thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign foreign foreign [Music] thank you thank you thank you foreign the meaning of the the regular meeting of the Aurora city council for Monday January 9 2023 is called the order what what it's on mic is on mayor Kaufman here councilmember Bergen here councilmember Coombs president mayor Pro Tim Gardner here council member drinsky here councilmember Lawson here councilmember Marcano councilman member Marcano president did that work yes councilmember Medina here councilmember Modio president councilmember sunberg here and council member zevanic president movement of silence for the people of Ukraine a land acknowledgment the city of Aurora acknowledges that we gather on the territories and ancestral homelands of the Cheyenne Ute arapa and Lakota peoples past and present we also recognize the 48 contemporary tribal Nations that are historically tied to the lands that make up the state of Colorado indigenous people have remained committed to the stewardship of this land over many centuries as these words of acknowledgment are spoken and heard the ties that these nations have to their traditional homelands and to their vital place in the ecosystem are renewed and reaffirmed and we are called to be better stewards of the land we inhabit as we continue to work to meet the needs of our entire community please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance [Music] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic which it stands one nation under God an indivisible with justice justice for all executive session update uh update on litigation matters were discussed approval of the minutes for December 19 2022 a motion is in order so moved moved by mapertem a gardener seconded by Birkin second by councilmember Bergen to approve the minutes from December 19 2022 discussion I've seen no discussion called the question on the approval of the minutes from December 19 2022. mayor Kaufman uh yes thank you council member Mario the motion passes to adopt the December 19th 2022 meeting minutes a swearing in ceremony of new associate judge and relief judges presiding judge Shawn day thank you mayor mayor for 10 members of council today's a special day we're swearing in some of our judges that have been reappointed in addition to three new judges for our bench and so we're asked um a special favor of a friend of ours A Friend of the Court District Court Don Toussaint to honor our court in our community in administering the oath to all of our judges tonight so um we're going to start with judge Billy stickers and then I'll pass the mic and then after all of our judges that are reappointed if you want to step to the side of the diocese and we'll stand in support of our three new judges who will be sworn in tonight as well after they are sworn in there will be a special roaming ceremony after their oath as well so with that if you're not being sworn in tonight and you're part of our bench if you want to stand over here thank you judge Toussaint thank you again thank you good evening family good evening council members Mr Mayor on behalf of the 18th Judicial District in Arapahoe County District Court it's my honor to administer this oath judge Billy stickers if you can raise your right hand for me I Billy stickers haven't been duly reappointed as municipal judge for the city of Aurora Colorado do solemnly swear or firm that I will faithfully and impartially administer the Affairs of such office in accordance with the Constitutions foreign the United States of America and the state of Colorado and the ordinances of the city of Aurora to the best of my judgment and ability [Music] so help me God congratulations [Applause] next I am going to reappoint relief judges Judge James Anderson judge Jonathan Lucero judge Tricia McCarthy judge Mark Solomon Judge Karen steinhauser and Judge Rebecca watata if you come up please and if you can raise your right hand for me I please state your name having been duly reappointed as municipal judge for the city of Aurora Colorado do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully and impartially administer the Affairs of such office in accordance with the Constitutions of the United States and the state of Colorado and the ordinances of the city of Aurora to the best of my judgment and ability so help me God congratulations [Applause] for the next three judges if there are family and friends that if you want to come forward so they're just close so that you can take pictures feel free to come forward okay thank you you I am going to call Judge Shelby files files all right judge files if you could raise your right hand for me I shall be files having been duly appointed as municipal judge for the city of Aurora Colorado do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully and impartially administered the Affairs of such office in accordance with the Constitutions of the United States of America and the state of Colorado and the ordinances of the city of Aurora to the best of my judgment and ability so help me God congratulations thank you I invite family or friends to come up and judge files you want to get your robe I had the honor of meeting judge file's mom tonight so you want to come forward and if you want to place the robe on your daughter and of course it fits congratulations [Applause] judge Gina Hickman [Applause] I actually know judge Hickman so this is special for me Gina Hickman if you could raise your right hand for me I Gina Hickman haven't been duly appointed as municipal judge for the city of Aurora Colorado do solemnly swear or firm that I will faithfully and impartially administered the Affairs of such office in accordance with the Constitutions of the United States of America and the state of Colorado in the ordinances of the city of Aurora to the best of my judgment and ability so help me God congratulations foreign [Music] thank you take your time judge Brian Whitney [Applause] perfect judge Whitney I Brian Whitney I haven't been duly appointed as municipal judge for the city of Aurora Colorado do solemnly swear or firm that I will faithfully and impartially administer the Affairs of such office in accordance with the Constitutions of the United States of America in the state of Colorado in the ordinances of the city of Aurora to the best of my judgment and ability so help me God thank you Son thank you and of course it fits as well congratulations mayor mayor Pro tem thank you and members of council thank you very much for your time tonight thank you very much [Applause] thank you if the recipients of the MLK Junior commemoration planning committee could come down here the members whereas uh Dr Martin Luther King Jr having been a prophetic voice and that reached out over the chasms of hostility Prejudice ignorance and fear to touch the conscience of America challenged us to make real the promise of Freedom equality opportunity and Brotherhood and whereas Dr King was a vital figure of the modern era which sparked the conscience of a generation through the movements and marches he led and were as an uncompromising champion of non-violence though often being the victim of said violence Dr King demonstrated unshakable faith and inspired others to resist the temptation to hate and fear and whereas an instrument of change for all time Dr King helped make it possible for our nation to move closer to the ideals set forth in our Declaration of Independence that all people are created equal and whereas with his life devoted to serving others by proclaiming a message of love that transcended borders the strength of Dr Martin Luther King Jr's leadership was matched only by the power of His words which still call us to perfect those sacred ideals enshrined in the United States of America's founding documents now therefore I Michael Kaufman mayor of the city of Aurora Colorado do hereby Proclaim January 9th through 16th 2023 as Dr Martin Luther King Junior week the witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and caused the Seal of the city of Aurora Colorado to be a fixed this third day of January 2023. and I just want to thank the committee for all of your extraordinary work uh that's not done yet we have so many events this week I think we have more events than any other city in Colorado and I'm very proud of that we all should be very proud of that but uh who is receiving this uh on behalf of your committee okay there we go I want to thank everyone and all of our community for just coming out tonight to for the opening ceremony it was wonderful but as he said we do have a long week to go and just hope to see you all back this week as well thank you mayor Kaufman for always just being supportive of this holiday and we appreciate you and city council thank you thank you [Applause] apologize remember Holocaust remembrance Sarah Moses Holocaust Survivor OC uh Slavic Holocaust Survivor and his wife Selma Slavic Melanie Perlman our president and CEO of the Mizel Institute John Clark director of Outreach and engagement of the Muslim Institute um do you all want to come down this way whereas from 1933 to 1945 six million Jews were murdered and the Nazi Holocaust is part of a systematic program of genocide and whereas millions of other people were persecuted and perished as victims of Nazi Nazism based on political ideological and behavioral grounds because of their sexual orientation disability race or religion and whereas the people of the city of Aurora should always remember the atrocities committed by the Nazis and whereas aurorans should rededicate themselves to the principle of equal justice for all people and whereas the people of the of Aurora should remain internally Vigilant against all tyranny and recognize that hatred and bigotry provide a breeding ground for tyranny to flourish and whereas it is appropriate for the residents of Aurora to join with the United States Holocaust Memorial Council in the commemoration now therefore I might coffin mayor of the city of Aurora Colorado do hereby Proclaim January 27 23 2023 as Holocaust Remembrance Day in the city of Aurora Colorado in memory of the victims of the Holocaust and in the hope that we will strive always to overcome Prejudice and inhumanity through education vigilance and resistance and witness aware of I hereby um here unto set my hand and cause and seal the city of Aurora Colorado to be affixed this 23rd day of January 2023. thank you anybody would like to speak English hello I am a holocaust Survivor I survived in the death camp in the infamous death camp bergen-belsen where Anne Frank died when Anne Frank was died at 15 from typhus and starvation I was six years old in the same place infected with typhus starving and one of the very youngest children there to still be just barely alive today I speak to inspire and motivate people to speak up not to stay silent whenever they witness Injustice imagine my dream of our world where different all different individuals all different cultures races countries all live by the very same standard the same rule of behavior that they want for themselves I believe that only then will we have real hope for our world our world free of genocide Wars and violence a world of loving compassion respect for life and a world of peace I would like to finish with a quote by Edmund Burke he said all that is necessary for the Triumph the success of evil is for good people to stay silent and do nothing thank you [Applause] thank you it's a wonderful moment in my life to be here even though I've been here before a couple of times but I appreciate being invited as the Holocaust so as one of the Holocaust Survivors 80 years ago at this time I was hiding in the mountains of Slovakia the wonderful tatra mountains of Slovakia because the Nazis that were down in the valley where looking for us we were Jews and they were trying to take us and put us into trains and ship us to concentration camps I was eight years old I didn't understand really so much what was going on there we hardly had any food we had a lot of snow cold and a lot of fear of what happens tomorrow I came to this city in 1960 and I loved looking at our mountains here it looks so wonderful and familiar to me I've been here for all these years I've spoken to thousands of American people trying to tell them