City Council Regular Meeting — June 2, 2026

and July 2026 as plastic free month so with that we will get started with bike

month if you would like to support this proclamation please come on up Thank you

All right, is that everyone for bike month? I think this is the most enthusiastic proclamation All right.

Is that everyone for bike month? I think this is the most enthusiastic proclamation event we've had. So thank you, everyone. All right. All right. So with that, I'm going to make the proclamation, then we'll have Kat come up and accept the proclamation. So whereas thousands of Fort Collins residents will experience the joys of bicycling during the month of June through educational programs, commuting events, races, group rides, or just getting out and going for a ride. And whereas Fort Collins encourages increased use of the bicycle, benefiting residents by fostering physical and mental health, transportation equity, improving air quality, reducing traffic congestion and noise, decreasing use of and dependence upon finite energy resources. And whereas the city recognizes the use of bicycles as a viable mode of transportation, endeavors to promote safe and responsible bicycling and is committed to advancing the development of safe and connected bike facilities. And whereas our city maintains over 330 miles of bikeway network, which attracts thousands of bicyclists each year and is nationally recognized as one of only three platinum level bicycle friendly communities, as designated by the League of American Bicyclists. And whereas the city of Fort Collins adopted the Active Modes Plan in 2022 and Vision Zero Action Plan in 2023, which set the goal to achieve 50% active mode share of all trips and eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries. And whereas Fort Collins has had a vision to achieve a 15-minute city where everyone can meet their daily needs with a short walk, bike, bike ride, or roll. And whereas FC Moves, Safe Roster School, and other local businesses and organizations will be promoting bicycling as a sustainable means of transportation during the month of June now therefore I am Lee Francis mayor of the city of Fort Collins to hereby proclaim June 2026 as bike month in Fort Collins and encourage residents to try bicycling as an active mode of transportation or recreation and participate in events planned for June particularly the 38th annual bike to work day on June 24th

Thank you, Mayor Francis and council members for the opportunity to speak in honor of Bike Month 2026.

Good cycling infrastructure doesn't just happen. It must be fostered by the local government, embraced by businesses and organizations, and be useful to residents in the city. Fort Collins has all three and is getting better every day.

Fort Collins City Council named Vision Zero as a priority this year, signifying in part a dedication to safely moving residents around town by bike. As on-street bike lanes, crossings, and trails throughout the city are developed, more residents can take advantage of an infrastructure that advances their safety and freedom of movement. A commitment to 15-minute city design moves Fort Collins into the future where you can live and work and not need a car for every trip that you take.

When businesses embrace cycling as a way for their staff and customers to access their establishment, it frees up space needed for parking and reduces congestion and limits access.

The residents of Fort Collins move around the city by bike for many reasons, getting to work, class, shopping and dining, as well as engaging in cycling for health and fitness.

Thousands of people visit Fort Collins each year to attend bike-related events which occur here just because the city is so committed to cycling.

in 2022 i was researching moving to fort collins and was excited to learn of the city's

prioritization of active modes of transportation i was impressed by fort collins attaining platinum

status from the league of american bike bicyclists one of the only cities in colorado to ever attain

this level of recognition i also looked at the number of bike events in shops in town and I noticed a large number of people I saw cycling around town.

I appreciate that I was able to find queer friendly bike clubs in town who accepted me to the extent that I later became a leader with them. I'm proud to live in a city that cares about cycling so much and goes the extra mile to help residents and visitors see the world on two wheels. With the dedication of our city government, I am sure that we will continue to excel as a bike friendly city. Thank you.

All right, as a former city of Fort Collins bike employee, it's my pleasure to give this

proclamation. So thank you, everyone. All right. All right, so next we're going to do

Plastic Free July. So you can sit down, you can stay up here. No one will judge you for

your choices but next we'll do plastic free come on down no one will judge you for your choices but next we'll do plastic free come on down

Okay.

So, after the proclamation, do we have more than one person?

Both of you giving comments? Okay. Okay, great. All right. So, we will start with the July 2026 is plastic-free month. Whereas the City of Fort Collins strives to be a leader in sustainability and improve our climate future in 2021 that identify strategies to reduce single plastics. And whereas Fort Collins has set goals to conserve resources, minimize waste, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution, and protect the welfare of our residents and wildlife, all of which contribute to the quality of life in Fort Collins. whereas plastic produces significant pollution in our open space waterways trails and poses human health risks at all stages of plastic manufacturing from production to disposal and whereas by the year 2050 scientists estimate that there will be more plastics in our oceans by weight than that of all fish and plastic products that enter Colorado waterways eventually drain into the ocean and whereas plastic pollution is causing a public health crisis through the presence of microplastics in the water cycle, including alpine snowfall in the Rocky Mountains, human bodies, and soils. And whereas Plastic Free July is a global movement that helps millions to be part of the solution to plastic waste by providing resources and ideas to reduce single plastic waste at home, school, and work. And whereas individuals choosing to implement small changes will create large impacts to only better our community. And whereas the City of Fort Collins gladly supports the ongoing work of our sustainability services area and the single-use plastic reduction program now therefore i am lee francis mayor of the city for colins do hereby proclaim july 2026 as plastic free july

thank you mayor francis and city council members originating in australia plastic free july is a worldwide initiative initiative dedicated to fighting the damaging effects of single-use plastics on our health and in our environment. We are thrilled to announce our city is now an officially recognized participant on the Plastic Free July website, joining thousands of communities globally. I also want to thank Mayor Francis and the entire city council for agreeing to participate in a one-week plastic audit this July by tracking the plastics used in their own households and sharing their results with photos and personal reflections, they are setting a great example for our community. We invite the entire Fort Collins community to join us in taking the audit and sharing the results with their family, friends, and on their social media platforms. We encourage the community to visit the Poudre libraries that will highlight this topic during the month of July. As an East African proverb notes, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Thank you to NoCoper Sisters, the League of Women Voters, the Limerick County League of Women Voters Environmental Team, and FOCO Trash Mob for your tireless advocacy and dedication to a healthy environment in our city. A special shout out to our city's environmental services, particularly Melinda Peterson and Tori Egan, for their hard work in advancing our zero waste goals. Finally, I am deeply appreciative to Councilmember Potionde, who unfortunately I just learned is homesick, for her guidance and ongoing commitment. But as a token of my gratitude, I'd like to give her a book on waste reduction, a highly recommended book. It's titled Wasteland, No Surprise, by Oliver Franklin Wallace.

Thank you, Mayor Francis and City Council. On behalf of FOCO Trash Mob, I am honored to accept this proclamation, and we are thrilled to partner with the Persisters in the League of Women Voters in promoting plastic-free July in our city. Plastics are of course an indispensable part of modern life, but the plastic pollution crisis is caused by disposable single-use plastics, are SUPs. You can hear the word SUPs often. And this is the fastest growing part of the industry. Plastics Free July is a global movement that has inspired over 170 million participants all over the world since 2011 to avoid SUPs. And recently, this crisis has gained more urgency

with the many studies that have emerged on the health impacts. Micro and nanoplastics are accumulating in our bodies, and medical experts are sounding the alarm on the adverse health

effects of these thousands of chemicals added in making plastics. Recycling cannot solve this problem and may, in fact, increase the amount of microplastics released into the environment. The key, therefore, is reduction, avoiding subs and choosing alternatives whenever possible. FOCO Trash Mob is a local nonprofit that works alongside national and international organizations advocating to reduce subs and providing actionable solutions. For example, since January, we have helped avoid over 3,000 subs from being used with our party kit bins. So ask about that. Now, Foco Trash Mob is excited to announce two events. On June 27th, we are collaborating with the Sustainable Refillery at their premises in Timnath, which will include fun activities for the whole family. And we are also arranging a showing of the acclaimed Netflix movie, The Plastic Detox. Stay tuned for more details on these events on our website, focotrashmob.org, on our Facebook and our Instagram pages. Thank you in advance for your participation. Thank you.

