January 8, 2026 — City Council Special Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[4:35] 30. Elicia, how's channel 8 doing? All right, counselors, if I can request folks to sit down. >> All right, I'll go ahead and get us started in here because I do have an announcement to get going first. So, the announcement is about 2026 boards and commissions

[5:01] recruitment. Are you looking for an opportunity to get involved? because the 2026 boards and commissions recruitment period is now open until midnight January 25th, 2026. So, set your alarms. You can find board and commissions descriptions and vacancies online at bouldercol.gov/government/boards-and-comm. Appointed members can now participate in person or virtually for hybrid meetings. And members also receive a free RTD eco pass to enjoy unlimited rides on RTD trains and buses. Please contact the city clerk's office at city clerk's office at bouldercol.gov or call 30344130008 with any questions you may have. And with that, I will go ahead and get us started with our Thursday, January 8th, 2026 special meeting of the Boulder City Council. I'll call us to order.

[6:00] and ask for a roll call, please. Elicia. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. Happy 2026, everyone, and welcome back. We'll start tonight's roll call with Council Member Adams, >> present. >> Benjamin, >> present. >> Mayor Brockett, >> present. >> Council member Kaplan, >> present. >> Marquis, >> here. >> Shuhard >> here. >> Spear >> here. >> And Mayor Pro Tim Winer >> present. Mayor, we have our quarrel. >> Thanks so much. So, to begin, I'd like to request a motion to amend the agenda to do two things. To add item three, which is a summary report of the city's response to the public service power shut off event and windstorms, and also to remove item 4 D, which is a consideration of a motion authorizing staff to send a letter from the city council to Excel Energy, noting that that second item will come back to us on January 22nd. So moved. >> Second.

[7:00] >> We've got a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Passes 80. So the agenda has been amended. So let's now go to open comment. And Elisha, if you could go over our public participation guidelines, please. Thank you, mayor. Thank you everyone for joining us. And I will now go over our public participation at city council meeting guidelines. Again, thank you for your participation at tonight's council meeting. We ask that you abide by the rules of decorum found in the voter revised code. This includes participants are required to sign up to speak using the name they are commonly known by. Individuals must display their whole name before being allowed to speak online. Only audio testimony is permitted during open comment. No attendee shall disrupt, disturb, or otherwise impede the orderly conduct of any council meeting in a manner that obstructs the business of the meeting. This also includes failing to obey any

[8:02] lawful order of the presiding officer to leave the meeting room or refrain from addressing the council. All remarks and testimony shall be limited to matters related to city business. No participant shall make threats or use other forms of intimidation against any person. And lastly, obscinity, other epithets based on race, gender, or religion, and other speech and behavior that disrupts or otherwise impedes the meeting will not be tolerated. Again, thank you for joining us and thank you for listening. >> Thank you, Alicia. All right, I'm going to call three names at a time. Everyone has two minutes to speak and I will be strict about that requirement in the interest of fairness. We will be varying between in-person and virtual speakers. Our first three speakers are Philip Ogrren in person, Marcus Leen in person, and Lissa Harrison virtually. Hi, my name is Philip Ogrren and I'm speaking in my personal capacity. Happy

[9:00] New Year. Something I'm fond of saying is that there's almost no place that you can't make worse by adding more surface parking. A corlary to this observation is that most places are already worse. Imagine the CU campus for example. What if CU decided they should maximize driving and parking instead of walking? What a hellscape it would become despite the beautiful buildings. Sadly, most of the spaces we occupy are already those hellscapes. I sometimes feel like I'm stuck in a low-budget thriller movie where I wander around muttering, "I see pavement." I hope that future generations will look back to 2026 and marvel with horror that our little city of just 25 square miles once had over five square miles of it covered in asphalt and concrete. Through this lens, I'm here tonight to complain about one of our most beloved and iconic and recently belleaguered places in Boulder and to propose a stupendously bold vision for reimagining it. And that place is Encar, home to the

[10:02] impe design Mesa Laboratory and over 5 and a half acres of surface parking. What a shame to take such a bold and beautiful building and surround it with asphalt like it was nothing more than a big box store in the suburbs. So here's my big idea. Let's rip out the parking and build a carfree walled village inspired by by Dutch walkability and Anastasia aesthetics. It will feature a large public circle in the middle and a large pedestrian loop that will serve as a market for all the artists, artisans, jewelers, potters, musicians, poets, bakers, chocoliers, and other radicals who will be housed there above their shops. The Mesa Laboratory that will become an event venue, art gallery, food court, and movie theater. Sundance, anyone? How will the people get there? Shuttle buses, ebikes, and hiking shoes.

[11:00] I think I would have made it to the end if I had. >> Thank you. And I did give you a couple seconds because of the technical difficulties. >> Thank you. And maybe if we were really bold, Bob Yates can finally have his gondola, just not where he first imagined it. >> Okay, great. Our uh next three speakers are Marcus Leven and then Lissa Harrison and Doran Ashrafi Sultto Namabi. Hi there. I'm here to ask Boulder City Council and PD to reconsider with the renewal of Flock Safety's contract. Here are some facts relevant to the decision. >> Can you get into the mic, please? >> Oh. Flock cameras have critical vulnerabilities that mean any attacker with a computer and a ladder could view, download, edit, and replace anything on the camera's computer. Photos and videos on these devices have been stored unencrypted and never deleted. On tested devices, there were photos taken during manufacturing. According to Wired, Flux has sent camera data to gig workers in the Philippines. This is in violation of the contract they have with M B M B M B M B M B M B M B M B M B M Boulder. Flux Safety has leaked private API keys in

[12:01] Aurora. This leaked police officers names, phone numbers, home addresses, and patrols. In Austin, Texas, this leaked information on suspect vehicles under active investigation. Flock has also exposed admin portals for active live cameras to the open internet. These cameras were trivially findable using a search engine. It's unclear how both Flock and the police departments that we still share our data with will use that data when subpoenaed or even just requested by other states police departments or federal agencies like ICE. A foyer request in Danville, Illinois revealed that of the 1.5 million searches they received on their flock data in a roughly 3 month span, under 6% had any case number associated with them. If we define a meaningful reason for doing a search as a description at least two characters long and not a generic word like info, test, tbd or na, then fully 24% of all searches had no meaningful reason. Of the roughly a thousand times a police officer in Boulder searched this way, uh, one officer used the word police as

[13:00] the sole reason for their search 149 times. In fact, this officer never gave any other justification when using flock this way. When we contract out our safety and privacy, we leave parties that don't care about us responsible for our well-being. These tools have a proven track record of exposing the city to pointless liability, endangering police officers, and violating the public's rights. It would help the council or Boulder PD. I have sources on all of these printed and also on a Google doc. Thank you. >> Thank you. Now, we'll go to Lissa Harrison virtually and then Duran Ashrafto and then Rob [clears throat] Smoke in person. Hi, my name is Lissa and I'm a team member of Sustainable Buffs in the Neighborhood. We provide peer-to-peer outreach to CU students living off campus to encourage them to live sustainably. At the end of each school year, thousands of CU Boulder students graduate, move out of Boulder, and face the stress of figuring out how to get rid of the furniture and other items that saw them through their time at CU. Sustainable buffs in the neighborhood, the city of Boulder, and partners like

[14:01] Resource Central, Ecoycle, Goodwill, and Home Ahead are working to make this process easier for students living on the hill. We don't want to see any more mattresses left rot on street corners. In May and July of this year, we helped organize a moveout event that allowed us to keep 11.9 tons of waste off the streets and alleyways. This helped promote the city's circular economy goals as many of the items collected found new homes. We will be bringing the moveout events back in May and late July, and we're working with the Boulder Area Rental and Housing Association to see how we can go beyond our previous success and divert even more waste. CU students aren't leaving couches and mattresses on the curb out of laziness, and providing them resources like this helps them dispose of their items without disturbing the rest of Boulder. We sent you our end of year report, which has even more information regarding the effort students have made to keep Boulder beautiful. We hope to see everybody in May and July for our next round of move out events. These students are invested in keeping Boulder clean and healthy. Give us a chance. We've got a lot of manpower and we want to help. Thank you for your time.

[15:00] >> Thank you. Now we'll go online to Doran Sultan Mari and then in person to Rob Smoke and Lyn Seagull. >> Hello. Oh, I think the timer is okay. Thank you. Hi, my name is Doran and I'm the team member of sustainable bluffs in the neighborhood. We provide peer-to-peer outreach to CU students living off campus to encourage them to live sustainably. I'm here to today to talk about eco visits and why they matter. Not just for sustainability, but for protecting wildlife and student heavy neighborhoods. A lot of students live off campus in Boulder, often in shared houses or apartments. In those places, the trash, recycling, and compost system can be confusing or just new. When the basics go wrong, bins overflowing, food scraps in the wrong bins, lids left open, wildlife are the first to show up. It's not student being careless. Most of the time they just don't have clear info or the right setup. And that's something we can fix. Eco visits are a simple solution. We

[16:01] visit student where they live and help them get the basics right. Trash recycling compost and simple ways to save energy and water. When needed, we also show them how to use the bear safe latches correctly and connect them with resources on what to do if they spot a bear. These small changes help keep food and trash away from wildlife and reduce problem in busy neighborhoods. This year we documented 67 eco visits to city of Boulder reaching student across many majors. This past semester we worked directly with the city on ways to improve wildlife management. We met with Valerie Madison and helped connect her with CU Boulder's human wildlife interaction class so student can learn from the city what currently happening with wildlife. Eco visit help give neighborhood cleaner, support the city's climate goals, and reduce violent conflict. The student want to do the right thing. Eco visit make it easier for them to do it. We know cing can be can be really annoying. We're loud. We like to party and sometimes we forget to clean up after ourselves. But we're all so incredibly proud and lucky to call Boulder home. Despite how it looks from

[17:00] outside the se are invested in keeping Boulder clean and healthy. Give us a chance. We got a lot of manpower and we want to help. Thank you. Thank you. Now we have Rob Smoke and Lynn Seagull in person and then Elizabeth Soap Soa virtually. My name is Rob Smoke. I live in Boulder and I've been a resident for most of the last uh 39 years. And um I feel a little broken up inside. I I have to say just to be blunt, I think council uh counterfeits its own authority with some of the decisions that it makes. For instance, you can't see my image. Now, I've attended I don't countless council meetings over the years and blocking somebody's video image. I don't think that's even came up at older council meetings except maybe during CO. But now there's no uh safety reason.

[18:00] there's no uh administrative gain, you know, some new efficiency from not having people's uh image projected. So, it just seems like a really poor decision and it's uh antithetical to successful public engagement to do stuff like that. separately, you know, in terms of decisions. Um, just a few months ago, council, you know, in a space of a few minutes decided not to hear whether or not a company like Caterpillar deserved uh divestment. And uh since that that meeting, I've seen video of uh Caterpillar uh front loaders being used to knock down walls of makeshift shelters and and the Palestinian men inside coming out with their hands up and then being shot, being killed, point blank. I've seen that. I've seen olive trees dug up by caterpillar equipment. Why should one penny of anybody's tax dollar go to support

[19:03] any company that's involved in that? And there are so many examples of that I couldn't get to them here right now. But uh I'd like to see better from council. I, you know, always have high hopes, but my expectations are really at the bottom with uh this particular council. Thanks. >> Thank you. Now we'll go to Lynn Seagull and then Elizabeth Sopka and Lara Gonzalez virtually. >> Lynn Seagull. Busy day. I stayed up half the night, you know, watching Democracy Now doing everything I didn't get done during the day. Then make getting ready sandwiches for Laura Gonzalez after her hearing today. I made those kind, you know, it's French um it's French toast and then with ham and cheese. I forget what you call those. But anyway, but then after the hearing was four hours today, then then this then I've got to compose the sandwiches. 10 kinds of cheese, you know. But I I was rushing

[20:02] around so much I forgot my I'm getting an echo. I I forgot my sign that says Jen Robbins and Sam Weaver want to sell your your en sell your freedom to Excel Energy, which I got three misdemeanors for from Rachel Friend and from um um Jessica Benjamin. And um the interesting thing um there's so many interesting things about this whole thing. Um I I I didn't shove anybody. I don't you know I'm I don't do that, you know. Um and I didn't follow anybody. It was in a courtyard, you know, like it's just like the community is so polarized. It's like and free Gaza. Free Gaza. Um yay. I have 40 seconds left and my retrofit. This is like frigin ridiculous. I could hardly warm up the sandwiches for James. It was

[21:02] good, huh? James and um and Laura and her partner Nikki and me. Um so good because I hadn't eaten all day um either. But um I couldn't warm that up because my thermostat's out and the city gave me a new stove, but I couldn't get the stove there in time because it was snowy and they wanted me to shovel the walk. So I cancelled it. I still haven't got it. you can have your $1,300 back, but I found out that I couldn't use it anyway without justifying my refrigerator being replaced. Thank you for your test. So, I can't get the refrigerator. >> All right. Please, your time is up. Thank you. Okay. Now, we have Elizabeth Sopka, Laura Gonzalez, and Evan Rabbitz virtually. >> Good evening. My name is El is Beth Sopka. I moved back to Boulder a year and a half ago after 60 years in the Boston area, during which time I graduated college, earned a master's in

[22:01] education, worked, married, and raised my family. When my son joined the CU faculty in the philosophy department several years ago, I was delighted to move back, returning to the city of my youth. Now renting in in gun barrel, I'm very much hoping that my son and I together can find an appropriate and affordable place within the city Boulder city limits. I lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts and experienced for 10 years and experienced their unusual proportional representation PR voting system for city council in place since 1941. PR regularly produced a diverse council representing the wide ranging different segments of that highly integrated town gown workingclass comm community comm community. It represent it represented they did. I think Boulder would benefit from this uh approach to its elections as it faces a very similar population. Indeed, I helped collect signatures for

[23:01] the petition submitted to you by League of Women Voters in March with almost 600 signatures calling upon the council to hold a study session in 2025 on PR. That didn't happen then, but you have an opportunity now at your retreat this coming Monday and Tuesday to put a PR study session on your 2026 work plan. I surely hope you do. Also, I invite you to a community conversation on proportional representation on 30 p.m. in the Longmont City Council chambers. You'll be able to participate in a mock election using proportional ranked voting and you'll be able to see then how many more people get represented with proportional representation election system. You don't want to miss it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh now we have Lara Gonzalez and I understand that she will be using interpretation and so some additional time will be allotted uh for that interpretive process.

