[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign the time is now 6 30 the regular meeting of the aurora city council for monday august 23rd 2021 is called to order with clerk please read the rule mayor coffman mayor tim burgin council member councilmembers here council member coombs council member coombs president council member gardner here councilmember gruber dear councilmember hiltz council member hilts council member lawson here council member marcano president and counselor mario there's a quorum um a moment of silence i'd like to ask a moment of silence for all those who have been lost due to coved and are suffering to recover as well as our losses in afghanistan and the tragedy that is unfolding there i'm on a stylist uh thank you um mayor can we do the announcement for the call in line oh please good evening the city council welcomes feedback from residents at council meetings on both matters appearing on the agenda and during public invited to be heard for those watching on channel 8 please call don't forget 855-695-3475 star you will hear a prompt confirming you are in line to speak to an operator and then be able to continue listening to the meeting until the operator comes on to take down your information and the agenda item you wish to speak on if you'd like to speak during public invited to be heard or a specific agenda item please press star 3 before that item is called by the clerk if you've already spoken to the operator you do not need to do it again now callers who do not sign up for public invited to be heard prior to it being called by the clerk may still press star 3 and sign up for non-agenda items at the end of the meeting and as a reminder we do not allow comments on any agenda item during public invited to be heard please be patient it may take a few minutes for the operator to get to you but as long as you press start three and hear the meaning and the prompt you are in line to be screened thank you gracias we will have to make another announcement it's not on the agenda that i have um bronco nation uh whereas uh dr zelda m dubois was appointed by a city council to the aurora municipal court nearly three decades ago and is a nationally recognized leader in court administration having managed all non-judicial aurora court functions and overseeing the operations operational division divisions of case management probation the marshal's office jury services detention and court information technology and whereas in 2003 dr duvois became the only court administrator in the country to have man to have managed a city's jail a detention center a jail detention added to her portfolio creating a dual role and whereas dr davos uh voices professional accomplishments include being appointed to the colorado state commission on judicial performance by the late chief justice uh mary malarkey uh the time the first female chief justice of the colorado supreme court she also established the national standard for case management leadership and taught uh it at a national judicial college served with distinction on the board of directors for the national center uh first state courts and was recognized by the american bar association for her work and writings on court reform and whereas dr duhoys has taken an active role in improving diversity equity and inclusion within the city of aurora as a member of the center for legal inclusiveness and president of black employees for a better aurora bafaba and founding member of the national forum of black public administrators rocky mountain chapter and whereas dr davos helped develop innovative city programs such as uh rorantine court wellness court armed forces treatment court and changing lives through literature now therefore i uh mike kaufman mayor of the city of aurora colorado on behalf of the citizens of the city um and city council i express our sincere appreciation commending and congratulating um dr zelda m davos on her professional retirement we thank you for your years of faithful tireless service and dedication to the city uh organization and the community in witness world i have hearing to set my hand and cause the seal of the city of aurora colorado to be fixed this 23rd day of august 20 uh 20 23 day of august 2021 my caution mayor aurora colorado thank you zelda for your years of dedicated service thank you mayor yeah their point of order could we do the pledge oh i'm so sorry and then executive session and then okay okay uh please uh join me in the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag [Music] uh an executive session uh we discussed uh two litigation cases um is public invited to be heard oh may your point of order approval the minutes next okay okay staying corrected approval of the minutes uh for june 28 2021 may or move to approve removed by uh council member gruber said bye [Music] june 28 2021 uh discussion uh with the clerk please call the roll on the dash on the approval of the minutes for june 28 2021 mayor kaufman uh yes councilmember yes councilmember gruber yes councilmember gardner councilmember lawson yes council member health yes councilmember mario public invited to be heard mayor there are a few people on the line to be heard very well please proceed all right mary sebastian okay have three minutes go ahead my name okay my name is mary sebastian my husband and i live in the neighborhood adjacent to east bank shopping center rather recently this shopping center was rezoned to mixed use so what can be built at northeast corner of quincy and parker has changed i'm calling into question what is currently allowed according to developers and their pr firm a four-story building with 311 rental residential units is allowed for this number of units per unit the city allows a minimum of one in a fraction of a parking space the developer and owners of this property are going to build said four-story building as close to neighboring properties as building codes allow the allotted number of parking spaces does not take into account that these tenants will ever have visitors very quickly the tenants will find out as we all have here in pier point subdivisions that parking on the street is necessary the developers of our peer point properties were allowed to build and only allot minimum parking for our residents our surplus parking has atchison way full already without the overflow of an additional 300 plus units how annoyed are those tenants going to be when they have to share their driveway their access to the traffic light with all of us who have been using them all as our driveway for years and how peeved are they going to be when they have to share their parking with casa vallarta whose establishment takes up fully half of the current mall parking on friday and saturday night those tenants who don't want to pay for an additional parking space will have to park on atchison way if they can find space how angry are they going to be when like us their vehicle gets stolen or broken into because that is what happens on happiness to vehicles on adjacent way at night how long will it be before pressure builds up on the management of these new apartments to cut off access to the stoplight from ashland way because it is their property since they are allowed to even without our tear point traffic going through the mall to access the light imagine the congestion that will be generated by the occupants of more than 300 additional apartments at morning rush hour if someone going to monitor that traffic light when drivers on quincy block the intersection out of the mall just because codes allow a building to build be built that doesn't mean that the owner of a property is entitled to build a four-story monolith to house hundreds of tenants pushed up to existing property lines as closely as is allowed overlooking our backyards and a few council members are tempted to approve this project because it is not in your backyard i'm hoping to sway what empathy i can to get you to see that this development as proposed is a really bad idea please do not allow this east bank residential project to proceed thank you for allowing me to speak and thank you for listening thank you next is arnie schultz you have three minutes go ahead mayor coffman members of city council and members of the public my name is arnie schultz i've lived in aurora for over 45 years and have been following the aurora city council for over 30 years i can honestly say the last week's study session and the last year or so have absolutely shown that block the city council represents corporations developers rather than ordinary residents of aurora last week they killed an attempt to offer more protection to the people of aurora as we witnessed the effects of climate change on our residents they don't care that the metro area has been suffering from a fire season that began since earlier than in the past that the metro area had the worst air pollution on the planet for a few days and if people have been warned to go out not to go outside without wearing an n95 mask they care more about protecting the oil and gas industry who contribute to their campaigns the mayor said that this is not a local issue but rather a regional state and uh federal issue in spite of scientific evidence showing that 70 percent of the pollution in the country originates in cities in despite of the mayor saying he supports the campaign finance ordinance saying uh that he supported after you won his lawsuit the rest of that bloc tried to get him to change his mind even though it has been shown that the camping band in the city to our west has been costly to the city is ineffective and makes conditions for the underhouse even more difficult because the person belongings are confiscated and when asked chief wilson said her police officers would not enforce it that block of city council tried to get the camping ban passed those same council members killed efforts to increase the minimum wage in aurora to establish an immigrant legal defense fund to assist detainees in the geo-ice facilities from obtaining legal assistance the immigration court's the only court system in the country that does not provide an attorney to a defendant a private immigration attorney costs about ten thousand dollars for a simple case uh to the audience if you believe that over that people over profit and special interests are important to you please vote to re-elect christo morillo in ward one brian lindstrom in war two uh reuben medina in ward three and adam fung and john ronquillo in baton law the two at large positions it's time we flip this council to represent the citizens of the city rather than corporations and developers thank you that concludes our public invited to be heard speakers the adoption of the agenda um are there any amendments to the adoption of the agenda if not may i have a motion for the adoption of the [Music] discussion uh so you know when the clerk please call the role on the adoption of the agenda council member hilts yes mayor kaufman yes councilmember lawson yes councilmember coombs yes councilmember marcano yes councilmember gardner yes councilmember yes councilmember gruber yes mayor for tim burgin yes and councilmember berzins yes the motion passes to pass the agenda and may or if i may make a comment really fast to counsel um we are doing a second test run of the eastbound voting system so if you see the question pop up on your ipad um feel free to to vote on your ipad clear the uh mayor pretend just uh to uh our study clerk katie um i accidentally hit when because i hadn't seen that come up before it said motion and i hit motion i was not the motion maker okay we corrected it thank you okay the question before us now is the adoption of the consent calendar item number 10a through 10h uh motions here uh male 4 yes motion uh to approve the consent calendar for items 10 a through 10 h 30 second burst it's been moved by uh man for tim secretary councilman persons to consent calendar item number 10a through 10h discussion uh seeing no discussion with the clerk please call the rule on the adoption of the consent calendar mayor coughlin yes councilmember americano yes councilmember gardner member yes mayor pro tim bergen yes councilmember gruber yes councilmember coombs yes councilmember lawson yes council member maria yes councilmember berzins yes in council member hills yes the motion passes for the to accept the constant calendar now please read the title to item number 11a item 11a is resolution 2021-91 a resolution of the city council of the city of aurora colorado authorizing the purchase and acquisitions through a lease purchase agreement of vmware software licensing and mayor can we also do uh the call online announcement for resolutions um do you want to go ahead with a call-in online now it's not on my calendar okay uh you need five minutes yes yes uh the uh the time is now uh 9 49. those times now i'm sorry 6 50. uh council will stand in recess until 6 55. we are now in recess residents who would like to speak on a resolution for ordinance and have not already been screened please press star 3 before the item is called by the clerk for those watching on channel 8 please call 855-695-3475 to be connected and then press star 3. council is taking a short break to allow for any additional speakers to sign up again please be patient and stay on the line until the operator is able to take down your information as long as you hear the prompt after pressing star 3 you are in line to speak to an operator thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and council is back in session uh please read the title to iron number 11a item eleven aims resolution 2021-91 a resolution of the city council of the city of aurora colorado authorizing the purchase and acquisition through at least purchase agreement of vmware software licensing um a quick um i'd like a brief presentation my staff good evening city council i am scott newman the chief information officer for the city um on an annual basis the city is required to bring you software subscription for this tool known as vmware which helps maintain the city's software infrastructure we have an opportunity this year to enter into a lease purchase agreement and by doing so we'll lock in the same pricing for three years in a row and we will end up saving the city over two hundred thousand dollars over the three year term um the total lease cost is just over eleven thousand dollars over that three year term um and the leasing company requires a formal resolution that from council allowing us to enter the lease purchase agreement big motion mayor dave gruber yes councilman move to approve 11a served by councilmember second invite second second invite councilmember economy to approve item number 11a discussion uh seeing none with the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of item number 11a mayor pro tim bergen yes councilmember berzins yes councilmember mario yes councilmember gardner yes councilmember gruber yes councilmember lawson yes councilmember coombs yes councilmember hiltz yes councilmember marcono yes the motion passes to approve resolution 2021-91 item 11b is resolution 2021-94 a resolution of the city council of the city of aurora colorado approving the intergovernmental agreement between