear of their own safety is heartbreakingly high.

It's been said a lot that trans people have been pulled on stage and into the spotlight, that the eyes of the nation and the world are on us. the microscope of all that collective attention looming over us at all times. Certainly, with tens of millions of dollars being spent on anti-trans campaign ads nationwide and in the most recent two election cycles,

it's easy to feel like we've been put on stage. With over 1,000 anti-trans bills introduced nationwide this year alone, it's a stratospheric peak after a five-year climb in bills being introduced. It's really hard not to feel the weight of that and the shadow of

that microscope bearing down on us at all times.

and while it is absolutely true that the subject of transgender people is on stage in a way that it hasn't really ever been before I would also contend that actual trans people the human beings like me and everyone up here uh standing with me today individuals with hopes and dreams and

stories unique to them our stories aren't what's being told the stories that are being told about

us are often just characters uh formed from outdated ideas and from the fear of the unknown by told by people who have no connection to our lives or to our communities. So much of the vitriol directed at trans people really does come from fear, the fear of the unknown, of change, of what our existence implies

about supposedly immutable nature of many facets of humanity and the societies we create.

Facets that many people have a vested interest in maintaining at least the illusion of because they have power vested in that. So now I've been handed a microphone and I wanted to take this opportunity

to break down a little bit of that mystery, share a bit of my own story, and show how universal so much of the trans experience actually really is. For the first two years of my transition, I wanted nothing more than to just be another woman in the crowd, to leave visibility that so often came with my transness behind

and just be going through the world as another gal.

The level of national scrutiny at the time was a fraction of what it is right now, but it was still a constant presence in my mind and that constant stress of feeling watched was

exhausting. There did actually come a point in my transition where I achieved that initial goal. I was largely able to pass through the world as a cisgender woman to shed a piece of my identity that for so long I believed was just a burden and a curse. I could pass through the world as just another gal provided I never talked too much about my childhood. I never shared any stories with too much detail from more than a few years ago provided I was constantly vigilant for any tells and behaviors that might tip people off. So long as I remembered to change every story I told in real time to make sure it couldn't possibly give away that at the time, the people in that story perceived me as a boy. Provided I turned my back on my community, leaving behind the small

group of people who actually understood and shared some of my most powerful life experiences. So long as I was willing to take my new life and run for going connection to people like me, losing the opportunity to pass along the mentorship and love that had been offered to me so freely.

So long as I was willing to accept the irony that I had rejected the expectations of a life I'd been told I should want to live, only to accept the expectations of a different life out of the fear that not doing so would label me as other. All that work to build a body, I finally found the capacity to love, to figure out what it actually meant to be me. All the internal work so that for the first time in my life, when I looked in the mirror, I actually recognized the person in the mirror. and after all of that I had just gone back to making decisions based on expectations I thought

others would have for me I had clawed my way out of one box to shove myself into another

so slowly at first I was scared and out of practice I started reaching out again to my community I started talking about my transness as just another part of my life I started relearning what it was like to live for myself and live for those around me that I care about

and brick by brick I built back up a sense of self into something I could be proud of a home with windows and doors to live in instead of a box to hide in

being trans can feel like a burden or a curse it can feel like a secret you have to hide but none of that is intrinsic to what trans this actually is it can also feel like freedom like a

embrace like an inner well of strength it can feel like taking the first full breath after being underwater it can feel like shedding a leaden jacket and moving freely for the first time in

your life. Change really is the only constant in life,

and transition at its very core is just the process of change. There are a lot of structures of power in this world that

have a strong interest in making transgender people seem like an anomaly, seem like something unnatural or strange.

Making it seem like these structures are immutable, have always existed, and will always exist. So much of it boils down to making people believe change isn't a thing that could happen, change is not possible.

but our truth is so much bigger and more beautiful than that as trans people we get to be examples of not only how beautiful and fulfilling the process of change can be but that it is possible to begin

with trans people stories are a reminder that we always have the capacity to create change whether that's in ourselves in our lives or in our communities i'm standing here speaking to you today because years ago a trans woman like me was given a platform to tell her story reading her story was the catalyst that led me to start the next chapter of mine. Stories like that can only be shared when people are safe and supported and given a place in which to share them. With that in mind, I want to once again thank the city, Mayor Arndt, the Women and Gender Advisory Board, and everyone here for this proclamation tonight. Because having the city that I can call home, continue to reaffirm its support and provide a platform for voices like ours means so very much. Thank you.

Thank you.

thank you

Okay, the next proclamation tonight is declaring the day of November 29th, 2025, the entire holiday season of small business season.

Just the whole season.

Starting now, that's why I have my holiday place.

Oh, thank you.

There you go.

I probably shouldn't say I'm going to pass the mayor. What? I probably shouldn't say I'm going to pass the mayor. Oh, I don't care.

Yeah, good.

Okay. Ready? Okay. Whereas small business season and the small business Saturday celebrate the local butchers, bakers, and pizza makers who fill our city with generosity, charm, and cheer. And whereas in Fort Collins, 96% of businesses are small businesses with 50 employees or pure, And together they strengthen our economy, enrich our neighborhoods, shape the heart of our community. And whereas small businesses are supported by organizations such as, are you ready? Economic health office, multicultural business and entrepreneurs that are better business viewers. CSU Institute for Entrepreneurship. Downtown Creative District. Downtown Development Authority. Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce. Founded in FOCO. In Sphere Ventures. Small Business Development Center. Serving Larimer County. Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development. No Co. Latino Chamber. No Co. Biz Connect. North Fort Collins Business Association. Poudre River Library District. Visit Fort Collins. Local Sector Partnerships. And whereas during this season of gratitude and giving. When we sip local coffee. Shop neighborhood boutiques. And markets and share a meal with friends and family. We help our small businesses deck their halls, support local jobs, and keep Fort Collins festive and flourishing. Now, therefore, I, Jen Aaron,

the mayor of the city of Fort Collins, do hereby proclaim November 29th, sorry, 2025,

as Saturday after Thanksgiving and the entire holiday season as small business season in Fort Collins to celebrate small businesses whose magic multiplies when we shop locally. Congratulations.

All right. My name's Nick. I own Friendly Nick's Butcher. I'm really proud to be standing up here with all these people, especially after what we've gone through the last three weeks

and how much the community in general has just come together to support each other.

And I don't have anything near as eloquent as what we're highly prepared. But these last couple weeks going through,

We raised over $100,000 to help people keep food on their table while they were going through either a furlough or their reduction in SNAP benefits.

And I've listened to a lot of stories of a lot of people and the hardships they've gone through.

I've always been very proud as a business owner that I can give back to my community.

I did it during COVID when we would hand out little sandwiches for people who had lost their jobs. and I was very happy to do it now.

Excuse me. But I was really exceptionally proud to see that all the other businesses stepped up

to do a little something. And I think that's what the community is.

It's not one person doing everything or grand gestures.

It's one person doing a little bit of what they can, staying in their lane, saying, this is my way I can contribute. This is my way that I can help the people around me. and I started just by trying to do a little something and everyone decided I would be the

point man for that and then so many other businesses stepped up you know Crazy Carl's and Bread Chick, Panhandler and Philippe and Mojo's and I can't name them all but it was just an incredible experience to be a part of that that's what the community is and that's what small businesses are and like we are still people that live in this community and we care about it and we care about the people around us and when we all come together to do just a

little bit of something it can make a really huge difference in people's lives so thank you guys for the proclamation and for supporting all the small businesses here in Fort Collins

can

I can always suck it in for so long thumbs up thank you okay the next proclamation is declaring the month of October as domestic violence awareness month

thanks for coming

all right whereas Colorado criminal code defines domestic violence as an act or threatened act of violence against a person with whom the defendant has an intimate relationship, such as a current or former spouse, partner, cohabitant, or co-parent, when the act is used to coerce, control, punish, intimidate, or seek revenge against that person. And whereas nationally,

one in four women and one in seven men have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetimes. One in 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence each year, and 90% of these children are eyewitnesses to this violence.

