[Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign foreign thank you foreign foreign [Music] foreign foreign [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Music] city council for Monday January 30th 2023 is called to order with the clerk please call the roll mayor Kaufman here council member Bergen council member Coombs president mayor Pro Tim Gardner councilman bertrinski councilmember Lawson here council member mercano president councilmember Medina here councilmember Modio council member Sundberg here and council members of anik here announcement of the call-in line sleeping Council city council welcomes feedback from the public on both matters are both matters appearing on the agenda and during public invited to be heard if you would like to speak on an agenda item and have not already spoken to an operator please process our three for those watching on Channel 8 call 855-695-3475 and press star three when connected you will hear a prompt confirming you are in line to speak to an operator and then be able to continue listening to the meeting when the operator comes on the on the line please be ready to give them your name and agenda item that you wish to speak on please keep in mind you must press star three before the city clerk reads the title of the item you are wishing Council does not allow comments about any items on the agenda during public invited to be heard and each speaker is allowed three minutes thank you foreign her moment of silence for Tyree Nichols and his family please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you executive session update we discussed potential a potential development is as well as security issue concerns approval of the minutes a motion to approve the minutes for January 9 2023 so moved it's removed by councilmember bargain second by Sunbird council member sunburg to approve the minutes of January 9 2023. uh discussion uh seeing none call for the question on the approval of the minutes for January 9 2023. mayor Kaufman Hoffman yes councilmember Lawson yes okay thank you the motion passes to approve the January 9th 2023 meeting minutes acknowledgment land acknowledgment the city of Aurora acknowledges That We Gather on the territories and ancestral homelands of the Cheyenne Ute Arapaho and Lakota people's past and present we also recognize the 48 contemporary tribal Nations that are historically tied to the lands that make up this 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 let's see um now 7A Animal Services animal showcase Anthony Youngblood manager of animal services it's cold good evening thank you mayor and Council we appreciate you coming and letting us have time to bring down one of our animals here this who we have here is Freya she's a four-year-old lab of boxer mix she came to the Aurora animal shelter as a owner surrender she is currently in a foster home waiting for adoption she's roughly four years old about 75 pounds she does great with kids she's kind of picky if she's going to meet other dog friends until she decides if she likes them first but I think that's all of us so this and many other animals are available at the Aurora animal shelter please look us up online and let us know if you have any questions thank you for your time thank you what's the doggy's name let's go up here and they're from the organization black employees for a better Aurora or bafava for black this is Black History Month whereas without the story of African Americans the story of America would be incomplete Black History Month first proposed by scholar Carter G Woodson in 1926 seeks to rightfully restore the struggles and triumphs of African Americans into our national narrative and whereas during February our city pauses to reflect on the injustices and struggles fought and overcome by African Americans throughout our nation's history and to pay tribute to the battles they have fought in the name of equality such as the Underground Railroad and it kills a murder the Woolworth student and Montgomery bus boycotts Bloody Sunday and the March on Washington and whereas while this work is far from finished Woodson's vision for Black History Month and all who have taken up this cause have helped tell the whole story of America and everyone who built it and whereas African Americans have contributed to the rich Fabric and diversity of the city of Aurora and have made significant strides in civil rights law medicine technology food music literature education Sports entertainment journalism in the Arts and whereas during this Black History Month let us continue to draw inspiration from the past as we journey forward to a more perfect future in Aurora by remembering the sacrifices and celebrate the contributions made by African Americans in our community in Colorado and throughout our nation now therefore I my coffin mayor of the city of Aurora Colorado to hereby proclaim the month of February 2023 is Black History Month and witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and cause the Seal of the city of Aurora Colorado to be affixed this 30th day of January 2023. thank you Al would you have a few words uh yes sir and just a really quick reminder here um the theme for this year's celebration is going to be stronger together through joy and laughter laughter is good for the soul um we're going to hold a celebration in-person celebration on Friday February 24th at noon at the Aurora Central Library so please show up and you will see you there hopefully all right thank you very much [Applause] there we go thank you so much foreign to be heard yes ma'am we have a few people in person the first individual is Greg wolf followed by Alexandra Jackson do I just step up here yes please thank you my name is Greg wolf and I'm a member of the Colorado chokers Association I'm here today to implore the city to re-uh to bring back the pumpkin chunkin Colorado event this event takes place in October the beach here and it's a long history that the city has put on from its days over 25 years ago back at Delaney Farms we were limited to a thousand foot field about 2005 we were moved to a Arapahoe County Fairgrounds where the event took place for several years we became a sanctioned event in 2005 sanctioned by the wcpca which is the world championship pumpkin chunkin Association out of Delaware um and the event has grown my Leaps and Bounds and becoming a an event of such magnitude we have brought in a huge teams from all over the country as far away as even New Hampshire set several records here and it's just a wonderful event brings tens of thousands of people yeah it's just a really fan fun family event all the competitors Who come out here they all agree that the Colorado pumpkin chunking event is the most organized and the best held event in the country we didn't have one in 20 and 21 obviously because of covid not sure what happened in 22 didn't really get a good answer that's why I'm here today pass that you bring it back there's also a huge potential here Delaware has not had a world championship since 2016. they did look for another place they lost their field they looked for another place and uh they had one in 2019 and Rantoul didn't go over very well and I have been told by the board of directors of the folks in Delaware if we have an event here in Colorado this will be the new home for the world championship of event here in Colorado and Discovery Channel has put on a show every Thanksgiving called pumpkin chunkin they filmed the event ahead of time then they edit it and put it together this is a huge opportunity for the city of Aurora I mean as a as a Colorado chunker our our main goal is to take this Backwoods competition and bring it to the 21st century by way of of on hands learning and mechanical engineering and all that kind of stuff here in Colorado we have a deep tradition of having the best stem schools and the best stem companies this is a huge opportunity for the city of Aurora it's already in place all you have to do is say the word let's get it going again we have believe I'm probably out of time but um as a the association that I'm involved with we will work closely uh with the city of Aurora to make this one of the greatest events not only will it be able to put Aurora in a just a beautiful light in the state of Colorado but in the entire nation and all over the world there's a huge void to be filled here and I think we have a huge Opportunity by bringing this back thank you for your time thank you Alexandra Jackson Mayor how can we uh have his contact information who who would like that okay I'll take it I would like it yes councilmember bargain I'll send it to Oliver today send it to the whole Council yeah um Alexandra Jackson followed by Robbie DeYoung people of city council and the mayor as was stated my name is Alexandra Jackson and I'm a homeowner in Ward one um also known as East Colfax Aurora Cultural Arts District a cad and I just saw downtown Aurora uh since covid-19 pandemic is many people found themselves uh working from home and um not only lacking but fearing human connection um but one thing that I did for my health was to begin walking my two dogs that I have pretty regularly every day um my most active dog is an 80 pound German Shepherd named Elmira after the street that I live on and on our walks I learned about our neighborhood a little bit more and the people that live in it including the fact that a lot of people in our neighborhood do own dogs and enjoy walking them as well and this led me to reach out to my current city council member Crystal Mario to talk about getting a dog park established in the area just for residents near acad and kind of the neighborhood that's west of Central High School I was able to look at recent city council meeting minutes with Tracy Young from Park recs and Open Spaces I start to start to get some information and currently the closest established Aurora dog park is in Ward 2 which is known as the bicentennial dog park and that dog park has a two mile service radius which Falls a little bit short of really the whole Northwest section of Ward one and so location access water or access to water space impact on the neighborhood and parking are some of the considerations for developing dog parks in Ward one the neighborhood is densely populated per square foot which is why it's even more important for folks to get out of their house and socialize with one another and there are a lot of great green spaces that could be converted into a dog park and I would really love to see just the acad downtown Aurora area become more walkable and invite residents to come out of their home walking to this dog park would be the most encouraged and utilized method of attending the park much like our three successfully tended to Community Gardens that we have in our area moving forward I hope to begin to gather feedback and data from my neighbor my neighbors and work with further with my city council member and any other relevant stakeholders or folks who are interested and I plan to come back to city council with that information in information in future steps so thank you for your time and consideration Robbie DeYoung followed by Tanya tabachek hello everyone okay in light of what I heard earlier first of all I want to say I don't know which two of you has a good clone on but wow um and since humor is something that's good for the soul everyone what is this does everyone know what this is neither do I but here comes a whole flock of them okay now down to Serious Business again I'm with stolen and vandalized vehicles in Colorado two points I want to bring up today well one I have a member that sent me a message today sent our group a message she had her truck stolen she was not notified by the police department that her truck was stolen she was notified by Eminem by mail it took eight days before it got to her house so a three-day period of where the city will graciously pay for our impound is completely inefficient this woman had to go in and fortunately she had insurance and insurance took care of her impound fee but there are so many people that I deal