[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] uh the regular meeting of the Aurora city council for Monday August 9th 2021 uh is called the order uh um where the clerk please call the role mayor here mayor Pro ber here council member bersin here council member kums presid council member Hils here council member Gardner here council member guber he's trying to get on okay council member Lawson I'm here council member moodo council member mudia council member M present there is a quorum very well um announcement of the public call in line good evening the city council welcome feedback from residents at City Council meetings on both matters appearing on the agenda and during public invited to be heard for those watching channel 8 please call 855 695 34 475 and when connected press star three to get in the queue to speak don't forget the star you will hear a prompt confirming you are in line speak to an operator and then be able to continue listening to the meeting until the operator comes on to take down your name and agenda the agenda item you wish to speak on residents who would like to speak for public invited to be heard or on a specific agenda item and have not already been screened please press star three to sign up before the item is called by the clerk if you have already spoken to the operator you do not need to press star three again callers who do not sign up for public invited to be heard prior to it being called by the clerk may still press star three to sign up and speak on non-agenda items at the end of the meeting thank you well um un com gracias uh we are still u in the pandemic U I know that we're all tired of it but uh it is it is uh receding but not gone and uh I lost a friend two weeks ago I went to a funeral for um the gentleman who had succumbed to covid-19 and I like to have a moment of silence for all those who have been lost uh due to covid-19 or who are uh struggling to recover with that please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United stes States the jce uh need a a motion for the approval of a minute of the minutes from May 24th 2021 mayor uh mayor Pim uh first the executive session update oh I'm sorry um uh during the executive uh session we discussed uh two uh litigation and negotiations and litig litigation and property negotiation let me defer to the mayor protm on the last item yes thank you mayor and our last item was legal advice thank you um need a motion to approve the minutes from May 24th 2021 mayor uh council member moano so moved has been moved by council member aano seconded by guber uh council member guber to approve the minutes from May 24th 2021 uh discussion seeing no discussion with a click please read the uh role uh on the approval of the minutes from May 24th 2021 mayor I actually have a quick comment I'm sorry Council Mar yeah sorry and I I'm struggling to find it which set of meeting minutes I believe it's the the 24th but it's on page 11 11 um it's it says that the date the date is Mary 27 as opposed to May 27 just make that correction that's on okay all right um so the uh if friendly amendment to uh the the motion U as amended is that um acceptable to the maker of the motion absolutely very well uh then the question before is is the adoption of mayor council member HS thank you um I think it says that I was in attendance but I I know that I missed one meeting and I think it was that that one okay um then um is it acceptable to the Mak of can we check with the yeah can we just check with the clerk yes council member I will double check right now and and make sure if that was the meeting okay thank you yeah there sorry the PDFs are loading slowly on my East scribe so I'm trying to scroll as fast as I could um Also may if I can make an announcement I just wanted to remind everybody that we are doing testing with the Ebe voting system so you should see the items pop up on your iPad uh you can vote Yes No stain and so I just kind of wanted put that out there and see um just have get feedback from Council after this meeting on how it works um could could the clerk affirm whether or not council member hiltz was at the May 24th meeting yes mayor let me I'm I'm pulling up the attendance right now um while the clerk is doing that uh I'd like to without objection I'd like to move to the June 14th minutes um motion here uh council member moo move to approve 6B uh it's removed by council member cono seconded by Bergen uh mayor prend Bergen to approve the minutes from June 14 2021 a discussion as seeing no discussion when the clerk please call the rooll on the approval of the minutes from June 14 2021 council member Hils yes because I finally got my calendar loaded it was May 17 um which was study so yes okay council member bers yes mayor proen Bergen yes um but the voting online is for the other one FY we're voting on uh the June 14th 2021 minutes yes I'm just saying the mayate ones are showing up on our Ebe okay well if you can just answer the role on June 14th council member grber yes council member Gardner yes council member Lawson yes council member mudio yes council member Marano yes mayor cman yes council member CS yes motion to approve the minutes of the meeting on June 14th 2021 passes um uh let's go back to the um minutes of May 24th 2021 um with the cler please call the rooll well Is there further discussion on the adoption of the May for20 mayor counc yes sorry I'm trying to pull up escribe or wherever the Voting is um are you able to reflect the the changes um that we're discussed when you're asking for that virtual vote um city clerk oh yes I have to change I'm sorry eching page 11 change Mary to May is that what you wouldest yes sorry I'm just not I wasn't seeing it on the virtual boat is all but um oh no it it won't automatically but yes I will great okay um further discussion on the adoption of the minutes for May 24th 2021 uh see the cler please call the role on the adoption of the minutes from May 24 2021 mayor Koffman yes council member grber he's having difficulty getting on yes oh council member mudio council member kums yes council member bersin yes council member Gardner yes council member hiltz yes sorry about that Paul earlier council member Lawson yes council member marono yes mayor protm Bergman yes the motion to approve the minutes of the meeting on May 24th 2021 with the amendment passes uh public invited to be heard is is there public invited to be heard mayor we're we're checking right now and we do have a few individuals in the line to speak very well please proceed all right Eric Dennison you have three minutes go ahead great thank you good evening city council my name is Erica Dennison and I have been a proud aore resident for nearly nine years and I love our community we are less than an hour away from the mountains close to Cherry Creek State Park in diaa miles of outdoor trails and are culturally diverse as a minority majority City not to mention the great food local events and other something to in AA I wanted to comment on the development plan for the East Bank shopping center at the inter section of Parker Road in Quincy as I have some thoughts on this project and I hope the following are considered for 9 years I have shopped at a local pet store Pet Palace that is in the East Bank shopping center they've been independently owned and operated since 1993 nearly 30 years this new proposal affects small businesses such as Pet Palace and others in that area and I fear for their continued success the change has occurred due to the proposed development plan I've also read that there is no plan to remediate traffic in the area the traffic intersection in life at Parker in Quincy is already quite eventful Additionally the other traffic light on Quincy exiting the south parking lot of the East Bank shopping center is quite the challenge often you cannot turn right going west out of the East Bank shopping center going on Quincy because it's backed up the light at Quincy and Parker a traffic survey of that area could be helpful the intersection is already busy and I think pedestrian and bike safety need to be considered the north side of Parker Road does not have a pedestrian crosswalk there is only one on the south side if apartments are built tenants will lightly walk across or bike across Parker Road to enter Cherry Creek State Park via the Parker Road Trail on the west side of Parker Road the idea of no new traffic light additional Croc block or considerations for f future proofing the safety of pedestrians or bikers at this intersection is worrisome and lastly Cherry Creek State Park is already the busiest State Park in Colorado which I love adding 321 units 600 plus tenants and 500 more cars to that area seems not well out I can only imagine the congestion that will happen between that Half Mile Stretch between the proposed development and the north exit to enter Cherry Creek State Park off Parker Road I understand revital revitalization of this area needs to happen to reinforce Neighborhood Services housing and local businesses however I feel cting an apartment complex at this location is going to be a huge issue for many who already call this area home or a businesses run many thanks for your valuable time you next is test0 have three minutes past dhy go ahead you have three minutes hi Aurora city council um thank you so much for having um allowing the public to be here tonight to speak um I just wanted to um talk about the um array of Housing Solutions that different IP alties have um been using to address people experiencing homelessness and our unhoused neighbors um uh you know in I've been doing some research and um there are some municipalities like Denver and Boulder that um are actually committing serious human rights violations according to the Geneva um the Geneva meeting in 2014 they did a study um they released a a paper on um what qualifies as a serious human rights violation and in Denver we're um we're actually committing three human rights violations a week with each sweep um and and against hundreds thousands of those point of people um and and we're using taxpayer dollars to fund it so um this is just um me calling to say that there's other ways to address um you know people living on the streets one of them is to provide sanitation and trash pickup so that the encampments and the issues with encampments that we've SE in Denver at least um are mitigated and um and you know in Denver there's one 24-hour um public restroom so I'm not sure I'm I apologize I haven't done the research in Aurora but um there's not um if if if that is an issue as well I would just urge you guys to look into measures like providing public restrooms um and investing instead of um you know inhumane human rights violations I would um I would implore you guys to invest in public restrooms um trash pickups um water and safer ways that um respect the human rights and the Dignity of people experiencing homelessness um there's a lot of you know shelter only models that we're seeing around the Denver metro area um and in 2020 on December 29th um 2020 48 Street Shelter in Denver had a 32% positivity Co covid positivity rate so to ask someone to go into a shelter with covid still I mean we know the Delta variant is Raging um and and Governor polus denied uh requests twice um that M that mayor handos made to prioritize people experiencing homelessness to the vaccine roll out so we know that they're disproportionately um you know going to have issues with um with getting vaccinated um and even even so we are asking people to go into shelters to congregate shelters indoors and to lay their head down at night minutes okay thanks next is Linda White you have three minutes experienc homeless um there's a lot of you know shelter only models that we're seeing around theal area you are live with the audience you need to turn off the okay can I go right now you are live go ahead turn off your television okay my name is Linda White I'm a registered voter in Aurora I want you to know that I am in favor of the camping ban allowing homeless camping does economic damage to our city damages to our businesses and damages to the neighborhoods they are unsanitary unsafe and unhealthy to those of you opposing this ban I ask would it be okay if homeless camping comes to your yard to your neighborhood will it be okay with your neighbors Kent cities are a temporary answer not a viable Humane long-term solution I urge you to vote for the camping band thank you than you for the time to express my opinion all right thank you Michelle dnak sorry if I mispronounced your last name you have three minutes Michelle it's your turn three minutes go ahead hi can you hear me can go ahead hello I'm ready okay um hi thank you for listening to me speak tonight uh my name is Michelle I live in Aurora W one I'm a doctor at a physical therapy student at the University of Colorado on the medical campus in Aurora I'm here to speak on matters of Public Health um I'm asking Aurora City to one create a local eviction ban to protect your residents from being pushed onto the streets housing is an essential part of our Health um two I'm asking you to not cast the inhumane urban camping van that is medically proven guaranteed to create death as people die from heat stroke in the summer and hypothermia in the winter when their supplies are destroyed by police in sweeps this is known this has happened people have died in Denver dozens of people three create enough affordable housing that no one needs to live on the streets or in shelters in the first place address the fact that affordable housing wait list is years long are people supposed to be errupted because they are waiting on this list that you have created four provide designated sanctioned camping areas for those who do live in tents and are waiting to be put in affordable housing it is safe however five ensure these camps are served with adequate sanitation and Trash Services as these are human rights if the concern of other citizens is that that these are unan un um not sanation wise up to your par then the city should address that instead of Killing Them these are humans these are not these are not to be put in the back of your mind these are people these are humans um six related um I I again ask for you to expand the co-responder police units that have trauma informed social workers and mental health therapists ready to respond to crisises 24 seven instead of The Limited hours that they exist now this is a proven unit these co-responder units they are proven to prevent violence against aora citizens in police encounters um and um the more people that are pushed onto the streets after the eviction montori and the federal one is expired this will be an issue as we have more people trying to survive again I really advise that we have a local eviction ban to protect um anything from ensuing do not pass the urban camping bands create more affordable housing provide designated sanctioned camping areas and ensure they have adequate sanitation and Tra Services thank you for listening have a good night all right next is John Isel John you have three minutes joh go ahead you have three minutes uh thank you uh council members uh thank you for your time uh my name is John Isel I've been a resident for of Aurora for over 10 years but tonight I am here as a board member for aora Rise uh we are a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the victims of the aora theater shooting and remember those that we lost um recently as an extension of that mission we had begun a campaign for a new group special license plate for the state of Colorado um at the mid recent midnight vigil and also at the 720 foundations night to remember I talked with council members Mario kums and Marano and it was suggested that I call in to let the rest of counsil know about our efforts um unfortunately since we're doing this over the phone you know visually it's a little bit tough but the design of the plate as well as the commitment form and more information is all online at ww ww. aor rise.org Weise um if you eventually get to see it uh the plate has 13 stars in the sky one for each person that we lost the night of the theater shooting the Blue Ribbon is associated with W with victim's rights We rise in the middle is for all of us who were affected by the theater shooting and for everyone else who is dealing with the aftermath and criminal activity um this isn't just a memorial plate but uh proceeds from the plate would go to the state of Colorado's victim compensation fund so it would help future victims of uh crime in the state of Colorado uh in order to have this plate move on to the state legislature we need 3,000 commitments from state of Colorado motor vehicle owners currently we have 627 uh once it reaches the state legislature representative Tom Sullivan father of victim Alex Sullivan has already agreed to sponsor the plate I here simply to let the Aurora city council know about our efforts seek their support in any appropriate fan fashion and to answer any questions my name again is John Isel I can be reach that John aor rise.org and you can also go to www.or rise.org Weise for all the information once again thank you that concludes the public inv body to be heard the agenda uh I need a motion so it's been moved by council member Hil seconded by berens may I pretend Bergen uh to approve uh to adopt the agenda uh discussion I seeing none with a CLI please call the RO on the adoption of the agenda mayor cman yes mayor protim Bergen yes sorry trying to vote online council member Gardner yes council member Marcano yes council member bersin yes council member grber yes council member Muro council member lson yes counc counc member hilts yes council member yes the motion to adopt the agenda passes I needed a motion to adopt the consent calendar um items 10 a through uh 10f mayor motion to approve items 10 a through fove by council member Gardner seconded by R uh council member Gruber to approve item 10A through 10f discussion I see nothing with I'm sorry there's there discussion seeing nman cler please call a role on the adoption of the consent calendar items number 10 a through 10f mayor caufman yes council member bersin yes council member Lawson yes council member guber yes council member mudio yeah council member CS yes council member Gardner yes mayor proam Bergen yes council member hiltz yes council member Marcano yes the motion to adopt the consent calendar passes the time is now uh 7 o'clock um Council will stand in recess uh uh for five minutes reconvene to 705 for purposes of uh of uh making announcement for the public calling Council s in Rec recess res like to speak on a resolution or ordinance and have not already been screened please press Start three before the item is called by the clerk for those watching on Channel 8 please call 855-695-0683 and if you've already been uh spoken to an operator you do not need to press again thank [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the the August 9th meeting of the a city council is now called uh back into session um would the clerk please read the tile to item number 11a item 118 r221 d73 a resolution the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado setting the date of a public hearing on the petition for organization of the Windler business Improvement District number one and ordering the publication and mailing of a notice of such hearing open um presentation by S yeah good evening um this information will apply to 11a and 11 B the city has received petitions for the proposed wiler business Improvement districts numbers one and two these business Improvement districts are bids are part of the overall Windler development which is planned to be a mix of commercial and residential uses bids are able to provide different Services the Metropolitan districts such as economic development services marketing and advocacy in accordance with State Statute the items before you this evening are resolutions which will set the date for the public hear hearings on these items pending Council approval of these resolutions these items would move forward to study session on August 16th have the first reading of the ordinance and public hearing on August 23rd and the second reading on September 13th we have legal council for the district as well as members of the development team in attendance this evening should you have any questions thank you presentation by the applicant mayor Kaufman Christopher fellows on behalf of the applicant uh we're prepared to be responsive to council questions or make a presentation at your discretion uh not knowing if that's necessary I'd like to respect council's time and uh be responsive rather than bore you with details you may not need are there members of the public who wish to speak mayor there are no callar uh there questions uh by members of council mayor uh May foron so these that we're not really doing a public hearing we're just doing resolutions to set the public hearing is that correct that's correct this is just just to set the DAT for the public hearing y okay thank you are there further uh Is there further discussion if not public hearing is closed uh motion mayor move to approve council member grber that's been moved by council member G second by B council member bin uh to um approve U item number 11a uh discussion I seeing no no discussion um uh with the cler please call the role on the approval of item number 11 a council member yes mayor proam Bergen yes council member mudio council member mood yes council member Gardner yes Council M council member bersin yes council member Lawson yes council member Marano yes council member guber yes council member hilts yes the motion to approve resolution r202 1-73 passes now please read to number 11b item 11b r221 d74 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado setting the date of a public hearing on the petition for organization of the Windler business Improvement District number two and ordering the publication and mailing of a notice of such hearing we've already heard from uh staff and the applicant um is there a discussion uh on I'm sorry motion on on the adoption of item number 11b mayor move to approve 11b move by council member grber second by Bergen uh may I pretend Bergen to approve item number 11 B discussion by seeing none the question before says the adoption of item number 11b with the cler please call the role