My name is Pat Berger and I am with the League of Women Voters of Larimer County.

And on behalf of the League and our wonderful partners,

we would like to present Mayor Francis with a non-plastic reusable water bottle.

Anyone else? Okay, great, great.

Well, thank you, everyone, for your work to make Fort Collins plastic-free, and thank you so much. All right.

And we have three of these.

Okay, great. Thank you.

All right.

Now we will do Pride Month.

June 2026 is Pride Month. If you would like to support this proclamation, please come on down.

Oh

Oh

Thank you.

All right, I think we're still arranging ourselves.

we're still arranging ourselves.

You guys want to come up? You're being encouraged. I can see it. Come on.

We got a few more joining us, and then we'll get started.

Right now that the audience is now behind me.

All right. Whereas the first pride was a riot in the stolen wall in June 28th, 1969. And whereas on June 26th, 2015, the United States Supreme Court established a long overdue civil right by ruling the same sex couples could marry.

And whereas Fort Collins is a diverse community, which includes members who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, two spirit and others,

all of whom deserve not only to be recognized but welcomed and celebrated and to feel safe and supported by Fort Collins. And whereas we acknowledge the work and efforts of the many advocates,

organizations, and allies, including Fort Collins Pride, the city of Fort Collins Pride ERG, the CSU Pride Resource Center,

PFLAG, Eclectic, the Women and Gender Equity Advisory Board, and SPLASH. And whereas city code prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, We acknowledge and celebrate our LGBTQ plus predecessors who advocated and fought for equity, inclusion, and open acceptance, increase of all members of our community. And whereas the city of Fort Collins makes clear to our LGBTQ plus community members that their existence and love is valued, valid, valued, and important, that they are worth celebrating, and that they are always welcome. And we honor the history of the LGBTQ plus community, and we encourage Fort Collins to embrace and celebrate with us.

as the lights on City Hall are lit in rainbow colors for the month of June.

Now, therefore, I am Lee Francis, Mayor of the City of Fort Collins, to hereby proclaim June 2026 as LGBTQ Pride Month.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

It's my honor to stand here and accept this proclamation as we recognize and celebrate Pride Month here in the city of Fort Collins.

I'm Will FLors. I am a member of the Foco Pride Board of Directors

and help run safety with the event that we're having on Saturday,

thanks to Nico and my husband Kevin and Kate and Mark.

Pride is more than a celebration. It's remembrance, a recognition, and a commitment. We remember that the first Pride was not a parade, but a protest.

in response to injustice. On June 28, 1969, patrons of the Stonewall Inn stood up against

discrimination and harassment, igniting a movement that continues to inspire generations in the ongoing pursuit of equality, dignity, and freedom. We also recognize the milestones that have shaped our nation's journey toward greater inclusion. On June 26, 2015, the United States

Supreme Court affirmed the right for same-sex couples to marry, extending a long-overdue civil right and reaffirming the principle that love and commitment deserve equal recognition under law. Right? Thank you.

Today we celebrate the diversity that makes Fort Collins stronger. Our community includes people

who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, two-spirit, and many

other identities that I'm sorry if I missed you out. Within the LGBTQIA community, every person

deserves not only recognition but respect, not only acceptance but belonging, and not only safety but

the opportunity to thrive. When I say LGBTQIA, I emphasize that T for a reason. There is currently

some in our community who question the inclusion of the T. Let me be clear to our trans family that We stand with you, we support you, we love you, and that tea isn't going anywhere, and neither are you.

We are grateful for the countless advocates, organizations, and allies who have worked tirelessly to make Fort Collins more welcoming and inclusive.

We recognize Fort Collins Pride and the City of Fort Collins Resource Group, the CSU Pride Resource Group, PFLAG, Eclectic, the Women and Gender Equality Advisory Board, SPLASH, and so many others dedicated to strengthening our community.

And the faith leaders and the congregants who joined us tonight to stand up and speak out against religious bigotry, your support means more than we can express.

Thank you.

We also acknowledge those who came before us, individuals who spoke out when it was difficult,

who organized when change seemed impossible, and who fought for equity, inclusion, and open acceptance. Because their courage, our community has made meaningful progress. As the lights of

City Hall shine in rainbow colors throughout the month of June, may they serve as a visible reminder

to our commitment to inclusion, our appreciation of the LGBTQIA community, and the hope that the future for everyone can live openly, authentically, and without fear. I

encourage all residents of Fort Collins to join me in honoring the history, resilience, and achievements of our proud community and to celebrate Pride throughout this month. Happy Pride and thank you.

Yes, I hope everyone joins us at the Pride celebration this Saturday at

Library Park where we will also be reading a proclamation for Pride Month

there as well at 11 a.m. that is all the proclamations we have for this evening stay tuned for our regular City Council meeting at 6 p.m. thank you everyone

good evening Fort Collins the time is now 6 0 1 p.m. and I call the regular meeting of the Fort Collins City Council to order please join me for the Pledge

of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Will the clerk please call the roll? Francis. Here.

Pina Taro. Here. Nelson. Here. Hovind. Here. Pariandi. Fudge. Conway.

All right, we have a small but mighty team tonight. We appreciate everyone who has joined us either in person or virtually. I want to remind everyone that we are here for the same purpose, which is the future of our community. Will the city manager please provide a review of today's agenda?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everyone. We do have a few changes tonight. The first couple changes are due to the fact that we have some absences from council, some planned and then some unplanned due to illness. So as a result of that, item 15, which is the transfer of grant funds for the DOLA grant award to develop a new Fort Collins housing action plan, is going to be delayed. And then secondly, item 17, which is flock retention and data sharing, is also being withdrawn and postponed until June 16th to ensure that we have the benefit of the full council for that item. For those of you who had signed up to speak under that item, we have automatically moved you under general public comment. So you'll still be invited to participate in the meeting at that time. Our consent calendar has 13 items. We do have two discussion items planned. The first one is an item relating to municipal court sentencing. This is a second reading item that we need to do a brief amendment to the wording. So that is ordinance number 059. And then the second discussion item is adopting an updated business assistance package incentive policy We will conclude with other business where we have two items The first is to consider a motion to cancel both the July 7th and August 4th regular council meetings And then finally consideration of a motion to go into executive session to consider a potential real estate transaction

Thank you does council need to take formal action on the two discussion items being postponed I

Do not believe so that as the city manager I was able to amend the agenda in that way to

Withdraw those and we'll bring both forward on June 16th. Okay great. Thank you. All right. There are no community reports tonight We'll stop please play the public participation video. Yes