with on a regular basis that do not have the correct insurance or an insurance company even if they have comprehensive that will pay for all of the impound fees and a three-day period and being notified by mail I don't know how some of these other people are getting uh their compensation given by the city but there are more people that are not Denver's impound lot is free you know you can be a month into it and you can still get your vehicle for free I know where the two guys are still working on this I've been dealing with you guys with this since April and something's got to be done three days is not enough Eminem is making over a million dollars a year on stolen vehicle fees that's absurd and I'm sure that once we get our own Impound Lot which I'm really hoping that comes through then that will change but three days I don't know who decided who arbitrated that but three days is not going to cut it not going to cut it at all so I would implore everybody to work on that to get it resolved where people can have a little bit more time a lot of people which is a sad thing a lot of people don't have the correct information on their registration and so they can get a letter sent to them but then they don't live at that address anymore and they have to go to another address so let's think about that okay thank you Tanya tabachek followed by Zach Heaton good evening mayor and council members I just have one thing that I brought up I've looked at that happened to my front of our house this last week or whatnot it it's basically dealing the snow that we had twice this week and so forth um I want to read something first it's one of the um sections section 120 I have failure to remove snow failure to remove any occupation of snow and ice from sidewalks under Section 126-312 within 24 hours after every stroke I was hereby declared unlawful and constituents of nuisance as snow obstruction and a hazard to the health and safety I personally put salt on the sidewalk in front of our house and I shoveled it but by the time I went back at lunch time it was full it was water um this curve this is a constitute the curve right beside the sidewalk was full of snow and I'm like well I don't think that's my responsibility my responsibility is the sidewalk and our driveway and so forth but that's how when you clear the sidewalk and the snow melts or and then that from the curb and goes back onto the cycle it could cause someone to be slide or smaller and so forth or we're right behind a skull and I think that's they have different colors I think it's green which is the second after the main roadways um and our streets they're close to the school besides that are still full of snow and the Sun the curbs are full of snow so to me that's not safe but I was wondering and I did get answers from other council members of who to contact but there should be no retribution towards homeowners if the streets themselves are not cleared within 24 hours so that's all I had to say thank you Zach Heaton followed by Derek Stevens uh good evening city council I intended to make this address last Monday but the schedule threw me off so some of the tenses might be like a week old just to let you know councilman Marcano um two Setters ago your Instagram uh post reposted uh something from Colorado polls showing in like a baby carrier thing on on Kaufman's chest and uh I might disagree with the guy on a number of items but the tablet trash is kind of childish and unprofessional it's unhelpful if the goal is to eventually be mayor I mean I do agree with your politics but that's not how we're going to make friends it's not how we're going to work together so just cut it out I guess uh councilwoman jorinsky is actually not here to hear a compliment from me which thing but I'm going to speak as issues here um I really appreciated a lot of the dialogue between her and Marcano uh during the last uh meeting uh there was a conversation about the president of the aura Economic Council making an alleged four hundred thousand dollars a year and I thought there was a missed opportunity there um on this topic I'd like to recommend a book to all of you guys called San Francisco it's by Michael schellenberger and it's about how pseudo government institutions take advantage of you guys rather than actually solve issues um if the aec is taking public funds then they owe the public transparency and I get the argument about gender and all that kind of stuff I have four nieces and I constantly worry about the equity issues that they're going to face growing up um I would imagine uh jorinsky being a successful veteran a businesswoman and City councilor has gone through challenges that I will never understand at the same time if we set the example that the president of the aec gets to hide behind her gender to avoid answering the question that's pretty sketchy so please continue to fight for gender Equity but do not allow people to abuse the progress that strong women have made for us finally to Mayor Pro tem Gardener if we're going to stand here and demand that sunberg go on trial then I've got I've got a trial for you at the last meeting I watched you I think her name is Ellen but I watched you put your finger in her face you know like this um and I I don't agree with her on almost 99 of what comes out of her but um I admire her courage to come up here and speak and I want to look at you and say how dare you as a counselor and how dare you as even a man put your face your finger in the face of another human being on the gender equal on the gender conversation I want to know would you put your finger in my face rather than a short little Asian woman it's a it's a pretty profound question I think I can't change you the fact that you don't even look people in the eye suggests that you don't care um just remember that you won your your election by a margin of 6 000 votes when seventy percent of Aurora didn't vote it's just be yourself I guess I'm probably running out of time so I'll get ready to leave I see Talent with all of you guys if I didn't mention you keep up the good smile um yeah that's all I got oh and the uh minutes about the full-time Council initiative are still not posted so whenever you all want to get around to doing that happy Monday man look at that timing I'm getting good at this Derek Stevens got um hello mayor and Council I'm from War 4 my name is Derek Steven and I'm gonna share something important to you I I mean I'm from Wars season Bergens yeah and I like that new rec center but today I want to talk about the snow issue with the side streets I've been in Aurora since I was like fourth to fifth grade I graduated from high school in the world I graduated from University and Northern Colorado I had my MBA from Colorado Tech and I'm a veteran of the U.S army but I'm kind of concerned about the side street non-issue I have an SUV but not everybody can get through those side streets I think Aurora needs to come up with some game plan to deal with the side streets now I love Aurora but the side street gives you it really concerns me and I have three solutions to solve that now the City Council meetings I do I don't come to every city council meeting but I do watch you know Zoom it's better than watching the Broncos lose so I you know so I do come out because at least you guys are getting stuff done the Broncos aren't doing anything so I'm being honest with you so today I took the time to drive all the way out here just because I'm concerned about that and the solution I think you can do is the mayor I know I know everybody up here does a good job come up with like either put a moratorium or building until you come up with a way to deal with the side street issue my HOA president said you even if if you wanted to deal with the scientific issue you can't do it because Aurora has a moratorium and a and some kind of insurance issue so even if a person has a company they can't even touch the streets so if a world is not going to deal with the side street snow issues they come up with a training and charge people to to do it if it's a certain you know certain level to just take care of the issue and then another issue with the city council everybody here works hard I watch you guys sometimes you guys go back and forth the Aurora should think about making maybe making the city council people more full-time or pay them a lot more so they can deal with like the snow issue because I think the snow is really a joke to me it's a joke I mean you know I have a snow blower and I have a buddy but that needs to be so and then another issue is is maybe built like an aurora tech center because Aurora has this thing of just building more houses but then you're just going to build more houses and then you're going to come back to the road issue that no one's going to maintain to me that's is it's a joke so so today I just wanted to let you know that I am a roar I love Aurora or but I am concerned about the snow issue and I and I appreciate that everything that you guys are doing and I love the fact that people can one city council person said that you can't go on on Zoom to watch it I think whether you watch it on Zoom or you come in person it's still important so that's all I have to say thank you mayor councilmember thank you so much for um for the concern about the snow issue I did want to let you and the audience know because I know it came up with someone else that on the February 6th study session we will have Public Works do a presentation to talk about solutions for the snow removal on residential roads okay and um I'll take this contact information mayor uh councilmember can I also yeah uh is there any other public advice to be heard no it won't um consent calendar item 10. I'm sorry we need to do adoption of the agenda first oh I'm sorry um motion is over for the adoption of the agenda mayor I moved to approve the agenda uh it's moving by councilmember somberg second by terms the second body comes from a cruise to a doctor agenda discussion I'm sitting on call for the question on the adoption of the agenda mayor Kaufman uh yes council member Coombs right the motion passes to adopt the agenda uh consent calendar uh motion is an order for item 10a1 to 10 A35 mayor uh council member um I would like to pull some items from the consent calendar so I would like to pull 10A 15. 16 19 20 23 25 29 31 and 35 and um I'd like to be able to to pull them and have them bundled I'm sorry bundled meaning that they would be under one one vote I don't think you can do that I think I can procedure no mayor councilman McConnell thank you sir can I get a second first oh here okay it has been you don't need a second for that second for what she wants those removed from consent council member can remove it from consent can you State the numbers again so I could make sure I have them right 10 15 16 19 20. 23 25 29 31 and 35. 