the city of aurora and the colorado department of transportation for harvard's free transit improvements brief presentation by staff hello council members my name is carly campozzano and i'm the traffic manager at the city this resolution is to approve an intergovernment mental agreement between the city and cdot for this grant funded project the havana street corridor project was identified in a study that was completed by rtd a few years ago that identified this corridor as a key corridor for transit signal priority as a result the city applied for grant funding for this transit signal priority project in order to improve bus travel time reliability along the corridor um the award was about four five hundred and forty thousand dollars in grant funding and we were also committing a little over 117 dollars worth of local of local funding and this grant funding is for construction only and we are going through the design process right now with local funds thank you uh motion mayor persons uh council reversals thank you move to approve 11b moved by councilmember burson seconded by second second by councilmember mcconnell to approve item number 11b discussion i think no further discussion the question before it says the adoption of iron number 11b with the clerk please call the roll council member combs yeah councilmember gardner yes councilmember mercado yes yes councilmember lawson yes council member mario yes that's americans yes councilmember gruber yes the motion passes to approve resolution 2021-1984 um katie maybe i might be the only one but my escribe keeps uh won't let me vote it hasn't come up with a vote it keeps saying move second in progress yeah mary pro tim we're having some issues with it right now um we're trying to get that troubleshooted with with e-scribes so um whenever it pops back up is whenever we thank you shin thank you well the chloe now please get the title title number 11c item 11c is resolution 2021-95 a resolution of the city council of the city of aurora colorado to approve the design fabrication and installation of the aesthetic enhancements for the nine-mile pedestrian and bicycle bridge project um a brief presentation my staff very brief we've already had this in the study session yes so i will be very brief this is a proposal to approve an upgrading of the bridge cladding from lexan to brightly colored coda xt which is a highly durable polycarbonate and is translucent the colors reflect the palette of the prairie and sky it also includes grills that represent the grasses as well as commonly used words from the community engagement session that are represented in english as well as the top five languages used in aurora the artist is vicky scurry motion mayor councilman mcconnell thank you sir move to approval 11c remember my councilmember mcconnell thank you sir i just want to thank roberta and all of the folks who volunteered on the art panel um for this project i think the bridge is going to be a stunning entry point into aurora off of two two five and i'm very excited to see it completed in the coming years further discussion mayor councilman um yeah i would just add to that that i know this is a really exciting improvement safety improvement for a lot of people in our community who live on the east side of parker road um and have had difficulty safely getting over to the west side both to get to nine mile as well as to get to the park and other areas on the west side of parker so thank you for staff for work on the bridge itself as well and thank you roberta for your work on the art selection uh further discussion uh seeing none uh with the clergy who's called the role on the adoption of it number 11 c council member gruber yes councilmember lawson yes council grammar marcono yes yes once a member gardner yes councilmember berzins yes councilmember hilts yes mayor pro-tem bergen yes councilmember coombs yes the motion passes to approve resolution 2021-95 the time is now uh 704 uh council will stand a recess until uh 709 to give the staff time to do another announcement for the call online council now is now recess thank you residents who would like to speak on an ordinance and have not already been screened please press star 3 before the item is called by the clerk for those watching on channel 8 please call 855-695-3475 to be connected and then press star 3 council is taking a short break to allow for additional speakers to sign up be patient and stay on the line until the operator is able to take down your information again as long as you hear the prompt after pressing star 3 you are in line to speak to an operator [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] time is now at seven o'clock and council is back in session uh with claire please read the title of item number 12a item 12a is for ordinance 2021-34 an ordinance of the city council of the city of aurora colorado amending the unified ordinance in order to address zoning classifications of marijuana hospitality businesses and to update the definitions accordingly the public hearing is now open is there anyone who wishes to speak speak on this matter kitty sorry mayor what did i did you say staff or did you enjoy it no is there any are there any um residents who wish to speak on this winner no there's not but i believe that the staff introduces the items i'm sorry i'm sorry the public hearing is now open uh presentation by staff um good good evening uh mayor and council can you hear me yes yes okay thank you thank you um this is robin peterson on the manager of the marijuana enforcement division the unified development ordinance text change is being proposed to allow marijuana hospitality licenses this draft ordinance was presented at the april 28 2021 planning commission this is the public hearing for this text change this draft ordinance is related to the licensing ordinance that is being presented in the ordinances for introduction section of the agenda tonight brandon comrada manager of planning is here to present the specifics of this proposed ordinance thank you robin good evening mayor and city council i'm brandon camerota manager in the planning department um so as mentioned the item before you tonight is an amendment to the udo or unified development ordinance to allow marijuana hospitality businesses there is an accompanying ordinance relating to the licensing component of this package and that is item number 14a briefly marijuana hospitality establishments are enabled by state statute 19-1230 generally these are places where people can consume marijuana much like a bar or tavern is a place where people can consume alcohol the state allows two types of these facilities one is bring your own and the other is a purchase and consume establishment the distinctions of these is not addressed in the udo but rather the licensing component of this package also noteworthy is these marijuana hospitality establishments may not permit the sale or use of alcohol or tobacco in these establishments it is also noteworthy that these places marijuana hospitality establishments may occur in conjunction with other businesses so long as they do not serve alcohol or tobacco products an example could include a coffee shop or restaurant the udo or unified development ordinance as you know is the city's zoning code one rule the zoning code is to identify where particular land uses can be permitted and if there's any parameters to that the code amendments to the udo that are in front of you today are reflective of the recommendations from the amendment 64 ad hoc committee highlights of these recommendations presented to you are the zone districts where these facilities or establishments are permitted are similar to the zone districts where a bar in tavern is permitted that would be in most mixed-use commercial zone districts as well as industrial districts a difference between this and bar and tavern would be that there are no conditional uses associated with the marijuana hospitality allowances a conditional use would be something that the planning commission would approve this ordinance also has [Music] separation requirements from other uses which are in place for items already in code such as a retail marijuana store so separation from schools hospitals substance abuse treatment centers and the like it also includes the same hours of operation which are 8 am to 12 pm as mentioned previously planning commission recommended unanimously back on april 28th uh the recommendation to this body is that recommend approval to city council the proposed text amendment to the unified development ordinance approve the ordinance amendment because the proposal complies with the requirements of code section 146 541c of the unified development ordinance for the following reason which is the application is consistent with aurora places goal to support a strong economy by continuing to grow job opportunities to support locally grown business startups and expansions and bolster the local economy and is required to promote economic growth and investment that will not create material risk to the public health safety and welfare as you know this package has also been presented to planning and economic development subcommittee and also a council study session so that is my presentation if there's any questions i could try to answer them um katie i don't have the instructions with me on uh public hearing uh do we go to um public the public at this time yes if the applicant is present they can um present on the content of the item then we go to the members of the public and then council members may ask questions um we do not have anybody on the public online for this item oh and there is is it is there an application there's no applicant for this though no there is not mayor okay uh very well are there questions uh from council mayor uh memphis uh yes my my question is 14 b is the license so is this normal that the that the ud will be approved before the license because what if the license wasn't approved if i may cancel yes please um this is robin peterson and um it's just the way it has to appear on the agenda um our ordinance is for introduction on the licensing we have been in the past taken these together but since this is the way the city clerk said this needs to be presented this is how how we're doing it and yes you would be approving that before you approve the license ordinance in this case or you i guess you could take them together if you wanted to that would be up to you or will wait until ordinances for introduction yeah um uh councilmember lawson um i have a question um so when we talked about this at the study session that i think it was three weeks ago i thought that we talked about two separate things the fixed and the mobile and now these are both inclusive in the ordinances and one of the issues i had problems with the mobile so and i but i didn't have problems with the hospitality so is that how i mean why are they are is it because of the udo the process we have to be inclusive and put them both in there i mean i want to support this but i have real problems with the mobile so i may not be able to support it so i'm just i'm just asking is that was that is that the trend to do that because they're both too we're trying to do two udos for the fixed and the mobile i'm just trying to understand that process um if i may there this is wrong um i believe that um if you decide not to have the mobile um when we're talking about the license ordinance we can strike that from that and also i don't and and how it is written in the the udo we can i i don't think it's specific on the mobile on the udo because there's no there's no um place there's no um specified place for this or for this business to be it's a mobile mobile type thing so it doesn't have the impact as far as where it would go and be approved um so that you would address i believe in in the licensing piece this udo just talks about the um the the one without sales and the one with sales mayor can i just ask a follow-up question well i guess i have to question um when you state that it doesn't have a place to go because it's going all around the city so i mean it is going around the whole the probability depending on where people want to go from you know north wherever so i i don't quite understand that process but um okay thanks for the for the clarification if i may um there i can please describe that um council member lawson yes they do they will be traveling throughout the city however for a licensed uh business they would not have a an address per se they will have a beginning and an ending um beginning and a destination end and they will give us that log through there but as far as a presence of a like a store or any other kind of of physical place and where we would have to buffer it it's not there it isn't it wouldn't be considered in the udo code that hopefully makes sense okay for further discussion mayor councilman roncago thank you sir uh question for you robin with regards to the mobile model here um when we were discussing this uh in study session i believe someone brought up that this is currently permitted for uh alcohol use correct there's like a similar correct yeah could you let uh tell us a little bit about how um i guess frequently used or popular these kinds of things are and we have running in the city oh boy i you know i didn't i can get back to you on that i don't know for sure on on the frequency that they're being um run through the city like that um i don't know whether they're whether they're even licensed with us i would assume they are but i don't have that information for you and i apologize but i can certainly get it for you it's okay i would be curious to know thank you further discussion i said none of the public hearing is now closed uh a motion dave gruber uh councillor um i'd spoken before it's but a study session so i'm not going to expand on this are there any studies that show that smoking marijuana unlike cigarettes does not cause lung cancer um council member gruber i'm not i'm not aware of any okay again as i mentioned in the study session um gi has been have been issued cigarettes and receipe rations throughout world war ii through throughout korea and throughout vietnam it wasn't until much later we learned how dangerous the cigarettes were and how many people ended up dying of lung cancer i think with marijuana being legalized for only a short amount of time that uh the studies have not been uh conducted and and conclusions are not available um i'm concerned and i'm not worried about the edible part but i'm concerned that the smoke uh from uh marijuana in a in public uh facilities could be dangerous further discussion mayor uh okay well uh if we can do a motion and then we're going back into discussion okay i'll move to approve removed by council over crew i'm second bye second by councilmember mcconnell uh to a provider number um 12 a discussion further discussion mayor all right councilman comes um robin i imagine you're going to elaborate on this when we discuss the actual ordinance but can you talk a little bit about the air filtration requirements um and air circulation requirements for these types of locations of course um council member combs um yeah they're what we require what