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Okay, we will now hear public comment. To ensure we have accurate information and follow-up,

speakers are required to register to speak prior to 530. If you registered online prior to 530 p.m. your name will be displayed on the screen. At this point we have 19 people signed up before 5 30 wishing to give public comment. Everyone will have three

minutes to make their comments tonight. For those in chambers please approach the podium as you see your name coming up on the screen. You do not need to wait for me to call you to line up. For those online please raise your hand now so we can easily find you and be prepared to speak as your name is called. At the

beginning of your comments please state your name and general address. Staff will use a timer to track the time available when the timer shows green you can start your comments when it turns yellow you'll have 30 seconds and at red we will

kindly ask you to stop your comments please know that if you speak about an item during general public comment you will not be permitted to speak a second time under that item all right I will now become begin calling on speakers as reminder if you are a current member of a city of Fort Collins board or Commission please identify yourself and indicate if you're speaking on behalf of

yourself or that border commission. All right so we will start with Marge and

then Janice. Hi I'm Marge Norskog I live in District 2. March 31st the Denver City Council considered a resolution approving a proposed agreement between the City and County of Denver and Exxon Enterprise. The Denver Council found itself in a box. The staff reported that the flock cameras had just been removed and the surveillance task force created months ago could not commit to a time timeline for oversight recommendations. So, flock cameras were gone, there was no progress on new policies or ordinances, and they were under pressure to approve a surveillance tool for Denver Police. The resolution passed 7-6 by one vote. During the discussion, Council members stated two concerns. First, approving this contract made the Executive Branch and Police Department the decision maker of expansions, new capabilities, new connections, adding cameras, camera locations, all of that. And second, voting the contract through would make it even harder to get information needed to craft an ordinance. I think Fort Collins City Council could find itself in a tough situation next April. Why? The next step slide in the flock retention item presentation is a timeline to just create a policy. I think this is incomplete. No other technology has only policy oversight. Body cameras, red light cameras, speeding cameras are governed by state legislation and local ordinances. And these cameras only collect information about something that happened. Unlike ALPRs, privacy is violated by ALPRs because they amass information of vehicle whereabouts and then without a warrant can build a pattern of life. Fort Collins needs more than a surveillance policy. We need an ordinance.

We need an ordinance that clearly states Fort Collins values and if surveillance technology is to be deployed in Fort Collins, it defines that deployment. Thank you. Janice and then Spencer. My name is Janice Ord and I live in District 6. I am a retired psychologist and during my career I worked with the Larimer County Sheriff Department for Colorado's court services and completed psychological evaluations and capital cases in Ohio. As such, I spent a good portion of the portion of my career working in or adjacent to law enforcement. As with technology in many areas of our lives, it seems likely that the benefits provided by LOPRs will ensure their continued use. This leaves us, as with all technologies, with the challenge of providing appropriate oversight and establishing guard royals to ensure their use is consistent with constitutional liberties and our community's rights-centered values. One issue receiving scrutiny in Fort Collins and other communities is the length of time ALPR data remains available for review. Currently, data is retained for 30 days with proposals to reduce the period to 21 days or fewer. Fort Collins police presented a case for maintaining a 30-day retention period because case assignments are not always immediate, investigations can be complex, and leads in cases often develop over time. A Fort Collins police review of flock searches conducted between April 20th and May 20th revealed that 51.8% occurred within days 0 to 7, while 38.7% occurred during days 22 to 30. Additional information would be helpful in understanding this pattern of use. For example, were cases primarily assigned to a detective during days 22 to 30? Were cases conducted during that period because investigators knew the data would soon become unavailable? And is the pattern of use consistent across months? More information would also help explain why community members feel safer if data is deleted after 21 days rather than 30. What practical impact does the additional seven days have on community privacy concerns? If usage patterns from the Fort Collins Police April to May look back are consistent across months for reasons unrelated to impending data deletion, why would Fort Collins pay for this technology while limiting Fort Collins Police access to data from days 22 to 30? A second issue concerns FLOC's inability to provide different retention or access timeframes for local law enforcement and outside agencies. FLOC already distinguishes between requests made by Fort Collins Police and those made by outside agencies. To an uninformed observer, it appears that this would be a software configuration issue. Fort Collins Police could retain access to data for 21 to 30 days, while outside agencies might be limited to seven days. simply being told that such differentiation is not possible is not a satisfactory answer it does not seem unreasonable to establish different access parameters for fort collins police and outside agencies i would encourage council to push back on this issue and to complete

thank you thank you spencer then syed hi i'm spencer burris from district 5 with the northern

colorado privacy coalition i'm here tonight to once again speak about mass surveillance alprs flock in our community. So lately we've been meeting with various city council members and one thing that's come up in the discussion has been the possibility of a technical review board and I'd like to support this idea because surveillance and rapidly changing technology is an ongoing problem and I think having a dedicated board would help address this and they can also assist with things such as like RFP frameworks and audits and they can work with the citizen review board where the citizen review board would handle sort of like the police side of things and the underlying transportation would be handled by like a technical review board working together sort of like the active modes and transportation board do

and the technical review board could would be more on the vendors and infrastructure side of things and to help develop the policy around Flock and ALPRs. So we have lots of tech expertise in Fort Collins, and I think a good technical review board would have a diverse background from probably with people from various tech companies in town, but also people with an open source background,

since this has sort of higher standards of trust and safety than the typical corporate IT world tends to. and I think with the sort of ongoing discussion having an ongoing group it could possibly prevent sort of future surprises as in flock kind of just silently came in and then was suddenly a big issue

and I think having a dedicated group sort of trying to be forward thinking and just looking at the ongoing situation would be a good supplement to other policies and actions that the city is taking moving forward thank you thank you

Fayed and then Martello hi my name's well hey my name's say a Jordan Mashalaj Rafi I'm for Collins resident here I'm here to speak on the four options presented May 12th regarding ALPR and flock kind of summarizing options one through three one was retaining the current contract with flock until 2027 option two was continuing along with that contract but with more restrictions and oversight in place options three is around switching vendors and option four is around eliminating alpr entirely

a handful of days ago you guys might have seen in the news a class action lawsuit was filed in the boulder county district court arguing alpr cameras violate article 2 section 7 of the colorado constitution our states explicit guarantee that people shall be secure in their persons, papers, homes, and effects from unreasonable searches and seizures and no warrant shall issue without probable cause. The plaintiffs argue that no warrant has ever authorized the surveillance and no judge has ever found probable cause to be searching everybody who passes a camera. um you know so essentially it's every resident who in here in fort collins that passes a flock camera is being searched without their knowledge without suspicion and without a court's approval um this isn't just a federal fourth amendment question colorado's constitution's historically much stronger than a federal standard colorado courts have extended privacy protections um You know, as far as bank records and phone data that the federal constitution doesn't cover. And so here it's being argued that it covers even further, you know, license plate data as well. The plaintiff's attorney said it directly. Colorado Constitution does not permit this. And critically, Boulder's exploring switching vendors as well, which won't fix the class action. The same attorney said the underlying technology is the same switching out one contractor to the next. It will still violate the Colorado Constitution. That means options one through three to retain, improve or continue flock or another venue keeps Fort Collins exposed to the same constitutional challenge being litigated and accept some ongoing liability. whereas option four ends that liability entirely and that's what I'm asking everybody to choose. If anybody has interest in pursuing a class action, please contact me via email, me at jordanmajd.com.

Thank you. Next we'll go to Marcello and then Jeff online. Not seeing Marcello, Jeff online.