mayor Pro Bergen yes council member yes council member Gardner yes council member Lawson yes council member Muro yes council member bersin yes council member marono yes council member guber yes council member hiltz yes the motion to approve resolution r221 d74 passes now please read the title to item number 11 C title or item 11c R2 2175 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado expressing the Aurora city council support of the 12th Amendment to an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Aurora Colorado acting by and through as through its utility Enterprise and the urban drainage and flood control district doing business as Mile High flood District regarding design and construction of drainage and flood control improvements for first Creek detention Upstream of I70 in arapo County moot um brief presentation by staff uh this is Senda and I'm here on behalf of Sarah Young and uh this project uh stemm from um uh a study done by The District in Aurora and and the city and uh we found that we needed to do some additional detention in uh on first Creek and uh we had uh a lot of uh Alternatives and uh what this amendment is doing is continuing to fund the project so that uh this District Andora can have enough money for for the construction of the project uh if this amendment is approved uh the total project cost or total Project funding available will be in the order of 8.5 million motion motion mayor council Mell thank you sir move to approve 11c moove by council member marono second bys second by council member KS to approve item number 11 C discussion see n the C please uh call a rooll on the adoption of item number 11 council member hilts yes council member grber yes council member Muro council member Marano yes council member Lawson yes council member yes mayor proam Bergen yes council member bersin yes council member Gardner yes the motion to approve resolution r221 d75 passes you I will hand the virtual gavl over uh to the mayor protm for purposes of considerating item number 11 D thank you mayor um item 11d if the clerk could please read uh the item item 11d r 202176 a resolution of the city Council of the city of Aurora Colorado expressing the Aurora city council support of the Tri County Health Department staying in t discussion thank you madam Pro I think that um I'm I'm certainly hoping that um Tri County Health will will stay intact I I know there's a discussion to uh break it apart in fact into into three uh potential pieces uh uh for the three uh counties that uh Tri County represents uh in terms of providing Public Health Services uh and I think that would be a bad decision for several reasons first of all I think it would be uh definitely be an increased cost to the taxpayers uh Aurora is in all three counties and uh by having to create three separate bureaucracies um that would would simply add cost to the taxpayers and businesses alike who who pay fees for the services secondly I think you've got a greater depth of um expertise in a larger organization and third I think uh it was a very difficult process to help us you know to help us navigate through a pandemic and there were a lot of unknowns I think they grew as we grew uh during this process and they allowed more flexibility uh towards the end uh that reflected the different I would say political cultures between the three County um Boards of commissions uh that that um make up uh the Tri County Health the each County uh Board of Commissioners appoints three um uh members to the nine member Board of um of Tri County um um public health department and I really believe that uh they they grew into this uh again uh through sometimes trial and error but uh I really appreciate all that they did to to bring us to the part the point where we are now and think it would be a big mistake to break them apart with that I would ask for a yes vote than you further discussion questions or discussion I have one mayor um know we had received um an email from Douglas County Commissioners uh they were not in favor of us doing a resolution that included them and so I just want to clarify that this resolution is requesting that that is expressing the city's support of Tri County staying intact um but it does not so I guess we're we're not allowing for Douglas County to I guess they could have their own resolution to stay intact well um part of uh Douglas I mean part of Tri County Health and part of the city of Aurora is in Douglas County and so again that's why staying attack and and I do believe uh I know that the Commissioners were very frustrated sort of Midway through the process uh that didn't allow for the kind of flexibility I think they had at the end you know later on in the process uh where you know they were allowed to go their onway and a number of public health issues um you know the Tri County Health uh H first of all has to meet the requirements set by the colado department of Public Health and the environment they can go beyond that but but I think they showed you know great flexibility towards the end unfortunately that was after the fact where uh some of the County Commissioners had already pledged that they were going to go their own way I get the Heat of the Moment but the fact is Douglas County taxpayers Aurora being part of it are going to be paying more for this decision without getting better service and so I I just think it's a mistake and I hope they reconsider further discussion and then I'll make one more point because I do have Douglas County in my ward um and I did hear from businesses that were very uh frustrated with the fact that right next door um in Lone Tree Parker businesses at one point were able I think to operate under a different standard than than uh they were and so I just want to say that by uh supporting this resolution does not um does not take away the fact that I I understand their frustration and I I also agreed with them that they should not be put into the same boat as the entire um Arapaho you know arapo County Adams County Douglas County bucket that I think there were significant differences in cases in hospitalizations that I thought some exceptions should have been made any further discussion okay uh then we can go ahead and call for the vote mayor Pro we need a motion oh sorry we need a motion thank you mayor Pam yes council member marono thank you move to approve 11d okay and do we have a second second council member KS thank you any any objections okay uh if we could then call for the vote council member kums yes mayor proen Bergen yes council member Lawson yes council member bersin no council member Marell yes council member moodo council member mudio yes can you hear me yes yes thank you council member Gardner yes sir council member grer yes council member Hils yes the motion to approve resolution r 202176 passes I reclaim my virtual gel and with a CL please read the title item number 11e item 11e r221 77 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado expressing the Aurora City council's approval of the Cooperative agreement for Generation wild Northeast Metro coalition goo grant program implementation um a brief presentation by staff thank you mayor cman and city council this is Brian Green I'm here on behalf of Pat Schuler manager of open space and natural resources Aurora through our naturalist team are part of a coalition of cities and nonprofits who administer the Northeast Metro Coalition providing goo Grant funded outdoor education programs to underserved communities in Northwest Aurora Denver and Commerce City this Cooperative agreement sets out the terms of how we work together with those other communities to provide these Services motion mayor council member uh move to approve 11e removed by council member seconded by HS uh council member Hils to approve item number 11e discussion mayor uh mayor Port does does this um does this have an annual appropriation I see that it says the city's contribution will be 5,000 annually so is this something we approve every year yes council member Bergen this um is was approved by Council in February 2021 and approp and then it is then appropriated by you annually thank you further discussion uh See n with please call the RO on the adoption of item number 11e council member I didn't hear who was the name what was the name council member grber yes mayor proam Bergen yes council member hilts yes council member Lawson yes council member moodo moodo yes council member Marcano yes council member bersin yes council member Gardner yes council member kums yes the motion to approve resolution r221 d77 passes with the clerk now please read the title to item number 11 F item 11f r [Music] and flood control improvements for Westerly Creek at Alam and Dakota Avenue a brief presentation by staff thank you Council man and Council um this project again stems from um uh a study conducted between the city and the district and uh basically uh the storm sewer in alamida near Dakota Avenue is undersized and uh has to be upgraded and uh the the first part of this the first uh part of the funding uh which we're requesting uh 300,000 from the city and 300,000 from the district is for the design and then uh if we have any money left over uh we willo uh apply that to the construction and uh we will be back with an amendment to fund the construction motion mayor May B uh Council B thank you move to approve 11 f move by Council BS second or buy second or buy I'm sorry two people win at once ber uh second by May Bergen discussion I seeing no discussion with the clerk please call the role on the adoption of item number 11f council member group yes council member Lawson yes council member moodo council member hiltz yes council member Gardner yes council member bersin yes council member kums yes council member marono yes mayor proen Bergen yes the motion to approve resolution r221 78 passes the claring please read the title to item number 11 G item 11g r221 79 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado expressing the Aurora city council support of the city of Aurora Colorado funding we cycle with Community Development block grant covid-19 funding for their proposed activities during the year 2021 um brief presentation by stf yes good evening Council and mayor this is Rodney Milton Community Development manager this is a resolution to enter into an agreement for $128,800 of cdbg CV funds a part of the city's response for covid-19 to we cycle Aurora nonprofit for the provision of diapers uh Youth Services wipes and other Co related needs uh motion mayor counc thank you sir move to approve 11 G mov by counc Mar second by council member Mar to approve item number 11 G uh discussion mayor uh mayor p uh yes it sounds like a really good program and especially that it is aora nonprofit organization do we get any itemized um list of who gets the supplies all of the cdbg CV contracts do have performance measures they do have um uh quarterly reporting requirements and so yes we do have beneficiary information that is collected these are federal dollars so they're collected yes so you have that documentation yes okay thank you so much no problem further discussion I seeing none uh seeing no further discussion with the clerk please uh call the role on the adoption of item number 11g council member hilts yes council member Lawson yes council member mudio m yes mayor proen Bergen yes council member Marano yes council member bersin yes council member Gruber yes council member Gardner yes council member yes the motion to approve resolution r221 d79 passes will clar now please read the title to item number 11h item 11h r221 d80 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado expressing the Aurora City council's approval of the Community Development block grant agreement between the city of Aurora Colorado and Aurora arapo battered women's shelter in doing business as Gateway violence Services uh brief presentation by staff yes good evening again this was a resolution to enter into an agreement to renovate the facility for aora rapo battered women shelter in the amount of $300,000 in cdbg uh funds a motion mayor council memberes um move to approve 11h I been moveed by council member Kum second and by by council member grber to approve item number 11h discussion mayor uh mayor Pam just uh question also this is the excellent program uh and I know uh we can't disclose the facility but in renovating are they adding um adding facilities or just it's just total renovation correct this is a renovation in the interior renovation okay thank you further discussion I seeing none uh will the CER please call the role on the adoption of item number 11h council member Lawson yes council member moodum yes council member Hils she put in the chat that she had to step away but voted yes on escribe council member kber yes mayor proam Bergen yes council member Gardner yes council member marono yes council member bersin yes council member kums yes the motion to approve resolution r221 -80 passes with clar now please read the title item number 11 I 11 I r221 d81 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado expressing the Aurora city council support of the 2021 winter round affordable housing Gap financing program funding recommendation for Habitat for Humanity of metro Denver a brief presentation by staff absolutely this is a resolution enter into an agreement for the amount of $450,000 in federal home dollars that is for Habitat for Humanity of metro Denver for the acquisition and renovation of permanently affordable housing of up to about 10 units motion mayor council Mar thank you sir move to approve 11 I so move by council member marono seconded by M you second by council member Mario to approve item number 11 I discussion I mayor council member m thank you sir uh just quick C clarification Rodney you said 10 units I thought that there was more than that this is for this this is this uh tranch of funding this is Mountain View right yeah okay gotcha thank you for the clarification no problem further discussion yes mayor uh mayor PR so the 10 units would be in Aurora correct that is correct okay thank you further discussion b c bin thank you um have we had neighborhood meetings on this on these proposed units I believe we have however this is related to the funding portion so I'm not certain this is for the acquisition and renovation right but if the neighbors I mean if there was strong resistance to it we would have to go back and talk about it the funding is for the activities and so they could be within the entire city okay thank you no problem further discussion I seeing no further disc discussion with the cler please call the role and the adoption of item number 11 I council member bersin yes Council member Hils yes council member Gardner yes council member moodo mudo yes council member yes council member Marano yes council member Lawson yes mayor proam Bergen yes council member grber yes the motion to approve resolution are R 2021 d81 passes uh we C now please read the title to item number 11 J item 11j r 2021-22 private activity Bond allocation to the housing authority of the city of Aurora do doing business as Aurora Housing Authority um brief presentation by staff yes this is a resolution for the assignment of the city of Aurora's 2,507 N7 in private activity bonds to the Aurora Housing Authority PAB funds will be used for the following projects that will come before Council pending other low-income housing tax credit rewards that's the Royal housing authorities project at Poria Crossing for 100 units uh proposed 100 units for 13 million that's Archway investment Corp with green leaf Villa verie at 4 million this is a preservation deal preserving 84 units of affordable housing and it's a zoko Community Development uh group for 4 million at 15 South Sable that is a Transit oriented development project that will is proposing 154 units uh motion mayor uh Council Coes move to approve item 11j move by council member mum second and by second excuse me council member mcconell to approve it number 11 J you have a discussion I seeing no further discussion with the clerk please call the role and the adoption of item number 11 J council member yes mayor proam Bergen yes council member Gardner yes council member bersin yes council member marono yes council member Lawson yes council member grber yes yes council member Hills yes council member moodo M yes the motion to approve resolution r221 d82 passes will the clerk now please read the title to item number 11k 11k r221 d83 consideration to approve a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado approving an in governmental agreement between the city of Aurora Colorado and arapo County Colorado for a coordinated election to be held November 2nd 2021 a brief presentation by staff yes mayor this is Katie um this is going to be the IG to um work with aapo County for the coordinated election on November 2nd 2021 there is um an additional section that was added per request from the study session AO County did add the county shall make a available all election notices data and related information to candidates candidate committees and interested parties simultaneously are as close to the same as practical so that is the only change from the study session to this IG um Council gber thank you thank you the reason I had asked for that was because at our last election in 2019 uh the county clerk uh Joan Lopez uh decided that she wanted to make a change to the date of the publication dist or the ballot distribution so she told everybody that the ballots were going to go out on a Monday uh and then later she made a change where she notified the Democrats uh that the ballots were going to go out on a Friday without telling the Republicans I think that several of the folks on the left published that on social media which is how we found out that was damage that we could not undo uh given the fact that the um uh the folks on the left had had a knowledge that people were going to have so that's what caused the uh the change I'm glad to see the changes were made mayor sorry did I already ask for a motion on this no mayor council member CS why don't we do the motion and then we'll go into discussion I'm sorry if I forgot to do the motion uh uh motion mayor move to approve 11k move by council member K second by ber uh May beran uh to approve it number 11k discussion mayor can we just get some kind of documentation demonstrating any change to the time that the ballots went out because this keeps being said and repeated um and I don't recall any changes to the dates of ballots being released in 2019 I think they were pretty consistent and published well ahead of time so I don't want us to be having these conversations on the public record claiming that our city clerk uh or our County Clerk uh was cheating essentially when I don't recall any such changes so if that's going to be published in our minutes and on the public record I'd like us to have some kind of documentation of that change please further discussion mayor Dave grber may I respond uh C okay so the only thing that's out there saying that it's been released were a number of candidates I think council member kums uh was running in that election uh but as several of the candidates posted that the information was sent out earlier so the county clerk Joan Lopez did not send a note out to everybody saying I've Chang the dates when the pallets are going to be mailed uh she simply made the change and informed the folks on the left and the folks on the left put it on social media so there's not really a report where uh uh the county clerk Joan Lopez announced that she violated the rules there was only the fact that she did as identified by the social media of the of the candidates that were running further discussion mayor council member CO as far as I recall the dates that people said ballots were coming out were the dates that had been published prior to that point saying that the ballots were coming out so that's my concern is that there's a claim that somehow the dates were changed and I don't recall that happening so unless there is some kind of documentation that there was one date published and then a different date published I again don't think we should be making these kinds of claims on the public record mayor mayor Dave here may be on mute oh council member so just in response that I think the minute should reflect the positions that I have said I think the minute should reflect the position that council member kums has said and um so that way the minutes are accurate further discussion mayor mayor Tim um I'm trying to recall that time but I remember the dates were changed and it I think they came out the ballot came out a couple days earlier than what was anticipated is what I recall further discussion bers council member bers thank you can you tell me where in this uh resolution the that where it's been added that the information will come out I'm I'm looking at it I don't see it anywhere St it is added to um section 2.02 County responsibilities um item BB it's on page eight page eight thank you Rachel okay thank you further discussion seeing no further discussion discussion the question before us uh is the adoption of item number 11k with the cler please call the rooll council member coms yes council member bersin yes council member marono yes Council CC member hilts yes council member guber yes council member Gardner yes mayor proam Bergen yes council member Muro Muro yes council member Lawson yes the motion to approve resolution r221 d83 passes um with the clerk now please read the title to uh item number 11 L item 11 L r221 184 consideration to approve a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado approving an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Aurora Colorado and Adams County Colorado for a coordinated election to be held November 2nd 2021 uh brief presentation by staff may this is Katie uh this is the IG with Adam Adams County for the coordinated election on November 2nd 2021 there was verbiage added to this IG as well um under Section 2.01 County responsibilities item s the county clerk shall make available all election results notices data and related information through the Secretary State electronic portal where it may be viewed by the general public no election results information will be made available in advance of that release to candidates candidate committees