we have found um in these vehicles is that the the back place where the guests are consuming and the front where the driver is is driving um there's a partition in between and it is to be sealed off and they also have different air cleaning units in within the vehicle and so it has been shown i mean it's been told to us that these the driver is not exposed to second hand to the smoke um and so when we look at these vehicles if approved we would make sure that there is that division between the two because having an impaired driver is not anything that anybody wants so that would be a requirement that we're having that they would be required to do this and also if they are going to release smoke and you know release smoke out of the the compartment that it would be scrubbed with a carbon filter further discussion mayor i apologize um i have a question please proceed sorry robin i meant the buildings so in the actual consumption lounges and purchase and consumption buildings oh yes of course and same thing we have all of our licensed marijuana businesses have to have an odor mitigation plan and these would be held to that same standard um so so if they're in whatever you know area license premise they have it has to be where you cannot smell or detect odor outside into an adjacent building or outside in the area so there's they would be held accountable to that as well is that is that what your question was um somewhat i also was wanting to speak to the question of indoor air quality because i think that's where we get into the concern about any type of respiratory or lung cancer type impacts i see what you're saying um we would be following the the building guidelines um yeah and i you know they did that air has to be scrubbed or it flows through you know particles per minute or whatever and so that is what we require in the stores that you require in the cultivations as well so um no no additional requirements on that uh per se but there would be the adequate air flow going through those uh license premises mayor i have a question uh maybe okay so but it's illegal to smoke cigarettes even if if you could do the filtration system in a building i mean is that against state law that is correct so this seems very similar it's like it is basically saying you can do it but you but you're not supposed to do it well the distinction of smoking marijuana versus smoking cigarettes you you are correct um but in the state statute um they have allowed an exemption for marijuana to be consumed inside under that same [Music] um law under the same one i'm sorry under the same law that you can't smoke no no it's it no it is not under the same law this is a different uh bill that was passed if you say that yeah i guess i'm specific yeah sorry i just it it just seems like it's in contradiction it that's all thank you further questions or comments mayor councilmember hills please councilwoman yeah i support this um you know last year well 2020 was kind of a blur so probably two years ago now when we talked about the sugary sugary drinks on kids menus there was a lot of conversation about the nanny stage we can't tell people what they can put in their bodies or what children can put in their bodies and so i just think it's interesting that now that we're talking about consenting adults who can drink alcohol which does cause a lot of physical damage if you drink to excess um you know we want to stop them and now it is government's role to prevent that so i just want to point out that it just seems like what what consenting adults are allowed to do changes based on what topic we're talking about further discussion mayor dave gruber uh councilman yeah so so i think this is very different i don't think anybody is talking about making marijuana illegal so a smoking marijuana illegal that's not the uh the topic the topic is whether or not we're going to change our building code to allow smoking rooms inside facilities where multiple people can smoke together those have been outlawed in airports they've been outlawed in every building in colorado as far as the um the experience of marijuana again it's not documented it hadn't been legal long enough um as a person who lost a fat my father died of cigarettes of cancer from that uh and the strokes had occurred and my father started smoking when he was in the navy in world war ii so i don't this is a total pass i understand it will pass but i would like to point out that there's risks here that haven't been evaluated yet and we could be creating a risk within our city where where you know people could die from cancer from this in 20 years 30 years just like world war ii that's when korean vets died of cigarette smoking mayor uh councillor hills i just want to thank my colleague for as always re-explaining things that we we already have but thank you further discussion uh saying on the question before us uh um i'm sorry councilman gardner um so a couple of things um i i just want to recognize the work of the amendment 64 committee that i chair um with council members coombs and berzins and then at the time councilmember johnston um and then also all the staff support that we got from robin and her team and city attorney's office and and we also had a lot of um uh comments and and a pretty long deliberation process um you know i'm i i said in study sessions so i'm not going to belabor the point but that i'm obviously supportive of this um you know we um we build rec centers we provide services to homeless you know i could go on and on with the things that we do with marijuana sales rep sales tax revenue and then all of a sudden um when we want to do something that would treat it like alcohol because of course we have facilities where adults can go and consume alcohol uh oftentimes to access um and you know who knows if they're driving home or anything else um then all of a sudden the tune changes um i i think this is um are responsible with going about this i think um again to the credit of robin and her staff i think the um this item and then the the subsequent licensing ordinance that's going to follow later in this meeting uh do a very good job of of protecting the city while at the same time allowing adults to be adults and and for the record if we're talking about cigarette smoking i'm okay with that as well for adults further discussion um i'm saying none then um i believe that close to public hearings just in case they didn't public hearing now close um the question before is the adoption of item number 12a uh when the police call the roll council member combs yes council member berzins yes councilman gruber no councilmember mario yes council member lawson no councilmember marcano yes mayor protembergen council member gardner yes and council member hills yes the motion passes for ordinance 2021-34 uh with the clerk now please read the title of item number 13a item 13a is resolution 2021-92 a resolution of the city council of the city of aurora colorado approving the service plan for the harvest crossing metropolitan district number one and authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement between the city of colorado and the district public hearing is now open uh presentation by staff good evening this is chesrina dancey with the office of development assistance and this information applies to 13a and 13b um the city has received service plans for the harvest crossing metropolitan district numbers one and two for the november 2021 election cycle the proposed districts are located in the southeast corner of harvest road and jewel avenue the district is to serve a commercial and residential development with a projected population of 3712 residents there's currently no developed property within the boundaries of these districts and both service plans are in full compliance with the city's current adopted model are there comments by the answer good evening mayor thank you paula williams with mcgee becker representing the applicant we do not have a formal presentation prepared but we're happy to answer any questions and we would note that the service plans are compliant with the model and we have not received any objections to the formation thank you so much for your consideration thank you is there anyone from the public who wishes to be heard there's nobody in the call in line um questions uh of the applicant or staff by council uh seeing none uh with the click piece uh oh motion mayor dave gruber moved to approve 13a served councilmember helds yes councilmember gardner yes mayor pro tim bergen yes councilmember marcano yes councilmember berzins yes councilmember coombs yes councilmember lawson yes councilmember gruber yes councilmember mario yes the motion passes to approve resolution 2021-92 okay now please read the title to item number 13b item 13b is resolution 2021-92 a resolution of the city council of the city of aurora colorado approving the service plan for the harvest crossing metropolitan district number two and authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement between the city of aurora colorado and the district uh public hearing is now open um uh presentation of my staff um yes it would be the same information that was given for items 13a i'm happy to reiterate or repeat anything if needed uh presentation by applicant no president no presentation thank you uh is there anybody is there any um anybody from the public who wishes to be heard on this issue there's nobody in the call online um any questions uh of the uh questions of staff or the applicant by members of council i was seeing none uh public hearings closed uh motion mayor moved to approve 13b move by councilmember second by 13b uh discussion uh seeing none when the clippers call the role on the adoption vibe number 13b councilmember lawson yes councilmember gardner yes councilmember mario yes mayor protembergen yes councilmember marcono yes councilmember hiltz yes councilmember berzins yes councilmember gruber yes councilmember coombs yes the motion passes to prove resolution 2021-93 uh very well um the um the time is now 7 38 uh council will stand in recess uh until uh 7 40 uh three uh to give staff time to make an announcement for the caller line we are now city council but we are now in recess residents who would like to speak on an ordinance and have not already been screened please press star 3 now and for those watching on channel 8 please call 855-695-3475 to be connected and then press star 3. council is taking a short break to allow for any additional speakers sign up again press start 3 and be patient the operator will get to you as quickly as possible as long as you hear a prompt after pressing star 3 and can still hear music hold you are in line to speak to an operator thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign council is now back in session please read the title lab number 14a item 14a is ordinance 2021-31 an ordinance of the city council of the city of aurora colorado amending chapter 6 of the city code to update definitions in licensing and to allow marijuana hospitality businesses in retail marijuana hospitality and sells businesses within the city presentation my staff um yes mayor this is robin peterson manager of the marijuana enforcement division again um the proposed ordinance provides for the following license types hospitality without sales which can be fixed or mobile and b hospitality with limited sales the licensing scheme is the same as the other marijuana license types which require both a state license and a local license to operate staff is proposing the requirements will follow the state rules and regs with the addition of some city rules and regulations that are important for the city these licenses will not be required to have a public hearing however the applicant is required to include in its license licensing application how it will comply with notifying the surrounding neighborhoods of a business coming into the area the impact it may have on the neighborhood such as noise lighting and order pollution staff is proposing the marijuana hospitality without sales licenses be issued to the existing stores this is in line with the city's slow calculated approach to rolling out new marijuana license types mobile premises would be allowed to all applicants hospitality marijuana hospitality with sales licenses will would be available to anyone that applies that can meet all state and local requirements staff is proposing a cap of 24 of these licenses throughout the city with no more than a 25 percent concentration in any one ward for the first five years social equity applicants will be guaranteed at least 50 of the licenses granted with a 50 discount on the fees for the first two years which the fee is yet to be determined the proposed change to the udo went before planning commission on 28 april 28 2021 recommending approval to the city council which was heard previously in the public hearing portion of this agenda and i also met with the aurora business advisory board on monday august 16th and many of them had the same questions um that were asked by the board and they have been answered answered by myself um i'm ready for any questions um uh motion mayor motion to approve item 14a to remove my councilmember gardner second advice a discussion mayor uh councilmember lawson i have a question so robin within the mobile because this this license will be including the mobile as well so if you kept it at 24 how does the mobile piece fit in there if people want to do the mobile this cap is related to the marijuana hospitality with sales the cap did not apply to the ones well kind of cap because it's only the stores that can open or the only the stores that have um that are open in the city um there was no cap placed on the on the hosp mobile the mobile piece so um mayor can i do a follow-up please so anybody who wants to do mobile limousine whatever they can apply and depending on if they meet the requirements they can get a license yes further discussion i saying none then uh the question before us is the adoption of item number 14a with the clerk please call the roll councilmember gruber no councilmember burzens yes council member mario yes council me or protein bergen no council member gardener yes councilmember coombs yes councilmember mark hanna yes yes council member yes councilmember lawson no the motion passes for ordinance 2021-31 clerk now please for the title number 14b item 14b is ordinance 2021-28 an ordinance of the city council of the city of aurora colorado adding a new section to be numbered 94-122 to the city code pertaining to prohibiting unauthorized camping on public or private property and adding article 4 section 114-106 through 114-112 to chapter 114 pertaining to abating unauthorized camps on public property let me pass a virtual gavel gavel to the manpower attempt to conduct the remainder of the meeting and mayor pro tim we do have uh public invited to be heard online for this item thank you do i need to have the motion first i i know i believe that you can let the public speak and then do emotion okay let's go ahead and do like invited the speaker is dina go ahead you have for three minutes hi my name is dina mcclung and i live in ward 4. my heart breaks every time i see an encampment or