Yeah, I'm here. Go ahead, Jeff. Hello. Thank you. I'm Jeff Ackerman. I live in District 2. As I had just said, Colorado has legislation that prevents this kind of illegal observation. And these ALPRs are misleading with the name that they're automatic license plate readers. They're a mass surveillance technology that's detecting far more than just license plates. People have been coming to these council meetings and expressly asking that you not only terminate the flock contract, but that you ban flock cameras from Fort Collins entirely so that they're no longer observing us illegally in parking lots of Lo's and throughout the city by other private businesses.

Governments derive their power to govern from the consent of the governed, and we are not giving you consent to employ mass surveillance upon us.

This has been seen over and over again at these council chamber meetings. We just yesterday had a protest outside of Long Harmony in Timberline.

A lot of people attended. Many people, including myself, were unable to attend. And so that number is not fully representative of how many people do not want this invasive technology in our city.

Please eliminate FLOC cameras, not just their contract, not just that brand, but the entirety of mass surveillance from our city. Please keep us safe from the abuses that will inevitably follow from those mass surveillance systems. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go to Selena online.

Selena, if you're online, could you please unmute yourself? We have somebody calling in, so they don't have their name represented. I don't see Selena. Okay. If they come on, just let me know. Israe? Good evening, Council. My name is Israe Shtyer from District 3.

I want to thank all the council members, including some who aren't here tonight, for their willingness to engage with members of our coalition and discuss these issues that our community is facing together. And hopefully we can work on a resolution. But tonight I wanted to talk about problem-based thinking versus product-based thinking. Problem-based thinking is when we start with a problem that is identified. and that problem can either be a shortcoming in our tools or processes or just something that we think we could improve on are we doing better and when you start with that with private problem-based thinking you then the next question you ask is what tools are available and then you can analyze each of those how well do they fit that gap how well do they work for what we're trying to do

and you can do a cost-benefit analysis on each of them and not just a cost-benefit analysis but a comparative cost-benefit analysis. How well do each of these tools fit the gap? On the other hand, product-based thinking starts when you have a product identified, and then you say, what benefits could this bring? And of course, you can sort of do a cost-benefit analysis because you can say, well, it will bring these. But when you start with a product, you're going to be hunting for what benefits can we find. And you have no comparison, it and no baseline to test it against. So of course, you will almost always be able to find

the benefit. They'll say this tool brings us benefits because it does, but you don't know that that was necessarily the best tool for the job. Problem-based thinking puts us, the city,

on the initiative. Product-based thinking puts the vendor on the initiative, specifically the salespeople, because that is how product-based thinking starts. Product-based thinking comes when a salesperson comes and says, look at this shiny new product we have. Can you find a use for it? And of course, if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. You're going to find a use for it. You're going to find a way to fit it into your work.

And usually your work will adjust to fit the product. And so after some time, you'll think, well, obviously we need this product. That's the only way we could do it. But that wasn't necessarily the case at the beginning. And when you start with a problem rather than the product, that opens your mind to a lot of other possibilities.

And with this flock, we really have not heard in any of the work sessions a real discussion of what the problem or problems were.

We heard a lot of talk from the police about the benefits the flock brings. You've heard a lot of talk from the general public about the drawbacks of it.

But I don't think we've really had a discussion of what are the issues we have,

what are our shortcomings, what are the gaps we need to fill.

We all want our government to be more efficient, but it's hard to find the best solution to balance that efficiency with democratic oversight when we don't have a clear problem identified.

Thank you. Thank you. Ian?

And then Tish.

I'm Ian O'Brien. I'm in District 5. I don't have a lot of technical background. My career is in finance, but I'm very thankful for all the other. Sorry, my timer isn't going. There we go. I don't have all the technical background, but I'm very appreciative of every fellow citizens here using their technical expertise to help defend our rights. But today I'm going to talk about something kind of a little more history. There's a lot of discussion of, you know, the license plate readers. It's like new technology and something that we haven't come across before. But all this really is just mass surveillance, which has happened in the past and has had real impacts in the world. So one picture, you know, let's go back in time to 1961. It's a beautiful summer day in East Berlin. It's August, and the wall just went up. And three to four million people have already fled East Germany to West Germany, escaping the Stasi and the oppressive regime of the Soviets. and 80,000 people looked at that wall while living under that oppression and saw the guard towers, the barbed wire, the land. While living under that oppression and saw the guard towers, the barbed wire, the land mines, the dogs and risk their life for freedom to get away from an oppressive regime. ! About 5,000 people made it. 140 died in that process and the rest of the captured disappeared. ! This may seem extreme, but this is something that really happened. ! That's just from surveillance from cameras and police taking handwritten notes. They didn't have automated cameras or AI back then. And that was scary enough to live in that world where people want to escape and risk their life for an opportunity to not be on the ground. that world where people want to escape and risk their life for an opportunity to not be under mass surveillance at a police state. This may seem far-fetched from us and very far removed because it was 80 years ago and, you know, the Soviets weren't just in Berlin. I want to be standing here speaking to you today if my grandfather didn't flee Poland in the 1950s after surviving World War II, being invaded by both the Nazis and the Soviets and made it to the U.S., leaving his entire life behind just for freedom and to not be under a police state. And this is something that's not new to us. These flat cameras are going down a dark path. And all these cameras will do is just build evidence against people for crimes they haven't committed. And all it does is just build more records that they can pull and conveniently place you at a crime that you didn't commit. As we saw that lady in Boulder, who is charged with porch pirating, which is very mundane and mild, but this will go on to pull and convict people in very wrong ways and ruin people's lives. None of this is worth the lawsuits that will come. None of this is worth putting people under a police state and the other harms and risks that we talked about in previous council meetings that I don't have time to reiterate. So I just beg you all to pick option four because it's critical for our safety. Thank you. Tish and then

Ash. Hi, I'm Tish Volpe, District 5. In one of the past listening meetings, we were told about how flock searches are audited and we weren't given examples of what a suspicious search would be. We were given twice the same example of how something may look suspicious, but wouldn't be suspicious. Like a search showing up a bunch of times in a row could be broadening or shortening the parameters of the search. So essentially we have no way of knowing that there's a bad actor until they've acted. And this is frightening for me because I was stalked by a police officer.

and uh sorry he did find me um and i fled to colorado and changed my name and started a new

life and the reach of clock is only growing all the time and the limits on it are not there I'm not the only one with this story.

But I know that if Flock had existed, I wouldn't be here with a new name and a new life.

I would be dead.

And there's a part of me that's afraid that if Flock continues expanding what it can do, that he could find me here.

And I'm sure he won't. I'm sure I'm safe, and I'm sure you'll keep seeing my face.

But if you don't, I hope that you remember it.

So please choose option four. It's the safest option for everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Ash, and then Daniel.

Hi, my name is Ash Ibarra from District 2.

I would like to take the time to acknowledge the violations to our privacy that have occurred due to FLOC's mass surveillance system.

But first, I would like to take a moment of silence to mourn those who are affected by the breaches of privacy today.

Now, I would like to talk about money. Last year, the Democratic Association of Mayors was paid $10,000 by FLOC. The Democratic and Republican Governors Association had received $50,000 each from FLOC. Both attorney generals associations in Colorado nationally received $25,000 each from FLOC. and this year another donation of $25,000 to the Democratic Attorney General's Association by FLOC. This is called a controlled opposition. I wonder what FLOC is asking them to do with the money that they've donated. To fight back, we need the people to help us follow the money, watch the watchers, and to map the power structures so that we can build people power.

We need health care, not mass surveillance. Food, not wars. Unity, not division.