about how I escaped well folks Sarah unfortunately went to the camp I fortunately we were fugitives from the law the law wanted to send us to concentration camps my parents decided to become fugitives and as such with the help of a number of wonderful Christian peoples in my community we were able to save ourselves and survive so thank you so much for inviting me here tonight and your honor we have met before and thank you so much I would like to give you my book sir you're very welcome thank you [Applause] human trafficking awareness and prevention month Proclamation recipients council member Angela Lawson investigator Robert uh Bob Friel Deputy district attorney Jacob crimin the witness Advocate victim Misty Armijo please come forward whereas human trafficking a serious Global crime impacting communities everywhere involves the exploitation of adults and children for the purposes of compelled labor or commercial sex work in Colorado with most often presents as sexual exploitation forced labor and voluntary servitude and debt bondage and whereas human trafficking most often goes unreported due to several complex issues including its covert nature the lack of awareness about trafficking indicators and methods of coercion and control employed by traffickers and whereas fighting human trafficking must include educating the community on trafficking indicators and the resources services available for victims of these criminal acts and whereas by effectively encouraging the public to understand the signs of trafficking pay attention to their surroundings and Report unusual situations to law enforcement together we can help restore freedom and dignity to trafficking survivors as well as help diminish the number of future victims and whereas the city of Aurora and the office of the district attorney for the 18th Judicial District joined together to promote the annual observance of human trafficking prevention month which demonstrates a joint commitment to prevention prosecution and increasing awareness to eradicate human trafficking now therefore I my corporate mayor of the city of Aurora Colorado do hear a Bible claim January 2023 as human trafficking awareness and prevention month and encourage all the ones to learn about and Report the signs of this heinous crime in our community and witness whereof I have hearing too set my hand and caused the Seal of the city of Aurora Colorado to be a fixed this second day of January 2023. and thank you all so much for all your efforts on behalf of the um this effort who's going to accept this thank you very much thank you thank you mayor Kaufman city council and members of the community we appreciate you inviting us here tonight my name is Robert Friel and I'm investigator for the District Attorney's office and I'm part of the human trafficking team I'm here along with my colleagues Deputy district attorney um Jacob kremen and victim witness Advocate Missy Armijo and together we represent the the anti-trafficking team prior to my role at the District Attorney's office I served for 23 years as an officer investigator with the city of Aurora during that time I knew about human trafficking but I did not fully understand or appreciate its impact the past two years have changed that in 2021 I joined the District Attorney's Office anti-trafficking Team and since that time I have learned that trafficking is a growing Global problem that has real lasting effects on the health and well-being of our communities on our families and on our victim survivors human trafficking is a complicated issue and not easy to identify this means that it often goes undetected many people do not understand what trafficking is and are unaware of where it takes place we are trying to change that through efforts by our office to educate the community about how to identify potential trafficking situations by providing resources and support for victims and by aggressively prosecuting traffickers this year for human trafficking Awareness Month the District Attorney's office has partnered with the Colorado Human Trafficking Council to provide local businesses and organizations through Colorado throughout Colorado such as coffee shops and truck stops with materials that point to anti-trafficking resources and information such as how to identify a potential trafficking situation to the community I want to say we need you you are the eyes and ears of law enforcement I encourage you to learn about the red flags for trafficking and if you see a situation that causes concern to make a call to the state trafficking hotline I want to thank our partners and colleagues who without them we would not be successful Partners like Sunday kids Child Advocacy Center located in Greenwood Village Human Services for Arapahoe County and Douglas County her work with youth high-risk youth who are at risk for trafficking or who have been trafficked therapists with the Aurora mental health and elsewhere who provide critical counseling and support to victim survivors medical providers like Dr Denise Abdu with Children's Hospital Colorado and our law enforcement Partners such as the FBI's child exploitation human trafficking task force and the Aurora Police Department's internet crimes against children's unit not to mention the many victim Advocates at the local state and federal levels who support our victims lastly action expresses priorities on behalf of the District Attorney's office I want to thank the council for taking action to raise awareness about this hidden crime of trafficking and for your support of our team thank you thank you very much council member uh Angela Lawson has been a really front and center on this issue in in the city council in in our city and I I'd like to give her a few words thank you mayor and Council I brought this issue an ordinance in 2018 because I had experience at a place where I was getting my at a hairdressing it's a business park they were doing trafficking right down the hall I brought this to the attention I want to thank my city council members at that time in 2018 which included councilman Maria and councilmember Bergen who were on the council at that time for passing the ordinance since the ordinance passed on June 23 20 2018 we have closed actually 21 illicit massage parlor parlors that were doing human trafficking in the city of Aurora our ordinance has actually been a model for many municipalities like Denver Wheat Ridge Colorado Springs and also it has been a model in Billings Montana who just passed an ordinance I want to thank the city of Aurora I want to thank Trevor Bond who has been really instrumental in all the stakeholders who assisted me in really getting this ordinance looked at past and are also Aurora Police Department as well in the 18th judicial for everything that you doing to continue to support this issue I just want to tell the community if you see something you need to speak you need to talk you need to say something about this there are victims out there and you don't know how many people that you can help don't turn your back if you see something and it doesn't look right speak out thank you mayor thank you everybody thank you thank you places public invited to be heard the first person we have is Ellen Wu followed by Luke sunberg oh it's online I am a constituent I vote I'm using my first amendment rights to speak to be heard to be acknowledged to those in this chamber it does not matter if you are elected hired appointed you are accountable to the people and not those that will further your own personal or political gain your own selfishness and self self-absorption there are those that are there are those that have failed to demonstrate the ability to governance there are those that believe that erasing voices erasing people erasing communities erasing history is acceptable you are enablers of hate there are those that believe that treating others without regard respect dignity acknowledgment of one's Heritage culture Legacy is acceptable I have met preschoolers and Elementary age people that demonstrate more maturity respect and regard and dignity for others than than some in this chamber there are those in this chamber that are enablers of hate supporters of hate demonstrate hate empty apologies can words mockery taunting bullying are not acceptable enablement and demonstrating hate is not acceptable repeated offensive behaviors are not acceptable the words poor taste in any way a racist and the type of person is to intentionally upset never try to intentionally offend or harm anyone or words that discount and dismiss the issues mockery and denying covet is not acceptable if one thinks that it is humorous speak to speak directly with families including young children and friends that have lost from someone mockery regarding mental health is not acceptable to find stereotypes and preserving my Heritage are not mutually exclusive my legacy is with the Chinese Exclusion Exclusion Act 1882 it was signed 140 years ago I have been the recipient of the taunts The Bullying the stereotyping the mockery targeting myself my family my friends my community these include but not limited to the clasped hands the also's the shuffling feet the slanted eyes the words you all look alike you are here to take our jobs I do not expect you to look like you do you speak English so well since 2020 there these have been Amplified there have been these have been in public places they have been by strangers I've been coughed on several times and the words this is all your fault the mess that you we are in is your fault I hope you get sick I can cough on you if I want to Hades and learned environmentally this is not limited to the stereotypes lies and misinformation the minimizing the mockery the enablement the lack of respect and regard from for others not treating people with dignity the Ambler the enablers of hate have made public policies decisions and financial decisions that enable the hate the systemic racism oppression suppression colonization inequities and disparities not limited to housing wages water and social injustice this is public record this is a call for the resignation of sunburg Mayor gerinsky savonik Bergen Gardner Lawson effective immediately I was notified that Luke Sundberg is not here so we're going to go to Victor Marquez followed by Chantelle sunberg did she mention me hi um I want to try my best because I asked for translator okay um at the cubby we almost closed their restaurant he came to me he said what can we do so I gave him an idea but he has the idea before um I don't think he do those things because he wants to to Dylan okay Que [Music] ER Gente singing with his story so um we had to cut somebody from work it was the dishwasher and I told them we have to do something so we can survive um [Music] when I first met him I thought that he was a bad person he had like a long beer and all that but it's he's one of the best persons that I have known and I just want to make sure did you catch the first part of the story did you want him to repeat the first part of the story would that helps [Music] so we didn't want to harm anybody we decided that instead of um closing the business we were going to do marketing marketing for our business so that way we didn't need to fire anybody kitchen manager is so I am the kitchen manager of Legends of Aurora so I did not um I was trying to do my best so we didn't have to fire anybody restaurant [Music] [Music] so because in because the pandemic we were trying to do something that was because we were leaving the pandemic and all that we were trying to do something that was good for the restaurant um it's okay um [Music] so that's the reason I'm sorry I was trying to get the to understand these stories so that's the reason that we decided to go with these marketing strategy to do these commercials but we really was we were not trying to harm anybody um Hacienda so I don't know why he was taking as a discrimination against him we most of the people that work in the kitchen were from We're Hispanic we're Latinos and his wife is African-American so I don't know why that will be taken in in any any negative way um [Music] yeah I'm sure that what we did didn't have any intention to offend anybody vendimos so uh from my side and his side I just want to let you know that we