Domestic violence is one of the leading causes of homelessness for women and children.

And whereas in Fort Collins, 33% of homicides over the last 10 years were related to domestic violence,

such as intimate partner physical violence and sexual violence. In Colorado, 37% of women and 31% of men are reported as domestic violence victims.

However, these statistics do not adequately represent LGBTQ+, and Black, Indigenous, and other people of color who face additional barriers to safety and experience domestic violence at disproportionately higher rates. and whereas Crossroads Safe House since 1980 and the Zonta Club of Fort Collins since 1997 and other local human and social service agencies together with numerous volunteers provide critical assistance and services to victims and their children including life-saving crisis intervention emergency shelter safety planning advocacy and support and whereas the city of Fort Collins recognizes multiple efforts by our community partners to bring awareness to and serve our

community to support victims of domestic violence. These annual efforts are Domestic Violence

Awareness Month in October. Zonta says no to violence, 16 days of activism against gender-based violence from November 25th to December 10th. Now, therefore, I, Jenny Art, the Mayor of the City of Fort Collins, do hereby proclaim the month of October 2025 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month and urge residents to join Zonta Club of Fort Collins and Crossroads Safe House in support of efforts to end gender violence and to eliminate the detrimental consequences gender violence has on the well-being of our community year-round

i just want to thank mayor jenny and the city council because it's been many years every year

that they have supported the building awareness in our city for domestic violence.

It's still an issue.

We still are going to continue working with passion and seriousness to continue to help.

And thanks to Mayor Jennings for support, make Fort Collins a safer place to live. Thank you.

Thank you. okay the last proclamation tonight is declaring the year we're up to a whole year of 2025 as the 100th

! of Poudre Valley Hospital. Anybody here to celebrate that? Come on down.

Thank you for coming.

Okay. Whereas, I mean, this is super interesting, right? Whereas 100 years ago in 1925, the citizens of Larimer County recognized the urgent need for local access to quality health care and established Larimer County Hospital, a community-built institution dedicated to serving all who needed care. And whereas Northern Colorado grew and evolved and so too did its hospital, becoming Poudre Valley Memorial Hospital and later Poudre Valley Hospital, reflecting the expanding role as a trusted and enduring pillar of health, innovation,

and compassion. Whereas throughout its century-long history, Poudre Valley Hospital has been defined not only by its medical excellence, but by the extraordinary people who have served within its

walls, physicians, nurses, caregivers, and volunteers who have advanced medicine and delivered hope to generations of families. And whereas the hospital's partnership with the City of Fort Collins and the broader northern Colorado community has strengthened the region's resilience, supported its economic vitality, and promoted the well-being of countless residents. And whereas from its early days as a small county hospital to its current role as part of the UC Health, Poudre Valley Hospital has remained steadfast in its mission to provide world-class care close to home, guided by compassion, innovation, and service to others. And whereas as the hospital celebrates its 100th anniversary, it honors the vision of its founders, the dedication of its caregivers and the continued trust and partnership of the Fort Collins community. Now, therefore, I, Jenny Arndt, the mayor of the city of Fort Collins, to hereby proclaim the year of 2025 as the 100th anniversary of Poudre Valley Hospital and congratulate Poudre Valley Hospital on 100 years of exceptional service to Fort Collins in northern Colorado.

Well, thank you. And I think the other proclamations kind of really solidify why Poudre Valley's been successful over the years. The community support and people that are willing to step up when there is a need. And making it a welcoming place to live. supporting domestic violence and people that are passionate about making sure that things get done that need to get done. We have our small businesses. We thrive when you thrive. And so we appreciate all that you do. Nick's story is unbelievable with just a small act of kindness and how that can snowball. And that's the community that we're fortunate to live in. Of course, GIS to get us, get you to Poudre Valley Hospital. So that's been important as well. But there's been a lot of courageous people throughout that hundred years that have made PVH what it is today. And it's hard to drive by that red brick building with not having either joy or sorrow or some feelings of some sort. We have incredible caretakers that are here to serve the community. And we live in a wonderful place that supports the hospital. We're just very fortunate and blessed. On behalf of the staff at the hospital, the providers, our nurses, our nutritionists, everybody that makes the place tick, we thank you for proclaiming this year, that's amazing, Poudre Valley Hospital Year and just thank you for the support that the community gives us. We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you all who came tonight and they were five wonderful proclamations, as Kevin mentioned.

So that concludes our proclamation portion of tonight's meeting. We will resume at six o'clock. Good night.

Good evening, Fort Collins. The time is now 6.02 p.m. and I call the regular meeting of the Fort Collins City Council to order. Tonight, Spanish interpretation is available online and I'm going to turn it over to our interpreters, Gilda Bolan and Oscar Franco on Zoom to explain how to listen and participate online.

Good evening to everybody. Yes, we're going to be offering Spanish simultaneous interpretation in these meetings. So even if you speak English and you would like to hear any comments that is made in Spanish into English, please choose the interpretation services. If you are in your computer, you're going to see the icon of a globe in the Lor right-hand side of your computer in a few minutes. When they assign us as interpreters, you're going to see it. You don't see it now, but you will see it in a few seconds.

So please click in there, and English speakers should choose English as the language of preference, and Spanish speakers will choose Spanish as the language of preference.

If you are in front of your phone, you're going to see three dots in the upper right-hand side of your phone screen.

Please click in there, choose interpretation, and then choose your language of preference. So I'm going to continue with these instructions into Spanish.

Buenas noches a todo el mundo. Estamos ofreciendo interpretación simultánea. En unos minutos, cuando seamos asignados como intérpretes, si usted está en su computadora, va a ver el icono de un mundo terrestre en la parte inferior derecha de su computadora. Haga clic y elija español como idioma de preferencia. Si usted está en su teléfono, va a haber tres puntitos en la parte superior derecha. Haga un clic ahí y elija interpretación y después elija español como idioma de preferencia.

Okay, we're ready to be sent into the virtual room. Thank you.

Great, thank you very much. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Will the clerk please call the roll.

Arndt. Here. Francis. Here. Olson. Here. Pachyondi. Here. Canonico. Here. Pino Taro here getowski

She is excused and we wish her well

We appreciate all who have joined us either in person or virtually and I'd like to remind everyone that we're here for the same purpose

Which is the future of our community. That's something we all care about

I know that we'll be respectful and listen to others viewpoint and everyone will have a chance to be hurt Will the city manager please?

Resolution directing staff to take efforts and actions to enhance funding from our Community Capital Improvement Program Fund for affordable housing.

And then under other business, we do have consideration of a motion to call a special meeting for next Tuesday, November 25th at 6 p.m. to conduct the annual performance reviews.

I will just also note after the regular meeting, we have a couple general improvement district meetings, and then we will be going into a work session.

We have something of everything tonight.

Yes, we do great. Thank you very much. There are no community reports tonight. So will staff please play the public participation video?

There are three ways to participate in City Council meetings in person in Council chambers online via zoom or by phone

Anyone who wants to speak during general comment or for any particular agenda item should sign up in advance at

Fcgov.com slash council comments you can comment on any topic including other

agenda items during the public comment period or you can comment on specific

items when they are brought for consideration later in the meeting

however you may only speak on an agenda item once either during general public comment or during that item specific discussion

The mayor will call by name those who have signed up to speak in the order they signed up.

Connect to the internet on your computer or mobile device and join the Zoom meeting.

The link and instructions are on the meeting agenda and at fcgov.com.

Click the raise hand button and leave it raised until called on.

Dial the number shown on the meeting agenda and enter the meeting ID.