This whole left or right thing is just getting a little old at this point. We need to stop looking left or right and start looking up at our leadership and up at the 1% who are using their power to break down the democratic system. It all starts at the local level here, where we can build up rather than look down on each other. And I just want to say I'm very glad to see my friends out here today. To the city council, please start taking a deeper look at who in the city was involved with Flock and why, and figure out why the police department wants this so badly, because it's not for safety. Take a look at the Carpenter Supreme Court ruling and understand what the current consensus is on the location tracking with cell phones, because the cops and the corporations they answer to think they are not violating our constitutional rights on a technicality. This is what our constitutional rights are to them, a technicality. They are coming for our privacy. They will likely use another technicality to go after your freedom of speech, your right to assemble, your due process, your speedy trials, and even take away your guns. Everything they do will be a cruel and unusual punishment to us, the American people. However, despite my concerns, I am thankful for you, the City Council. Daniel? And then Alex.

Hello, I am Daniel Ibarra from District 2 and I am also a part of the NOCO Privacy Coalition. I want to take this opportunity to focus on a key word that was thrown around during the work session given by Fort Collins Police Services and that word was criminal. By definition, a criminal is someone who commits a crime. But what crimes are we talking about? Who decides what these crimes are? The working class or is it those in power that want to punish the struggling citizens. The fact that it was never described what type of criminals the Fort Collins police are going after with Flock is concerning, and that broad overview is exactly how misuse is justified in other places. You claim during this month of pride that everyone deserves to feel truly welcome in our community. On the White House's page in the counterterrorism strategy, they wrote, national counterterrorism activities will also prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist. I ask you this. What is identified as violent secular political groups to the White House? Is it simply standing outside protesting for trans rights? Is it allowing people in our community to seek the care they need in transitioning? We who oppose Plock have already been labored as terrorists by their own CEO. So is it possible everyone in this room opposing Flock can now be labeled as a criminal? Fort Collins Police Services have stated that Flock is not a Fourth Amendment violation and that it is constitutional. I'm not going to focus on whether or not it is because they've clearly already made up their mind. But I also want to quote this other excerpt from the same page on the White House. We will use all the tools constitutionally available to us to map them at home, identify their membership, map their ties to international organizations like Antifa, and use law enforcement tools to cripple them operationally before they can maim or cure the innocent. So if Fort Collins Police Services considers it constitutional to surveil us and the White House wants to use the tools to cripple us, how can you tell your constituents that they deserve to feel truly welcome? Loveland has already cooperated with ICE and they are still labelled on the Fort Collins Police Services website as a location that they are sharing data with. Actions speak louder than words and telling us restrictions are being put in place but still showing there is no accountability by keeping them in our network is a disservice to your community.

The fact that other cities who have cancer contracts but can't take them down choose to cover the cameras with trash bags because they don't trust that the cameras aren't still collecting data, that should tell you all you need to know about how trustworthy this company is.

Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Alex?

And then we'll go to Roxanne online.

Thank you. My name is Alex Carlson. I'm in District 1. I think the other folks who've spoken today have covered most of what I wanted to say, so I'll keep it brief. I also realize this isn't a Q&A, so this is a question I hope that you will consider. During the working sessions, when we had representatives from Fort Collins Police Services, they stated that all of our data was shared only with trusted agencies and that it wasn't used for immigration purposes in compliance with Colorado law. Loveland has been documented not internally, not through the news and independently verified, not just once, but at least twice, once in 2025 and again very recently, that they shared their information with ICE through an intermediary, it seems like at least in the most recent case. And so my question is, how can these two statements coexist? How can we claim that we

have this understanding of exactly what our data is, where our data is going, and that we're being very careful and that we're doing all the checks and completing the audits.

And then we have a member of our network who ostensibly can query our data at any time,

using it in a way that we've all acknowledged is undesirable for our community. I don't think there's been disagreement at the council level, at the police level, at the state level, that that's not how this data should be used.

Flock is a network, and we're only as strong as the weakest point in that network. And I think right now it's pretty obvious that Loveland is a weak point in that network.

And it shouldn't take me as a citizen who's not involved in city operations to come up here and tell council that that's the case. We know about this. It's public information. And yet nothing is being done. And so I just, the city's asking for a lot of trust from the community, right? and I just don't know how I can give that trust right now when there's such a clear-cut example of saying one thing while another thing is true. So I would hope that City Council takes the time to dig into that and understand why we've been sharing this information and as far as I can tell why no effort has been made to stop sharing that information. And I think whatever the solution looks like, it's been great speaking with all the different members of council. I think we need to have an answer to that question. If the answer is that we can't meet the requirements that we're trying to set, then at that point,

it really shouldn't be about the tool at that point. There's no tool that exists. So with that said, I'd like to echo is Raya's point as well about, let's find the problem and then find the tool that fits. Right now we're looking at a tool and it has gaps, and we're not doing anything to rectify those gaps. So thank you for your time. Thank you, Roxanne, and then we'll go to Judy.

Hello? Go ahead, Roxanne.

Okay. Roxanne, artem, 80525. ALPRs are presented as a narrow public safety tool, cameras that read license plates. That is not all they are. Block creates searchable records of vehicle information that can be included, including the plate, make, model, color, location, time, and distinguishing features of our vehicle. The two problems are the cameras and, more importantly, the searchable network behind it. Once that network exists, the original goal starts to blur. Public safety becomes a broader justification for tracking ordinary people. Just last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported that a school district in Georgia used FLOC to verify student residency, meaning families were tracked to confirm where children lived. That is not public safety. EFF also reported searches around the country logged for employment or background check related purposes. Again, not public safety. Now the FBI is seeking nationwide access to FLOC's network, which means the information collected by our city's cameras may not stay local. That undermines the claim that this data truly belongs to us. My concern is not only that people can abuse this system, my concern is that

the system makes those abuses easier, broader, and more routine. I do not believe policy guard rails are enough. A rule does not stop the data from being collected. An audit log does not protect

residents before a search happens. It only tells us afterwards that the search already occurred.

And once data is shared, copied, or acted on, the harm cannot simply be undone. That is why I'm asking this council to remove these cameras now. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next we'll go to Judy and then Ryan.

Hi, my name is Judy Castro, and my husband tells me that I'm in District 4. ! I don't really know, because numbers aren't my thing, but we're 50-year residents of Fort ! We both are retired public school teachers, and he taught you, Emily. Eddie, say hi back there, yeah. So he's always proud of you and your family. I just want to say that I'm very thankful to each one of you. And you are very important. And it's very significant that you've stepped up to help our country. And I don't think you get enough thanks. Because, guess what, not very many of us do that. So I just want you to know that the Patriot grandparents are out there the first Tuesday night of each of your meetings. And we're praying for you. So that God will bless you. We have like eight points, and we really, really are in your corner to do your very best job, and thank you so much for serving our city. Oh, two minutes left. Okay, so two things. Law enforcement. I love this, what I learned about Flockton. I didn't know that much about it. I'm concerned about privacy. I know my phone is leaking stuff to everybody on God's earth, too, and this is a very important thing, and I'm so glad I was here to hear all this. But I also am concerned about us keeping in touch with people that maybe aren't good intentioned in our community. And so for law enforcement, I spoke with someone who knows a lot in our law enforcement community here and I said, are we a sanctuary city? And what all does that mean? And honestly, the answer was, I'm not sure. Not sure. Is it something that we need to be in touch with the feds on when there's a criminal situation? And the response was, well, get up and say that before the city council, and here I am. My last point in my last minute is the fluoride situation. I sent each of you. I gave you some things to look up about that. I work with a nutritionist here in town who is very concerned about medicating our water. If you want fluoride, go buy the toothpaste. I have a thyroid condition, and fluoride has been proven if you got to any of those sites, and I encourage you to read that information. It really affects people with my situation. I have to have a filter in my house. And so thank you for taking the time to possibly learn more about that issue. And I don't know how much control the city council has over things like that. I think the Water Commission and various other places have more, and I'm not really sure. But I'm just here to say please give it some research. Thank you. Thank you. Ryan and then Adam.