someone standing on a corner trying to collect enough money to survive trust me if these folks had other options they wouldn't be living in tents along the side of the road they wouldn't be begging at major intersections and freeway off ramps they wouldn't be sleeping on benches and under overpasses i know that lack of clean water and restrooms must be big contributors to health problems for anyone not living in a building therefore i'm quite irate with this proposed ordinance and the citizens who want the unhoused to just go away we don't have a place yet i hope away becomes a program that meets all their needs and helps them get on their feet when they are fully ready these people don't need just one or two types of assistance they need them all they are constantly beaten and robbed they need personal safety some of them lack the skills to hold a job they need employment education stop calling it food insecurity is hunger they need assistance receiving food and child care yes their families living on the streets trying to survive and take care of their children at the same time we need temporary and permanent housing we must solve the problem not just give them six weeks and put them back out on the street they need mental health treatment that is true even if you were healthy before you had to live on the streets one's mental health can rapidly decline and yes there are some who need addiction treatment or rehab while some of these unhealth people do not use alcohol or drugs plenty of them do and they are not going to be able to simply kick the habit just because someone tells them to do that and move along thank you next is best you have three minutes go ahead thank you um good evening my name is beth and i'm going by my middle name tonight i have enjoyed living in the area of parker road in quincy bordering cherry creek state park for the past 26 years i am very concerned about the homeless camping that has existed for several months now just east of the cherry creek dam road starting at the intersection of vaughan way and they approach onto south parker road i feel sad for the homeless and years ago even volunteered for a day at the denver rescue mission however for the past several months i've observed a growing number of tents seen people smoking on the grassy sites which is a fire safety hazard observing garbage around the area as well there are no bathrooms or shower facilities at this site so this becomes a severe health hazard as well this area has been convenient and popular living area there are always people holding up the cardboard signs asking for donations down from the i-225 ramp and also on the north side of parker excuse me in peoria i would like to see these camping sites moved to a cleaner and safer environment or provide help for these homeless people to improve their living conditions so that anyone who is walking or driving around the area can enjoy the beautiful environment that exists for miles and have a safer and healthier area thank you for allowing me to take this time for this discussion next is marjorie you have three minutes go ahead marjorie you are live go ahead you have three minutes all right we'll go on to mary mary you have three minutes go ahead hi my name is may thank you for this opportunity to speak i've been an aurora citizen for 33 years and i am a colorado native i'm imploring the council to rethink and vote yes on the homeless ban ban excuse me 99 plus of the people are homeowners and renters in our fine city uh we should not have to contend with homeless encampments and all that accompanies that around cherry creek reservoir under overpasses off 225 major streets surely something can be started to help the homeless move from living off the land such as houston's mayor's initiative they were able to ban camping and provide homeless the shelter mental and health services and employment education that they needed through the efforts of the city agencies including housing and community but development department health and human services in the police department along with coordination with philanthropic faith-based organizations neighborhood and local local homeless services certainly if houston can do this for their the magnitude of their homeless we can do this for 462 homeless in aurora again i implore you we need to start somewhere there is no perfect plan but we need to start somewhere for the sake of the homeless people to give them the help that they need and for the citizens that pay taxes and voted you in on the city council thank you for this time thank you let's go back and try marjorie again marjorie go ahead you have three minutes i've been a homeowner i have been a homeowner in aurora for 38 years like many citizens i'm concerned about the number of encampments that i see numerous sites around the cherry creek park under bridges and overpasses throughout the area in grassy areas both public and private the piles of trash the human waste needles tents grocery carts all are concerning for safety and hygiene for residents as well as the homeless individuals themselves if you've been to san francisco lately you were probably shocked by the homeless people everywhere does this make you want to return there as a resident or tourist or were you disgusted that a once beautiful city had fallen into disarray we do not want to have that happen to us here there is an urgent need to develop and implement a plan to help individuals find safe housing public and private resources for substance abuse treatment and ultimately employment for those able to do so housing first both temporary and permanent is indicated by the data to be the crucial first piece of the solution we need a camping ban to be accompanied by a commensurate increase in available housing and a way to match the homeless persons with that housing i too have been reading about the city of houston program to combat homelessness the way home i believe that you may have already reviewed this program yourself but if not i urge you to read it the methodical data-driven way in which they tackle this complex issue is an excellent model the model denver used was also demonstrating the efficacy of providing housing first to stabilize persons who are homeless this is not a one-shot deal but a long-term situation i believe that if we had a solid well-coordinated plan such as the one described above we would be able to secure funding not only with federal and state funds but also non-profit entities that could see the benefit of housing first with accountability data collection and humane results thank you that is all the speakers we have thank you um do we have a motion for item 14b mayor david gruber for mayor pro tem okay we have a motion by council member gruber do we have a second i'll make a second and discussion yeah thank you very much um uh thank you we certainly had a a very uh lively debate i think uh last time but uh let me just reiterate some of the major points of this policy it does not criminalize homelessness uh it requires the city to provide an alternative location before it can abate any encampments it requires a minimum three-day notice before an encampment can be abated we will soon be in receipt of federal dollars to be able to provide alternative locations for them they're already somewhat alternatives that already exist we just approved a community development block grant for um to buy church on sixth avenue uh in the vicinity of sixth avenue in in chambers um i'm trying to remember the name of the church oh okay and also the salvation army is undergoing uh is is um beginning a safe camping space and so um but um this cannot be executed until we have alternative locations for the individual encampments that we uh that we moved to abate and so and clean up and so i think this is really fair to the homeowners fair to the small business owners affair to all the residents who care about our city uh and are fed up with uh the trash and the filth uh associated with these encampments what this policy says is you cannot simply uh camp anywhere that you can only camp in designated places uh in our city and with that uh madam pro tem i would urge uh yes vote other discussion mayor dave gruber may approach him oh i'm sorry go ahead i also support this initiative i believe that it is a way forward again we don't need to have housing for every homeless person in aurora we would only need housing for those people that are in a camp at one time and again once we give them the opportunity to move they don't have to move they won't be ticketed for not moving but the camp that they're in will be closed and they will have to leave that i think this is a fair way to deal with the growing homeless problem in the city more importantly though i believe that it's an issue of property rights i believe that the homeowners and the business owners that have invested in their property that pay taxes on their property and expect support for their property uh depend on city council to protect those those property rights uh they are paying taxes to us they are expecting us uh to support them and i think it's important that we do so i will support this ordinance okay thank you other discussion are you afraid um i think i heard councilmember marcano and and maybe mario i'm not sure he comes comes okay and also i think that's whenever helps raise your hand but i'll go i'll go ahead and go first um so yeah i just want to thank everyone who called in i strongly emphasize with the folks who are concerned about the trash the waste the needles and all that i don't want to see folks living out on the streets either and i believe this is the point that we all agree on where we don't agree though is that a ban actually addresses these issues it doesn't and if you believe otherwise i implore you to go to denver and see what their ban has achieved over the last decade which is to say nothing uh there are still giant camps uh full of trash and waste and all kinds of other things because there's no place for these folks to actually land or at least not enough places for those folks to land so once again the bands over there are so ineffective that our mayor went to denver to pretend to be homeless and didn't get swept they've denver has spent a tremendous amount of money over there moving people all over the city uh there was actually a recent article i think in westward that shows you kind of like the migration patterns over a year of a homeless couple after they get swept they don't leave the city it doesn't change their circumstance it just wastes taxpayer dollars and police time um so i completely agree with the last caller where housing first and workforce programs are shown to be the most effective means to get folks out from homelessness that is something that i strongly support i think several of us on council strongly support and that staff is currently working on and that we'll be discussing at our upcoming budget meeting our fall budget workshop but camping bans are not complementary parts to that and again if we pass that nothing would change in fact what we have seen from denver with their camping ban is that often it drives folks into deeper hiding so they try to camp in more creative places where there's less of a chance for them to get found and makes them even less likely to accept any kind of service or support because that trust is broken and you know they get treated poorly by the folks who sweep them by other unhoused people by housed people and the problem persists so we actually end up undermining the solutions that will actually get us out of this problem uh if we do that so again if the data showed that all people needed was a swift kick in the butt to get their act together i'd support this but that is not what the data shows and i think as elected officials we should be good stewards of taxpayer resources um as human beings we should understand that people are not trash and we should not support bad public policy so that's all i've got thank you okay council member combs and then council member hills um yes thank you mayor pro tem first i have a question of staff the mayor mentioned that what this proposal does is say that there are specific places within the city that unhoused folks can be i was wondering if staff can point to where in the ordinance it outlines what those specific places are we have a response from staff council member kim this is jessica presser director of housing and community services um in terms of where they can be i think what the mayor was referencing is alternative shelter options which the ordinance does call out and so those would be areas that may include safe outdoor camping where we what we're referring to is safe outdoor spaces is staff where people would be allowed to camp outside but ordinance does not specify specific other places okay and as a follow-up um can you remind me what the timeline will look like to have more than the existing safe outdoor space that we currently have yes so currently we have a one safe outdoor space set up as a pilot which is housing about 30 people it has been full we're working with other community partners faith-based institutions on additional options each of those takes probably a good six to eight weeks to set up we're also looking at you know more permanent semi-permanent structures such as what are called pallet homes these would be better for folks through the winter they do have heaters and air conditioners the current safe outdoor space is utilizing tents and we do have one safe parking setup currently so i would say uh each additional site could take a couple of months to set up um and we um would also need um direction from council on the spending of funds to set those up as well okay um and i think that is planned again as councilmember marcano mentioned in for the discussion in our september budget workshop so we would then need a few months per site after that um so then can you also talk a little bit about the way that we currently connect folks to the existing safe outdoor spaces and programs that are available within the city so not only the safe outdoor space but also sheltering as well as our day resource center are options for folks we have a street outreach team that operates they go and visit encampments they talk with folks they refer them to services provide just kind of any supplies that are needed at that time and they can also transport folks to those services that we do have in place today so the referrals to both the the safe outdoor space and the uh current shelter options that we have can come from on the street outreach team they can also come from case managers working at a myriad of different homeless service providers throughout the community all right thank you i appreciate that the purpose of course there is to illustrate that many of the things that have been mentioned are things that we are already doing what we don't have enough of right now are places for people to be that's what we lack whether those be permanent homes or pallet homes or safe outdoor spaces and those things take time to establish and from the policy committee level which i continue to urge my colleagues to attend where staff give us updates on these items regularly and we give direction to