really Our intention was not to harm anybody I know that probably my voice is not um has you know it's not very strong but from my side I wanted to let you know that I'm sorry and it was not Our intention to harm anybody gracias thank you Chantelle sunberg followed by Bethany blower mayor city council members in the maples of the public who are here and those at home greetings I'm here to address my issue about my husband Steve slackberg there's a campaign of smear against him in the news I met him in Africa when I was a refugee I'm a Survivor of Rwanda Holocaust when 8 million 800 million people died in three months he was helping over there building homes for habit of humanity that was 28 years ago there are those in the media who have been trying to analyze who he is as a person and I have a question for you how do you know him he's a man of integrity a great leader who led Immortal culture Deacon Ministry and the first one to integrate women in a church that was with all rest and background different of us he's an awesome businessman with diverse stuff you just saw that he's involved in our community and donate food whenever needed sponsoring diverse youth group team a great father with a great sense of humor who makes us laugh he brings joy in our home when it comes to people he is color blind his love for people desire for everyone to prosper Hallelujah a man with a god-given gift of voice Tyrant he's fun and makes us laugh when it was dark during Covey he brought laughter to many hearts I wonder how many people with sad faces that God is smart because of those videos I wonder how many people who were depressed and Hoppers who found Hope because of what they were watching the public saw those videos and they loved them for over two and a half years no one complained I tell you what if I would have a video camera a big screen around here and put on display everyone is drives I bet I can find some special interest people or I can find people who are going to be offended about something those videos they were not intent to harm anyone or to offend anyone to my beloved husband keep up the good work the Aurora is a great city world 2 has lots of potential make it glorious we all know this is all about politics but I thank God that you are not a partition you are not a man who give up and this is not going to succeed against you an attack against my husband it is an attack against me it is an attack against our family and it is an attack against all members of the public when they come against him they're coming against you who elected him but rest assured we are not going to be intimidated by your scare tactic we are not going to give up or be concerned we are going to Prevail and most importantly we have we had the support of your public and the most high goddess behind us God bless you and thank you Bethany followed by Zach Heaton mayor point of order uh councilman McCombs um only during ceremonies I believe are we supposed to have Applause or other um Expressions that's correct please no demonstrations or Applause please proceed good evening council members Mr Mayor my name is Bethany Boyer and I registered to speak here tonight in support of councilman Steve sunberg I've had the pleasure of getting to know the sunberg family over the last few years because my husband also works for an aurora small business over the last month or so Steve has been the subject of some less than kind articles published by the Aurora Sentinel in the Denver Post while I fully understand that some of Steve's actions could have come across as offensive to specific groups of people I am here to implore you not to judge him this wonderful man on a few silly videos but judge him on the fruits of his labor these were jokes Amusement something not to be taken so seriously so let's take a minute and let's go back to the heart of the pandemic let's talk about the benefits of laughter that it boosts immunity that it lowers stress that it attracts others to us to help diffuse conflict so please don't judge Steve on his attempted humor I am asking you to judge Steve by his fantastic Community impact that he has had in over 30 years that Legends has been open Legends of Aurora has provided countless meals to local Peewee and high school sports teams in March of 2020 he provided meals and supplies to his employees in April of 2020 he provided Victory belts to the Overland high school wrestling team in May of 2020 he donated over 75 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to a local battered women's shelter in July of 2020 he fed the members of Aurora Fire Station 2 and in May of 2021 Legends received the city of Aurora business recognition award funny how these things have gone unnoticed by the media but I can tell you why Steve is a solid member of the Aurora Community with sound conservative principles that at the core are offensive to some so be it you are allowed to disagree with the ideals that Steve upholds but attacking his character is wrong Steve is the man that invites you to a swim party in his dad's backyard whose wife has unwavering faith and whose generosity No No's no bounds and Steve's the friend that will call you when your mom is undergoing cancer treatment uphold this man he is a pillar of this community and we are lucky to have him thank you for your time I know what an important night this is and it's been an honor to be in this room with you all thank you Zach Keaton followed by Naomi Caldwell good evening city council before I start sunberg good luck for whatever you're dealing with I have no idea what's going on but uh yikes that's seem like a straight shooter in my dealings with you so uh good luck man uh so the rest of you guys I don't think I think I need my full three minutes tonight um I really wanted to come up and give some gratitude to our city clear Kitty Rodriguez for uh walking me through the initiative and referendum process um I still stand that our City website is uh more complex than College physics but I digress um I really also wanted to follow up with uh city council because there we do have some sort of initiative movement something towards a full-time city council with appropriate funding to make you guys actually paid for well paid more than like eight dollars an hour for the work that you guys do um put a face to it you know I'm the guy who's emailing you guys I think uh councilwoman Bergen and councilman McConnell both said they would uh get those because we have some missing minutes and stuff so I can pester you guys further um so yeah uh Rock Island if I can get scheduled and uh that's it happy Monday happy New Year cheers Naomi Caldwell followed by William Montgomery good evening mayor and Council thank you so much for having us here tonight um I want to thank you for your continued leadership for our community in any position of leadership it is challenging to be hyper aware of what you say your response to an email a text and your post on social media um given the situation with councilman Sundberg I would like to share some insight with about him I have known Steve his father and his family for over 25 years we met during the fireworks softball tournament that continues today brings thousands of visitors to Aurora Legends of Aurora would feed over the 400 College Scouts that attended he has continually donated meals to local schools and youth programs and feed students and Families he has volunteered hundreds of hours and donated meals to the leadership Aurora program the diversity Summit the women in business committees he was chair of the leadership Aurora board when the chamber created the new emerging leaders program concentrating on community members developing their leadership skills he has opened his business and donated meals to numerous fundraisers for the Aurora Police Department and Fire Department as a small business during covid one of his goals was to keep all of his employees employed which he did these are just a small few examples of what he's done for our community Steve is first and foremost a husband and father in a very diverse family he's a businessman he's an inexperienced politician who despite during times of covet made some unintentionally offensive marketing choices for his business as an Asian woman married to a Hispanic man I understand why people are upset his attempted humor was an effort to Showcase his diverse menu I know that Steve has a generally good heart and I was willing to help a diverse community and as he continues to put forth efforts to rectify the situation I'm here to ask you to allow him the grace to do just that thank you William Montgomery followed by Tanya tabachek good evening my name is William Montgomery I am actually a HomeTown resident in Fort Collins Colorado but you know I fell on hard times and I actually got ran out of that town by some pretty corrupt cops here to Denver turns out they're down here as well and so are the business owners and practically everybody I run into I'm actually pretty sharp guy I just fell on hard times with some medical problems I'm very clean cut don't do drugs don't drink but basically uh it's really funny all this talk about Justice and um you know anti-biguitry and upholding values and stuff honestly is is just complete crock of to the homeless community and uh from my experience dealing with 300 cops now dozens of Judges attorneys you name it um I have seen it all I've made a YouTube channel now out of it guilty until proven in this age uh but anyway so we got two minutes left so basically um what ends up happening is is uh people don't take my 911 calls and they don't hold people who wrongly accountable and uh the worst has now officially happened I never thought I would actually see this in a million years guys I'm not joking you okay I was gonna play a video tonight but you guys won't let me so YouTube the terms RV hate crime Hit and Run homeless RV hate crime double hit and run so essentially two nights ago there was somebody who decided to Ram specifically my RV after ramming another RV right behind me parked by me and they avoided all the cars on the road now it's one thing to just you know hate RVs and so forth and I can understand you know maybe some parking issues but this was this was cold and this was calculated you got to see the video I caught it on my dash cam but what really really pains me what really makes me die inside is that I reported this to two police officers they showed up on the scene took the call but not really they charged this person I showed them the video and everything they charged this person with careless driving and you know a hit and run there but I mean I literally showed them everything I begged them I explained to them that the other RV was hit as well they didn't go look at it they they pushed back every single opportunity that they could to not charge this person with something Reckless something malicious and so you know I'm going up the channels now Internal Affairs but basically if you look at the video for yourself these officers Officer Ryan iwamoto and officer George Salas literally did not take my 911 call and I think it's because I was homeless you have to see this video it is unmistakable any cop that sees this video which charges him with felony criminal mischief felony five is actually what it's supposed to be and reckless driving so maybe maybe Internal Affairs might handle this in my experience they haven't but if you see that video for yourself maybe you can personally note somewhere to fire these at least these two cops I may not get much Justice anywhere else but oh my God please do something about just these two cops thank you Tanya tabachek followed by Aaron Futrell good evening our mayor and council members I originally was going to come talk about one thing but out of all this new information I have more to say um again the other day last night it seemed that Concord College was a racing Spin Zone and I know I'm repeating this and I mentioned this every so often but at Sunday night that college should have no cars in it it shouldn't have cars speeding around in circles and facing each other and whatever they're doing there we did call the police again last night we were told that they would show up we went by at first the lights were on and so forth we drove by again