Hi, my name is Ryan. I am a member of the Disability Advisory Board, but I'm here solely in my capacity as an individual resident of the community in District 3. I think that the FLOC system settings are pretty transparent in terms of understanding what is actually beneficial to our community and our residents and then what is not. We have the ability to set up FLOC or ALPR cameras so that we have full audit logs of what our police officers are searching in particular, understanding the reason codes, case codes, et cetera, that come with those searches, so that we can be sure whether that's the Citizen Review Board, a new technology review board, or someone else is ensuring that the system is being used appropriately and correctly. And that comes with a lot of trust. Then there's searches that are occurring outside of our community by city enforcement that is not tied to our laws as a city that is used to protect residents outside of Fort Collins. and we pay the exact same amount whether we're permitting that or not. And so it seems to me like the opt-in to data sharing programs is being done with no incentive or benefit to us as residents and is solely being chosen to benefit other communities.

I think that it seems pretty clear that choosing to have cameras that we can audit is one thing and choosing to allow others outside of our community to search those cameras without being able to review those audit logs is another. As we look at the length of time that data is retained as well, it seems to me that there needs to be more nuance in the conversation. The searches that are occurring within the first, let's say, two to seven days are going to be high priority and specifically are more likely to affect the actual lives of victims of crime. Then there's going to be a period of time where it seems like, from my understanding, the police department is not necessarily conducting searches. There's a lull in the search count. And then towards the end of 30-day period, they're seeing an increase in searches done primarily by detectives. And those crimes, my understanding and the expectation would be that those crimes are specifically around property. And I think that we need to have a kind of nuanced recognition that crimes against lives of our residents is going to be different than crimes against property of our residents. And so if we're going to choose a window of time for that data retention period, you know, So placing a very strong restriction, preserving our civil liberties and protecting our human lives is a lot more important. Thank you. Thank you. Adam, and then we'll go to Emma.

Hello, Mayor and Council. My name is Adam Hirshhorn from District 2. Earlier the lady said it all starts at the local level here, and I want to underscore that with a reminiscence. the career of Jared Polis started here in Fort Collins as a privacy advocate. And from there, we can see that he's actually implemented the precise infrastructure, which is allowing the surveillance. Now, the advocates against Flock are correct in some instances, but they present block as a single front except for the lady who spoke and I'm echoing

it's not just one threat vector and this may

affect you personally for context with the world

Jewish congress has declared that they intended information in cyber war to delete any kinds of facts which are contrary to their narrative

this is already underway during the last council meeting samsung patched all 5g phones with galaxy ai that means that a thinking machine inside your phone is already assessed and exfiltrated

your information your information your information and the same thing is being geared up for apple with the new iPhone 17 release.

How is this being implemented

at the local level? Well, the Foreign Agent Registry Act demanded that we have a registry disclosure plan to geofence three churches in Fort Collins.

Let's see here. You can verify that here.

The NDAA 2027 merges intelligence surveillance and AI with the State of Israel.

You can verify that here.

And I think it's important to point out that if your child has a school-issued computer,

it is vulnerable, check for computer text here in a fixed-width font,

and for the user control rather than cloud control. Please be careful. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Emma?

And then Tyler.

Thank you. Emma Vakili. I'm in District 2. I'm speaking today to oppose the use of plot cameras and ALPRs in town as well

News continues to break about various questionable uses of the technology around the country We've heard multiple examples of that tonight already and I won't repeat them

But I just say it's it's naive to think that because we live in this like beautiful bubble that is Fort Collins That people given the same tools and the same incentives are going to behave in a different way

And I want to call particular attention to comments that were made by a couple of our own

members of our police department at the North Fort Collins Business Association last week.

One officer spoke of potential use of the cameras in glowing terms as being, oh, say there were

like multiple fires around town and there was a vehicle that was nearby, we could do a pattern

analysis. If someone wanted to do, track someone's movements like that 10 years ago, would they have needed a warrant? And if so, why does that change now that we have this new tool?

um i the other concern that um or the other thing that i heard was a concern that chief swoboda raised which to his credit he did raise it but about the lack of skill or capacity of our

citizen oversight board to deal with the thousands of search logs just because we call it an audit log and we have data it doesn't actually result in accountability um if we don't have any way to

actually review that for patterns of abuse or misuse.

At the very least, it seems to me that we shouldn't be using a system like this unless we have a meaningful way of discovering abuses like that and taking action about them, having some kind of incentive for people not to do that.

Obviously, I wouldn't be supportive regardless, but it does seem like the bare minimum to

ask that we pursue something like pausing the contract until we have a way to actually pursue any kind of accountability for people who have access to this system. Thank you. Thank you. Tyler?

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Tyler Davidson, District 5. And frankly, my thunder's been stolen from me a couple of times tonight. I had a few interesting things to say, and they've already been said, which led me to ponder and think about this.

I have been coming before the city council now on this issue time and time and time again. I've become a familiar face, I hope a relatively friendly and thought-provoking one.

Tonight, I'm going to hit another very uncomfortable topic. That's called fascism. Fascism was defined by one Benito Mussolini, who was the dictator of Italy. And he defined it as the marriage between the monopoly on force and violence of the government with corporate power. Now, I ask you, flock cameras, how could this be described any other way? Think about the power that it brings. Think about what's already been done. Think about the abuses that have already happened. Think about the fact that all of this has happened running far ahead of any kind of law that we have to limit it. We have all kinds of examples. I don't need to belabor them tonight. But fascism, fascism is already here. And we're fighting it. We've been fighting it since, I think I've been coming since February or at least early March. and every time there have been more people showing up and speaking out against flock i haven't heard anyone in favor yet we had a funny little trophy last time you'll probably see it again the point being that i think the people have spoken and i haven't heard more unanimity on any issue before government in my entire life the notion that only a few people are against Flock and most people are for it is laughably false.

Flock itself has proven to be an irresponsible, disingenuous, and uncredible partner.

So something I'm going to ask city council to consider very seriously is that there is an ethical standard by which you hold companies to whom you give taxpayer dollars.

And if they don't live up to that standard, what do you do?

Well, you end the contract. That's what you do. And that's in your court.

That is something that you all are, you have a fiduciary duty to uphold. And I think we're pretty clear on that.

So now the ball's in your court.

We're watching. Thank you.

Thank you. That is everyone we have signed up to speak before 530.

And so we will now end public comment.

Does anyone on council have any follow-up to public comment? Mayor Portem.

Great. Thank you again to everyone that came out tonight. I was hoping, you know, that we would be able to vote on the flocked thing tonight, but I think it is best that we have all the voices on council. So I look forward to seeing you all again in two weeks. So thank you for all your comments remaining. Civil, really appreciate it. I did have a follow-up question on a different item, maybe for our city attorney. Is it still correct that for the term sanctuary city there is no real legal definition at this point? And has it been for ever?