staff on these items that direction is already there to work on addressing these issues to implement some of these solutions and so what we really need is the rest of council to approve the funding to be able to do that um we don't actually need to ban people being in the places that they currently are people often would like to be somewhere else and even tell our street outreach teams as much but there aren't places for them to go um and to echo what council member marcano said because i think this is really really important as well as what the first speaker during public invited to be heard said we don't get people to accept recovery by just kicking them harder um and these are people that have already experienced a great deal of suffering and trauma and adding to that suffering and trauma which people who are experiencing homelessness have attested um and there have been surveys and studies conducted in denver that they do indeed experience trauma from sweeps um adding to that trauma does not make it easier for folks to accept services to establish trust or to end up in stable places with the kinds of supports that are going to help them get stably housed um so i hope that we can recognize that yes i agree with the speakers who said we need housing and we need housing first and workforce models but that the way to get people to accept those has not been demonstrated to be banning and force it has been demonstrated to be the kinds of outreach programs that we already have in place um and we just need more resources for those folks to refer these individuals to um so yeah so with that i would urge a no vote on this camping bin and for folks to attend the meetings where staff provide updates on all of the things we're doing for housing and homelessness as well as to approve the funding that will be needed to establish the places that people can be because this ordinance doesn't actually do that it doesn't actually create those places it says that we have to have them before we can move anyone from where they currently are and those aren't the same things we will not be able to enforce this ordinance everyone will still be in all of the places that they currently are until we approve that funding and so that's what we should have the sense of urgency about thank you okay councilmember health thank you um i wanted to see if we could call the question this item failed in committee and then it went to a second committee that was more friendly and it passed and then it failed and study and it failed on the floor and i don't think anyone is going to um change their minds at this point and also i think we've had pretty extensive conversations in all of those venues along the way um and so i wanted to see if there was an interest in calling the question okay so there's emotions there's a process for that but i forgot what it was so yeah i think you you probably just made a motion for technical vote follow the question question um is do we need a second i think we do you need a second and then the vote occurs immediately after that sure second okay who was that remember for gardner okay we have we have a motion and we have a second we uh can you go ahead and call roll on on that vote wait can you just clarify we're voting on whether or not we're going to vote right correct we're voting to see if we want to vote mayor kaufman mayor claude you're muted go i know council member mario uh yes councilmember marcano yes councilmember gardner yes councilmember hiltz yes councilmember berzins yes councilmember crumbs yes mayor pro-tem bergen yes councilmember lawson yes councilmember grouper yes the motion passes to um ask the question thank you um now katie could you go ahead and and if we have it describe it um do the roll call for the actual vote on uh ordinance 14b council member mercano no mayor potembergen yes councilmember berzins yes councilmember gardner yes yes councilmember hiltz no councilmember coombs no councilmember lawson now councilmember lawson no councilmember gruber yes and council member marion it's ineffective and it doesn't solve the problem so now okay we have six no i'm sorry we have five no's and four yeses mayor kaufman i go yes okay it is a tie vote so the motion does not pass to approve ordinance 2021-28 and i can turn it back over to you mayor well um well cleveland please read the title time number 14 c item 14 c is ordinance 2021-32 for an ordinance of the city council of the city of aurora colorado organizing winler business improvement district number one providing for an election of the board of directors of the district and improving the 2019 operating plan and budget for the district mr mayor this is our presentation items number 14 c and 14 d will actually need to be treated as public hearings proper notice was sent out for these and uh so if you would please open the public hearings for those two items separately oh very well um the public hearing is now open for item number 14 c and 14 d presentation by staff the city has received petitions for the proposed windler business improvement district number one this bid is part of the overall winler development which is planned to be a mix of commercial and residential uses business improvement districts are able to provide different services than a metropolitan district such as economic development marketing and advocacy services we have a legal counsel for the district present this evening as well as members of the development team should you have any questions um we'll go to the applicant and i'll open it up to questions uh is there a presentation by the applicant mayor kaufman this is clint waldron representing the applicant we do have a full presentation we're happy to answer any questions anyone may have are there uh questions of of council members of the applicant or the staff seeing none is there anybody who wishes to uh speak on this on either item we do not have anybody for the public invited to be heard in the call-in line thank you emotion mayor dave gruber because move to approve 14c by councilmember second advice uh councilmember gardner to approve item number 14c uh discussion sitting down with clerk oh wait i've got a um katie i assume i have to uh our city attorney i assume we have to vote on these individually we can't vote on these combined am i correct you you are that is correct okay uh let me go back uh uh emotion not i'm number 14 c no that was the motion i made 14 scene okay um okay it was removed by councilmember gardner's i mean moved by councilman gruber seconded by councilmember gardner to approve on number 14c any discussion on item number 14c uh sitting down with clerk please call the roll uh the role on the adoption of item number 14c councilmember marcano yes mayor parton bergen yes councilmember coombs yes council member mario are you yes councilmember burzens yes councilmember gruber yes councilmember lawson yes councilmember hiltz yes councilmember gardner yes the motion passes for ordinance 20 21-32 very well um i need a motion fraud number 14 d may move to approve 14d well white councilmember discussion uh saying none with the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of item number 14d councilmember lawson yes councilmember gardner yes councilmember marcano yes councilmember persons yes councilmember gruber yes yes councilmember hiltz council member helps council member coombs yes mayor pro tim bergen yes councilmember mario yes the motion passes to approve ordinance 2021-33 well now please read the title number 13 c item 13e is ordinance 2021-35 for an ordinance of the city council of the city of aurora colorado amending section 54-2 and sections 54-101 54-103 54104.5 and 54110 of the city code related to the financing of electoral campaigns um thank you sir move to approve 14e by councilmember mcconnell seconded by um second the second by councilmember coaster program number 14 c discussion mayor uh councilman mcconnell thank you sir um yeah so i strongly support uh the revisions that were made to this and i want to thank rachel allen as well as mark gruskin who is our outside counsel for their diligent work on the ordinance revisions we believe this status more than satisfies uh the court's objections with the original ordinance um and i i still believe that the opposing council is also satisfied with the amendments uh so i strongly vote uh urge a yes vote so that we can save ongoing legal fees and uh put this to rest while still preserving the transparency and accountability measures that were built into the ordinance so thank you mayor dave i have gruber question for the attorney um right now what could you explain the status of the uh the ordinance and the injunction this is rachel allen from the city attorney's office councilmember gruber and our outside counsel who's representing the city and this litigation is also on the line so i'll let mark handle that one please uh councilman gruber the status of the ordinance is that the the vast majority of the ordinances in place there were several challenge provisions um that have been enjoined and therefore the city is not able to uh enforce them and the no candidate or contributor is or campaign staff is required to comply with them there is one provision that was raised in the complaint that was not at issue as a matter of injunctive relief that is still outstanding in the complaint and would be one of the issues that would go to trial in april if if the council were not uh acting okay if i could follow up so mr erskine um the point with the uh the fact that those elements were enjoined um shows that there is a the judge felt there was a probability that these sections were in fact unconstitutional and therefore the judge uh declared them to be uh enjoined is that is that correct that's it i think that's correct okay and then you would just mention that the trial itself is scheduled for april is that correct yes okay so we're just a few weeks away now from when ballots will drop um i think that the um the candidates had to learn uh this new campaign law had to learn that parts of it were unconstitutional and had to change based on those parts being probably unconstitutional um i think making a change now um may be counterproductive in that um you know the campaigns are in full gear and everybody is is working under the existing ordinance so i think the best course of action would be to let the the election go through um and then or at least with regards to this ordinance to let the election go through and uh and then re-address this following the election uh that will have no impact to the current uh uh cadre of of candidates and uh um and it'll allow the whole system uh to be better managed at our next uh at our next wealth and the following council um can you go could you please explain uh to the council that with that one issue that you mentioned that um i think was not initially raised in the complaint yes mayor um the issue that was raised in the complaint but not in the motion for preliminary injunction was the question of whether or not um independent spending entities making either independent expenditures advocating candidates or making electioneering communications which address the merits of a particular candidacy without gauging an express advocacy in other words saying vote for vote against the particular candidate um those particular types of ads under the ordinance as it exists uh would have to state the names of the top five donors and that would be true for written or broadcast ads and to the extent that the council does not act tonight that requirement stays in place um under the amendments proposed that a particular requirement would uh would be basically withdrawn uh in place of uh some expedited uh disclosure of uh of major contributions that was responsible okay thank you further um so i certainly support the agreement and um i wonder if uh if i think this is really uh an important issue uh to discuss and i i wonder if it might be better let me uh council member marcano i think is the sponsor uh councilmember mcconnell uh and let me go to the city attorney if councilmember mcconnell was willing to could he defer this until the next regular meeting to give members a better chance to look at this is the city attorney president sorry i think we were sorry we were choosing who was going to answer and yes that is an option that councilman marcono has and and it would be a motion to continue customization uh tonight because i'm not sure that you have the votes in the interest of good faith negotiations uh i'm fine with continuing this item but i would like to actually take a formal vote and please if you have any questions uh for me or for mark please send them before then because i would like to get this issue done one way or another okay you need to be clear in terms of what you want to do do you want the furthest to the next regular meeting or do you want to vote on it tonight uh to clarify i am fine with deferring it if that is the ask of our colleagues if they'd like to read through it again and i would just strongly encourage reach out to me reach out to mark reach out to alan if you have any questions so that we can get those answered okay um mayor i have a question person yeah councilmember thank you so are we going to vote to defer it tonight or vote to uh state attorney i believe that that is not that does not require our vote does it not to is is it up to the spill the ordinance sponsor the proposed ordinance monster to be able to simply pull it and defer it or does that require a vote this should be a motion to continue so it doesn't require work oh it does require a very well um a motion please mayor uh councilmember move to continue 14e to the next uh council meeting next regular meeting yesterday council is there a second it says moved by councilmember mcconnell seconded by councilmember coombs uh to um i guess refer um uh item number um the tournament um i'm a number 15e i'm sorry 14 14c is it one uh to the next regular meeting of the aurora city council um discussion i said so if by by delaying it to the next meeting uh which i understand giving more time to really fully understand the changes that were made with that currently how the candidates are operating everything is the same except for only two parts is that correct that are the injunction whatever you call that uh is he uh mr gooskin um i believe that the um the answer to your question is that there were two provisions that were enjoined relative to cooperative expenditures and also the certain aspects of the ordinances treatment of coordinated expenditures and also certain acts that a candidate and associations the candidate and or staff could or could not make so those are currently not in place not restricting candidates of no effect uh for this uh at this time and those provisions hasn't joined uh under the proposed amendments uh would be repealed um and to the extent that there were other clarifications required uh or warranted based on uh the ordinance um as as litigated those were also made by the proposed amendments but the the bottom line is that two two key issues uh were addressed by the litigation and enjoined one key issue was addressed by the litigation but not enjoined because it was not subject to