[Music] [Music] fore [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] Fore [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] come okay and we can always pause this is the um study session of the Aurora city council for May 3rd and um we are waiting for the mayor to get on he's having technical difficulties so we'll skip over mayor's update and um May protim this is Katie announcement the announcement for the call in line really fast sure thank you good evening thank you for joining tonight's Aurora city council study session if you are listening on the phone please note public comments are not taken during study sessions the phone line is in listen only mode the city council does welcome comments from residents at regular Council meetings on both matters appearing on the agenda and during public invited to be heard sign up on those even opens at 6: p.m thank you thank you and uh Katie can you go ahead and take Ro yes mayor proen Bergen sure council member bin here council member presid council member Gardner here council member Gruber here council member hiltz here council member Lawson here council member Johnston here council member Marano present and council member Maro present there is a quorum thank you um and again we are waiting for the mayor to get on and so we will um wait on the mayor's update and do we have any any issue update none don't see anybody um okay next would be the consent calendar um the first consent item is consideration to approve or to appoint three members and reappoint one member to the golf course advisory committee do we have any objection to moving that consent to the regular meeting no okay and then the second consent item 2B is consideration to reappoint one member to the election commission are there any objections to moving that forward mayor proam yes council member um yes so I had heard that there were some issues with this that folks had tried to request that the commission go into executive session to discuss the appointments and some other concerning issues around transparency so I was hoping we could bring this back to the next study session after um getting some additional information making sure Council has access to the interviews as well as the minutes of the meetings although I looked at the minutes from the one meeting and they were really sparse so I just have some transparency concerns I was wondering if we could bring it back to the next study with more information okay so rather than moving forward with the uh with the suggestion of the appointee you're just asking for it to to to wait and and move it to the next meeting to the next study session yeah and with more information maybe it sounded like Katie maybe had something to say on that um oh hi May um I just was going to say that they did want to go into executive session to um talk about the candidates that appli applied for the election commission they were advised against that from my office and the city attorney's office due to transparency reasons so they did actually do it in an open meeting and they they did the vote on who they would like to appoint to council or to the election commission but if you would like I can send everybody like a copy of the um a recording of the meetings and the minutes if you wanted to look it over too council member kums is that satisfactory or would you rather popone it yeah that sounds good to me thank you okay and it sounds like we have the mayor back so mayor we just finished to be um Mo moving both 2A and 2B to the consent calendar okay mayor cman yes ccil member Johnston um let me do uh say one thing first and that is uh council member Gruber uh his uh his mother died actually it was last year but the family's holding the funeral um I guess U now and uh he can he can only be on for a little while and he wanted to uh speak on uh the vacancy issues for w two so I'm wondering if we without objection if we could move that now to uh the front of the calendar yeah um could I just respond to council member kum's suggestion going back to the election commission thank you um no I I concur wanting more information I I don't know if I missed it I saw the minutes too when they were pretty Spar so I appreciate the the recording but did we also have all of the applications in our backup did I not see that or could we get that you yes we can send you in all of the applications as well okay I I'd appreciate that and I just you know I know we all all know that but for the The public's sake we are still under our purview as council members able to um nominate someone maybe even different than the election commission so just saying that for Public's for but yes getting those applications I would appreciate that thank you yeah I'll email that and we'll put this back on the next steady session thanks okay there no mayor's update uh any issue updates uh then uh without objection I would like to move um let's see orc uh item number 4C to the front of the agenda is there objection uh is council member grber on yes I am okay um coming in a little weak uh uh with that I believe uh uh staff has a presentation can you share the screen share the presentation yes one second so mayor uh members of counil uh good evening uh I'm Roberto benegas and Deputy city manager for the city of Aurora um I'll be very brief since I think the majority of the discussion will be amongst the Council on terms of a process that they'd like to designate so I'm just going to run very quickly through this presentation uh slides intended to provide a framework for the decisions that the council and the mayor will need to make as regards to the process so KY can you move to the next slide so these are the areas Uh current Charter and ordinance requirements uh the application period and questions that have typically we' been used in the past the interview process timeline options and then the remaining questions for Council and I believe the mayor uh has an option so we're going to go through the PowerPoint and then folks can provide uh options for the timelines that they want to uh propose uh for the process so uh this is about five or six slides so I'll I'll move quickly so uh just uh on the legal side of it I think we sent an FAQ that Dave lathers and Katie had worked on you have really the only prescription in in charter is a 45 day requirement from the date of vacancy so you just have to appoint somebody from the date of vacancy 45 days from that date and you since we are 90 days out from a regularly scheduled election then we do have to appoint somebody we cannot wait till the next election those are really the only two binding things that you have in Charter or in ordinance there is no lack of prescribed statutory ordinance guidance as I mentioned and uh we have a whole uh a bunch of uh preceden for other appointment processes that we've used many of you who have served on the council when we appointed council member Watson when we appointed mayor leer after the passing of Mayor Hogan those were all processes that the council came to in discussion and landed on that uh timeline so again with this process will be the same the council will essentially Det the process that they want to move forward um and that will be uh at your discretion the only thing you have to stipulate is the 45 day after council member Johnson um has vacated the seat uh is the only gu guidance next slide so um again questions that you'll need to determine is and your timeline and your proposed timeline how long would you like the application to be uh open uh the council the communications department and clerk's office are ready to post that whenever you'd like to post it and we'll keep it open on all our platforms and push it out through your Platforms in any way that you'd like for as long as you'd like 10 days 14 days 21 days um I will note that once you get past 21 days you're you're you're you're going to be pushing the 45 day um requirement for after council member Johnson's vacate so um we want to try to keep it within that amount of period to you know 10 days to to three weeks open then the next question is to determine how long you would like to review the applications we will immediately once the deadline is over package all those applications in a PDF and send those over to you to have to review so you'll have to let us know how long you want to review them before you schedule interviews uh the next question is uh the uh uh resum requirement uh we have typically in the past asked applicants to include a rume in a addition to filling out an application so you'll have to let us know if you'd want a resume as well uh next slide um Ka are you there there we go okay so um there's the the application questions these are just very standard if there are things that you would like to not see or include uh we can do that but they're pretty uh straightforward questions obviously we have a profile uh questions just basic contacts employment uh uh information references and education so that's pretty straightforward we've asked that in all our applications next slide and then here are the sample questions that we are proposing uh you can certainly uh tweak these as you see fit these are simply proposed we've have used many of these in the past so um I won't read them all to you but um these are basically what we've asked in previous uh vacancy situations for prospective uh council members um and then of course they have to live in in War II for one year that is a residency requirement so we do we do have that there and obviously a Lector in Aurora um general question why do you desire to appointment to city council uh the the next three questions I think are trying to and we'll have another conversation later in the study session around the background checks and criminal background checks these are questions that we've been working on and and received from HR that essentially are opportunities for the applicant to uh divulge any information that may be uh issues in terms of employment in terms of um background checks know while we're not we we just want to be able to have a an affirmative response a question that allows them to have that opportunity we do not have that in applications and I think in the C circumstance of the Civil Service Commission um uh that was uh an issue that uh maybe we didn't have the right question to ask for the candidate has to be able to answer that in the affirmative so um uh th those are those questions um there and then I think that's the last of the questions okay uh and then the next area of decisions for the council is an interview process um and this could be also a Tob determined uh um you know when we appointed mayor leair uh the council at that time made a decision to interview every single applicant for that position um we can certainly provide you the number of applications at the end of the deadline period submission and at that time you can decide well there's six so we'll do all six or there's 60 so we'll do a ranking process it's because we don't have time to interview 60 individuals whatever the the discre the the preference of the Council so U um you don't have to make that decision tonight but just know that um the time considerations and how you want to handle that needs to be addressed in terms of interviewing all or only interviewing a limited number if you do do a limited number then we'll need to go through a a ranking process in which Council uh as you've done in the past ranks individuals to to lower that number to a manageable one and that's obviously at the discretion of the majority Council um determine whether Council wants to do these in in person or virtual uh we can continue doing these virtually we've uh tried to do test runs with every candidate to make sure that they have the right technology so they can get online they can be in person they can have the video working they can access web act so we can try to make it as seamless as possible make sure every candidate has a fair opportunity given the technology and some of the glitches we have so we try to make sure that they are ready to go before the meeting and um we also need to make a determination because of the time time commitment here um and we'll go through this you have a a regularly scheduled meetings in May and June and July um if we put these meetings prior to a regularly scheduled meeting you tend to have very long meetings that usually will start close to 5 or four o'clock and so uh we understand from Council that there have been some concerns about that so you'll need to make a determination whether you want to do that or whether you want to have a separate meeting just for this topic special called meeting on a different date to just address to the issue of the vacy interviews next uh slide and then the timeline options so you have St sessions currently on the 17th June 7th and June 21st you have Council meetings May 10th May 24th June 14th and June 28th so um you can use any and or all of those dates to schedule interviews uh uh make appoint make the actual votes appointments but you have have to at the end of the process you do are required to um have a formal vote and a formal council meeting to appoint an individual and that individual has to have a majority of Council vote in favor six members um and also um again um the stipulation that you could call for a special meeting for the purposes of interviews only if you have that preference next slide okay so I'll I'll kick it back to the mayor and you can have discussion on on how you'd like to proceed thank you uh um KD could you share um the screen so I have a proposed calendar that I want to bring up for discussion yes may hold on one second I'm bringing it up right now for can we make that a little larger okay okay so then on uh May 6th and May 13th uh we would post the notice uh uh in the Sentinel and on our and and on our website uh deadline for submitting the application uh would be May 19th or May 20th uh city clerk does due diligence in other words uh vets the information submitted um checks uh eligibility uh so there's a week for that uh city clerk gets packet of applicants uh to council before May 27th public candidates in Sentinel uh and on website uh May 27th of in the following week uh study session uh update on vacancy input uh June 7th uh schedule virtual uh reception questions from residents of w two uh probably around June 16th or 17th uh interview candidates on June 2st formal vote on June 28th um discussion mayor council council member Johnson um yeah I just have a question um formal vote is different than the swearing in or is it in your because I know traditionally when we've done appointments or votes there's the the vote day and then there's the swearing in day so I just want to get that clarified when the actual swearing in of this person would be that'd be a good question uh Roberto what has what has been the case in the past uh there is usually and I I'll also uh have uh Dan brosman weigh in usually the vote is uh taken on it's on the agenda and then the person is sworn in at the next meeting okay so so they would be sworn in in the first meeting in July or they would they would sit on the dis on the first meeting of July the vote is would be for them to formally be appointed would be on the 28th okay further discussion mayor council member CS is there a way we can set a timeline that would involve us having someone appointed to replace council member Johnston as quickly as possible after her final day because it seems like we should be doing our best to have a full Council um as quickly as possible and council member Johnston has given us plenty of time to do that I think this is fairly quick uh further discussion um question mayor um mayor Pim well on that I just responding to council member kums are you because her last day I believe council member Johnson's last day is the 14th if I recall correctly um so we're only talking a few more weeks for the formal vote um wouldn't so you're saying that to have representation from our constituents because I mean other people could take those you know any calls I guess is was what I was thinking yeah I mean they oh sorry mayor may I respond comes thank you I mean they could but we also could get it done like we could plan in a way that would allow us to appoint someone that night if we just get it all together rather than waiting until later I don't see why we need to have any laps at all given the amount of time that council member Johnson has given us to get this done further discussion mayor mayor uh coun council member cono thank you uh I just want to Echo what council member Kum said the current schedule um would leave a vacancy for a month um I think that's kind of unacceptable given the amount of Headway we have here so I'd like to see us get that done on the same day if possible mayor uh council member Gardner unless I misunderstanding the proposed schedule it would leave a vacancy for one meeting correct June 28th correct council member Johnson would be eligible to vote on June 14th and then whoever was selected to replace her would be eligible to vote on July 12th so it's it's one meeting so is that is that correct correct okay thanks further discussion mayor uh mayor P okay so we're just concerned about one meeting it is that the situation because yeah I agree with council member Gardner that would just be missing one meeting um and then in terms of constituents other other people could step in other council members could step in for the two weeks I think it is council member kums the point still stands that we have no need for any laps even if it is just one meeting um there's no need for any laps given that we have enough time to make sure there isn't one mayor mayor respond mayor PR what about the fact that somebody else may want to apply for the position I think I mean if I'm reading this correctly it it seems very reasonable um it's hard to read but um I think the point sounds like we want to make sure that the public is aware that there is a vacancy and that they have time to apply and we certainly and I I know council member Johnston certainly doesn't want to have the perception that this is a done deal for you know one person that they have the they have the job um as the council person I think we we want to have you know full transparency that anybody that wants to apply that lives in War II has that opportunity uh councils but I think with some of this like reception and other things that are in place we could do an interview at the study session on June 7th instead of an update we're going to have the information we need we're going to have the packets um for quite some time at that point um and then there could be the reception again shortly thereafter if we publish all these dates now there's enough time for folks to do that so I think there's just a lot of extra time being put between when we've publicized it when we've publicized who the candidates are and then when we vote when really we could have the reception we could have the interviews earlier and not have any laps at all I think there's some extension happening in this calendar from June 7th on that's unnecessary um um council member Johnson yeah I still need I'm sorry I'm scrambling on on this I need to know the July calendar my my whole intent of this would be now 10 weeks from when I um announced um is to make sure that War I is without representation so I really need to see the July calendar um otherwise I'm with council member kum's like why don't we move it up and the person is sworn in on June 28th is is swearing it is swearing in July 12th is that our first formal council meeting in July do we have a study session before then I'm sorry I don't have my calendar right in front of me but I I feel like we need to know that because I need to know how many um meetings and votes that were to would be without representation further discussion could I have um Katie yes yes let me share that screen with you one moment there we go okay that that's helpful I'm just going to read for the public because it's small but so we have our first meeting in July is July July 12th so is that where if the vote would be June 28th the swearing in for the new person would be July 12th just so I'm clear that's the first first meeting in July further discussion mayor uh council member bin oh thank you um I I look at this and honestly I see that we're being proactive here by even starting so quickly in in May usually well let me preface this by saying I have been through four uh appointments and we have never started anything until a vacancy exists so I honestly I believe we could wait until um June 15 to start this process nothing says we have to start it now may because through thank you um so you know I I honestly I don't know what the hurry is uh because we don't have a vacancy and we won't have a vacancy and after the vacancy happens according to the Charter we have 45 days to fill it and then that's 45 days starting June 15th I believe and then if you look at the back end of 90 days before the election that's in August so we really do have a lot of time in there um so mayor I think you're being very proactive to to actually start this so early I honestly we could wait and and start a little bit later and still get it done um because you know with not with not having study sessions and Council meetings on the same Mondays anymore you know we have some things have to be done at steady session and some things have to be done at Council meetings so I I honestly think you're being very proactive here and for those of you that have not gone through a vacancy it does have to be published we do have to give uh residents of w two time to read The Sentinel read the city website and I would like to ask staff to also put it in next door in W two so we could reach as many people as possible but you have to give them time to fill out applications um then you have to give the city CL time to vet and like you said mayor I do your due diligence um I mean this is something that cannot be rushed it's never been rushed like I said I've been through four of them um and you do you we have as council members we have to do our due diligence to get this done right or else um we're going to be looked at by the public as trying to do a back room deal if they don't have the opportunity to talk to people to email to find out who is turning in their their name to us to be on councel you know we're really not doing our job as far as residents to to show residents that we're transparent and we want their assistance I I look at I'm sorry if I'm rambling but I look at what processes we go through um or what process council member Johnston went through or any of the any of us as far as getting out in front of the public taking questions from them you know I want to know what they feel um how they're going to answer uh residents questions we may ask them something totally different but a resident of War I is going to have something that is on their mind and I want to hear how they will answer these questions and I that's why I I like this virtual reception um knowing that that's what we did for uh police chief you know I if if we weren't in a lockdown we could have it at the city building we've done it for fire chiefs we've done it for Mayors we we do this and this is just part of our due diligence so I I mean I I I like this but actually it doesn't need to be started this early but once we do start it we need to do it the right way and not rush it through for the sake of transparency I'm down for discussion Hils hilts Council hilts thank you I'm just confused by this one um on June 7th I don't I think council member kum's mentioned this but why can't we just get the update and the information I don't know are you planning to ask the Sentinel to provide that information I'm not sure what that is that you know that feedback is um that you're looking for that's coming in prior to the virtual reception that's scheduled so I just I don't see why we can't get that information in writing as opposed to having to get a verbal update at that study session espe it's before the virtual reception so I I mean it would make more sense to move the virtual reception up and then have that feedback given to us in writing prior to interviewing the candidates which could all be moved up one meeting so I guess I just don't understand the intent behind that mayor mayor Pim uh just question on that same point um so okay I'm looking at this June 7th um so we oh okay May 27th we run for a week the candidates in the Sentinel um is so I I assume is that so that I guess so the public knows who is who the candidates are and is this so that we have input is that part of the public input process yes further discussion mayor uh council member Lawson I just had a question for you um with your time frame so Roberto um proposed a lot of processes that we have to do are we going and we have a lot of decisions to make about what the application looks like what we're going to be doing are you are