That is true. that term is used as though it has some sort of established meaning different organizations establish them their own idea of what that means but there's not anything like binding on the city to define that okay great thank you so much

councilmember Nelson I think we're gonna go down the dais and in a chorus but really thank you all for your continued around the dais and in a chorus but really thank you all for your continued advocacy and sharing your voice ! And I know that we all appreciate you sharing your thoughts and your concerns and your stories ! I have tremendous appreciation for everyone who shows up on a Tuesday night and participates in this process and this discourse and like Mayor Pro Tem. I really am sorry that we're not able to dig into this tonight. I was really looking forward to it and kind of ready to solve it together as a council but I do think that it's appropriate for us to tackle. kind of ready to solve it together as a council. But I do think that it's appropriate for us to tackle this as a whole council. So as the Mayor Pro Tem said, we will see you all in two weeks on this topic. But looking forward to some resolution at that point. Thank you.

Council Member Huffey.

Thank you. Yeah, I too just want to thank everyone for coming out and continuing to advocate and share your voice. It's really helpful and meaningful. And we'll see you in a couple weeks.

I'll just echo everyone's statements. Thank you for coming out tonight. I know government can be slow, but it's deliberative, and we thank you all for your engagement. Does anyone on council wish to pull any consent calendar items for individual discussion? Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the items on the consent calendar?

Yeah, I move approval of consent calendar items 1 through 13.

Is there a second? Second. We have a motion by Mayor Pro Tem and a second by Council Member Hoven. Any further discussion?

I just wanted to make a comment regarding item number eight and the multi-site and how excited I am for this project to move forward. I think when it comes to the external partners and consultants piece, just I thought maybe adding or specifically naming adaptive writers as part of the external partners might be helpful, might be useful. They that group of riders might already be included through bike park community members But I specifically just thought it might be nice to make sure we call out adaptive riders. Thank you

Anyone else All right seeing none whether clerk please call the roll

Francis yes, Pina Taro yes Nelson yes Hovind yes

That passes for zero do council members have any comments on the council? Seeing none, there are no staff reports tonight. Do council members have any reports?

Council Member Hoeven? Thank you. I just want to say thanks to everyone. I attended the Memorial Day celebration, and all of the Veterans Plaza volunteers were just remarkable, and I specifically want to thank Duan for explaining to me the mystery man, or not mystery, missing man table setting, and that was extremely informative and helpful. So thank you, Juan. I did attend the Boys and Girls Club of Larimer County fundraiser this past weekend, and they raised $200,000 from their generous donors. And it was just great to be a part of. And I specifically want to congratulate Jose and Emily, who both were recognized as senior and junior youth of the year, respectively. So it was really nice to hear their speeches and give them recognition. And lastly, I want to thank Parks and Natural Areas and specifically our trails team who have been so proactive. The springtime is so special in Fort Collins with all the baby ducks and all the baby geese and all the wildlife. And I was fortunate enough walking along Spring Creek Trail to witness a turtle laying eggs. And it was early in the morning, and they were before 7 a.m. making sure that the turtle was guarded off. And just their proactive and caring nature, I just really appreciate. So thank you.

Anyone else? You can't beat that. No, I can't beat that. I will just say there are lots of events going on this weekend including the Pride Festival at the Downtown Library and also the EcoFest here at the Washington Park. Thank you. So lots of good events coming into the spring. All right. We will move on to our planned discussion items starting with item number 14, item relating to municipal court sentencing and default code updates. Is there a staff presentation for this item?

We do not have a planned presentation. Again, the language update is to add petty offense in addition to misdemeanor as possible escalation levels. We do also have Tom Joaquin, our senior prosecuting city attorney, here for any questions.

Great. We don't have any people sign up for public comment on this item. Do council members have any questions or comments? Seeing none, is there a motion for ordinance number 58?

Yeah. I move to adopt on second reading ordinance number 58-2026 amending certain provisions of the Code of the City of Fort Collins concerning default judgments to extend the time to file a motion to set aside a default judgment. I will second that.

We have a motion by Mayor Potempo and a second by Council Member Nelson. Any further discussion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll.

Pina Taro? Yes. Nelson? Yes. Hoven? Yes. Francis? Yes.

That passes for zero.

Do we have to do the second motion for ordinance number 59?

So I believe you're done with second reading. There is a motion for ordinance number 59 with amendments.

That should be what you just approved on second reading.

We just did 58.

Oh, sorry, sorry.

All right. So is there a motion for ordinance number 59?

Yes, this is a long one. Buckle up. I move to adopt on second reading ordinance number 59, 2026, repealing and reenacting as amended section 1-15 of the code of the city of Fort Collins concerning general penalties to align with state law following in regard to people's versus camp and in regard to people versus Simmons. amending section 1-15 to modify the language in subsection E-4 starting with the clause that reads quote the new alleged violation may be charged end quote so that the remainder of the section reads quote as a petty or misdemeanor criminal offense as specifically provided for such designated level of violation in addition to any costs which may be assessed or if no specific level of violation is designated then is an unclassified misdemeanor that is subject to a penalty or imprisonment cost fees and any other orders imposed in accordance

with this section end quote second we have a motion by mayor Potem and a second by councilmember Nelson any further discussion seeing none will the

clerk please call the roll Nelson yes Hovind Francis yes Pina Taro yes that

passes for zero we will move on to item number 16 which is adopting and updating adopting an updated business assistant package incentive policy. Is there a staff presentation?

We do have a presentation for this one, Mayor. So I am going to turn to Economic Health Director Sana Kendall. She's joined by Michael Bussman, who is our lead business specialist. So, Sana, we'll turn to you.

Thank you, Mayor and Council, for the time to talk about the updated business assistance policy. You know, Council, we heard you in terms of Council priorities specific on bolstering a thriving economy. And we know that in order to have that, we have to have a virtuous cycle in terms of primary employers who create high quality jobs. And those jobs are typically filled by our local residents here in Fort Collins. And those residents spend the money locally and really do oftentimes support our small businesses with their dollars. So that's a really big portion of why we're having this conversation. We also know nationally communities lose 5 to 10 percent of jobs annually, and that is through business closures, consolidations, or relocations. So a lot of times we talk about our businesses are another community's kind of targeted relocation business. And so really this policy today is intended to really align council priorities, as well as the economic health strategic plan to really address the economic realities of today and also in the future. So we'll talk a little bit about the policy and the framework as a whole. So the policy for us is really the what. What are we trying to achieve? And again, as mentioned, this is really about bolstering a thriving economy. We will be talking later on in future projects about the programs and projects that will be coming forward, and that's the how. How are we going to actually put this policy into action? And so we'll be talking a lot about that. However, we wanted to talk about the policy first because it's really the umbrella that is going to be how we evaluate future opportunities. This requires modernization of our current business assistance policy, specifically to ensure that there's transparency, predictability, as well as alignment with council priorities and Fort Collins values and accountability. And so that's a big conversation for today. So, you'll see on there is a timeline our first business assistance policy, which is currently active today, is from 2013. Our hope is to have Council adopt this policy so that we can discuss future projects and programs such as an economic development fund to support small businesses.