or any other interested parties um motion Council M thank you sir move to approve 11 L move Council moo second and by second second by council member LW and approve item number uh 11 L um discussion mayor seeing no discussion with the c please call the role in the adop oh I'm sorry mayor Pro yeah I just on on this one um from the last election with Adams County I recall there was a mixup on precincts um between Ward I think it was four and five were were uh transposed or whatever on the ballot and I can't recall how they corrected it I think they had to send out like an additional ballot if I recall but I guess it would be addressed in the IGA correct yes mayor Pro and we actually have our it and planning department working with Adams County to verify the voter registration and um not the V I'm sorry the address confirmation to make sure that all the wordss and addresses are correct and so I can update you that in an email and I'm sorry I I read the section for Douglas County this one was Adams County a we actually did not make any changes to this IGA so it is the same one from the study session with no sections added okay thank you um is that uh for the makro of the motion uh is that acceptable yes council member okay very well and mayor yes please proceive thank you sir yes um I did want to I think just clarify uh mayor pretend Bergen just for the Public's uh benefit as well the issues with Adams County were I think the at large ballots said only choose one or something like that it said they you couldn't choose two so they had to reissue a significant amount of ballots and who knows what what impact that had and the area that you're discussing I don't recall if they reissued ballots forward four orward five or if they just uh saw that the precincts had been drawn incorrectly for some time and let it play out that way and maybe um that's something that the clerk um Can comment on if they're in the no iify um yeah so actually what the issue is is there is one pre Precinct that is split between WS four and five which I hope gets fixed in redistricting because it's a very weird Precinct that wraps all the way around the entire Cherry Creek Reservoir in a way that basically those people are not contiguous to each other except in so far as they all around the park um but what they did do actually was I believe reissue a small number of ballots to Ward five residents who had received ballots that said or that had W four information on them um so that's what had happened and again I hope we do fix that because it's a very strange Precinct that doesn't make a lot of sense further discussion seeing none the question before say the adoption of item number uh 11 L um with the cler please call the RO council member Gardner yes council member grber yes council member kums yes council member Marano yes council member hiltz yes council member bersin yes mayor protm Bergen oh yes sorry council member moodo yes council member Lawson yes the motion to approve resolution r221 d84 passes clear now please read the title to item number 11m 11m r 202-8542 election the verbage the county clerk shall make available all election results notices data and related information through the Secretary of State electronic portal where may be viewed by the general public no election results information will be made available in advance of that released to candidates candidate committees or any other interested parties that was added to section 2.01 under County responsibilities item s uh motion mayor council member mono to approve 11m been mooved by council member cono seconded by Bergen May Bergen to approve item number 11m discussion I seeing no discussion the question before us is the adoption of item number 11m with the clerk please call the role council member Maro yes mayor proam Bergen yes council member moodo moodo yes council member yes council member Gardner yes council member Lawson yes council member Gruber yes council member bersin council member bersin council member hiltz yes the motion to approve resolution r221 d85 passes and she uh sorry mayor council member bersin voted yes on escribe okay very well uh the time is now 752 Council will stand in recess until uh 7:57 giving staff uh the time to do an announcement for the calling line uh Council now stands and recess residents who would like to speak on an ordinance and have not already been screened please press star three before the item is called by the clerk for those watching on Channel 8 please call 855 695 3475 to be connected and then press star three council is taking a short five minute break to allow for any additional speakers to sign up again please be patient and stay in the line until the operator is able to take down your information as long as You' have heard a The Prompt after pressing star three and can still hear the music hold you are in line to speak to an operator and if you have already been screened by the operator you do not need to press star three again thank [Music] you [Music] n [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] uh the time is now uh 7:57 um with the clerk now please read the title item number 12 a item 12 a 2021 d27 for an ordinance of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado approving the second amended and restated service plan for wh Metropolitan District number one and Consolidated service plan for the W Metropolitan District numbers 2 through 10 and authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Aurora Colorado and the districts uh presentation I'm sorry um the public hearing is now open presentation by staff yes and I would just like to say on all the districts this evening we do have uh legal representation as well as members of the development team for each respective District here for questions um regarding the wh districts they are located southeast of harvest and uh I'm sorry southeast of 56 West of harvest and east of Picadilly Road the of the district will be 236 Acres with an additional 627 acres in an inclusion area the district will consist of a mixed use and residential development and the population projection is anticipated to be 5,625 residents wish the speak as well does the applicate with the speak as well uh mayor and Council Christopher fellows again getting to be like a paper weight on your desk uh on behalf of the districts this is a part of the Windler uh master plan community that we've spoken about before bringing two of the Windler districts that were approved in the early 2000s uh kind of up to date and up to code with uh new new standard uh uh District policy of the city and some of the newly adopted things by the state legislature and part of the Windler master plan that we've discussed and I'm ready to answer any questions as needed thank you uh are there members of of the public that wish to speak mayor there are no members of the public on the line there questions uh by members of city council seeing none uh the uh public hearing is is now closed uh motion mayor move to approve 12a it's been moved by counc member gr seconded by Council second by council member B to approve item number 12a uh further discussion I saying none uh would the clerk please call the rule on the adoption of item number 12a mayor protm Bergen yes council member hilts yes council member moodoo council member mudio yes council member guber yes council member Gardner yes council member Lawson yes council member marono yes council member bersin yes council member Kum yes the motion to approve ordinance 2021 d27 passes now please read the title bem number 13A item 13A r221 d86 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado approving the service plan for the Buckley yard Metropolitan District numbers 1 through two and authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Aurora Colorado and the districts public hearing is now open presentation by staff the Buckley yard Metropolitan District numbers one and two are located at the southeast corner of East alamoo Drive and South Airport Boulevard it is approximately 37 acres in size and is projected to be a residential district with a population of 598 residents does app wish this speak good evening Mr Mayor and Council it's Kristen bear with white and inkley uh I don't have a prepared presentation for you this evening but would note that this is a service plan that's consistent with your current model no deviations have been requested uh nor have we received any objections to the service plan I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have are the members of the the public I I'm Sor are there members of the public that wish to speak mayor there are no members of the public um questions uh by members of council uh seeing no questions by Council the public hearing is now closed a motion mayor um council member thank you to approve a move by council member bers seconded by seconded by council member guber to approve item number um 13A um discuss discussion seeing n when CL please call the role in the adoption of w number 13A council member Gardner yes council member clums yes mayor proam Bergen yes council member Lawson yes council member bersin yes council member hiltz yes council member Gruber yes council member marono yes council member moodo m yes the motion to approve resolution r 2021-22 d87 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado approving the service plan for the eastband Metropolitan District and authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Aurora Colorado and the district uh public hearing is now open presentation by staff the East Metropolitan District is located at the southeast corner of South Andy Circle in South Tower Road the initial size of the district is 0352 Acres with an additional 9969 acres for their inclusion area this is a residential district with a population projection of 230 residents uh does the is the applicant wish to speak is the applicant present uh good evening uh mayor Paula Williams with mcti Becker and we just want to note that the service plan is consistent consist with the model we haven't received any objections and we're happy to answer any questions that Council may have thank you is there anybody um um from the public that wishes to speak mayor Koffman there are no members of the public wishing to speak thank you um questions by councel of the of the staff or the applicant by seeing none uh the public hearing is now closed uh motion mayor uh mayor ber motion to approve 13B move by um May Bergen seconded by bers second by council member bers uh to approve item number um 13B um discussion seeing no discussion will the clerk please call the role on the adoption of item number number 13B council member marono yes council member kums yes council member m m yes council member bins yes council member kber yes council member Lawson yes council member Gardner yes council member hiltz yes mayor proam Bergen yes the motion passes to approve resolution number r221 d87 with now please read the title to item number 13 C 13 c r221 d88 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado approving the service plan for the Blue Eagle Metropolitan District numbers 1 through 5 and authoriz iing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Aurora Colorado and the districts uh public hearing is now open uh presentation by staff Blue Eagle Metropolitan districts numbers one through five are located west of North Hudson Road between East 26th Avenue and East kfax Avenue the district's initial boundaries are 406 Acres with an additional 114 Acres of inclusion area and this will be a commercial district there there is no population impact on this presentation by the applicant good Mr Mayor members of council this is Blair de honer with white and ankley I'm representing the applicant I do not have a formal presentation but the service plan we've submitted is consistent with your model service plan and we have received no objections to the service plan uh does any does anyone um does anyone from the public uh wish should be heard mayor there are no members of the public wishing to be heard uh are there questions from Council of the staff for the applicant I seeing none a motion may move to approve 13 C it's been moved by council member grber seconded by Gardner second by council member Gardner to approve item number 13 C uh discussion I seeing no further discussion with the clerk please call the role on the adoption of item number 13c council member hiltz yes council member guber yes council member bersin yes council member kums yes council member Marano yes council member Lawson yes mayor proen Bergen yes council member Gardner yes council member Muro muo yes the motion passes to approve resolution r221 d88 the CL now please read the title to item number 13d 13d r221 d89 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado approving the service plan for the mar marquest Airport Park Metropolitan District and authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Aurora Colorado and the district public hearing is now open presentation by staff marquest Airport Park Metropolitan District is located at the southwest corner of East 56th Avenue in North Haz Mount Road it is approximately 1573 three acres in size and it will be a commercial and Industrial District No residential population to be added presentation by the applicant good evening Mr Mayor and Council this is Matt rulin from Collins and Cole here on behalf of the applicant um we have no formal presentation but the service plan is consistent with the city's model and we've received no objections we are available if there's any questions though thank you is there uh anybody from the public that wishes to be heard mayor there are no members of the public on the line uh are there any U members of council that have questions of the of Staff or the applicant Dave grber council member grber this Runway is almost directly under the flight path of the uh I'm sorry this piece of property is directly under the flight path of the runways for the Denver Airport um what I would like to have a a statement of something acknowledging that um that this property will comply with with any of the regulations that the FAA imposes uh is is that your understanding is that what you intend to do most definitely we would have to comply with any regulations of FAA when we develop the property all right thank you uh further questions of uh staff of the applicant seeing none uh the public hearing is now closed uh motion mayor motion to approve item 13d sub moveed by council member Gardner second by second it's been moved by Council gner second by mayor P Bergen to approve em number 13d discussion seeing no further discussion with the clerk please call the role on the adoption of item number 13d council member Gardner yes council member Marano yes council member bersin yes council member KS yes mayor protm Bergen yes council member moodo yes council member guber yes council member hiltz yes council member Lawson yes the motion passes to approve resolution r public hearing is now open presentation by staff Overlook at Kings Point South Metropolitan District is located east of E470 and west of Aeros shaft Trail the size is 103.2 acres and this will be a residential district with a population projection of 609 residents uh presentation by the applicant good evening again Mr Mayor and Council this is Matt Ruland once again with K cochron Cole here on behalf of the applicant uh the service plan as with the previous hearings is consistent with the city's model there have been no objections and we available for any questions uh does anyone from the public wish to be heard mayor there is no one from the public wishing to be heard are there any council members that have questions of um staff or the applicant I seeing none uh public hearing is now close motion mayor mayor proam motion to approve 13e subm move by the mayor proam second by counc to approve item number 13e uh discussion I seeing no further discussion with the cler please call the role on the adoption of item number 13e council member Muro yes council member marono yes council member grber yes council member hiltz yes mayor protm Bergen yes council member Lawson yes council member bersin yes council member [Music] yes council member Gardner yes the motion passes to approve resolution number r221 D90 Tomy now 8:15 uh Council will stand in recess until um 8:20 to give uh time for the staff uh to um make an announcement for the calling line council is now in recess residents who would like to speak on an ordinance it have not already been screened please press star three before the item is called by the clerk for those watching on Channel 8 please call 855 695 3475 to be connected and then press star three Council has taking a short break to allow for any additional speakers to sign up if you've already pressed three and B screens you do not need to press three star three again please be patient and and stay on the line until the operator is able to take down your information as long as you hear a prompt after pressing star three you are in line to speak to an operator thank [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] uh city council is now back in session uh and I'm going to hand my virtual gavel over to the mayor PM for purposes of considering item number 14a you mayor um and could the clerk please read the title of 14a item 14a 2021 D28 for an ordinance of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado adding a new section to be numbered 94 through1 2 to the city code pertaining to prohibiting unauthorized camping on public or private property and adding article for sections 114 through 106 through 114-112 to chapter 114 pertaining to abing unauthorized camps on public property thank you uh do we have public invited mayor proam Bergen yes we do have members of the public okay so let's do we do that first before we do presentation okay Roger right taba you are first you have three minutes go ahead hello my name is Susan TABC and I'm here with my daughter Tanya tabat we are both here to voice our opinion on the homeless camping around our community we live in w three we deal with it a lot I am a Colorado Native and so as my daughter as as we feel that not all council members are representing their constituents instead voting their personal beliefs on the issue as a Union steward before I retired I was told personal hat and put on my constituent hat because I should not be voting my personal belief we didn't see the ability for a citizens to voice their opinion on the issue the first time we feel these people have not all lost their jobs due to co they don't clean up after themselves where do they go to the bathroom sit down sanitary and don't say they go to stores because at night stores are closed they don't pay taxes for the use of the city property like we have to I understand some might have Al issues they need to get help but many many because I bet them like their drugs and alcohol and like living for free what is bad you aren't supposed to little inora or Colorado there is a is an exception it says except is otherwise provided in section 33-18 per2 per and 42-4 D1 d146 Point hard point lering is a class two P Petty offense punishable upon conviction by a mandatory fine of not less than $20 nor more than $500 upon conviction what is s i i many people feel sorry for them I don't and those living in the vicinity of them or seeing them outside of businesses like best bu on the ramps under the bridges in my neighborhood because people in the Rie neighborhoods don't deal with it wow other states people coming from other states what do they think of it you have a chance to stop this I wonder how many of you have been C to do so like I said how many of you constituents approve how many of your constituents and have you asked them approve of this or it's just about your buing your personal feelings or the way your political party has told you to vote thank you again this is soon habit te War 3 living with KS constantly in my area have a great day and thank you for letting me talk bye all right next is Shelly mckitrick go ahead you have three minutes good evening mayor and city council my name is Shelley mckitrick I am here as a resident of aora and a registered voter in ward 3 I am also here as a sub subject matter experts National challenges create opportunities for Innovative change we have seen this historically dating back to the Great Depression through the 2008 Great Recession and today the covid pandemic Innovation is not criminalizing homelessness Innovation leads to improved quality of life and wellness for the whole Community camping banss are cruel and traumatizing cost a lot of money and simply keep people in survival mode instead of making progress those funds are much better spent on Housing Solutions I read the um the ordinance and it says that this ordinance does not discriminate against a class of people but an activity however everybody who is um experiencing Street homelessness is a are poor they're living in poverty and that is a uh economic class if additional shelter is to be added it cannot be a one-sized fits all along with traditional congregate shelter both sober and harm reduction models there must be non- congregate very low barrier safe spaces for those who are currently camping examples that have been shown to work are right here in our own backyard the Colorado Village collaboratives tiny home Villages model and their safe outdoor spaces have been highly successful in exiting people from homelessness and these are the same people that are on the sidewalks in Denver so um I object to the last caller's opinion um in addition to Safe outdoor spaces it sounds like we desperately need a safe parking program whatever organizations were to run these new programs need to have trauma expertise peer-to-peer services and a clear expertise in and working toward racial equity and their services does Aurora really want to emulate Denver with the sweeper and chief ruining people's chances of healing or does Aurora want to fast forward skip all of those non-effective un unethical and traumatizing Draconian practices and provide real transformative Solutions and I think I just last thing I want to say is I miss the days of Mayor Hogan uh he understood the the humanity and compassion needed and this ordinance is neither thank you okay next is Lauren you have three minutes go ahead yes hi I first