Press star 9 to raise your hand. Please note that public comment is not permitted about any items that could be appealed to

City Council, like certain kinds of development projects.

information and resources about how to participate in the development review process are available on the city's website finally please remember that

public comment is not a question-and-answer session and all comments

should be addressed to City Council not to individuals all speakers and audience

members should treat everyone with respect and dignity maintain a welcoming environment and avoid actions that could be distracting

Please enter and exit council chambers quietly if the meeting is still in progress

Great, thank you very much We will now proceed with public comment

at this point we have seven people signed up before 530 and

If you signed up to speak remotely, please raise your hand now until you're called on let me see I don't see anyone who signed up to speak remotely tonight. Okay?

So everyone will have three minutes. If you belong to a board or commission, please identify that you do and say if you're speaking on their behalf or on your behalf.

Staff will use a timer to track each speaker.

When the timer shows green, please begin. State your name and where you live.

When the timer shows yellow, you have 30 seconds left to make your comments. And when the timer shows red, you can finish your sentence. But please stop and give the next person a chance to speak.

let's just go ahead and jump right in with the first person I'm not sure if

that got cut off or is that Cindy is the person here are they remote no okay Gary Jones come on

Good evening members of the City Council and interested parties. My name is Gary Jones.

I live at 1263 Stony Hill Drive in Stonehenge neighborhood, a few blocks from Riffenburg

School and Edora Park, which borders Stewart Street.

I'm here tonight to urge you to stop any plans to effectively join Prospect Road with Stewart Street via the epic gate. Because of the safety of our children.

Years ago, I witnessed the most horrific tragedy I've ever seen in person. A child was run down and killed by a distracted driver. I was devastated. The whole community was devastated. but that was nothing compared to what the family felt when their small child was needlessly killed.

I firmly believe that you need to keep the epic gate closed permanently

because opening would make a de facto thoroughfare between Prospect and Stewart. No matter what signage is put up, drivers will ignore what is not enforced,

especially at commute times. Stewart would become a busy, dangerous street, unlike it is now.

Peak times at Riffenburg School coincide with what's become our post-COVID rush hour.

I'm sure you're aware of how busy our main streets get between 8 and 8.30 in the morning and 3 to 3.30 in the afternoon, the primary pickup and drop-off times at Riffenburg. and with after-school activities, kids on Stewart Street are present well into the evening.

Offering impatient drivers an off-ramp from Prospect would turn Stewart into a busy high-speed road right along a popular city park and especially alongside a primary school, which to me is madness. I never want to see another dead child in the street.

Opening that epic gate would vastly increase the likelihood of that happening.

Would you let your children play on Prospect Road? Of course not. Neither would I. So please

vote no on this needless and dangerous plan. And thank you for the opportunity to speak. And again, good evening. Thank you very much. Rich?

Rich Stave, average citizen of Fort Collins, 80525. The two issues that I wanted to talk about are on the consent agenda. Item 16, waste collection. and gee, I can't wait to see what's going to happen next. I don't have that service, so basically they bill me, but the last bill I never got, but what I got was a late bill. I don't really understand how they're supposed to bill and how I'm supposed to get noticed if they don't send it in the mail. And the second thing was there was an increase. So when I did pay the bill, I didn't pay enough. and I'm just confused as heck as how that system is supposed to work. Now, I know the city gets a little bit and Republic gets a lot, but I really don't think that's fair. And the second thing is I was just looking at how many bins are there. What if somebody doesn't have the space in their garage for all that? That just doesn't make any sense.

The second issue, which is close to heart, happens to be utility rates. and I spoke with this last time, particularly electric rates, because I get electric from the city of Fort Collins.

The money that gets spent to increase capacity must be paid by the rate payers,

and that increase is greater than the rate of inflation.

And I said last time, basically, they're increasing at 6%. The cost of living races for most people are like 2% to 2.5%. So they're obviously spending more money, and it's costing more.

Now, utility generation and delivery for the citizens of Fort Collins is a monopoly, and that monopoly is controlled by the city.

Now, we say Platte River Power Authority, but basically that's controlled by the city,

as well as several other cities. what the city gets out of this payment in lieu, taxes, and a markup. So it's getting quite a bit from it. Now, when I looked into that, I go residential, the retail cost to implement is not included in the price. So what I'm saying is if a company wanted to add capacity and required that, they would basically be charged a capital improvement fee. but people aren't being charged that if they want to add heat pumps and cars and e-bikes and all that kind of stuff. That basically, I don't know how that's supposed to be collected, but the people that are adding that need more capacity and they need to have a program to pay for that. Thank you.

Thank you. Natalie?

Thank you. I apologize for being on there twice. First time I've done this, so yes. This morning on a walk, and I'm talking about the epic gate again. This morning on a walk with my dog in the park, I crossed Stewart to go to the park. I took a break and went back and had a seat at the Veterans Memorial Auditora Park. I think the way it overlooks the park, it's a wonderful peaceful place for

contemplation for people who need it because they have names on those on those sculptures. I know it's an important place for many people. I have a

dear friend who volunteers with a 96 year old Ventron and says this is not a

plot of land. This is part of him and he is part of it. It's important to people.

So I sitting there, I found myself reflecting a lot back to 1972. A lot was going on in the world in 1972. One of those things, my husband turned 18 in 1972. And on his birthday, he was required by law to register for the draft. He later, the Vietnam draft, he later joined the Air Force.

And a year later, I became a military wife. So we know about military life and what people put into that. In 1973, we were married.

And when I was sitting at the memorial, I also spent a few years thinking about our early years, those Air Force years, before taking time again to read what it says on those plaques.

It's names, and they're important names to people who need to see them.

I was thinking about their significance and how appreciative I am of the shelter that the trees establish around that place of dignity that honors those names.

When I left, it took me a mere 25 steps to get from the memorial to the asphalt where the exit is at Epic. The one they're going to change or want to change into a two-way street, 25 feet from where people are in mourning. That doesn't seem right to me.

I feel like I am appalled by that. My husband is a veteran, is appalled by that. Several veterans I've talked to are appalled by that.

At 25 steps, that's about as close as my front door to my street in front of me. I can hear every single car that goes by when that door is open. That's what they hear sitting there. I am appalled at the prospect of the proposal to open those gates at Epic.

I think that it's a bad idea. I think there's a lot of bad ideas of that a lot of bad reasons to do that I don't understand it my neighborhood doesn't understand it This is just one of the reasons that that needs a closer look and perhaps a different perspective. Thank you. Thank you

Christina

There we go um hi i'm christina and i'm a member of the air quality advisory board and i'm here tonight

representing the air quality advisory board we had our november meeting last night and one of our board members gave a report about the work session that you guys had on october 28th about the building performance standards we understand that there was a lot of discussion of several very

large changes to the original staff proposal we strongly urge council to reconsider those changes

we urge council to follow the original staff proposal and to consider the consequences of the changes that you discussed at your work session before your december 2nd vote we refer you to our most recent memo thank you thank you very much madgy baldwin

I'm Maggie Baldwin. I live at 12 times Stoney Hill in the Stonehenge, close to the epic.