and there were still 50 cars there they didn't have their lights on so who knows they were trying to say hey we're here but not here doing anything but my opinion is there should be no cars in that parking lot period shouldn't be allowed to do that period and so forth another thing is we all make mistakes we all have issues none of us is perfect so judging and prejudging is not right I mean things happen in people's past bringing it back up and so forth like I said we make mistakes Nobody's Perfect it needs to be we need to work together as a city and as a community and no one should be pushed or degraded or humiliated so that's all I had to say thank you Aaron Futrell followed by Alexandra Jackson all right good evening honorable Council mayor hope your holidays were good I wasn't expecting to be up here so soon but the news broke during the holiday of an offensive social media post so that is what I'm up here to speak about um so um most of you I saw a majority of guys out there celebrating giving honor to Martin Luther King Jr as we begin this week-long celebration to Martin Luther King Jr the man who committed his life to diversity and inclusion um and to that at this time we we as a city are involved in the controversy because um because a representative posted something that lacked cultural and sensitivity this is not an attack on this person's character whatnot it's more of a plea for them to take a refresh your course into in diversity equity and inclusion I was asked the uh from a movie and one of my friends children noticed an All-American City sign that promotes Aurora as an All-American but it was written in Spanish and they asked me why is it written in Spanish and I told them that the city of Aurora promotes and cherishes diversity and and that's the best way that I can explain or I love Aurora you guys have seen me passionate about it and I also love the food at Legends I'll be honest but the offensive social media post leaves us how rotation in our mouths other than that thank you for the time to speak and save the world Reserve so Alex Alexandra is actually on the call-in line so we're going to go over to the call in lineup Kathy ortia we can't hear you I'm sorry can you hear me now okay Tamara uh if you are still there we need to go ahead you have three minutes okay thank you sorry about that good evening and thank you mayor Kaufman and members of the council for the opportunity to speak I apologize that I should not be there in person tonight my name is I have been a resident for over 30 years and I've had the opportunity to work and participate in my community for I understand the concern brought forward regarding the controversial marketing video produced and posted by capitals I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting Steve about seven years ago when I started a new position in Aurora and he was one of the first friendly faces I encountered I came to learn quickly that Steve is a leader who genuinely cares about the community he serves as a part of my work at Aurora I helped start the diversity and inclusion Council for the chamber and needed a lot of assistance for the first event these steps right in and bent over backwards to provide food for the event and also Supply volunteers when in need since then he's been a major sponsor and supporter of the council and other like events Steven his father have owned and operated Legends of Aurora a family-friendly Neighborhood Restaurant for decades and during every experience I have had there which should made is almost every every week I've seen him treat all of their customers with respect and like family Steve has employed not only his family but his son and his daughter's friends giving them an opportunity to work when others wouldn't he has provided jobs for many high school students and sponsored sporting events when no one else would or could as a mixed Indian and Middle Eastern woman I do completely understand the offense that these videos can cause but as a good friend of Steve's I would like to defend his character in saying that it was truly unintentional during covid an uncertain time of fear many took action to do what was needed to be done to save their business protect their families and provide for those in need Steve did all of the above including providing for hundreds in need even outside of his family we are all guilty of miscommunication and hopefully we learn from our mistakes Steve has made efforts to do what he can to show his compassion for all that he serves and will continue to do what it takes please allow him the opportunity to do this and show his true inclusive character in nature thank you for your time Alexandra your next you have three minutes go ahead okay great can you hear me I hope so okay good evening Council people and Mr Mayor my name is Alexandra Jackson I've lived in Aurora Colorado my whole life my professional background of eight years is in diversity equity and inclusion otherwise known as Dei work um through the recent media releasing concerning council person sunberg and his offensive commercial I have become moved to speak with you all today however my motivations really stem from the approval of budget cuts related to the Dei office and recommended resolutions as a result of the murder of Elijah McClain's I believe between voting records between the voting record of sunberg along with the recent Scandal there's a clear established pattern of some implicit and explicit bias that impede his ability to truly serve the community that is Aurora there is real hurt in this room today and in the community as a result of the commercial that was released I asked you all to consider how important Dei training is there is a lot of misunderstanding about what Dei work is and what it looks like however looking at this commercial and the response from the community is a perfect example of why vei work is needed especially by elected officials with public good as a priority vei is a tool to minimize harm and to connect people it is a complex and delicate practice perhaps that council person sunberg or anyone in his close circles have been given evidence-based education or organized time for critical self-reflection as it was relates to topics of Dei then we would be having a very different conversation tonight the sentiment of serving diverse cultures is one thing however the execution of the sentiment completely missed the mark and created harm to historically underrepresented communities that often must compete against negative stereotypes associated with their culture as City Council Members this event reflects negatively on the communities of color and people who share values of inclusivity diversity and Equity barn and pain are inevitable parts of life however it is our duty as humans to minimize the harm we cause therefore I'm asking the people of the city council for two things one to reconsider reconsider the before mentioned budget cuts related to Dei efforts and invest further and two consider creating Dei diversity equity and inclusion standards and cultural competencies citizens can expect our elected city council member to learn and uphold lastly I will leave you with a quote from an activist and poet Maya Angelou do the best you can until you know better then when you know better do better thank you for your time that was the last individual mayor can I take a minute councilmember about January 2nd I pulled up at King Super as I was maybe 10 12 or more cars back and it was extremely icy as I got up my car I saw an older African-American lady probably of Ethiopian descent and she was struggling she didn't want to take another step and I approached her we made eye contact I put my arm out she took my arm and we walked across the ice very slowly and had a conversation for a few minutes whenever when we reach the the concrete and we wished each other a good day and a happy New Year but that type of example is in my heart and I'm glad to do that all day long no matter who it is and I think it also represents what Aurora is I see kindness happening in our city frequently on a daily basis whether that's someone holding a door open for someone at a convenience store or smiling there's a lot of kindness in our community if you remember a week ago with Demar Hamlin lifeless on the football field it doesn't matter what color you are you were concerned about him in a genuine fashion it's an honor to represent Ward 2 I believe I do it well I am responsive Etc uh I won big over three other people people felt confident in me to not allow this city in the direction of a failed overly permissive City on like on the west coast that's not enforcing the law Etc a couple of years ago a local news station came into our business and did a very in-depth interview with our staff myself camera work looked at all of our videos and decided to portray the positive instead of just focusing in a hyper way on the negative by the way there's some funny videos in there my Yukon Cornelius video mayor I looked like the guy was it was it's a lot of positive fun things did happen so I've spoken with a lot of groups whether that's this Council of American Islamic relations the NAACP state senators have had some good conversations with them about this and I'm grateful for the conversations we've had and I thank you for the community leaders who have supported me have reached out demonstrating their support but I do pledge you know going forward to continue to build unity in this community and bring people together and fight for Aurora and I'll certainly learn from my mistakes so thank you everyone for your support I appreciate it and God bless Aurora is there anybody else who wishes to be heard no is it are we no longer required to adopt the agenda yes I don't see it online it's number nine number nine okay I'm sorry it's a top of the next page uh motion to adopt the agenda mayor so moved moved by uh I'm talking to uh Gardner second bye Birkin second by councilmember Bergen to uh adopt the agenda uh discussion uh seeing no discussion call for the question on the adoption of the agenda mayor Kaufman uh mayor rochez down uh we are now um due to the change that uh Memphis Gardner put forward we are breaking the consent calendar into two separate parts uh one that I have the ability to vote on and the other one that I do not so for the first one uh I um the question before us is the um well need a motion for the adoption of the consent calendar item number 10A mayor councilmember McConnell yes sir removed by councilmember McConnell second by to approve the consent counter item number 10a1 uh discussion I see no discussion uh call for the question on the adoption of the consent calendar item number 10a1 mayor Kaufman Mayo chess the motion passes to the consent calendar motions uh next question is the adoption of the consent calendar item number 10a1 through I'm sorry 11 A1 through 11 A6 uh councilman Brogan yes motion to approve 11 A1 through 11 A6 remember council member Morgan second by jorinsky council member I'm sorry we we did how to have an individual who wanted to speak on item 11a1 and I uh for purposes of discussion I will um um take out item 11a4 councilman McConnell thank you sir I'd also like to take out item 11a2 a what A2 very well um then the question before us do I have to redo my motion what's that do I have to redo my motion then um no no well you know because who seconded the your motion gerinsky councilmember then then I think we're going to pull the items as long as the motion it's like if you're okay with removing 11 A1 and 11 A2 and 1184 for purposes of discussion and A4 very well um so the question before us is the adoption of the consent calendar item 11a3 item 11 A5 and item 11a6 um discussion see no discussion in uh question uh call the question on consent calendar 11 A3 11 A5 and 1186 also we can do the the finalizing of ordinances would be 12 A1 as well yeah we're gonna do that separate oh God 12 A1 finalizing of ordinances that were approved at first reading unanimously I don't uh I'm sorry that's fine I'm sorry 11b1 yes I'm sorry 11b1 is that included in your motion mayor Pro Tim should be included yes very well uh can you is that a friendly Amendment yes very well thank you uh so 11b1 uh discussion if you know discussion call for the