the injunction and so that requirement currently is being imposed on people in the electoral system in iran okay thank you uh with the clerk now please read the title title number 14 uh is there any further discussion on item number uh 14e uh mayor i do have a quick question um thank you uh senator attorney broughtsman um for this amendment does that require a publishing period as well would it take 30 days to go into effect yes it would okay understood thank you okay um is there a further discussion i have number 14e okay i'm voting on whether we're going to postpone it to the next meeting is that correct okay i just want to make sure i got that right this is the motion to continue continue it yes yes councilmember mercano yes councilmember coombs yes councilmember gruber yes yes councilmember hiltz yes councilmember lawson yes mayor pro tim bergen yes council member marielle yes councilmember gardner no okay there are eight yeses one no the motion passes to continue this to the next regular meeting now please read the title to item number 14f item 14f is ordinance 2021-36 an ordinance of the city council of the city of aurora colorado repealing ordinance 2020-58 and reenacting ordinances 2015-65 2016-35 and 20 1931 of the city code related to elections and campaign finance i'd like to continue this to our next meeting as well very well i am moved by council member grover seconded by uh by mayor pretend bergen to continue item number 14 after the next regular meeting of the aurora city council uh discussion let's say no further discussion when the police call the role on the adoption of item number 14f councilmember lawson no councilmember marcano no councilmember berzins yes mia protembergen yes i was just going to say it's only fair that we if we're going to continue one we should continue both or it's kind of disingenuous council member helps no i had no intention of voting for this tonight and i had you know so not moving it forward councilmember coombs no councilmember gardner no councilmember mario no and councilmember gruber yes and i'm sorry mayor kaufman i believe that you couldn't go on this is that yes um uh mayor votes yes okay there's four yeses six no's the motion does not pass to continue this item uh motion on item number 14 may remove to approve 14f surrounded by councilmember grover second bye dies for lack of a second uh look now please read the title to item number 15 a item 15a is ordinance 2021-27 for an ordinance of the city council of the city of aurora colorado approving the second amended and restated service plan for wh metropolitan district number one and consolidated service plan for wh metropolitan district numbers 2 through 10 and authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement between the city of aurora colorado and the districts uh presentation by staff these metropolitan districts are located south of east 56th avenue west of harvest road and east of north piccadilly road the initial boundary area is 236 acres with an additional 627 acres in the inclusion area these districts will be a mixed-use district with residential and commercial properties and a projected population of 5 625 residents and the current status of the property is that it is vacant we have members of the development team as well as legal counsel here for the district if there are any questions questions of counsel let me do a motion first uh may have a motion please a um discussion no further discussion the question we forced is the adoption of item number 15a with clerk please call the roll councilmembers councilmember burzens yes councilmember gruber yes councilmember coombs yes mayor pro-tem bergen yes councilmember gardner yes council member mario yes councilmember marcano councilmember lawson yes and council member hilts yes the emotion passes to approve ordinance 2021-27 uh with hook now please give the title to item number 15b item 15 b is ordinance 20 21-30 for an ordinance of the city council of the city of aurora colorado amending section 5431 of the city code pertaining to electors eligible to hold municipal office a motion i'm sorry uh presentation myself good evening mayor and members of city council item 15b is amending a portion of our city code to align with the colorado constitution for the requirements of registered electors who are eligible to hold municipal office we were recently challenged by a current registered elector who doesn't meet the current requirements and i have outside counsel gerald on the line who's representing the city in that litigation and is also available for any questions let me ask you a question and that is if the person isn't running is not a candidate for the aurora city council in this november's election do they have standing to go forward with this lawsuit so as i understand petitions must be turned in tomorrow by 5 pm i believe that petitions have been picked up and in terms of standing to sue i'll defer to our outside counsel jerry doll mayor members of council you can hear me i assume yes excellent uh well rachel was correct in two in both respects that the description of this ordinance and which and i can add a few points to the description but let me go ahead and just answer the question on standing uh we'll have to wait and see if the uh this individual is affirmed as a as a candidate uh as a with respect to the petition whether or not it's complete or not and i would say that that we'd want to analyze frankly and give the council some advice and executive session whether even irrespective of that any registered lector may still bring that kind of claim and i wouldn't want to speculate in a public meeting without having thought about it tomorrow and spoken with our litigator whether that is the case but we won't really know all the facts until after the closing period for nomination petitions uh after that point we'll be able to see what the then applicable fact pattern is with respect to who's running and who isn't and we'll certainly be prepared to give and will uh our legal advice to the council in an executive session and you can then choose to share that if you wish uh so we need to defer that question until the close of the uh nomination period um motion [Music] item number 15b um uh discussion mayor councilman thank you sir uh so mr dahl just uh to clarify what you just said um it's we're not entirely sure if the current plaintiff has standing but that does not change the fact that someone else could have standing and bring forward the same issue and also that this is very likely out of harmony with the colorado and united states constitutions is that correct that's that's correct irrespective of the ongoing litigation it's necessary that the city's code be brought into harmony with the constitution and i would continue to advise that this ordinance be adopted uh whether or not there's a standing issue that we'll look at well it is not in um inconsistent with the current policy is not inconsistent with the federal constitution is it not it's it's inconsistent with the state constitution and it's the state constitution that governs uh right no i just understand but i think i think the question was that it was both uh council member mcconnell stated further discussion yeah uh councillor mcardler specific to the point of the u.s constitution this question is for mr dahl the the u.s constitution does not limit federal office holder at all in fact we've had prior congress people that are that are felons while serving in congress isn't that not correct um i don't know i don't have that that political history uh available to me oh we have so yeah but but but to answer the first part the the us constitution does not address a felony restriction at all correct that's that's correct uh but of course it's the colorado constitution that dictates the scope and power not only of the legislature but of municipalities within with respect to the basic rights that the constitution grants and that of course as the council has heard me say before is the basis for my recommendation this ordinance be adopted despite the fact that the city has home rule power uh which i really respect but in this particular case it defers to the const the state constitution thank you yep further discussion i don't know 15b i just wanted to um to point out that we did make a good faith effort to modify the charter uh as we discussed earlier the charter could be modified either by the voters or by a judge what we're talking about now is modifying our codes which are based on the charter so that the codes of the city the electoral code will be in violation of our city charter if there is no one was standing at this time if there was no one being you know who's running for election uh and our next election is not for two years that would give us time next year uh to put a question on the ballot to the voters asking them to charge change the charter to be in compliance with the with the constitution so i just wanted to make that point that that if we don't have to violate the charter tonight um because of the fact that we can ask the voters uh to make that change and then we can change his code further discussion mayor because our comes so can i confirm with mr dahl that we do not at this time know if that standing question is answered no we don't thank you no we we do not in order to give the best advice i would want to wait until the nomination period is concluded and we observe what persons are actually confirmed as nominees and beyond that i would want to review whether or not despite the presence or absence of of a nominee who's a challenger in the case uh whether or not there's other standing that would apply merely as a result of being a registered elector something i'm happy to look at and advise the council but i would want to make that advice confidential mayor uh may overtime can i make a motion to continue this until um after the nominations are closed so that we do know if we can sure that we're not in violation of the charter if need be so i believe that um so the motion would be to uh continue uh item number 15 be to the next regular meeting of the aurora city council no second now okay it's been moved by uh mayor tim bergen seconded by um council member uh ruber uh to um continue item number 15b to the next regular meeting of the orange city council uh further discussion mayor thank you sir i do have a question for the city attorney um would repealing a section of code that is effectively duplicated in our city charter constitute a charter violation or is it simply modifying code well if if i can answer that and rachel may well want to supplement this particular code change brings the code into conformance with the colorado constitution and as you've heard me say consistently and i i will say again that the fact that it is different than the charter and the fact that the charter hasn't yet also been changed does not mean that this code change if you make it is somehow in violation of the charter because the higher law here is of course the colorado constitution and i would urge and support the council adopting this ordinance uh irrespective of the timing of a charter change and irrespective of the timing of the closure of nominations and whether or not you had a candidate that was also a plaintiff understood thank you further description yeah mayor dave gruber because the question was asked the question that was asked was that will this code change put be in conflict with what we have in our charter granted the fact that the charter is on non-compliance with the constitution but will this code change make our code non-compliant with our with our city charter well and and certainly i won't i won't pretend to say that if the code says that here's the list of disqualifications and the charter says something different though i'm grown up and i recognize that that means the two things are are stated differently but i will say this that if uh i i would say that the fact that they're stated differently one of them is stated in conformance with the karate constitution in this case the code if you make the change and the charter provision is not in conformance the constitution as i've said consistently i i would be very comfortable defending a a claim against the city for violating the charter because the code got amended where the reason you amended the code was to comply with the state constitution okay but again so that was a lot of words but i think the answer is yes well they're inconsistent but i think i understand but i think the answer is yes the code that we're coming up with conflicts with our charter and we may have time to change our charter so that the code so the charter and the constitution are congruent and and then the code would be this code change would be uh congruent with both but the fundamental question is right now we are this the ordinance and hopefully we're going to continue this so we can have the debate next next time but uh the ordinance will in fact um make our codes uh uh violate or be in conflict with what we have in the charter given the fact that the charter isn't you know is in conflict with the constitution i understand the the conflict and i'm okay with saying they don't say the same thing but i would stop short of and wouldn't support saying that it would make the code violate the charter because of the for the reasons i've i've i've described and and now we're we're into the semantics of it and i i respect how you've articulated your position okay uh further discussion on item number 15 b mayor councilman oh this is on this is on the motion to con to continue right and part of the question of the motion to continue is should we do this because we will be violating the charter um if we pass this tonight that's part of the question and so on that question um i'd like to ask the city attorney in light of the fact that we commit a new charter violation daily without penalty at this time by leaving a vacancy um would we similarly by passing this law be subject to another set of violations and if so would we be penalized for those any more than we're being penalized for the daily charter violations that we are currently committing well i will tell you that amending your code to conform the car at a constitution uh is is not a violation of law uh and and i continue to believe that you i i understand the the uh continuing vacancy question and won't opine on that i assume rachel might want to but uh this certainly does not increase your exposure and in my opinion if you're doing something that helps the the the legislative landscape that you have which is the code and the charter and if you're moving a portion of that landscape further into compliance with the state constitution uh i don't view that as a violation further discussion on the motion to continue to continue saying now the question before us is the uh motion to continue to the next regular meeting of the aurora city council uh to continue item number 15 b uh with the clerk please call the roll mayor kaufman uh yes councilmember lawson no councilmember gardner no councilmember persians um yes mayor pro-tem bergen yes councilmember gruber yes councilmember crooms no councilmember hilts no councilmember marcano no member muriel okay