moved to Aurora back in 1989 because it was getting too expensive for me to live where I was living so I took it upon myself to move across the country to be somewhere I could afford to live unfortunately I have watched Aurora go downhill particularly in the last 5 to seven years the homeless problem is one of the biggest and worst changes I know that homelessness is an issue in many cities I happen to work in a company headquartered in Seattle I have to go there four times a year I've seen that beautiful city become a disgusting Wasteland due to homeless camps in fact our company's looking to leave Seattle in part due to the homeless camping problem and the safety issues it causes I've heard people tonight talk about how these are people living in the camps and I totally agree but allowing or supporting camping is not treating these people with dignity we should not be supporting this Behavior I've also heard people talk about affordable housing what a useless idea affordable for whom someone making $10,000 a year or someone making $100,000 a year not everyone can afford to live where they want to live maybe they need to move elsewhere to afford to live like I did recently it was announced that Denver spends between 42,000 and $104,000 per person per year on the homeless I'm sure Aurora spends a number that is just as crazy in fact earlier on this call we heard you approve $400,000 for 10 homes through Habitat for Humanity a great program and another $8 million plus for low-income housing for that money we should be creating drug and alcohol rehab centers and mental health facilities for the homeless people who require those services and stop supporting any homeless encampments we should not be supporting car or RV Street camping either providing somewhere to live is each person's personal responsibility not the government's job I was told a long time ago that which you subsidize you'll only see more of and it's still true today you're just creating more of a homeless problem by supporting these camps I'd also like to ask for those of you who vote against this ban how many of you have opened your yard or your neighborhood to homeless campers unless you're willing to literally have this in your own backyard you shouldn't be voting for this for anyone else's yard or neighborhood thank you all right next is Frank scle go ahead you have three minutes uh yes uh uh I I I definitely um against this uh camping ban um people do not these are people um the last caller thinks it's a a responsibility but she won't have the responsibility to reign in the bankers and all and all the real estate and finance industry at Dora who are unregulated and do whatever they please so that they can raise prices at will so they can make the most money and the government won't step in and won't won't regulate them and they bribe all all our politicians including every single state legislators both Senate and rep representatives and she won't take any responsibility for that either but we have but you want more regulations on the poor people that you are literally creating into homelessness because you demand those high prices you're not doing anything to regulate those prices which are completely made up not supply and demand just made up you're you're harming people you're violating the Constitution there there's no reason to to continue to do this it's not working in Denver so why are you bringing it up now there's been lawsuit after lawsuit and the city every time the city of Denver has in their law comes comes with their lawsuits and has no answers for um in in the courts and you're not going to any when you get the court either thank you very much all right thank you we are checking on one other person if you'll give us one minute okay that concludes the U new speakers for 14a thank you um so next would be presentation by the sponsor thank you mayor Pam the this policy uh that we're going to be voting on tonight is both fair to are homeowners in this city uh whose greatest investment is is the home that they buy and it's compassionate uh to uh those who are living in the encampments first of all the current policy simply uh relies on uh code enforcement uh as a tool to Abate uh some of these encampments so that they have to rise to a level of being a threat uh to Public Health or Public Safety uh before they can be evaded and and that's a decision uh that staff makes there is no requirement uh in current in the current policy uh to provide an alternate location designated area for them to go to uh the new policy is very straightforward much more so than than uh Denver's uh ordinance uh because uh it simply states that unauthorized camping on public or private land is unauthorized it's illegal uh and it requires a 72-hour notice uh by the city before an encampment can be Abad and it requires us to provide an alternate location for them to go to council ought to be concerned about what that alternate location is uh irrespective of of what happens to uh this proposal today that we ought to be concerned about providing uh a mix uh of alternative designated areas for people experiencing homeless homelessness uh to go to it does not criminalize homelessness uh the penalties are stripped from from uh this this ordinance this proposed ordinance that uh that no one would be arrested um unless they refuse to move uh and so that's no different than that part is no different than this status quo uh because if uh it's determined by staff that uh uh an encampment is to be abated uh there is always law enforcement OverWatch providing security for those conducting the abatement and if somebody refused to move uh U they could be arrested that's that's under the current policy uh this is no different um again I think it requires an alternative location where our current policy uh does not uh I think what we should be concerned about not doing is enabling destructive behavior and and by supporting the status quo I believe that is what we're doing and I would ask for an I vote a yes vote uh on this proposed ordinance with that um May I pretend my yield back questions mayor PM yes um so I couldn't agree with the mayor more that we should care about the alternative regardless of what H happens with this ban and I think that's what folks have been saying this whole entire time that we've been having this conversation is that we don't need a ban in order to care and in order to provide an alternative location um and to provide Alternative forms of support for people um we could have this issue solved through Street Outreach for all except for those who would refuse to move if we had somewhere for folks to go and for those who refuse to move as the mayor admitted they would in fact go to jail and we know that that will cost more per person to keep the folks in jail than it would to house those same people and so that remains an issue with this proposal is that we're asking the county to spend more on jailing people than they would on housing them because some folks are going to refuse and those folks will end up in jail as was stated during study session further discussion council member grber I would like to ask I don't know who's representing the city on this whether it's a city manager or a deputy city manager could we determine that I would like to ask the city staff a question council member grber ma Jessica Pro are happy to take any questions okay thank you Jessica so in our backup material there was a sentence that said the city ISR currently using the interim business policy memorandum as the authority to aate unauthorized campsites on public property the um memorandum is a temporary measure that will terminate when the current state of disaster ends so given the fact that uh the authority to Abate the camps will go away sometime within the next few months uh what is the process to determine which camps you're going to um to obate Tim Joyce would you be willing to weigh in on this I know we've had this conversation at the staff level did you want me to weigh in on this is I heard yes please okay the I don't see that the interim BPM ends when the the co disaster declaration ends or or when the the CDC declares an end to the pandemic the ibpm can stay in place as long as we need it the ibpm is couched in terms of we need to keep the people in camps to avoid the spread of covid but the policy still allows us to aate camps under certain conditions like when there is a a public health emerger issue or a criminal issue so okay if I could follow up on that then the the issue is still I mean the title is interim by definition it is interim and at some point it will end uh without a legal ordinance or an ordinance defining the law uh from Council um when the interim goes away will the city have any authority to Abate uh the camps that are springing up uh through all through many of the wards that's a very difficult question to answer um okay I think you just answered it and the fact of it is is that what this ordinance will do is it will create the law that will give the the city uh the authority to uh to close the camps um again it would be uh uh based on the fact that there's a place for the campers to go they don't have to go to the city Camp they just can't stay where they are and and if they do stay at they are their their camping material will be removed but again the the camp would be closed under this law uh so and then if I could one more mayor Pam go ahead so there was another statement in our read Ahad package it said over the past year there are more than 900 complaints uh related to the encampments um about half of which were vehicle encampments or vehicles but as far as those those complaints go uh I guess my question is are they coming from all of the war or primarily one Ward or what are you seeing as far as the spread of those in general terms I can answer that question council member um so what we are seeing is from all over uh there are no specific wards that are pinpointed in in those requests for service from our homeless Outreach team but rather um from all over different parts of the city so again I guess I would conclude with the statement then that um first off the city lacks the uh Authority given by a city ordinance uh to take actions on these second we're receiving um hundreds many hundreds of calls uh from through throughout the city to deal with this I think that uh the mayor's plan to have a place for them to go a Humane place for them to go that would provide uh you know sewage water uh and wraparound Services is the right statement in other words there has to be a place like that before the ordinance would be applied apped to anyone um and by doing that we would be able to resolve the issues that have been identified by our residents as well as by our business Community okay did you need a response council member Gerber I do not okay you other comments discussion questions mayor P time yes council member Marano thank you ma'am uh so I just want to start by clarifying that we do not actually need an ordinance for the city to Abate camps that are hazards to health and safety the city as long as I have lived here has been uh abating camps based off of council requests I know that uh shortly after getting sworn in I had to deal with several camps off of Mississippi and 225 the juwel wetlands i225 in I and i225 and Parker uh this was before Co so the city has already and always had plan to uh be able to go out you know have a street Outreach do their thing connect the folks who are willing and then clean up the camps if they're actually dangerous uh but as we all know we're just playing whack Ando because those same camps pop up somewhere else so the ordinance as the mayor said by and large reserves a status quo but just speeds up the game of whack-a-mole which is not a solution and I feel I just want to apologize to everybody who's listening because I think y'all have been sold to build a Goods this isn't going to change anything if we pass this today you're still going to see homeless camps they're still going to pop up they might get Abit after we you know up our staff I guess is what we'd have to do uh figure out a way to get SE do to increase their enforcement um arm as well because I think they're currently lagging like what two to four weeks something like that um on abatements because this is a problem everywhere in the Metro all over the country as well but certainly everywhere in the Metro and they're over tax just like our own folks are because this is we're reaping right now the end results of horrible public policy around wages around housing and uh mental health and Healthcare gener speaking this is what happens this is your Market driven Society folks enjoy it so I want yall to understand that we are taking action we are working with our staff following best practices uh we are advocating for temporary solutions in the form of safe camping sites with wraparound services that is not the mayor's plan uh that is uh actually staff's plan that count that council is strongly supporting as far as I'm aware I think we actually have consensus on that which which is exciting uh and furthermore we need to actually invest in long-term Solutions which looks like permanent Supportive Housing through the housing first model and work first housing for those who are sound of mind and body and willing to engage in that which looks like Bridge house which is here in W four actually um and I do believe mayor unless uh if I'm happy to have you respond uh you are not in favor of permanent Supportive Housing is that correct I I'll put that in my con remarks okay thank you um so since someone else brought up political parties I just feel obligated to point out that to the best of my knowledge it was actually Democrats who pioneered camping bands um it's a failed policy I don't really care what your party is uh it doesn't work well it just sets taxpayer dollars on fire to accomplish absolutely nothing if you need a better example um then if you don't can't don't want to take my word for it drive over to Denver if you have lived in Seattle you already know if you've lived in Los Angeles you already know Houston uh got what else Baton Rouge you know just basically any major Metro uh this is uh they have something like a camping b or just straight up camping bands that are almost copy pasted in place nothing happens nothing changes they're still have huge UNH housee populations because the one thing that we know works is actually housing people again through housing first or through work first providing wraparound services and the hard part isn't you know figuring out how to do that it's building the political will to do that uh which leads me to my concluding marks um you know we we all have access to the same information we all live in the same area we all know what has worked for us and what has not and the reason the mayor's bringing this camping band forward he's already admitted it on right-wing radio is because it's a political Ploy because he wants a conservative majority in a liberal City and he's trying to make sure that he rils Folks up with these strong and wrong Solutions if you want to call them that uh that will absolutely not change anything um uh if they're implemented again Denver closest example just go drive around see how well that's worked out for them so I'm asking youall to vote no on this and instead support permanent support of housing housing first programming work first programming we know that works we know how many unhoused folks we have in Aurora we know how many unhoused folks are in the Metro we need to put pressure on our uh neighboring cities on our counties to make the same Investments that I'm hoping we will make so that we can actually address this issue at the scale and with the commitment it deserves we can actually get get ahead of this Pro uh problem and solve it but this is actually going to make it even harder to do that by setting taxpayer dollars on fire by burdening our staff further uh by wasting police time for OverWatch and by re-traumatizing the community and making it harder to actually reach out to them harder for those folks to actually trust us when we're trying to get them off the streets which I think is a goal that we all share so uh with that vote no thank you um other comments or questions mayor 10 yes sorry for of habit um thank you um you know I think we've all we've spent many meetings addressing the the clear political Ploy here um and you know want to re reiterate some of the the comments that I've made in the past I don't support camping bands because they are ineffective our neighbors in Denver have a camping ban have you been there lately we I see tent cities left and right I'm sorry if you do not accept that factually that does not work and that there's a clear example next door then I I mean I I don't know what else to say um I think that is the proof is right there but the proof is also in working with subject matter experts who know that this is not how we treat people and this is not how we get people into the proper services that they need to be successful in life um I trust that we listen to these experts subject matter experts to do what they know best um so you know for many reasons I don't support a camping band those are some of the few when we want to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars it is much more effective to build housing and creative housing options um for people to choose their personal choice about what's best for them how they going to get out of the situation that they are we need to provide Pathways so that people can be making that decision um and we're empowering them to do so um some of the the comments that I've heard that I think are really important is we have seen an increase in the number of reports in fact it's almost three times the amount as it was last year and it concerns me greatly I do not support you know unhealthy and unsafe environments for people um you know I think I'm hoping everyone here agrees to that um and when I think of when I pause and think besides my own philosophical and moral inclination um um I also have to think of are we actually trying to solve the problem or are we just putting are we just saying things that sound nice because to me a camping band feels like a false promise a camping band doesn't mean that there won't be other camps that come up it's going to create the false expectation that we can just sweep people away and then be done with it and that the problem won't come back the fact of the matter is is that Co has made this worst Co has made this situation so much so that the volume our staff can't even keep up with the volume and instead of focusing on this politically charged conversation I wonder why we didn't ask ourselves do we even have the capacity what you know internally from a staff perspective to address this I've had conversations with our staff and in fact we don't and I think a solution moving forward as opposed to this camping band is actually addressing the deficit in our staff capacity so that we're actually moving things forward and using professionals to do this work um I'd like to see that we have somebody who is equipped to address 900 requests in six months maybe 900 more in six more months um can we have the additional staff member to be able to handle that do can we have budget to properly Abate properties when there is a SE safety and health consideration to aate of property those are things that when I'm really thinking about actual Solutions and actually talking to our staff about how we resolve this that's the kind of solution um we need to be working towards and you know what we have millions of dollars coming in from the feds from the federal government to help us address our covid um situation this homelessness is a direct result of This Global covid pandemic and so I'd like to see that we're making a request of those funds for a staff position for monies tours abatement to actually get at a root cause which is a lack of Staffing and capacity to address this we don't need a camping band to know that we need proper staff to address the volume of calls um and to work towards moving people into different opportunities and I also want to be clear that this camping band is not a b benevolent or a caring cing band um the only reason why it's included that we offer alternative shelters is because that's the legal challenge 101 that's the the the legal challenge that the city in Denver runs into so the first question I asked our City attorney when I was looking into the legality of this that was his first response it's included there because we're trying to cover our ourselves legally not because we care caring is the investment that we've made as a city um over the past three years in our housing committee we have worked to do needs and assessments inventory of our housing stock and and invite subject matter experts to give us a a housing strategy recommendation and last December we passed that as a council and it's going to take time to be able to implement that but we're already seeing the immediate results of that planning and that strategy and that database that evidence-based policies that's why we're able to have safe camping sites that's why we're able to have safe parking sites it's why we're able to have a conversations around pallet homes as well so we can't ignore the reason why we're here is that we didn't invest in that before and that we do have a plan moving forward and that's the solution we work the plan we've spent millions of dollars on this plan and on staff time and then just to ignore that and not even see the results of that plan I mean it it's just it's frustrating that's not good process it's a waste of time on top of it already being ineffective so I'm I'm sure there'll be other remarks but I I just don't know how to be more clear that it's not effective um it's a waste of resources it's much cheaper to proactively House people and the city can already work towards addressing individual encampments um as we have in the past and if we need to hire somebody a hire additional staff member because that's what we have control over to be able to handle the 900 requests in the volume and to have somebody accountable for returning calls to our constituents and following up on how we're doing this that's what we need to do we not you know politically charge camping bin other comments mayor