31 and 35 okay so okay the other step so I want to make sure I'm doing the other step is we want one presentation with that sorry councilmember Bergen wants one presentation from staff and then work through the list we have to vote on them individually am I correct I so if we pull them off consent calendar we'll have to vote on them individually but we can have staff do one presentation okay very well okay so uh motion is in order then for um item number mayor I believe councilmember Bergen did motion and then mayor Pro Tim Garner had a second they so they they moved it and then took the individual items out of it very well uh a discussion on the consent calendar with the exception of item number 15 16 19 20 23 25 29 31 35. yeah uh council member Coombs I would like to also remove a 13 10 a13 13. very well um so then um voting on The consent calendar all items except 13 15 16 19 20 23 25 29 31 35. uh discussion on the consent calendar I've seen none um with the clerk please call the role in the adoption of the consent calendar minus number 13 15 16 19 20 23 25 29 31 35. mayor Kaufman uh mayor chess councilmember Mario thank you the motion passes to adopt the consent calendar with the requested items removed now please detail to item number uh 10 a13 item 10a13 is Opera non-profit Grant agreement Metro Community provider Network brief presentation by staff did you want a separate presentation on just this item yes okay no so this is part of our non-profit grant program we had two and a half million dollars that was allocated to this program and this particular program this is for a dental clinic renovation and we have the agreement in your packet you know questions to staff mayor uh councilor Combs um my question is too long they intend to keep that facility open um so are they available to answer that question I don't believe the non-profit representatives are available for this meeting okay um I have heard some concerns that that there's going to be closing of some of the clinics from this organization in North Aurora so I am not going to support this without that information further discussion councilman McConnell thank you sir um this would apply to the specific item in any future ones here that we may discuss I'd like to make a motion to continue any items where we do not have a representative from the applicant present to answer questions from Council seeing as until this very moment I don't think most of well at least several of us on here had no idea what issues were being taken with with specific items and I think that it would be it's fair if we can actually have representatives from the applicants be here to answer questions from Council I think you um should do it on each one separately and that's the advice of council okay sure we can do that so okay it would move to continue this item until we can have a representative from the applicant be here to answer questions to my councilmember McConnell to continue the item seconded by Coombs second by councilman raccoons discussion I see no discussion call for the question on the McConnell motion to uh to continue item number 13. mayor Kaufman um the motion passes with 90s votes no one vote from mayor Poe Tim Gardner to continue this item okay um yes now staff could give a presentation on item number 10815 10A 16 10 a 19 10 8 20 10 a 23 10 8 25 10 8 29 10 8 31 10A 35. mayor can I ask a question before we proceed uh mayor Tim Gardner and I don't know who this would be for for someone on staff were these organizations informed that these items were on the agenda tonight so they should have been here correct not not necessarily they weren't requested to be here well I would expect them to be here if they have an item on the agenda where they're getting money from the city okay um presentation I didn't want a presentation I thought you wanted a joint presentation on all of them together fine foreign and this item is for reading instruction for immigrant and Refugee students to help them be better prepared and be able to meet their grade level or exceed their grade level questions to staff on item number 10815 I may or councilman actually this was not my motion I wanted I pulled all these and wanted one presentation just a synopsis we've gone over these many times during numerous study sessions well I'm not clear on what you're you said one presentation yeah sorry I I just basically a blanket presentation we've we've reviewed all these we don't need to press I don't want a presentation what constitutes a blanket presentation please or none well then why don't you make a motion to reflect that could you just do a brief presentation of all the non-profits as to what um you know what process we've already gone through okay sure and and so these non-profits this is part of that grant program we had a some City staff that were on a committee we reviewed the nonprofits for a number of items we wanted to make sure that they had good standing with the cover of secretary of state that they had an IRS tax-exempt status they had an aurora business license and they also had liability insurance and then they were also reviewed for things like project Readiness the organizational capacity how well they would benefit the needs of aurorans thank you mayor councilman Bergen so I did do my homework thank you very much for the operating budgets for each one of these I went through them diligently and the reason I pulled these because I have major concerns on on the organizations a lot of them had at least 50 percent of their of their their requests going towards Personnel salaries um and benefits and not towards programs and fine in fact some of them were really difficult to even uh delineate whether any money was going towards programs I was going to get I'm not going to go through every single one of them I'm just wanting to make a statement that I did do my due diligence and I take it very seriously as my obligation to the public for making sure that their taxpayer monies are used responsibly and this is really important we want to make sure that we fund uh the right organizations that are doing good work I'm not saying that these that these that I pulled are not necessarily not good organizations I just find them troubling in terms of the information that I found I would say that if you know in future rounds possibly then we could reconsider them and we do not have to spend these arpa monies until the end of 2025 I believe um so 2020 one example and again I'm not going to go through every single one of them but a lot of them had the same issues with with the salary versus allocation towards actual programs that would actually help our residents some of them are Denver based now some of them are Denver based but they have a good Nexus 2 Aurora in terms of helping you know our residents but some do not um one of them I mean it's literally someone in grade school could have done this budget and and it is someone I don't even want to embarrass the organization but most of the money is going towards the rent the water the utilities their car and truck maintenance gasoline again salaries which was on this one was almost what uh well more than probably about 60 percent or 70 percent of the entire budget this is a um this was a request by someone that says they're paying rent but yet their mother owns the house that that where the residence is and it's a personal house and so we would basically be given money for an addition to their house and for an upgrade of a bathroom remodel to increase their Equity they could turn around tomorrow and sell it and they would have made money off taxpayers that's just one example so that is why I'm pulling them and I would urge my colleagues to vote no on these that I pulled for now we can reconsider them later but I think more due diligence needs to happen really clear now please do the title item number uh 10815. I Grant agreement for Rocky Mountain welcome Center uh motion was there a motion already made on all these no no uh motion is in order oh well I need to make a motion then on uh 15. um it's been moved by uh councilmember Bergen seconded by no no I'm sorry what do you okay so we just went over 10 a15 correct correct so yes we need a a vote we did 13 okay we did 15 but we we have to vote on them individually am I correct right and we just did 13 we delayed mayor point of order if I may yeah councilmember Bergen introduced the item we have not had any discussion I don't think you even got a second on your original emotion so we we skipped from that after she spoke to a completely different item okay we're at 10 8 15 right now now and so emotion is in order for 108 15. um mayor can I is that oh wait is that she needs a second is it no action it kills it so do you have to actually do a motion case you don't you don't move it to kill it so someone should move it to pack and then you can vote now yeah mayor uh councilman I'll move to pass this item to approve the funding for this organism moved by council member coomb seconded by second uh saying about council member Mayo to approve item number 10 a15 discussion mayor council member Medina you have a couple questions on here uh just in light of everything else that's been coming up around you know transparency and stuff I sit on this board of the Rocky Mountain Welcome Center so I want to make sure that that's disclosed first and foremost uh and I'll recuse myself from the voting on that just because of that of transparency and this kind of leads me to what I what we talked about last week with the aedc is that we have six council members that were part of that board but none of them stated that they're on this board yet we approved half a million dollars without asking them for their financials we're asking them for all the same vetting process that I think that if we're going to do it be so scrutinized for five thousand ten thousand dollars and we're going to give half a million or more than we should be doing the same thing across the board and being transparent I'm being transparent and telling you and I will recuse myself from this vote so that I do not have any say in this vote so in in the fairness of everything I think that we need to be consistent with with what we say and what we do further discussion mayor councilor comes is there a representative from this organization present to answer questions because it sounds like there are specific issues um that people have so I think they should be given that opportunity wait one second procedurally uh second reading situation okay is there anyone present very well um further discussion mayor councilmember McConnell I'd like to make a motion to continue this to our next regular meeting and ensure to invite the applicant so that they can answer the questions proposed by Council is that a substitute or is that yes so motion continues so a motion to continue um uh is there a second move I guess second by councilman raccoons to continue I remember 50 15 10A 15 uh discussion on the motion uh councilman um we have gone over these so many times and I I don't understand why we would continue it just to hear from the applicant I find that they are they like all the organizations that I pulled have like serious issues with their budgets and what programs they offer um this particular one only served nine people and it was a basically for the amount of grant that they want that's eleven hundred dollars a person couldn't figure out how they really helped that person there's we need to really scrutinize how we're spending our taxpayer dollars and I will be voting no on continuation I find that they should not receive the monies at this time further discussion mayor mayor mayor Tim Gardner thank you yeah as far as the topic of whether or not they're here um you know in my outside employment when I have things on Council agendas in other cities staff doesn't reach out to invite me that is my job to be there to Advocate on behalf of my employer and so frankly I don't really have sympathy if you didn't come tonight um your items on the agenda you should have been here to be ready for it um if not then we still need to vote on it it's on the agenda you don't need a handwritten invitation in fancy letterhead to know that you need to come when you have something on the agenda I think as far as um what councilmember Bergen is talking about just kind of generally um you know I agree I think there's a lot of issues here and you know I I want to give credit to staff because I think staff has been really responsive in terms of providing additional information that council's asked for and I know we've delayed this several times and I'm sure that's been frustrating um but I think the issue can has been and continues to be that several of these organizations I'm not sure that there's any value going back to taxpayers because there is so much of their expenses going towards salaries in you know some organization 70 80 percent of their expenses are going to salaries that's I.E executive directors making big money um which was an issue last week with the executive director of aedc um sounds like not So Much Anymore and that's really the issue here is that this might be arpa money federal government money and I know sometimes it's easy to think well that's Federal money it's still taxpayer money and it's still our job to Advocate on