that's six votes for no four for yes so the motion does not pass to continue to the next meeting motion blind item number 15b mayor cosby mcconnell thank you sir move to approve 15b move by councilman marcano second bye um point of order um there uh moved by me and seconded by council member connor to approve it very well uh we will stay corrected uh we will go by the previous uh motion uh further discussion on odd number 15b saying no further discussion on item number 15b with click please call the roll on the adoption of item number 15b council member mercano yes counselor helps yes sorry councilmember persons i believe it needs to go to the voters so i'm going to vote no mayor protein bergen i was going to vote no um because i was hoping that it could go to the voters but it's not going to be able to and apparently we're in violation of the state's constitution and not going to be in violation of our charter so i'm a yes councilmember lawson yes council member mario yes that's a grouper coombs um ordinances typically are voted on by council and yes councilmember gardner yes okay the vote is seven yeses to know some motion passes to approve ordinance 2021-30 mayor i'm sorry who uh bergen uh man for him yeah i don't need my colleagues to be rude i used the wrong word excuse me okay uh with click now please read the title title number 17a item 17a resolution 2021-96 a resolution of the city council of the city of aurora colorado finding a petition for annexation of a certain parcel of land located in the southeast quarter of section 17 township three south range 64 west of the sixth principal meridian county of adams state of colorado to be in substantial compliance with section 31 12 107 1 crs and giving notice of a public hearing on the proposed annexation 157.847 acres presentation myself good evening mr mayor members of city council um items 17 a through c are related but i will do a brief presentation for each item individually for the record the item before use a resolution finding a petition for annexation to be in substantial compliance for a parcel located within transport colorado development um parcel one is approximately 158 acres located generally northeast of 48th avenue and ambode the proposed resolution finds that the proposed annexation meets substantial compliance with state statute and provides notice of a public hearing proposed annexation um the parcel falls within the city's annexation boundary it meets contiguity requirements it's anticipated this parcel will be incorporated into the existing transport colorado industrial master plan the initial zoning ordinances will be presented to city council concurrently with the annexation ordinance and will follow the city's comprehensive plan these will be zoned i2 industrial district the annexation process follows state law and this annexation will be considered over three council meetings step one is that in that process uh before you this evening city council considers approval of a resolution making a finding that the petition is in substantial compliance with statutory requirements since that's the public hearing date the resolution will set the public hearing for october 11th 2021. thank you um a motion on item number 17a motion right here also member helps cosmere hills move to approve 17a moved by council member uh hilts uh second by bergen memphis bergen to approve on number 17a uh discussion will click please call the role on the adoption web number 17a council member gruber yes council member helps yes council member gardner yes mayor protein bergen yes council member marcano yes councilmember berezins yes councilmember mario councilmember lawson yes councilmember coombs yes the motion passes to approve resolution 2021-96 please read the title title number 17b 17 b's resolution 2021-97 a resolution of the city council of the city of aurora colorado finding a petition for annexation of a certain parcel of land located in the east half of section 20 and in the east top of section 29 township three south range 64 west at the sixth principal meridian county of adams state of colorado to be in substantial compliance with sections 31 section 31 12071 crs and giving notice of a public hearing on the proposed annexation uh we've already had uh staff presentations so motion on item number 17b mayor uh councilman roncano thank you move to approve 17b a move by councilman mcconnell second goodbye uh second by council member to approve item number 17 b discussion sitting down with the click please call the roll on the adoption of item number 17b councilmember hiltz yes mayor pro-tem bergen yes councilmember muriel council member marcano yes council member burzen yes councilmember lawson yes councilmember coombs yes once member gardner yes councilman gruber yes the motion passes to approve resolution 2021-97 okay now please read the title title number 17c is resolution 2021-98 a resolution of the city council of the city of aurora colorado finding a petition for annexation of a certain parcel of land located in the east half of section 21 in a part of the west half of section 22 township three south range 64 west of the sixth principal meridian county of adams state of colorado to be in substantial compliance with section 31 12 107 1 crs and giving notice of a public hearing on the proposed annexation we've already had a staff presentation so motion is in order motion to approve 17c it's removed by councilor gardner second by 17c uh discussion uh saying no with the click please call the role on the adoption of item number 17c councilmember gardner yes councilmember mark hanno yes councilmember lawson yes councilmember grouper yes member gruber and you're i think you're muted oh yes i'm showing you council member coombs yes yes remember mario yes councilmember berzins yes mayor pro-tem bergen yes councilmember hiltz yes the motion passes to approve resolution 20 21 98. now please read the title time number 19a item 19a is consideration to appoint three members to the parks and rec advisory board motion mayor christopher mcconaughey um move to a point andre hickman brian taylor and sydney futrell to the parks and recreation board moved by council recruitment by mayor pro-tem bergen uh discussion i've seen none with clerk please call the role on the adoption of item number 19a mayor protein perkin mayor kaufman oh yes councilman gruber yes council member mario council member mario council member marcano yes councilmember lawson yes council member gardner yes councilmember coombs yes sponsor member persons yes councilmember hiltz yes and council member muriel her mic is acting up right now but she is a yes vote for this so the motion passes to approve hickman taylor and future to the parks and rec advisory board so now please read the title town of number 19b item 19b is consideration to appoint one member to the immigrant and refugee commission the motion mayor professor mcconnell thank you sir move to appoint salvador kazoo to the immigrant and refugee commission well why can't we say goodbye second invite councilwoman coombs uh discussion that's sitting down with the clerk please call the role on the adoption of item number 19b mayor kaufman uh yes councilmember lawson yes councilmember mcconnell yes councilmember berzins yes councilmember gruber yes council member mario yes council member gardner yes mayor pro-tem bergen yes councilmember hilts yes and council member coombs yes the motion passes to appoint salvador to the immigrant and refugee commission uh reports uh mayor has no report uh reports by council councilor lawson thank you mayor um for my advisor update uh the u.s house will be in session this week to consider three pieces of legislation the senate passed the budget resolution the bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs act and the john lewis voting rights advancement act the timing of the votes is up to up in the air as speaker pelosi continues to count votes in the democratic caucus the vote could come early as this evening or tuesday morning for rtd for reimagine rtd i have a full report but i'm just going to give a couple highlights the reimagined rtd initiatives discussion of future transit services and scenarios and preliminary evaluation strategies um and modeling analysis tool will be in october 2021 fleet electrification analysis and implementation plan will also be discussed october 2021 um future financial outlook preliminary results will be reviewed in the fall of 2021. the next committee meetings rebuilding the service subgroup of the technical group is on august 24th the technical working group is meeting is on october 6th and the advisory committee which is the committee i sit on is october 7. um rtd state system-wide fair and past program study and equity analysis the rfp advertised will be for book evolve 2021 the start work will be quarter 2022 and the duration of this will be for 18 months um the rtd board district reconfiguration 2020 census board committee formed and work will start this fall and to start those discussions and that's all i have right now for a report uh councilor thank you man i want to talk a little bit to the families and friends of veterans and government civilians that have worked in afghanistan as a result of what's going on over the last few days many of the people that served many of the people that lost family members many of the people that were hurt are feeling a little are feeling alienated they're feeling depressed please keep in contact with your family members please keep in contact with your friends uh as the veterans and as the government civilians work through this this has been very hard on them and and they could use a friend uh and keep them in your prayers as well thank you uh councillor hills um thank you councilmember gruber for that reminder um and i have no additional report but thank you councilman gardner reporter councilmember mario thanks mayor uh can you all hear me yes okay sorry i was having some mic issues just um wanted to remind folks that we are planning on having our ward one town hall in person um so far seems to be um a safe decision um you know please call ahead of time just in case uh things change um but the plan is to help still host in person we'll be having a uh update on our the condition of our roads as well as uh housing and a housing update as well so thank you all um councilmember versus thank you um a reminder that our ward 3 meeting will be in person this month or september uh it is september the 8th it will be at the city library the main library in the large community room we're having a candidate forum right now we have scheduled all of the at-large candidates there are five right now there could be another one but there they'll be there and also the award three candidates will be there so i want you to have a chance to meet them and hear what they have to say as they can answer a few questions excuse me losing my voice answer a few questions for you so that will be the 8th at 6 30 at the library and i did want to say thank you to all of our military and our veterans um that are either in afghanistan now or working from here to get people out of as afghanistan i know they've been working diligently a lot of them going with no sleep it is appreciated what you do and uh god bless you for that um i did want to remind everyone we did have our armed forces recognitions last friday we had a room full of wonderful military people that were there that have pledged their life to serve this country and i was honored to be in the same room with him thank you very much thanks councilman mcconnell thank you sir uh so first i want to let folks know that we're not going to be having a ward 4 meeting in september due to a conflict with uh travel for city business i'm actually going to be joining um mayor kaufman and councilmember combs and el salvador um strengthening our relationships uh there second i'm sorry uh and uh but we will be back in person uh october 14th at the stampede uh so that's actually going to be a thursday so i know that's a change but october 14th at the stampede uh from 6 30 to 8. so i'm excited to be back at the stampede and back in person again um second i would like to request uh of my colleagues that we sign on to um a letter that i sent all of you this weekend um it is a it would be a letter from the city of aurora unofficial city letterhead to president biden letting him know that the city of aurora stands uh ready to help the refugees especially those who served alongside our armed forces and our coalition partners in afghanistan to help welcome them to the united states and to integrate them into our great city as you all know uh we are a city with one-fifth of our population being born outside of the u.s i think we're a model city for immigrant integration and i would strongly uh and plead that we all uh sign on to this letter because i think this is something that we should be doing um as the city um and i guess a question to the city attorney on that is that do i have to make a formal motion or is that more of just a request here kind of trying to follow up on the instructions that uh you gave me so letters are actually supposed to be presented in a study session there wasn't time to do that in this circumstance so you do need to they're one of two ways to get the signatures of counsel one is to get an affirmation from at least six members and then the mayor signs the other way is you just sign your names individually so an emotions appropriate to see if you have sex votes to do it with uh with the mayor's signature okay thank you city attorney uh so with that i would make a motion uh to add our signatures uh to that letter and get that sent to the white house second okay it's been moved and percentage only is this appropriate to bring up the issue as as to a vote uh and i don't understand i mean it i don't think it's that time sensitive that it couldn't be discussed in the next study session uh mayor we don't have to study a study session at all next month so this would be october that we're looking okay um okay it's been moved by councilmember mcconnell secretary councilmember coombs uh discussion uh i will recognize myself it needs to have an amendment on it uh to have my support that simply reflects that uh we have an expectation of the appropriate federal funding uh to pay for the costs uh of of integrating and helping these refugees i'm all for doing it uh but i think there needs to be a dimension that we have an expectation that federal funds will follow and that's not it well mayor that's how our current process actually works it's all done with federal support um but i'm happy to make it right i'm happy to make it explicit that's fine mayor um uh yes i was going to just kind of say the same thing that um i definitely want to make sure that that we are helping the people of afghanistan um but i did want to have something about the money i guess do we get money from like refugee resettlement funding is that where it comes from if we take them in and then i guess the second part which i mean i again i wholeheartedly would like to be able to assist them where are we going to put them because we keep talking about a housing shortage so is that something addressed in that