you is the intent to call a special meeting so we can outline all of those and address all those things maybe between I guess May 6 then I guess by the time we we get the applicants I I I just don't understand how we're making all these decisions Roberto put a whole bunch of questions up so is that your is that the intent with your with your scheduling here to call a special meeting or to address some of these things that we have to process I know this is what your calendar is but Roberto just put some things that we need to consider and so I'm just that that's not ironed out yet so I'm just I think the things that that Roberto was putting out was you mean what is your timeline you know when are you going to start advertising uh the position uh vetting uh the candid it's when you're going to close the application process so I think those issues are really answered in the timeline well I mean we had some in the memo here about things that we need to decide on so I don't really think that's a closed conversation yeah mayor uh mayor ptim yeah I I think on on what Roberto had put up for example he had what questions should we ask the applicant so I I maybe there actually needs to be another an another I don't know calendar meeting in between some of this um just so that we can decide on what questions to ask the applicants I think part of that was making sure we ask the right questions uh during the application process but then also what what the interview process is going to look like further discussion mayor um hilts uh Council Hills thank you I if I remember correctly we have kind of some stock questions and then council members have the ability to ask their own questions as long as they are consistent across all candidates so I'm not sure what um because because I mean I've been through this process two times and I think there those questions were provided as guidance ahead of time same thing with all of the boards and commissions and we're certainly not required to of course use them um so I don't know how much time that would actually take I think if we had a good General consensus around let's use the process we've had before versus if we created a new one those are just two different timelines in terms of how many meetings would be needed in between some of these already scheduled meetings mayor well council member Hil that's not what I'm referencing what I'm referencing is the the memo does council member Johnson get to participate in process have we decided this I mean I I guess I'm just trying to understand from the memo too I'm not asking about questions I can formulate my own questions I'm talking about the procedural piece that to me is not as defined and you know are we doing the background checks what what's what's the dis the issue here it's not a closed conversation for me so I'm just asking to me this is not defined unless everybody else had a conversation without me in it in terms of deter determining what's council member uh for example what her participation will be Etc the questions that were addressed on the memo so I'm not talking about questions this is just a Time them confused so that's sorry I had confusion on what you were asking this is just a timeline further um mayor PM so okay back to council member Lawson's question about you know are we going to do background checks what I think what we're doing is we're trying to change the questions that we typically asked on the application so that we don't run into you know a a negative situation um and so I I don't I think we should add when's our next study session the 17th I mean maybe on the 17th we could have decided what questions need to even be put on the application or or when are we going to decide that I guess I don't know when we're going to decide that council member Lawson uh council member Gardner so I I just want to clarify I think earlier Roberto had said that these sample questions were um provided by HR is that correct Roberto that's correct council member Gardner so my recommendation um well a so candidates that are running for office this year are not subject to a specific background check and so I'm not sure that I would make those that are applying for this appointment go through something that somebody who's trying to be elected through a ballot don't have to go through and that being said if we're going to advertise starting on May 6 my recommendation would be to use the questions that have been provided by HR because I think when we put out the call for applications the application along with all the deadlines and timeline and all that has to be finalized so I don't I don't think we can say we're going to advertise this starting Thursday which I think we should advertise it as soon as possible for the record um but I think these questions should be part of it when we put that out right away because it needs to be on the application further discussion mayor for yeah well so what are the questions I mean Roberto said we had typical questions in the past but they were not really that comprehensive it was basically are you resident um you know are you registered to vote that type of thing and he I thought he had some additional ones on there um the questions there we ran through all of them they're all there so there's some general ones um uh you know have you sh on a board how much time youate being able to spend these are ones that we've used in the past and then as council member Gardener indicated we added those other ones from HR that may uh address some other issues and ter so there's about 10 questions Katie can you go to the next slide there right there if we were to conduct aive background investigation reference checks what will be we find that may War an explanation or that could be of concern of the city what will we find in an internet search of press coverage that may be controversial or concern to the cities please provide whatever St those uh uh those two are provided to address some of the issues that we had in the past where we weren't asking applicant to affir respond so our city clerk would not be doing an internet search we would just ask this question what will we find in an internet search that is correct okay and then as council members during that time frame we can we could do our own internet search I guess that is up to you on how you yeah if you want to do your own due diligence that's certainly up to you what we will provide in packets is the answers to these questions and then the kind of profile questions you know the education kind of pay you know not I shouldn't say the uh their education name employment references those types of things General profile information and then what would go on the um Sentinel that I guess we're running an that would be running an ad what would go on the ad just that we have a vacancy and the and these are qualif qualifications it would simply be War Two vacancy and we would work with Communications but it would be very succinct a war two council member kind of have some basic information about requirements they have to be a resident kind of The one-ear Residency requirement some of the basics and then uh uh presumably a timeline once Council lands on it we would provide deadlines for applications and what they would need to do to apply and how to apply so you would have probably this posted on the website they could go online and apply or they could submit uh you know in writing or deliver it give them different options to provide uh their application so if we don't decide tonight on the deadline then then it how can you put it out in an well that's that's that's what we're trying to that's what we're proposing we can't move forward unless we have at least a consensus on a deadline and a timeline okay goe no thank you I appreciate it oh council member grber uh I know your time is limited do you have any comments well I want to uh thank you for putting the schedule together I think it's very important to emphasize the fact that we need to be open and transparent on this entire process uh council member Lawson brought up a good Point as to whether or not the incumbent will participate in choosing uh the replacement I think the reason or you know it's apparent that the charter gives 45 days uh to enable the uh Council to pick a replacement and I don't think the charter envisioned that the incumbent would participate I think that we're being very generous here in the amount of time that's given I think that we're accelerating the process uh to ensure that there will be a minimum uh uh time between when council member Johnston leaves and the new council member is is appointed so I think we're both being um conscience of conscious of the request to have this move forward sooner rather than later but also it's it's critical that we we be open and transparent if there's a feeling that this is a done deal if there's a feeling that the endorsed candidate that have already been or the candidate that's already been endorsed by council member Johnson is a shoe in I don't know whether or not that will be well received so I think it's important for us to go through a very deliberative process and this looks this looks pretty good to me further discussion mayor can we get a comparison oh sorry no please thank you sorry I jumped into that can we please get a comparison um as to how this process has worked for uh other folks who have been uh appointed and I just want to State for the record that I feel very weird about Council having this power I kind of feel like we should have special elections for this would require a charter change but um yeah can we get that information please that comparison because it seems to me having been present for several of those we've added extra steps and I didn't hear anyone complaining about transparency or anything like that before because we do have to go through a posting period and we do have to interview folks so I'm just curious as to why we're changing the process now and I'd like to get that comparison as well further discussion uh coun Johnson thank you um yeah I you know the the more time that people have to apply the better um I just want to make sure that we're clear as council member Gardner said you know I think following the requirements of what's expected for someone running like the establishment of the residency requirement you know those basic ones as well as having HR not necessarily politicians have that standard template I just want to make sure that we're not delaying the application being out I intentionally gave lots of notice I was disappointed that we couldn't get it out last week I'm okay that we're having this discussion if we can get it out this week I'm gonna have concerns if we're pushing pushing it out so if we're if we're H saying my this and we have that that time for people to know about the application po but that that has to go out in the next couple of days like the actual post the vacancy notice in the senal website May 6 like is that when it'll be on the city council or city of Aurora website on Wednesday morning because then all of this isn't very helpful if we say oh we need to get all this out and we're pushing the actual notice for the application further discussion mayor Dave grber uh council member guber those look like publication days of the Sentinel I think that we're talking about the the paper copy as opposed to the web web version of The Sentinel yeah I wasn't oh no it's correct Johnson yeah I just want to see so just so we're on the P the same page post the vacancy notice is the is the vacancy notice the actual application or is it just saying there's G to be a vacancy notice I just want to make sure we're completely clear the vacancy notice council member Johnston and the application are going to be two separate documents but we would I would like to have them out at the same time that way we're posting and advertising for the position and at that moment we can tell um the public where to get the application on the website that that seems very fair thank you further discussion mayor uh Council moo were we goingon to be able to get that comparative information now or is that going to come to us after we sorry what is that again what is that again um what the process was for previous um appointments I thought I saw that on someone's tab uh somebody can somebody comment on that is there a staff member that has a historical reference uh mayor I did go through some old files in the city clerk's office um one of the ones that I saw was 2011 so they in December 15th they did the application and rumes were due to the city clerk's office December 20th is whenever counsil reviewed the applications and decided who they would like to interview January 3rd was when they interviewed the candidates January 10th is when they um voted on the appointment and janary 24th is when they were sworn in so it seems the past few times in 2018 and 2012 it's been the same process as this the application deadline discussion of applications interviewing candidates appointment vote and then swearing in further discussion uh mayor PM um I I think I like the the public input part of it just and I don't know what you know if that's just for them once it's published in the Sentinel they can give us input um I would like to have that input personally and it's a little bit different during covid because we're meeting virtually so it's not like you know the public is able to meet the candidates that are going to run for this vacancy so you know the virtual reception kind of makes sense is as far as that opportunity it's just a very I think looking at the past is very different than what we're the situation we're in today doing everything virtually it just really um reduces I think options for for meeting meeting the candidates further discussion mayor um Council H Mario Council M Mario Sor I said I was gonna announce my name um yeah I um wanted to yeah I mean just my priority in this process is to make sure that we are getting this out as soon as possible um council member johnon has already announced publicly it's been published in the Sentinel that she intends to resign giving us um an ample amount of time to go through this process I would say um I mean barring a I think there's one meeting on this um schedule that seems a little I mean just seems a little unnecessary so I I don't see the the the big issue with um publishing as soon as possible to have ample amount of time for folks to um have to be aware of the application to understand what's required of them and to go through that process and push it up by a week so that there isn't a lapse in representation that that too um you know just thinking of um you know if I were in that situation not wanting any lack of representation when it just seems unnecessary right barring any other issues I just just feel like it wouldn't be the end of the world to um try to accommodate that one week but um yeah I'm I'm glad that um staff has put together and HR specifically has put together some of these questions um to help uh streamline some of these processes and remove you know just make it just as objective and to the point as as possible so um just wanted to state that I would prefer it to move uh be moved up just by a week so that we are don't have a lapse in representation um and that we should post it as soon as possible but obviously we are one I'm one of the six votes needed for for the process so um just wanted to state that for the record on my end further further discussion mayor Dave Gruber CC grber yeah I'd like to point out that there is a huge difference between a news story and an official publication from the city as far as the sentinel's concerned and and again at the same time the Sentinel published the news story they also published an endorsement for a candidate so I can't be that's what we have to get away from we have have to have a a presentation or we have to have a process that seem that's seen as open and transparent to all the people of uh Ward 2 in addition to that I'd like to emphasize we have four at large uh council members as well as the mayor that represent ward two so it won't be a question that ward two won't have anyone to talk to for an extended period we're talking a week you know two weeks Max uh of a of a gap but there's still ample rep representation and a large number of people that uh people in W 2 of elected officials award to can reach out to further discussion mayor I mean that's the the perspect your perspective and I just would agree to disagree I don't think that that's the same thing of course um everyone has the at large members and the mayor to reach out to but I just living in a particular neighborhood that that just is different than um an at large rep representative so um yeah my comments still still remain and I I do still hold that um as a concern regardless of the ability to contact uh a mayor and for at large members further discussion mayor person mayor uh bersin can go Council bersin and mayor thank you I I uh Council M gr that's a very good point each ward has actually six people represent presenting them um and with um the actual Ward member gone there's still five but I I would like to say I mean I get calls from W one so actually we all represent each other you know people call me from W four you know it's it's we help each other it's it's a city thing and that's why we have at large that's why we have Council requests that's why we we do help each other it's not people I'm sure and I know some of my people call council member Lawson you know so it's it's not um um I'm the only one that people call you know people call everybody and that's the way we want it that's why we have at large representing the whole city I see the mayor out on the sidewalks representing people all over the city um so honestly I I don't agree with that people will be not represented because they will they they will have a whole 10 other people to call if they want they they will have Fort large they'll have the mayor they'll have they can call me it's fine um I'm I'm here to serve and to serve anybody no matter what part of town you live in and and I hope you know we all have that same idea so that that just my thoughts I mean I I deal with people in W one W four two I mean everybody so I and I think we all do mayor mayor councils um so I mean I understand wanting to have more of a process and I'm okay with that um I guess my only thought is then we end up in a situation where we're more likely to have Tai votes in that one meeting so can we at least look at something like we'll only do consent and the appointment in that meeting so that we're not having other issues that end up not getting decided as a result of TI votes you know let let me defer you mean TI vote on the on the um on voting on the um candidates themselves for the final vote no on other items that might come on the agenda so consent we're not going to have tie votes on we've already agreed to do those things and then the appointment is going to fall however it falls we're going to have to pick someone eventually um but other items so other ordinances resolutions igas that we leave those for when we have a full Council uh let me defer to the City attorney but I think that any member uh can make a motion to um um lay over any issue until a date certain uh am I correct City attorney and that's correct but I want to be careful here you may actually have some items coming up so I think you want to look at your agendas to see you may have something that really needs to be done in a hurry that you may not that you may want to vote on earlier uh not knowing what those agendas are going to be several months out I I would hate to commit to not not having you vote on something that may be really urgent but but that's a I understand that but that's that's at the discretion counsil discretion of counsel and and again any member can can make that motion um to to lay something over so procedurally that's already set mayor yes um just final point I mean I I think the timeline looks reasonable um we have to remember that there was an election in November um for and W two is part of that election so we're not just filling a vacancy we're filling a vacancy that is actually going to be voted on and and there is an advantage to being an incumbent I mean that's the truth whether it's a small advantage or not so I think it's you know it's really important that as council members this is an an important job to appoint someone for a vacancy especially right before an election and I think the the point is to make sure that we are being open to the public that we are allowing the time for them to know about the the vacancy and for input to come to councel so that we do make the right decision and that the public feels like um you know that anybody that wanted to to interview was given that opportunity so um anyway that's that's what I wanted to say thank you further discussion sorry com um so just on the previous agenda discussion don't the mayor city manager staff Etc sit down and decide what's going to be on the agenda so couldn't you guys decide to have only consent and disappointment on the meeting of the 28th when you do the agenda setting um you know suppose I I think that that would set us back in terms of um the agenda but uh I don't C man would you like to comment on that yeah mayor and I think this is this would be one that we could maybe just play by ear rather than a a blanket only consent agenda items um you know we'll know better earlier in June when when we see what's on a study session agendas and policy committee agendas and um you know when we went virtual we did for for a couple of meetings hold off on uh items that could be controversial thinking we might be back in person soon which we haven't been but uh I'd suggest we just kind of play that one de okay further discussion mayor bin uh council member bin thank you I think that's a terrible prent president to set um a lot of times we only have 10 people some people get sick people have to go out of town you know people have to go to funerals I I I think that's just beyond what we need to do um I mean we're here to serve the citizens the the residents of Aurora the best way we can and if we only have we can only have eight people some session so what are we going to do nine 10 I mean I I just don't think that this is a good way to do City business is to count how many people are going to be there before we put something on the agenda I I don't I don't like that at all further discussion mayor good C so actually this is that you know when we were talking earlier about transparency and openness this is the the concern that I think people have is that what we're saying now is that um you know there was a person that has been endorsed by uh some of the members on Council already and you know and if that person is not on Council they're afraid that um that we're not you know they're actually trying to stop votes I don't think that's appropriate at all I think that the council is the council at the time of the meeting and we go we go that way trying to make it sound like uh we have to wait until uh my favorite candidate is elected makes it sound like this is not a transparent Pro uh process and that's the concern concern that the people of w I should have we want this to be a fully open and transparent process we want all of w i to participate and we want you know people that are sincerely interested in serving to sign up further discussion that that was not at all the point the point is that we know we won't have a full Council it's not that someone might be absent or I know who's going to win and I want it to be that person it's that we know for sure we will not have a full sitting Council and we could wait one meeting until we do to do substantive business um that being said if folks don't agree that we need a full sitting Council to do substantive business then folks don't agree and that's fine mayor May yeah just on that point um when I was first elected in 2015 I was diagnosed with cancer uh shortly thereafter I went through six months of chemotherapy um when I was feeling uh well after chemotherapy or proceeding a chemotherapy if the session fell before my chemo I was able to be actually physically present at the meetings and vote but if my chemo fell if the meeting fell right after my chemo um I was not able to attend meetings no one made any exceptions for me I was not able to make those votes and make those meetings further discussion mayor mayor Hill Council Hills thank you um one I think I think council member Bergen that's makes a really good point and I'm sorry that you had to go through that and I'm sorry that um you know the remote option wasn't something that was discussed then because I think you should have been able to fully participate um in those meetings because of of why you were out that obviously wasn't something that was optional um or you on vacation type of a situation and so I'm sorry that um you weren't able to participate