behalf of taxpayers and I want to be sure before I'm going to support any of these um that we that there is the money's going where it needs to go and that it's bringing value back to our residents and in a lot of these cases by the time rent is paid and salaries are paid and and all these other things there's not any money left over for programming and that is a big big issue so you know whatever we want to do in terms of delayed or not I think that's that's silly to delay they had an item on the agenda tonight they should have been here if that's their job and so I would urge my colleagues to not support delaying these any further we've had plenty plenty of conversation further discussion mayor councilman comes so I do think that if we're going to say we're not going to give people a chance to speak and we just want to not fund it then having a general comment that lumps all of the organizations together as our justification isn't really reasonable we need to talk about each item so instead of saying some of them did this and some of them did that in a very general way like I understand your comment about the only serve nine people on this one but to just be General and sweeping on I want to oppose all of these without talking about it like that's to me not really giving each individual organization a fair hearing so that's the only thing I'll say is okay if we don't want to have them come and answer for what we have to say fine but let's be specific about each one instead of making generalities across the board further discussion mayor councilman McConnell thank you sir um I actually want to disagree with my colleague here I don't think that we've actually had discussions on these in fact I remember before the holiday break when I asked you all to identify the issues you had with each of these ones I was given two very general statements and the promise that more would be discussed in the future so we set up a study session meeting in a study session meeting staff just ran us through their process which I appreciate it thank you for that but we didn't actually discuss the merits of any of these specifically so now that you're here to identify them this is great and I think that these weren't more discussion so that's why I want the applicants to be here to provide either important context or frankly to just not have answers that are suitable where then we will you know not approve ones that we don't find worthy but what I want us to do is actually have the discussion and get into the weeds a little bit because I think this is a valuable analysis um first so councilmember Lawson oh sorry here thank you I just have a general question for staff and I appreciate you um you know working on these but again I'm kind of agreeing with some of my colleagues about the Personnel because even when we're talking about the youth violence no foot as well it's always what about the program and what it's going to do and benefit the community and the people that it's supposed to serve how much emphasis on the scorecard that is being evaluated which I hope it would be a little bit more than what I'm seeing in all these operating because I went through all of this too and it's just a lot of personnel it's a lot of things about getting things established but not about the programming which I think is really essential so can you just tell me in general what how much on the score card is evaluated for programming and I'm talking about actual things that help people and the community well we did use that as one of the criteria I think on a lot of these non-profits they need their labor they need their staff they need to pay the salaries in order to provide the program there's not a lot else that's really a deliverable except the people's time providing that program so I think that might be part of this but we did do a lot of reviewing what they were talking about in the application as far as what they plan to deliver to the community councilor Lawson and councilmember okay so I understand that I really do I understand it takes Personnel it takes people to do an establishment of a program but again in a lot of these things that we've been evaluating it's not really an established program of how it's going to benefit people like what is it I mean I understand you have to have things and people to do the program but I guess on the scorecard that you guys are using I might be saying the wrong scorecard how much of the evaluation or points to me should be a lot more on the program what is this program going to do or what how are you going to help these kids how are you going to help these individuals how are you going to help this community this neighborhood so I guess I'm just I understand what you're saying but to me it should be on what is the anticipation of the program that you're going to be establishing a lot of these non-profits already have programs that they've already established but on these applications when I went through you see nothing but Gallery you know things building things that they want to do which I understand they need but nothing really about the program and how it's going to really help people so that's my evaluation of them mayor further councilman Morgan yes thank you um I I don't need to go through and give you an explanation I am happy to give the non-profits that I decide not to fund personally I don't know how my colleagues are going to decide on this but I will be happy to sit with them after the vote and let them know why I did not support them and again These funds are still available so there's there could be another opportunity I did my homework and I don't need to give you you know on every single one of these and first of all it could be a little bit embarrassing to those organizations I would rather have a private discussion with them further discussion uh councilman comes so first of all it's not about me it's about the public um being public with our justifications um and I think being public with our justifications before the fact not after the fact but that's separate from what I wanted to say which is this conversation about programming versus Staffing is confusing to me if your program is education a person provides education if your program is service navigation translation interpretation right if it's a service that you're providing it's people that provide that service so that is the program cost so I'm not sure if the expectation is that they put a program cost and the staff under it to identify that that's a program cost from the Staffing but but Staffing is programming so that's to me I think not really fair to say well all you pay for is the people that provide the program um because that it's the people it's the labor as staff had laid out that are the program um so I'm certainly not gonna tell someone that I'm not going to support them for paying their people to do the work in the community and okay uh councilman and I took that into consideration on each one obviously it varies sometimes they are very staff you know heavy and sometimes it's going to be more less staff depending upon what the organization is so I did take that into consideration okay the motion before us is a motion to continue Is there further discussion on the motion to continue on item number or 10A 15. I've seen none I call for the question on item 10A 15. um everyone's know council member Stenberg the emotion does not pass with three yes votes six no votes yes votes from councilmember Marcano and Mario um with the clerk now please read the title to item number 10 a16. mayor we still need the actual item for 10 a 15 team oh I'm sorry that was to the motion to continue now to uh item number 15 item number 10815 Is there further discussion item number 10815 mayor councilmember Maria thanks um I I recognize I probably should have made this after the general statement um presentation rather because I feel like it's more appropriate there but we're here in the process so um just wanted to offer my thoughts um working for a nonprofit organization maybe having a different relationship and understanding on how nonprofit organizations operate and do their work I think it's a pretty common thing to write into grants the cost of your staff as council member Coombs stated that this is how these organizations are fundraising dollars right they don't have a business where they have a specific Revenue stream they are trying to figure out how to afford their programming based on what's available based on the stipulations that are put out in each different Grant agreement so to me I don't have that same threshold because I operate in the you know in a non-profit industry right so I'm clear that that is a pretty common practice um you know I guess two thoughts in addition to that if we as a council decide that that's not the the threshold that we want I feel like we should be more upfront with that as opposed to after the process is ensued then deciding that there's this you know arbitrary threshold and you know I mean that in that there that is a person's you know informed decision but that's a person's eight Council member's perspective on on grants I I feel like in order to be more streamlined and to continue to build credibility we keep putting stuff out there and then changing you know stipulations kind of after the fact so I would encourage this body if there's a big concern with that to address that on the front end um I guess not it feels kind of at the 11th Hour at this point you know people are welcome to speak their mind as to why they would or would not vote a certain way but I I have issue I take issue with the fact that we are putting out um processes and then um that that can seemingly change um in in kind of a large swath I wouldn't recommend that personally speaking um again this is this is the non-profit industrial complex right this is how organizations who do this social good work fund themselves to do the the work that we ask and that we can't do as a municipality that we don't have the same ability to reach individuals and Community to um get the the same outcomes right the the greater good outcomes so um I I don't have the same same you know threshold and that that we've been talking about because I know that that is that is the part of how you apply for Grants and if in the grant it said you can't allocate a certain amount towards a certain expense the people who applied would not have done that right so to like now say that that's that's the the bar the threshold really concerns me um I don't feel comfortable using you know I don't have that same threshold and I don't feel comfortable making that blanket threshold for these organizations that weren't given those instructions from the get-go I feel like that's really communicating a wrong process and communicate like I don't know what people might say as a result people might be concerned with bias you know towards particular organizations and I'm not saying um accusing anyone in that way at this time right but if there's not there's a reason why we have a standardized criteria right and we follow process um and then for that to change really makes me uncomfortable so I wanted to just offer that um that that's kind of my perspective on the matter further discussion on 10A 15. I was saying another question before us is the adoption of item number 10815 uh call for the question May I may have us now council member Marcano thank you the motion does not pass with six no votes three yes votes the S votes from council member Marcano Combs and Mario who could now please read the title title number 10a16 item 10A 16 is arpa nonprofit Grant agreement caring voices uh motion and zero motion come here all right councilman McConnell thank you sir move to approve 10 a16. it's been moved by councilman McConnell second by uh motion fails for lack of a second uh um with code now please do the title title number 10A 19. all right I'm 10 a19 is arpa non-profit Grant agreement rise Colorado uh motion uh all right councilman Memorial um agenda item 10 a 19. um it's been moved by councilman Rio second by Coombs customer