And I'm here to talk about the opening of the gate. that's it before Collins depart Monterey Park. Director of Recreation Department is planning for multiple events at the EPIC. It's quite possible they're planning for something that's not going to happen. Right now, the EPIC has two ice sheets, a hockey for hockey and competition pool, and they are among few in the region. But there are five surrounding areas who have either built or is building centers that will compete for these events. including one with a competition swimming pool with 10 swimming lanes. And also the one in Greeley will feature multiple ice sheets that will attract the major events as well as professional hockey teams. In the Fort Collins website, one of the budgeting process is called, they call it budgeting for outcomes or BFO. that is designed to put community priorities first rather than simply funding departments. EPIC is likely to see fewer events rather than more which goes against the practice of budgeting for outcome in the city's strategic plan. There were seven key areas in their budget and one of them is is called a safe community and the traffic your plan will cause will put our school kids hack hikers and bikers at risk if you open up and create more traffic thank you thank you very much Ezraia good evening mayor and council Ezraia

stire district three so i wanted to discuss the intersection of boardwalk and harmony specifically the right turn lane from boardwalk from harmony onto boardwalk recently the harmony has been repaved and as a result of that the bike lanes were repainted giving a slightly wider buffer to the bike lane and green dashed lines where the bike lanes intersect with the right turn lanes, both inadequate but very welcome. However, the intersection of boardwalk was made much worse. First of all, there is an unusually long approach to the right turn lane, which is

greatly increasing the area at which a bike is intersecting with traffic, which increases the likelihood that there will be a collision. Second of all, there is not even a dashed line for most that let alone not the new green dash lines which mark it very clearly but not even the traditional dash line so there are about 50 feet of completely unmarked space that a bike has to cross where

traffic is also potentially crossing and third of all the there is a sign at the entrance to the

crossover zone that says bikes that has bikes yielding to cars which is first of all completely contrary to every other intersection the standard rule is that cars turning right yield to bikes they're going straight so just inherently having a rule that is unusual is bad because it causes

confusion if people don't see the sign they're not going to know i did not notice the sign until the third time i rode after it was redone so there were two times that i rode there and i was not following the rules of the road and i'm sure i'm not alone in that and in addition the fact the

bikes have to yield to cars, combines with the length of the approach to make it a bike. There

is no way for a bike to get across the section where the right turn lane crosses the bike lane in time before a car that was out of the range of sight could come in. So there was simply no way for a bike to yield to cars. You cannot get across that fast enough. A car that is so far behind

that is not turned on as blinker can come up. And then you just have to hope that they will actually yield to you, which we should not be relying on cars to violate the rules of the road for biker safety. And then the last thing,

which just adds insult to injury, is the sign itself, which says bikes yield to vehicles. Well, excuse me, but my bike is a vehicle. Thank you very much. so in conclusion I just really confused as to why that was set up this way it seems like it went out of its way to make this unsafe

I would also like to request can you pull item 195

your time is up but we heard what you said

that wraps up public comment unless the first person who signed up is here okay thank you very much for those of you have come does anyone on council of any follow up to public comment

councilmember canonical thank you for everyone who came out today to speak could is there someone who could address as riots concerns about that

intersection I don't know if we have anyone here this evening I'm looking around. Dana, would you be willing to take that one? Dana Horncole with our engineering department

can provide some context. Good evening, Council. Dana Horncole with the engineering department. We're happy to reach out to our streets department who conducted the resurfacing and the restriping along with our traffic operations department to address the concerns that azraa reached out with great thank you and would the department be able to meet with azra to hear more okay thank you dana

thanks a lot anybody else follow up to public comment councilman pagin yeah thank you mayor um

i will echo the thanks for everybody coming out thank you christina for speaking on behalf of our Air Quality Advisory Board and for the memo. Is there a staff member who could do a quick summary

about where we are with the EPIC-Stewart gate? I know that we've got a good written response, but I think it'd be great for folks who came out to have a little bit of information.

Yeah, I'm happy to cover that at a high level. And then if I miss anything, someone can fill in any gaps for me. So that is the first thing I want to clarify is that there is no official decision that has been made yet. We are in the process right now this month of doing a traffic study, and then once we have that information so that we have accurate data, there will be engagement with the neighborhood to explore what that data is, talk about different options, and we are in the process right now of setting up a web page, I believe, to make sure that that information is fully available to people. So, Dean, is there anything that you would add?

Dean Klinger is our community services director, so he may have a few additional details.

Thanks, Kelly. Good evening, counsel. Just really quick, though. I think Kelly's got it. I think there's a lot of confusion around what we're investigating, and I think that it's just really good to clarify that there's a significant concern around the community. how events work at EPIC. So opening the gate could be anything from just when there are very large events for exits at the gate when the school is not in session to something more. So like Kelly said, lots more work to do there, but just want to clarify, we really have not put forward a proposal yet. It could be a wide spectrum. Hope that helps. Thank you for that clarification.

Anyone else? Seeing none, does anyone on council wish to pull any consent calendar items for individual discussion? If so, just give a brief explanation.

None? Okay. I'm sorry. Let me skip ahead here. I never. It's a long one. Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar?

Yes, I move to adopt the consent calendar items 1 through 18.

second it's been moved and seconded by Pagani any further discussion saying

down with the clerk please call the roll Pagani yes Canon ago yes can you taro yes aren't yes Francis yes Olsen yes passes six to zero council members

have any comments on the consent calendar council member Olsen thanks Thanks, Mayor. Yeah, item number 13 that we did on consent, it's a bunch of ordinances dealing with transportation and one specifically on East Prospect Road widening. It's been talked about for a long time, but my comment is about the, it says nothing's been brought before any board or commission yet, including the transportation board. I just highly recommend and suggest in any order you want there, that just go to all the appropriate boards in a timely manner before it's actually designed and not just get their feedback once it's designed. I think the Transportation Board and the Land Conservation Stewardship Board, since it goes right through two natural areas, it cuts through two natural areas, that they might have some things to contribute to the final design of that particular stretch of road that's more than likely to happen, but at least we want to execute it well. So it is a wildlife crossing area, and I don't mean an overpass or a massive underpass, but there are a variety of creatures there that might be able to use a little help through signage and undercuts and things like that. So I just suggest that they just mention the T board, that it would also go to the Land Conservation Stewardship Board. Thanks.

Great. Any other follow-up? Saying none. Do Council, there are no staff reports tonight. Are there Council reports?

Councilmember Cunha. Yeah, last week I had the opportunity to attend the business appreciation celebration breakfast Which was a great event celebrating all of our businesses and it was the kickoff to shop local in Fort Collins And I hope everybody over the holiday season remembers to visit their local shops and help keep sales tax revenue in the city. Thanks

Great

Councilmember Punyan. Yes, my colleague Councilmember Olson just leaned over and wanted me to mention that staff took us out Councilmember Gutowski councilmember Olson and I on a really great van tour of northeast port Collins to look at the connectivity Issues there in future directions and so thanks to staff for that that isn't what I was going to mention but happy to do so So since we haven't met in a couple of weeks, I just wanted to acknowledge that there was a, I think it was on November 8th, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of our Art in Public Places program here in Fort Collins with a really great reception at the Center for Creativity.

And I learned that we have over a thousand pieces of public art from the painted transformers to our pianos about town to murals. And I think that we probably are all in agreement that art in public places makes Park Hollands a more beautiful, more vibrant, more fun community. And so thanks to all the board members, staff members, artists, community members who have made that program a success for 30 years.

Great. And since we last met, we also had an election. so I would like to acknowledge all the voters in Fort Collins. We had a 48% municipal turnout, which is the highest ever, and that's a real tribute. We would like to see it even higher in a presidential year. I think we go up to the second most voter turnout in the country, besides one place in Minnesota. So we're coming for them, but I really want to thank the voters of Fort Collins for their trust in the city of Fort Collins, both of the tax continuation initiatives passed. So, you trust your dollars with our government to provide natural areas and also to provide other amenities that we couldn't otherwise provide unless the voters of Fort Collins said that, yes, we're willing to pay more or continue paying the same rate for more things. So we live in a great city. And again, thank you to everybody who voted. And you're very discriminating. I love that of the six, the charter amendments that we referred with our charter cleanup, five passed and one didn't. That tells me y'all reading and you get what you want when you read and you vote. So I'm very, that's my takeaway from that. Not that one didn't pass, but that people didn't just skip over all that. and that was a lot to ask, but I think our chart will be a lot more clear in the future for that. So again, just appreciative of the voters of Fort Collins. And congratulations to the new mayor and council. They will take over on January 13th. So in the meantime, we will be, this mayor and council, will be serving until then, and we're doing the hard work of board training and transitioning and so that the residents of Fort Colson have a smooth transition as well to be able to serve you better. And also way to go on ranked choice voting. Unbelievable. And thanks to our clerk and the county clerk's office who worked so hard on public outreach. And I knew the voters wouldn't have a hard time with it. It's not so hard. But the little graphic that was up was very explanatory, and we really appreciate. I think we really set

you know I think it's hard to appreciate how rare ranked choice voting is in the United States and for the whole municipality. So Boulder does it but just for the position of mayor and so on and so forth.