proam yes council member kums so to follow up on that point about staff capacity I think we also have to look at our service provider capacity I think you'll notice that we have not had a single service provider call in in support of this ban we've actually had service providers call in in opposition of this ban and I've spoken with other service providers who also oppose it for a number of reasons first of all they know that when people get swept it pushes them further underground into more and more dangerous places and it makes it harder for those service providers to know where people are going to be to find them to get them into housing if their name comes up on the housing list into shelter if there's space at shelters including alternative shelters not just congregate shelters it makes it harder to serve people when we are chasing them around taking their belongings and destroying the few items they have to protect themselves and keep themselves at all safe in an extremely difficult circumstance and so that's one of the reasons our providers do do not support this type of a ban um the other reason is because of actual capacity of the spaces when we invested in doubling our street Outreach team and piloting a safe camping space that safe camping space filled up very quickly because our street Outreach teams were able to talk to folks and talk to them about the fact that they would be able to get services and that they would be able to get on a list to be in housing that list to be in housing is way too long but it still gives them an opportunity it still gives them the ability to get evaluated and that's something that providing more services has done without a camping ban in place um the other capacity issue is just there's the claim that we can't enforce this unless there's some alternative and our staff are working on that alternative our staff have identified some sites but they don't just get to identify a site and then pop something up the next day they have to go through a site feasibility analysis they have to go through community outreach and they have to hire the staff or the contractor that's going to be in place to provide those wraparound Services wraparound services are not going to come into place overnight just because we pass a camping band they're going to come into place because of the due diligence that our staff have already put into working with our service providers and identifying resources that can fill some of the need but we have to be dedicated to providing for the rest of that need and right now our service providers have nowhere near the capacity to be able to follow up on that need just because we say you need somewhere for people to go um and so the result is for example if we wanted to say there's going to be dedicated space at kidas um kidas typically puts people in a lottery to stay there for 30 days because they understand that having that time to become stabilized and connected to Services is what enables people to move out of homelessness in a permanent way if we just say well we have some room at kidas so let's send them there but they have to be cleared out in time to put the next encampment folks in then they're not going to have that access to the 30day process that enables them to actually get connected to services and be stably housed and out of the experience of homelessness so what we're saying is we're going to potentially create a revolving door of shelter that can work for today tomorrow a couple days while we get ready to sweep the next Camp temporarily into housing that's all our current capacity of services can bear and so we have to have that commitment to addressing those service capacity issues and that has been somewhat demonstrated but not not demonstrated fully enough so we're saying that we're going to do something but what we need to do takes more time than just between now and the election which is the time frame in which folks want to get this done so they can say they did something or point the finger and say we couldn't do something because these other people didn't want to do it well the reason we don't want to do it is because it is not feasible we don't have the resources and it actually makes it harder to address the issue when we do have the resources and when we have undertaken that process okay discussion Curtis or sorry council member Gardner thank you um so what we're seeing here tonight is is a master class in building a straw man argument um I you know I've been pretty consistent um I think on this issue from the very beginning that a camping man is not a be all end all solution um you know I've over time have brought up several um I guess issues or or reasons why homelessness exists and and I think I think everyone in this group knows um it exists across the Spectrum the reason for um in one individual circumstances completely different um for the reason in a different one and you know I I brought this up um several months ago in a press interview and you know unfortunately mayor Kaufman decided to say that I I was against his camping man proposal in fact I was um but but what I really was was was bringing up these reasons that homelessness exists it's substance abuse it's veterans issues in PTSD its economic distress um you can go on and on and on there's a variety of reasons and so any council member um who thinks that they have the Silver Bullet if only we do this it will solve the problem um is incorrect and and and I would say the same about the camping band I I think this is another tool in our tool belt uh to address this issue um I think we've heard tonight that it sounds like almost every council member has been involved in an abatement and yet several of them are going to vote against establishing what we have in policy um in an ordinance uh I but again I think this is a tool that we can use uh to continue to address this issue I think you know anyone who's taken the time um to to investigate in the community have seen um horrific things that I I don't think we should continue to allow to happen um you know whether that's piles of hypodermic needles uh human feces um propane tanks spread along um Highway underpasses that that cause a significant concern for traffic if those were to explode um booby traps that have injured First Responders uh I could could go on and on um and and I don't know why we would allow that to continue um to be an option will it solve the problem uh forever of course not um we are going to need more services we're going going to continue to need to put resources into addressing things like substance abuse things like PTSD economic distress in fact the city of aora spends almost $8 million uh per year and that's an increasing number on on homelessness services and I I believe the number that I just recently saw was nearly $500 million half a billion dollars is spent metro area wide on homelessness services and so I I think it's important to point out that this isn't a a final solution and and and anybody that's telling you that well they're only voting for this because they think it's going to solve the problem but we know it's not that's incorrect um I think there's an acknowledgement from everyone that uh we're going to need to continue to put work um to to ensure that um everyone who lives in our city has an opportunity to thrive and I'm gonna jump in um are you finished council member Gardner I am okay thank you I'm going to jump in real quick um because we've had a lot of discussion and you know this is about trying to take care of the complaints that we are getting um from the businesses from the residents and we we do have to take care of all of our citizens um obviously we want to help those experiencing homelessness but we have an obligation and a responsibility also to um to homeowners and and those that are running businesses and that their businesses are not able to operate um you know because someone is uh possibly sleeping in front of their their doorway um I I think you know there's been talk about permanent housing and you know hick and Looper had that road I think it was called the road home program that he was going to end homelessness in 10 years and spent a colossal a colossal amount of money and it obviously it did not work there's still um a huge homeless uh problem in Denver and I I see this ordinance as a way to finally maybe acknowledge that there's this issue and and move forward towards Solutions the ordinance um does require that we have an alternative solution that we don't just move people from from you know without being able to put them somewhere else so I think this helps to possibly guide us towards um better policy to to solve the problem and and I know that you know our our staff that works on on the homelessness issues um do a great job our day Resource Center does a great job and the the key issue is how to improve people's lives it's not putting them in a house that's not going to solve their problem if they're a drug addict they need they need drug rehabilitation you know if they have mental illness they need um they need to get help for their mental illness and sticking someone into a home doesn't solve that and I think that's been you know there's been studies uh done by Heritage um organization that show that actually long-term results are not found to be um successful in some of those other programs so I think what we need to do is make sure that we're taking care of those citizens that have these complaints but at the same time move forward with looking for Solutions and I think looking for solutions that are actually going to improve someone's Liv other comments mayor May yes council member Lawson um thank you for allowing me to speak so you you kind of you said something and I want to bring this up alternative spaces alternative places and which is um in the ordinance but right now we only have one alternative place that's a pilot so where are people going to go I mean if you if you move people okay and I understand because I get the complaint and when people say oh you don't live in a neighborhood I'm we're surrounded by these camps I live over by 225 surrounded they've even come into the back of a school where I live so to say that I'm not impacted I am but what I'm saying is you have the mayor has on here if this passes or if this is approved you have alternative sites we only have one so you move somebody you're going to move these people where are they going to go okay they're going to go from one place to another if you walk in downtown Denver which I my parents were down there with me last week they're everywhere they're on Grant Street Sherman Street you go down you know Lincoln Broadway they move them they go place else and then they're not only in bigger camps they're in like little pockets everywhere it's not it's not doing anything they move them they go someplace else they move them they go some place and Denver has more a few more resources than what we do they have some shelters and things like that that but people are not going to those places and they probably don't even have enough room then you have to look jurisdictionally I mean mayor protim you told me last week that they brought in a busload of people and just dropped them in aora where I mean what's that that's an issue we don't have a place so where are people going to go and I see people think that this is a tool but at this point in time we don't even have a place for people to go so where do you think people are going to go we move them out okay we we might not have any place at kidas we don't have any place anywhere else that we have then they're going to go to another neighborhood or they're going to surround another area the 225 issue I know many of us got calls on that I did too and I mean we have to deal with Sea Dot that's State that's Sea Dot and state over there by the park by the the Cherry Creek Park area that's the state and when people if you put this in place there's people still going to complain because those camps are still going to be there because we still have to have those Partnerships with those those particular organizations and it's still going to be complaints and that's and underneath the under casses where people are that's where we've been seeing a lot of the camps as well not only in just in the neighborhoods and surrounding areas so my question is I just don't just just being in Denver and just kind of seeing what's going on there and just walking I mean walk not drive but get out and walk and actually see what's going on where people are at and how these camps how when they move them and I've seen a sweep they move them and they go someplace else and they go here and they go in front of people who pay thousands of dollars for their high-rise neighborhoods and they're sitting right in front of their neighborhoods right in front of their Town their um irises and they have no place to put them and they people and they're just everywhere and then we have the jurisdictional issue so I just don't understand where if this P if if this is passes where you gon to put people I mean it's where are you actually going to put people and I do believe that we need to have some safe sites I do remember when we were talking about the budget this hasn't came up I even asked why can't we add more in more money in our budget because I don't even think the budget that we have for abatements is enough to even kind of clean up some of these sites or to maybe add like something where we can clean them up so I I guess for me I'm just not understanding maybe the mayor can answer me where mayor Kaufman at this point in time with this ordinance where do you plan to put people if we don't have many places for them to go May BR I'll go at the end as a wrap up and of course if anybody wants to go after me that'd be fine but I'll let other people go first so I can and I'm taking notes so I can answer these questions so you want to take questions at the end because I'll have one which is are we actively looking for an a site and you want to answer that later okay well oh see if anybody else needs to go other comments or questions okay it looks like we over to you okay may um May then I'll proceed with a wrap up the uh uh first point is that oh this is course this is just status quo and uh it's a reflection of Denver's policy it's really not a reflection of Denver's policy Denver's or my initial draft was uh but I found it to be contradictory in the sense that Denver says we have a camping ban on one side but we're not going to invate until it rises to uh being a threat to uh public sa safety or um public health and so this is just very clear it says unauthorized camp camp in is simply unauthorized camping and uh it simply requires a 72-hour notice to do an abatement uh so when we so again Denver has a very different policy than what this policy is uh council member kums uh said that U people would be going to jail um that's nobody has yet has refuse to move uh when order to move and so uh I I simply don't see that being the case uh with this in terms of since you're there there's no penalties for uh being in EN Camp there it's only uh if you fail to move to a designated area today what the policy is is if you fail to move period because we don't give them a designated area but you just have to move uh and so um that changes under this policy but that I I just don't see that um the claim of incarceration is is holds true um then again I we ought to be um the you cannot Abate until not you can't Abate anything for each encampment that you Abate for those people you have to have an alternative location for them to go to could be safe camping could be um a variety of things I think one of the problems that Denver has had in its approach to homelessness is for a very long time they only provided one option and that was congregate shelter and with no other options and there are people that in an encampments that simply will not go uh into a shelter and so we have to provide additional options uh for them I think uh council member Marano uh raised the issue about whether I support housing first uh and he also mentioned work for first I support work first policy I I really think that uh our program ready to work that we support uh is a great program um it involves uh provides people uh it took an office building and converted the uh offices into into Living Spaces and converted the uh conference room into classrooms and provides work training provides work uh I think it's an extraordinary program and those are the program prams that our tax dollars are more effective in terms of of going to and so that's that's the approach that I like I again I think that the best anti-poverty program and this been has been said multiple times uh is a job standing on a street corner uh aggressively pan handling is not a job uh I think that there what one thing that is certainly not mentioned by the opponents today is the economic damage that that these encampments cost to our city uh you know cost to the businesses that that they surround uh cause the neighborhoods and so I think that that that is certainly a reason to have a policy in place which we really uh as council member Gruber mentioned we just have an interim policy uh in place um again I think if you in reading the reports by our Outreach teams uh that that um our employees of Mile High Behavioral Health that our city pays for that uh if you read those reports when they when they do the Outreach that that the majority of people that they come into contact with do not want to come over to the day Resource Center for services um they just want to be uh left alone but that that in fact is enabling uh their behavior um the uh council member Lawson and mentioned I think about Denver and and I think i' talked about that she also mentioned uh um SE do in a partnership but we currently have that partnership with C do and SE do will not Abate uh an encampment unless um um we have APD personnel there that's been in in process and in fact um and so uh you mentioned a stretch along um I think Von Way South Von way uh and CH Creek Reservoir um that was Abad before uh with a partnership between sedot and with AO County Sheriff's Department providing the um security OverWatch for that so I think that um that's certainly done um then I think the whole notion which really surprises me is that on one hand uh I think council members all for creating uh safe spaces uh for homeless people to go to but not if there's a camping ban that kind of surprises me of course we ought to feel obligated to do that and yeah I think it's the right thing to do and you're right Council M Mario that in fact to survive a court challenge you have to provide an alternative and I think again I think the problem with Denver is they only provided one alternative for a very long time and that was uh congregate shelters and so with that I would renew my vot motion for an I vote Yes mayor I I asked you a specific I know you answered my question about C dot okay but the question I asked you was if this is implemented where are they going to go that's my question to you that you did not answer sure my question is if you're we only have we only have right now we have kidas we have one pilot program that we're doing you move these individuals and the the thing is is that you're ask telling people that okay we're GNA move you and then they're going to move to someplace else where are where are you going to put them how are you going to address people that are just kind of put into our city as well what are you kind of addressing with that with jurisdictionally I mean you didn't really address my question on that you went ahead and addressed the SE do issue sure I'd be happy uh May PM oh sorry okay um sure and in fact we just gave a a cdbg grant to uh um let's see res restoration Christian Fellowship uh to do um I think they're doing uh safe parking uh but they own the land Jason and certainly they they're prepared to expand uh but but that is the responsibility of council to come up with some areas and so I think that that first of all I think we should have areas today and we don't uh but we ought to and it's much easier to provide services to people to provide sanitation to provide clean water uh to to help people if they're in fact in one area and not in Pockets throughout the city and so I think that uh absolutely we uh we ought to do this irrespective of what happens to to this ordinance uh but the the notion that this is too a high bar for the city council to do to uh to provide a designated area uh for people to go to uh that where their encampments are abated where today we don't we Abate their encampments U only we do it on the basis of a codee enforcement violation we provide no place for them to go and that's why they're just moving from location to location uh probably 50 yards away from where they were uh and so I think having a designated area is important for the city in terms of uh you know the the the kind of uh uh light that we see from these encampments that that uh uh moving into a designated area that would have again sanitation they would have places to to put their trash um and it would have be under some supervision uh is is is what we really ought to do again irrespective of what happens to this ordinance but I certainly hope it passes and I and but I I hope I've addressed your question mayor proam yes you kind of you kind of addressed it but again this this if this ordinance pass it goes in effect 30 days we don't have any place for the people to go so I'm my question is to Jessica PR 30 days can we find these sites that have to be looked at investigated to see if that we can do this stuff I mean it you still don't have places for people to go so you're just what you're G to do is you're GNA move the people out they're GNA go to this neighborhood you're gonna move the people out they're gonna go here you're gonna go you're G to continue the cycle of that and we don't have any place for them to go just before Jessica comes on the the is very clear very clear in this ordinance council member Lawson that it doesn't go into effect until we have a place it's very clear we don't Abate until we have a place for them to go to I know you're looking for a reason to vote no on this but that is not one mayor cofman I you you don't know I'm looking at the facts for myself you're not I'm not trying to make any reasons