question on the adoption of the consent calendar item number 1183 1185 1186 and 11b1 council member zavonic yes thank you the motion passes to adopt the consent calendar with items 11a1 1182 and 11a4 removed uh we could now please read the time to 11 A1 11a1 is resolution 2022-237 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado to modify the Rules of Order and procedure for the Aurora Colorado city council regarding the start time for regular City Council meetings I believe we have someone to speak of an 1181 yes Tanya tabachek foreign council members um I know that last time we had brought it up it was building the meeting from 6 30 to 6 I believe it was um I myself right now I work until five but I'm luckily at home when I work at home but I know that many people including my other co-workers that live far away or so forth they take some time to go from one side of the city to the other side of the city so I would think that leaving it as is would be the best but the best uh time to leave it as thank you thank you are there further Is there further public invited to be heard 1181 uh seeing none a motion is an order on 11 A1 mayor motion to approve 11a1 moved by um Gardner seconded by Sunday second by councilmember sunberg to approve item number 1181 discussion uh councilman Bergen I'd like to make a motion to amend 11a1 to have public invited to follow the consent calendar which would then give people more time uh very well uh it's been moved by councilmember Bergen seconded by Gardner mayor Tim Gardner to put our public invited to be heard after the consent calendar discussion uh councilman Coombs so I think given that the emergence are now on on that would potentially put people in an even worse position in terms of testifying on agenda items if we actually move that in front of public invited to be heard so I'm not going to support that mayor a man for Tim Garner um public invited to be heard is not for agenda items so that that's irrelevant public invited to be heard is for comment to city council for non-agenda items only mayor thank you right but if we put that after the consent calendar where most things are if people wanted to sign up to comment on agenda items they would now be having to do that right at the beginning of the meeting whereas public invited to be heard being first would give people that buffer time to arrive um before their agenda item is up since the majority of things are now on consent so if we can put consent first then comment on agenda items starts promptly at 6 pm and when people have jobs they may not be able to get here promptly at 6 pm and wouldn't then be able to pull the item off the agenda so I think it actually worsens the problem we're talking about I appreciate the spirit which is to try to find a compromise but I don't think that it actually helps with the issue of people being able to testify before Council further discussion mayor I'd like to call for the question um very well uh that requires a second it's been moved the motion has been made by mayor for Tim to call for the question it does require second dozen yes very well uh motion then dies for lack of a second um is there further discussion on um 11a1 come here uh councilman McConnell thank you sir and I also do want to acknowledge the ethnic Spirit of compromise with the pre with this proposal that we're discussing I just want to remind Council that we had this discussion I think it was last year the year before last when we agreed to meet um to separate study sessions from our regular meetings and we also change the timing of when our meetings start so that we actually don't let them drag on too late Into the Night and still allow folks who may be working a usual nine to five shift to participate last time we met I think it was actually a study session it was brought up that not everyone works um you know a nine to five shift completely agree with that um but the decision was made to have our meetings be as accessible for folks who work that shift what we're doing here is going to make it inaccessible for those folks and folks who work a night shift as well um so what we're doing I'm you know I've heard that the goal is to not keep staff here late because they don't get any kind of comp time or anything like that I would actually ask the city manager to create a policy around comp time for staff that are you know here for our Council meetings because I don't think it's fair that they're expected to then come in the next day at the same time when they might have been up with the rest of us and the listening public um well you know late late into the evening so I'm not going to support this amendment nor the the original motion I think that 630 is a good time where we capture folks after they're able to get home get a meal spend some time with their family Etc so that's what I got uh councilmember Bergen um I'm going to withdraw my Amendment um I do believe that councilmember Combs made a good point about um the agenda items that people would want to pull from the agenda so I'm withdrawing my Amendment cool uh further discussion so now let's see well then that was that was the only amendment offered so now we're just back to the 11a1 uh unamended further discussion I've seen none call for the question on 11 A1 council member mercano sorry I got logged out in the middle of that for some reason that's okay how would you like to vote no the motion does not pass with four yes votes six no votes the yes votes firm council members Ivana mayor Pro Tim Gardner councilmember and councilmember zenberg who are now pleased with the title title number 1182 item 11a2 is resolution 202301 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado expressing the Aurora City council's approval of an oil and gas lease agreement with Maverick mineral Partners two LLC for city-owned mineral interests within section 6 Township 4 South Range 65 west of the sixth principal Meridian County verapo state of Colorado containing 33.5197 Acres councilman O'Connell thank you mayor mayor so the reason I wanted to pull this item was for us to get a presentation for the public around this specific site and also about how forced pooling works I think America council members my name is Jeffrey Moore I'm the manager of the oil and gas division here for the city with me tonight is Ian best with the city attorney's office and Hector runoso manager of Real Property Services and as soon as my slides are ready to go we will begin great thank you very much we're talking tonight about a oil and gas leasing opportunity with Maverick mineral Partners Township 4 South Range 65 West section 6. Hector Reynoso is going to begin by discussing the area of this lease and some details about the property itself good evening honorable mayor and Council my name is Hector Reynoso and I'm the manager of the rural Property Services Division in the public works department at the city of Aurora the subject property you will see is highlighted in blue on the screen there it's located on the Southeast quadrant of I-70 and E-470 the properties were the city acquired between 2016 and 2021 the city acquired approximately 57 acres of land from four Property Owners including the yellow non-blue highlighted property to the west of the subject property for a total of 6 million six hundred and fifty eight thousand dollars as part of the first Creek detention Pond project the first Creek detention Pond project is a partnership between the city of Aurora and the mile high Flood Control District to construct a Regional Detention pond on those properties to accommodate existing and future development within the first Creek basin Hector this lease area is part of a Drilling and spacing unit that's been approved by the Colorado oil and gas Conservation Commission it's numbered DSU 535-902 it's comprised of two square miles two sections of land 1 280 Acres the DSU will be accessed by eight Wells drilled from The jameso Well site which is shown there on the right side of the screen those Wells originally began drilling several years ago The Operators returning this weekend to begin the completion of those Drilling the operator civitas resources has already leased greater than 45 percent of the minerals within the DSU they have stated that to me and I've confirmed that with a records recorded recorded only gas leases in Arapahoe County the actions that we have taken on this so far we received an unsolicited offer from axis expiration which is part of civitas resources we initiated a 30-day competitive bid process I emailed 11 operators and two industry groups that are active in the atoms and Arapahoe County areas we posted the opportunity on our oil and gas division webpage and Aurora social media to bids were received by the deadline of November 14th the one from original one from axis expiration and a new one from Maverick mineral Partners Maverick minnow Partners is a denver-based mineral owner Investment Group and there are representatives from that entity here this evening should you have any questions for them the offer from civitas or access expiration was four thousand dollars in acres and upfront bonus 20 royalty on production in a three-year primary term to begin Drilling the offer from Maverick mineral Partners was eight thousand three hundred seventy five dollars per net mineral acres and upfront bonus and a matching 20 royalty and three-year primary term the way this would work if approved as Maverick mineral Partners would participate in the drilling of the well as a working interest owner so they would share in both the cost and the profit of drilling the well and then they would provide the bonus to the city which we already have the check in hand and the operator would pay the royalty to the city the options are to accept the offer sign the lease deposit the check of two hundred eighty thousand seven hundred twenty seven dollars we'd receive a 20 royalty from first production an estimated of 210 000 royalty per well I do note that it's based on commodity prices and is an estimate that is not a guaranteed income amount there are eight Wells as I mentioned before those royalties would come over 20 to 30 years of the life of the of the production of life of the well uh the first four years would provide about 70 percent of the total revenue also there'd be no surface access or occupancy on these particular properties as I mentioned the wells will be drilled not from the surface of these properties but from the James oh well site to the east the other offer is to other option is to reject the offer and be Force pooled the parcel would be Force Pulled Under cogc requirements and state law the operator would be allowed to do that because they do have more than 45 percent of the total minerals within the DSU already under lease if we did that we would become a non-consenting working interest owner after a 200 percent penalty we would not be able to restrict the surface access and that would create potential issues as a local government entity because of Tabor rules and unfunded liabilities we do recommend in the oil gas division uh that first offer our first option to accept the offer that concludes my presentation I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have questions for staff mayor uh councilmember bargain uh yes um thank you Jeffrey um so obviously on the last slide you presented the opinions on accepting or not accepting and can you explain you one of the points is no ability to restrict surface access if we reject um the lease correct thank you for your question councilmember Bergen um if we do sign a lease we can add Provisions as we like it's a private contract agreement in our standard lease that we offer uh to operators we do include a provision that says no surface occupancy that means that there's no ability for the operator to drill a well from that property or access the property to Stage equipment or anything else related to the drilling if we don't sign a lease then we'd lose that opportunity okay so that would actually be detrimental to our residents if if we didn't have that ability to restrict the surface access possibly it could be yes okay further questions for staff mayor councilmember McConnell thank you sir so Jeffrey I just wanted to clarify that the only folks who have um access