at then because I know how difficult that is um for happy reason so I can only imagine um you know how that was for you so I am sorry for that um my only question still comes back to this this extra meeting and the mayor's intent on scheduling this update for the vacancy prior to the virtual reception because I just feel like if we're if we're doing a virtual reception then the intent of that is probably to gather that feedback from residents who asking questions so why wouldn't we have that before the vacancy and move that up to you know that first week of June so that we have that feedback for the meeting or we have the opportunity to to join in and watch it um so where would you move that I'm sorry where would you move that I guess just I mean that right now it's scheduled for the 16th or 17th but just move that up to oh the virtual reception yeah during that same week that the publishing candidates are out on the website you know between then and June 7th um because then we as council members have the opportunity to tune into that virtual reception and see those questions and answers um and then we don't need that update meeting I just don't understand what update we're supposed to be getting so that's what I'm hoping you can shine some light on okay um well the um I think that uh there's a lot of issues that we may have to resolve uh by then in terms of how we want to proceed it gives us the opportunity to take a a second look at the process uh in terms of of where we are further discussion okay can I ask a followup to that please so if if the intent of that meeting is to see if we're changing the process then how do we make sure that those who are applying and and and the residents were're talking about all this transparency why would we have a conversation where we might change the process in the middle of June I guess I'm just wor I just I don't understand why there's this filler meeting and and why that's there um because certainly we don't want to change the process on people after they've applied and after we've done the The Sentinel publication etc etc we certainly be discussing how we're going to conduct a virtual uh recep fairness in terms of rules about how to conduct the questions uh uh from uh coming in from residents I think that's fairly new so it gives us the opportunity to plan further discussion so but if we move the virtual reception up then none of that's relevant and could be done in a previous study session I guess I just don't understand why we're extending it out when we could just add that discussion to a prior study session so I'm just I understand further discussion mayor Dave grber Council grber yeah so one of the things that um was brought up earlier uh by council member Lawson and I agree with is the uh participation of of the incumbent I think at some point in time uh we're going to have to decide uh since we're we're picking a replacement and normally the replacement is picked in that 45 days following uh the departure of the incumbent so having I think what's really really unique in this case from what I understand is to have you know even even discuss having the incumbent participate in all of these different um these different events the incumbent has already announced resignation so I could see the an I could make an argument where the incumbent uh should not be working on the replacement otherwise we could wait until the incumbent actually leaves and then start the process when the incumbent actually leaves so that's that's what I'm struggling with right now further discussion mayor uh c b like to say that's what's been done in the past we waited until there was a vacancy and then we started this process um and you know I've never I've never seen this that we started while the council member is still here we've you know it's always been started after they left after the person left we've had a male and a female um leave and we didn't start until the vacancy but we had to get it done within the 45 days and that was always a challenge uh because we were crunched on time and that's where this is being so proactive to start it so soon and that's why I'm saying we can wait we don't have to start this early mayor um Council Johnson thank you I um cleared with the city attorney I know in some instance es it might have been two weeks other instances there was a death um it is it is appropriate for me to give notice to ensure that we to as a representation this is greater than 45 days I will not be interviewing the candidate I will not be voting on the candidate so I I don't think it should be a negative that I'm giving my colleagues and the community a chance to find my replacement and ensure that there's w i representation without a large gap so yes we have at large no we don't have any at large who live in W two um and I would hope that there'd be a courtesy because I'm giving that notice that um you know we're able to to fill that to ensure that we have Bo two representation so I'm absolutely opposed and I would hope my colleagues would be waiting till I leave and having that 45 day absence without word two having a direct representative further discussion I seeing none uh is there objection to the schedule yes further objection yes further objection yes further objection yes moodo further objection I seeing no further objection uh the schedule will yes yes yeah I just want to um to talk about just one more thing in terms of the objections I'm from City attorney is it also in that purview besides not voting on interviews and um replacement that I don't do a vote or objection on the schedule get that clear understood uh further objection uh seeing none then the schedule we'll move forward um mayor Dave Gruber C grber with the um support of of council I'd like to rejoin my family uh the funeral is tomorrow morning very well understand and my condolences thank you thank you um let's see uh mayor pretend we already did the consent calendar correct yes we did mayor uh so we would be on 3A mayor okay um uh item number 3A um Battalion Chief Matt Chapman uh mayor I'm sorry this is Katie before we move on I just want to make sure that council is um okay with the questions that will be on the application that we're going to be posting is there a object and you had you had those are in the packet that you sent out they're they're in the PowerPoint I have right here okay I'm trying to mayor we'll send those out there were nine questions and there were and there were the profile questions so if there aren't any objections to those n questions that are in those two PowerPoint slides we'll send us out right now to you uh and and the general profile questions will include that in the application is there objection I I don't have an objection I just have a question I just want a clarification that anything that's asked on the in the candidate packet you know when you run for election you have to answer a questionnaire I want all that on these on this application I'm sorry um myself clear maybe not clear is mud yeah in the candidate packet it asks us certain questions so I just want to make sure that those questions are transferred over to this application so that we have to Apples okay so I see let's see we've got we've got just a general information I see there are five questions on the sample questions on the application and then another four sample questions so that's what you're referring to am I correct Roberto that's correct okay any objection to those questions okay seeing none uh step can move forward with those questions um item number 3A comprehensive Energy Management uh plan bet chief M chman yep good evening we do have uh one item tonight and there's a short presentation on that if I have the ability to share my screen and we are bringing the updated really Emergency Operations plan but a new format and a new update to the comprehensive emergency management plan and we walk through it quickly I'll attempt to bring it up here is everybody able to uh to see the screen the PowerPoint that's it's in that could you full screen other format where we see you're presentation format there you go there that okay quickly like I said this is our update uh to the Emergency Management plan it's formerly the Emergency Operations plan so we have just redone this to provide a little more detail and put it in a different format somewhat some of it conceptual in nature but it is meant to be more comprehensive and more um complimentary of our other plans so really for for our discussion you know purpose of the plan overall is is a flexible framework for all hazards large scale emergencies and disasters uh intended to give a just a baseline of roles and responsibilities across the city again it's not to provide every single detail on how we'll respond to every single emergency large scale but to give us like I said a baseline on how we will operate and how we will structure across the city and set up for an emergency or disaster and finally compliance with local state and federal requirements and laws laws and authorities and also funding tied to it that we required to to have this plan in place starting local one of the requirements is our own in in the code under civil emergencies and this is just some language pull directly from our code that talks about where we are required to have a comprehensive disaster plan uh that's been our Emergency Operations plan that cont here like we said so this just just recover goes over the requirements uh recommendation of the city manager this comes out of Emergency Management that we're responsible for putting this together again for some of our federal requirements we're we're required to update it and bring it to council for adoption every three years and we covered this it's got all the information I believe when covid started last year we we sent the actual EOP that were under right now the Emergency Operations plan to Olive Council this will contain that information as well as additional detail this just has a list of the required items that have to be in our in our BAS base plan this concept is it's it's a practice some see as a best practice within Emergency Management doesn't take away from any jurisdiction that just sticks with an Emergency Operations plan this is just a way for us to approach a consistent planning process across the city and and all of our existing plans within Emergency Management this is what we broken it out into so we we referenced the Emergency Operations plan we have four parts to the comprehensive emergency management plan the base plan and roles and responsibilities are what you received in your backup that is those two parts are the the required adoption by Council and those two take the place of our Emergency Operations plan so that is essentially all that information goes into these those first two parts that's what we covered here the uh items that have to come to to council for approval part three and this is just really for information this is doesn't require approval but this is our Associated plan so the recovery plan that we' leaned on a little bit coming out of covid uh resource mobilization all these Contin operations plans we've talked about over the last year uh these Associated plans they're all tied together with our Emergency Operations plan and the simp overall so again we just wanted to to show how the planning is done together and they're all complimentary of each other and not contradictory to each other and this is what we're trying to do across the city as well so we know departments are going to need their own individual operational plans but we also want them to be planning with us Unity of effort where we're not contradicting each other within uh different plans across departments and part four is if you reference our existing Emergency Operations plan that's what's known as the annexes those are being transitioned to instant specific plans that provide just a little bit more detail a little bit more of a of a baseline of roles and responsibilities for some of these and that's winter storm is one of them that we do have Rewritten and these annexes will be replaced and Rewritten as we go here over the next year to two years where we'll address all of the the annexes and turn them into these these more detailed plans there just some examples here mass casualty Mass fatality tornado aircraft accident and and several other annexes that we that we do have again a short presentation just for just some context and any questions over any of that I know I covered it pretty quick uh questions comments um seeing none uh thank you thanks um item number 3B um L Dalton thank you mayor um so on March 18th the metro Denver homelessness initiative hosted a convening for the Mayors city council members and and County Commissioners and other elected officials across the southern County Metro denber region to discuss Regional coordination of homelessness um with that mdhi asked each community that took part in the regional convening to sign a pledge which states that the community is willing to participate in the regional Vision so with that we went through horns and it was decided to have a presentation from mdhi Dr Jamie R the director of communications and development and so I'm going to turn time over to Jamie thank you Elena can you hear me okay great I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen good evening everyone thank you so much for having me I appreciate the opportunity to be here on behalf of the metro Denver homeless initiative and the regional coordination happening so a little bit about the metro Denver homeless initiative just for those of you that aren't familiar with us um our mission is leading advancing collaboration to end homelessness in our region you can see that that we are the metro Denver Continuum ofare which means that we coordinate services in housing for people experiencing homelessness and then you can see there kind of what our region includes um obviously aora is part of that as well as some of the things that you might be familiar with that we do including the point in time overseeing the homeless management information system um which kind of tracks services and supports be related to homelessness across the region and throughout our state we overse the one home coordinated entry system which helps prioritize mat people to housing um participate in the HUD funding allocation process as well as um do a lot of data and Reporting specifically like things such as the state of homelessness report so a little bit of context for regional coordination and why now it's becomes such um a kind of a critical component I want to say that this isn't something that just happened recently this is really coordination that's been years in the making related to quite a few factors and part of that is the implementation of the homeless management information system so as I said earlier that's the way that we track um people's progress and their kind of their Journeys from homelessness into stability throughout the region Colorado is one of the few states in the country that has one homeless management information system throughout the entire State we're very proud of that um that is up now and functioning very well after about a three-year implementation process and we're getting to the point where we have good real-time data we have a coordinated entry system that's starting to really help prioritize and match people to housing as well as a lot of exciting local planning and progress that we're seeing in communities just like here in Aurora we've also seen a lot of public and elected will to coordinate regionally a lot of that has to do with Co and some of the inherent discrepancies and um challenges of people that are unhoused dealing with a Public Health crisis the other thing is we have a unique kind of opportunity right here in history we're going to be seeing a lot of federal funds fly into the region um into our state and how do we use those to really make an impact on homelessness long term so as Lana said on the 18th of March we had about uh three and a half hour convening including the Mayors County Commissioners City Council Members city managers um as well as HUD the US I partners and and um elected officials even from Congress and it was really about coordination of local planning at a regional level um with mdhi the continue of care using what's something called a buil for zero framework from a nonprofit partner called Community Solutions so built for zero is kind of the framework and the methodology from the nonprofit Community solutions that is being used nationally so what is built for zero and and how would it work in Regional coordination so built for zero is a movement of more than 80 communities proving that it is possible to measurably end homelessness one population at a time and I'll talk a a little bit more in depth about this but this is really about using data to drive decisions and using our resources efficiently um identifying find gaps in filling those dep those gaps at a local level as well as a regional level and it is working in other communities about 14 communities have gotten to a place where they're um they've ended veteran homelessness or they have ended chronic homelessness in their communities so how does it work so as I said they really use data to change their homeless response systems and the impact they can achieve local leaders like yourselves work together around a commitment to measurably end homelessness and we say when we say end homelessness that doesn't mean that no one will ever experience homelessness what we're saying is that we want to make it rare and brief in our communities and this really is fed by collaboration in realtime person specific data and so what cities have done has gotten to a point where they know everyone who experiencing homelessness and they can match them with the appropriate housing resources and so they're getting to this point called function of zero which is a milestone um that proves that communties have data driven coordinated systems and essentially that the number of people flowing into homelessness is less than the number of people that a community is able to house in a month and that's really how we Define uh functional zero or ending homelessness and I won't show it today but Community Solutions I've linked it there as well as at the end of the PowerPoint has a really great 4minute video describing built for zero and does a good job of kind of outlining this this methodology if you will so in the metro Denver region um we're going to be starting with veterans on this work and and really what we're doing is using Veterans as a proof point to show how we can make reductions in one population that's not to say that we're not working on other populations we're just focusing the energy of built for zero around making sure that we're kind of addressing the needs of veterans and the reason we do that is because veterans goes across and this is where belt for zero starts in many communities it goes across families there are families that are you know head of households are veterans there are youth there are individuals who are experiencing chronic homelessness that are veterans and so what that allows us to do is get a snapshot of of all the different subpopulations and figure out what our gaps are also currently we've made a lot of progress in the metro Denver region um we know all of our veterans by Name Across the region as well as we have a lot of support at the federal level for the housing of veterans so we have the ssvf program which is the Supportive Services for veterans and families um we have others that have contracted for um transitional housing we also are going to see a huge uptoke in the number of bash vouchers which are are um really that permanent supporting supportive housing vouchers um with the influx of additional Federal resources so kind of how this will look is that the structure you'll see there is there are nine sub regions of which Aurora is one and each of these sub regions will be setting up similarly to what we do with transportation in the region um homeless coordination teams technical advisory committees and sub Regional forums so the homeless coordination team is really going to be focused on the work that like Lana does in Aurora um she will be the community lead and kind of helping Drive what's happening on the provider side of things with a kind of a small group of providers that are focused on on veteran homelessness we're in the process of standing up sub Regional forms which will be comprised of elected officials um again similarly to what we do for transportation in the region and they will help appoint members to the technical advisory committee which will be mostly comprised of people like city managers County managers and other acques um as Lana shared earlier um really what um the region has done in many places and there's a list on the next slide is sign a pledge to coordinate locally on this built for zero framework um there's nothing related to um any sort of fiscal responsibility or anything like that it's really about coming to the table and helping us stand up that diagram that I just showed you and really kind of coordinating and and using V for zero as a methodology that um helps you get to Quality data so that each Community including Aurora can make data driven decisions um at the local and um for the regional level so here's kind of the Pledge I won't I won't read it to you um but it's really again about saying that we should address this together because it is a regional issue we want to coordinate with mdhi on the boat for zero and then helping pave the way for this workout a level and here are kind of the communities where officials have signed on to the pledge currently um and I want to stop there and make sure that we have plenty of time for questions question may mayor sorry thank you thank you for that presentation um I think it is important to have Regional you know discussions on uh on this issue of homelessness um I was looking at the website and one of the things that I know it's data driven where you you're able to know the populations of the numbers and I think actually um city aora does a really good job um I know that um Bob dheer has given me a lot of information on you know knowing who our homeless are and and obviously we have the subgroups as well um but when I was reading on the website one of the things that concerned is that it said something about not having not focusing on outcomes but on on knowing how many homeless we have but not on actual not measuring outcomes can you address that I'm not sure I'd have to read exactly what you're referring to yeah it wasting um if I could find it look up your website but it is said we we something about we focus on on data of knowing the number of homeless we are not focused on our result basically result oriented we're not um focused on outcomes of success of success was I think the the actual words I'll have to look into that mayor PM I'm not sure what exactly is beinged yeah sorry so my concern about that is um I think you know we've done a really good job in Aurora we have a lot of resources and we continue to build on those resources um but I'm very I think other council members are really concerned about measurable goals and outcomes and success measures because there's no point in having you know resources if we're not going to actually solve issues and have outcomes to measure so you know if we don't know that we helped you know 20 people find a job or we didn't we don't know that we got 20 people to get housed I think that's a problem and and I know Denver has spent you know what $500 million a year on homelessness and yet here we are we still have a huge problem so that was my concern I think I think the overall um you know goal is a good one yeah I I would love to read exactly what you're referring to I think the exact opposite is actually true like this is very much focused on outcomes to the point where it's outcome by person so it's not like we have this many people experiencing homelessness and we know we did this we know exactly who on that veteran buy name list we house where we house them their long-term goals what the gaps were like this is 100% data and output driven um to the like I said to the personal individual level to know exactly who we're housing and the goal overall regionally is to reduce veteran homelessness by 50% by the end of the year which is an absolutely possible goal and that is 100% output driven where we have our benchmarks along the way to get us from where we are to those outcomes okay well that's good to know I appreciate that very much and so you will be able to um for our veterans you would be able to know exactly where they were housed and how they're Bas we could get a report right from on on our veterans let me let me just say mayor pend that I'll be introducing our proposal very shortly that I worked with our veterans commission Adams County's veterans