I'm trying to just provide other re reasons of where the people are going to go so my question to you you've answered the question Jessica can I ask you a question my question to you is how I mean the onus is on us from mayor Kaufman he says that we need to get this land I mean what's the hold up with that I I can speak to that um ccil member lawon this is lad this program manager uh we are currently in uh looking at the land opportunities that we have available to us um throughout the city and they are limited based upon uh the amount of land that we would need to utilize in order to put some of these sites up um we also need funding associated with those wraparound services and which we don't have currently um if something moves forward with our American Rescue act dollars we're more than willing to um put something into place um but the funding is definitely an issue as far as that's concerned at this point time as well I have a question do we Havey manager Roberto Vegas on the line or Jason Bachelor come on the line This is Roberto Vegas oh thank you um do have we looked at that you know where we had the well I don't know what it was called it was the warehouse that we used for the cold activation in the winter for nine months I believe um I know we ended that lease is there land attached to that land attached to the I'm not understanding question are we yeah to where the build where the warehouse was there was a parking lot if I remember correctly yeah I think that was all part of one property and one landowner that we used the entire property the the but I was all associated with the same lease uh was my understanding okay so is that not an option for us I don't know I would have to check with Jessica Atlant on that I don't think it was I think we ended that agreement I'm not sure if we could re-engage them I think we we could certainly explore that but at this point I think we were looking at other potential options for safe outdoor spaces and other sites C member Bergen or mayor proem that is being used for other purposes now oh okay you you know for me I I think this is a start this is um it's one way to take care of um I mean I understand what council member Lawson is saying in terms of where do they go because but I think this might be the impetus to get us moving in that direction to do something um and to to look at alternative sites because um as the ordinance says you they can't be abated unless there is an alternative for them so I I to me this is just a starting point other questions discussion before we vote P time uh council member kums and then council member marcoo um yeah so I just wanted to address the mayor's statement about the uh reading the street Outreach notes it's not that the majority of people don't want resources they don't want to go to the day Resource Center that's a space to go during the day um because they don't want to leave their stuff unattended but they all not all but many people Express an interest in receiving case management in receiving Housing Services in having access to Alternative camping but most recently they were told they couldn't because it was full um so yes we should have additional alternative camping sites but as staff just noted they're in the process of identifying those sites and the amount of sites that we have available are limited and take time to stand up and take money to stand up the council has not yet committed so we're saying we're going to fix this problem but we're not going to commit the money first we're just going to put into place the ordinance that penalizes people and ordinances go into effect 30 days after the publication period how they get enforced may be a different story but the ordinance will go into effect 30 days after the publication period and as I said in the study session I'm going to get calls at that time when there's still a camp at Cherry Creek Reservoir or Cherry Creek State Park and still a camp over by the Cherry Creek Spillway and still a camp over by simmeron Elementary or Sage Brush Elementary or anywhere else that those camps are I'm still going to get those calls because we're not going to have the sites stood up 30 days from when this is published because we have to pass the the funding we have to find the contractor we have to have done the site assessment and Outreach that's literally what staff just presented to us in the horns committee last Thursday which I strongly recommend folks come to because we get updates on these issues all the time and y'all are not speaking from knowledge of those issues because you don't attend those meetings um but people want services and they tell our street Outreach folks they want services and a lot of times they have other barriers to access that street Outreach then continues to support them in addressing this isn't an issue that a camping ban just fixes um and a camping ban if it's a tool it's a blunt instrument it's an instrument that's been demonstrated to cause harm an instrument that's been demonstrated to result in trauma an instrument that's been demonstrated to make it harder for people people because they lose access to the few resources that they have um it does not help people get to a better place in their lives when you look at the impacts of these bands which have been shown through various studies and surveys it's not helping people get into shelter so if we really want to have alternative campsites yes please let's continue to support staff in their ongoing and consistent efforts to establish those but let's not pretend that this blunt instrument is the best way to get there okay council member Marano thank you so much mayor PM um council member kums Kudos well said you stole a lot of what I wanted to say there so I'll just add that one of the other things I don't think we've addressed yet is that this ordinance strips our staff and the Specialists that they work with of the autonomy that they need to serve our community because you prescribe a 72-hour window which we are currently not staffed as uh council member miio and others have said enough to even get close to being able to enforce uh and I also wanted to bring up that the camp uh along the Bon Road and Dam Road is back I actually just put in a counsel request on that uh I want to say like was it Friday um and just so you all know uh you can open up uh Google Earth uh or go on to the Aurora GIS system and look at that area and you can see a large Camp there that's how prominent that is as a spot for folks to camp and this is part of this interjurisdictional Bera triangle where folks float between the state's property uh Ward five and then Ward four and then underneath uh SE dos property uh on uh you know in i225 and this is an area that takes a while to Abate and folks just keep floating around like we're like I said we're just playing whack-a-mole this isn't a solution so you know uh I also wanted to address um the mayor um his response I do appreciate that um but you didn't answer the full question uh I'm glad you support work first I do too but I I would hope that you acknowledge that that's not for everybody because you have to be again able-bodied sound of mind and willing to uh be sober and basically live under pretty strict supervision and those are high barriers for some people I think the folks who we represent who we serve they drink alcohol some of them use marijuana or other substances and it's dehumanizing and humiliating to impose those kinds of things on folks those are all barriers to access uh you also can't bring your family with you for a bridge house you can't bring your pets with you for bridge house and a lot of the folks who are living out of their cars or even under our underpasses or in the wetlands or wherever they may wind up tonight they have all of these things so we need to ensure that we uh Implement housing first Solutions as well with lower barriers with wraparound services so that we can get those folks connected to services and off of our streets as well I'm hearing that that's a goal that we all share getting folks off of our streets but I need to hear from you mayor that you actually understand that these other models of housing have Merit and serve a purpose I have a question for Jessica are you there Jessica okay I hear the number of homeless is like 450 in Aurora somewhere around that number um do we have do we do we know out of the I mean because if we counted 450 do we know how many have a drug problem how many are you know just in transition that we can move into some kind of Housing and how many are the mental illness do we have those stats so mayor Peron Bergen we do um put people into a system called hmis and do an assessment with them if they're coming in for services and often uh people will self- select with uh you know their reason for their um experiencing homelessness so our service providers have that information we do get you know reports to that um you know I think if the question is more around to be housed um that's a little bit different question um and I think you know we just received a report uh from our current safe outdoor space that's being operated with the Salvation Army um and they're doing an excellent job and seeing some great results and so people come into that into homelessness with you know for many different reasons and I think the Readiness to be housed is is usually there especially if we can get them into something like a safe outdoor space where they have that case management and and kind of 247 staff help around them um they're getting medical and all different things uh happening at that site right now um but there is some information that could be provided in aggregate regarding what you're asking I guess I I'm just thinking it would help us in terms of decision making um to have that information I know when I talked to uh Bob dorshimer um he'll you you know would they have that Outreach Vans and so forth but sometimes he he'll say you know they they'll try to get people to go to the day Resource Center for for um counseling and and for resources but some of them refuse and I guess same thing I I guess I'd want to know like what percentage of people just refuse and maybe that would be helpful to us but um other questions can comments before voting mayor okay I saw mayor first member okay all right thank you mayor and thank you mayor PM I just wanted to chime in and let you know that I have uh two different sources that if you want to see what really leads folks uh to being uh you know to experiencing homelessness one is National level data and then the other one that I have is actually from the Tri Cities region that's Anglewood shared in Littleton so a little closer to home and uh I think just about a year old at this Point um and just you know the top five are basically loss of a job unable to pay rent change in employment status unexpected or unaffordable expense or rent or housing cost increase uh drug and alcohol addiction drops down to 26 and 25% of respondents uh you know self- selecting as uh Jessica said uh that those were their issues uh there's a whole and basically that's on par with low credit or no credit score I'm happy to send that to the full Council if yall would like to take a look at that and then uh I think it's the NH that has National level data and those two uh correlate or sorry that data is cor corroborated um at the from at the national level from the local level it's more or less the same findings there and then there's also another uh piece that's if called if you want to help me help me um that's actually out of New York and a pretty in-depth study of their homeless population as well so I'm happy to send those around um well I'm thank you for that information um I think that was towards me since I asked um for the information but also I think um you know we do have those resources for first rent last rent we've had a lot of money come in from the federal government I think I think our City's done pretty well to help those people that fit that category I saw Council mayor first and then council member oh I'll go last okay council member okay um so I just wanted to mention because you said a lot of times people will refuse services and I talked to Bob a lot as well um and there certainly are some folks that absolutely are going to refuse Services um and don't want anything to do with what we're offering those people do exist and I'm not going to deny that that's true but another thing that I've noticed again reading the street Outreach notes is that there will be people that they contact once and they're like no I don't know I'm not really interested and they'll contact them again and they'll start to warm up and be like maybe I might be interested and then they'll contact them again and they'll say hey yeah you know what if that's the way that I'm going to get Case Management Services is to go with you to to the day Resource Center then sure I'll come with you and so it's also a process it's a process of building trust and that process of building trust requires for our folks working Street Outreach to be able to contact people and so if they think that what's going to happen is that they're going to get swept and their belongings are going to get destroyed and all those sorts of things then it makes it harder for us to contact them it makes it harder for us to serve them for that reason because it sometimes takes a little bit of time and a little bit of trust and confidence building from our street Outreach workers to really be able to bring folks along to accepting Services who might be resistant at first but there are some really good success stories of folks that were resistant and ended up receiving services so I think that's also important to note is that just because they're Reser refusing services today doesn't mean they're going to continue to do so all right mayor thank you U mayor Pim um I want to talk about enforcement first because I think that uh a number of the members who are opposed to this have used enforcement as an excuse saying oh but we we do everybody at once in 30 days 30 days when this comes into effect even though there's language there that says you can't evate unless you have an alternative location where they go to so I the excuses are amazing but uh there's a concept in law called prosecutorial discretion uh and prosecutorial discretion gives uh law enforcement uh the ability to prioritize uh what laws to enforce uh and and who to you know what is the more significant problem to enforce and so it would it would probably be until there was capacity those that were the worse would would be evaded and then has capacity expanded uh because the this uh ordinance explicitly states that you can't Abate until you have unless you have capacity for that particular for the people in that particular encampment to go to an alternate location and so that that's uh that's just not an issue in terms of uh you know I've spent time over at the the bridge house or the ready to work program and uh it's all individuals there without children and we have other programs for families at cidus and then Aro County uh has a program as well in the city of Aurora uh for for families and that's something that that we should be debating that we should all be for uh providing a supportive permanent Supportive Housing for families the um let me tell you what I observed I've done something that I don't think anybody on this council's done and that you've relied on the so-called experts and the people that make a living you know and I'm sure that they're all well intentioned by U the so-called experts by helping these people um I lived among them for a week um I'm probably the only person that sh slept in a shelter and slept in an encampment and I can tell you the people in in encampments don't go to shelters and the people in shelter shter don't stay in encampments uh and I found very few people that were willing to access services at all whether in the shelters or in encampments and we were offered stuff all the time and so uh with that I would renew my motion [Music] for of this second okay we have a second from River discussion I I have lost track did we have motions earlier because I don't know we did the mayor's just trying to be the last person to speak um May thank you um yeah so pretending to be homeless does not make you homeless just because you can pretend to be struggling for seven days and on day eight know that you can go in your car you could drive to your nice home and be totally financially secure with your full-time salary through the city of aora through all of the benefits that you've received as a retired Congressman that is in the most insulting demonstration and just lack of just ignorant thing you could have done um that yeah so to pretend that that gives you any credibility speaks to the the the lack of credibility that you have in this area um um it just was really disappointing because not only did you not disclose that you were a politician looking to justify a camping band a few months later on because that's what that's what that was for that publicity stunt um you you tried to gain people's confidence um and asked them to tell you very deeply personal stories and use that against them um when they had no knowledge that that was your intent that they had no knowledge that you were a politician going to use their stories for your own personal gain it's deeply deeply disappointing um and unethical in my opinion um so you know I I guess from there when when you start with an end in mind of course you're going to make up all kinds of reasons of why it should or could work but it doesn't fundamentally change the problem and that's that it doesn't work and that it's inhumane I still can't get over that if we really wanted to solve the problem why didn't we ask our staff on how to do this we asked them how to overcome a legal challenge how to overcome a lawsuit okay that's just covering your own tracks um but we didn't actually ask them I did um and the three areas of improvement that um were communicated to me uh was increased staff capacity there's no way um with the current work that people already have to do that they can effectively and adequately fielded in 900 calls um and this would help us um be able to communicate with the public about and and know when and what they're responding what our staff is doing to respond to their requests we also need budget for abatement so that we can continue to address health and safety issues which we have already been doing but given that there is an increased volume we need to address that with more um with more of a budget um and we also need to expand opt affordable and and not even just affordable reasonable prices uh for people to be able to afford a place of their own if you are housed um reasonable rents reasonable cost to purchase uh opportunities to buy homes um and if you're unhoused opportunity and options for you to pick an a situation that will actually move you out of homelessness and into something um more sustainable uh for you your loved ones your pets their families we have a lot of Working Poor in the community um um they're not able to find a place to live because it's so expensive but they work hard they work full-time if not more um so you know like we can try to reverse engineer a solution when you already have an end in mind but that doesn't mean that it works it just means that you spent a whole lot of time over many months uh trying to create a narrative and try to pretend like you have credibility in this area to come up with a solution um that you are not equipped to to do um youve demonstrated as much so people have asked for um have asked me I'm sure you've gotten request of okay if not the camping ban what and I hear you I think we need to do something it's definitely not a camping band in my opinion um so again I'm going to renew my suggestion to um use covid dollars um I understand that we have access to um a percentage and a portion of um some of the our federal funding I'd like to see if we can hire a staff member to increase the capacity so that we are addressing the Public's concern in a timely manner they know when and where we're responding I would also like to see that we have a budget um and that it's not specif it's not coming out of different departments kind of line by line that we actually have a budget for addressing abatement to address health and safety issues um and that we continue to work our uh housing strategy which is going to expand um options uh like the safing camping site safe camping site safe parking site other evidence-based Solutions um and the other parts of those plans where we're focusing on land acquisition so that we can incentivize um development for uh folks who are home and who need options for different living situations so I'm going to defer to the the dat the evidencebased recommendations that we've worked on um because we know that that's how we need to move forward um and in short term we do need to address this situation and I think that increasing staff capacity and a budget to be able to do so will get us there mayor PR bins I can't hear you well my button keeps going back and forth yes go ahead yeah no I'd just like to call for the vote we seem to be getting in the weeds here I actually had one more point that I didn't bring up yet okay hang on one second please um do we have our attorney is if someone calls for the vote what does that mean do we vote or do we have discussion so so the motion to call for the vote you have to address that first before you continue so so what you want to do you're not voting on the issue right now you're voting on whether you're gonna do it right now okay all right so we have a motion on the table to uh call for the vote do we have a second second grer okay so we go ahead and vote or we need to have discussion on that uh a non-debatable motion okay uh our clerk ahead and call for the or City attorney is that correct that we we still get to vote on it right it doesn't just end you you get to you you get to vote on it but but your Council rules actually say it's a non-debatable motion right right so we're voting on on on the call on council member Buren's motion correct okay so can the clerk go ahead and call roll mayor Kaufman yes council member Lawson council member Lawson can I get a clarifying question so if council member to get her comment am I voting