So way to go for it Collins. That's all I want to say.

I'm very appreciative. Anybody else?

Okay. Nothing has been pulled from consent

so we will keep moving to the first discussion item. You guys don't want to break now, do you? No, let's continue. Great. Is there a separate...

Director of Public Works. Council Member

meeting two weeks ago about providing formal direction on dedicating the remaining projected ccip reserves for affordable housing so if this resolution passes staff will take that as formal direction to begin planning on how to spend that remaining ccip funding particularly to expand the affordable housing program that is in the current 2015 through 2025 CCIP. And also just as a reminder right now, we are currently projecting that approximately $5 million will be remaining in CCIP funds once projects close out and collections, tax collections finish at the

end of this year. Be happy to answer any questions. Thanks a lot. We'll go to the public first and see Does anyone from the public want to speak on this item come on up?

Rich Dave average citizen of Fort Collins 805 to 5. Thank you mayor. Thank you counselors I thought I read through that and I was confused by the presentation that was online

I thought it said that a certain amount of funds were going to go to Volunteers of America. I'm not really sure, but maybe I got all confused about that.

I know that there are certain funds that always want to go to this particular item, and it's a hot item probably for some people on the agenda,

but I keep thinking when I talk to people around town and they say, you know, how did you buy your house and how did you get a leg up? Almost everybody that I've talked to says I had to pull myself up by my own bootstraps.

They didn't get an extra help. And I'm not sure where this help is supposed to go. I think in my area, there are different programs that are available for people that need, that are specifically attached to that, and it's not necessarily income-oriented.

at it it's they have other needs that they they need to have addressed so I'm

not really sure where the monies on a program like this end up and how the public's best interest is served but thank you very much thank you any councilmember any questions or comments

I'll just clarify that the Volunteers of America was item number 17 on the consent agenda, and this is the number 19. So just those two differences. I don't have any questions. Just thank you to staff for the turnaround time on this. We talked about this at our last regular session and bringing this forward. I just feel much more comfortable with moving forward with CCIP and allocating to the community Center and then making sure that we have this earmarked for affordable housing so

thank you for your work councilmember Olson okay great any further comments or questions okay saying now do I hear a motion I move to adopt resolution 2025

dash 104 directing staff to take such efforts and actions which may be required to enhance funding from estimated revenues from the 2015 capital Community capital improvement program for affordable housing second second by Olsen

For discussion saying none with court place called roll Canonico yes, in you taro. Yes aren't yes Francis yes Olsen yes, but Yandy yes

Great the motion passes six zero Thank you very much

Do council members have any items of other business to come before council? Seeing none, let's go to a motion.

It's okay. Brief pause.

Oh, great. I move that City Council call special meeting pursuant to section 2-29 of the city code to be held at 6 p.m.

On Tuesday November 25th 2025 for the purpose of considering a motion to go into executive session to conduct the annual

performance reviews of the council's direct report employees second

Sorry discussion no clerk, please call the roll

Can you taro yes aren't yes

Francis yes, Olson yes, Patiandi. Yes, Canonica. Yes

motion passes 6-0 The meeting is adjourned at

640 and we now move to the general improvement district number one meeting where the council's acts ex officio as the board of directors

Okay, ready are you guys switched over?

Okay.

The time is now 6.40 p.m. and I call the meeting of the General Improvement District No. 1 board to order.

Will the secretary please call the roll?

Arntz. Here. Francis. Here. Olsen. Here. Pachandi. Here. Canonico. Here. Pignatero. Here. Gutowski.

Excused. Will the executive director please provide a review of the meeting tonight?

yes so for the public's awareness City Council sits as the ex officio board of directors of both the general improvement district number one meeting which is happening now and then to avoid repeating this subsequently it will be for the Skyview South general improvement district number 15 right after this and at these meetings the board is going to be considering second reading of ordinances to adopt your 2026 budgets thank you very much madam

executive director let's see we have an item which is a consideration approval of the minutes of the November 3rd meeting would any members of the public like to speak on this item seeing none board members have any questions comments about that no motion for approval in November 3rd minutes I move to approve

the November 3rd 2025 GID number one board meeting second seconded by Pina

Tarot for discussion saying none will the secretary please come

Pachani Yes

Canonico yes pin you tarot. Yes aren't yes Francis yes, also. Yes the motion passes six zero

How we move on to the second reading of ordinance 79 is there staff presentation for this item?

No staff presentation but available for questions if you have them. Thank you public would like to speak on this item

Seeing none members of the board of any questions or comments seeing none is there a motion for ordinance number 79?

Yes I move to adopt on second reading of ordinance number 79 acting ex officio as the board of directors of general improvement district number one approving the fiscal year 2026 budget determining and fixing the mill levy for fiscal year 2026 Directing the secretary of the district to certify such levy to the board of commissioners of Lamar County and making the fiscal year 2026 annual appropriation for the general improvement district number one

Second seconded by Canonico for the discussion sitting down will the sector please call the roll

Canonico yes pinotero. Yes aren't yes Francis. Yes, Olsen. Yes, Pat Yandi. Yes

motion passes six zero Do board members have any other business to come before the general improvement district board number one? No, okay This meeting is adjourned and we will now move to the skyview south GID number 15 board meeting

We have to open that again We open it again, okay The time is now 643 and I call the meeting of the skyview south general improvement district 15 board to order will the secretary please call the roll

aren't here yes Francis here Olsen here Patti Andy here Canonico here Pinyataro

here Gutowski she is excused the first item is the approval of the November 3rd minutes would any members of the public like to speak on this item saying none do board members have any comments questions saying that is there a motion for approve the number number third minutes I move to approve the minutes of November 3rd, 2025, Skyview South GID number 15 meeting. Second. Seconded by Patyandi. Is there further discussion? Seeing none, will the Secretary please call the roll? Patyandi? Yes. Canonico? Yes. Pignatero? Yes. Arndt? Yes. Francis? Yes. Olsen? Yes. Passes 6-0. We are on to the second reading of Ordinance 19. Is there a staff presentation for this item?

There is not.

Okay.

We do have someone online to answer questions if you need them. That's okay. Any members of the public like to speak on this item? Seeing none. Board members have any questions, comments? Council member Patiandi. Board member Patiandi.

I'll make it quick. I just wanted to thank Clay Fricky and Megan Keith for meeting me and talking about the annexation process and why there is a general improvement district in the Skyview. south neighborhood it is more complicated than I that I knew and I know it's certainly a lot for residents to wrap their heads around so thanks to staff for explaining kind of a twisty turvy topsy-turvy kind of topic right thanks is there a motion for ordinance 19 yes I move to adopt on second reading

of ordinance number 19 acting ex officio as the board of directors of sky blue south general improvement district number 15 approving fiscal year 2026 budget determining and fixing the mill levy for fiscal year 2026 directing the secretary of the district to certify such levy to the board of commissioners of larimer county and making the fiscal year 2026 annual appropriation for the skyview south general improvement district number 15

second seconded by patty andy further discussion sitting down sector post

call the roll canonico yes pinotero yes aren't yes Francis yes, Olsen yes, Pachiani

Yes

Motion passes six to zero do board members have any other business to come before the sky view South general improvement district number 15 board No, okay. This meeting is now adjourned a work session to discuss City Council vacancy process will begin in 15 minutes About seven o'clock. See ya on the other side. Thank you for calls

Good evening again, Fort Collins. We've just transitioned to a work session format, and so the time is now 7.02 p.m., and I call the work session to order. Will the city manager please provide a review of tonight's agenda?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. We have just one item scheduled for tonight and that is to discuss the vacancy process for filling the seat that will become open in District 6. When the current person in that district, Mayor Pro Tem Francis, moves to become mayor, that will open up that seat. So tonight we want to talk about the process for getting that filled. I am going to turn it right over to Dylan Coldiron, who is our city clerk. And then certainly City Attorney Carrie Daggett is also available to answer any questions.