recruits to approve item number 10 8 19. uh discussion I'm seeing no discussion uh question before us is the adoption of vitamin number 10A 19 call for the question mayor Kaufman uh man voice now the emotion does not pass with six no votes four yes votes yes votes from council member Medina McConnell Coombs Mario now please read the title title number 10820 item 10a20 is arpa non-profit Grant agreement East Colfax Community collective in mayor we do have a few individuals who signed up to speak on this item very well um please proceed with the speakers Amy Ruth hello everyone my name is Amy I have lived in Aurora for more than six years I think today is the day for me to speak up for myself my family and my people and my community who cannot speak up for themselves the people who are feeling hopeless and helpless I am 21 years old I came from I came to this country back in 2017. as a refugee from Thailand I am currently own a home in Aurora and support my whole family by working multiple job including being full-time with East Coast Community Collective in Colorado everything getting so expensive right now working 40 to 50 hours a week can barely cover our UA spends per month that's why we need more resources and organization to help us when I say more resources and organization you might think or say in Aurora we have a lot of resources and organization right I mean that's right I'm not saying that Aurora have no resources they do have resources um but Aurora has resources where not every organization have the capacity to help and support through their process do these these organizations guide you and support you with every step you ask for do they come to your house when you're disabled and unable to get a transportation to these sites not all the time no think about it I have witnessed it with my own eye disabled lady setting outside the next door the next door building trying to get help applying for food stamp all the all the employee did was having heard the paper the application and tell her to return that back when she completed the application she had no help or ability to ask for understanding I have witnessed multiple people who do um who do not have English as their first language go into the same building looking for help what are these people going to do with the application paper that you give it to them they just bring it home call people around hoping they're someone will help them fill out the application so that they can submit the application as soon as possible for for the approval I understand that these organizations do a good work and sometimes they work more than the time they supposed to work but that is why EC3 is one of the resources for our community I want to say EC3 believe strongly in language Justice to help and give us your support support to those who navigating these isp7 languages English as being one of them but I am still needing help and support to figure out how I can help in this country that I am still learning I was going through a rough a rough time I had to get enough hour of my job I got laid off from work because of the covet and I connected with EC3 time is up I'm sorry thank you Victor Cortez hello my name is Victor I'm here for representing Los Cuates on 11 24 Yosemite Street I'm with the 83 is history 83 organization I'm here for well I'm basically here for like I want to ask you guys for something you know help for small businesses because we struggle a lot to pay rent to products and everything especially now that everything went up we we need help and easy three has been there for me to help me with like grants building a website for my businesses and right now they're helping me trying to get a a liquor license to see if that would like raise my funds to sustain the business because you're seeing nah without the help that we received we ain't we ain't getting nowhere so and that's why I'm here to ask you guys for to help the small businesses because I see a lot of businesses that were already established getting all the money well small business are already going up they don't really see nothing so I want to see probably possibly change and that's why and 83 has helped me a lot with that you know please getting more funds to like prayer everything and well I don't have a we don't have much we don't have a lot of time in the business we only have like two years and a few months and they've been there for me in my and my family like to help me get there and well I thought I got a thing if I could change the world thank you are there any further uh speakers yes we have a few more magali buenas noches um good evening my name is magaly bayardo so it is I've been a resident of Aurora for the last eight years and last year in April yeah eight years last year in April I contacted EC3 to us for rent assistant and they provided me with three month payment for my rent deios I wouldn't have been able to pay my rent without the assistant as well as their guidance through this process they were very very they were very attentive to my situation very pleasant a very pleasant attitude to help others foreign scholarship or Grant ECE has been able to help a lot of people um [Music] we are going through a very difficult Economic Times [Music] foreign people are struggling to with their jobs and to Pi to pay for their rent is a lot of people have very limited income in cannot afford to pay for those things [Music] having ECE 3 in Aurora is having an attentive support for us and ready to help [Music] this is my experience with EC3 and I haven't encountered another organization that can provide me with the same service My Hope Is that you take this in consideration when you are talking about the support for arpa and for the grand foreign [Music] I hope that you make the right decision in order to continue helping other members of our community in Aurora thank you so much for your time and have a good evening hello hello goodbye good evening everyone Aurora my name is Sama I live in Aurora I believe in Aura for six years and a half and during the time I have a struggle EC3 helped me weather aware [Music] I want to tell you guys please uh support ecitri from helping me and the struggle that we have been through I want you guys to support them the organization for the struggle that my people and my family that would be true thank you are there any other speakers yes mayor okay sweet sweet go to um hello everyone [Music] my name is I've been living in Aurora about 10 years [Music] um in the past I have been opening my small business called Gordon Sky Sushi in 2019. in 2019 um after that I have to close down my business because of the covet uh [Music] both me and my husband need to stop working because we both support each other with my business foreign [Music] at that time we was really struggling to pay rent in our business the place that we rent out is at that time EC3 contacted me and then helped me with applying for rental assistance foreign um online a website after not only they help me with applying for rental assistance paying for my rent they also helped me open up my business again applying for me to get more grants so that I can afford to open up my business again and also EC3 to help me with opening up my website online foreign helped me they helped a lot of small business organization around Aurora and Denver EC3 have supported me through a lot of things and support a lot of different Community I do want to request something from you guys tomorrow the easy dreamer uh [Music] my request is that as EC3 helping our community our people to get back on their feet I do want to ask you guys to approve and support EC3 so that in the future EC3 can help and support a loss of organization in the future or like business in the future uh businesses not only EC3 helping with the businesses they also do help the resident applying for rental assistance food stamp applying for looking for a job and any other with all the resources that's why I really do want EC3 to be a long-term organization so that they will be able to help a lot of their community in the future thank you so much other further speakers on item number 10820 yes mayor we have one individual that is on the call-in line and that's the last one Annette you are uh you can speak three minutes is your life thank you okay can you hear me hello can you hear me yes yes go ahead okay hi uh Mr Mayor and honorable council member so my name is I wish I could have been there in person I'm just getting back from traveling to under the weather I appreciate the the opportunity to die land I'm a community organizer in the Ethiopian Community I've been doing that for 30 years I am a co-founder of the EC3 and I'm currently serving as a vice president of diverse board um I really want to share with you over my 25 plus years of community organizing in Aurora you know particularly in the Ethiopian Community have co-founded a number of organizations like the taste of Ethiopia worked in community outreach programs at the Saint Mary Ethiopian Church on East Colfax and and volunteered for countless organizations I could tell you from the bottom of my heart I've never seen any organization that has been as effective as EC3 in terms of real help helping the most vulnerable residents of small businesses like EC3 has and that's why I believe this represents a major milestone in our community and and that's why this organization means so much to our community what what this organization has done in helping our communities beyond the capacity of our churches it's beyond the capacity of our volunteer organizations what we've been able to do in the last three years and the track record of success is is real and it's helped real people from losing their apartment its homes and helping especially our small businesses that I know that you all are very supportive of um and and you know the work is has been nothing short of a miracle especially for our community during the the covet pandemic when we were lost and and our community members didn't know um where to go to get help and and you know this organization stepping in has saved countless people small businesses from closing people from losing their home um there's a lot of organizations with focus on Spanish speakers uh there's not one like EC3 that can you know speak Amharic Nepali Swahili French I mean we are really embedded in this community we know them we speak their languages and and we want to be partners with you and the city and and helping us alleviate uh some of the challenges our communities are face um where we've been done an amazing work uh connecting to the rental population especially those that live in affordable housing complexes our meetings are bilingual every single time our legal clinics housing assistance campaigns or all of them are available in this languages and and you know and and we our small business Collective serves almost strictly 95 people of color uh owned businesses and and and significant portions being owned by Emma syrup okay thank you is there anybody else who wishes to be heard no very well um the motion is an order on item 10820. mayor councilman real move to approve item 10820. it's moved by councilmember Rio second by second state by councilman McConnell to approve item number 10820 discussion I've seen those council member comes um sorry so was there going to be any presentation from staff or can we ask questions of oh you can yeah very well uh questions to staff um is is someone from the applicant available to come answer questions is that I mean they've already presented and now they just they shouldn't they they would have had to have signed up okay I don't think that that's not appropriate to have questions of no they could have been they could have been a speaker but they but then there's no going back and forth no point of order uh questions to staff point of order please uh councilmember McConnell thank you City attorney brotsman in the past we have allowed folks from the audience who have an interest in an item to come up and speak even though they were not on the agenda and they had not signed