so um ricardo gambera if he's available uh speak to how the program works like i said this is all kind of independent of the city but i want us to just be sending the message that we are supportive of these efforts so ricardo is here thank you so much good evening everyone i just want to remember everyone that actually the national refugee program is run by the federal government working with nine different refugee agencies all over the country and in the area of denver in aurora we have three local refugee agencies who actually are the ones responsible for working with refugees once they arrive to the country but something that i want to mention tonight to clarify is we don't know how many refugees from afghanistan would come to the united states and how many actually would arrive to colorado so this is very early but i think it's very important to show our support to our local refugee community who actually have families in france in afghanistan right now mayor i mean yeah i and i understand you know that that we have those agencies and we get the funding from the federal government my concern is they're they're already being displaced in horrific situations if if they were if we said we're going to take them in aurora and then we had no housing isn't that equally bad i mean where where would we house them or is that something that the federal government takes into considerate or those agencies maybe take into consideration before they accept them there is a system there is a process in place run by the federal government working along nine different refugee agencies all over the country so i understand based on conversations with the federal government and also represented from these agencies that our local refugee agencies and non-profits around istanbul ready to assist in case that we need and actually keep in mind we have more than 19 000 cities and towns in america and we are just one of many and we don't know exactly how many refugees from afghanistan will write to the states and when or how many will i write to colorado okay further discussion mayor uh councilmember gruber then councilmembers so i i'm struggling ricardo i didn't all right i am strongly in support of bringing afghans who served with u.s forces uh into this country and bringing them into into the city i don't have a problem with that i think we do have to recognize that we have uh hundreds unknown hundreds of people that have crossed the border illegally that are also residing in aurora and those people will be are competing for housing we've had multiple meetings about housing and the fact that we lack it and we have no way to support the homeless no way to support uh many of the people within the city so you know i think ricardo you're asked a couple of times how we're going to find housing for these people and i understand there are multiple agencies involved in this and the federal government will determine who comes here but i have severe concerns that that we are going to exacerbate the housing problem that we've talked about repeatedly in the city if we if we sign this letter so so i agree with the mayor that before signing this letter we need something on there about the fact that the federal government that the federal government must pay for the the housing of these folks if we have to put them in hotels or wherever they are that the federal government's going to do that because otherwise you know the fact we're simply ignoring every other discussions we've had about lack of affordable housing especially at the uh 40 60 and 80 percent ami level in the city and this is going to make that worse so you know i until this is modified i can't support it i understand uh consumer grouper i just want to mention that the federal government actually provide with funding to the refugee agencies to take care of the refugees and they provide with all different services from social services medical services and also they allocate some funding for housing as well but we don't have housing we don't have it do you want staff to respond no thank you i well i didn't know you were going to say this councilman gruber but we just had this discussion about there's no place to put the homeless on 225 in mississippi you know we just had that discussion that was lectured too about that so and now we want to pile on top of it but honestly we do need to help um so as long as there is money coming in and people to do it and i'm guessing that there would be religious groups the muslim center i mean a variety of different groups it would help but it's i mean it's not only like you said robert ricardo it's not only just housing it's medical these people left with the shirts on their backs you know they need clothes they need food they need education so we are going to have to get a lot of of different groups but you seem to be comfortable with that but i did i didn't want to remind us that governor polis has already sent a letter to president biden saying to bring them to colorado i read it it was in the paper uh so i i don't think we should step on his toes perhaps our letter should go to governor polis saying that we would be a partner with you as long as funding was there so just watch out further discussion mayors council i just don't think that we can really ignore that the issues we have with housing and homeless services are a matter of political will these aren't immutable things that we couldn't possibly change and so it's just very frustrating um to hear folks saying oh i support this but um when the butt is a problem that we can solve that we can make the choice to solve and so i hope that as we're saying that we want to have this available to folks who have served our country and worked alongside our forces that maybe that's the extra motivation that folks on this council need to busters of political will to solve these problems for further discussion mayor dave gruber councilor yeah i just want to remind you know remind us of the discussion we had earlier where housing our housing folks told us that no matter what we do we're not going to have housing anytime in the near future and that was one of the reasons that the mayor's camping ban failed so now we're saying that this is such an emergency we can't wait for the next study session that has to go out right now but we've already recognized that there's no housing so you know again i recognize that it's important to bring the afghans who help u.s forces i certainly understand that i'm just saying that that inviting them in without having a place for them to go is a show it's theater it won't mean anything because if they call up and say here's 500 people they're on their way we don't have anywhere to put them and without thinking that out it's one thing to put you know to put out a statement saying here's what we want to do when we know that there's no way that we can achieve that objective as a matter of fact that's why we're in the problem right now is that they did the withdrawal and they didn't have a plan so now we're doing the same thing we don't have a plan but send us a whole bunch of people and we'll figure it out i just don't think that's the way that the people of aurora want us to act further discussion here uh councilman councillor mcconnell thank you i feel the need to clarify when we're talking about housing and homelessness that those two things are very interconnected when we're talking about our own domestic population but these are a group of folks who are actually going to have support from the day that they get here from the federal government and i think that frankly this should be a lesson to all of our congress folks and senators that if they had the political will at the federal level they could solve the homeless crisis in the united states for about 25 billion dollars distributed throughout the country and also i wanted to state that we don't have a housing shortage we have an affordability problem in this country there are what was i think for the st louis fed we have 29 empty homes for every unhoused person in this country are you kidding me it's not it's not a matter of supply it's a matter of price and ownership and a lack of again will to actually utilize what we have so yeah the uh comparing the unhoused population to accepting immigrants and actually getting them helped out uh when they sacrifice a tremendous amount to begin with to be even eligible for this uh it's apples to orangutans it doesn't make sense further discussions you know i realized that my socialist colleague understand would prefer to take property rights away from people and grant those to the uh branham to the government so then the government can redistribute it but that's not the world we live in right now aurora right now does not have affordable housing for the immigrants that would be coming in from afghanistan further discussion come here yes to the letter but i also want to respond here because someone put words in my mouth what i want to do and i've been very clear is build social housing uh because it's a model that works very well it's worked in austria for over 100 years i think we're worthy of emulating successful ideas i think our community's worth it thank you further discussion mayor i'm afraid to raise that's a member of mario okay i don't know i've done it a couple times and then there's back and forth so i don't know um i just wanted to clarify that we do have a plan around housing um it's just a matter of funding it and it's a matter of putting resources towards um being able to come up with creative solutions um for example uh we have a large trench of federal dollars that we could use towards um creating uh different housing options for folks at different price points we do have a plan uh we just gotta be able to invest city council has to invest in it further discussion there councilor so i'd like to remind all my colleagues we literally have people in afghanistan that supported the war effort a war we probably should have never been in and certainly not for 20 years that are hanging on airplanes falling off airplanes to their death because they are so desperate to get out of a country um that is now ruled by people that will probably kill them because they supported the us war effort uh because they're christians because they're women because they're girls uh because they're homosexual i could go on and on with the list of people who will be killed and you know we're using this as an argument all these everyone talking is using this as an argument to score political points i think the the fact has already been established that all this letter is doing is saying if we have the resources available in this community then we will welcome these refugees um and if the resources don't exist then we won't and i'm not sure why this conversation is taking 30 minutes or worse frankly what is so controversial about saying that we're willing with federal funding available what we're willing to accept those who help the war effort uh in afghanistan and those that will most likely be killed uh once u.s soldiers are no longer there further discussion mayor health member hills because our hills thank you yeah i don't know if we take a formal vote on this or not because it's not technically on the agenda but um i fully support it i think council member gartner did a really good job of explaining it and this is really just about you know basic decency and humanity and i also don't know why we've been arguing about it for so long further discussion saying none uh could all those who oppose identify themselves to [Music] to the letter i oppose until we see the changes [Music] i did council member marcano agreed to change it to include the funding yes ma'am we didn't change that and uh uh councilman mcconnell if you're willing uh i'll come up with a verbiage that i think is just a small um independent clause that needs to go into the uh into the one sentence that merely to say that uh with with all with appropriate federal funds okay so there will be uh councilman customer mcconnell and myself will work out the language for federal funding okay um who uh who's in opposition i believe just councilmember gruber no i said if the letter is changed i'll support it okay it will be it will be changed and i will um i will i will sign off on the verbiage personally before it moves forward excellent thank you all i really appreciate it and with that my uh my report is done uh okay counselors thank you mayor um we will have our ward 5 council meeting on september 1st it will also be a town hall but for at-large candidates only which will be held at heather gardens at 6 00 pm um my reports from boards um the cherry creek basin water quality authority elected officers um and approved the audit for the last year visit aurora appointed three new members and we have a board workshop coming up in september and in dr cogg we talked about the greenhouse cdot greenhouse gas rule making um which will or which is currently open for public comment so if you have an interest in the rules that cdot is making that will certainly impact our community in terms of making sure our transportation projects and those projects that are funded are ones that are going to help the city meet our greenhouse or the state meet our greenhouse gas targets then you should go to the cdot website between now and october 15th to provide public comment on that issue and as a matter of personal privilege i just wanted to acknowledge and honor the life of my friend and constituent kelsey fritz who sadly died last week um as a result of lack of health care um she was 33 years old and she was a member of our community who was always there for other people um always present whenever people asked for her to be present and who showed up for this community in great and small ways and so i just wanted to take the time to honor her life and hope that we all continue to honor her life and legacy by making sure that nobody else has to die the way that she did um so thank you for that and with that i conclude my report mayor pretend bergen thank you mayor um i also want to extend my um gratitude to our military that are being heroes in afghanistan in light of this catastrophe that has happened on our uh really just embarrassing to our nation and i pray for the afghan people and for for our military i also attended the armed forces luncheon always want to always um appreciate having that opportunity to say thank you and to um to see who is who is awarded um the honors um e-470 report we did it we reviewed our finances operations we also had intern presentations um which was really uh fun because uh there were three interns that did really creative presentations to to the board and then for mile high behavior or mile high flood district uh we had resolutions on flood in improvements one of them which affects uh city of aurora is the cherry creek at arapahoe road and that was just really to stabilize the greek i did learn a new word fluvial versus pluvial pluvial is surface or like flash flood and fluvial is uh when the river or stream rises thank you okay uh with that public invited to be heard there's nobody on the line there uh thank you everybody meeting adjourned not y'all [Music] do [Music] [Music] foreign