[24:02] >> Mayor, I do not see Lord online tonight. >> Okay. Well, we'll see if she comes in before open comment is over. So our next speakers are Evan Ravitz virtually and then Taylor Kleti in person and James Gilbert virtually. >> That was virtual. Is Evan present? >> Evan, [clears throat] your mic is open if you'd like to unmute. >> Hi. Four years ago, I spoke about council and especially Aaron Brockett betraying us to please Ger Polus and how Polus would betray you. Aaron went on the city's 2016 24erson junket to Oregon to look at legal homeless camps and tiny villages. Aaron made friends with two formerly homeless people.

[25:00] In 2017, the city hired consultants to make a plan, and bikes put in as much energy as their bodies damaged by living outdoors for years could handle. One lost his gallbladder, which has horrible consequences. But in 2022, when Polus told the media he was happy about the sweeping of a homeless camp near his penthouse, Aaron flipped and led the charge to spend over $14 million on sweeps since then. The city says there are 140 unsheltered homeless, so that's $100,000 each to harass campers. Denver also spends about 4 million a year on sweets, but that's for about six times as many homeless. So, there's gigantic waste in Boulder's homeless industrial complex.

[26:00] Council also betrayed us by being the only city to back the governor's takeover of local zoning. And council has refused to divest from genocide to please pace. Polus has betrayed you. He capitulated to ICE charge of cases. His commission has permitted over 9,000 articles and he's promoting influencers who promote pedophilia and eugenics according to >> thank you for your testimony. Right now we're going to go to Taylor Kleti in person then James Gilbert virtually and Leslie Glstrom after that. >> Hi I'm Taylor Colt. I'm a computer engineer and CU alumni. I've called Boulder home for the past six years. I care about Boulder a lot and its people. And this is why I'm here to

[27:00] raise my concerns about Flock safety. Flock began as an automated license rate plate reader company and are rapidly expanding into a data collection company. They are gathering Ring camera footage and expanding into AI cameras that not only read license plates, but categorize the people in the vicinity. This company collects and controls an enormous amount of data and centralizes it into one easily accessible database. Currently, our Boulder database is only shared among Colorado police, but if requested, could be shared on a national level in seconds. Flock data describes the nuances of the people of Boulder. This is powerful data. What happens if this data is misused? In Denver on September 27th of last year, an innocent woman was accused of stealing a package after the police used her car after the police tracked her car with flock cameras. What happens if flock data gets in the hands of criminals? Flockins were found for sale

[28:02] on a Russian cyber crime forum where potentially anyone could buy access to flock data. What happens if the federal government decides they want to access this data? In April of last year, the Loveland police gave the ATF access to its Flock account for ICE related searches. There's a reason why across the country, people are pushing flock out of their cities. Flagstaff, Arizona, and Cambridge, Massachusetts are a part of the growing group of cities that have chosen to deactivate their flock cameras. For the past few months, the residents of Bend, Oregon, have been speaking out against flock. And just yesterday, the city council ruled to deactivate their cameras and not renew their contract. Can Boulder join this group and re-evaluate our contract with Flock? Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Now we have James Gilbert in person and then Leslie Cluster and Celeste Landry in person.

[29:03] >> Friends and neighbors, Boulder is at a critical point. Fossil fuel pollution is affecting safety, health, and economics everywhere. It is amplifying our own local risks due to wildfires and the outages used to prevent them. Due to our lack of sufficient individual and community energy resilience, our businesses are losing millions due to these outages while exposing our most vulnerable to health and safety risks. I suggest that our best option is to create a sustainable energy utility that is complimentary to our other utility services. Boulder desires to align its energy system objectives with its planning and execution, including making energy access safe, equitable, and affordable. Even if XL Energy meets some of our objectives as an energy provider from outside of our community, it will likely miss other objectives creating gaps as we see playing out now. If not funded and planned strategically, most of the proposed solutions I have seen, including undergrounding, micro grids, municipalization, or let's make XL pay,

[30:03] will likely result in disproportionately higher costs to our already energy burden rate payers and may not achieve the intended objectives. But we can solve this together. A sustainable energy utility like Ann Arbors is a self- sustaining, community-led, bottom-up meets top- down approach. It can fill gaps by equitably and strategically uh facilitating the deployment and coordination of individual and community energy resilience through available technologies and public private partnerships. This can improve our individual and community energy reliability and resilience in an affordable whole of community approach. distributed energy resources such as energy efficiency improvements, solar plus storage with birectional EV charging, geothermal energy networks, community solar plus storage, and virtual power plants do impo uh empower our community to save money and meet those objectives. Such strategically deployed solutions when included with nano and micro grids as community energy

[31:01] resilience hubs can be very powerful economic, health, and well-being multipliers for our community. Thank you. Thank you. The rest of our speakers are in person. We have Leslie Glustrums, Les Landry, and James Duncan as our next three. Thanks very much, council. Uh my name is Lesie Gluststrom. I live in Boulder. I always want to begin by thanking you, everyone who ran to serve again. Bless you. I don't need to tell you how much work it is. So, thank you so very much. and Council Member Kaplan. Awesome. Thank you so much. Um I I'm never going to agree with you all, but I'm always deeply grateful to you for the incredible work you put in on behalf of our community. I wanted to speak a couple things today. One, you're working on the letter to Excel and thank you and thank you for postponing it. Uh hopefully you will make it stronger. Uh the people who work

[32:01] for XL are very good, but the people that our staff relate to at Excel are not the decision makers. So we want to treat them as human. We want to appreciate them, but we have to recognize that we're dealing with a large monopoly and monopoly. We don't have too many left in our society, but our electricity comes from our monopoly. So yes, please do strengthen that language. I think Council Member Wallock could do a great job of it if you cut him loose. So, and I would like to see you do that [laughter] and and the rest of you could join in. So, that would be a big help. And then the last thing I wanted to talk about um piggybacks on on Jim Gilbert's testimony who you just heard virtually. Some of you may know Jim. He he doesn't know I'm going to say this. He would probably hit me, but oh well. Jim is a retired electrical engineer. He has his name on 60 patents. So when he talks about strategic deployment of solar and storage, I am

[33:01] hoping you will all pay really close attention. He's volunteering his time. He's doing amazing work. And I'm here to ask the council as we go forward to look at how we create community resilience hubs. We just went through the PSPS. I didn't see places to go in Boulder. There was a place I could go to in Gilbin County, but not here. Thank you. >> Thumbs up. Thank you. Now we have Celeste Landry, James Duncan, and Christine Bresco. >> Hello, council. My name is What am I doing wrong? >> Closer. >> You're fine. Just speak. >> Can we start over? >> Okay. But just speak into it. >> Um, hello. Hello, my name is Celeste Landry and uh I was before I do my regular remarks, I'd like to say my

[34:01] daughter is in the New Yorker today. Um January 12th issue, an essay on sexual consent. Um the title is Yes. And um but now to my regular remarks. Um, I'd like to piggyback on Beth Sappka's request for council to schedule a study session on proportional representation at your retreat that next week. Proportional representation means that an elected body like city council or the US House of Representatives automatically reflects the diverse opinions of the voters. As an added bonus, proportional representation makes gerrymandering impossible. So, it's getting a lot of attention these days. There are two requirements for proportional representation. First, a group of electors elect multiple people at one time, like Boulder Council elects four city council members in one ballot contest. Second, voters use a proportional voting method.

[35:00] Unfortunately, Boulder does not meet the second requirement. As we all know, when electing one person to a seat, any candidate who gets support from more than half, one out of two of the voters will get elected. And we can extend this math to see how proportional representation works. With a proportional voting method, when filling two seats, every candidate who gets support from more than one out of three of the voters would get elected. When filling three seats, every candidate who gets more support from more than one out of four of the voters would get elected. And so proportional representation ensures that every sizable group can have a seat at the table. In 1917 during the progressive era, Boulder became the second city in the US to adopt a proportional voting method to elect its city council which included its first woman. Boulder used this proportional voting method until 1947. MacArthur era. >> Thank you.

[36:00] >> And I have to pass. >> Okay, great. You can hand the city clerk. Okay, our last two speakers are James Duncan and Christine Brescoll. Yes, good evening council. My name is James Duncan and I want to echo Leslie's sentiments about thank you for your service. I know you it's a fun tough job for you. Um the picture that I was passing around was a flyer of a concert this year. Um and I know that two of you I saw that two of you Tisha and Tara at this concert. It was a Jerusalem youth choir. And I I mentioned that because it seems to be forgotten. Um it was on May 31st. And I imagine you

[37:03] all know that date. Uh as a matter of fact, this the paper chose the next day to be the top story of the year. To me, that was 15 minutes of of senseless violence, right? Where this movement of the Jerusalem Youth Choir was should have been the top story of the year. Um, and I would like to read a little bit of that. It says, "The the Jerusalem Youth Choir is more than an ensemble. We are a building a mo we are building a movement in the heart of Jerusalem where the lines of identity and conflict run deep. Young Palestinians and Israelis come together to create something powerful and rare. Harmony. Not only musical harmony, though that is beautiful in itself, but human harmony. Each note sung, each story shared is an act of trust, resilience, and hope in a face of division. Right? Uh let me finish this part. Um

[38:01] through JYC, we are weaving a new social fabric in Jerusalem. One that is inclusive, just and rooted in mutual dignity. It is slow work. It is hard work. And it is deeply transformative. Our presence here and your presence with us is part of that transformation in this movement. You are not just an audience. You are participate in a shared journey. One that dares to imagine what peace and equity >> your time is up. But thank you for your testimony. [snorts] >> All right. Our last speaker is Christine Brasll. >> Short. Hi, my name is Chrissy Brasll and I'm here to talk about our rec centers. Uh but first I too would actually like to echo the sentiments of gratitude. Thanks for the opportunity to speak and for listening. So thank you guys. Um we've known for years that Parks and Rack wants to add an aquatic center in Valmont City Park, renovate East Boulder Rec Center, add an indoor track, and apparently add uh lap lanes and replace

[39:01] South Boulder Rec Center with a indoor soccer fieldhouse without a lap pool. I totally get why they'd like fieldhouse and uh an aquatic center because those could generate revenue. The only problem is that the community community is absolutely not okay with losing our lap pool at the South Boulder Rec Center. Um my understanding is that because we don't want to build right up to the lake, the land where the current South Boulder Recre sits together with the adjoining outdoor field cannot accommodate a full-size fieldhouse which is warranted for the rental purposes wanted for rental purposes together with the full service rec center which would keep a lap pool and a double court gym. But this is a story that can absolutely have a happy ending because there are many ways in which all stakeholders interests can be met including parks and wreck, the aquatics coalition, reimagine South Boulder wreck, BBSD and South Boulder residents. For example, the aquatic center can be located at Valmont City Park and the fieldhouse could be co-located there or could be built as part of the East Boulder Rex renovations

[40:02] either now or in the future. This of course means that then there would be room at Harlo Plats for a South Boulder rec center that keeps a lap pool and the double court gymnasium and maybe it includes that indoor track that parks and recre while also leaving room both figuratively and literally for the community centered vision that Sunny Vanderstar and others have been generating excitement for. Uh, so I wanted to raise this uh now before it's too late, before plans for East Boulder Rec Center are finished. And while the city's making systemwide plans for our recreation facilities, as you guys know, recreation is quite possibly the one issue that truly unites all of Boulder. So, it would be awful if we end up on a path that pits stakeholders against each other, which removing a lap pool from a future South Boulder Rec Center would do. So please question everything especially about things that might seem infeasible or I told are cost prohibitive. Um I believe the city listens and is truly open to adapting

[41:01] any existing ideas to meet the needs of all stakeholders together with modern engineering. Uh Boulder can have a world class >> time up. Thank you for your testimony. >> Right. That's the end of our speaker list. Um has Laura Gonzalez come back to the meeting at this point? >> U may or she has not. All right, then that brings us to the end of our commenting period. I'll turn to city staff to see if you have any responses to open comment. >> Uh good evening, mayor, members of council. Uh thank you to everyone who came and spoke with us tonight. Uh I think uh we've touched previously on a lot of the topics that came up tonight. So I think I'm uh happy to just answer any questions if you have any. >> Great. And Roberto, anything? >> No. Thank you, mayor. >> Okay. Any questions from um city councilors for >> [clears throat] >> um city staff? I got Taiisha and Ryan. >> Thank you, mayor. Um just a couple of questions. The first is around the um community resilience hubs and it reminded me of the recent grants that

[42:01] were disseminated by Boulder County on the climate justice. I believe there's at least one that talks about um strengthening and building community resilience hubs. And I just had a question on how is the city of Boulder partnering with Boulder County on those efforts and identifying any gaps related to that. So that's one area that I would love to get more information on. Um the second question I have is about closed caption. Um obviously there were some uh I actually voted against having um no camera for video. um it is an accessibility issue and so I was curious if there's any considerations or opportunities um to have closed caption for when people are doing their audio um public com or open comment or public comment really. Thank you. >> Thanks Taiisha for those questions and I'll uh we'll follow up uh on the community resilience hubs uh with more information on that uh and then close captioning. I'll I'll have the team confirm if I get this wrong, but I

[43:00] believe uh the broadcast of city council meetings does include co closed captioning uh functionality uh as well as uh it's available on Zoom if you're referring to being able to see it in the room. Uh I'll I'll have to look into whether that's feasible or not. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, a couple of community members talked about flock and um, Chris, could you just help me remember um, what what is the status of any policy we have on data protection around surveillance and is there any [clears throat] consideration of um, of updating that underway? >> Sure. Thanks. And uh uh the kind of the short answer to your question is uh there there hasn't been any change from the last update that uh Nuria shared with all of you in terms of the limited uh data sharing that we use with with flock technology. Uh and then there is some state legislation that is uh being considered. So we're uh engaging with

[44:00] that. Uh our IT department also has on their work plan for this year uh really a high level evaluation of kind of emerging technologies that would include uh uh this sort of uh uh a area of of technology. Uh and then lastly we're uh Nuria our city manager has been exploring and considering some ideas around engagement with experts in this area of technology and privacy. Uh so there there may be more to come on that uh in the future here. Um but happy to uh recirculate that kind of uh more detailed overview of of flock specifically if that would be helpful for council. >> Thank you very much. >> Right. Not seeing any other hands raised. That's our questions. Council members are allowed 60 seconds to respond to open comments if they're interested. Any takers on that one? It's only 30 30 seconds. 30 30 seconds. Thanks for the reminder, Taisha. 30 seconds. >> All right, here we go. Um, I continue to

[45:02] be concerned about flock. I did include a public safety for all um for council uh priorities that was last on the list of voting. So, that was awesome. Um, I'm sorry our community continues to present valid and reliable evidence on how flock data has been used and abused. I'm hopeful that we can um update our policies. There are other companies besides Flock. As far as Caterpillar is concerned, um you know, they also build our schools. It's complicated and yet I feel like there are other companies that are not violating international and local and state law and I'm hopeful there. And then lastly, wanted to thank I think we're 30 seconds. >> Oh, I just see you buffs u sustainability as a member of Arab. It was really wonderful to see their efforts around circular economy. Thank you. >> Thanks. Right. Seeing no Oh, did you have a Brian? Did you want to do a >> I do I do think there is another flock related or data protection one on that's

[46:00] higher up than the last one. So something for us all to take a look at. Thanks. >> Okay. >> I'm just going >> point of clarification. I was just going by the ratings. So, um, for those of you who may not be aware, the city council members were all asked to submit, um, their recommendations and then we kind of ranked them and the public safety for all one that I had proposed which was inclusive of flock, data security and mass surveillance was at the bottom of that list. So, that's what I was referring to. Thank you. >> Got it. >> All right. I think that's all we got for 12 p.m. We're going to go ahead and go into recess and we will resume the rest of the business 30 p.m.