Excellent. Thank you, City Manager DiMartino. Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. Thank you for the opportunity to come tonight and talk about the vacancy process. So tonight we want to ask you some questions about the process in particular. So the process that you want to use to fill the vacancy, if you have any concerns with the proposed timeline that we have for you. And I just want, as far as the Mayor Pro Tem, you're going to have to select a new Mayor Pro Tem. So what we want to talk about tonight is just kind of around the date that you want to do that. So that's what we want to talk about related to that.

All right. So the vacancy process was actually one of the charter changes that were proposed as part of the council's priority to modernize the charter and simplify things. So it was a charter amendment that came forward as part of the November ballot. It was received a successful vote. So we actually are using the new process this time to fill the vacancy.

So some of you may remember that the previous process gave us 45 days to actually make the appointment. And there was some confusion around which body, whether it was the existing council or whether it was the newly seated council, was able to make that appointment.

And that depended on the proximity of the vacancy to an election. So that has been simplified now, and we no longer have that provision. so we will be using the current provision that says that the seated council will make an appointment within 35 business days so where we used to have 45 days we now have 35 business days

the vacancy will start on january 13th when mayor pro tem francis assumes her new role as mayor and our deadline to do this is march 5th which recognizes that we have two city holidays within

that time period. So we also had a couple of procedural informations that changed as part of that. So it does require that we publicly

and promptly announce the vacancy on the city website. So we will be doing that right away. It also, I'm looking for council direction, a motion directing me, should you want to go that way, to go ahead and advertise for the vacancy and

The other thing that I want to mention is that the vacated office must be on the next regular municipal election based on our charter changes.

So you will. So even though we're appointing somebody right now, that spot will be open again for the 2027 election.

So related to the timeline. So December 2nd is when I'll be looking for a motion from city council to advertise for the vacancy and start accepting applications. if that's council's direction tonight. We also want to bring forward a resolution that will kind of outline the process that you agree to use to fill the vacancy. So that will be a resolution that we bring forward on the consent calendar. I will say that the proposed timeline is a little bit aggressive. And we did that because our goal is to have a council member appointed by the time council has their January 24th retreat. so that's why it's as fast as it is all right December 3rd we would begin advertising or as soon thereafter as we can but we'll be ready to go on December 16th I'll be looking for a motion from City Council to set a special meeting on January 13th and we'll talk about January 13th in a minute December 31 is what we're proposing to be the deadline for applications that are coming in at At that point, at 5 o'clock on that day, I would take the applications that we've received, package them, and send them out to city council so that you can start your review. We also will post that information on the city website so it will be available for people as well. Then we'll formally put it together for council packets on January 8th, and that will be the council packet getting ready for the January 13th special meeting.

so january 13th has a lot of things uh going on right now so um starting with public comment for all of the outgoing council members and then an opportunity for outgoing members to also provide

comment we will be swearing in and seating the new council members considering resolutions for the outgoing council members and then this is one of the things that you can choose to do or not so

So you could have public comment on the applications that have been received if you want to do that. This is not required, but we have it on here proposed in case you want to do that.

It's also an opportunity for the newly seated council to determine their pool of applicants.

So option one would be to send everyone through that you received applications for to interviews. The other one would be to pare down the number that you're sending through to interviews.

It's also an opportunity for the newly seated council to make changes to the process should they want to do that To set a date and call for a special meeting for interviews if you want to if you want a special date to do that

And then we anticipate having a reception for the for council members The thing that's not on here yet is a motion to Or a process for appointing the mayor pro tem so if you want to do it that early then we would need to add that as part of our call for special meeting right oh Carrie Carrie wants to say something I just want

to know that you're required to do it on the 13th so we'll need to include that

okay so then I think you're required to do it so never mind that's not a choice thank you city attorney okay so january 14th through the 17th this is the time window where we're proposing if you want to have a special meeting to do interviews that it would be part

of these these dates that would enable you to do the selection process and consideration of an

appointment resolution on january 20th we could swear the the new council member in on the 20th and then they would be ready to go on January 24th. You can decide to do this differently. You can decide to interview and select on the same day. So if you did not want to do a special meeting, you could do it all on the 20th. Just, you know, might depend on how many people you want to interview and how long that process might take. So you can, or you could change that and do the special meeting and the, or do that all as part of the special meeting as well. so it just depends on what council wants to do in that regard okay so there's some things that we need to get your feedback on one of those would be what kind of setting do you want to use for the interviews do you want a formal setting that would be in council chambers do you want a more informal process where you would hold the interviews maybe in this room this is where they were held the last time do you want to do that remotely I think that's a decision that you can make however if you want to do everything on the same day then we have to look at what that what that might be you could still do informal interviews in here and then move into chambers for the selection process so it just depends kind of on what council wants to do in that regard as far as questions the last time I was involved the mayor plus two council members had three set questions that they well they each one had one question that they asked all the applicants and then council members were able to do follow-up questions based on that another process I was involved in all the council members had one question each and they asked people interviews that way you can use one of those methods if you'd like or or come up with a totally different one but we're hoping to get your feedback on that tonight sequestering is also something that councils typically consider do you want to allow all of the applications to be in the room when everybody else is being interviewed or would you rather have the applicants sequestered in another room and only have them come out one at a time so you can choose on that and then timing again so we've talked about a little bit do you want to interview and do the selection on the same day or would you rather split those day and have a special meeting in there all right related to public comments so again there's the question on do you want to have a public comment session on January 13th related to the applications and then when you move into the selection process do you want to have a general public comment at the beginning of the item that would enable people to speak to all the applications or do you just want public comment on the motions as you're bringing a candidate forward so people would just be speaking about that candidate or you can do both so we just need some guidance there as far as finalists are your finalists going to be all the applicants that you're interviewing or do you want to narrow the list so we're looking for some help there for voting do you want to do a typical roll call like we like we do with all of our motions now or would you rather do a written ballot we can look at whatever you'd like to do and then if there's a tie do you want to change up the voting method you know would you rather than you know if you do roll call on the first one would you rather do written ballot on the tiebreaker. So it's kind of up to you to decide what that looks like.

All right. And the Mayor Pro Tem, well, maybe there's not much for me to say on this one now. I think we have to add it to the special meeting.

So we will just do that as part of that call of special meeting.

So with that, that just brings us back to our questions. And I'll turn it back to you, Mayor. Great. Questions?

we'll just do Julie then Melanie a couple comments first and then I'll no questions

really but I'll answer yours as many as I can okay um thank you for the you gave an example

of the questionnaire yes it did say district 6 at the top but it said district 4 within it so you might want to unless that was a trick question for our applicants you might want to change that

I did want to ask because there was the question of if someone had a felon and I believe that that is no longer in our charter.

I'm going to turn that one over to Carrie. We actually don't have a specific set of felonies or requirements in our charter except to say that if you're not alLod due to having been convicted of a felony called out in the state constitution, you're not eligible.

So there is a list, and I think it appears in the application, the felonies that are actually listed in the Constitution that bar someone from public office.