um jurisdiction basically for any drilling site whether it's this one or other ones throughout the city that would be the cogcc correct did you rephrase your question yeah sorry the only the answer regulates whether or not activity is going to happen is the Colorado oil and gas Conservation Commission this particular property is within the city limits of Aurora so if an operator wanted to propose drilling a well on this property we would have the authority to say yes or no on that particular property so we actually would have surface regulation then for someone to set up the siding um here and then um but ultimately the permits do get approved through the Colorado oil and gas Conservation Commission correct yes the state colon oil and gas Conservation Commission also approves all wells in addition to what the local entity might be whether it's a city or a County great thank you further questions to staff uh seeing none motion is in order mayor motion to approve 1182. so we moved by um uh mayor Pro tem Gardner seconded by Sunday second by councilmember sunberg to approve item number 1182 further discussion mayor uh councilman McConnell thank you sir so I just want to speak to members of the public who've contacted me and others about this and some of the other activity that's happening in the city um by and large as you heard we are not really able to do too much around this kind of activity as Council especially when it's outside of the city limits so my recommendations to all the folks who've reached into us would be to contact your state legislatures so you can find all that information pretty readily accessible online and ask them to uh you know revise State Statute and the regulatory authority of the Colorado oil and gas Conservation Commission in a way that would suit the you know ends that you are all looking for whether you want the city to have more control over that or if you want you know direct resident control over development or if you even want to change the force pooling maximums to be an actual majority as opposed to 45 percent which I believe is what they're currently only set for there's a lot of options so please reach out to your state legislators and do keep contacting us as well because most of us are able to reach into them and let them know that's something that we're hearing a lot from from our community but I just wanted to let you know uh where the real ability to impact this currently rests and that's with the Colorado oil and gas Conservation Commission and to a limited expense with city council when activity is taking place within the city thank you further discussion seeing none I call for the question on the adoption of item number 1182 the emotion passes to adopt resolution 2023.02.01 I'm sorry now please talk to item number 1184 item 11a4 is resolution 202303 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado authorizing the execution of the Professional Services agreement between the city of Aurora Colorado and we're an Economic Development Council Inc a brief presentation by staff Nick I am the development services manager in the department of planning and development services tonight before you we have a contract with Aurora Economic Development Council that we are proposing it is a contract that has been approved in the past for for the last say 30 years and due to the long history and continuing nature of the services that this Economic Development partner provides staff is recommending a three-year agreement for 2023 through 2025 subject to annual appropriation the contract I will note has been updated to include best practices and recommendations from a res a recent internal audit conducted by City audits Dash staff in the areas of management and monitoring work I'll be happy to answer any specific questions that Council has about this continuing questions of staff seeing none oh sorry councilmember Bergen uh yes um do we have a similar agreement with visit Aurora it is my understanding that our agreement with visit Aurora also an economic development partner is also for a three-year period okay thank you for any further questions staff mayor councilmember McConnell thank you sir and thank you Andrew for the presentation I looked in the backup and I could not find pay scales for the executive leadership of the organization is that something that you would happen to have handy I do not have that with me but I'd be happy to collect that information and provide it to you mayor follow up with me please proceed all right um since you don't have it handy I had a constituent send me some documents that are a couple of years old now but I was pretty shocked to see that the president gets a salary of four hundred thousand dollars a year when our contribution is 550 000. and I understand that that's shared between a couple of other jurisdictions but that still seemed shocking to me can you confirm that that's around the price or what that salary still is so our contribution under this contract is 550 000 and I believe that based on information that I've received that the city's contribution represents approximately 19 of their total budget that's the information I have um the organization is here to answer any specific questions you have about that if you'd like yes if we have people present I would like to know sorry I can't see who's in Chambers very well oh I'm sorry I can't I know you only have one chair but happy to move he can move another chair that is correct 19 of our budget comes from the city of Aurora the rest of the funds are uh funds that are raised privately because remember Carl okay thank you um and can I can we get confirmation on the salary ranges for yourself and the vice president I am not a hundred percent sure what my salary is but I think that's highly inappropriate for you to ask that uh got a question for legal counsel the is there a requirement for her to answer what her income is no the question so you may ask that question and the financials would indicate so we get to review the financials of aedc so that should be provided girl um councilman McConnell yes mayor um so again I have these documents and I'm going to just go off of them if that is the answer I'm going to get but 400 000 seems like an egregious salary that is what the president of the United States makes um for an economic development firm I understand the rest of your the bulk of your budget is privately raised that's great but we're contributing 20 almost so I feel like we have our residents have a right to know Kevin this is a standard contribution that we make every year yeah further discussion mayor councilmember Johnson yeah um sure a question like that has ever been asked before and we are asking the only woman who is the head of any of our Economic Development Partners so I would like to Now call for the salary of every man who is the president or executive of any of our aedc partners and I applaud you Wendy Mitchell I don't care how much you make if you make four hundred thousand I applaud you woman to woman from my salary to your salary you're a boss and I applaud you very well I think the um the question is uh and maybe staff can look this up for all of our Economic Development Partners uh what is the salary and salary and benefits mayor councilmember Bergen uh yes um this would be to aedc can you tell us about the revenues that you or the tax revenues that are brought to the city on an annual basis and and possibly over the last several decades happy too good evening Council So based on just last year's results we've worked with 18 companies that will generate 1.1 billion dollars in terms of capital investment and that's not including payrolls from that we estimate that they'll approximately create 32 million dollars of net new tax revenue to the city and that's 58 times the contribution that the city makes right and the reason I asked that question is I think this needs to be put in perspective the return on investment we are receiving a lot of money tax revenues that come to the city not including you know the other impacts of of the economic development with jobs and and so forth so I think we'd put that question that council member Marcano into perspective that it is well worth it from a value proposition um and I I agree with council member jorinsky um you know if someone is successful at their job they should be well compensated this is America further questions of Staff mayor Sundberg councilmember sunburn yeah I just appreciate the work that visit Aurora does the Chamber of Commerce ADC and let's pay people top dollar for the excellent work they do and uh do you remember a port that came out about mental health organizations around the state that were largely ineffective through auditing some of those salaries were egregious nothing like what we just heard there and I just again think we should pay people top dollar for the excellent work they're doing further questions of staff mayor um councilman Combs um so since there are some information that's being requested that's not present around this and other issues I wonder if we can continue this item until after the winter Workshop when we've been able to get that information as well as other discussion about Economic Development within the city so my proposal would be to continue this item until after the winter Workshop councilman Combs uh has a motion to continue um moved by councilman mccoom seconded by Mercado second by councilmember O'Connell uh discussion on the motion to continue mayor councilmembergerinsky uh the the I'm sorry date certain on the motion to continue Workshop I'd have to look when is that City Clerk you pull up the calendar really quickly the winter Workshop is at the in the beginning of February I'm sorry the winter Workshop is in the beginning of February February 4th so February 4th the next council meeting would be February 13th February 13th um so the motion is to lay it over till February 13th discussion on the motion to continue mayor mayor any clarification um councilmember sunburn the city is contributing just 19 of their budget is that correct and we're concerned about that salary when they raised the Lion's Share of their funding on their own privately through a lot of hard work the A-list event you name it they're making that happen and we're just giving them 19 and we're making such a big deal for further discussion on the motion to continue uh councilman Berger uh yes I this is simply to extend a three-year contract instead of doing this on an annual basis as Andrea amanek just stated it's subject to annual Appropriations already and this can be terminated at any time right Rachel our attorney thank you yes thank you councilmember Bergen um there's a provision in the agreement that the agreement may be terminated with 30 days notice for at the convenience of the city so with or without cause um there's no there's nothing in the agreement that says it has to be for cause it can be at the convenience of the city with 30 days notice in right if I may continue mayor please um yeah and so I I don't understand why we will want to continue this when it's simply a three-year contract that we already afford to visit Aurora and it it really should be a simple simple question customer joinski so the information I requested is because I mean if we are going to just boldly demand Wendy Mitchell's uh salary then every man doing economic development in this city is also going to present uh his salary I think that that was already put forward okay to delay this because we're waiting for information to come forward so I'm saying that holds no bearing on my vote we're literally trying to hold this up to see if Wendy Mitchell exactly makes four hundred thousand dollars a year and if that's egregious one you should level up further discussion mayor mayor councilmember comes so the is not hold this up it's right there's this information that we're trying to get and then we are also having a more comprehensive Economic Development conversation so the intent is not just to hold things up it's to have that comprehensive conversation at which point we can get that information and then have the vote on this so it's just so that we have that Economic Development strategy which we've already said we're going to discuss at the winter Workshop