commission uh and the Adams County Commissioners uh on building a program that they had essentially for civilians but making it extending it to Veterans but being able to tap into all the federal resources that are available that were mentioned in the presentation and it it will it will you know be very outcome focused uh and so we're just working through the city attorney's office on the igas and as soon as it's done we'll bring that before Council all for helping our veterans so thank you CES mayor yeah so I think what you were talking about uh mayor proem it's in the community level measurement section on the website and it says that it's driven by the number of people experiencing homelessness not by program outcomes the best program is one that gets you closer to zero so that's just that specific programs correct me if I'm wrong Dr RI is um that it's not about the specific program it's about the overall not having people be homeless so yeah I think what's happens right now is we have fragmented programs thank you for that council member C by the way we have FR fragmented outcomes at different agencies but we don't have a kind of a 30,000 foot view of how those all play in together to make sure that we as a city or as a region or as a county are actually driving reductions so it's about not just one agency but about us being together kind of in this and looking at the outcomes of our communities overall okay further discussion questions mayor uh council member Gardner so question on um I guess the last page of the presentation The Pledge and there were three bullet points and specifically the third um the third item that talks about uh I commit to help Paving the way for this work to continue at the local level etc etc or helping remove barriers to the work and can you just talk a little bit more about what that means because as a policy maker what I read There is I'm going to turn over my policymaking power to another group it's outside of my scope on Council and I have to follow along with it or else this is going to get waved in my face at a later date yeah not at all um this is really about so and Lana feel free to jump in but one of the big things is in order to get to the the first point that's really about getting to Quality data and so like one of the barriers if you keep reading in that talks about specifically hmim hmis use which is really you know kind of like what our school district use for student information what we use for healthcare records but it's how we get a snapshot of data across the region so in other parts of of the region it might be you know encouraging nonprofits in your community who aren't using it currently to be using hmis but by no means in fact really all we want to do is come in and help give you the information so that you can make better policy decisions as a community but not drive policy decisions so I think the one thing that we recognize that every Community this a large region every Community is different um okay are there further questions comments May I'm sorry Johnston council member johnon thank you um Jamie spot on I just hope we're all really listening to what you're saying um you know as we go forward mayor I I really appreciate you working with the different veterans commissions and um our commissioners but I hope the point is also taken that this isn't just subject matter expertise of veterans issues but that um what Jamie is is talking about is that Collective impact like we've talked about with some of the violence issues that we have to look at evidence-based policy and work across the board on these different issues so thank you for the presentation all the information information and really looking forward to the implementation further discussion mayor questions um sorry um could you identify see everybody ccil member Mar you're you're not up your visual is not up okay SC gotcha thank you mayor um yeah Dr R I want to thank you for presenting before us I'm really excited about this um several of us have been clamoring for regional collaboration on this issue since it is something that does not recognize you know City boundaries or County boundaries um so I'm really excited to be a part of this I'm hopeful that we'll have support for it and I'm looking forward to hopefully finally getting everyone in the metro to put together their resources uh and you know backing data to from policy to actually get folks housed so thank you again further questions discussion B Council B thank you um I you know I I'm listening council member Johnston um I was listening at our housing meeting also and I think this is a great program you said it will not cost us any money you know um so um I I believe in collaborative work and Regional work but I have an issue with uh pledging to me that's like a marriage license and I am not ready to marry Aurora to uh another group um I I would approve this but not not pledge I will not pledge Aurora I take that very seriously and so I will not be supporting this but mayor I do look forward to your IGA uh coming up um it sounds like something that I could get behind thank you further discussion questions okay uh question sorry May PR so it's a resolution right and and but is there any way to change the word pledge that is what mdhi has listed it as and so that's how it is read in in the resolution um I would defer to Jamie if there was any ability to change that language is there a substitute that would be uh suggested for that support I I would be happy with support if you wanted to support the work I I don't know if other council members are okay with that or not further discussion uh seeing none uh is there objection uh to the pledge I object okay further objection mayor May well there was a um a suggestion okay uh please uh let's is it uh support support okay um is there objection question Council are you gonna are you gonna go back to all the other cities and change theirs I doubt it yeah I doubt it too so I honestly I think this is a moot point uh the word is pledge and they came to horns and they they came to the housing committee and they came here asking for pledge and I take pledging seriously I can't support it that's okay is there is there a further objection uh to changing um pledge to support I object mayor may I speak for a second just since I chair horns council member johnon um just because I want we we just talked about being Regional and it's it's something that all of our partners are saying that but we have to change some semantics I just that that takes away us being Regional and and having some consistency so I'd like to keep the word pledge as all the other cities have done I see this as aspirational I mean it is a goal uh it is non-binding from a legal standpoint but it is aspirational um the first um goal is Veterans and then it is to build um on that uh with other populations and so it is um it is a goal that's aspirational uh is there a further objection to substituting uh mayor prm's U um that's it's not a motion but I can I'm just gonna withdraw mine okay thank you okay is there is there objection to a further objection to pledge to to the resolution uh seeing none uh then we'll go forward with the resolution thank you um item number 3C uh spring supplemental 2021 um firston claspell good evening mayor good evening Council um before I start talking about the spring supplemental I would like to share with you um something that is not included in this supplemental um that's the decisions that you all made during the Spring Workshop we want to make sure that we heard everything right um so that we can take the appropriate steps to add the projects to the budget um as approved by Council um would you please share the slide Katie can you allow me to to share this is greay Cas yes one second great thank you it's Greg Hayes without a beard what happened Greg Hayes without a beard that's right God we're we went the G other Greg hags back I think well I'll go out and make that happen sir okay please proceed all right all right this is the one I want uh oh Frozen up again am I back can people hear me yeah I think it froze up a little bitar sure did first you may you may have to share let's see let's see if it'll my my computer's uh doing fun things here oh I have no network happened to me earlier sorry about that Katie can you can you give Kirsten access and I'll help her I can one second great mayor what while we're getting that up and running I do have one procedural ISS on this there actually there actually two ordinances in your packet the difference between them are actually two sentences uh under Section 1A and this is in regard to the supplemental piece which we're going to discuss in just a minute but it's it's to the public defender office there isn't a fiscal note on on the public defenders uh piece impacting the city attorney's office there is actually uh an equal pay for equal work issue of over $888,000 that being said uh the chair of management and finance council member Gardner has pointed out this is probably an inappropriate editorial comment in the in the ordinance so we're not going to use that ordinance wanted to let you know there is going to be a significant impact Financial impact that will be addressed in the 2022 City attorney budget but we will remove that ordinance from the pack okay thank you okay um okay kerson are are um are you ready to proceed Greg we're not up yet okay you know I'd like to do this right now I would like to uh since uh we're having technical troubles on 3C I want to uh without objection I would like to go to 3D and come back to 3C after 3D is there objection uh 3D um Brook Bell aora commission for seniors name change request good evening Council um my name is Joe sack I'll be reporting tonight I'm the Recreation services manager I'm here um tonight to request on behalf of the award commission for seniors and chair Jeanie Davis to change the name of the commission to the Aurora commission for older adult adults in an effort to combat agism to come to this decision the commission had done a lot of research and here's what they've discovered words matter the words we use to describe and label older members of society reflect our vision of their capabilities and as well as their contributions the descriptors which which we identify ourselves says a lot about all of us the neutral sounding term seniors is on the decline globally I'm sorry I didn't turn on my video excuse me and then also a recent report from CNN indicated that 51% of older adults surveyed said they were not comfortable with that term by renaming the commission is the beginning of recognizing that the words we use matter how older adults are perceived as it relates to our willingness and our desire to change the narrative the the commission and staff request that city council supports the name change to expand the awareness and understanding of Aging by approving the ordinance at the next city council meeting I can answer any questions uh questions of Staff mayor um council member johnon I don't have any questions but yay chair Davis I know she's been working on this for so long and we've had conversations about it and I am just thrilled um um council member kums I know that you're you're part of boards and commissions and and we've had these discussions but I'm I'm just thrilled words do matter and and Sher Davis has been working a long time to see this happen so I don't know if if if we can a point a privilege just give her any words I I know she's on but I do want to recognize those efforts because she's she's really great and I'm happy to see this happening further discussion seeing none is there any objections council member CS I just wanted to acknowledge that request from council member Johnston that we hear from uh chair Davis she gave a really wonderful and impassioned presentation at our um commiss at our committee and um I did ask her to come to session and actually speak okay chair Davis would you like to say a few words I'm not sure that uh mayor I'm not sure that Genie was able to join us tonight okay well I just wanna uh thank Cher Davis for her uh for her hard work and something that I think is very important uh I think titles and and names of organizations matter and and I think changing the name is highly appropriate is there any objection to the name change seeing none uh that will be the direction thank you very much um are we back uh on 3C yet I I think we are sir okay I think my uh technical issues are are done it probably had to do with me shaving so I think it had everything to do right so yeah thank you very much for allowing me to share let's try this one more time all right yeah does everybody see my spring Workshop double check and do I need to change my display setting yes swap your display Greg swap the display you got it all right and there you go and then I will uh give this over to uh Kiren uh great so this is what we heard at the spring Workshop uh the first item is $600,000 one time for Chase drain funding this was a 2021 budget request that was not funded because of pandemic related budget reductions uh this item was discussed at the workshop before Council started approving or earmarking requests so our question uh for you tonight is is how would you like to handle this um would you like to vote on it your mark the funds um what would you like to do with item number one uh discussion mayor um well let's say um I'm sorry uh council member Mario who is this mayor ptim mayor ptim I'm sorry oh that's okay your photo is not up and that's why I have a hard time I'm right here oh you can't see me it moves sometimes I I obviously am in um you know would like to have number one approved as it was already addressed um was not able to be in the last budget due to covid you know I tell you what let me do it this way is there any objection to uh any of the items 1 through S7 since we had a discuss we had a uh we certainly discussed these uh during um the win the workshop spring Workshop objection I have a question uh council member gner do we have someone here from Public Works that can speak a little bit more to number one um and I and I don't to clarify I don't um deny I guess that it's an issue my concern is the spending $600,000 for 100 households um okay very good point and so you know I'll just share um I spoke to a homeowner in Inspiration neighborhood that did the work the repairs themselves for less than $500 and so I'm just curious a little bit um kind of how we got to what's basically $6,000 per household uh staff y sure um Mar and city council Cindy call here Public Works director um that a few years ago we were getting a lot of complaints in BO about the dra issues many of those homeowners were going out on their own to contractor to come in and install the for them and it was approaching between 8 and $10,000 at the time because they were a limited number it was one location at a time so the contractors doing the work in Mobile and leaving so it was very cost Pro prohibitive we did a pilot program late 29 2020 sure that the chase drains were actually effect at helping to minimize some of the um issues the homeowner um we have found as long as they're properly maintained by the homeowners they are effective and so the current list of requests is about 150 homes which would be for that um $600,000 okay so I guess my question is um could this be could we design it differently um you know one idea or one thought I had several years ago um this is probably 10 plus years ago the city had a a bucket of money to pay towards uh homeowners installing radon mitigation and essentially how it worked was the city would reimburse the cost of the homeowner up to a certain dollar amount and so of course the homeowner had incentive to have the work done for as cheap as possible um and so you know I'm curious could could we design the program like that because we might find that there's a lot of homeowners that that could live with it otherwise I'm concerned that we're setting the precedent of of essentially a bottomless pit of homeowners across aora who are going to say well I want my drain installed because I have drainage issues as well and I'm not sure the line where it becomes the city's responsibility I guess that's my concern um further discussion Cindy can you respond yeah oh yes sorry um so we can certainly work with Greg and and others to look at that as a potential option the challenge right now might be getting we get a better rate when there's more working through those is challenging I would also note that um for all new civil plan approv forward we are actually ask you're freezing upop put them in as and that's part of the okay cdy please could you go over that again I'm sorry you were coming in broken mayor folk is less expensive okay yeah okay am I still breaking up no you're better now thank you uh further questions on number one discussion mayor let's see um council member Johnson I I have concerns with this I'm I'm sympathetic to the issues but um you know I've said with other programs that in these times we have to be more lean of really focusing on our core resp responsibilities I had someone in Cross Creek who had drainage issues and um I you know going to what Cur um council member Gardner said you know then are we GNA open that up to all all Wards with a similar issue um you know for a hundred people $600,000 during this time when we're I mean I know we're a little better than we projected I I'm I'm feeling uncomfortable on on that amount and the impact again I'm sympathetic to those issues but it's it's giving me giving me heartburn with that cost and and that amount of people given given the budget Cindy is there any um is there any liability on behalf of the city in terms of the the that we were engaged in the approval process um um for the the drainage um it is normal to expect some drainage across walks it's it's a function also of living in Colorado um I don't believe that we're in any um situation with that the designers that actually did the design use their professional engineer stamps on the plans and they are the ones that would have more of the liability further discussion uh mayor and then k m Gardner I just want to say that I understand the concerns that we don't want to set a precedent I I agree um this is a this is different topography um in the Southeast with um the the hills and the drainage going differently and the different Lots being not just one next to each other but you know just different configuration but I want to say this has been a this started got two maybe three years ago I didn't can't even keep track anymore this started with some complaints um I got so many complaints that I called a public meeting and I had Public Works water you know all of our Engineers there and we had um we had people show up at this meeting at that time we explained some of the things that they might be able to do to resolve it we we you know we had a whole presentation people were so upset and and talked about the fact that you know they felt that it was uh our code was wrong and that um the developers were probably at fault but then the city was saying we couldn't hold the developers responsible because it was beyond warranty or whatever um we did change as a result we did change part of the code so no part our code C no longer requires tree Lawns which was causing part of the problem so as new developments happening developers don't have to put in the tree Lawns um once that meeting was concluded that led to the the actual inspections of of our Public Works people going out to the homes inspecting them and that created a whole list of these people that that that our city staff Personnel said yes there's an issue yes we think a Chase drain is going to solve your problem and we're going to do a pilot program then we ended up doing this pilot program for I don't know a dozen homes those homes got the chase drains put in um at the city cost and then it was found to be very effective there are two letters that went out to homeowners plus a multitude of emails and so my my own I don't care if we want to do this for for those residents um but it it looks to me it's not in good faith because um and and maybe we should probably not be doing it going forward but in good faith we told those people that we would try to come up with a solution they were getting quoted eight to $10,000 per Chase drain by contractors and they couldn't even get them lined up because they didn't want to do one house at a time so the city said well we can get a bulk rate and then you know we would have a contract it would be easier to do all those homes that way than each homeowner trying to do it so there are two letters that went out that give the impression that we were going to do this but we couldn't do it because we didn't have the funds because of covid so we didn't have it in last year's budget that's all further discussion C so two things one and it's kind of a followup to both what the mayor said and what mayor proen Bergen said um do we from this so there there's a letter that went to these 100 or 150 homeowners whatever the number is um did we make a commitment to these homeowners that we would repair this because if we did that's kind of a different um I mean that's essentially liability if we've made a commitment in writing to these homeowners that we would repair this then I I think we have to to do that so that's kind of a different conversation so this is Cindy again and I'll review the letter again I apologize I didn't but um it was a we will try to find funding to make these improvements or repairs that's how I remember I can look for that okay so I mean essentially that's how a homeowner is probably going to interpret it that you're going to make this repair for me so then I guess I I'm G to go back to what I said at the beginning I mean what about doing it as some type of Grant reimbursement program I mean we can set aside the money but then those homeowners they get the repairs done at their cost up to a certain point and then we reimburse them the cost I would lay you odds uh they're going to be able to get it done for less than $6,000 a home just an idea um did you want staff response to that uh May if staff would like response I mean that a grant program sounds fine I I and maybe Cindy could um talk about this but the problem was they were getting quoted outrageous amounts and they could not even get they were like oh we can do it next year um they couldn't get on schedule because these contractors did not want to do homeowner residential um Chase drains and so the city thought it would be better to do it as a you know bulk rate basically okay um counc momes so if I'm not mistaken all of these folks are within a Metro District so could this be something where the Metro District does that coordinating and then we do the reimbursement through a grant um rather than um us having staff do all the coordinating and Contracting and that way it solves that bulk rate and like Collective project issue just an idea oh May yeah I mean that's a good idea but I think I don't think a Metro District is going to want to take it on um we can try Okay uh further discussion I'm sorry Johnston with Johnson I still I have spent hours with constituents that have issues of I mean Cindy Cola brought this up you know topography and North Side sidewalks and things like that that were signed off by developers teams and then they want to come to the city and the city's like No And and I just I'm having I'm having some problems I don't know if I definitely believe that if this was like in every war that that this would would happen and $600,000 I just I I I don't think with with all the time that I have spent and I've had to say sorry folks sorry folks I do that all the time and but no but if you just don't live on the right side of town for this being organized to to happen and I just I I I don't think it's it's fair for the hundred people for the $600,000 price tag for us to be doing this mayor uh May uh and I understand what you're saying I get all that it's just that this was all set in motion with the meetings the emails I mean there were meetings at the public at the city building with some of the the you know people that were kind of organizing this as well as the the letters um you I I don't know if we if we don't um I I just think it's really in bad faith and and I I don't know what to say to these residents that think they're getting a Chase drain so you know further discussion mayor uh Council Gardner so just for comparison sake um the city of City and County of Broomfield has a um page on their website for residents that have a similar issue and on their website it says recent Prices range from $500 to $1,000 for a 4in sidewalk Chase Trin and $1,000 to $1,500 for the standard 12in sidewalk Chase Trin so that's nowhere near in the ballpark of the $6,000 that we're talking about now I'm assuming some of the costs that the contractor quoted um have to do with the fact that we would require permitting