on council member berson's motion to move forward if I want to I just want to make sure I'm clear what I'm doing here yeah voting on council member sorry we're voting on council member B motion to move forward okay I'm gonna be no to hear council member C's comment council member Hils no council member m council member moodo council member guber yes council member no council member Marano no I want to hear council member kum's comment mayor protm Burgen no council member bersin yes and it's because I think we all know how we're going to vote we can sit here and talk until midnight and nobody's going to change their mind I think we just went through this before council member Gardner no the motion does not pass mayor proam this is Dan if I could point it it didn't pass I do want to clarify the mayor is allowed to vote on procedural motions I don't want to confuse anybody on that on procedural motions the mayor may vote the mayor may only vote on this ordinance to make or break a tie okay so he's he's already he has voted yes may did vote he did vote and but but it failed regardless of his vote oh okay all right so we're back to council member kums discuss yes thank you thank you I appreciate my colleagues giving me the opportunity to raise this point um you know the other thing that we discussed briefly at the study session and we didn't really get into is the fact that we have a police department that can't even currently operate the par unit across the city um at full strength and it's actually at significantly reduced capacity which is something that our community relies on for addressing long-term issues um and the police would be called on for each abatement to staff each of these instances where we want to clear out people from these encampments and so I really do have a question of whether we can possibly have the Staffing for that and I would like to hear from the chief on that matter mayor proam am I okay to answer that question oh yes go ahead Chief Wilson uh thank you ma'am um so first of all I just want to say to everyone that's listening everyone that's given their opinions on this this is a extremely complex issue and one that I know is is uh quality of life issues for those that have camps within their residential areas for the businesses that are being impacted on this issue as well as the individuals that are living unsheltered so first of all I hear all of those things as the chief of police I have been very clear that I do not want to be a part of enforcing this ban we are calling for police reform we are calling for officers to not be involved in these issues in these uh um issues that I think are better served by uh Jessica prer andl Dalton and the Outreach teams so with that I am in a staffing crisis I am trying to deal with an increase in violent crime I am trying to deal with answering calls for 911 this would be a absolute burden on the police department as well as philosophically I don't believe as the chief of police we should be involved in enforcing this ban I have been very clear on this from the very GetGo of this and I apologize Mr Mayor Kaufman but I was not asked my opinion prior to this coming to the coming to council so that is my answer and man please clarify any questions that you might have for me good mayor yes mayor go ahead you did testify on this issue in committee I certainly heard your testimony uh and I don't think it was very decisive in terms of your reason but your your police are doing this now your police are providing a security OverWatch now and they've been doing it uh on in my opinion sir we should not be involved in this and in my opinion sir this is not using the police in the way we should be using them so yes we are doing it now because we have no other options but I think as a city we can do better um if just point of order so that we just the mayor was speaking so just well I think prosecutorial discretion that gives the the flexibility to to the police force to to allocate resources where it's most in need uh but but the fact is and and let me tell you I get a lot of complaints from neighborhoods uh about crime related uh to um uh these encampments uh people breaking into places people uh sealing things from encampments and so uh the threat is real and so I you know I get that we're short-handed I get that uh we have a lot of issues I think but to say that your uh police officers shouldn't be doing this at all essentially means that that there is a right to Camp that you support a right to camp in the city of Aurora and I couldn't disagree with you more mayor proam can I respond yes go ahead Chief Wilson sir I believe that people have no other option at this in if they are facing financial crisis if they have nowhere to turn if we don't have the resources for them to be housed that I should not be enforcing this ban as police this is not a police issue that's all I'm trying to say Sir respectfully okay mayor did you want to respond or well I just obviously strongly disagree u in a very um you know obviously surprising uh direction that the chief her vision of the city and so uh the fact is that uh uh it's something that you're doing now and I think what you're saying uh is that you shouldn't be engaged in something you're currently doing uh and you know let me tell you this um and that's very different from I think the majority of where are residents are maybe not our political leaders but where our residents are you know our residents are concerned uh about the the health and safety of their neighborhoods and feel that this is really a challenge to that uh and and uh um I'm just shocked at your answer mayor protm uh yes and then we'll go ahead and open it up for other discussion may I make a comment ma'am yes go ahead Chief Wilson yes ma'am Senate Bill 217 my officers are facing qualified immunity are facing being um sued for taking action that is not police focused and I think this is a um shortsighted Vision that is putting my officers in Jeopardy and I believe they would all agree with me if I could mayor ptim yes go ahead mayor yeah how many incidents uh have according to the information I got from your department there have been been no incident when your officers have been providing security OverWatch where a uh somebody who's been ordered to move uh has not moved and in addition to that uh this provides a designated place to for them to go to in order for an abatement to occur there is no provision uh in the current policy uh for a when when you uh participate when your officers participate in these abatements as that stands now under the status quo uh they are not there's no requirement uh for for the city to to offer them a designated place and so uh you know again I think that this is uh fair to the homeowners in compassionate to to uh the people experiencing homeless and so I I just strongly disagree with you and also I just think that for you to to put the burden on say it's it's it's it's you know it's it's you know degree in part economic but let me tell you there's a big component here of drug and alcohol addiction and uh for you to not see that as surprising mayor for Tom mayor counc member Maro i g say don't put that evil on me um I just want to respond to some of what I just heard here substance abuse is not a police issue that is a that is a health it's a Public Health crisis that we have voice on the police to deal with the same can be said with our unhoused population I want to quote Dallas police chief David Brown here who said that every social failure we put on the police to solve the police just seem to be the catchall for crap that politicians don't want to deal with what we are dealing with in Aurora and in this country is the consequence of Decades of awful public policy around wages around Health Care around housing around education and I could can go on policies quite frankly mayor that you dealt with when you were in Congress so we are dealing with the crap you left us to deal with council member Mar we are picking up after you please be resp mayor Pro I apologize to you I do not apologize to the mayor this is your mess and we have to clean it up take responsibility for it and help us clean it up I'm hoping ready to do a vote because it is almost 10 o'clock and we still have business to conduct is there any more discussion mayor pron yes yes [Music] hi thank you um you know I just I just want to acknowledge that we had our chief of police um come and speak about the challenges that she's facing in her Department um and we talk about people wanting to support our officers and our police department but when they literally leadership comes to tell us about the challenges that they're facing and how a policy would have consequences and to be clear we haven't always seen eye to eye um on on the that perspective but we are literally hearing and the chief of police talk about the challenges that would give and instead of acknowledging that that that that she knows her Department um and that she knows the challenges and is capable of making that decision um we're going to attack her her position um and just dismiss it as though there isn't a legitimate reason why the chief would weigh in knowing that you know we could call her out for for a number of reasons right like she's I feel like she's putting herself in a precarious position to be um advocating for the you know what she thinks is best and again we don't always age agree um but I've also heard people um who say that they are pro policing and and when we have someone here who's a subject matter expert aining on that we're going to just dismiss that because it doesn't fit this predetermined outcome that that we've already set okay further discussion Dave grber council member grber okay okay I think we've heard enough insults tonight I think we've heard um we've heard a lot of things frankly I disagree with what is going to come down to is that we're operating under an interim Authority now at some point in time the interim Authority will expire and we're talking about putting a law into place that will support the homeowners and support the businesses it's not inhumane and that you know this has been misrepresented so many different ways it's not inhumane and I'm not going to repeat everything again but the bottom line is is that does Aurora need a law that will allow the city to aate uh unauthorized homeless camps on uh private property and on on public property that's that's the fundamental question so we either going to vote Yes or No I guess everybody has their mind made up but um you know if the question to the homeowners is is what what do you want and you're going to see us vote now okay mayor PC Hils thank you um I don't support this I a lot of things have been said tonight I think a lot of it um just not very genuine um in the reasons for against whichever um but I just it's not just homeowners that we need to be thinking about I know that there's been a lot of conversation and what do the homeowners want and the mayor talks about what our residents want and it's not just about what we want and I was elected by people in the city and I heard from people who don't support this um and I know there's people who do support this but I just when we're talking about our reasons for voting this I think the accusations that this is just about people's personal politics people were elected on those personal politics and at the end of the day all politics are is the way that you express your values so this is just a difference in values and it's manifesting itself in in a policy but how we talk about the people it impacts I think says more about us and our how we feel about our own residents um than it does anything else so I don't support this I'm I'm intrigued but also so disappointed in a lot of the discussion tonight um you know we we talk about how we don't want to put in a camping ban but then we talk about how we're participating in the abatement of camps already and we talk about how we don't want to have police involvement but we have police involvement already um and so we're just kind of talking around I think the issue for me I just don't support it the evidence isn't there the data is not there that's something I I ran on it's something that I've talked about since before I was on Council that was my profession is evidence-based policym that's important to me um and it's just not there for this but we do have a serious um problem that we're facing and it's it's multi-prong and there's a lot of different ways that we need to go about addressing it I hope we start talking about some of these more Creative Solutions um and I am certainly not the expert on those so you know rely on people people who do this for a living but I just kind of wanted to bring it back to what we're actually talking about because I think we keep Beering off into how we're only representing certain certain portions of our constituency um but you know we were all elected by people so it's not we were elected for our values so I don't think it's um wrong to say that of course people are bringing their personal experiences into this thank you further discussion okay I guess we can go ahead and vote now and I don't it pulled up on the e gribe mayor proam we need a motion on the table I think we do we have a motion in a second already it was mayor Kaufman and seconded by I think council member gber issues with these May mayor protim this is Katie I'm sorry we're having some issues with escribe on this um on this item so we're just gonna tally it like we normally do so it's not going to pop up on your screen okay go ahead okay council member Lawson no council member hilts no no council member mudo no council member guber yes council member no mayor proam Bergen yes council member marono no council member bersin uh yes and I'm going to say to the chief she knows who on this Council supports police and who does council member Gardner yes mayor Koffman uh yes there I'm I'm sorry the mayor doesn't get to vote on this item it's not creating a TI it did create a time oh my count is off I apologize if it creates a tie you are allowed to vote thank you yes there was four yeses and five Nos and with mayor Coffman yes it created a 55 tie with the clerk please read the title of item number 14b item 14b 2021 D30 for an ordinance of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado amending section 54-31 of the city code pertaining to electors eligible to hold municipal office and there are there is a caller on the line um presentation and then we'll go to the caller good evening mayor and members of city council um the ordinance before you is an amendment to the current uh Aurora Municipal Code um the code section is um setting forth the requirements for a registered elector who is eligible to run for municipal office and this ordinance proposes to amend it to align it with the Colorado Constitution we also have with us tonight um outside Council on this particular issue Jerry dah and Jerry is an expert in local elections and uh is available to add to this presentation and answer questions then we go to council for questions all right hope everyone can hear me this is Jerry doll audible yes we can hear you we can hear you you can see you Jerry thank you terrific thanks uh thanks Rachel for that and Council you have seen this at study session so you're familiar with it and I'll make my presentation shorter than it was last time because you are aware of the issues involved as Rachel has said this ordinance amends the code to conform it to the carat constitution on on the subject of Eligibility to hold public elected office in the city your present code section which is the one being amended has five requirements for eligibility for office and only one of those requirements is is that issue here and that's the no felony conviction requirement there's two sections of the Colorado Constitution that bear on this question uh one section of the Constitution is explicit in restoring the rights of citizens uh to their citizenship rights when their term of incarceration if they have been incarcerated is served now one of those rights that's restored of course is the right to run for and hold public office called really in in the Constitution a right of an office of public trust the second section of the Constitution that bears on this is article 12 section 4 and it restricts the eligibility uh of persons to hold offices of public trust to a more narrow list of convictions than the more general term felonies and that list is five specific offenses which include perjury bribery embezzlement of public funds and variations of two of those so five specific things that I think probably fairly stated are things that uh would offend the public trust and and offend the the the role that you undertake as an elected official so the ordinance what the ordinance does as you're well aware is it replaces the word felony in the city code with that constitutional list of five specific public trust violations now consistent with uh this approach that I've just now described and the November election in mind we've advised uh on a number of matters first we've advised the city clerk send a letter to uh potential candidates stating that the felony conviction requirement will not be enforced uh candidates otherwise eligible uh under the other four criteria which aren't being changed are able to get nomination forms and can circulate and of course that's happening now as of I think August the 4th so that's ongoing now we've advised the court in the pending lawsuit that brought this to our attention that we would be doing this that we would be recommending this particular ordinance that we would be recommending that the city clerk send that letter as she has done and finally we have advised the court that we will be recommending that if the ordinance passes that a note be placed uh in association with Charter section 3-3 which basically mirrors the code section and indicates the passage of the uh code section and the basis for that passage in order to make the code consistent with the Constitution that's the thumbnail sketch here I'm happy to answer any questions you have we of course Rec before we do that Katie do we have a caller do let's go forward with that first Roger go ahead all right Dean and wey I'm sorry if I'm misor name you have three minutes go ahead thank you thank you um some of the questions here that uh came up does does the council have the authority to do what you're doing here you're overturning what the voters did in 1962 and probably some of this constitution was not in effect and I don't know if that's going to play into it or not um but you know anyway and some of you maybe perhaps all of you back in and I'm thinking probably in June had made a decision that you were going to do this the public was completely unaware of what you were doing and the letter that uh Mr doll's talking about came out in July July 1st and that letter uh said that it was informing Miss Bailey by this correspondence that the city of Aurora would not enforce that portion of the city code that went out in July 1 way before now it's August this this thing was pre-planned it was in the dark the public had no idea what you guys were doing that uh that that's just not right now uh you're trying to cook this thing up to uh make it fly past the public now the person that's going to have the biggest about this is If U Miss Bailey gets on the ballot and she ends up winning and somebody that loses to her through this I think he's got good grounds for a lawsuit anyway that's about it thank you is are there any further callers Katie mayor no there are no no uh further callers uh uh with that um uh let's have a motion motion mayor council member m move to approve 14b move by council member moo seconded by kums seconded by council member kums to approve item number 14b discussion and questions of uh outside councel or staff mayor uh mayor uh just a question for attorney so kind of as the caller even alluded to um whether we have the authori so the attorneys are recommending that we pass this ordinance because we are in violation of well that it's not constitutional per the state uh Constitution but since it's in our Charter I guess I'm I still think it needs to go back to the voters even if it is even if we were to tell the voters that it's unconstitutional and that's that's why we're bringing it forward to them so can you can you explain what how we could go around the voters sure uh what we have is both a code section and a charter section that are inconsistent with the car Constitution and that we have advised the city that they are and so like many other things in life it's a process not an event and you've got several things to be done to bring the city's regulatory scheme uh into compliance with the cona Constitution we have first acted with respect to the eligibility to circulate petitions because of course that was U that was time sensitive uh but this is under under the advice that we have given the city the next thing that's available to do that needs to be done is to to amend the code and that's something that's available to the city council to do by ordinance which you're doing tonight and I agree that Charter changes can only be approved by the voters and that will have to be scheduled at some point in time it's not uncommon as I think I mentioned at study session for uh laws to have to catch up to the to the Constitution and the fact that it would have to be changed at an election doesn't change the fact importantly this is on many council members Minds doesn't change the fact that you've been advised that the felony conviction requirements inconsistent with the Constitution and irrespective of it being in the charter for now should not be enforced so you certainly have the right what I'm trying to say is that you you can't of course instantaneously fix all these things at once there are processes for them this is one of those processes and but you're saying we can we can change the we can do it by ordinance but then we have to then later do it by a vote of the people to change the charter which to me it seems backwards because wouldn't it logically to me you would first go to the voters to get that changed I mean they voted that they voted in the charter well there's there's no to begin with there's no dictated order of events clearly much of the time you have a charter and then