up so I'd like to know and they could sign up right right now to do that but but again this is a regular agenda item not a public hearing so they should they should sign up to to speak which they did mayor councilor comes so City attorney brosman are you saying that we can't ask questions so if I ask a question of staff and they don't know the answer they can't ask that person that's in the audience that would have the answer and you should ask your question of Staff okay um so there's been kind of a question and discussion about Staffing and one of the insinuations was that the Staffing reflects uh High executive director of salaries so I was just wondering if um there is any breakdown of those salaries available like how many employees are employed in direct programming and then also what is the salary of the executive director we don't have that available as part of the grant materials we asked for the organizational operating budgets and so organizations broke down salaries as they saw fit is the representative of the organization able to provide that information then of how much the executive director's salary is and how many employees are employed in programming can you come down to the right here what's up you're back to the same issue they should sign up as a speech they have to sign up as a speaker first clerks right there okay um hi my name is Nadine Ibrahim I am the organizing director at East Colfax Community collective in response to your question councilwoman Coombs we currently have nine paid staff the operating budget that we provided was for 2022 and within that nine staff the executive director has a salary of eighty seven thousand dollars okay thank you councilmember broken so I have the ex and this is not a question um I have the annual budget that has payroll and payroll taxes of 558 200 um 8.61 employee benefits 34 435 dollars and I could go on and on was not a question so I believe that that information was provided am I correct um further discussion I was seeing another question before us is the doctor mayor I actually councilmember Combs um I apologize so can you talk a little bit about the um kind of the deliverables for this program like how many people you're expecting to serve and in the past how your performance has been on the um programs that you've implemented certainly uh councilwoman Combs EC3 is really committed to building a multicultural community and really supporting residents and small business owners within East Colfax as well as Northwest Aurora and even without Aurora funding I do want a name that we have supported more than 190 households in acquiring more than seven hundred thousand dollars in rental assistance that's just renters on top of that our small business Collective has been able to support more than 58 businesses in acquiring more than four hundred thousand dollars in small business grants a number of them which you have seen today where English is not their first language and language access is usually the largest barrier for them and we pride ourselves in the commitment that we have to language Justice in terms of our grant deliverables um around that it's really the raw numbers of who we're serving out there and how we're building that I do want to also name that as part of the budget for this specific Grant it is to help us expand our staffing base to specifically support more folks that are living within Aurora with that being said our deliverables are keeping a tally of how many people we are supporting through the business Clinic as well as our renters Legal Clinic which give folks access to pro bono legal services that have helped them navigate a lot of the legal jargon that exists out there as well as the permitting processes and better understanding what they need to ensure their sense of compliance within their sense of lease whether it be a rent-based lease as a tenant or on the business side or the resident side another piece of that is also keeping track of the number of households as well as small businesses that we're supporting with navigation processes and as a part of that we pride ourselves in our measurables and our goals being how much money are we able to support those folks in acquiring bike finding that navigation service for example if we're supporting a business with a with a specific SBA based loan and we're able to help them secure 150 000 base loan we would count that as part of our base deliverable of the of the business that we specifically supported with navigation and then the 150 000 that we were able to bring back into there for that reason I know there's been a lot of conversation about why are there high staff budgets and the thing is is we pride ourselves in navigation a number of people there are Services out there there are resources out there but people can't access them because there are a number of barriers that exist and we pride ourselves as organizers as well as Community Navigators that understand these processes and can help people overcome these barriers to get access to these resources and services that are available to them mayor I can't remember bargain can I make a substitute motion or do we have a motion no you can um is there a motion on the floor yes there's a motion on the floor and certainly a substitute motion wouldn't be in order um I would offer a substitute motion instead of the 337 000 that we would offer 150 000. uh it's been moved by councilmember Berger in second by second second by mayor Pro tem uh Gardner to reduce the amount to 150 thousand dollars uh discussion mayor uh councilmember McConnell thank you sir um that seems like a very arbitrary move and I'd like some explanation from my colleague as to why she would propose that sure mayor councilman um because I was really going to actually not support the 337 000 at all based on the budget that I have that is an insufficient budget first of all because it doesn't show you know how many staff members or anything it's just a blanket you know uh very uh Elementary I would say budget for an organization of this size it also is based in Denver it also has some of their initiatives that I think are maybe more political in nature so I I understand you know some of the things that they do that that offer good Services we also just for the public we are not not funding every organization that came to us we just did fund um I don't know 10 or 12 of them and some of them are duplicate services and we have also not only funded today but we have funded in the past in round one arpa dollars and we have rental assistance that the city does so there are a lot of duplication of services that overlap and so that is why I'm offering an amendment to to fund some of it further discussion mayor councilmember McConnell thank you um so I thank you for explaining your rationale council member Bergen however based off of the churn from where you were to where you're at this actually I think underscores the need for us to maybe continue the items that you have issues with because I feel like we're operating under a lot of assumptions here based off of an incomplete examination a financial doctor I've read their website and a lack of understanding as to what some of these organizations may actually do and we're going to be hurting folks who depend on these Services if there are weird things like the restroom item that you pointed out with another item that's something that definitely warrants some investigation if there's not a good justification I'm 100 with you and opposing the funding we need to have that conversation first and that's all I'm asking for because you know I understand that you're looking at you know stuff from a website um you might have had some extra documents so we're not in our backup here and that's great but part of what we're supposed to do as a body here is be collaborative and actually communicate and we have not gotten that and when I have in the past pressed for specifics you all have come up short so I'd like to actually have the conversation around the specifics I think the public deserves that your colleagues deserve that and the folks who are applying to us for funds mayor deserve that further discussion on the Bergen Amendment mayor councilman I am not in support of continuing it if you'd like I can just refer back to not supporting it all I was trying to um extend an olive leaf branch and to give some funding there will be other opportunities to come back for more funding if but at this point I'm not willing to um continue it the motion on the floor is a substitute of Bergen motion mayor mayor foreign yeah I I think it's rather frustrating councilmember Marcano for calling out the decision-making process for your colleagues we all have different ways that we reach decision making and you know frankly to assume that we don't have the information that we need to make a decision and you do um is it it makes me shake my head um I appreciate this this compromise by councilmember Bergen I have a lot of concerns um with the the activities that this organization does for the most part because I think most of them are County functions Health and Human Services functions which is primarily why most of their operations are in Denver because Denver is a county and has different functions than we do as a city here in Aurora um and and going down this road will lead to creep in the size and scope of government if we continue to take on functions that are not did something happen the projector so they they turned off the projectors because they were running hot if you could hear them so you guys are on the side screens on the TV over here um yeah it got really quiet um so anyways I I that's what my concern is here however I do recognize that there is some um this good this this organization does but I I do want to point out the three hundred and fourteen thousand dollars that that we are were proposed to award this organization was by far the highest Award of any organization in this list um and you know frankly there's quite a few in here that I think do good work as well and and we funded at a much lower level so I think this is an appropriate compromise and you know frankly if if there's not support for it I'll vote no on the original further discussion on the Bergen Amendment I've seen none the question before us is the adoption of the Bergen amendment to uh item number 10820 I call for the question on the Bergen Amendment mayor Kaufman Hoffman um so that now to the um to the main motion of um well okay the Bergen Amendment passed yes so we have uh it was moved by council member Mario and seconded by council member mercano so where to where to the uh I remember 1080 20 as amended yes okay um question before us now is uh item number 10820 is amended further discussion what you're voting on is to approve the grant Amendment 450. well we already did that we already did no now it's to it's to approve the agreement 450. okay no in total that includes your amendment is the number it's so it's it's as amended so I remember 108 20 as amended uh Is there further discussion mayor uh councilmember Lawson so mayor I want to because I got confused I was for the higher Highway on the amendment but sure if can I change my vote to yes then so they can get the 150 000. so this is the main vote right now and if you want to pass the item vote but it's 250. okay so it's his item number yes we're voting 150. yes so it's item number 10 a 20 as amended which is 150 000. um confused about that um as well um so I want to vote for the full amount let me clarify so council member Bergen made a motion to amend the agreement for 150 000 right if you did not want it to be under 50 you would have voted no and then it would have gone and if that Amendment did not pass then it would have gone back to the 300 000 correct but the amendment the amendment passed okay she phrased it as a substitute motion instead of an amendment so that's what I was I don't know is it subtle question I think it's a subtle question it's a subtle question further uh okay so we're to the um I remember um 10820 as amended which is 150 000. uh