Great. Thank you for that, for clarifying. And I just have a suggestion with, because I know there's some blank spaces in the questionnaire of maybe a not to exceed page limit.

I think the questionnaire itself right now is two is that right yes so I would say like four which still could be a lot but I just would hate for us to get like

20 applications that are 20 pages each and then it could be really difficult

yeah we do have a limit on there for any attachments so those are limited to two

pages okay great then that's fine I'm sorry I missed that okay as to your

your preferences. So just for, um,

I have been through two of these. Well, I've observed one and that was when council member Gutowski was appointed, which I believe was an informal in here. And then I was part of when, um, council member Pachyandi was appointed, which I'm, I think was on zoom because we were in COVID times. Um, Um, so my preferences based on those two experiences are informal in this room. Um, and the, the issue with some of the questions you're asking us is it really depends on how many applicants we get. So, um, I think depending on how many we get, one question per counselor may be fine and not take too long but if we i feel like that can be determined later on the 13th but that is a lot on the 13th and it's going to be a big meeting um i don't really have a preference on sequestering i do remember when council member patiandi was appointed that actually one of the applicants was like well i am really impressed with that melanie so i'm gonna just pull out pull bow out and encourage people to vote for her. So that's one thing that can happen if you're not sequestered, but I don't really have a preference there. I do, if we can try to do them on the same day, I think that would be the best. To be clear for public comment, I think people can speak

anytime they want if it's in general public comment, but if we're just asking for when, I would say on the 20th after the interviews would be a good time for that.

Again, with finalists, I don't want to answer that until I know how many we have. I think the regular way we vote should be fine.

And if we have a tiebreaker, then we'll figure that out at that time.

That's my suggestion. So thank you so much for all the work you put into this.

You're welcome.

Okay. I also wanted to give my appreciation for you being willing to fast track the process so that the new council member can be part of the retreat. I think that's important, and I know it's a heavy lift for your office to lend, so thank you.

I also, I'm in support of in-person. I don't think I have a strong opinion on if it's in council chambers or more informal,

so I'm fine with either, but I would like to not do online.

I prefer sequestered just because I think there's a lot of value to hearing folks original thoughts and it having been through this process where I think there were eight applicants. It's really tough when you're the last person to answer a question and seven people have said what you wanted to say. So I guess I would prefer sequestered.

like Julie I think limiting the number of interviews makes sense depending on how many applicants we have I do think a reasonable number I don't I don't know what a reasonable number would be but if we have 30 applicants I think it would make a lot of sense for us to limit but if it's helpful to come up with a reasonable number ahead of time happy to do that on the 13th and I guess this is just a question about public comment I certainly don't want to stifle free speech but again, this is coming from my experience of having been a candidate or an applicant.

The public comment felt to me like, I don't know, a lot of energy went into trying to get people to

come make very, very short comments. And it was more focused on quantity over quality, at least

in my case. And I don't know how valuable that was with adding to the discussion, honestly.

I think as a council member, if I'm vetting candidates, I would prefer quality written comments over just having people flood city council to say somebody's name and say I support them.

And if that's if it's not a good look to not have public comment, I totally hear that. I just I feel like the written is really, really useful. And I intend to read those. having been on the other side I felt very stressed out about getting a lot of people to come speak in my support and I had lots of people who wanted to do it but I don't know if it enriched these folks decision making process they can speak to that but yeah and then the only other thing I was

going to say was nothing so that's it that's all i had um i just had a few i guess questions for

council is it important to have this person at the retreat i mean because and my question is because january 13th is just that's a big meeting because outgoing council members would leave and then we'd swear in new ones and then those people would vote on pro tem and then this and i think we all like think back to our first meeting that's like a that's a lot and families here and people are coming to support and it i think last time we changed it to more of just wearing in it was a nice celebration

um i think it's a great question i considered it important because that is the time when we um i cannot think of the word but we distribute the boards and commissions and um i feel like if you do that knowing that there's going to be a blank spot you could either give that person all the ones that people don't want or um which i know i mean i don't think we would do that but i just feel like it would be an important thing unless that could be pushed to the 31st because the retreat's

over two weekends so yeah why is it over two weekends this time I think based on both feedback we heard from the process and some lessons learned around having more time to do I'll say like ground sort of level setting and providing more context of where we are with existing plans, especially knowing that we are going to have multiple new council members coming in to allow adequate time for that. And then a little bit more time, like have that information and then time for council to process that before they would then come back and have a full day of both selecting their board and commission appointments and also really setting priorities. we did learn I think last time that a little bit more time for really taking those priorities to a shared understanding of what success would look like is something we missed last time and we want to allow adequate time for

that okay thanks then the candidates could attend on the 24th and then do the priority setting on the 31st with if I don't know how it worked to just give that extra week I I'm up for anything I just wanted to bring up that it's kind of difficult on the 13th to do all those things.

I agree that it's difficult. And I also, I guess, I would love to have that person at the retreat. I feel like in addition to the delegating of duties, I do think the time they're going to be spending on council, regardless of if they are elected or not, they'll be doing the work. And I would love for them to be able to set the direction. And I also think retreat is our best opportunity to build relationships outside of doing formal meetings. And I would love that person to feel like they were appropriately on board and not a last minute addition. But I do hear that it's going to be a lot of transitions in one evening

if we move that way. Well, that's only if we have to go down to a reasonable number. That would be the only thing that may happen on the 13th,

is that we would have to figure out how to get it down to a reasonable number, which, while we're talking about that, I would say is 10. Like from my experience, let's do 10. Let's look for 10.

I wrote down five, so I was going to do five. Okay, or then we could do five. Yeah, so that's, I don't know. It is a lot. But I think our three candidates that are starting, I know at least two have been to quite a few council meetings, and so they know what they look like, at least now they go. And then the third who I believe has experienced it at the county. Sorry, he's sitting like right over there. So he knows how these things get that guy. I don't know. But I hear your concerns.

I just wanted to bring up the option, but I'm fine to do it either way. So, okay. And then to your questions Dylan, I agree with the informal in this work session I would say I'm fine with the mayor than two council members maybe put together questions and On the application itself. I would suggest We have question that's current occupation employer recent and irrelevant experience Which includes work volunteer community personal and then we have community activities volunteer experience to me Those are all three the same question So I think we can condense that to just recent and irrelevant experience because it includes board volunteer, so just a suggestion. I think otherwise it would be repetitive. I read sequestering as like if you're not being interviewed, you're in a different room. Yes. Okay, so I would say that we interview one person at a time, but it's a public meeting, so I would feel weird putting people in a different room. Everyone else can watch it, so I'm fine with them being in the room. And then I would say max interviewing five people.

And then I would say public comment, just our normal rules with public comment.

So not setting up anything special, but they can comment on what we're adopting,

but not setting up a special one.

And then I would say roll call, and then same voting method as always.

Can I ask a clarifying question? I was acting like a real no at all, but I don't remember this. So when we did the, when we've previously done the interviews where folks are not sequestered, do we do where you ask a question and the order of the respondent rotates? Or is it you interview one person and you interview the NII? I can't remember what the format was.

The one I've seen is that you interview one person and ask all the questions and then you move to the next one.

Okay.

Thank you. Did you have something?

I just wanted to clarify and I think we got there that the only Action on the 13th would be to narrow the pool of candidates and to set a special meeting date for the actual interviews later that week

That's a good clarification

I just had a couple things like for Julie's point of no more than four pages having just done a lot of questionnaires

Maybe a word limit per question might be a good way to go.

And then I'm just curious how it will be determined, the order of the candidates that are interviewed.

So in the past, we've done a random drawing in the clerk's office before they come up.

If that's acceptable to council, we would continue to do it that way. Sounds like a good plan.

Anything else? Julie?