you implement the charter with code sections I absolutely agree with that the difference here and I I appreciate your your question because that's usually the pattern I agree with it uh the difference here is you have both a charter section and a code section that are inconsistent with the Constitution so there is no reason to delay uh with uh on the subjects that you can immediately address and the one that you can immediately address because it's available to you is the code certainly at an appropriate point in time the charter will have to be amended even if it isn't and I've said this before and I want to emphasize it even if it isn't nor until it is it is my opinion it has been my advice to you that that particular aspect of the charter is not enforceable and should not be as as other things I think I gave you the example of the annexation law for many years the statutes in Colorado were inconsistent with with the Constitution people ignored the statutes despite the fact they hadn't been amended yet so things have to catch up with one another and we have two different time schedules that just of necessity have to apply and my last question uh the letter that was sent on July 1st that informed Miss Bailey that she that we would not enforce the charter yes is is that that seems out of order too it seems like you would you would have to do what we're doing tonight first before the letter went to her well no differently than my advice on uh not following the charter provision until it's amended the same would be true in terms of the election officials in this case the city clerks uh instructions to candidates at an upcoming election in other words given the choice between enforcing what you have been advised is not a constitutional restriction and sending a letter saying that it would not be enforced despite the fact that later there would be an ordinance between those those two choices you need to make certain importantly that the rights of person run are addressed in a timely manner while they still can and obviously the nomination period for this particular elections ongoing now and will close before this ordinance is complete so we have a there's timing issue there that had to be addressed but the timing issue wasn't our wasn't the council's fault I mean the timing issue could have been solved with a petition earlier in the year to to be able to run I mean it's almost like it's like it's on us that we didn't cause the timing issue uh well that's fine I appreciate that that frustration obviously we all I think would have appreciated having this brought to our attention a year ago then you'd have lots of time uh the petition schedule of course is August 4th through 24th so that's that's another limitation mayor counc member Mr do can you explain why it is that as a hom Ral City we can't make a um or or have a a a charter item that violates the Constitution why we don't supered that even as a home City I appreciate the question because as was discussed at study session most of the time a home rule City operating under article 20 of the Constitution is allowed to make its own rule rules on matters that are considered local and Municipal however what the the even a home rule City can't do is uh enact measures or in this case enforce measures uh that are inconsistent with other provisions of the Constitution that in my opinion and as we have advised you control and here uh it was important for me I think I answered council member gruber's question with this last time the legislature if the legislature tomorrow tried to enact a law that uh imposed a felony conviction requirement on running for the legislature they wouldn't be able to do that uh and therefore the the H rule City's Authority can't be in excess of what the legislator's authority would be and the home rule case law is very clear that home rule cities have all the powers uh that the legislature could have but that doesn't mean they have more power or more Authority than the legislature the legislature clearly could not enact such a restriction and because of this the Constitutional restriction here controls over the city's otherwise pretty broad home rule Authority so then would it be your opinion that if we were to keep this provision we would be violating the State Constitution which is in our oath that we will uphold yes where there's a collision between uh any subordinate law and the state constitution you have to respect the Constitution and that's why in answer to the earlier question I said yes During the period of time when the charter still says what it says in in place of that you follow the Constitution thank you yep for discussion bers council member bersin thank you thank you Mr D um so our Charter was voted on Mid 60s 62 64 whatever so have we been in violation this whole time or did the state legislature change the Constitution I wouldn't put it in terms of being in violation when you while I'd say it's it's been inconsistent with the Constitution what really sort of counts is how's it been enforced on on individual candidates individual persons wishing to run for office and I think we probably all recognize that that uh it I won't say it's a rare thing but it it's not particularly common for uh candidates to have a felony conviction it may well not have come up I don't know if it has even if it has I would say that doesn't change what the advice you're getting now and what I believe the city's obligation is to move forward to correct what's on the books okay yes it has to answer your question yes it has come up before but you didn't answer my question has the state constitution been changed did some legislature at some point change the Constitution or has it always been that um this particular felony murder or attempted murder has not been in there did they fair fair question I I don't have the book right here to get the source notes but my uh my strong impression is these two particular constitutional sections that I've described are of long standing in the in the state constitution along with for example the um equal U equal treatment under law the Equal Rights the the section of the Constitution which Bears on this uh are are of longstanding and I I recognize that the city's Charter may have been adopted after uh but my advice stands that when you become aware of an inconsistent with Constitution uh you have an obligation to address it it's what the city's doing now thank you yep mayor questions Council M um yeah so I just wanted to clarify since uh it was brought up the claim that the felony under question in this case is murder or attempted murder that is false it was second degree assault so we need to be very clear that we're not going around calling people murderers just because that's apparently the view we have of them um and even if so it sounds like the advice we're receiving is that also that would not preclude someone for running from running per the state constitution but we need to not be making these kinds of implications y'all that are clearly false further questions to discussion mayor gr grber so yeah I think we're talking second degree of salt but only because the bullet that was fired at the other person missed if it hadn't missed then I think we'd be having a different discussion but let me let me go through my my review of this so the col Colorado Constitution says that certain felons cannot um cannot hold office uh so some some crimes are so egregious that the jail time does not wash the stain away uh so and you mentioned those but apparently uh crimes like uh sex abuse attempted murder and and others that are felonies that would cause people to go to jail uh are not included in that list so some felonies are are regardless of jail time will permanently uh prohibit someone from going to jail second thing is is that state legislature typically creates uh uh laws that where the cities can make things harder but they can't relax it you know I mean just this last session we've seen uh laws come out with uh oil and gas and and on gun ownership where the legislator said that uh they wanted to um they created a law and they said cities you're allowed to modify this but you're not allowed to make it uh less than what we did so it's really not a modification and it's similar to what we're talking about here because our Charter says that in addition to the felonies that the state uh mandated uh that can't run that uh the city based on what your the advice that you're given is saying that we uh cannot impose additional requirements on felons for running for office so I understand all of that I guess my main point though is that as far as I understand there's only two groups groups that can VI or two organizations that can change the charter and that's the voters and the judges council is specifically prohibited so if we vote for this ordinance Council will be directly voting against our Charter uh and and creating that dilemma and I understand your discussion about uh uh the process but it would seem to me that given the fact that a judge can declare the charter unconstitutional and the AC is suing the city right now uh and you're already dealing with the judge on on the discussions as to what the city is doing why wouldn't we simply go to court have the judge say this part of your Charter is uh uh in violation of the Constitution and then based on that judge's decision because we have yours your opinion but but uh as an attorney you don't have any Authority Under the the state constitution you you you are providing your best advice and I appreciate that but only a judge can say can only a judge can agree with you even if Council agrees with you Council doesn't have the authority to change a charter so if the judge says all right uh this part of the charter needs to be changed that would enable Council then to create an ordinance modifying our codes to comply with the recently changed uh uh order that the judge has provided why wouldn't we why wouldn't we go into the judge I forget the term no contest or whatever it is to say not going to contest uh the ACLU we want you to give a ruling saying our Charter is in violation and change our Charter and then we would have the vote on this after that oh well couple of things I agreee with you by the way about the legislature it's a fe it's a common uh technique of theirs to to lay that restriction on on cities and they can do that when it's the matters of Statewide concern in their View and of course there's always litigation about that but pertinent to to your question yes there's an ongoing case it hasn't been dismissed yet the city has filed a motion to dismiss based upon the the the work that we have done so far judge hasn't ruled it's possible the judge still could you're right that a judge can declare a constitutional provis or a charter provision unconstitutional and then it really essentially doesn't have to get amended necessarily until you're doing a cleanup once you have a a case decision that is applicable it just isn't isn't applied until that happens though you have a constit you have a charter provision that is inconsistent with the Constitution and it's incumbent upon me to tell you that and to give the city the tools that it can use to make such changes as are within your power I agree with you the the council can't change the charter it has course the authority to refer a charter Amendment or to receive a petition from the citizens to change the charter it may well be that as this case proceeds we'll get an order but meanwhile the subject in front of us is what can we be be doing with respect to the code irrespective of what the judge does eventually you'll want the code to be changed and the eventually in my opinion is now you do as much as you can when it's available to you but the B if I may just follow up but the bottom line tonight is is that we will be voting on a code modification that specifically violates our Charter as written you'll be voting on a code modification that brings the code into comp into conformance with the State Constitution and where in my opinion you have a choice between acting to bring the code into conformance with state constitution or leaving it out of compliance with the Constitution you take door number one and that's what we've advised but again the the issue is is that as an attorney and as our attorney I appreciate your advice but only a judge can say what's in conformance and what's not in conformance that that's true I I can give you advice but the judges get appointed to make the final decision thank you mayor y mayor F questions or comments mayor council HS council member Hills well I appreciate the attention to how this code would lead to a charter violation and the concern around that the very people that are talking this week about not wanting to violate the charter via code voted to violate the charter via code a couple of weeks ago only they did so without having a state constitution violation that superseded what they were voting on so I just for the public that's listening um just to not forget that that two weeks ago and 3 weeks ago and six weeks ago um a lot of these same people were voting to violate the charter um through a code through an ordinance that came forward in this exact same manner so we can tiptoe around it and we can talk about how this is about upholding our integrity as as lawmakers and making sure we're protecting the Integrity of the charter but um none of that's true because most of the people in the council voted to do that two four five um six weeks ago so my colleagues can belabor that point about not wanting to violate the charter but it is the very definition of disingenuous um this is a violation of the State Constitution the state constitution supersedes our city Charter and I think that's been made pretty clear that is not something that was provided in those previous votes so I just you know want to be realis IC about what it is that we're talking about this week versus what we were talking about two weeks ago and and how this is not all that different um with the exception that this is a violation of the state Charter thank you further discussion uh seeing no further discussion the question before ISS the adoption of item number 14b where the clerk please call the role member bins no council member Lawson yes council member Gardner yes council member mudo yeah council member kums yes council member Mark conom yes council member Gruber no mayor proam Bergen mayor proam Bergen sorry my button changing um no because I think we're still violating the charter council member hilts yes the motion to approve ordinance 20 21-30 passes uh with the CL please to read the title of of item number 19a 19a is a consideration to appoint three members to the Aurora youth commission motion mayor uh Council McConnell thank you sir move to appoint Monica aosta Ashley Trel and anvit sidu to the Aurora youth commission is there a second second that's been moved by council member m second by council member Kum uh discussion seeing none with the click please call the RO on the adoption of item number 19a mayor cman uh yes council member bersin yes mayor protm Bergen yes council member KS yes council member Lawson yes council member hilts yes council member m yes council member Maro yes Council member Gardner yes council member guber yes the motion passes to appoint three members to the Aurora youth commission U um reports uh report by the mayor um is my understanding that that there is um that that uh the mayor and any member of council must wait six months before uh reintroducing an an ordinance once it fails and I will be uh reintroducing uh the camping ban in 6 months time uh council member um Lawson you're muted oh thank you I was just saying that council member was muted if she wanted to I'm sorry cancel member Lawson again mayor I don't see council member Lawson yeah I don't either council member Hills oh okay well thank you um I don't have any reports I was able to attend the shop with the cop event and saw um council member Gardner there I don't think anyone else was there but if I didn't see my apologies always a great event um missed the last couple of ones obviously with um you know with covid and also maternity leave so excited to be able to go back it's a really great event um so thank you to um them for doing that thank you no other report though thanks council member grer no report um yeah just uh pigy back on what council member Hil said said um had the opportunity to attend Shop with a cop uh a week ago Saturday and um for those in the public who aren't aware what shop with a cop is um it's an opportunity for a hundred kids in the community they get a $200 Walmart gift card and they go shopping for school supplies and clothes and toys and all kinds of fun stuff and it and it was really neat there was several kids who you know I guess ran out of things to buy for themselves and they were buying for family members and siblings and and it was just really neat to see and um of course each of them gets paired up with a police officer to to shop with so that was um uh really fun and Roar Police Association puts on that event and um it was uh really neat and then wanted to mention also I participated in um Aurora firefighters local 1290 Golf Tournament last week um as well and there were um lots and lots of firefighters there that were out for that and just a good opportunity for them to um relax and enjoy themselves a little bit and it was a good time had by all so that's it for me cust member Mario thank you [Music] mayor I have my uh August town hall on Thursday August uh 26 the hope is that we will be in person that's been the plan um with some of the you know just increase in the Delta variant cases where you know we're reserve the right to make adjustments as necessary the last thing I want to do is put people at risk um if there is a you know High occurrence of cases so just want to let you all know that we're going to do our best to hopefully convene in person but um we might need to change uh last minute just depending on what our Tri County Health Department guidance looks like um you know National guidance and just kind of where how people are feeling so um either way I invite you to join either virtu or in person um thank youw sorry council member Lawson said that her power flickered and she's logging council member ver thank you um first of all I want to thank everybody that came to our picnic in July it was a fantastic event uh standing room only at one point uh it was it was nice to see body and everybody seemed to be thrilled to come out and uh and mingle again with their friends uh I want to thank our uh Aurora Police and our a Aurora firefighters and uh FAL Ambulance Service U for coming and um having their vehicles there for people to look through it people love to do that to see see what they do and what they drive so I want to thank you for that um we will have no no meeting in August we're going to take August off um but in September the second Wednesday in September September the 8th we're going to have a candidate Forum uh at the city library uh at the regular time 6:30 to 8 so please get there early we will start promptly on time so we do have five at large and our two Ward three U candidates so please come to that September 8th at the library and um you know we don't we we hope the co doesn't come back so we're we're planning on it rooms reserved and we're ready to go so I'll See You in September at the candidate Forum at the library thanks Maro thank you sir uh so our next award for meeting is going to be on Wednesday August 11th at 6 6:30 p.m. we're going to be in person at the fstar residences at Dayton Place which is located at 1950 South Dayton Street Aurora 80247 we're going to be joined by Greg Baker and Marshall Brown to discuss all things water our supply our conservation efforts and how that impacts development in the city of Aurora please bring your mask in mind the facilities rules around masks and vaccinations and this is all subject to change of course if Tri County issues a public health order but I hope to see there and we're going to also uh pilot a Facebook live option uh so that folks can still participate digitally as well so that's all have a great night everyone council member thank you mayor um so we were able to have our first in-person Bo five meeting since co uh shut everything down uh this last Wednesday at Heather Gardens so thank you everyone to C who to everyone who came out for that um we will also have an in-person meeting um as long as nothing changes on September 1st which will be a candidate forum for atlarge only at 6:00 pm at Heather Gardens that'll be 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 um I also did want to express my appreciation for being able to attend both National Night Out and the Aurora Public Schools back to school kickoff um both of those were excellent events and it was great to see folks from the community and of course um this last Saturday was Aurora pride and it was a success despite the air quality issues folks were still outside enjoying themselves playing beach volleyball listening to music watching performances dancing um and getting to know each other and it was just wonderful to have that environment within our city where everyone could feel welcome where it was inclusive for all so um thank you to the Aurora Pride board and thank you to council member Bergen I know or mayor proen Bergen I know you're out of town but thank you for all of your work on the board um and all of your support for aora Pride um it just was a wonderful event that keeps growing every year and we're excited to see it continue to grow in the coming years mayor thank you mayor and yes uh I was actually on vacation out of state at for much needed vacation so I did miss National Night Out and I missed the pride event um so anyway um I want to announce that I am having to change my September Town Hall all from the 22nd to the 29th so it'll stay on a Wednesday the same time 6: to 8 but it uh conflicts with the CML conference and when I booked it originally for the 22nd I was unaware of that conflict so um we're trying to get it all changed on the website and different uh social media sites as well as the postcard that goes out and that's concludes my report public invited to be heard mayor there are no individuals on the Callin line uh thanks everybody meeting and jour