and I I don't know if there're sketch is and I I don't know what all is involved in our permitting process but perhaps if if we're acknowledging that we miss the boat on um maybe allowing this design to happen maybe we we wave that permitting process or come up with something and be a little bit more flexible because um you know I've worked with plenty of contractors in in my time and the cost of Permitting is typically built into it so I would guess based on just what I'm reading here a large portion of the cost is is permitting further discussion uh mayor ptim yeah and that might be the case um council member uh Gardner about the permitting I I don't know how much that impacts it um I just know that residents were getting and maybe you know they look at the zip code and they charged three times as much I don't know there was an issue with some um some residents were trying to put in their own Chase drain and that was not approved by code I believe um um and I just want to say you know we it sounds like a lot of money and it is a lot of money we spend um you know millions of dollars on homeless programs on all kinds of other um programs and it's expensive but it's it's not it's not outrageous in comparison to a lot of things that we spend money on uh Council M Johnson thank you I I just want to go back to the commitment I read the letters I don't feel like it was like a commitment was made and covid changes things before covid I had um and actually council member berin and I worked um together and she supported it we had the the study we were G the city was going to do on the public defenders case load the city attorney's case Lo their municipal courts I think it was up to $80,000 and when we had to tighten up that was we weren't able to follow through and I understood because we've made other progress with other Criminal Justice Reform but you know that I I would think that would have more of an impact than aund 100 people but we've had to tighten some things up and and pivot and change and I just I go back to I you know I I feel for for these folks but I've had so many constituent issues with similar similar things and I think it's on the developer we there was there was something you know the stamp from the whoever they hired of approval that that Cindy cup said you know that wasn't the city so we're just in a a precedent here that I'm I'm feeling very very uncomfortable with further discussion mayor mayor P just real quick on you know we that the reason that it wasn't able to be funded was because of covid because we thought we were going to have a $30 million a year deficit in fact we actually ended up doing better than than than we than the year before before so there's not an issue of not having money there's you know we we were able to meet our projections on sales taxes so how do you tell the people now well we didn't have the money during Co we have plenty of money now we're like giving it out left and right on all kinds of projects but you don't get what you thought you were going to get Mayor F further discussion mayor Hils council member Hils um I'm just wondering maybe I missed it but why isn't the developer paying for this if it's their if it's their building and it's their construction and it's their their area why aren't they fixing this um because I know they have fixed similar issues with drainage in the past um and I believe this is the same Builder that was brought into the news for uh you know investigative journalism on stting responsibility for um not having some of these same issues and so I'm just curious why this isn't being paid for by the developer so council member hilts this is Cindy again and moving forward with the um upcoming any civil Plan reviews it will be part of the developers responsibility as part of their civil plan approval um we just ran into some areas in this Southeast Aurora where um we have a couple things going on there's a lot of pumps that run continuously which is a little unexpected and so I think we're dealing with that issue and also the way the tree lawn is configured next to the um to the roadway between the roadway and the sidewalk it can sometimes create a damning situation um and so to counsil member Bergen's Point um planning is allowing a different type of treatment in the treeon it doesn't need to be S anymore it can be more Zer escape and so working through those issues to help mitigate that but moving forward um most of this will be on the developers moving forward okay further discussion um is there objection to um number moving number one forward I object I'm sorry who is that John okay member Johnson further objections Lon council member Lawson further objections Hils council member hilts further objections PS Ms further objections M further objections okay um it number one will not move forward mayor uh council member I'm sorry mayor Pon so I hope that the six members that objected to this will please um explain to those homeowners that they will not be getting the chase drains very well uh item number two restor restorative justice RFP um so there's no actually sir we we we haven't actually gotten to the spring supplemental if there's anything you we we don't actually have to do a presentation um but if you did if anybody did have any questions specifically about the spring supplemental this was just making sure that we understood the workshop I'm sorry but don't you need is in this WEA or not it's going to move forward um but I'm not clear oh yeah I'm sorry you've you've given us the uh the information about the items from the from the spring Workshop but we have the spring supplemental uh which which uh kirom was going to uh to bring up and if anybody had any questions specifically about the spring supplemental this is just a slide to make sure that we understood what was going on with the workshop okay well that that wasn't clear okay so we're not voting on The Others uh there was no okay um this was really not clear gr um so what you're saying is is um you just that was just for information the the only item that you that wasn't voted on was that number one the chase TR everything else was voted on on that sat and approved and and either approved or earmarked or not earmarked okay okay so but the the direction of staff is the number one will not move forward correct yep we've heard that okay uh okay um to the ordinance then where we at Spring supplemental uh would you like me to give you a summary of the spring supplemental uh please so the the spring supplemental impacts both the 2020 and the 2021 budget years uh 2020 supplementals are activities that have already occurred the most significant items are the cares Act appropriation of $34 million in the gifts and Grant fund and water rights Acquisitions of $30 million in the water fund most 2021 supplementals are Technical and include several PCN movements and reorgs uh in addition a net 11 FTE are requested to be added to the budget uh this includes six FTE for the Youth violence prevention program which is funded entirely by the new 1% marijuana sales tax rate the six are broken down into one program manager and five Outreach Specialists uh the supplemental also includes the addition of two FTE in it in the general fund one Business Solutions architect to address remote working needs and the conversion of a contingent project coordinator to an FTE uh the net impact on the general fund um for these FTE is about $38,000 uh and that's because it the IT department has provided an offset for for the majority of the cost of bfts the supplemental also includes four Aurora Water FTE in the water fund one water conservation specialist to continue to provide low water use Landscapes at no cost to income qualified homeowners one Water Resources specialist in in response to the increasing need for water rights Acquisitions and two treatment technicians to address the need for entry level operators and uh Department Representatives are available to answer your questions uh questions mayor uh Council Gardner so I want to talk a little bit about um the city and City attorney alluded to this at the beginning um there are two different versions of the uh spring supplemental in here one was the version that um was approved at I believe it was our March um uh management Finance meeting and then one was the version um that I I think the City attorney had had some comments added in in regards to um the supplemental request from the public defender office and I just wanted to um kind of briefly introduce that and then see if Diana gardana is on the phone um to talk a little bit about the equal pay for equal work act because um you know there's a um basically a contention being made that the city's in violation of the equal pay for equal work act but I think there's um you know several key points as to why that actually isn't the case and you know I think I have a concern with you know a highlevel city employee um making those comments that that as far as the information I've been given from our HR department are unfounded and so um I wanted to see if Di's on the phone if she could briefly talk um about the equal pay for equal work act and just describe what that is kind of for the benefit of the other council members who aren't aware and and for any public that's listening so this is Diana Jordon with the human resources department and I can provide just a quick overview of kind of the equal payer equal work act so you may be familiar with the Colorado uh General Assembly passing the equal pay for equal work act which took effect January 1 of 2021 the ACT is very prescriptive that provides a number of criteria that would prohibit wage rate discrimination or disparities in pay for gender or race as a secondary uh reason and so the human resources department has worked and will continue to work collectively to make sure that there are no violations of the equal pay for equal work I do want to talk about some of the changes to the ACT and kind of then talk about specifically the public defender things that have um are part of the equal pay for equal work or it prohibits employers from seeking salary history from job applicants it requires employers to post internal job openings and then more specifically list the pay ranges as well well as the hiring ranges for jobs there's exceptions to pay disparity so things that are acceptable for maybe some wage differences either between various uh individuals of a different gender or of A different race and it's things like a seniority system as well as Merit systems systems that measure quantity or quality so performance-based uh related pay differences the geographic location and then education training and experience related to the position in question and then travel if necessary to the job so as part of this process the things that the human resources department is looking at is market analysis for various jobs I want to share that we've conducted market analysis in 2019 for the public defenders office and pay changes have result as a as a review of that uh classification we put the classification review on hold um during 2020 because of covid and then since Revisited the issue there's been change to pay for that particular classification in part because the City and County of Denver intentionally established pay parody between their criminal prosecution uh division as well as their public defender office and so that market data was made available to us I do want to go back to speak to the ordinance and kind of the reference to uh there may be a potential violation to equal pay for equal work the city has no information to support that you know I take the role of the HR Director very a serious iously not only as being responsible for the Personnel in the pay for employees but even also as a minority female employee myself and so I just want to make sure that we don't have any information that we're creating any issue or compliance issue for the city we're working very diligently to make sure we're doing market analysis and to make sure there are no violations going forward questions mayor um Council Council Johnson thank you mayor and and thank you um council member Gardner and and Dan I know that our City attorney said that he was going to withdraw those comments um or request but this is still very concerning to me um you know when you put something out there uh I'm glad that our human resour sources director is addressing it but you know for the City attorney that's you know you we we have a responsibility um and and you know we need to to look for legal advice or um you know different guidance that that we know is follows through with with um the the procedures and policies that our HR Director just put forward so it's it's concerning to me but I I appreciate um council member Gardner digging deeper into it and and thank you Dana you are topnotch very professional we know that you use facts and and um your due diligence always when getting this information so thank you further discussion um uh Council aromes so I just want to clarify are we saying that we're not going to appropriate the funds for pay parity between the public defenders and the City attorney or are we just talking about language that was used so in The Proposal in the supplemental packet um we are establishing closer pay parity between the public defender office and the criminal prosecution and I believe the um city attorney's position is there needs to be a variance and that's not the data that we have at this time to support that so public defenders is getting wage increases as part of the supplemental process thank you further discussion and if I could mayor I I want to make very clear right now we are we're fine under equal pay for equal work there is going to be an increase in Pay there are and this relates to one position it is the public defender position in Denver the the change that was made in Denver that position equates to a prosecution manager so and then we have two managers above that our litigation manager as well as our legal operations manager so those are above that so when we move one up these are these are equal positions actually our prosecution manager has more responsibilities they handle more cases they supervise more people that's an equal position that's what Denver recognizes in theirs so what I'm saying is that when we do this in the city attorney's budget will increase in 2022 to reflect the equal pay that these positions are going to need for these female managers to match the male public defender in these positions that that that that makes them equal for and doesn't create a disparity based on vendors so and again if looking at experience of these people these people have been with the city for longer terms than our than our public public defender that that across the board they do not only equal but more work than the public defender and and the pay that we're doing has to reflect that and and it's it's unfair to these women not to have that be equal now we're not there right now and we're actually working with HR our goals are the same as HR we're going through this entire process with HR we've submitted that a month ago to HR and and to Jim on on saying here are positions here's this issue they've been they've been working on that issue we haven't heard anything back that the position we've taken that these POS that these women's salary should be increased we haven't heard anything back from HR disputing that in any way shape or form so in the future these are going to increase what what I'm trying to make sure is when when we walk into the 2022 budget Council understands that there is a substantial increase we we're just giving you a heads up the 2022 budgets coming and we're going to be standing before you and we we just want to make sure that all of our employees are getting paid Fair okay I got thank you um Dan what you just said kind of sounds more to me like a workload matter as opposed to a technical expertise matter so is this increase that you're forecasting going to be for additional full-time employees or is it just going to be for pay but maintaining a high workload perhaps too high of a workload for individual people who are already in the department and this is just equaling out the salaries for our current employees are are we going to look at workload and is there a workload issue absolutely but but this is just equaling out the salaries and it's part of the overall HR process remember when you do if this was done across the board at the same time we would be looking at these salaries to make sure that they equate that's part of the process in the marketing process is when you do a market study is you look across the board at all of these positions to make sure that everybody's being adjusted correctly and not leaving somebody behind May F further discussion um May HS HS thank you um I I just have some concerns about this even being a topic of conversation because I think there's probably other departments that will likely show disparities as well and those departments aren't being given the opportunity to make a pitch to the full Council um in the same way that the attorney's office is getting to make because they happen to be the ones that do the legal Drafting and so I'm just not comfortable with the use of of this to have that conversation because I'm willing to bet there's some other department heads that would like to advocate for um some potential pay disparities within their departments which is why we're doing the study to begin with um so I'm just sharing my discomfort with this way of going about it for further discussion mayor council Gardner so I want to clear up a few things um first the and this is really just restating what's already been said um by our HR Director but the equal pay for equal work act does not say that two individuals of different genders have to be paid the same amount it says you cannot pay them differently because their genders are different um but you can pay them differently for things like experience education training there's a whole host of reasons for why um two individuals could make um a different amount of money even if they're in the same position and their genders are different um but that being said I think I don't agree that there is a comparison in our public defender which reports directly to uh a commission as there is to a client group manager that has several layers above them in the um in the uh um uh organizational chart within our city attorney's office so I don't agree necessarily that um a pay increase in one area necessarily equals the pay increase that the City attorney is is referring to further discussion mayor C Johnson so I I spoke after our HR Director spoke but I I'm still concerned that we had our City attorney counter the professional opinion with facts and and a process of what our human Resources Director says and it's also it it's bad for the city that if you know H director said that's not true and now we're going to have this out there that there's these pay in inequities where it's not where it's not happening in this situation our HR Director has said that and she takes it professionally and personally and then we have the City attorney just say the opposite of that that's that's very concerning to me further discussion um is there objection does this require action City attorney does require action no no that was not part of the uh part of the the supplemental as is so okay I see correct um to the supplemental 2021 spring supplemental further discussion uh is there objection seeing n item number 3C we'll move forward we did item number 3D we are now at item number 3E propos revisions to the city council rules good evening mayor and Council um I tonight we have the council rules um just as sort of a summary these are the rule changes that were proposed last year um we're bringing them back forward after a recent conversation with the rules committee they decided to bring the items except for basically the O the change to the oath of office forward for your review and discussion um or further review and discussion and um the other items will come back through rules committee so they decided to kind of punk off sections as we go with some of the easier revisions um and and bring this forward over multiple steud sessions uh very well questions discussions uh seeing none uh thank you very much for that information thank you um there's no no action at this time I'm sorry go ahead sorry it's just would you like to move it forward to the regular meeting next week okay is there objection to moving it forward I seeing that item number threee we'll move forward item number 3F uh employee handbook uh 2021 resolution yep so this is Deana gardano HR director of the city of Aurora and Katie if I could could I share my screen please what I'll be presenting to you are is information that's found in your packet um on 210 through 298 so give me one second can you see my screen yep okay perfect so as you heard earlier today from one of the committee meetings in Pros um was that words matter and we believe the same thing and what you have before you today is the employee handbook and some revisions that are being proposed and that were being considered by the city manager the human resources department and partnership with the city attorney's office as well as the finance department has spent the last year revie reviewing the 2018 employee manual and what you have attached in your uh packet is information relating to changes some of the content that we focused on was looking at compliance with federal and state labor laws as well as just making the content easier to understand for individual uh contributors at every parts of the organization what you'll also see is just some summary and I'll go through as a summary of significant changes but I wanted to share with you before bringing this forward to um Council in the study session is that we presented it to the management team and so all of the directors the Chiefs uh department heads throughout the city to allow them opportunity to evaluate the information that was being considered for change we also presented this to the city attorney's office uh we included local 1290 as well as the Fraternal Order of Police to provide them with information and allow them to weigh in uh on considerations or of the changes we presented this to the public defender office as well as uh Dr Deo the court administrator and judge day for consideration as well in December we provided this to the MF uh all of the changes along with the summary of changes and now we're here at the council study session and the timing of activities actually gave us an opportunity to also make amendments that reflect the equal payer equal work act as well as Colorado's latest healthy families and workplace act which reflects leave sick leave utilization as well as pandemic leave and so all of that has been included Ed in the new revised uh and proposed 2021 employee handbook as the city manager establishes rules on management and Personnel for employees this does require the city code does require notice to council so this is the first step in fulfilling that requirement and so just kind of a summary of some of those changes that we are providing and I don't know did I lose my screen some of the changes that we are providing um we looked at removing pronouns and so you we replace pronouns with employees or they we also added kind of just a welcome from the city manager we included a preface that talks about the notice and disclaimer so the individuals didn't have um an interpretation that this was a contract for employment we added the applicability and approval section by the council appointees towards the end made it in a more userfriendly format that's more of a chart based that they could and employees at a glance could identify whether or not the section of the employee handbook applied to them we looked at placing stronger emphasis on the Equal Opportunity statement because individual in contributors can make decisions or actions that would violate you know the culture that we're trying to create in the city we updated the protective classes to align with State definitions which include pregnancy and gender identity where the previous handbook stood silent on those we clarified language around harassment and anti-harassment as well as the chronological order for investigating and responding to those concerns we added a new policy on a Comm ation for for nursing mothers were none existed before we did look at the investigations and the reports and and corresponded that to Kora uh so that individuals that to protect kind of the client attorney privilege and also to create an environment where individuals felt comfortable sharing facts and observations that they've made relating to eeo harassment or sexual harassment type complaints we added a more thorough section on employee conduct which talks about covers different items even things relating to things as simple as time and attendance