[64:26] 6:30. So, I'll go ahead and call us back to order. And Elisha, if we can go to item three, please. >> Yes, sir. And thank you, Matt. I needed that laugh. Our third item on tonight's agenda is the summary report from the city of the response to the public service power shut off and event. and windstorm. >> Chris, [clears throat] you want to take that away? >> I'll take it away here. Uh, and good evening again, the mayor and members of council. Uh, I wanted to take a few minutes here and give a bit of a recap

[65:00] of um how the city came together after uh last month's public safety power shut off and high wind event. And just to start, what I witnessed uh from every department in the city through uh that incident is exactly what our Boulder residents deserve, which is professionalism, creativity, and a really a genuine care to serve our community. And so, uh team members from across the city were activated in various roles from their day-to-day duties. People came back from vacations early, uh to be able to serve our community. [snorts] Uh through the event, more than 260 public servants from across our region uh engaged in uh daily six daily briefings in our emergency operations center. That was in addition to the targeted briefings, individual meetings with Excel, hourly meetings with the National Weather Service on the evolving and changing weather conditions. And [snorts] based on our estimates, while Excel only proactively turned off the power to limited portions of our community, uh

[66:00] due to the wind related damage, we estimate about 60% of our community lost power uh during uh this event. So to dive into a few of the details, I'll start with our public safety teams, which um did some really extraordinary work. Um we activated our emergency operations center on Wednesday, December 17th through Saturday, December 20th. We had more than 35 city staff that work shifts in their designated roles there. [snorts] Over the four days of the event, Boulder Fire Rescue responded to more than double the department's normal call volume, and the police department handled 50% more calls than usual. Um, [snorts] Boulder Fire Rescue split the city into two different command districts. We added brush trucks and engine companies to the city and then embedded a chief officer in dispatch to help triage calls. Um, fire crews stopped a non-structure fire between Uklid and Madison avenues off of 30th Street that in those extreme winds would have spread quickly to nearby structures and it could have become much worse. Police officers also arrived quickly to

[67:00] assist the fire department with evacuations of nearby homes. Our [snorts] police officers extended to 12-hour shifts and increased their proactive patrols by 39%. Uh and after a mobile home fire in Boulder Meadows, our firefighters personally collected and donated $3,000 to help the displaced family during this holiday period. And our [snorts] public safety communications team worked tirelessly to disseminate information, balancing preparedness messaging with real-time updates both in the field as well as at the media relations desk in the emergency operations center. We had 26 staff from 12 city departments that volunteered in the emergency call center, keeping critical information flowing to our community. Our engagement team was spreading the word to our entire community, including our most vulnerable, those needing medical assistance, residents in manufactured home communities who often bear the worst wind wind impacts in events like these, and those who had no choice but to travel for work. The planning and

[68:00] development services staff generated damage tracking spreadsheet that logged approximately 300 situations citywide. So that's downed poles, broken windows, missing roofs, down trees, that sort of thing. Uh and then staff from numerous teams assisted in windshield damage assessment across the city. [snorts] Our transportation and mobility team deployed 27 generators to keep critical intersections operational. They made more than 500 visits to intersections over 72 hours, and the maintenance teams cleared 179 reported obstructions from streets and paths, and maintenance crews volunteered to refuel generators throughout the night. [snorts] Our facilities and fleet team faced a challenge of more than 24 buildings losing power at some point during the weather event. That included fire stations, radio tower sites, recreation centers, service buildings, office buildings, parking structures, among others. Our radio services team ensured emergency communications remained stable and then the team also supported uh free downtown parking from Friday of the event through Christmas to support local

[69:01] businesses impacted during outages. Our utilities department really had a demonstration of why capital investments matter. Um both of our water treatment plants operated without power on generators for an extended period of time. Um the [snorts] PSPS would have been a much more dire situation had we not had generators at our water treatment plants. Um we never lost power to the water resource recovery facility or or wastewater plant. Our open space and mountain parks team rose to the occasion when we made the significant decision Thursday night to close the open space system out of an abundance of extreme caution. The staff had the entire system, including 55 access 00 a.m. Friday morning. The [snorts] rangers conducted severity patrols. Forestry crews were embedded with our wildland firefighters and they performed damage assessments, clearing debris um from public trees so Wednesday's limbs didn't become Friday's projectiles. [snorts] And our housing and human services department focused on supporting some of our most vulnerable

[70:00] at the Golden West uh affordable housing property in the city. It's where we have our highest concentration of older adults at risk. 10 individuals were at risk of losing their oxygen supply and three individuals were stranded from being able to access their apartments on upper floors due to a loss of power and a failed generator. Our our team helped secure battery backups for oxygen and temporary bedding. And then our EOC was able to work with Excel to restore power to Golden West early. Our climate initiatives team knows the electric grid in this city really, really well. Um and they provided key recommendations to Excel to minimize the outage footprint for both Wednesday and Friday's planned outages. And then staff uh were embedded with Excel's operational teams um advising on re-energization priorities as well. [snorts] Our GIS professionals integrated Excel's everchanging maps with road closures and charging uh locations. Our parks and recreation team helped support those emergency uh charging locations along with our library district partners and our

[71:01] finance team sent vendor payments early and extended sales tax deadlines for impacted businesses and our economic vitality staff coordinated with the chamber downtown Boulder and small business clients. Um whenever our community experiences hardships and impacts of this magnitude, we also have an opportunity to um and a responsibility to listen and to learn. Um, and it's really a cultural norm that we have uh to do a comprehensive afteraction report and to try and improve and iterate for the future. And this one will be no different. [snorts] Later this month, the city plans to host a virtual community town hall to focus on this recent PSPS. It'll be hosted by Carolyn Elm from our climate initiatives department and [snorts] staff from our communications and engagement department as well. The town hall will have an educational and future preparedness focus. We're going to walk through the electric grid serving Boulder, what Excel did proactively versus what happened because of wind damage, uh, and how different areas of town were

[72:00] impacted. We're [snorts] also going to respond to many of the questions we've already received and we're going to create an opportunity for people to submit additional questions in advance. We're going to have interpretation and we're going to record and post this session. More details on this will be coming soon. Um, we'll [snorts] we've also set up uh or will set up a be heard Boulder page um and an email list to capture additional interest, questions, concerns uh and interest in staying involved. And >> [snorts] >> uh we really see that this engagement will position us well to continue to advocate ways that Excel can and should improve their planning, communications, and carrying out of PSPS events. Um, we're collaborating with our office of disaster management to lay out some expectations for Excel and [snorts] to identify ways to improve uh public safety power shut offs, how they're planned and how they're conducted. We're also sharing our experiences and learnings with the public utilities commission who has uh started a pre-ruulemaking process. And this community feedback will also inform ways that the city can address gaps or

[73:01] additional needs that are not within the purview or responsibility of Excel Energy and may be in the purview of the city. So to wrap up, emergencies and disasters like these are disruptive by nature and we always work to respond quicker and more efficiently. But today, I share my gratitude to all of our staff and to our regional partners who showcase the very best in public service and answering the call when our community needs us most. Thank you, >> Chris. Thank you so much for that update. Very much appreciated. And on behalf of I'm sure I can say the entire city council, let me express extreme gratitude to the city staff who worked so incredibly hard at keeping the community safe during that event. It was an incredibly stressful time. It was a very dangerous time. No one was seriously injured or killed. There were no serious fires and that is an incredible and huge testament to the work of city staff throughout that event. So, just from the bottom of my heart and from all of us here on council

[74:01] and from the community. Huge thank you for all those efforts. >> Thanks. >> And I know I'm I personally have probably dozen or two questions that I could ask. I'm sure we all do, but I would encourage us all to if we have questions to contact city staff maybe directly to with a follow-up. Really glad to hear about that town hall that's coming up. I'm sure I encourage all of us to attend that to watch that and to learn from that. Um but also just grateful to hear that we're doing evaluations of how uh we can improve, how we can work with Excel to make sure that this is done in um better in the future should it be necessary. So glad we're doing afteraction analyses as well. Um and look forward to hearing more information about what comes next. Uh, with that, if we can go ahead and move on if that's all right with folks and go to our consent agenda. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. Our consent agenda is item number four on tonight's agenda and it consists of items 4 A through C,

[75:00] item D was removed, and 4 E through 4K. >> Thank you. Does anyone have any um questions or comments on the consent agenda? And um before I actually throw that open, um Chris, did you maybe want to speak a little bit? We have this um on consent, the agreement with the Sundance Institute. And perhaps you could speak for just a minute to that. >> Yeah, I'd be happy to speak a little bit to that. Uh one of the items on your consent agenda, uh I believe it's item G, but I'm going off of memory here. it is uh uh is the governing agreement between the city of Boulder and the Sundance Institute uh outlining the terms and parameters to be the host city for the Sundance Film Festival from 2027 uh through 2036. And so uh we're we're excited to bring this uh to you. Uh and it really is kind of the culmination of the the bid process. Um happy to answer any questions that folks may have on the the terms that are in in the agreement. Um uh the

[76:02] the item is coming to you in kind of two pieces. Um the first is the item that's on your consent agenda here. Um which is uh for the city council to approve and direct the city manager to execute the agreement. And then after the consent agenda, you will convene as the downtown commercial district board of directors or KGID uh is the other the other name for the district. Uh and uh two of the items uh in in the agreement are related to KGID owned assets. So you'll be acting as the KID board of directors to approve the agreement related to those KID assets. So um happy to dive into more detail uh if needed, but um we're yeah, we're excited to bring this to you tonight. >> Thanks so much, Chris. All right, so again asked, do we have any questions or comments on the consent agenda? Mark. >> Um, we're not doing it tonight, I don't think, on the Excel letter. >> No, that's been postponed to the 22nd. >> Okay. Is there a process by which we're

[77:00] going to analyze that letter or or make comments, make amendments? How is that going to work? Yeah, we have uh we have asked council members to provide any comments uh to uh Carolyn Elam who's going to help compile those uh and then we'll we'll compile those edits and then get it back into your packet for the the 22nd. >> Thank you, >> Ta. [clears throat] >> Thank you. Um thank you Chris for the opportunity to chat with you a little bit more about the Sundance governance agreement. Um I continue to be excited about um some of the climate components um as well as the opportunities. Um I am also concerned though around the community benefits aspect. Um and I'm hopeful that we can explore more ways to [clears throat] more properly track the business benefits as well. Um again it's great to have local ticket options. Um

[78:03] but our city is investing significant um money during a time when we are fiscally restrained right now when we're not receiving those benefits. Um and so really would I you know wonder how and if there are opportunities in that community impact report um if we can get some additional tracking uh perhaps the Boulder Chamber or the Downtown Business Partnership or some of our other partners um beyond hotels and restaurants which are also very very critical but I'm thinking the plumbers and the electricians and housekeeping and all of the people um and businesses that can be impacted for this work. So there's that. Um and then the other piece was just disappointment um by the lack of the use of the equity tool. Um just because this was not um the process of this was a bid. If anything, that's even more of a reason to do an equity analysis to identify the disproportionate impacts and ensure that we're addressing any kinds of gaps or strengths. So as we're moving forward,

[79:00] it would be wonderful to see um that analysis or some kind of equity analysis done so we have a baseline by which we can make sure and ensure proper evaluation. But um in general just very appreciative of of the above and beyond on all parties. Uh but you know really trying to move from good to great. Thank you. >> Great. I don't see any other hands raised. I will go ahead and call um myself and speak to item G about the agreement with the Sundance Institute. Just uh thank city staff for all their hard work on this. I know this has been a multid-disciplinary effort across many departments. Um very excited to see this agreement come to fruition. I think having the Sundance Film Festival come to Boulder starting in 2027 is going to be uh transformative for our cultural scene here locally and we're very excited to welcome them here. And I do think it's a a balanced mix of um assistance that the city is going to provide that I understand will be more than offset by um economic benefits uh while acknowledging the need to look at