further discussion oh mayor so our our uh vote thing on the on the laptop doesn't say as amended it is as amended okay thank you mayor uh councilmember real quick I just want to be clear the first vote we were just negotiating the number this is to approve the agreement oh in general um including the negotiated amount um also just want to be clear like I fully support I supported staff's recommendation for the full amount um and you know um would love to see this organization continue to do their good work and hopefully apply for more funding in the future um I I think y'all have demonstrated the impact and the level of community impact that you have and I disagree with that that reduction number but um I'd support something over nothing so I voted to support the amendment and I'll support the agreement as amended no I did vote against uh the bargain motion to support the full amount uh so now the question before us is uh item number uh 10820 as amended further discussion uh seeing none uh call for the question on the adoption of item number 10820 as amended mayor Kaufman um the motion passes to adopt item 10a20 let's go now please read the title to item number 10823 item number 10a23 is arpa nonprofit Grant agreement new American College um motion is in order on ottoman number 10823 mayor uh councilman McConnell thank you sir move to approve 10 a23. move the Vikings remember McConnell seconded by Coombs second by councilmember Cruz to approve our item number 10823. uh discussion mayor uh councilmember McConnell thank you sir if my colleagues are going to object to this I'd like an explanation as to why ahead of time thank you for sure I'm sorry an explanation as to why they would object this was pulled so my assumption is that yeah no no one is procedurally that is not a requirement you can certainly ask you can certainly answer questions um emotion is I'm sorry did was that moved okay uh motion uh um uh to adopt uh on Montana 23 um discussion I've seen another question before us is the adoption of item number 10823 call for the question mayor Kaufman um the motion does not pass it's a tie vote because we have one council member absent for item 10a23 the no votes are council member zavonic councilmember Lawson mayor Kaufman councilmember Bergen and councilmember Stenberg well you're not pleased with the title title no number 10825 item 10A 25 is arpa non-profit Grant agreement Mosaic unlimited Inc uh motion is in order to approve agenda item 10A 25. remember my councilman Rayo seconded by Medina uh council member Medina discussion on the adoption of item 10825 uh I've seen none call for the question on I'd remember 1080 25. mayor Kaufman um the emotion does not pass with the Thai vote for item 10A 25. so now please read the title done I'm at number 10 a29 item 10a29 is arpa non-profit Grant agreement you buy you early learning uh motion is in order fails for a lack of no motion sorry councilman Medina was trying to get his microphone to work I'm sorry uh councilmember Medina motion to approve uh it's been by councilmember Medina seconded by Mercado uh second by councilmember McConnell to approve item number 10829 discussion I was saying not the question before he says the adoption of item number 10829 call for the question mayor Kaufman uh member Jess I stand corrected uh mayor bosno okay the motion does not pass with six no votes for yes votes and the S votes from council member Medina Marcano Coombs and Mario okay now please do the title to item number 10 a31 10A 31 is arpa non-profit Grant agreement Aurora inner Church task force Inc motion item fails for lack of emotion great now please do the title item number 10835 10 8 35 is Opera non-profit Grant agreement issues of Life Church Ministries Aurora uh motion uh item number 10835 uh dies for lack of emotion uh with code now please do title to item number 10c1 mayor that was approved with the the rest of the consent calendar oh that was I'm sorry okay uh so now we're 11 with now please read the title to item number 1181 are we do we take these all as consent now yeah we are okay what's that okay uh so we still need a motion right from yes 11 11 A1 or 11a1 through 11 A7 as consent calendar unless somebody wants to remove an item or discussion and I we do have individuals signed up to speak for item 11a1 and a lot item 11a6 okay uh please uh we'll proceed then with the public invited to be heard on this okay foreign council members Aaliyah Cortez was murdered by a 16 year old and we don't know who they are is that fair to her family is that fair to the rest of us that this person is not being held accountable to the community and that his name is withheld because he did an adult action that took the life of another 16 year old I don't understand why this is even being proposed if you do something like murder somebody you vandalize their car their home you steal their car and I don't care how old you are you need to be held accountable and if you're not being held accountable because you're the under the age of 18 then your parents need to have their name put up where everybody can see their name I don't believe that this is fair I don't think this is right that we would withhold somebody's name just because of their age if if you're talking about you know they they went in and they stole some stuff at Walmart or they went in and they um vandalized uh somebody's sign of fence on the side of the road that's one thing but when they commit murder when they cause damage to someone's life then then either their parents need to be put out on the media or they need to be and that's my stance on that one and I know I didn't make a lot of friends without them uh Pete uh um I believe this this applies to uh juvenile defendants does it not victims and the victims yeah the current law only applied to the victims what the proposal is is to add it uh to every juvenile involved in the case um you're referring to the defendants and the defendant so defendants by Design the defendants are never public because under the Juvenile Justice System it's rehabilitative in nature where the adult system is punishment in nature so that was already the law and mayor this is Megan plot with the city attorney's office unless they're being adjudicated as an adult based on the level of crime like a murder or some status offense that requires adult adjudication that information is publicly releasable this um this proposed legislation would only protect juvenile crime victim names where historically they've been enumerated under Title 18 as only sexually based offenses and it would apply now to all juvenile victims of crime for redaction and public records and Witnesses yeah Witnesses okay um and see we have one other the other two individuals signed up for 11 A6 so they can speak now or we can adopt the consent calendar and remove any items let's go ahead and have them speak now okay uh Zach Keaton good evening again everyone um so I'm going a little bit off the cuff on this one because I think the the first reason that my attention got drawn to this is 11a6 is talking about modifying the rules about public input I would hate to Rob uh Gardner his uh opportunity to be lectured by me so I want to make sure that I'm not losing my opportunity to that because it's not exactly clear in your documentation what you want to do but I also wanted to take a point and talk about public comment and how complex that is I'm going to humbly say that I'm a bilingual software engineer I think God blessed me with a pretty solid brain and uh this system confuses the living Jesus out of me how someone who has no education is supposed to come participate is laughable to be honest just to name a couple of the rules that I've gathered that I kind of just have programmed into this is you have to be signed up between Friday and Monday at 12 30. today I missed at 12 30 but I know because I've talked to Katie over here who's been great and has let me say like as long as I get in by 6 29 I'm good but if the agenda item has started and you want to talk about an agenda item which is different than just normal public comment then I have to walk my ass all the way up to the top there and interrupt rudely while someone's talking taking up their time I have to get a slip take her attention away to give a slip for her and then hopefully I'll get in before 11 a6's call but I've done it before if 11 A6 is not called oh then I've already missed my shot so I do track all these systems and processes honestly I think better than some of you guys do but I digress um so please either simplify your system or attend a workshop to understand your damn system it's kind of frustrating as a public like I'm 32. some of you double my age For the Love of Christ please we've been here since six o'clock going in circles you have to give me a headache I love you all God bless okay we have one other we do on the public call-in line go ahead [Music] hi this is Pat can you hear me now yes go ahead hi this is um I would like I would like to point out if you're listening on another device you need to turn that down okay can you all hear me now that's better thank you thank you should I should I start yes um I would like to point out that subsection five of the resolution uh States in addition to appearing in person the city manager will provide means for the public to participate in City Council meetings remotely via video conference and or telephone that's our call-in line that's great to the uh call in line with Ensure access to so many people presently no one can speak at the end of the council meeting as we have done in the past also there is a 20-person limit to the number of people who can address council at the public invited to speak session Council can vote to allow or disallow more than 20 people that's never been done before however on a positive note by approving subsection 5 of Juan McConnell's resolution that will show um show the public how serious counsel is in protecting our right to speak via video conferencing and or telephone please vote Yes so there won't be another roadblock when it comes to addressing the council thank you very much for your time foreign motion is order for item number 11 A1 to item number 11 A7 mayor uh councilmember Bergen I would like to pull 1187 um and then the question before us the adoption of item number 11a1 the item number 11a6 um emotion is an order mayor a motion to approve 1181 through 1186 removed by mayor Tim Gardner seconded by Mercado uh councilman McConnell to approve 1181 to 1186 uh now that with the clerk now please read the title to 11 A7 mayor I'm sorry I'm sorry we or we have to vote I'm sorry oh uh okay uh uh discussion on item number uh 1181 to 1186. mayor uh councilmember McConnell thank you sir I do want to address um Zach who spoke on 11 A6 um I agree our current process is convoluted it used to be much simpler you didn't used to have a time limit that was something that this current Council changed early on I disagreed with that with that they also as our caller mentioned got rid of the public matter to be heard period at the end of the meeting which is something that I found very useful before I was on Council because things would happen up here during the meeting that you might want to give us feedback on but you weren't able to do that until two weeks on in most circumstances so that's something that this Council made the decision to change we could also change it back so if you all feel strongly Lobby the folks around me here uh further discussion on uh on the consent on item number 11 A1 to 1186 I see no further discussion uh question before us is the adoption of item number 1181 to 1186 call for the question councilmember oh thank you the motion passes to adopt the consent calendars consent calendar items 11a1 through 11 A6 great now please read the time to 11 A7 item 1187 is resolution 20 23 12 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado Tim in the Rules of Order and procedure for the rural Colorado city council regarding motions to end debate um motion is in order mayor uh councilmember McConnell live to