but even abandonment of position failure to call in workplace inspections electronic records official use of the badge making sure that those were you know limited to employment activities we retitled relatives in the workplace to nepotism which is more a commonly used term and then we added just kind of worth clo clothing standards so where were uniformed employees or just the professional presence in the workplace as it relates to ethics Professional Standards and conflict of interests we expanded um some of those uh content in that area political activity was expanded to include anti- lobbying which came up earlier in 2019 with Council we also corresponded with Colorado Constitution as it relates to ethics and covered content relating to outside employment prior employment and post-employment to ensure that employees weren't um creating situations that would compromise the trust of our citizens we also expanded confidentiality so that even um post employment anything that was gained as part of city employment that that was not communicated or shared shared with unauthorized persons we looked at a complaint process and enforcement for ethics the disciplinary section it was more um Clarity around just some of the content and language it applied to our regular employees and that wasn't clearly defined we retitled just cause to prohibited conduct which just applies to everyone we let at um failure to disclose arrest which wasn't a requirement so if there's any type of arrest or conviction that affects the job um we want to know about those so that we don't create any extended liability or cause concern for the residents that we serve and then addressed kind of the possession of a weapon we limited the use of fines so um historically the city had used disciplinary fin similar to suspensions so suspensions is the preferred method we identified that medical separations were not punitive and therefore not app not appealable and then created some safeguards in relating to guidelines um not strictly adhered to by supervisors uh where individuals may be acting on behalf of the city and just made provided some clarity in the employee handbook we also provide some clarifying language around appeals for introductory and trial periods so these are periods where employees are new to the organization previously they were prohibited from applying for promotional opportunities we allowed some flexibility where people might be better suited for a different job but it does require that those uh periods start start a new promotion we aligned with the equal pay for equal work so jobs cannot be you cannot uh extend a job offer without making that known to employee so that language is found in the new version the current uh core for performance evaluation program is also um some clarity around a nonse secutive uh midyear below ratings or unsuccessful performance evaluations we clarified performance Improvement plans are not typically used in introductory periods those six- month evaluation periods but they are used for the regular employees anytime somebody Falls below it's a requirement so that individuals know what's expected and what their plan is to improve and sustain acceptable performance career progressions also kind of just aligning with the six-month trial service period is is that being a requirement before career progressions could be pursued we clarified language around the drug and alcohol-free workplace and we have a BPM a business policy memorandum that will accompany the employee manual uh when it's rolled out we identified under fit for Duty just the Americans with Disabilities Act so individuals that have a physical inability to perform their job that they could pursue accommodations under Ada we clarified reduction in force specifically for usera there's some military Provisions that allow uh years of service credited service to be acknowledged and that was aligned as well and then some pay issues and it was more practice to align with um what was uh recorded in written form and so detail assignments special pay as well as recruitments were all um aligned to better reflect practice there's a number of policies that govern benefits and leave and payroll Administration that you don't typically find in a handbook so those will be um removed in and become part of a business policy memorandum and then there's other leave um that are defined in the policy book things like administrative leave annual leave personal leave sick leave and all of it was just really alignment or compliance with the new healthy families and workplace act um items relating to Holiday we clarified kind of that before or after a holiday that might create issue for employes if they call out the Civil leave um relating to kind of jury duty we aligned with usera it didn't have a cap and so there was some recent uh litigation relating to usera being uh consistent with other typical benefit leaves like civil leave or jury duty if you will and so we had some alignment there we removed the 12-month eligibility requirement for situ for situations or individuals that are dealing with domestically we don't want our employees to have to deal with those and feel like their jobs impacted there is some clarity again around emergency jury duty or civil leave and then usera so we kind of aligned all of those different programs to um have a consistent application employee medical leave was language content that was clarified uh in the past in leave situations whether they were job related or non-job related we treated um very similarly this provides a little more flexibility for the organizations and this was kind of an ask from our employees and our Workforce as well as our Union Partnerships Family and Medical Leave is a significant change we're looking at rolling from a calendar year to a rolling 12 months um that's best practice and then just Clarity around injury leave and leave without pay military leave to align with you sah some language Clarity around Safety Shoe allowance and then just some glossery enhancements for individuals that are utilizing that to understand um different terms that are used in in the city so that's a quick overview are there any questions for me uh questions mayor can I just ask a question to D Council Lawson um Dan I just wanted to get clarification on something that you said so if someone is starting to work on at the city on a probation and of course they're on a probation period I just wanted to clarify and I that if you see that they could go into another position within that probation period they would have to start the probation period over again yes so typically why is that if they're kind of if you're promoting them to something else um why would they need to start the probation period if they've got the job and you see fit that they're starting in another position and they have to start the probation period be kind of reactive and start from day one again it it is but one of the considerations prior to this modification was that they weren't allowed to compete for any promotional opportunity until they completed the introductory period and so the introductory period while it's 6 months and it seems like it's long half a year that time goes by really fast and to see if someone's going to be successful that they have the right resources to be able to do the job that six month time is really critical so by removing the ability to allow them to promote and compete for different opportunities we thought that would be kind of a good accommodation is to start that introductory period in you okay thank you for that explanation absolutely further uh discussion questions uh seeing none thank you very much for the presentation okay and then just the the question for Council is if we if we can get approval to forward the employee handb but to a regular council meeting is there objection I seeing none uh it won't move forward um item number 3G 2021 aclc heavy Fleet program financing ordinance Andrew Jameson yes good evening um I'm here to present the um annual Fleet financing ordinance uh for a set of heavy fleet vehicles primarily uh fire trucks and Equipment as well as some uh dump trucks for the um public works department um it's generally well received um in a private placement transaction um where it's a put out the RFP for uh several Banks um and we get a very solid and competitive rates on it very close to rates of the US Treasury um this year's transaction is a not to exceed amount of $10 million and the equipment listing is is close to that number uh with an interest rate of of not to exceed 5% although we um expect things to uh Rat to come in uh much lower than that um and the the question for the council is is to move this forward to regular meeting uh discussion I see none as your objection uh to moving um item number U 3 G forward I seeing none item number 3G will move forward thank you thank you uh item number 3 H housing and homeless uh homelessness Services uh covid funding update mayor and C this is Jessica prer director of Housing and Community Services I'm just going to take a moment to share my screen okay so this evening this is an update around some of the things that have been happening with the covid funding um many that you all are aware of over the past um 14 months or so and really this is a look ahead this is a this is an informational only piece but we are looking for some feedback many of these ideas to continue using um some of the covid funding will require some lead time associated with those and so some of the dollars that we have already received have some restrictions on them um and we're obviously going to be uh seeing more dollars coming so we'll kind of provide some current status and then go through a set of suggestions these are suggestions um these are projects that could be funded um with some of the stimulus dollars and so we're really looking um for Council to just PR provide some general feedback about which of those might be uh you know most beneficial for the community um and be interesting for uh staff to sort of pursue further so what we know now um is that there's additional dollars coming we've obviously um received a little over $10 million in some of our HUD funds already um we've gone through the cares funding um we do know last week we received uh official notice that the HUD home dollars will be receiving an additional $4.2 million of HUD home dollars these dollars are restrictive in the sense of um infrastructure and programmatic things related to uh folks experiencing homelessness these could be used for infrastructure they could be used for programmatic but instead of the HUD emergency Solutions Grant funds which is the ESG money that's really more more focused on programmatic and some of those um kind of Gap funds um related to homeless services so the home funds are really going to be focused more on infrastructure or uh things like that to sort of keep people housed and create new housing options we have not heard about additional HUD cdbg dollars or HUD ESG dollars although there has been talk um from HUD generally that that would be um part of the American Rescue plan and then the 72 million um that you heard about at this spring Workshop uh additionally could be used for um some housing or homelessness pieces so I'm going to turn it over to Rodney Milton um our community development manager and Lana Dalton to uh run through these different suggestions um and then take some feedback from Council go ahead Rodney okay so uh good evening everyone I just wanted to make sure that we understood what the current status of affordable housing is relative to our recently adopted housing strategy that let us know that we had a shortage around 7,500 to 8,500 too few affordable rental units at a particular rental rate and so about 56,000 individuals fall in that 0 to 30% of area immediate income meaning they make less than 25,000 a year and that's a shortage that we have in addition to that we're looking at ways to gauge the need and so we've rolled out a rental assistance program that was those treasury funds from covid dollars and we found that we've already helped about 766 or households and that should let you know where the need is regarding affordable housing and and stabilization next slide so what is guiding our our choices and the ways in which we want to utilize These funds well the housing strategy created a policy framework that lays out exactly the types of activities we want to engage in and so first we want to foster a balance and sustainable housing portfolio which is you'll see in some of the suggestions that's shelters that's you know Gap financing that can cover the spectrum that can cover the spectrum of housing we also want to make sure we're supporting protections for homeowners and renters expanding the inventory of housing options throughout the throughout Aurora and then here's an important one preserving the long-term affordability of existing housing stock so you'll see the ways in which we achieve these policy objectives through the suggestions um that we're going to present to you here this is not limited to all the things that we're doing around the housing strategy we just want to reiterate the fact that a lot of our choices regarding the suggestions are being Guided by the housing strategy policy framework and for me I'm going to just paint the current status of homelessness So based upon our last pit count and the projection for this year we're seeing about 462 people that are um experiencing homelessness and our total shelter capacity in the community where there's non-old weather so the aid day Resource Center isn't open or our emergency shelter has closed at this point and it's ndv it's between 130 to 150 beds and the amount of requests we're getting through access aora Alone um this doesn't include additional emails phone calls counsel requests Etc um on encampments and RVs are approximately 900 per year and so as you can see there's a large demand and there is a lack of shelter capacity as it exists currently in our community um the first suggestion that we have for you tonight is Renovations for caritis and and the Aurora day Resource Center this would be $200,000 a one-time cost um what this would do would bring an additional safety capacity to the aora day resource center right now There's One Direction in One Direction out and they'd really like to split that up um and make it um have it more so it's uh defined and there's additional safety Folks at the at the door they also need to redo some bathrooms and refurbished floors um and they would also like to put up some additional walls in the actual adrc itself so um guests can have some separation for different programming needs we anticipate the timeline to be 3 to six months and we would anticipate it to be completed this year here uh the next suggestion that we have would be safe outdoor spaces um these spaces would come along with a toolkit we really want to analyze how quickly we can get individuals into permanent Housing Solutions these are not permanent Housing Solutions these are a stepping stone do that it allows us to increase our shelter capacity uh rapidly um which is something that obviously by the numbers that I shared with you above is something that we really need um so we will be doing the engagement which has been moved to May 19th from 4: to 7:00 p.m. where you can come and see a pallet shelter which you'll see on the right hand side of your screen excuse me a uh shower trailer that's mobile that could go to different sites in the community tiny homes things of that nature um safe parking as well so we would really like to look at that we feel like we can uh Institute that within 3 to six months and then there's also the the breakdown of the shower trailer laundry restroom and this includes programming so this specific agency is really uh interested in pairing individuals experiencing homelessness that are in need of employment with the specific program to employ them and the peers in their Community to help other folks move forward um from homelessness into house into a housed situation uh the next suggestion that we have would be the acquisition of property and or purchase of an office building or multif family building things like hotels or motels to convert convert into deeply affordable housing so the that would be a 7 to8 million cost up front and then as you can see below there are some renovation costs and also some programming costs that are associated with that um considering the amount of individuals that um are growing in our in in our homelessness Community currently and as the eviction moratoria lifts um uh it'll be interesting to see the amount of individuals that end up um trying to go through our shelter system and so we're looking at the this specific option as a different housing affordable housing solution for those individuals we of course want to pair that with programming um uh so looking at more of a a permanent Supportive Housing type of model where there's wraparound services on site to help those individuals stay housed once they're placed into uh a deeply affordable housing unit another suggestion that's on the table is housing matching software this is something that Los Angeles is instituting um in their area uh to really help individuals find housing and uh looking at specific uh affordable housing units matching them with the appropriate individual as well as matching individuals into a shared housing situation so this could be two different adults um and they're both looking for specific housing but can't afford the uh specific unit that maybe both of them are looking at and so maybe pairing them together if everything they have to go through a specific assessment and whatnot to make sure that they're matched appropriately um this again will help specifically with the eviction moratoria that could be lifting soon and a tool that could help us streamline the housing process to get people into housing more quickly based upon the current housing stock we have in Aurora we anticipate this going on for about 10 to 12 months and would anticipate at the beginning of 2022 this the long another suggestion that's on the table is Gap funding for five different surcharge programs that have a public safety and homelessness Nexus in 2022 um right now we have these search charge programs on underneath multiple different funding streams due to the lack of uh red light uh charges that were occurred during the year of 2020 um and so with that being said we could utilize some funds to ensure that these agencies that provide essential services in our community um will be funded for the next year and another suggestion would be land acquisition for a new shelter or construction for of a new shelter um I'm sure most individuals would agree that um what the capacity that we have currently just isn't enough and while we want to of course prare that with appropriate Services as well as affordable housing sometimes IND individuals need an emergency solution to to the issue that they're facing and so along with this this also helps us provide a different uh an an alternative solution for individuals that are maybe encampments and if we want to uh pursue uh more of an ordinance or things of that nature this could be helpful to ensure that we have additional capacity in our community to make sure that folks have a place to go if we need to um look at different options for encampments right so the next suggestion is really to expand what we're calling Gap financing but really it's Community investment and expanding that capacity with additional dollars so again we are talked about before um the need now we're looking at ways to meet that need which includes activities around renters so um financing multif family developments where there is a gap or even owner occupied rehab down payment assistance and expanding that pool right now we've got a pipeline of projects um that could total in excess of 800 units we've been averaging about 250 units a year we're looking at hitting that Target if we can expand our dollars to meet those goals and those needs and that would be a suggestion that we're looking at so overall the suggestions that we just presented are kind of in Timeline order for those that are more of a quick win or shorter timeline um to those that would be a longer timeline obviously the funding amounts um were kind of all over the map um but these this was presented to horns and then bringing forward to council um and interested um to see uh you know which suggestions really um stand out to council um that staff could spend some time exploring obviously these would all need to be vetted and um you know better better funding um analysis put to each of these uh to bring forward um once we do have more clarity on what the stimulus funding could be spent on um we just uh wanted to definitely have a head start on that so um I'll open it up um for any feedback or questions from Council at this point mayor mayor I guess I just have a quick question I don't I'm not sure what's going on with the mayor but um so it looks like the total if we were to do everything is about 45 million what is the amount that we know for sure um that's available specifically for homelessness and housing issues so as I mentioned um just a little bit earlier we know we have 4.2 million coming we did get an official letter from HUD last week um so that's what we know for sure um and then I believe in terms of the um the Department of Treasury money and certainly someone from budget can jump in um but I believe it's about 72 million we we know it's coming we don't know exactly what the criteria is for expenditures but from the general guidelines um this housing and homelessness would meet those criteria mayor or mayor proam yeah I don't think we have the mayor uh mayor protim you might want to take over I'm not quite sure what happened it looks like he dropped off I'll try to get him back on is Mayor pretend Bergen on I don't think I'm seeing I don't think she's on as well I don't think she's on either I guess council member Lawson are you next yeah You' okay go ahead um so who who Okay council member Johnston thank you Council M lesson um could we go to the screen that has the different options and timelines just for the visual yes thank you um so I just mayor is it okay if I ask a question you know what let me let me just I'm having trouble with my computer if I can just say something I'm probably have to turn over to the mayor protm because I don't I'm having problems here um let me just say I support what I would like to see is a closure of the um our facility the day Resource Center um and the an Medical Campus I would like to see is build a shelter of uh build a facility designed as a shelter um that um uh as opposed to just it that if the homeless problem receded it could in fact revert into some kind of light industrial Warehouse use um if during the winter break I spent time at three different shelters and so I took the best from all three and what I would like to see is a 24hour shelter uh and with um intensive case management uh and so I think that that's the direction that we had to go and that for the the the homeless population really make it until we can get that facility up uh whatever we do is just of a temporary nature waiting for that facility uh mayor pm uh you're muted thank you mayor I just want to bring up and and I want to give credit to my um um council member kums who had brought this up at the last horns meeting I know there is or I'm assuming just from comments made um from anuts that would say we we we don't want to a shelter here um we we want to have some other other businesses or or medical services there and um this this campus first of all there is a responsibility to the community for this nonprofit campus that does not pay taxes there is built-in medical providers medical students that are able to to be and and part of our um initiatives the VA Center is right there um I'm really concerned when we talk about just moving moving this location so I I want to make sure that we're recognizing that and council member kums had brought up some of these issues last time so um definitely think that's that's important and then um we had talked about this also in horns but just to make sure that there are options like the tiny homes the the platform homes outdoor camping spaces um I know that there's been some some Churches um Habitat for Humanity and um some other churches both in um a couple of different WS in the city that that want to have that that land available so just want to bring that up that you're hearing since you want feedback from council members that especially when we have our churches um that have land and and want to be part of this this process and these solutions that we're we're working together with them as well thanks let me just say there's an IND industrial area just north a Poria that is within walking distance very close uh to a major stride facility