[80:01] potential disproportionate impact as well. Uh but really looking forward to getting this approved and continue to work with the Sundance Institute to bring them here in a year or so from now. So thanks to everybody for their effort on that. Does not see any other hands raised. Perhaps a motion. >> Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Second. >> We got a motion in a second. Can we do a roll call, please, Elicia? >> Yes, sir. Thank you. We'll [clears throat] start the roll call for the consent agenda items as noted with council member Spear. >> Yes. >> Wallik. >> Yes. >> Mayor Pro Tim Winer. >> Yes. Council member Adams, >> yes. >> Benjamin, >> yes. >> Mayor Brockett, >> yes. >> Council member Kaplan, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Marquis, >> yes. >> And Shuhar,

[81:00] >> yes. >> The consent agenda items 4 A through 4 C and 4 E through 4K are hereby approved unanimously. >> Thanks so much. All right. And now we're going to convene as the downtown commercial district. So Alicia, tell me if I get any of this wrong here, but I'm going to go ahead and take us into a re the city council into a recess. And then now call us to order as the downtown commercial district board of directors. And Elicia asks you to do a roll call for that entity, please. >> So far so good, sir. We'll start the roll call for the downtown Mayor, that's uh normally done by motion before you go into >> Okay. I don't have that on my list here. So, we need a motion to go into order um as the board of directors. All right. I would solicit a motion to convene as the

[82:00] downtown commercial district board of directors. >> So moved. Second. >> Uh we've got a motion to second. All in favor raise your hand. Okay, that passes unanimously. 9 to0. So, we are now in session as the downtown commercial district board of directors. I'll call us to order. Love this gavl and ask for a roll call, please. Thank you, sir. We'll start the roll call for the downtown commercial district board of directors with director Adams. >> President say more. No, that's good. >> Benjamin, >> yes. >> President here. Yes, >> that's what I was I wasn't sure if I was doing [laughter] present or yes. >> It's the roll call for your your participation as the board of directors for the downtown commercial district. >> Sorry for the confusion. >> Okay, we did Adams, we did Benjamin. We'll do Brocket

[83:01] >> here. Kaplan >> here. >> Marquis >> here. Shuhar >> here, >> Spear >> here, >> Wallik >> present. >> And Winer >> here. >> We do have our quorum. Mr. Chairman, >> uh, thank you, Alicia. Can we go to item 6B now, please? >> Yes, sir. Our item 6B on tonight's agenda for the Downtown Commercial District Board of Directors is the consideration of a motion to adopt resolution 319 of the City of Boulder Downtown Commercial District, formerly known as the Central Area General Improvement District, approving incentives offered to the Sundance Institute and authorizing the general manager to negotiate and execute a lease with the Sundance Institute and setting forth related details. Perhaps someone would be interested in making such a motion.

[84:00] >> So move. >> Tina, >> can I ask a question? >> Of course. >> Um, just a quick question. When we think about the parking incentives, when we do a parking increase, does the revenue of the increase in the future, is that split is does that change the base that we're establishing now? and was the base that we established with the recent increase or was it before the increase took place on January 1? >> Thanks for the the question, Tina. And um that uh that specific incentive in the agreement is related to essentially revenue sharing of up to a thousand parking spaces um with uh the Sundance Institute. And it'll be based on whatever the price is set for during the festival. So it it won't be based on a base of current parking. It'll just be during that time frame and whatever the price is that set, we're going to share that revenue 5050.

[85:00] Does that make sense? >> Okay. So it doesn't matter no matter what it's 50/50. It doesn't matter what we're doing today. >> Correct. >> Okay. And then will we be expecting some kind of annual update that shows us sort of what was the cost benefit to the I mean the festival in general but more specifically related to our incentive sort of an incentives analysis. >> Yeah, there are terms in the agreement where essentially we have to compile all of those stats um for whether it's the city compiling it for the Sundance Institute or vice versa. So we'll we'll be able to pull all of that together into one place. So, we'll be able to kind of see it yeartoear uh cumulatively together. >> Thanks for that, Tina. Um I'll just go ahead and um move that we adopt resolution 319. >> Second. >> Okay, Alicia, can we do a show of hands on this? >> I would prefer a roll call, sir, for the >> Yes, ma'am. All right, if we can have a

[86:00] roll call, please. We have a motion in a second. We'll start the roll call for resolution 319 of the downtown Boulder District Board of Directors with Director Adams. >> Yes. >> Benjamin, >> yes. >> Brockett, >> yes. >> Kaplan, >> yes. >> Marquis, >> yes. >> Shuhart, >> yes. >> Spear, >> yes. >> Wallik, >> yes. and winer. >> Yes. >> Resolution 319 is hereby approved unanimously. >> Very good. Um I'll look to our deputy city attorney. Would you like a motion to both uh disband and reconvene or >> That is the safest route. Thank you. >> You got it. I'll just go ahead and move that we adjourn as the downtown commercial district board of directors. >> Second. >> Got a motion and a second. All in favor raise your hand. That passes

[87:01] unanimously. 90. And then I will go ahead and move that we reconvene as the Boulder City Council. >> Second. >> Got a motion and second. All in favor raise your hand. That passes 90. Okay. So we are once again the Boulder City Council. And can we go to our callup check-in item eight, please? >> Yes sir. Thank you. Item 8A is the consideration of a formbbased code review for redevelopment of the properties located at 5501 and 5505 Arapjo Avenue with a new five-story mixeduse building containing 300 dwelling units and 2,918 square ft of retail production business space. This is reviewed under application LUR2025-2-000027. >> Thank you, Alicia. Any questions or comments or desire to call this item up? >> I'd like to call it up.

[88:01] >> Okay. Do you want to just get a motion on the table and speak to it? >> Uh, sure. I um just based on what I saw in the planning board discussion and some of their concerns, I would like to call this project up. But obviously it's always a um a difficult thing to do because we know how much people are invested in this project and and how much work is going there. But because of some of the issues that were brought up by the planning board, I'd like to call it up. >> Do you mind just putting that in motion language? >> And I move that we call this up. >> Great. Thanks. Do we have a second for that? >> Second. >> Great. And I don't know that we need a lot of debate over this. I can certainly move to a vote or if people want to throw in a comment before we go to a vote, they're welcome to. Not seeing any hands raised. Oh, yep. Rob, go ahead. >> I just want to say this is kind of a pickle that we're in to call this up because I don't want to uh hurt the developer. They went through the code. They did everything uh that the code

[89:01] asked, but the code itself doesn't seem to delineate the mass, the setbacks, some of the height variances that we really want. So I I don't want another project to come up and go through the same process. So apologies to the developer. >> Okay. Um so did you want to add something, Mark? >> Yeah, I want to uh um support what Rob just said. Um this is really a bit of a conundrum. Um the developer has played by the rules that we set um and um has done what we have asked him to do pursuant to the formbbased code. But the formbbased code itself has produced what I consider to be an extremely poor result in terms of the aesthetics of the project. And um uh I don't know if calling it up is is

[90:00] the perfect answer. Um but it's um it's something we need to come to grips with and I think um the planning board recognized the difficulty of this in in the way that they analyzed it and um and were significantly divided over what to do with it. So again, I'm not looking to punish the developer on this. Um, but we have created a set of rules that I don't think are working well for us if we consider or if we care about the aesthetics of of the buildings that we uh authorize. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Mayor. Yes. Before we get too far, I want to make sure that we're not talking about issues of substance. >> Yeah, thank you for that. Uh, Roberto, to to be clear, we're talking right now about whether or not to call this uh project up, not about the substance of the project itself. So, appreciate that reminder. >> I got Nicole and then Matt.

[91:01] [clears throat] >> I just had a a question for staff. Um, actually, so, uh, if we call this up, um, we are reviewing this project under the same code and everything that, um, planning board did, right? Like nothing nothing is really changing there. Is that correct? Good evening, Council Brad Mueller, planning and development director. Yes, it would be reviewed under the code that was in place at the time of its uh review and processing. Um, yeah, leave it there. >> Yep. Matt, [clears throat] >> um, really just sort of a comment on we've created these two tracks of process. We've created a very structured, prescriptive, predictable process with our formbbased code. And we also have a site review that is our more discretionary. That's where the if you want to be a little avon guard, you get to go through that that that that process. We have to maintain discipline as a body to maintain those two tracks. Otherwise, all we're doing is reverse engineering

[92:01] the site review by having people do form-based code to just call it up into the discretionary process. So I just ask that if we have concerns about aesthetics, we have to set those aside because we've created a track deliberately. In fact, almost all of us were on council when we created that form-based code to begin with. So I think we have to stay consistent and create that predictability and maintain the words and values that we give to community of we want to be predictable and we want to create a streamlined process. These are the moments in which we have to back that up. So I think that's an important piece of discipline for us to maintain. >> Okay. Thanks for that. Um, Taiisha, then I'll >> Thank you. I agree with my colleague Matt Benjamin on this topic um, deeply. We laid out the I I was not on council when this decision was made. It was my understanding though that these issues were raised at that time and the council at that time decided to move forward with the current code. If we want to change the code, I did see going back to

[93:00] the council priorities that the formbbased code had a very high ranking. um for consideration as a council priority for a six to eight months. So we can re remedy that. But I do not believe that we should punish um applicants who went through the process and the idea that we are going to call it up and then use the exact same criteria. Um it just seems like uh we're kicking the can and not really solving the problem which is actually changing the code. Thank you. >> Okay, thanks for that as well. All right, I'm going to go ahead and move us to vote. This is a show of hands I believe we can do. So all in favor of the motion to call up the project, please raise your hand. We got one, two, three, four. All those posed. All right. So that motion fails on a four to five vote and the project will not be called up. All right. Thanks for that. We can now move to our first public hearing.

[94:02] Do you want to do the motion to suspend the council rules of procedures first? >> Uh, thanks for recalling that. Okay, so we have three public hearings tonight, although only two of them will be taking public testimony. And so we do need a motion to amend our council rules of procedures section 4-6 to allow for three public hearings. If someone would be so good. Oh, no. I I thought I saw Mark reaching, so I was going to give him the opportunity. Uh, so is that a request for a motion, so moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Uh, motion second to amend the count to suspend the rules of procedures. All in favor, raise your hand. Okay, that's unanimous. 90. So, if we can go to item 9A, please. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thanks for that. >> Item 9A is our first public hearing of tonight. We have three actions in that particular item. The first action is the consideration of a motion to adjurnn as

[95:02] the Boulder City Council and convene as the Nullwood Metropolitan District Board of Directors. After that action, we will consider the consideration of a motion to adopt resolution 4, appropriating money to defay the expenses and liabilities of the Nwood Metropolitan District for the 2025 fiscal year beginning January 1st, 2025 and sitting forth those related details. And then we will have a consideration of a motion to adjourn as the Nwood Metropolitan District Board of Directors and reconvene as the Boulder City Council. >> Thanks, Alicia. Before we go into that, I'll just call on Council Member Winer. >> Hey there. I'm sorry everybody. I have a pretty bad migraine and probably a fever at this point and my kids are sick. You don't even want to know. So, the best thing for everybody here is that I go. >> All right. Rest up and feel better, Tara.

[96:00] >> Okay. So, um, Elisha, shall I launch into our I can get us started on our motions. And >> you can start on the first item of the motion to adjurnn as the Boulder City Council. >> Okay. We got a lot of this tonight. Um, I'll go ahead and move that we adjourn as the Boulder City Council and convene as the city of Boulder Nullwood Metropolitan District Board of Directors. >> Second. >> A motion second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's 70 with a a couple people out at the moment. I think it was Yeah. Um so I uh we are hereby convened as the Nolan Metropolitan District Board of Directors. More Gavling. So we now um and if you don't mind, I'll just go ahead and do it. I will go ahead and move uh resolution number four appropriating money to defay expenses and liabilities of the city of Boulder Nwood Metropolitan District for the 2025 fiscal year beginning January 1st, 2025

[97:00] and setting forth related details. I just need a second on that. >> Second. >> All right, I got a motion and a second on that. And I'll just note that this is a a routine um approval of some revisions of the 2025 budget for this metropolitan district. Um all in favor of that motion, please raise Do you need to show Do you need a roll call? >> You can do a show of hands, but I'm Okay. All in favor, please raise your hand. Okay, that's 80. Um and then I will go ahead and move that we adjourn as the city of Boulder Nwood Metropolitan District Board of Directors and reconvene as the Boulder City Council. >> Second >> motion sec. Nope. Chris, do you have something for me or Roberto? Just quick question. Um we are happy to give you a presentation real quick on what this uh budget amendment is, but if you're all comfortable with it, happy for you to just keep rolling with uh the motion as

[98:01] you made it. >> And we do also have public the public hearing portion. Okay, I'm missing all kinds of stuff. >> That's right. I forgot about We got to do the public hearing here, too. >> Like for the for KID, we just got to roll right through it. So, I was getting a little more a little too quick. Okay, I got ahead of myself. I'm going to um retract the motion I just put on the table about adjourning. And I'm also going to retract my previous motion uh to adopt resolution 4. And I will instead turn to city staff for a presentation on that item. >> Perfect. Thank you so much, >> Joel. To wind us sufficiently. >> All right. Thank you. Uh good evening board. Uh my name is Joel Wagner. I'm the deputy director of finance here at the city and I am supporting the Nolan Metropolitan District. So, first off, uh welcome to Metro Districts 101. We we act a little bit differently than than most of the other districts here at the city. Uh so we have a very brief presentation for you this evening on an

[99:01] amended budget for 2025. So that is correct. It's not a New Year's typo. We are talking about 2025. Uh maybe the first time I haven't misdated something so far this year. Um so real quick, I'll give you a little bit of background. Discuss the proposed budget amendment. Uh we just heard the proposed motion, so I might skip that. We do uh have to have a public comment period for electors of the district. Uh and then uh we'll we'll move into any questions, deliberations, and emotions. Uh so just again for a little bit of background, uh N Metro District is a new district for the Boulder City Council to be acting as the board of directors for. That happened in 2025 when the district was uh partially dissolved and then transitioned to the city of Boulder. uh city council acting as the board of directors. Uh 2025 revenues uh the original 2025 budget was adopted by the

[100:00] prior board of directors or or the electors residents of of the district. Uh they appropriated revenues of 13 just over $13,000 and expenditures of over just over $31,000 related to the dissolution activities of the district. This included legal services, accounting services and some various printing and mailing related to elections. Uh so sorry this is a little bit busy. The first column is the original adopted budget. Uh and then the second column is expenses incurred in the first five months before city of Boulder took over management and then uh forecasted expenses for the remainder of the year. Uh this was prepared when we we were going to be here uh the Thursday that we had the wind event. So I apologize I didn't update these numbers for you. Uh but as you can see here we uh we essentially exceeded budget in the first five months of the year. The dissolution

[101:00] expenses just cost more than the original board had had anticipated. Uh and then in the second uh part of the year basically we just have staff time to to finish administration and filing and and audits and such. Uh, one thing I will point out, we've got a couple couple numbers in red here. Uh, unfortunately, there was a accounting error in the prior year which overstayed at the beginning fund balance. So, we are unfortunately going to be operating with a negative fund balance uh for this district for the next year or two. Uh we have some suppliers who uh have graciously allowed us to delay payment of some of our invoices for the district until we can we can raise enough money through taxes uh to uh to pay this off. It's an unfortunate uh mistake that happened uh but we'll we'll get through it. Um we have some good creditors who are are willing to uh help us out on legal expenses here for the district.