to inform how we're approaching this uh councilmember so originally you asked for or council member Marcato and council member Coombs for the salary information and that's why you want the continuation and it has no bearing on a three-year contract I mean the salary is the salary whatever it is the question at hand is whether we want to extend a three-year contract that we already do to other entities thank you sir um so mayor Pro I'm sorry council member Bergen that is not actually correct the reason we're trying to hold this up is because we're trying to have a more robust Economic Development conversation you guys wanted to fixate on the salary question um which I still think you know we should we have a right to know what we're paying our contractors and why um but that's I guess an aside for the moment um but frankly I am dissatisfied with the fact that you know a lot of the things that are brought forward to council are not even housing wage jobs and we are contributing to this organization um I don't like the annual junket that you will spend half of our of our travel budgets on uh to go to when we already pay accelerate Colorado 25 000 a year on top of that so these are issues that I have with this entity and the way we're doing business I think that we have other opportunities available to us in the city to either run our Economic Development in-house to put out to bid and see if we can find better partners that are actually willing to develop our City's economic base as opposed to finding other folks to come here and pay people poverty wages for the question um councilman Jones uh councilman member jurinsky made the motion called the question is there a second second and it's been seconded by mayor Tim Gardner um call the question on call for the question may vote Yes I'm sorry yes may have wrote chess on call for the question okay the motion passes with eight yes votes three no votes to call for the question no votes councilman mercano Coons and Mario we're back to the the Coombs motion uh to continue further discussion I'm sorry I passed oh so where no mayor we have not voted on that I'm sorry we need to vote on the Coombs Amendment right okay Sue to the to the Koons of man to continue the Coombs Amendment yes to continue to the February 13th council meeting yes okay uh further um there's no further discussion okay call for the question on the Coombs Amendment mayor Kaufman um the motion does not pass with five yes votes six no votes the yes votes councilmember Martina Marcano Coombs mayor Kaufman and councilmemberio everyone um now to the um item number 11 4A itself further discussion on item number 11 4 11 A4 let me just say that neither the city nor the aedc has a comprehensive economic development plan to move forward and I believe that's why we've been underperforming in terms of wages we've been giving tax incentives for not simply for average wages but for below average wages and I think that um I think this is incredible and I think we can do better and that's why we need an economic development study and that's what we're going to be discussing on February 4th I don't think we should be making this decision until after we've at least authorized the study and so uh with that uh further discussion on the adoption of item number 11 A4 mayor we need an need a motion in a second for we never got an original most second for this we didn't do an original motion no very well um motion uh to approve item number 11 A4 mayor councilman motion to approve 11 A4 so moved by councilmember Bergen second by Sunbury council member of sunberg to approve I remember 11 A4 discussion mayor uh councilmember McConnell thank you sir I just want to say I agree with what you said um I've spoken with uh business owners here I've spoken with uh folks who work for Chambers of Commerce for other jurisdictions and God uh councilman Maria and I actually spoke with International Chambers of Commerce they have no idea what is happening in the Aurora and the tremendous potential that we have here um ways that we can actually grow our local economy ways that we can actually provide high quality employment opportunities for our existing residents they have no idea that we have a medical center but I have no idea that we have an air and Spaceport and these are things that our Economic Development you know organization should be doing um clearly it seems that that's not happening so I think that we need to investigate better opportunities like I said either to bring this in-house or find other partners to make this happen with because we should not be getting um you know basically people looking at us without any idea of what's happening in this city when we're having these kinds of conversations yes I find that very interesting that you have you know people that don't know that we have um medical you know Angie's Medical Center one of the most world-renowned Camp medical campuses in the world um I I talk about this all the time at my town halls and so I think my constituents are very aware of of all the contributions that are happening and all all the economic development that happens up in the Northeast area that has been significant including the Gaylord Resort that has also brought Economic Development because the Gaylord came here so I I find that interesting because I think it's it's brought up um I don't know if you even attend the aedc meetings but I attend every single one of them and I'm on the executive board and we go over um their Vision their plan they they actually have you know a PowerPoint presentation that they do to um to the community to to bolster Aurora to talk about Aurora to talk about what's great about our our city so they they actually do all that and this again this vote is not on whether the city is going to develop an economic plan of its own I mean that's fine we're going to do that talk about that the January Workshop this is not what this is about this vote is about a contract simple further discussion mayor uh councilmember Lawson thank you mayor so you know we've I've been on the council for eight years and I've seen a lot that aedc has done in the city of Aurora and they have done a phenomenal job I guess for me council member Marcano the question I kind of have to ask you is when you're talking about wages have you actually sat down with ADC and discussed this issue with them have you actually really sat down in that with them and said these are your concerns because we've been on the council you've been on the council for four years and I know that you have never ever brought up salary or anything and that is part of when they bring their financials but now all of a sudden you're bringing it up so I'm just wondering like what is the caveat behind your questioning have you actually sat down and talked with them about okay here's some of the concerns maybe this is some of the things that we want to do instead of just really um just bringing all this out now and I'm just trying to understand really what is the real premise behind what you're doing because someone gave you information but you've been privy to the information probably for four years mayor um I'm sorry um council member johnski then councilmember Maria um that there are jobs coming into this city with wages that are too low but then it also was declared that a 400 000 salary is egregious so I'm not sure who's setting the floor or the salary here on wages or if this is all just arbitrary that was just what I picked up on councilman thanks mayor um I just a couple of thoughts um uh I think the first one is you know we're here as a council to discuss you know concerns right so I'm not going to chastise my colleague for bringing up something that he feels is important to note I don't want to see that in terms of decorum and we're not supposed to make our comments a personal attack right so I feel like we're walking a fine line of disagreeing and then some right so I would just like to remind my colleagues and and ask that we continue with a certain level of decorum right that that we should be showing each other with respect in that regard um the other I guess point is is you know when I've had conversations with the aedc um one thing that I would love to see us do moving forward right we we talk about kind of median salary um kind of just to piggyback our own conversations the range right what what is the full picture of salaries that we bring to the table so you know just out of consistency in my conversations with you all um that's something that I want to continue to push for in terms of how we Define our economic incentives I think medians the median salary is a is a good Benchmark but really what's kind of the the floor the ceiling what's the full picture of the the types of jobs that we're we're bringing in so that's something that I have um continuously asked for and pushed for and I you know I want to continue to to build that relationship and push push for that as well um on kind of that macro scale um I know you'll you all bring a lot of jobs so that's something that I just wanted to to share and express that if we are I do support um taking another look having a comprehensive kind of conversation so um for that reason I do support pushing you know you know the the vote around pushing the conversation I think it makes sense from a logistics perspective and you know a sequence um of conversations but that's my opinion um and just wanted to express that thank you further discussion mayor um councilman comes I'm sorry okay yeah thank you mayor so I think that I would have liked to have the more comprehensive conversation before having the vote we voted against that and that is what it is but I you know I think that it is important and I have had this conversation with the aadc that we look at um building up our local economy internally so that we are not only focused on the attraction of primary jobs from outside of our city but that we are looking at building up the wealth within our community that we look at creating opportunities to have the people who are already here build their wealth build their access to business capital and to make sure that we're not only looking outside and that's a conversation that we've had and I think it's a conversation that we can continue to have and that I hope we do have prior to the February 13th meeting and I think we as a city that needs to be a part of the plan that we bring forward um is one that really looks at what do we already have here in terms of resources opportunities even potentially incentives for local people to be building up their wealth not just incentives for outside folks to be coming here and attracting those outside folks and so I am going to vote in support of this with the expectation that we continue to have those conversations about what role ADC can play in using their expertise to help us as a city build up again our people here from the ground up and not something that looks like just top down and again I really think we could have had that conversation had the conversation at the workshop and then voted on this with that in mind and so I do hope in the future that my colleagues will consider like all the different types of information that we could use in going into these conversations I'm going to support this and continue to work with them on making sure that we're doing that that we're prioritizing our local community further discussion uh mayor sunberg councilor I just want to make the brief point that the Aurora Economic Development Council has exceeded their job attraction goal every year so I commend them for that further discussion mayor uh mayor Pro tem thank you um I actually have a question since there's a lot of assumptions being made up here um Can Yuri or Wendy can one of you two talk about the salaries of the jobs that you're bringing into the City and kind of what that looks like yeah thank you council member mayor Tom uh so yeah on average uh we the companies we work with pay an above average wage meaning above the average of the county is how it's measured so in Adams County the average wage is about low 60s in Arapahoe County it's um high 70s so it differs between counties and so the majority of projects we work on bring in that salary whether it's aerospace companies or private science