approve 1187 uh it's been moved by councilman McConnell seconded by councilmember Medina approved item number 1187. uh discussion I'm here uh councilmember O'Connell thank you sir um so as I mentioned during study session um I wish we had a council where this was not even necessary to contemplate but I do feel that this rule has been abused in the past so I will be supporting moving this forward and I suspect that my colleagues are not going to be in a position or probably have the desire to filibuster like we see in the at the federal government further a discussion item number 1187 I've seen nine question before this is the adoption of item number 1187 call for the question councilmember Mario sorry would you mind my technology just yeah when out would you mind just repeating um the the vote real quick the this is for item 11a7 resolution 2013-12. The Rules of Order and procedure motions to end debate and this would be to sorry I'm just running on nothing right now I just don't have the text sorry um one moment um okay uh yes thank you the emotion does not pass with three yes votes and six no votes the yes votes from council member Medina Marcano and Mario okay uh with court now please do the title to item number 17A as fire chief uh city manager thank you mayor um yes I have I would like to select Alec Alton as the next fire chief for the city of Aurora we went through an interview process several weeks ago mayor and council members were given the opportunity to to interview we had a good Community Connection and and input we had four good candidates Alec uh has spent four years as chief of the Henrico fire department he was four years as a deputy chief prior to that Henrico County department where he has served is similar in in size to our department it actually serves a larger geographic area than our department has more firefighters and more stations so he's handled that department very well they like Aurora and ISO one Department he also is an assessor for the commission on fire accreditation International an assessor they have assessor parties that go to different departments and go through the accreditation process with them he's also recently been named to the board of directors of the Center for Public Safety Excellence so he has very strong background and I might ask that you vote for his approval a motion is an order mayor uh member Tim Gardner motion to approve 17A approved by mayor Tim Gardner seconded by Sunburst second by council member sunberg to approve item number 17 a discussion mayor remember Tim Gardner thank you um yeah I just want to say thank you to city manager and quite a few members of the community and other executive staff and all those that were involved in the process of selecting a fire chief I think we have four really good candidates particularly I just want to say thank you to our interim Chief Al robnet for both his Decades of service to the city and then also for stepping in on an interim basis to lead the department during this transition you know I really appreciate him applying for the permanent job and also like I said his his service to the city and then you know lastly just I want to say I'm excited to have Chief Otten come to Aurora I think he will be good for our city and good for our fire department further discussion seeing none questions before us is the adoption of item number 17A call for the question uh mayoral Express I closed my laptop I'm a yes and council member Mario mine is back on and it's still not pulling up but I am a yes the emotion passes you guys hear me oh oh I wanted to make sure this is a 10-0 vote yet the motion passes to adopt item 17A reports uh Mayors no report uh councilmember Lawson thank you mayor um for the sorry um Congress has completed committee assignments and we should soon know when appropriation requests will be due for fy24 Senate Bill 03 the Colorado adult high school program bill has advanced through committee with testimony from the city of Aurora the city did take a supportive position on this legislation Senator Fields bill for deletion of child's name from criminal records has been released as Senate Bill 2375 and then my next report um next month is Black History Month so Aurora TV we'll be having a special cult celebrating black history through the Arts and it will start showing on February 1st so you can watch this on Comcast 880 and at Aurora tv.org and that's my report mayor councilman Gardner I'm mayor Tim Gardner no report um councilmember zavonik narrow Park councilman Memorial thanks mayor just that my town hall for this month will be um February 23rd the fourth Thursday at the MLK Library we had an agenda setting meeting a week ago so I'll be using those topics that we discussed and folks wanted to learn more about to plan future Town Hall subjects um and then sorry one more um just wanted to say that I'm excited to be participating in the city of Aurora point in time count of my five years on Council they're always held on Monday except this year so that's something that I'm looking forward to supporting our staff and kind of seeing boots on the ground what that experience is like and trying to reach and engage folks who are experiencing homelessness there were volunteer shifts available there might still be if you look online otherwise I look forward to volunteering with other council members and residents who have volunteered for the opportunity thanks uh councilmember sunberg I just very briefly mayor thank you I attended the Forest Review Board of the police department I encourage everyone to do that to see our continuous Improvement policies and techniques to to look at when and if the force is used under great scrutiny to just evaluate that entire process make it better Town Hall was a success even though it was so cold got to learn about the direction of Aurora Public Schools as well as our incredible school resource officer program and their heart for our children I would encourage everyone to attend a wellness Court graduation which occurs maybe every three months or so the gentleman named Bob went through the program he was 21 months 17 days sober a brand new life his family was excited for him a great microcosm of success of healing that's taking place that I'd like to see on a grander scale in our community thank you mayor councilmember Medina thank you mayor uh yes I just have uh my uh next town hall which will be this Wednesday February 1st 6 30 8 p.m at the Active Adult Center who will be talking about neighborhood watch in our area and I will also be joining uh councilmember Memorial tomorrow morning at 5 a.m to do the point in time count thank you councilmember Connor thank you mayor our next Ward 4 meeting is going to be Thursday February 9th at 6 30 p.m at Colorado early colleges that's at 1400 South Abilene we're going to continue the really Lively conversation from our January meeting around Aurora Public Schools and educational attainment with Dr Anne Kiki and then we're going to have a presentation for from our budget manager Greg Hayes about the current city the city's Current financial outlay some of our deferred maintenance and capital Improvement backlog and how deep bruising might tie into all of that so I hope you all can join us for that meeting I think it'll be a really interesting conversation councilman Coombs thank you mayor my next town hall is Tuesday February 21st and then I also do have a quarterly Saturday Town Hall so the February 21st meeting is at the central Rec Center at 6 p.m and then on Saturday February 25th we'll be at Mission Viejo Library at 10 30 a.m and I did also just have an agenda setting meeting for my last Town Hall so I will be putting out topics for the remaining Town Halls coming up and then for Mile High Behavioral Healthcare we had our first board meeting last Tuesday at the Montview facility which is going to be the location for the Colfax Community Network as well as Child and Adolescent mental health services within the city of Aurora and it looked wonderful although it was very much conceptual construction is about to be constructed or about to be commenced with funding from the city of Aurora as well as Adams County to support that program and Mile High has also been activated for cold weather consistently throughout November December and January providing emergency shelter services to our residents and to people experiencing homelessness in our community and hopefully it will warm up and they will not have to continue to activate to keep people from freezing in these really horrible conditions that we've been having but in the meantime we support that or we appreciate that work and I hope that we can make sure that we're adequately supporting that work thank you customer Bergen thank you mayor um and I did a Facebook post about the recreation center the southeast Recreation Center Granite opening but I want to still just um talk a little bit about the the grand opening ceremony and ribbon cutting to those of you that don't do social media so last Tuesday of course was the grand opening of the southeast recreation center and the field house and it was attended by some of my colleagues here as well it really um I'm just very proud that we were able to to get this funded and bring this amenity to to all of our residents it will serve primarily those residents in southeast Aurora but um also Murphy Creek is just on the other side so I know I met some residents there that were from Murphy Creek and were very um very uh excited to be there and to to get a membership it really truly is a gym for the entire city um I think I want to thank not only the colleagues that have supported the recreation center that are here but specifically to thank those colleagues of mine in 20 that were that voted for the funding back in the fall of 2018 a special thank you to them I also want to thank the pros and the public works department they put tremendous amount of hours into making this happen from overseeing the project Pros did a phenomenal job with three the public engagement forums that we held at the infinity Middle School which is right near where the rec center is and all that input that came in from the residents really helped the the architect you know design the facility with those amenities in mind that they really wanted to see in the facility also want to just thank Saunders construction because they actually came in under budget and ahead of schedule which is incredible even during a pandemic and then thank you for the incredible design team at populist and I know that they're gonna they're gonna definitely win some Regional Awards if not national awards because if you haven't had a chance to see the recreation center just at least please stop by and and take a look at it is something that that all of us in Aurora should be proud of and then thanks to Roberta Bloom and the art and public places committee and to the artist Adam buentis the artwork in there is also beautiful and and then just lastly a huge thank you to the community for all the the support and the input and um I know it's going to serve thousands of residents for a very long time and um I know the kids are very excited about it um the the kids that are at Infinity Middle School can literally walk to it this this big kid is excited to get a membership and start working out because I don't and I need to but anyway um hope to see you there so that's my thank you in the recreation center very quickly my town hall because of the snowstorm was rescheduled so it's this Thursday February 2nd six to eight at the Public Safety Training Center on Quincy and it is about the mineral Leasing and the cap at Lowry Ranch that's the primary topic and then lastly I mentioned this earlier but February 6 study session we had a lot of complaints about snow plowing so please tune in to that study session because our staff will be looking at some solution to hopefully alleviate that for you so that's it good night so you know business further business before the Aurora City Council of meeting adjourned [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]