[102:02] Uh so just breaking down the supplemental appropriation here. Uh so you can see the adopted forecast and then the overage. So the supplemental appropriation is 7,400 and I don't have my glasses on. $31. Um and that is the motion in front of us today. Uh so again the motion is to adopt the the budget. Uh I won't go into the reading of that. We'll we'll do that in a moment. And so I will pause for questions. Thanks so much. Any questions? Not seeing any. >> Okay. >> So we can go to the public hearing then. >> Yep. Public hearing. And uh again the intent of this uh although this is new for us again, Metro Districts 101, we didn't notice it as such uh is for electors of the district, essentially residents in the Nwood district to uh comment on the budget. So we'll open this up now for public comment. Okay. Okay, we have two people signed up to

[103:00] speak here. I'm not sure if either of them are actually electors of the district, >> but I think because we didn't notice it, uh we'll we'll welcome folks if they have a comment down below. >> Okay, very good. So, we have uh Lynn Seagull in person and Laura Gonzalez virtually. So, Lynn, you have three minutes to speak. Um just please do confine your uh comments to the topic of the Nwood Metropolitan District Board of Directors. >> Yeah. Well, well, I haven't followed this a whole lot, but like these are costly things when we're in a budget crisis. So, you know, $7500, you know, [sighs] that's like not good, especially when we're throwing all this money at Sundance and and we have no commercial going into our commercial space. like we've got like big problems and I don't like to be the recipient of an

[104:00] unfortunate um accounting mistake. So that's the problem I have with this situation and free gaz off topic. Okay, thanks. Um and our last speaker is Laura Gonzalez virtually. Is Laura present? >> Mayor, I do not see Laura tonight. Okay, in that case, we'll close the public hearing and bring it back to our uh board of our metropolitan district. Uh can we have the motion text up, please? Someone might be interested in making a motion. >> I will. Um >> I move to adopt resolution 4 appropriating money to defay the expenses and liabilities of the Nwood Metropolitan District for the 2025 fiscal year beginning January 1st, 2025 and setting forth related details. >> Second motion to second. Should we do a roll call?

[105:01] >> Yes, sir. We will do the roll call for resolution four of the Boulder Nwood Metropolitan District Board of Directors. We'll start that roll call with Director Adams. >> Yes. >> Benjamin clarification. Did you have a question? >> No. Okay. Thank you. >> Benjamin, >> yes. [clears throat] >> Brockett, >> yes. >> Kaplan, >> yes. Marquis, >> yes. >> Shuhart, >> yes. >> Spear, >> yes. >> And Wallik, >> yes. >> Resolution four of the Nwood Metropolitan District Board of Directors is hereby approved unanimously. >> Very good. Okay. Thank you for your help with that. Appreciate it. >> Yes, that's my next step. Thank you. So I will go ahead and move that we adjourn as the city of Boulder Nolan Metropolitan District Board of Directors

[106:00] and reconvene as the Boulder City Council. It's one motion sufficient for that. >> It is. Thank you, Mayor. >> Second. >> Okay, motion second. All in favor, please raise your hands and that's unanimous 80. Very good. [clears throat] Let's go to public hearing item 9B, please. Okay, 9B is going to take me a minute. So, everybody, thank you for your patience. 9B is the consideration of the following items related to a petition to annex a property generally located at 915th Street with an initial zoning designation of residential- estate RE. It is referenced under LUR2024-000062. First we are going to consider uh item A. It is the annexation of annexation area one easterly 0.48

[107:02] acres portion of the land. That first item for area number one is the consideration of a motion to adopt resolution 1364 setting forth findings and fact conclusions regarding the annexation of approximately 0.48 acres of land generally located on the easterly portion of said property. And the second item for area 1 is the second reading and consideration of a motion to adopt ordinance 8728 annexing to the city of Boulder approximately 0.48 48 acres of land generally located on the easterly portion of said property with an initial zoning designation of residential- estate as described in chapter 9-5 modular zone systems of the BRC1981 amending the zoning district map forming a part of said chapter to include the property in the above mentioned zoning district and setting forth those related

[108:01] details. And if ordinance 8728 is passed, we will need to consider the annexation of area number two, which is the westerly 0.48 acre portion of land. Under the area number two, our first item is the consideration of a motion to adopt resolution 1365 setting forth findings of facts and conclusions regarding the annexation of approximately 0.48 48 acres of land generally located on the westerly portion of said property. And [snorts] our second item for area number two is the second reading and consideration of a motion to adopt ordinance 8729 annexing to the city of Boulder approximately 0.4 4 acres 48 acres of land generally located again on the westernly portion of said property with an initial zoning classification of residential desk estate as described in

[109:00] chapter 9-5 modular zone systems of the BRC 1981 amending the zoning district map forming a part of said chapter to include the property in the above mentioned zoning district and setting forth those related details and if ordinance ES 8728 and 8729 are adopted. We will consider item number C, which is the second reading and consideration of a motion to adopt ordinance 8730 granting consent by the city of Boulder to the inclusion of approximately 1,294 acres of land generally located at 915 Fifth Street into [snorts] the Municipal Subdist Northern Colorado Water Conservatory District. Wow. Thanks, Fatty. Alicia, make sure and have a drink of water. That was a lot. All right, >> Chris, I'll turn it over to you >> and I'll just pass it right down the line here to Chandler to take it away.

[110:01] >> Okay. Good evening, Chandler Vancock with Planning and Development Services. I will now read that all again. No, I'm just kidding. Um, we are we are here for the second reading of the annexation and initial zoning of 915 Fifth Street. Um, as Alicia just read, the agenda for tonight's hearing is for council to consider five motions, five motions to adopt a set um of resolutions and ordinances making findings of fact and annexing the two halves of the property at 915th Street as a series annexation and granting consent for inclusion of the property into the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. [snorts] In terms of review process and criteria, uh, land may be considered for annexation if it complies with state annexation statutes and the policies of the comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan states that the city will actively pursue annexation of substantially developed area 2 properties along the western boundary below the blue line. The subject property meets this definition. If a property is annexed, zoning is established consistent with the land use

[111:00] designation in the land use map of the BBCP. an annexation agreement is required to establish the terms and conditions of the annexation. Um so on October 7th, 2025, planning board uh voted unanimously at a public hearing to recommend a city council approval of the proposed series annexation. Uh the board passed the second motion recommending that city council amend the annexation agreement to limit the floor area on the property to 4,000 square ft. Uh the motion passed 51. Please note that staff subsequently reviewed comparable past annexations and discovered that the planning board's recommendation to impose this limitation was inconsistent with prior annexation practices. Staff also finds that the existing zoning regulations, including setback standards, bulk plane limitations, building coverage, and F standards are in fact sufficient to limit the built floor area on the property following annexation. This is especially true given the steep topography of the site and the blue line boundary, both of which further restrict the size of any future redevelopment. Uh therefore, staff recommends that council consider approving the annexation

[112:00] agreement without the amendment recommended by the planning board. The applicants have also indicated that they do not wish uh for the proposed house size restriction to be supported. Um, on November 20th, 2025, city council adopted resolution 1363, which determined that the petition to annex the property uh complied with state constitution and uh section 3112107 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, and set tonight as the hearing date to determine if the proposed annexation complies with state annexation laws. Um, that same hearing, council also uh passed motions to introduce an order by published by title only ordinances 87,28, 29, and 30. Um, so in terms of the uh proposed site for annexation, the subject parcel contains 1.294 acres and is located on the western edge of the city of Boulder on the west side of Fifth Street and east of Flagstaff Road. The eastern portion of the parcel, which is shown in orange, was annexed into the city in 1952. The previously annexed portion of the property on the east side provides continuity with regards to eligibility

[113:00] for annexation of the remainder of the property. The property is not directly adjacent to City of Boulder Right ofway as another property lies between 915th and Fifth Street to the east. 915th is accessed from Fifth Street via a shared driveway that crosses the adjacent unanexed property to the south. An existing driveway easement covers the shared driveway. Uh City of Boulder Water and Sewer is present in Fifth Street and currently serves adjacent parcels including the unannexed property to the south. The existing shared driveway easement allows for the installation of water and sewer services along the shared driveway to provide connection to the existing residence on 915 Fifth Street. The [snorts] property is currently not being served by City of Boulder Water or Sewer. No water well exists. Sanitary sewer is currently handled via a permitted septic system. The property was originally located above the blue line and not eligible uh for City of Boulder Water Service, but a blue line amendment approved by the voters in 2016 placed the existing residence below the blue line uh and made it eligible for water service connection upon

[114:00] annexation. The property is located in the Boulder Valley Comp planing area 2. Area 2 refers to land now under county jurisdiction where annexation to the city can be considered consistent with policies 1.08, 108, 110, and 117. Annexation is required before adequate facilities and services are furnished to properties in area 2. The blue line runs through the 915th Street property. The portion lying west of and therefore above the blue line is not eligible for water or sewer services and is therefore undevelopable. The property is designated as lowdensity residential or LR on the land use map of the BBCP with anticipated uses consisting of single family detached units at a density of two to six dwelling units per acre. The applicant is requesting annexation into the city of Boulder with residential estate or re zoning which has a density range consistent with the land use designation and would be compatible with the surrounding area which is also zoned uh residential estate.

[115:01] As mentioned previously, the applicant is requesting annexation of the city of Boulder with re zoning. Um there is an existing detached dwelling unit on the property which will remain in place following annexation. The proposed annexation agreement prohibits any new development on the roughly halfacre portion of the property above the blue line and restricts the future development potential of the remaining portion of the lot to one dwelling unit only. So there is no additional development potential on the property proposed for annexation. The only new construction proposed as part of this annexation is the addition of a water line and a sewer line within the private driveway easement serving the property and a new fire hydrant at the base of the driveway. Um, pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes 3112104, uh, this property is eligible for annexation if the annexation is completed in a series. A series annexation occurs when the property is annexed in portions concurrently to achieve contiguity through approval of two separate ordinances. An annexation agreement is required to establish the terms and conditions of the annexation.

[116:01] Standard terms and conditions are established considering city codes and policies. This annexation involves at least two public hearings. The first was conducted by planning board in October at which time they made a recommendation to council to approve the annexation. This is the second public hearing at which council is asked to make a final determination. [snorts] Um noticing of the application has been done consistent with the land use code. Written notification was mailed to all property owners within 600 ft of the proposed or of the project site. Um and a sign was posted on the property for at least 10 days. All notice requirements of section 942 of the Boulder Revised Code have therefore been met. Um, no public comment has been received in response to the public notice. In regards to the three key issues identified in the staff memorandum, um, staff [clears throat] finds that the proposed annexation is consistent with the statutory and constitutional requirements as well as applicable BBCP policies and that the requested zoning of RE is consistent with the underlying land use designation and the community's desired future for the area.

[117:01] Um, I have recommended motion language here. There are five of them. Um, but I am happy to answer questions before we get there. Thanks, Chandler. Any, uh, questions for city staff? I'm not seeing any questions. Okay. Oh, Tina, public hearing and then and then get ready. >> Okay. So, we'll go ahead and go to the public hearing. I have two people signed up to speak. Um, Lynn Seagull in person and Laura Gonzalez virtually. So, Lynn, you have three minutes. If you can speak to the item in front of us regarding 915 Fifth Street, >> if you turn the turn the mic on. [snorts] >> There you go. Got it. >> You can hear. Okay. Yeah. I I was thinking this is Alexia Park. She died like this month, but I think it's a a

[118:01] couple lots down maybe in Christian Griffith's place but it's not. Um and my concern is that of course the blue line is the water line that we established in 1959 or something. Um, and going over that, I don't know how this intersects that, but it sounds like fairly reasonable for me, you know, like they need city water and it sounds like, yeah, okay. But, um, I am concerned about the blue line. blue for water, ocean, you know, like my daughter's a water artist, climate change, just got a seti, I don't know what you call it. It's not a fellowship. Um but um the 4,000 ft issue um regulation, it sounds like um there

[119:00] should definitely be a regulation less than 4,000 ft in that area. This is this is like too close for comfort because I remember 770 circle and I fought that heavily at landmarks board which actually um proceeded to demo an 8,000 square foot flagstone fireproof house on the urban wildlife interface. Um luckily it has not been demoed yet by someone from England that was going to tear it down and build a second house there. I think it might have changed hands again. Like $6.1 million, 8,000 square feet. Like, what the f? I didn't use an obscenity. But I found that there's a difference between obscenities and poratives today at Laura Gonzalez's hearing. That was interesting. >> Okay. And we're on 915 Fifth Street right now. >> Yep. And so I say approve it but with a

[120:00] condition of freeing Gaza. >> Thank you. [snorts] >> All right. Um our last speaker is Lara Gonzalez. Is she present virtually? >> Mayor, I do not see Laura tonight. [snorts] >> Okay, then we will bring the public hearing to a close and come back to city council. There are five potential motions in front of us. Um, Tina, you expressed maybe some interest. >> Sorry, I'm um I shouldn't have been so eager. Okay. I move to adopt resolution 1364 setting forth findings of fact and conclusions regarding the annexation of approximately 48 acres of land generally located in the easterly portion of 915 Fifth Street. >> Second motion and a second. Do we need a roll call for the resolutions? >> No. >> No, not necessarily. So you can do a show of hands. >> Okay. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. 80.