in fact the largest stride facility uh in the city of roora in terms of providing uh Health Care uh further uh comments mayor uh council member bin thank you uh you know I said in horns that um I kidas needs to expand um I think it's better to have more people together in a larger facility and I hear what council member Johnston is saying but at some point come when how are we going to expand kidas you know at some point they're going to have to move to a larger facility and I know some of you don't like the you don't like to fit Simmons campus for whatever reason but they kidas has been there for years a roar Mental Health Center uh is right there our day resource center is right there but they need to be larger and they need to combine together um like the mayor said a 24hour center is is what we need I mean to think of kicking people out at five o'clock or six o'clock I mean where do they go we need to have a place and there's not there's not a space on the fit Simmons campus to expand that and as much as you might not like it they it needs to be larger so we can house more people so we could have a bigger kitchen feed them um have a place where they can have a garden uh you know and they can grow their own food and you know take care of themselves while they're at at the comidas or whatever you want to call it in this new facility so I don't I don't see how how we really couldn't think of getting a larger a larger place to house more people now Jessica did say that there were 462 or something similar that were unhoused we all know that just because there may be a house a lot of people just won't go you know um the mayor experienced that some people are want to stay where they are they don't want to go in temporary quarters or wherever where wherever you offer them a space so we can't say that all 462 would move uh some of them would stay where they want to be and they'd rather stay you know in an encampment with their friends and we can't make them move but the ones that do want to be inside and do want three meals a day I think we have to expand comitis and in order to move it to ex expand it so we can service more people we're GNA have to move it you just you can't cram any more people in there it's not it's not healthy to do that and and the day Resource Center is doing the best they can they work so hard and they' done so well during this covid pandemic um but you know kicking them out at 5 o' for six o'clock is not is not the way to handle it either we just need a larger space mayor mayor mayor I think the mayor might be I don't think okay so since I don't see the mayor and I don't see mayor protim okay okay there you go M all I was I was going to ask a questions myself um you're in charge okay let me ask my question and then I'll go to to the others um I I agree about kidas um you know possibly needing new space my concern is the anuts campus or you know anuts really would like them moved and if that's the Cas and we're going to look for a new place for kidas they need to have skin in the game they need to be putting up a big chunk of money um because that's a valuable land and um I don't know how how much of a an expansion we want to do but um I think we heard there was what 462 homeless not all of them will actually want to spend the night in a shelter so anyway who who had their hand up I think council member Marano I heard I believe so thank you Hils Hils at some point too yeah I think hilts was we both spoke up more or less at the same time so okay Mar and thenc a while yeah give flon on that list all right sorry I'll I'll try to go through this as quick as possible so um on the discussion of a shelter uh just look at the timeline in front of us that's something that is several years out in tens of millions of dollars um that will still preserve the status quo just with a little more space and I think that kind of hearkening back to the presentation that we had a little earlier uh this evening we should be looking to reduce that number as opposed to allowing it to continue to grow and just finding another place to put those folks until that shelter then is too small and just keep repeating the cycle a shelter is not a home and there are some folks who for whatever reason may be resistant to moving into a home we all know that that does happen but there are there is a process proc and a Continuum of services that get folks into a more stable form of housing so to get to those goals uh my number one um suggestion here is definitely to look into purchasing land um that is one of the biggest hurdles I think that we face with any of the solutions that we're really talking about here um second to have the be you know more immediate impact is looking at standing up more permanent Supportive Housing that'll address some of our uh chronically homel uh Community as well as helping folks who need um ongoing Services um get housed I think Providence at the heights is a great example of how successful that model can be and I would like to see more of that sooner rather than later and then the third issue kind of ties into affordable housing generally speaking since that was part of thees if uh I'm not mistaken from what I read in our backup and that is to find a way to leverage these one-time funds that we're getting from the feds and other Sur uh other sources and put that towards starting something up that is Ain to vien and social housing which is a self-sustaining model that builds today thousands of units a year um you know we won't get there overnight obviously but we need to take some kind of long-term proactive approach like that that ties back into purchasing land um and I think some of how we can start this uh is in the inter to have a more immediate impact would be to focus on some of that Gap financing I know that's something that um my my conversation with the rare Housing Authority like you know they've mentioned um and as we just heard from staff um we have projects in the pipeline that just need a little bit uh to make them viable um and we can get several hundred units uh up and going in the you know up and coming in the immediate term but yeah I just want to really reiterate um we have you know frankly this you know unexpected wifall I don't think any of us were um expecting to have a bunch of money come to us from the federal government to deal with housing uh last year and um I really think we need to put it towards something that is self-perpetuating that will get folks housed uh and that we can expand over time that'll basically just you know again um make itself uh replicate over time okay that's my two cents and then some my cof back let me just first and that is that I was going to say we had Hils and Lawson and I don't know what order okay U let me go hilts Lawson um that I met with a rapo County uh Department of Social Services uh showed me some of the things that they're working on and we are not in any way coordinating with them and that is really important both of us have come into money uh both of us are working in silos and this goes probably for Adams County too and we have to work together in terms of that we deploy our resources in a way that's not redundant and so what I would like to do is have rapo County Department of Social Services give a presentation on what they're doing in the city of Aurora in terms of providing a services for the homeless um I'm sorry what was the order again HS and lawon Council Hills thank you I just want to I think this is a conversation um a much larger presentation and conversation outside of this particular agenda item than moving um and just want to make sure that wherever that is we're mindful of the you know the Nexus of public transportation that happens in this area and that is a big you know it's a big thing to have that public transit and if we move it further out and down if that cuts down the number of options and the time it takes to get there that can impact people's ability to to work the part-time job they may have or the full-time job they have and they still can't afford housing I mean there's cascading effects from moving services um happy to send you some studies on the impacts that it has disproportionately on women um and caretakers and their families so I just want to be really mindful of this is not just a simple you know move a location down the road situation um I think it warrant a much larger conversation let see council member is it kums I think council member Lawson has been waiting since before me council member Lawson okay thank you um so I just you know mayor I just wanted to say that I guess I'm very passionate about this because I was one of the people that initiated the thought of the day resource center and for you just to kind of say oh let's just close it down I mean the concept it has worked in our community I understand you want another shelter but at the end of the day are we like council member marono says are we really solving the problem um I personally think that we need to look at some of the repurposing of some of these um these buildings that we have throughout the city um we have a lot of I don't know what the inventory is I would think I would like to maybe have maybe have staff look into that to see where we can actually have a place where people can can go and also have the services as well um I do agree that we probably need that it needs to be a bigger discussion about just closing down the day resource center and you know I mean there was a lot of thought that before you even were on Council a lot of thought and a lot of Bloodshed and a lot of uh people really trying to make sure that we had a place or the thought process where people could get off the street during the day and have the resources so maybe I'm a little bit passionate about that because I was one of the people who took excuse me mayor just one of the people that took the passion to bring that forward along with some other council members um so I do think that we should probably look at some of the repurposing pieces of some of our buildings because we have a lot of buildings um a lot of Office Buildings that to me could be incorporated um to actually have some housing uh benefits as well for families and for individuals who are suffering from homeless so I would really like to look into that and what kind of inventory we have and especially the Gap funding and what's happening with that I think that that's going to be essential as well well there it's a it's a day Resource Center it is not a 24-hour shelter there's a big difference I understand that mayor but in most have this so council member thank you for um cutting me off council member kums um yeah so I do want to Echo some of what council member Lawson was saying um and I also just would add that whatever the conversation ends up being about closing citis and the day Resource Center which I know are ongoing it would be extremely irresponsible to do it now and just think oh for the next four years we'll figure it out um I think that we need to have a plan and that plan needs to obviously include the folks who actually run our services within the city so I don't think the closing the day Resource Center or not was the conversation we were asked to have um it's not the question staff are asking of us and I think it would be inappropriate to have that conversation as a member of that board just me and nobody else involved with that organization being present for that conversation um that being said um you know I think that we likely will need to look at larger and more appropriate shelter space and so that's something for the longterm it's currently here it says 2024 2025 um that we should consider and in the short term we do need to consider like I do agree with you mayor we need to have some temporary interim things that we do work on um I think the safe outdoor spaces are a very quick way to address and shower trailer are some quick ways to immediately address some of the encampment issues that we're having and so that's an is an idea that I'd like us to look at and then I think in terms of the long-term Solutions as well um I do agree with council member Marano that we need to look at how do we get people permanently housed instead of into shelters for longer periods um a lot of people don't go to shelters not just because they don't want to um having pets is something that prevents people from going to shelters being families rather than individuals is something that makes it difficult for people to access shelters and so things like um you know hotels and motels and not NE necessarily just doing vouchers but like we have some older vacant or not very thriving hotels and motels that we could look at as potential sources of more long-term housing more and more appropriate temp sorry not long-term appropriate temporary housing for folks that can't go to our shelters um but the safe outdoor spaces also provides a good medium and then we need to look at land and housing in general along the lines of what council member Marano said so those are the priorities that I would have based on the presentation that we received from staff and I don't think anybody's talking about closing a facility without having an alternate open uh further discussion mayor this is Jessica prer um I just wanted um to address the comment around the uh counties and leveraging those funding sources and we do um certainly collaborate with the counties related to the Aurora at home collaborative which we did not mention tonight but is definitely a beneficial and part of all of these is when we say wraparound Services a lot of those folks that are part of the collaborative uh will help fund and staff many of these options um and obviously the counties are are going to be receiving some of that stimulus funding as well so um definitely um on the radar we've partnered with them through our rental assistance program this past year and their family Navigator program has been um really helpful they would like an opportunity to present to the council during a study session and I I having uh visited uh uh their facility in Aurora over at what the former excelsia campus um I think uh last week uh I hardly I I strongly endorse uh their request further discussion uh seeing none uh I think inputs been given to staff and I appreciate that um State Legislative update item number 4 a uh good evening mayor members of council I'm Luke basano intergovernmental relations manager with the city here to present a State Legislative update the fsir committee met on Wednesday April 14th and Friday April 30th and took action on several bills these are in your backup there is one item under consideration for potential action tonight concerning Senate Bill 62 jail population management tools currently Council has an amend position on the bill there has been some movement on the bill in the last week the bill was scheduled for a hearing in Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday but was pulled as sponsors continue to work with stakeholders to consider amend amendments at the moment there have been two amendments proposed the Amendments seek to clarify that there are no limitations on custodial arrest for auto theft clarify clarify that there are no limitations for custodial arrest for all felony for offenses allow custodial arrest for use of a deadly weapon offenses in addition to Firearms allow money bond to be imposed for two failures to appear down from three and clarify the intent and meaning of the summons provision when this item was originally scheduled and placed in the backup it was expected the bill would have a hearing in Appropriations and then beond the calendar for second reading this week given the recent developments this item is less urgent and and probably more informational at this point however officially the question before council is should these amendments pass does council wish to change their position on this bill I have asked judge day chief Wilson and public defender Wilson to join tonight they have offered to answer any questions Council may have and share their thoughts on the amendments in the bill um questions mayor uh mayor P um I know that you know the Amendments um took away for example some of the felony I guess three class 345 I think um can we get Chief Wilson to um give input into to the rest to the 62 bill in terms of how it looks right now because I I personally I'm still opposed to it I don't think it's good to not charge criminals for for you know for crimes that they have committed because I'm really concerned with uh the victims but if if Chief Wilson could maybe give some input mayor point of clarification uh council member Maro thank you uh the bill would still allow for folks to be charged it always has this is just about specifically getting a summons versus uh being detained that's correct thank you okay I mean I I personally would prefer after the amendments are on to to consider the bill um having been in the legislature I understand that that that amendments can be modified uh and still adopted I chief chief Wilson please uh thank you uh council member Bergen for the opportunity um I'm still concerned with the bill if I'm able to say that um I think it's very problematic I think we are going to see um issues there's some of these crimes that I think if you've seen the position paper put out by the uh Colorado Association chief of police as well as the district uh District Attorneys judicial there's there's many problems within this bill and I'm just concerned about the effects it's going to have on the crime rate may I ask follow question yeah um Chief Wilson just for example I I'd like to know like so if a police officer stops someone for a traffic stop and they don't have ID on them right my understanding is that currently they could be arrested because you don't know who they are and they could have a warrant for their arrest for a really horrible crime under 62 do you know if if they don't have ID would they be allowed to be arrested by the police officer I do not know that specific uh question but I I don't believe they would be and obviously we do everything we can to try to identify individuals and and use arrest as the last resort but um you know it I think some of the issues and I'm trying to pull up um yeah the position paper right now so I could answer your question um and I think my concern is it 62 kind of creates this I think it will create for for police officers to not to not arrest anyone I mean it's just it's it's it does it it does um it does create some some concerns for me on subjectivity and whether the officers are going to know exactly what they should be doing in these situations and then there's many there's many crimes that would not be arrestable like impersonating a police officer or disarming a police officer which I think is um you know it's in my opinion not good there are you know the bottom line is I believe in restorative justice I think that a lot of people on Council believe in that and I think that's an appropriate thing for us to be looking at but when we are the bottom line is there are criminals that are going to take advantage of this bill if it's passed and they are not going this isn't the person that we can go through with Sora of Justice with and I think in an earlier presentation there was a sign behind uh the doctor that was presenting that said behind every number is a person and behind every case is a victim and we need to remember those victims thank you Chief further questions mayor um Council Johnson um thank you I I'd like to to hear a little from Judge because I I've been reading this from the beginning and a lot of a lot of my concerns that I've heard from constituents have been addressed um crimes that are part of the Colorado victims act um are not are not part of this um and I just want to get some clarification from Judge day because I remember in the beginning there was some working through that of course we talked about felony fours um class fours with that so there's been a lot lot of change from the beginning where where folks had some some concerns and you know the goal is just just as council member Marano said this doesn't mean people are not being charged um it's to address these these nonviolent felonies um you know like I think one of them is like check fraud or counterfeiting or or things like that um to try to reduce the jail population for those nonviolent felonies but I'd like to get since Judge day T has talked to fizer several times and we've had that benefit Jud day could you talk about some of that like the Colorado victims um like the victim Association where they are on this um and some of those changes and your um overview of that because it it has come a long way from when we initially discussed it sure um good evening um just as the mayor indicated um and Luke indicated um the bill passed out of committee um Senate Judiciary and was assigned to Appropriations it was supposed to have a hearing on Friday the 30th and it was pulled just as Luke indicated um there has not been any other amendments than what were proposed in the Senate um Judiciary Committee um l001 l002 l003 all amended the bill and it was voted on and then it was passed so we don't know any other amending language I know Luke concluded within your packet um a l005 which is a senate floor amendment that I know Senator Lee has been working with different groups um there's also within your packet what's titled the proposed amendment to sb62 um again none of that has been adopted yet and some of what you see within the proposed amendment um document to sb62 references lines that are not accurate um so I preface what I'm going to say as to what different groups are doing with the bill with just that understanding that there hasn't been any formal amendments yet it has not and brought before the Appropriations Committee for further discussion and further Amendment um we anticipate that it will at some point in time but there's a lot of work that's going on behind the scenes as you can imagine just by the number of amendments that have been are being proposed what kova what their position was out of the Senate Judiciary Committee was is they were in support of the bill there were quite a few groups that were either neutral um and have then since changed their position since it's been sent to Appropriations um there's groups that have gone um in opposition there's been further support for the bill as well again as you can imagine there's it's a pretty polarized bill there's there's both strong opposition and strong support for the bill as you can imagine it's hard for me to provide any further comment until we actually do see what's going to be proposed at the committee and then formally voted um just as I think Luke was asking for tonight if the proposed amendments do take place in committee what would be the position of council but again it's it it's hard to say without seeing what in fact those amendments are because just as any bill it's very important to see what the what the exact language is is being proposed just as the mayor indicated things that are being proposed right now that are on paper may change in an hour it may change in a day it may change in a week so until you actually see it it's hard for for me to provide further opinion um or um you know to provide any further um valuable input for your consideration I hope that helps I know it was mayor U council member Johnson I I know you wanted to know what coa's position was I think there're still although I don't know this to be a fact I think they're still in support but they're still working with Senator Lee on language to the bill mayor that's my understanding yeah thank you mayor um that that actually is very helpful and and I I was trying to see where kova was but I know that the that the parts of the kova ACT were Incorporated um but it's helpful to know because generally I like to know all of what's happening before I take that final position so you kind of painting that a lot is still in Flex is helpful as well so thank you I can add that the one provision of the bill that sets forth the detention eligible crimes list includes the V crimes that has not changed from when it was proposed in the Senate and now is in Appropriations but they keep adding to that list as to what's detention eligible and I think there lies the rub because there's so many groups that are saying that a particular sets of crimes or type of crimes should be included and they're not currently included and so I know that there's further discussion taking place and I can offer that up that to give you one example that they the the bill did not include aggravated motor vehicle theft when it was coming out of the Senate appropriation or excuse me Senate Judiciary it's now included in one of the proposed amendments and so that just gives you one example of what is is being talked about for further discussion mayor PR I have a question on the and I want to make sure I have this right um is this