companies or logistics companies or manufacturers or data centers the average wage of Aurora and I know it's a little hard I don't need to get into the demographics conversation with with folks but uh to track but according to our information in the last decade the average wage of Aurora has grown 50 percent and that's due primarily to all of the companies that dozens of companies we've brought in thank you Yuri what was the last firm there was a firm below 50 000 and I believe that that was the last presentation to us was it not the incentive agreement the average yeah it was an incentive incentive agreement approved was the average salary was around forty two thousand dollars I believe and so I uh I think about 57 uh is the average for Aurora that's I'm not entirely sure but that sounds about right again it's tracked by County not by City yeah um councilmember Oregon okay so we're talking about you know specific companies with specific average salaries and not taking into account all the companies that aedc has brought in um with executive positions as well as middle positions lower level positions and I want to say you know to those people that took a job that pays you know forty thousand fifty thousand um sixty thousand that to them may be phenomenal they may have been working at minimum wage and they're given an opportunity to work for a company that offers really good benefits because we don't talk about the benefit package here but a lot of them have great benefits as well so you can't just always count on salary um you know tuition reimbursement that type of thing so I think it's disingenuous to it's almost insulting to people that that do like their job that are appreciative of the job that was offered to them um you know certainly I I agree with my colleagues we want to make Aurora better we want to improve you know living conditions for them and wages but um companies that come here um you know we're we're trying to attract the best and it's it takes time and I think it's just disingenuous to to say that people that make 40 or 50 60 000 um you know are don't appreciate their jobs I mean I started out at minimum wage when when I was young and I built my way up over years into the Staffing industry and made a really good salary but had I not been given a start probably wouldn't have been here councilman Bergen I don't think it's that an insult to the people that have the jobs the question is is it an insult to the taxpayers that subsidize those jobs mayor council member uh I would just like to say that if a company does [Music] um call for the question mayor Kaufman um I did too councilmember Medina but yes the motion passes with seven with nine yes votes and two no votes from council member Marcano and council member Mario uh we're then back to the original motion um [Music] 11 85 1184 11a4 um golf the question on item number 1184. council member Medina and Marcano no yes yes okay the motion passes with nine yes votes and one no vote from council member mercano let's see um we're clearly not pleased with the tile time number 14a mayor can we take a brief very well uh the time is now 8 35 uh we will stand in recess until 8 45. foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign foreign thank you foreign but everybody's here so uh the radical meeting of the Aurora city council for January 9th 2023 is called back to order little clerk please read the title to item number 14a item 14a is ordinance 20 2277 an ordinance of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado repelling Article 5 and Flora occupational privilege privilege tax and article 6 Employee Occupational privilege tax of chapter 130 of the city code of the city of Aurora and other related matters councilmember jorinsky thank you mayor um this is seeking to do away with the occupational privilege tax which is essentially a head tax on businesses and workers in Aurora and mayor you are the co-sponsor now so if you have anything to say as well I recognize myself um um I support this measure coastbuster this measure uh it um it doesn't take effect until 2025 uh Council has the ability at any time to amend this or to repeal this if in fact the revenues don't materialize as anticipated it specifically targets Cuts with the exception of Public Safety and road maintenance and with that um did you did you move it moved by councilman duranski second by the mayor to approve item number 14 any discussion uh councilmembergerinsky I'll send a call for the question um it's been moved by councilmembergerinsky seconded by zavonic sorry goodbye council member zavonik who wants to go home uh to call for the question um call for the question on motion on the joinsky motion mayor Kaufman yes councilmember Medina no no okay the motion passes with seven yes votes for no votes from council member Medina Marcano Coombs and Mario um call up with a question on Abner for on the adoption of item number 14a oh that's okay council member Medina no councilmember Coombs this is for the main motion the there is a Thai mayor five to five remember yes the emotion passes with six yes votes five no votes the no votes from council member Medina Marcano Combs Lawson and Mario uh reports um Mayors no reports councilmember Lawson mayor councilmember Lawson I don't think your microphone's on oh my apologies sorry thank you councilmember McConnell um the legislative session this is from the Pfizer committee federal state and governmental Relations Committee that I'm the chair of the legislative session begins today and there was a multitude of bills introduced during the week legislative priorities include affordable housing property tax and Public Safety the Pfizer committee will be meeting this Friday January 13th at 1 pm and the committee will meet every two weeks during the legislative session and that's all I have mayor uh councilman Gardner no report uh councilman joinsky yeah I just would like to report that the four at-large council members we have scheduled our first town hall uh for this year um we should have a flyer soon March 29th at 6 pm at what is getting ready to be the brand new Southeast Rec Center March 29th 6 p.m with all four at large council members customer Masonic no report uh councilman Memorial thanks mayor my January Town Hall we're going to be doing an agenda setting town hall and um planning on also having a Aurora Public Schools one of the board members joined the conversation will be Thursday January 26th at 6 pm at the Moorhead Recreation Center um we alternate between the MLK MLK Library in Moorhead when we're at Moorhead we have the technological capacity to do a virtual and in-person hybrid meeting so we will be able to live stream that if you're not able to come in person um and yeah I that that's my my announcement I just want to say that I am disappointed with how the the meeting evolved today um I think I I hear council members speaking under the breath council members yelling into the crowd I I just I I think we can do better y'all um I I've been struggling for the last year with how the conversations have evolved we've continuously used um mechanisms to shut down Discord discourse rather and I don't think that that's healthy or indicative of a functional Council and I I hope that moving forward that we can move away from that type of behavior and act better do better on behalf of our constituents there's not many folks here in the chambers right now to have seen kind of the the full meeting kind of unfold so I just wanted to express my disappointment and and hope that we can move away from that and hold ourselves to a better better standard moving forward thanks councilmember Sandberg thank you sir town hall on Thursday January 19th we'll learn of Aurora Public Schools vision for new schools p through eights learn about magnet schools learn about school resource officers those who do the job why they're passionate about it what kind of training they have thank you sir councilmember Medina uh yes I had my town hall last week we had a pretty good robust conversation around a lot of code issues and also I'll be bringing a resolution uh here in the coming weeks around Dei education for everyone thank you councilmember McConnell thank you sir so first I want to start by saying that I hope that members of the public have taken note how often my colleagues seem to choose to end debate um this is not a normal way to govern as councilman Modio said this seems to occur when folks don't have the desire or ability to defend their ideas and positions and I just want to apologize to the public for that you all deserve better um on a positive note I want to begin by congratulating representative Iman Judah commissioner Leslie summey commissioner Jessica Campbell Swanson Sheriff Tyler Brown coroner Kelly Lear Treasurer Michael Westerberg assessor PK Kaiser and Clerk and Recorder Joan Lopez on getting sworn in earlier this evening apologies that many of us were not able to make it um yeah Council and I want to let you all know that all of these folks that I just mentioned represent Ward 4 residents at the county level and I'm looking forward to working with them on issues of import to our community in the year to come on that note our next award for meeting is going to be on Thursday January 12th at 6 30 pm at Colorado early colleges you're going to be able to join via WebEx or in person and we're going to have presentations followed by q a from Aurora Public Schools director Ann Kiki District 4 Arapahoe County Commissioner Leslie summey and an introduction with interim APD Chief art Acevedo so it should be a really great meeting to kick off the new year and I hope to see you all there take care because where it comes mayor thank you um so my town hall my first town hall of the year will be on Tuesday the 17th at the Heather Gardens clubhouse and we will be doing agenda setting as well as an open q a um and in light of some of the comments that have been made regarding decorum professionalism respect I would just like to renew my call which I've made to each mayor Pro tem that I have had the pleasure to serve with so renew this call and direct toward our current mirror Pro tem council member Gardner to please include in one of our workshops opportunities for a council to set and build Norms around mutual respect and engagement with one another because this has just been an ongoing issue with the councils on which I've served um councilmember Bergen thank you mayor um I hope everybody had happy holidays I had my son home which made me very happy but I did spend a lot of time actually doing Council work during my holidays helping several homeless people that called me on Christmas Eve and I spent about two hours trying to assist them also having to deal with some abatements in other Wards and some other issues so quite busy I'm looking forward to attending the MLK Interfaith breakfast prayer breakfast this Friday and we did also have fire chief interviews this past week so those have concluded and then lastly I have my next town hall will be on January the 18th and it will be at capstic which is the police and fire training center on Quincy and the discussion which is a very controversial kind of topic on Mineral Leasing and the cap at Lowry Ranch so it involves oil and gas horizontal fracking and I just want to say to my constituents that I do hear your concerns and that is why I'm holding the town hall and we will have Marshall Brown who's our general manager of water there to answer concerns about the the Aurora Reservoir and and drinking water I have an attorney that is not connected to the city not connected to the oil and gas civitas company also there to answer questions because I know people did have a lot of concerns about what mineral leasing rights they have so anyway I hope it will be a productive meeting I will try to allow as much time as possible for questions thank you all right thank you I probably should announce my town hall meeting it is on at two o'clock on the 28th of January Saturday 20th of January and it will be at the central library and interim Chief APD Chief art Acevedo will be there talking about his philosophy going forward in terms of law enforcement in the city of Aurora with that uh medium Journal foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]