[121:01] Tina, do you want to keep going? >> All right. I move to adopt ordinance 8728 annexing to the city of Boulder approximately.48 for 8 acres of land generally located on the easterly portion of 915 Fifth Street with an initial zoning designation of residential estate re as described in chapter 9-5 modular zone system BRC1981 amending the zoning district map forming a part of said chapter to include the property in the above mentioned zoning district and setting forth related details. >> Second. >> Got a motion a second. Uh roll call for our ordinance here. Please, >> please. Thank you. We'll start the roll call for the adoption of ordinance 8728 with council member Adams. >> Yes. >> Benjamin, >> yes. >> Mayor Brackett, >> yes. >> Council member Kaplan, >> yes. [clears throat] >> Marquis, >> yes. >> Shuhard,

[122:00] >> yes. >> Spear, >> yes. >> And Wallock, >> yes. Ordinance 8728 is hereby approved and adopted unanimously. >> Thank you. Tina, you still have the floor if you'd like it. >> Who'd like to go next? >> I'll take it. >> Yeah. Okay, that's fine. I'll just read it. Um, I move to adopt resolution 1365 setting forth findings of fact and conclusions regarding the annexation of approximately 0.48 48 acres of land generally located on the westerly portion of 915th Street. >> Second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. 80. Do you want to keep going? >> I'll take one. Okay. >> Oh, see you left me the long one. I see you're going. Um, all right. I make a motion to adopt ordinance 8729 annexing the city annexing to the city of Boulder approximately. 48 acres of land

[123:00] generally located on the western portion of 915 Fifth Street with an initial zoning classification of residential estate RE is described in chapter 9-5 modular zone system BRC1981 amending the zoning district map forming a part of said chapter to include the property in the abovementioned zoning district and setting forth related details. >> Second motion is second. Can we have a roll call, please, Alicia? >> Yes, sir. Thank you. We'll start the roll call for ordinance 8728 with council member Benjamin. >> Yes. >> Mayor Brockett, >> yes. >> Council member Kaplan, >> yes. >> Marquis, >> yes. >> Shuhard, >> yes. >> Spear, >> yes. >> Wallik, >> yes. >> And Adams, >> yes. >> Ordinance 8728 is hereby approved and adopted unanimously. >> I believe that was 8729. Oh, thank you. 8 or 8729 typo on my

[124:00] error. Thank you, sir. >> We got one left. >> I'll do it. >> Great problem. >> I make a motion to adopt ordinance 8730 granting consent by the city of Boulder to the inclusion of approximately 1,294 acres of land. >> Sorry, that's 1.294. >> Say that again. Oh, 1.294. That would be a lot of acres of land. Generally, I told you it's far away. Located at 915 Fifth Street into the municipal subdist, Northern Colorado conservancy district. >> Water conservancy district. >> Water conservancy district. >> Second. >> Okay. Motion a second. Roll call, please. >> Yes, sir. We'll start the roll call for ordinance 8730 with Council Member Kaplan. Yes, >> Marquis. >> Yes, >> Shuhard. >> Yes, >> Spear. >> Yes, >> Wallik.

[125:00] >> Yes, >> Adams. >> Yes, >> Benjamin. >> Yes. >> And Mayor Brockett, >> yes. >> Ordin ordinance 8730 is hereby approved and adopted unanimously. >> Very good. Well, I'll congratulate the applicant for your successful annexation. I know this has been over a decade uh in the works and while you may not have over a thousand acres of land, [laughter] we're still very happy to welcome you into the city of Boulder. >> Thank you all. It's been a long journey. >> Yes. Yes. Congrats. And thanks to the staff team for working on this. >> All right. Uh can we go to um public hearing 9C, please? Yes, sir. Our public hearing 9C is the continued second reading and consideration of a motion to pass with amendments ordinance 8721 amending section 4-220-43 development of application fees. Title

[126:02] six healthy health safety and sanitation. Title 8 parks open spaces streets and public ways. Title 9, Land Use Code. Section 10-8.5-2, adoption of International Wildland Urban Interface Code with modification. And section 11-1-25, duty to avoid waste of water and to maintain service lines and fixtures. BRC1981 related to landscaping, water conservation, and wildfire resilience and setting forth related details. >> Chris, I'll pass it to you. And I'm on a roll here, so I'm sending it right to Carl. Let's do it. Thank you, Chris. Uh, good evening, mayor and members of council. I'm Carl Ger with Planning and Development Services. Uh before the council tonight is ordinance 8721 related to the wildfire hardening and

[127:01] water wise landscaping project. This was a work program priority from the council that was initiated in 2024. So uh we're considering two separate projects tonight, but it's one work program priority. So wildfire hardening and water wise landscaping. Uh the council will recall that the first reading of the ordinance was passed uh by council in September. uh we came to council in October um and began the public hearing um and I'll talk about the discussion that led to um the continuence uh and then led to tonight. So I just want to recap kind of the goals of this project. Water conservation being one of them uh wildfire uh mitigation or resilience being another uh as well as urban cooling. And I know that when we've talked about this project, there's been some concerns that when we go to more native plants or uh more um droughtresistant type plants that were moving towards a more desert landscape.

[128:00] And I I want to show these pictures to kind of show that with the native plants, we're really not trying to get more of a desert landscape, but just plants that are more adapted to our landscape here and moving away from like Kentucky blue grass that uses a lot of water. Um we're not looking at trying to take out a lot of trees. In fact, we want to maintain or expand our tree canopy so that we have more shade and more cooling so you don't have more water evaporating. So, it's striking that balance of water use to have tree cover and shade but but have the undergrowth be more wildfire resistant and more drought tolerant. So, I know like last time we talked about landscape rock. This is to illustrate that um when you're putting in native plants and more droughtresistant plants, it's more successful to have what we call squeegee mulch, which is the smaller gravel um type mulch that holds moisture and doesn't add to urban heat island effect. Um we're trying to move away from

[129:00] landscape rock as a mulch. So I I think as part of this presentation, we just want to make it clear that landscape rock is permitted in landscape areas. is just as the mulch around the roots of the plants. Squeegee mulch in new type landscape plants would be required to hold that moisture. But we're not saying you can't do landscape rock. It's just we're trying to move away from people thinking of the larger gravel as a mulch type. So that's that's something that's part of this ordinance. So we're at the latter phase of this project, which is the adoption phase um as we commenced in 2024. Um just as a recap of of the ordinance, you know, with landscaping codes, the original intent was to ensure aesthetics in development to soften the impact of development with green greenery, texture, and color. Um but obviously there's some contemporary con considerations that we have to take into account uh such as water supply and efficiency. This is the last update that

[130:00] was made to the landscape code was in 2003 and that was when we started moving into like zeroscape and things like that. Uh we've learned a lot since that time. Obviously with some climate change, we have urban heat island effect that we're concerned about um with cool boulder goals that we have to address and obviously the wildfire threat is top of mind uh since the Marshall fire and especially recently with what we've been dealing with with the high winds and even some localized fires that we've seen. So we're trying to move in the direction of of adapting to those changes. We have a lot of policy guidance on this particular project with the the sustainability equity and resilience framework, the citywide strategic plan, the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan, the water efficiency plan, and the community wildfire protection plan. So, it's required a lot of coordination between different departments to balance all these policy issues. Again, as a recap, what will ordinance 8721 do? It would focus on the process

[131:00] application standards and basic requirements uh that apply to landscaping predominantly and it also makes some updates to the wildland code uh which I'll talk about later. Most of the technical requirements that are in our landscape code today would be moved out of our land use code and into a landscape manual. So, if the ordinance is adopted, um the landscape manual would be adopted later, um through the city manager rule process, which allows it to be a little bit more adaptable and and you can make more updates more frequently and and and be like able to get on top of changes that happen uh frequently. Uh it would also enable us to comply with recently uh passed state laws that relate to nonfunctional turf. Um, I won't go into a lot of depth on that, but I'm happy to answer qu questions. But again, non-functional turf is like turf that's not being used for like sports or recreation or gatherings where it's more like just grass that gets watered and mowed to look at. Um, the state wants us to move away from that. So, this this addresses

[132:02] those state laws that uh were to supposed to comply with as of this year. uh we would update uh a lot of sections throughout the code related to landscaping water use and the wilden code. Uh and we've also created an exception process to site review and formbbased code for anyone who wants to do those turf conversions to move away from nonfunctional turf without putting them into a minor amendment or a minor modification. We've tried to uh streamline that. Uh so if this ordinance does pass uh the effective date would be March 1st of this year. So it' give us some time to do that city manager role to get the landscape manual and the tree and plant list uh in effect. So when we talked about this on October 16th, uh council was largely supportive of the goals and the and the the forward motion of the project, but there were concerns that the ordinance in the manual did not properly balance the city goals on water conservation, preserving urban tree canopy, and avoidance of

[133:01] urban heating. Um, most of the concerns related to previous requirements we had in the code that if you were doing new construction on a property, you add existing trees that weren't considered low flammability in the wild and urban interface, the code required that they be removed. So, there were concerns about that and that that that would reduce the amount of shade and would have a great impact um on urban heating. So instead of doing that, maybe look at um instead of widespread tree removals, look at other options such as limming up things that can reduce wildfire threat without having to remove the trees. So that's something that we've been working on. Uh when the council continued it last time, it was continued to December 18th, which ironically was the wind event and the power loss very related to this project in a sense. Um where we had to reschedu and then again uh to tonight. So, there's a lot of words on this slide. I'm just going to go through all the things that were requested by council and talk about the changes we've

[134:02] made. Um, we think that we've addressed um the council's concerns. Well, um, as far as the tree removals, we've removed that requirement. Uh, we've added in requirements where you would have to limb up. So basically, if you have trees on your on your WOOI property, your wildland urban interface property closer to the mountains and as mapped, um you would just need to limb up at least 6 feet from the ground or onethird of the tree height, whatever, whichever is less. So again, that minimizes the amount of undergrowth catching fire and then being like a ladder fuel up the tree causing more embers. So this would reduce um wildfire impact. Um, we changed the scope back to what we have in the code today. We we had uh changed the scope to bring in more properties, but we've we've changed it back to current triggers. Um, changes related to open space, what can count as open space, uh, have been addressed. We wouldn't penalize people

[135:00] for the non-combustible zone. It can still count as open space. uh we changed the the threshold for the land disturbance um to be only three units um for anything three units or less the land disturbance doesn't apply which was specifically requested by council. We've deemphasized the visual statements and emphasized the more you know water conservation and wildfire mitigation goals of the project. We removed the requirement for the landscape architect. We removed the three-foot height requirement from the urban agriculture requirement. the deadheading requirements been removed. Um, we removed the the restriction on weed barriers. We still recommend against the the fabric under landscaping. Um, I think we're going to continue to recommend against that in guidelines, but at the moment, we we're removing that restriction. Um, so in that sense, we've eased up uh in all these cases. we were allowing other opportunities for alternative plants to

[136:00] be uh requested if uh they're not on the tree and plant list and it would also like enable us to keep a running list of other plants that we might need to add to the tree and plant list again to make it adaptable. So you'll see the red minuses. These are the things that we did not do. Um, we're still requiring landscape plans if a project, you know, is over 75% more floor area or a complete rebuild within the building. Um, that's those are the triggers that still exist today. We feel like if you're adding people to a site or you're adding intensity that that's an opportunity to address the the wider goals of the city in terms of wildfire mitigation and conserving water. Um, there was also a a side request. It wasn't really requested by all of council, but to allow succulents in that non-combustible zone, that 0 to 5 ft from the foundation of the building. Um, we're recommending against that, again, based on on the science that we've seen, that even though succulents can contain a lot of water, uh, in a fire event,

[137:02] they can be heated to the point where they lose that water and they can become equally as flammable or if they're not maintained or they they die in those areas, they're very flammable. So, we're continuing to recommend against that. So, just a again a refresher on the wildfire hardening code or the wildland code that it was adopted in spring of last year. That code went into effect on August 1st, but there was some confusion that arose from some of those sections. So, we section so we've been trying to clarify those in this ordinance. Uh that those changes put forward the 2024 International Wildland Urban Interface Code. Um, it expanded the WOOI from about 5,000 lots to over 16,000 lots. The main highlights in that area is just that new fences or replacement fences that are within 8 ft of any structure have to be a non-combustible material. You've seen through wildfire partners that wood fences are like fuses that just pass the fire along. Uh, decks have

[138:03] to be ignition resistant. They they can catch fire. Um, so the tops have to be ignition resistant. The non-combustible zone doesn't allow any combustible materials, including vegetation. You can see in those pictures some recent examples of what a non-combustible zone looks like on new buildings. Again, a lot of those embers and fires will fall in that area and can easily catch vegetation there on fire. That was one of the number one things that spread the fires in the Palisad fire in in California. uh defensible spaces that area 5 feet to 30 feet but mostly on project properties where new plantings have to be low flammability uh landscaping but we have made some updates to the wildland code which I wanted to highlight here again I already talked about the limming up uh pro uh requirements that relate to new construction um you have to limb up all the trees that don't meet that low flammability in the WOOI uh the the requirements still

[139:01] require the removal of junipers. However, if you're doing new construction or substantial reconstruction on the site, junipers would require removal. It's not retroactive. It's not saying that everybody has to remove their junipers on their site as of a certain period of time, but as part of a redevelopment project, they would be required for removal. Um, there's also requirements in there that we've maintained tree uh canopy distances. Again, things that can uh reduce the spread of wildfire. Uh these are things that are already in the wildland code, but we've kind of clarified those requirements. These are some graphics that we've borrowed from other uh expert places. So the US fire administration shows that 10- foot mature tree canopy separation requirement. Uh Bend, Oregon has similar requirements for limming up trees. Um in my own neighborhood, I'm even seeing people limming up their trees now where they weren't doing that before. So, this this is, you know, the word of mouth is spreading on this thing to reduce uh