I'm fine with five. If that's what you guys think.

Thumbs up.

Anybody else? I mean, I think it's appropriate that the three of you are making all the comments.

My only other comment, I didn't address the mayor pro tem. I think the process as it's laid out is appropriate.

The only comment I have, but I think it's appropriate too, is that the person filling

the vacancy doesn't have a chance at pro tem, but that seems like that's okay. That's the way it goes. Yeah.

Okay. Great. Anything else? Yeah. I just have a clarifying question because I heard that you kind of want to have interviews

and selection on the same day. Does that mean you want a special meeting for that, or do you still want to do that on different days?

It's selecting who to interview on the 13th. Right, on the 13th.

But not interviewing that day. Right. But then do you want a special meeting for interviews and selection, or do you want to do interviews and selection on the 20th?

And do all of that together without a special meeting is my question.

Julie.

I prefer a special meeting and then determine on the 20th. I think so. Yes.

Okay. And I'll just put this out here.

I actually will not be able to vote on the 20th. I will be remote.

So there is no chance of a tie.

Okay. Oh, correct. Except for you won't be here.

Yeah, I do think that's a problem. I do think that is a problem.

I mean, I can. It's just going to be a long day. Could you vote at the special meeting if you had one that wasn't on the 20th? Sorry to interject, but just curious. Could I what? I'm sorry. Could you have a special meeting where you vote that is not the 20th?

You see what I'm saying? Well, we could interview and then vote that night.

I think we do need all counsel there. Okay. Yeah. So then somewhere between, I think you had the dates of the 13th through the 14th through the 17th. 14th through the 17th. So do the interviews and vote that night? Yeah.

I think especially if we limit the number of applicants, we'll be able to put that all in, have it be a smooth process. And then I would rather do that, too. I think it's really important that the entirety of the council is able to vote. Okay. Your voice is important.

Well, my voice would be there. I just couldn't vote. I would say plenty of mine.

I'm glad you brought that up, though. Do you have a feel for the date that you want to select as a special meeting?

I think Thursday the 14th. Yeah, I think we'll want to make sure that all incoming council members are available on that date.

But we can do the poll. Okay. Yeah. I can check.

And Kelly Olson has something to say. Get it.

Well, I don't get to play, but I did have a thought on it. But I did do my first four-year term. We had four appointments.

I don't know. I don't think it was related to me, but four people did resign for a variety of reasons,

which made me second senior within, like, you know, nine months. So my thought was, though, it ties in with what Emily said. And, again, whatever you folks want to do, that's your business. It's not mine.

But I'm trying to figure out if it's tied to the retreat. Why can't the retreat just be kicked back a week or two? Because it is a special night for the people being sworn in and then have to turn around and then kind of do some very, very, very serious business. It'll be the first or second most important decision they probably make while they're on council. I just don't understand that, why the retreat can't just be bumped a couple weeks

and let people have their special night being sworn in and then have the reception in that. That's my thing. I don't get to play, and I don't care where you go with this. I just think it's kind of the tradition, and I'm just trying to think of the other word that goes along with tradition, but it's kind of just a goodbye to those that are leaving and hello and congratulations to those that are staying.

So I don't understand why it couldn't just all be bumped back two weeks. Then they don't miss their – I agree they should be at the retreat. It would be a good idea. But what am I – I'm missing something. Okay.

Yeah, I'm happy to speak to that a little bit. So the primary thing is we're working on a very short window in order to be able to conduct interviews for board and commission members and have them get started on an April 1st term. So we need to know which council members are the liaisons for those boards and commissions and get appointed through an official council meeting and then have time to schedule all the interviews, do them, make those appointments, and have people start their terms on April 1st. So that's the biggest time crunch. There's a logistics thing of that we have a facilitator who's hard to schedule, and we have them scheduled in. But, again, I feel like there could be options there. The real thing is the board and commission schedule.

Which is even weirder to me that it's such a special night, but such important decisions are contingent on when they're going to start, who's going to be the liaisons to what board or commission. but I've had my say. It's even weirder to me that that's determining what happens that night.

But it is a very short meeting, as Kelly reminded us, right? So I don't know. I feel like it's the work of it.

No, it's fine. I just had to.

I mean, of course, it's not me to wait in either, but it wouldn't be that long, right?

I mean, here's what I want to just summarize what I think I'm hearing at this point, and then I do have one more question. So what I believe I'm hearing is that if we have five or fewer applicants, there will be no action required on the 13th other than calling a special meeting to set what will likely be the 15th, but we'll need to confirm availability with the full newly seated council. And then on the 15th or whatever day that is, you would do both interviews and an appointment that same night. That's the desired outcome. If we have more than five applicants, then in this schedule, in order to meet that deadline, then on the 13th, you would go through the process of narrowing down to pick those five for interviews.

I think the other option, which may not be very popular, is we could do it all on the 15th,

which is if you applied, we would select who to interview and then interview and then appoint.

yeah I'm sorry no go ahead that'd be like showing up to an interview and not getting interviewed if we had to narrow it down I don't know it is true that's

quite fair I guess my other question is if we're narrowing after we seat new council members I guess they will have received all of the applications okay either way they will they will get that information okay got it they get

materials before their first meeting got it so sticking with the 13th and to Linda do you get information because there were two options of how we could narrow the field if we need to write either by written or orally we could select the five if we need to narrow the field yeah we'll have to determine what

that process is going to look like but okay yeah we'll talk more about that oh

that that's what the upcoming meeting okay gosh one last question I want to

tell oh I'm sorry Carrie go ahead I was just gonna

okay gosh one last question i want to tell oh i'm sorry carrie go ahead i was just going to note the ! minimum process will be will need individually recorded votes ! for whatever selection is made so ! it can be written but it'll need to be announced and individually ! read

sorry i just want to comment there was one time we went through kind of an onerous process to fill a vacancy on the p and z board if you guys remember and uh i think i mean we suffered our way through it but that was you know and I think I mean we suffered our way through it but that was you know decision was made that all of council was going to vote on that I think it'll be fine maybe a little clunky that night but yeah I think it will be fine

I wanted to clarify and maybe gauge strength of opinion when we talked about sequestering candidates. I heard one I would prefer not to sequester or prefer to sequester. I heard one I would prefer not to sequester and I heard one I don't have an opinion. And so I'm just trying to determine where you want us to go with that in the spirit of clarity. I just are there legal

obligations with it being an open meeting for folks to be able to watch the meeting. That's just a typical for a job interview that you're able to watch the other person. I'm just curious.

I'm not aware of any reason that council couldn't require the applicants to be sequestered. There might be other ways to balance the fairness, rotating questions, or doing something, but I guess the answer is no. There are not legal issues.

If if we do not sequester I Would be in support of us changing the format to where we rotate and ask questions and have people be in a different order I just Whoever's last ends up in a really tough position with being able to present themselves as a strong candidate

I don't have strong feelings, so I have strong we can sequester We can sequester I don't yeah

Julie's the tiebreaker so no. Well, no, I'm fine either way So if she's going with sequester, I think sequester is the way it's going to go. It's fine.

Is that the feedback?

Yes, thank you. Yes, that was helpful.

Great. Any other clarifying summaries? Dylan, do you need to ask more? No. I think I have what I need. Thank you. Everybody else is good? Okay. Okay. Well, my favorite thing is to say, do those members have any announcements? Oh, I do have one, actually. Every time I laugh at that, then I actually have one. Next Tuesday, we will be in, what is it, an adjourned meeting? Special meeting for our direct report review. So we will not be engaging with the public next week. So I want everyone, and I'm sure we all wish you all a very Merry Thanksgiving. And if you partake in the race or run downtown, enjoy yourself. and it's my personal favorite holiday of the year. Make sure you take your time out to be grateful. All right, anybody else? All right, seeing none, good night, poor comments.