still in the bill in terms of a defendant appearing before the court um that they they must Grant a personal reconnaissance Bond unless the defendant fail to appear three or more times in the case I think that's crazy failed to appear three or more times how about you failed to appear more than once I mean is that still in the bill as it was voted on in the Senate Jud uh it's was three or more times there's been proposals just as Luke indicated that it's now been discussed to drop it down to two but if you look in the proposed amendment a document to S sp62 if I read the strike below language correct they're saying to strike the word three and replace it with one so I don't don't know I don't know if it's going to stay at three I don't know if it's going to move to two or if it's even going to go to one because I haven't actually seen what's being proposed and what's voted on at committee so I don't know right okay well thank you and I I kind of think we should we shouldn't be supporting something until we know exactly what's being amended they think this is premature council member KS um yeah so I just wanted to make sure we clarify again that kova is is in support of the bill and that victims rights groups are either neutral or in support so the argument that this is anti- victim um ignores what's actually happening in the discussion and it's a rhetorical tool that based on that support from victims is frankly dishonest um I also want to make sure Angelo Lawson council member LW and gets chance to speak been trying for a while and not being called on but I also would like to hear from public defender Wilson um his thoughts on the belt and amendments thank you do you want me to go council member L please go please go ahead thank you mayor uh so I'm Doug Wilson and as many of you know I was a state public defender for 12 years and I worked on bail reform for probably 15 years the last 15 years including with the car criminal and juvenal Justice Commission that I know judge day is on I also this bill at fizer when it first came out and asked Council to support it um I would and I'm going to lead off by telling you this I would suggest that you continue to monitor it for some of the very reasons that the judge says talks about I would disagree with some of the statements that the chief made in particular uh you should monitor it to see if these other two amendments go through I also read what's been l005 and the proposed language there is a provision in lz5 that talks about uh if the law enforcement's unable to sufficiently verify an individual's identity they can be arrested that's not passed yet um I've spoke with the sponsor Senator Lee I've also talked to the ACLU that's where this bill originated from and um ironically there are three prosecutors three district attorneys that support this bill the color District Attorney's Council my understanding is neutral and the victims groups are neutral which is an epic uh three groups to come together two groups plus of support from the prosecutes that doesn't happen it doesn't happen at the State Legislature um and Bill for these reasons you got to look at it from Aurora from Municipal Court that's where we are now um the research I've heard it talked about the research actually says two things holding people in jail pre-trial more than 24 to 48 hours actually increases recidivism not decreases and you have to remember these people are charged not convicted so are pre-trial detainees and the second thing that research shows is that money bond does absolutely nothing to protect the community but money bond does is let typically rich people make bonds and get out poor people typically people of color can't make the bonds and stay in and that's the research from which we started when we were started dealing with bail reform as I said 15 years ago I would urge you to monitor until you see what the other amendments do but don't accept the fact that somehow money bond is going to protect Aurora or that uh victims groups and District Attorneys counts are in opposition to this because my understanding is they are Council Council Lawson thank you mayor um first before I comment on that I just want to just thank Luke for just giving some context on the process because when this bill first came to the the fiser committee yes we amended it but on its first interation at a study session it basically was that our our vote was moot and I just want that to be uh publicly known that um fiser committee on the 30th did not take an amend position that eventually was we did in the beginning but Council took a a vote on what what position would we take on this bill secondly I want to mention something as well um I invite I asked and I made and I I actually kind of mandated that APD be at every single visor committee meeting because I wanted to hear from them from the context of just technical things because I'm not out in the field um and you know I want to there might be certain questions that I have and the committee has they are not lobbying at the fiser committee they are giving like Chief Wilson and judge day and everybody and and and Doug Wilson is giving their opinions and concerns because there's certain things that we don't know technically because we're not out in the field so I just want to say that um I I don't know about there was something out there in the world of social media saying that they were lobbying they are not lobbying I think it's important to have all of the context of everybody judge day Chief Wilson whoever the representative is and that that's why they are at fizer they are not lobbying um so I just want to put that out there because that is not that's not accurate information um they we need these expert opinions to and for me in order to make an informed decision so I just wanted to put that out there um just to kind of have so the public knows uh what is really going on at fiser and I would advise people who um who want really want to hear what's going on at fer to come come to our meetings and at least listen to the recording to see what is said um as far as this bill is concerned I'm going to be um for the monitoring position because there's too many amendments I know what constituents have talked to me about especially with car theft um and I know that there's an amendment probably that's going to come out about that but to say that someone if they don't physically if you don't get physically touched that you're not a victim I mean if my car gets stolen that's my livelihood that I I have to commute I have to have you know I'm paying on it I have to get to work that's I could to me I'm a victim so there's just some concerns that I've gotten from constituents as well that I think that are in being proposed in some of these amendments and I think for me I would like to before I'm not gonna before I make any decision I want to see what those amendments are so thank you very much Council Maro thank you mayor um a lot of what I wanted to say has already kind of been covered by other folks um but I did want to add something else to it well maybe two things here um the first is speaking from an arapo County standpoint because I think a lot of us do live in aapo County um yall might remember a ballot initiative or a ballot question rather that we had a few years ago asking to raise taxes for the rapo county jail and part of what SP sp62 is trying to address is the driver behind that initiative is that I think it was like 70% if I'm not mistaken of the folks who were in the jail are there pre-trial and that's a rotating population but it was the bulk of the folks who were there they're not there for extended sentences it's just the people who could not afford to get out of jail uh before their trial so that's a big part of what this addresses um and I think that that's important to keep in mind um second is that you know the um sorry the victim advocacy groups um are trending towards support which I think is really important but something for everyone who might be listening this is also very important is that the penalties that currently exist are not currently deterring crime and that you know this isn't necessarily softening the penalties this is is actually like giving people a chance to not have their entire life fall apart around them because they happen to become detained uh before their trial that's a lot of what we're dealing with especially when we look at like the economics of like motor vehicle thefts and the catalytic converter thefts um it's a sign of people not being able to meet their needs and as policy makers we need to be taking a more proactive approach to ensure that we're actually building a society where people are not not in this level of need and destitute um you know you can make a lot of money doing what some of these folks are doing and it sucks because then it may end up hurting our community we are effectively cannibalizing ourselves and what we really need to be doing is Raising people's wages ensuring they can afford their houses and doing a lot of the other stuff that we've tried to get done on this Council already but sadly have come up short on so just wanted to throw that back out there because all of this stuff that we have talked about in the past and are talking about tonight all of this is public safety it's not just this one specific bill it's wages housing education Etc so thanks okay I I think the question before us is to move from uh the position of monitor uh to the position of support mayor um mayor I'm sorry if I could um interrupt at this point staff would recommend not taking any action as judge day said none of these Amendments have passed um when this when this item was scheduled it was expected that the bill would have moved further and some developments happened on Wednesday or on Friday so i' I'd recommend that that we just make this informational and I will bring the item back um when it's progressed further next time let not bring it forward until it's ready with that that there is no action that is necessary U uh for B uh background checks for boards and commission uh members um Roberto Vegas um I think Katie is you hear me okay yes okay um so uh I will be brief given the hour and we're uh you've been in a long meeting so I will I will try to be brief this is an item that everybody's familiar with came up in the context of the appointment to the Civil Service Commission several council members asked staff to provide some information on background checks and what we do for volunteer boards and commissions the first slide so discussion areas Uh current capability to conduct background checks or policy and staff implications I'll go through that very briefly some options for revising the current board and commission application which was in your backup so you have the current application that we have and what we do ask of applicants and uh obviously then getting some policy directions from Council so uh next slide so you know background checks was a little bit of a of a uh there wasn't a lot of clarity about what we're looking for staff took it to mean criminal background checks obviously you can do finance and credit checks I didn't think that's what we were talking about we're talking about a basic criminal background check for any volunteer um board and commission applicant um we do have that capability obviously for personnel in the city HR runs uh Credit Finance backgrounds as well as criminal background checks for all full-time employees and contractors here in the city uh we have that capability we do have firms and vendors that are on call that can do that for uh about $10 approximately per application so uh we do do that for volunteers they did want folks to know that um Jamie luk and the HR department who uh does our volunteer coordination we do have uh that background check for those volunteers and use the similar service to be able to do that um we do that in particular for example the youth commission where we have folks working with youth and uh want to make sure that we have u a background check on them to make sure that they are appropriately uh do not have any issues uh if they are working with those commissions so we do have that capability um and there is a a cost of course we do have 30 uh next slide sorry um policy and staff applications just to consider as you as you look at this issue uh we do not currently have this uh as a requirement in our applications we have historically because these are volunteers because it's generally been a challenge to try to get volunteers to to serve on these boards we have not included that uh historically uh if we were to pursue that we would need to for legal reasons have that clearly marked on an application that the applicant would be in order to be considered have to check that box in order to have uh permission for the city to run a background check a criminal background check on them prior to uh them being considered for the application um the um the the other thing to consider as well is when we if we were to go down this path um the this consideration any material that would be returned back to us would then be provided to the council um there are lots of legal issues and requirements that then you would need to um adhere to in terms of having that applicant be able to address any issues uh and certainly it would all be a judgment call in terms of your discretion about whether any one thing would rise to the level of them being disqualified it would just be a discretion so um I just wanted to put that out there as a caution and that even if we do get a background material back on any individual applicant it isn't an automatic disqualifier and it still would be up to the council to make that decision the other consideration after speaking with legal is that that background check is an open record it is a public record at that point so any applicant who has submitted a background check who may have an issue at any point um that discussion would not be an executive session uh item it would be an item that you would need to discuss in a public meeting in terms of an applicant's background check so that um might be challenging for applicants to be able to have that there is no uh law there that would allow them to have that would allow you to have those deliberations in an executive session because that is a public record uh the criminal background and anything found on a criminal background would be a public record so next slide um I think I we talked a little bit about this I just mentioned the top the first one um it is a Kora eligible record and so you would have that conversation if you pursued that that policy op uh we currently have 32 boards soon to have 33 boards with the Civic engagement um board that's going to be uh started up here in the next few weeks about three 10 individual boards and commission members at any one time so kind of we would need to do some if you pursued that path we would need to do some uh fiscal impacts for the HR and clerk's office which currently only has one person who who does some of that uh verification and due diligence on the applications that come through now for residency and other things um and I mentioned the $10 fee next slide um one option that staff was uh recommending and bringing forward given the policy implications that I just outlined is simply and this will sound a little bit like deja vu from the vacancy conversation adding the questions that we had into the current application that would uh at least uh allow the applicant to divulge any information that may be um em embarrassing or awkward to the city that we should be considering uh you've seen this in others I think I've seen it in the in the governor's commission they they put that application question on there uh and a lot of people do it's fairly common we got these questions as I mentioned before from the HR department so uh one option would be to add that uh a couple of questions to the application the current applic application to be able to address that the other one is uh we we ask for a current employer we don't talk a little bit about revising the employment questions we talk about employment history history kind of reason for living leaving last three jobs and reason for leaving something like that uh we certainly can revise the application to include that uh and the reason why we're we're doing this is obviously because of the challenges it creates with doing the other background checks that I just outlined with the policy but also um you know we think this is a an easier way to get to I think some of the concerns that were addressed in the specific examples that we just had so for example in the Civil Service Commission if we had done a criminal background check none of the issues that arose would have been that would have come out in that in that analysis it would have not been there would have not the employment history question that would have not been raised in a criminal background check so we just want to make sure we're precise and using the right tool and so we think that having questions that the applicant has to answer in the affirmative uh gets to that without going down some of the more challenging policy implications so with that I will go to the next uh and those are the two questions you've seen them those are the questions we're used in the vacan those are the similar questions that we use in this application if the council would like to revise the current application next uh slide I'll leave it at that and mayor open it for questions questions mayor council mes um yeah so I had thought when we discussed this in the past that it was going to come to committee first and that never happened so is there a reason that it did not come to committee to try to hammer out some of these issues only because it was already in a full Council discussion and we had already brought it up in the context of the appointment with the Civil Service Commission that was the only reason I apologized if we probably should have gone into policy but because we had already had the full conversation at the at the council level U staff made a decision to bring it here we could have brought it to policy and we can go back to if that's still the direction of the council further discussion yes mayor uh mayor pron um I like the uh the questions um to be included in in our boards and commissions I think that's a good idea um it doesn't you know I mean somebody could still lie in in answering the questions as obviously happened with the Civil Service um commission I I wanted to say on number two it says policy and staff implications for conducting background checks for volunteer boards and commissions um we do background checks for the neighborhood watch area coordinators those are all volunteers and then um we also do them for the Aurora Citizen Police Academy um and I'm not suggesting that we do the background checks for all boards and commissions I think the questions are really good that we should include for all boards and commissions but I do think for the Civil Service Commission I I would be in favor of a background check as well as the questions but further discussion mayor uh Council M Hils no council M Johnson um so just as a reminder us who ran for city council did not have background checks um and I'm fine with that I just think it's like we're putting different standards in place for for volunteers and we're also eliminating when we you know we pass this second chance resolution and you know we can read into it as much as we want but these are the opportunities that a background check I think it's more accountability and if there wasn't transparency and we wanted it and we wanted accountability then it's us as a councel to decide if that's an issue or not and then we can not appoint that person if we find out about it ahead of time or after the fact but I have a real problem with doing all of these screenings we don't do it ourselves as elected um I can see if there's a situation and I don't know on the youth commission if we have I believe there are a couple of members who are not Youth and adults and if there's interaction with youth um maybe some background just like school districts do like when I volunteered at the school I had to do that um so maybe that's appropriate but the others you know for people giving their their opinion it doesn't matter to me um any criminal background I I just I I don't think this is this is necessary further discussion mayor May Tim yeah and I I just wanted it for the Civil Service commiss just the background checks not for the other boards and commissions but um I I actually will probably be bringing forward an ordinance I think I had discussed this before and it just I have not done it is is a background check for um council members I think we should be background checked um bers member bersin thank you well I have to say that I was have been background checked twice I had to give my fingerprints um 2005 and 2009 that was the standard procedure um to have background checks we would go over to the courthouse and and be fingerprinted um so I don't know what what happened with the later Council I I don't know who stopped it and why they stopped it but all of a sudden one year they weren't having it anymore and um so so but to answer your question we we did have it I had it twice and uh everybody that was running for office had a background check and we made us feel a lot more comfortable but I do like the two questions um uh Roberto if you can squeeze them on an application um for everyone um just to to give us an idea of their last three jobs and why they left um but I'd also like to see on here just a simple question is there do you have a conflict of interest um why you should or shouldn't be on this committee um I think that would answer a lot of questions too um and that could be like the third simple question is there a conflict of interest yes or no and then we could go from there but I I am concerned with the Civil Service Commission um Planning and Zoning came to mind maybe those two um to get ask a few more questions but definitely Civil Service Commission further question further or comments mayor uh Council Marell thank you um I think the first question that we saw on the last slide that Roberto showed us um might be a good addition um maybe just to the two commissions that we appoint folks to um that actually have binding decisions but um aside from that I want to Echo what council member Johnston said even as elected officials you know when you run you don't have to go through any of those hurdles and stuff we all do I think through the course of campaigning uh talk about our lives and if we have anything you know in our background I think that gets you know addressed and typically proactively uh um but I think having them jump through extra hurdles um that we wouldn't ask of ourselves is unreasonable um and the other concern I have U well actually I won't bring that up now because we're not discussing that other item yet but when it does we'll talk about it thank you further discussion mayor C mums um so yeah one of the things that I had mentioned was not necessar neily um things designed to kind of avoid embarrassment for us although I agree with council member person that conflict of interests is very relevant and I did me mention that before but more so board specific questions um that the boards and commissions the people serving could come up with that could be kind of part of a dropdown because a lot of people are doing these online um where when you say which commission you're applying to it could be specific to that Commission because a lot of times when people answer just the why do you want this appointment it's like a one- sentence thing that doesn't necessarily talk a lot about the specific commission so I think having something that gives Council when we're reading these applications a sense of what the connection to the specific border commission is would be of value in reviewing those applications further discussion uh seeing none is there uh any opposition uh or Roberto are you ready now of um okay I I can propose this I think because there's a lot of different comments this isn't time sensitive it's not an emergency so I can literally take some of the comments that were provided some suggestions and come back to another study session with some specific proposals to meet some of the questions that were asked maybe couple options with specific to certain boards and Comm commissions and then we can go down and and vote on on which ones you want to pursue I just wanted to we can use this as an opportunity and it's also 10:40 at night uh I use this as an opportunity to take all the input and then uh have a get good input from you all of the council members and bring it back with some options based on those recommendations okay um let's see Hors from the city council none Miss SES none it remove from the agenda if any none uh meeting is your arm thank you good night y'all good [Music] night