[140:02] wildfire risk. Uh some updates we've made to the landscape manual. Again, this is still to be adaptable through the city manager uh review process, but um the watering restriction, there were some concerns that were raised by the community about uh restricting the daytime watering in the winter period where things get really dry and dormant. Uh we've removed that. So that that daytime restriction only applies uh in the summertime when temperatures are hot and there's a lot of evaporation. I talked about the alternative plant request. Um so that's been made in the manual. Um our engagement has been consistent through this process from the water efficiency plan. We've been doing regular updates on the web, the newsletter, email updates. We did the Be Herd Boulder comment page which we included uh in the prior packet. We've been reaching out to design professionals and landscape contractors and uh plant specialists. We did the what's up Boulder and we've been holding office hours as well to um you

[141:00] know let people understand what these proposed changes are. So if council is to move forward with this ordinance tonight, it would move on to third reading scheduled for February. Um and then in that case, we would start um making updates to the tree and plant list and landscape manual. uh opening that up for public comment um to try to get those in line with the effective date of the ordinance. Um so this by by no means is the end of this discussion about water conservation, wildfire mitigation. This is going to be an ongoing topic. So we expect education and upcoming work program priorities to um address this further obviously. So, um, we find that the the ordinance best balances a lot of these issues with these policies. We feel that it would allow us to move forward with um complying with state legislation, makes our our code more nimble uh in the area of change, and would be consistent with the the the plans that uh that I cited

[142:01] before. So, we're recommending that city council um approve uh or pass with amendments the ordinance tonight. and we would bring it back on third reading. This is our recommended motion. Um, and that concludes my presentation. Happy to answer any questions. >> Thanks so much for that, Carl. Uh, questions for Carl. >> Yeah, I [clears throat] got Mark and then Rob. >> I uh I I appreciate many of the changes that were made to the landscape manual, but I remain confused about the use of uh decorative rock. um on a on a particular property. Um what is the landscape area? Um how is that defined? >> We do have a definition in two parts in the in the code that define landscape area as a mix of certain areas. So it it's planted areas that would have mulch

[143:00] whether it's inorganic or organic, but also includes hardscape areas. also includes landscape rock as an ornamental feature which is common. So again, we want to make it clear that that we're not prohibiting landscape rock. We're just trying to change that paradigm of thinking that the the large quarried rock isn't the most ideal for plants to grow in because they absorb heat at that ground level and they're not good for the roots or the plant and they kind of stunt the the plant growth. So, where you have plants and you're doing new construction, the the landscape manual talks about putting squeegee where those roots grow, but you can have landscape rock outside of those areas where the roots are. Okay. And um just out of curiosity, I took a look at the approved planting list. Um I was under the impression that aspens are relatively fireresistant, but there were no aspens listed as as approved trees. Swedish aspens in particular.

[144:01] >> I'm not the expert on on the plants uh specifically, so I might have to defer to one of our landscape architects that might be on the call. I don't know if uh Chris or Lauren are available online. >> I only pretend to be an expert. >> Looks like uh Lauren is popping up online. >> Yes, we have Lauren Fels from Climate Initiatives. >> Hi. Um so aspens um particular Swedish aspens are not on the list um because they aren't resilient to our water conditions. Um they need more water than we usually have and they are shorter lived. Um I'm not our urban forester so I can't speak to it as specifically but I know they historically have not on been our trialists as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And Lauren could you just introduce yourself please for the record? >> Sorry I'm Lauren Fels. I'm uh the climate resilient landscape senior program manager with the climate

[145:00] initiatives department. >> Thanks so much. Is that it, Mark? >> Okay, Rob. And then we got Ryan. >> I just want to make sure this is procedurally okay. I want to make more of a comment. >> Let's do questions for now and we'll come back for comments. [clears throat] >> Ryan, >> thank you. Two questions. Um sort of technical. The first one on the 0 to5 non-combustible zone. Does that measure to the house wall or if there's an eve? Does it measure to the vertical, you know, field of the eve? >> It's it's measured by the the exterior wall. So, typically that's the foundation, the perimeter foundation. It could be like a chimney structure. You'd measure out from that. If there's canal levered portions, it's not measured from that. Again, it's where the the building meets the ground plane. >> Okay? So, you got a 4 foot eve. It it's not a foot out from that. It's it I'm sorry it it's not five additional feet from that. >> No, it's not measured from the eve at all. No. >> Great. Thanks. And then the other one, um can you just um con confirm on the on

[146:02] um regulations around fence and fence wooden fences if there's a if um a fence being rebuilt that has been knocked down in the storm? Is is there any uh ratio of that fence that if enough of it gets knocked down that would somehow trigger a need to treat the fence differently with non-combustible or is that not >> I mean it's a tricky thing because like fences that are under seven feet don't require permits but the code does say that if you replace a fence or add a new fence uh even if it doesn't require a permit it should be of non-combustible materials if we do look at a permit so if it's a fence over 7 feet we would confirm that. But this is one of those areas where there's some responsibility, I think, to get the word out to property owners that when you rebuild, it should uh meet those requirements. >> Okay. Should meaning like from a >> we we contemplated requiring permits for fences, but we we opted to not do that

[147:02] at this point. Could be something that we do uh in the future. >> Understood. Thank you. >> I appreciate it. Just anecdotally, I lost about an eight foot section of my fence uh in the wind. So, it's forcing my hand to replace it with metal. So, where do the wise wind can force your hand? Um my question has to do with um have we vetted this with regards to current best practices with insurance companies only because we're noticing insurance companies aggressively drop coverage because of certain con probably arbitrary conditions about wildfire. So, I'm just wondering, have we done any vetting or are we prepared to sort of evaluate where this is with regards to maybe how insurance companies are either dropping or not dropping coverage? Because I I'd hate to there be a rule that we have that is uh creating tension with regards to homeowners and their ability to either establish or keep uh insurance based on a perceived wildfire risk or some mitigation they did or didn't do to their property. We've not

[148:01] specifically uh shown this ordinance to any insurance folks to to comment on, but I think the intent is obviously we're trying to help people, you know, with insurance and kind of lower risk. >> Might it at some point just be prudent to just get a little bit of insight just in case there's a chance to maybe some obvious thing we maybe missed and went, "Oh crap, that would be a good one." >> Yeah, I think I it sounds like a good idea. Appreciate. >> Thank you. Um Brad, did you want to add to that? >> Yeah, I [clears throat] will mention that um this question of kind of the impact on uh so Brad Mueller Planning and Development Services, the impact of various policy on insurance. Um I think your perspective less about you know are the um are these helpful for individual property owners? Yes. But do insurance companies care? Will they do some? I know Dave Lowry in the fire department has kind of addressed that question more

[149:00] broadly in the past. We do have Dave on the on the line if he wanted to speak to that real quickly. Hi guys. I could um I don't I don't know if there's really a a big need to speak to it. I mean I mean it's a complicated issue, right? The insurance companies, they don't look at our ordinance. They don't look at what we do. They have their own risk models that is based on what they do and and how they judge the premiums and if they're going to insure or reinsure a property. Um the local they look at it. It's strictly based on on their risk maps and not our risk maps or our WOOI or our ordinances or right now of what we're even doing. However, as as um Brad was saying, that's what we're trying to change with the insurance company, and I actually think that's what you were asking. Um we're

[150:02] trying to get them more involved in the local area. And what we're doing as a community to reduce that risk of wildfire to uh certainly allow people to keep um their insurance, right? That's that's goal number one is is for uh insurance company to continue to ensure our community and not um and then if we can get more insurance company willing to uh insure our community then obviously the premiums will lower as as just competition in the insurance company exist. All right. Thanks for that, Dave. Appreciate you popping in. And I'm not sure if you introduced yourself. Do you do you mind? >> I don't mind. I'm sorry. Uh Dave Lowry, division chief with Boulder Fire Rescue. >> Thanks so much, Matt. You good? All

[151:02] right. Seeing no other hands raised with questions, we can now um segue into comments and maybe towards a motion. So Rob, this would be your time to make a comment. >> Thanks, Mayor. Um, I'm going to support the ordinance, but I want to speak to an important implementation principle, and that's the city of Boulder leading by example. Um, as we ask private property owners to invest in landscaping changes and wildfire resilience measures, we need to demonstrate our commitment by applying these same standards to our city-owned properties. The most visible opportunity right now is Shiakwa Park. The juniper bushes throughout Shiakwa represent exactly the kind of high hazard fuel load and ordinance that is designed to address that this ordinance is designed to address. The juniper bushes throughout Chicago are highest hazard landscaping plants. They're easily ignited. They become ladder fuels and they have the ability to cast ember showers into the adjacent neighborhoods.

[152:00] I would encourage us to coordinate juniper bush removal and fireresistant landscaping installation in the shiagwa area with the current XL undergrounding timeline. This creates opportunity operational efficiency and demonstrates our community to our community that we're serious about wire wildfire resistance, not just regulating it. The same principle should extend to all city properties, parks, and rightaways when the opportunity presents itself. I think our community deserves to see their city government taking action. It builds the community trust necessary to affect uh effective emergency management. Thank you. >> Thanks. I got Nicole and then Tina and then Matt. >> I just wanted um to say thank you for all the work on this and uh the extra work too. Um, some of the things that I really appreciate about this change, um, we are shifting to functional goals and I really appreciate that like water conservation, um, fire resilience, biodiversity. Um, I really like the

[153:00] flexibility that we've brought in over a few iterations, um, like, uh, allowing residents to trim trees rather than removing them and letting residents propose additions to the, um, plant list, the approved plant lists. Um, and I really appreciate that we're moving our landscaping standards out of the land use codes so the manual can um, be changed more administratively. That flexibility and speed really seems key to adaptation for our community. Um what I hope is that this ordinance makes um and the extra work that was put into it because I know we had to bring this back a few times uh really makes it feel for our community like um their compliance is an investment in our safety and sustainability rather than a penalty. So I will be supporting this. >> Thanks Tina and then Matt and then Ryan. >> Yeah. Um, I really appreciate what Rob uh, Council Member Kaplan just said about the city also leading and showing what this looks like. And, um, I echo what Nicole said about, uh, the

[154:00] flexibility. I really appreciate that part of it because we're going to continue learning and continuing to change what we do as we learn more about how to be wellprepared. So, um, I really appreciate that from staff. And in addition, um, compliance is an investment and it's also part of being in a community. We know that how we maintain our property affects the um resilience of our neighbors property and even our neighbors across the street and a mile away. So I think we're doing it for each other as well. So >> Matt, >> appreciate it. Um I I'll just start with uh gratitude to staff on this one. Uh you know, we came and we read earlier and it was almost fully cooked but not quite from our perspective and we gave some suggestions and you guys quickly turned it around and and and and knocked them all out pretty quick. So, I think uh one that's just proof that we can we can adapt on the fly. We can go quick, we can move things through. So, I appreciate all that work on that front. Um I will say that it's great to see that we have saved tomatoes and corn um in our communities and community gardens. Uh so, we've removed that height. So, it's good to see. Lastly, I

[155:00] just want to give a shout out to former mayor prom Lauren Folks. She was my partner in crime on this sort of dual one. And thankfully, Nuria is not here to uh rub our face in the fact that we can't do a two for one, but if you're listening, Nuria, uh we'll find some we'll find a way. Uh when there's a will, there's a way. But anyway, uh, great job staff and uh, oh yeah, shout out to former mayor prom. >> Thanks, Ryan. >> Thank you. I agree with everything my colleagues have said and also just wanted to personally say thanks to the staff uh, for being so thorough and responsive um, and really taking our serious our feedback very seriously. And we had a lot of questions. I had questions um some around the non-combustible zone. You've answered them. I feel comfortable and I'm I like where this has gone. And I also um joined Council Member Spear in really appreciating the the the placement of this into more of an administrative um at least the no planting and the the the

[156:01] detailed considerations into administrative place where we can be more flexible and um and learn and improve as we go. Um, I guess I would offer that I think also getting that right will um be the most likely if we have a a new program of at some point of of creative communications that includes some kind of a a hub to help people understand this. Um and and as part of that that this isn't just about making restrictions, but um you know, in this last storm, there's mature pine trees falling around all over town, you know, on top of things that people care about. And those are those are plants that are stressed in a lot of cases. And I think a lot of people are would would expect us to be telling them ahead of time, you you you know, you're carrying a lot of risk right now with a lot of these um these plants that actually aren't well adapted to be here. So I think there's a lot of um service we provide that um we could that we can and we should we should seek to explain. Um and then the

[157:02] final thing um just on this thought is like you know ultimately I think what we I would like to think of this as is we need to create behavior well adoption adoption of practices you could think of that as behavior adoption technology adoption or whatever but you know in some sense we're at a pretty low part of the curve but we know through the science of how adoption works that that we get to an inflection point if if we can build enough momentum there's no single thing that creates that momentum but as people start to see the people around them things are changing. Um that that's when we really think you know expect with adoption things to move. So I would encourage us to be holistic as we think about um what success looks like and it and to me it looks like a um a methodical approach to you know creating that that adoption. Some of it's through this communication some of it's through the rest but um just to say this planning exercise and regulatory exercise is incredibly foundational and important. Um, and I look forward now to thinking about the the deployment of how we do this this adoption exercise as we

[158:01] go. So, thank you. >> Great. Well, I'll go ahead and call on myself. I agree with everything that my colleagues have said. Thanks for all those wonderful statements. So, I will just be very brief. Just echo the thanks to city staff for your work and for your flexibility in getting us to this final product and rolling with those last set of changes. And um also to echo the thanks to former mayor prom Lauren Fulkurts for kicking this off with you but also for producing the specific list of um changes last time which I thought were extremely well done. So appreciate that Lauren and looking forward to getting this adopted and moving forward [clears throat] to it. Not seeing any other hands raised perhaps someone would be interested in putting a motion on the table. Let's do it. Um all right uh let's make a motion to uh pass with amendments. Ordinance 8721 amending section 4-20-43 development uh application fees title 6 health safety and sanitation title 8 parks open spaces streets and public