We're going to talk about two different types of incentives today. I'm going to be talking about the primary employer incentives and then Michael Bussman

we'll be talking about the retail and some of the incentives that will go with that. So really, today Fort Collins is at a disadvantage compared to our neighboring communities as well as nationally because of the type of incentives we have compared to our neighboring communities. So the why for us is really about evening the playing field as well as potentially competing

in that space to, again, bolster the economy to create quality jobs and also bolster our tax

space in that space as well. So we know from past community surveys that the residents have talked

about really wanting stable, high-quality jobs and job opportunities close to home, and that is an opportunity here. There's not going to be a one-size-fits-all approach to this, and so we really want to talk about the tools in our toolbox that we would like to expand. The why now is really

about the fact that we need to modernize our tools. So the last business assistance policy we have enacted was in 2018. So we really need to make sure and modernize that, as well as we need to align. We need to align with Fort Collins values, as well as council priorities, and the industry bases that we're hoping to connect with, such as clean climate tech, as well as bio-life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and semiconductor manufacturing, again, to align with what really is Fort Collins values and culture today. And so I'm going to turn it over for Michael to talk about the retail incentives, and then we'll talk about the tools.

Thank you, Sona, and good evening, Mayor and Council. So to stick with the why and why now framework regarding the retail incentive strategy, firstly, we don't have a retail incentive strategy. Fort Collins would benefit from a proactive approach to retail incentives. This policy lets us target the right businesses at the right level from neighborhood anchors to regional draws. Our goal is twofold, support reinvestment in existing spaces and attract regionally competitive retailers to reduce leakage and capture a better share of sales tax. Again, the goal is durable net new sales tax to help encourage long-term economic vitality. Smart incentives are structured to produce revenue that outlasts the incentive itself. We're building a pipeline, not just filling holes. And why now? The sales tax base needs strengthening, and new retail is a responsive lever to do that. Fort Collins draws significant regional traffic for dining, entertainment, and retail. But as our region continues to grow, we have an opportunity to shore up the revenue with it. There are gaps in our current retail mix that could be better filled, and a targeted incentive program lets us steer investment towards those needs and encourage, again, durable sales tax growth to better serve the community. Businesses are scouting the front range and choosing potential locations. And with a clear, competitive incentive offer, for Collins Stands to be even more central to those conversations.

Next slide. To frame the potential tools in this incentive policy, this is again about, to echo sauna, about leveling that competitive playing field, rounding out the possibilities. Not every incentive will be used for every project, and that's by design. There's an opportunity to give our community more tools, not mandate their use. The program is built to meet business needs and our community needs. It's not a one-size-fits-all list where we're giving away everything with every application. And please note, there's fewer boxes on the retail side to reflect the realities of the community. We want to promote the balance we want to see between expanding the opportunities with primary employers and capturing new sales tax. So what's in there? Sales and use tax rebates and sharebacks. We're focused on money that flows into the general fund and that can be rebated back on a percentage basis after outcomes are verified. There are also project facilitation and cost management tools for the applicant. Expedited review, general fund fee waivers and reimbursements, and amortization opportunities that will help big projects that carry lasting benefits for Fort Collins. And as a reminder, meeting eligibility requirements does not guarantee approval. These thresholds open the door for discussion with the Economic Health Office, which then leads to an approval process with City Council. They don't promise a yes to anything. And so with that, I'm going to pass it back to Sonia. So, oh, sorry.

Monterey Park. Director of Public Works. City Attorney. City Attorney. to kind of clean up that language in terms of the code to allow council to be more nimble, to allow for the right tools in the toolbox in that space. We want to also ensure that council understands that every business assistance package that we will be discussing will come forward to council. It's going to be on a case-by-case basis, again, with the fact that they are all different and that council will ultimately be the ones that will decide and approve any of the assistance packages. In addition, we want to address the fact that programs are going to be the how, the practical framework of projects and the execution that puts the policy into action. We do anticipate coming back to council on August 11th at a work session

to talk specifically about the Economic Development Fund.

So wanting to address that because I know we've had several conversations about that at work sessions. And so with that, staff recommends an adoption of Resolution 2026-076.

Great. Thank you so much. We do not have anyone signed up to talk on this item. Do council members have any questions or comments?

Yeah, thank you so much. I just have one question. Where does the Economic Advisory Board fit in the process? And depending on what kind of employer it is, other boards and commissions that may want to weigh in?

So in the past, we have actually discussed the business assistance packages that we have proposed to the Economic Advisory Board, as well as other boards that have interest in conversations around the business assistance package. So we would be presenting to them and showing them what a negotiation looks like as well as the proposal To get their feedback and insight before bringing to council as well. Okay, great. Thank you

Other questions or comments?

Thank you. Can I just ask a clarifying point about the evaluation process after we receive the application?

Who specifically evaluates it before we receive it? It's my understanding that then we would

receive it and decide. Is that correct? That is correct. There's a couple steps in between there, specifically around what does compliance look like. So negotiations with that, and we would be keeping counsel informed in those conversations about compliance, as well as an economic impact or sales tax cannibalization study would need to be done. And that would be done by a third party specifically. So you would have all of that information. That is super helpful.

With the sales tax cannibalization, that is paid for by the potential, by the client. Is that correct? Yes. And the first part, though, the third-party contractor or third-party expert, who pays for that person?

So currently we do have two consultants on contract that would be able to do that. And those would be reimbursed to the Economic Health Office for enacting those from the company. Thank you.

Anyone else? I don't have any questions. Just thank you for the work. You know, I think that affordability has been a big discussion item in Fort Collins. And I know housing is one part of that. But bringing high-quality paying jobs to Fort Collins is another part of that. So I really appreciate the intentional policy of really looking at bringing businesses here to support residents that live here and support good and high-paying jobs. So thank you so much. With that, is there a motion for Resolution 2026-076?

Yes, I move to adopt Resolution 2026-076, adopting an updated business assistance package incentive policy. Second.

We have a motion by Mayor Pro Temp and a second by Council Member Nelson. Any further discussion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll?

Hoven. Yes. Francis. Yes. Pina Taro. Yes.

nelson yes that passes for zero that is the end of our discussion items do council have members have any items of other business to come before council

seeing none is there a motion to cancel the july 7th and august 4th regular council meetings yes

i move pursuant to city code section 2-28a that council cancel its regular meetings on tuesday July 7, 2026, and Tuesday, August 4, 2026.

Second. We have a motion by Mayor Potem and a second by Council Member Hovind. Any members of the public would like to speak on this item? Seeing none, do Council Members have any further discussion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll?

Frances? Yes. Pina Taro? Yes. Nelson? Yes. Hovind?

Yes. That passes 4-0. Is there a motion to go into executive session?

Yes. I move that council go into executive session to discuss with appropriate city staff potential acquisition and sale of real property in Fort Collins for potential economic redevelopment opportunities as permitted under city charter, article two, section 11, three city code, section two dash three, one a three and Colorado revised statutes, section 24 dash six dash four zero two four a. and the city's negotiating position on that acquisition and sale with the seller and with potential cooperative project partners and developing strategy for those negotiations and instructing negotiators pursuant to city charter article 2, section 11, subsection 5, and Colorado revised statute section 24-6-402, subsection 4EL.

Second.

A lengthy motion by Mayor Pro Tem and a second by Councilmember Nelson.

Would any members of the public like to speak on this item?

Seeing none, do Councilmembers have any further discussion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll.

Pina Taro? Yes. Nelson? Yes. Hovind? Yes. Francis?

Yes. That passes 4-0. There will be no further business after the executive session and the FCT broadcast will end now. Good night, Fort Collins.