[159:01] ways title 9 land use section 10-8.5-2 adoption of international wildland urban interface code with modification section 1125.5 uh duty to avoid waste of water and to maintain service lines and fixtures BRC C1 1981 related to landscaping, water conservation and wildfire resilience and setting forth related details. >> Second motion second. Roll call, please. Elicia. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. We'll start the roll call for the excuse me, [clears throat] amending and passing ordinance 8721 with council member Marquis. >> Yes. >> Shuhar, >> yes. >> Spear, >> yes. Wallik, >> yes. >> Adams, >> yes. >> Benjamin, >> yes. >> Mayor Brockett, >> yes. >> Council member Kaplan, >> yes. >> Ordinance 8721 is hereby

[160:01] amended and approved and will be scheduled for a third reading. >> Great. Well, thanks again to city staff for all your hard work and looking forward to getting this implemented out in the community. All right. And with that, that brings us to our last item, number 10A. >> Yes, sir. 10A is our matters from the city manager, and it is the 2026 council committee appointments discussion. >> Chris, do you want to distract us for a minute while people are getting set up? >> Sure. As we uh get folks settled up here on the dis. Uh this item is for uh staff to help support council in walking through all of your various uh committee board and uh uh sister city appointments. And so I think we've got staff here to uh be able to support that conversation. And I think uh Mayor Brockett, you're going to facilitate walking through it here a little bit. Um

[161:00] I know it's really cozy up here. Uh, and I think they are almost settled here uh, as we uh, then pull up the presentation. So, >> very good. And who's going to get us started on this one? I think Heather's going to get us kicked off here. >> Thank you, council members. Um, uh, so you may know as part of your regular duties on councils, members serve on both internal and external committees. Um, so we are here to, um, talk through those board and committee appointments. Um, Mayor Brockett, I don't know if you wanted to facilitate this. >> Well, maybe you can introduce yourself and Sure. and then just say a little bit more about what we'll be considering and then maybe hand the reigns back over to me. >> Absolutely. Thank you. U my name is Heather Staer. I'm the intergovernmental affairs officer for the city. I'm joined by Mess. Go ahead. >> Hi, I'm Megs. Uh, I work in the city manager's office with Heather uh and support council committee and and board assignments and intergovernmental work.

[162:00] So, uh, what we're going to ask you to do tonight is to indicate your interest in filling existing vacancies, uh, on boards and committees or sister city liaison positions. We're also going to ask council members to indicate their interest in giving up an existing appointment, um, or interest in uh, serving on a new board or committee. Um so on your slides you'll see only vacant boards and committees but you also have a list of all the committee appointments um in your packets for your reference. If there are multiple council members interested in an appointment um we would ask that you send your recommendations on who should fill that vacancy via hotline to us um by January 13th. So we can go through this um however we'd like to. >> Great. Well, I can take over here if you want to move to the first slide. And what I'll just say, council members, is we're going to start by looking at the existing vacancies and work on filling those. Once we've gotten through all the vacancies, then we'll pause and say, is

[163:01] anyone want to drop anything or is anyone interested in taking anything additional on? So, that'll those will be our two phases. So, here's our vacancies. So, the first vacancy we've got is for the Boulder County Consortium of Cities. Who might be interested in this one? I got a couple hands over here. Taiisha and Rob, are you interested? >> Okay. Do you [laughter] >> Did we have a resolution there? Yes. Yes. Okay. We got Taiisha for this one. >> Okay. Rob, I guess you got other things coming up. >> Okay. Very good. Next we have the mile high flood district which must be filled by the mayor or the mayor prom. Um mayor proter had to go home um not feeling well earlier but she has uh indicated her willingness to serve on this committee for which we are very

[164:00] grateful. So if we could put her down for this one please. Next is the boards and commissions committee who might be interested in this one. Okay. So, we >> So, Rob, we got Okay, we got Rob interested in this one. Um, next we have the charter committee. Getting another couple hands here. So, >> okay. So, we got a couple people willing. We got Well, I know we want to make sure that every council member has at least a few. So, maybe we'll start with Rob and then we'll see if any if you have too many. >> Okay. No hands.

[165:01] >> Okay. Now, we have financial strategy committee. Currently, we have council members Shuhard, Spear, and Wallak serving on that. All of their terms um have just come to an end. Uh, but I guess I'd look to the three of you and see if you're interested in re-uping on this one. >> I'm interested to continue if it's the will of the body. >> So, I I got all three interested in re-uping. Is anyone also interested in maybe taking this one over? Okay. So, it looks like our existing council members can continue on this one. >> Can I ask a question about that? Yeah. >> Um, usually with multiple members that have designated terms, you tend to want to stagger them. Great question. >> And so is there a process and how do we go about doing that? Should Is there So anyway, I just want to put that out there for continuity and rollover sake. >> Not not that you guys aren't doing a great job. It just seems weird if everybody rolls on or off at the same time versus there being a staggered. >> Yeah, I don't see why we couldn't. Um

[166:00] but we would ask for you guys to figure out how you want to proceed with that. >> Yeah, we got Nicole and Taisha with thoughts on this. I just had a question um more for staff. Um if someone were to say, "I don't want to do it anymore after a year." Is that acceptable? >> Because this is an annual process that we go through, I think that would be totally acceptable. >> Ty, did you have a thought? Um, yeah, I would recommend, and it's no criticism of anyone, but considering that both Spears and Wallik just won a re-election, two years seems appropriate, but since um, Shuhard, myself, and others will be up for reelection in one year, I would recommend a one-year term um, for Shoe Hart. And then as that other person moves in, you just know that that's a one-year term. How I think >> stagger stagger. >> Yeah, >> I I had had a similar thought. So that might Ryan that might work out. You can and if you're here again next year, you can go back at it.

[167:03] Okay. Um next we have intergovernmental affairs. We got one spot on that committee. So Nicole, you get interested in that one. Okay. We got Nicole interested in IGA or down for intergovernmental affairs. Next slide, please. Oh, we're on to sister cities. Sorry. I am um a alumnist I guess of the ship for world youth which is sponsored by the Japanese government. I did it in 1999 and served as the leader of the United States delegation in 2005. It would be an honor to serve uh as a sister city representative for them. Thank you. >> Very good. Um, and may I just ask, uh, I know a couple of us have two sister

[168:00] cities currently. Do do you have handy who? >> Yes. So, it looks like um, Council Member Wallik has Israel and Ukraine. Um, and Council Member Adams currently has Palestine and Cuba. >> So, so Taiisha, >> I appreciate your volunteering. We probably shouldn't have anybody with three sister cities and you currently have two. So, I don't know if you >> So, there's that. Um, also there is the um, so I'm happy obviously to give it up, but I haven't been very active in the Cuba sister city, so I would be willing to um, you know, step down from that. So, uh, and again, they're doing great work. I just I don't have as deep of a relationship or connection, uh, versus Japan, which I have deep um, decadesl long relationships across the

[169:00] country. I wouldn't be surprised if I actually know somebody in the city. >> Okay. Well, I will say I yall might have noticed I'm kind of into sister cities. Um I'd certainly be happy to pick up one um if if you wanted to I'd be certainly happy to take your teras over if you wanted to let Cuba go, but I could I'd look to other people as well. Yeah. >> Well, I was wondering if you would want to take Tibet and maybe I could take Cuba, >> which I know this sounds a little weird in our geopolitical situation right now, but >> I'm I'm flexible. So if you would like to take Cuba certainly I can defer to you on that. >> It sounds like the game of >> risk. [laughter] This is what it's about. >> Okay. So what I'm what I'm hearing then is a suggestion. So T, you're interested in in um doing Yamagata in Japan letting Yutteras cubo Tina you would pick up Yeras. You would let go of Lassa in Tibet in China and then I would pick that one up. Anybody else want to throw

[170:01] in another variable? [laughter] >> Did that Mark? >> I'm happy uh with um uh Venitzia. It's a new assignment. Uh I would be prepared to continue with Raat Hanevag, but if somebody feels the urge, um I would give that up. If uh can I just have a process? thing here. Um there's a decent chance next week we make um a sort of taking on the sister city ordinance and and making changes to that. Some of those recommended changes might be changes to this very list. And so maybe instead of us going all over the place on this, maybe we just take a pause and make those decisions maybe on the back side of any such ordinance changes we make to the sister city ordinance. Should that be a council priority? So anyway, I just

[171:00] so I just put that out there because that might be we might be right on the heels of that and that's going to cause another shuffle here in maybe a few months. >> Well, I appreciate that Matt, but I think we do need representatives in the meantime and I'm not sure how long such a process might take >> versus the big word um the uh shuffling that has been versus maybe if there's a vacancy fill it and then we can deal with that shuffle post ordinance per se. Okay. I I think it can work out can work out, but I don't know, Mark, maybe if you're willing, you can continue with what you got. >> I will continue with the two until we make decisions as to what the uh the outline looks like. >> Okay, fair enough. But why don't we go ahead and make the previously uh volunteered changes? So, did we did we catch those? >> Yes. Uh I have Mayor Brockett is covering Lassa Tibet. Um, Council Member Adams has Yamagata, Japan, and Council

[172:00] Member Marquis has Cuba. Is that correct? >> Okay, that sounds good. >> Okay. Um, I believe that's the end of our vacancies. Is that right? So, then I would throw it open and say, does anyone here want to drop something or is there anything that they're particularly interested in picking up? >> Oh, sorry, >> Tisha. Do you want to speak into a mic there? >> Yes. >> Yes, I would love to speak into a microphone. [gasps] Um, I would like to with love drop the audit committee, not because I was not enthralled by it, but because I think that it is such a powerful opportunity for new council members to understand our budget. And so, um, if our new council member is interested, um, I would love to, um, pass it pass the torch. Sorry, Mark, you just stay on it, but we love you. Don't don't don't don't say that you weren't enthralled by it. Of course you weren't. >> It was. It was awesome.

[173:01] >> It's it's the audit committee. >> I went through every page. Every page. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Thanks for that offer. Tisha Rob, are you interested in >> I'm more than happy to take it. >> Okay. Great. Thank you so much for that. >> Um All right. Any other interest in moving around, >> Taiisha? So the um ARAB the resource uh um conservation advisory board the nature of that board has changed and it's less policy oriented and it's more professional development I'm the only elected official that attends those meetings um regularly and although I've appreciated the learnings that I have received since that shift was made about six months ago um I I I think Jamie our staff does a wonderful job of participating there. It says um staff or council member. So, I just wanted to

[174:00] cl, you know, I would like to have us move that away from being uh um a council appointment and to a staff appointment. Thank you. >> So, Heather, Chris, I wonder if you might look into that and come back with us and see if that would be manageable. >> Absolutely. >> Okay, great. All right. Anything else on this item? Very good. Well, thanks for that um collegial and friendly discussion about that. Sounds like we got it all sorted out. And I think Rob, did you end up with three? Okay, I think that's a good I think that's a good amount. I think we all have at least three. So, all right. I think that Yes, please. Yep. >> Um there was the uh county's working group on homelessness that um former mayor promgirts was involved in. Is that something that's still moving forward? And if so, do we need to do that? I I don't think it may have been on the list, but it was something that we did

[175:00] after our term had already started, I think. >> Yeah, thank you for the flag, Council Member Spear. You are correct. That is something that uh we missed in in this round. So, we are certainly happy to add that to the consent item when we bring it back for your approval and would look to you all to see if you have any recommendations on filling that appointment at this time. So, I had actually thought that council member Winer was the alternate for that and was stepping into it, but I may have that wrong. So, I wonder if somebody could look into this a little bit and then get back to us with an email and we could maybe have a little bit of offline discussion. >> We're happy to look into it. Um, and if that's the case, certainly council could choose to appoint another alternate uh as well. >> Mayor, um, did we fill the vacancy on the charter committee? Yeah, Rob volunteered for it. >> Thanks for checking. >> Great question, Nicole. >> Better than the audit. >> All right, not seeing any other hands raised. That'll bring us end of that

[176:00] item. Thanks, Heather and Megs, for hanging out with us to the end of the meeting for that. And that brings us to the end of our agenda. Um, any final thoughts before I gave us closed? >> Yes, >> Taiisha. [clears throat] Sorry, I have two matters, wherever that's called. The first is on the nest heating issues and I just wanted to commend staff on how quickly they um you know followed up with the team and the compliance officers and all of those pieces. It just was really wonderful to see um that level of level of effort and quick response um to ensure that we um have residents who have heat. Um and then the second thing was just a comment on um watering um during the winter. So we've received several emails from community members in the concern around water use in the winter and um the unintended consequences of a very important uh

[177:01] tiered system around water use. Um unfortunately we are in a drier uh we are what do they call it? Uh humidifying and aridifying. I don't know. It's a very complicated thing. Talk to the NASA people. But my larger point is is um even though it's private property, it is a public good to ensure that our tree canopy is strong. And so I'm just I'm just making a note that we need them to water their trees and it's going to cost them more to do it. And it's not a nice to have. It's not an individual benefit. It's a collective community benefit that we need. So just trying to think just raising that as a concern that we're hearing and if there are um cost offsets um as it relates to affordability or those kinds of considerations like I can't you know breathe without trees we can't breathe without trees and I don't want because

[178:00] people can't afford it to water them that they're not going to water them and that's exactly what's going to happen. So um just trying to to identify and I know our climate team does tremendous work. We do similar work around energy um and and having different vouchers and things recognizing that um you know the disparity on on energy needs. So anyway I just wanted to just lift that up as um something I would like us to discuss or have more information around how we can navigate this increased tension because water costs are going to continue to escalate. Thanks, Tasa. >> If I may just respond to the last one real quick. Uh, our director of utilities, Joe Tatuchi, was able to to send some information to the residents that reached out today. Uh, and so you'll see that in uh, your council correspondents and it also includes a link to a new uh, kind of webpage blog post that we put up uh, today or yesterday. um that actually has some really great information and is really

[179:01] kind of simplified in its communication and giving some advice to folks exactly on some of these these concerns and issues. So, I really appreciate you raising it and uh let us know if you have any questions once you take a look at it. >> Look forward to seeing that. All right, seeing nothing else, I will go ahead and 24 p.m. an hour early. Good night, everybody.