Brighton City Council Study Session – March 25, 2025
Brighton City Council Study Session – March 25, 2025
The Brighton City Council held a study session on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 6:00 PM. The meeting covered administrative appointments, an executed contract listing, a sustainability program update with a proposed advisory board, and an update on the Bridge Street widening project including a $2.93 million contract amendment.
Consent Calendar
- The council considered the reappointment of Barbara Heumann to the Historic Preservation Commission and the appointment of Quentin Kosch as an alternate to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Councilmember Green expressed full support. The city manager confirmed a resolution would be prepared for the next regular meeting.
- The executed contract listing for January and February 2025 was presented by Finance Director Katrina Asher. No questions were raised.
Discussion Items
- Sustainability Update and Advisory Board – Sustainability staff reviewed 2024 accomplishments: adoption of the city’s first sustainability plan, a community survey with over 400 participants, a gold SolSmart designation, and a community leadership award from Drive Clean Colorado. The 2025 outlook includes programs like XL Partners in Energy, NREL fleet analysis, and waste diversion efforts. A proposed Sustainability Advisory Board would have seven voting members (including two youth members ages 15–18) and one non-voting council representative. Councilmembers discussed the structure: Snyder questioned the non-voting council seat; Green expressed concern about youth members voting; Worth asked about membership sourcing. Mayor Pro Tem Padilla strongly supported the board as a statement of sustainability as a top priority. The council directed staff to proceed with drafting an ordinance.
- Bridge Street Widening Project Update and Contract Amendment – Project Manager Christopher Montoya reported the project is 80% complete with an estimated completion in July–August 2025. The project includes 1.3 miles of roadway, 330,000 sq ft of pavement, four new traffic signals, 100% completed water line, and 97% completed storm sewer. A contract amendment of $2,933,000 was requested due to unforeseen conditions: United Power design and construction ($763,000), regional pond grading ($680,000), ditch crossing modifications ($500,000), utility conflicts ($915,000), and field changes ($300,000), offset by $225,000 in savings. The total contract would reach $20,823,084, still 10–20% below the lowest bid and within 5% of the original budget allocation. Council discussion: Mayor Mills criticized the timeline (originally 18 months, now 26) and communication; Mayor Pro Tem Padilla argued the cost increase (15% over the contract, not 5% over budget) was poorly communicated and questioned the lack of an owner’s representative; Green defended staff for acting on council’s directive to move quickly; Paplowski raised safety concerns about Eastgate egress; Taddeo noted the intentional design for limited unsignaled intersections. The council emphasized lessons learned and the need for a policy requiring owner’s reps on large projects. The contract amendment will be brought to the next regular meeting for approval; no budget amendment is needed as funds can be reallocated from other projects.
- Other Policy Items – Councilmember Snyder proposed that all council members wear Speak Week t-shirts at the April 15 regular meeting to support youth suicide prevention efforts. After brief discussion on professionalism, the consensus was to support the youth commission by wearing the shirts during the proclamation portion of that meeting.
Key Outcomes
- The council unanimously supported the appointments and directed staff to prepare resolutions for the next meeting.
- Staff was directed to move forward with creating a Sustainability Advisory Board and bring an ordinance for adoption.
- The Bridge Street contract amendment will be presented at the next regular council meeting for approval. No additional budget amendment is required.
- Council agreed in principle to wear Speak Week t-shirts on April 15 during the proclamation.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. Like to call to order our study session for Tuesday, March twenty fifth, twenty twenty-five. Gonna ask Councilmember Snyder to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Oh my gosh. All right, thank you for doing that. Um, we have a meeting, everyone. Say, all right. Or a study session, not an official meeting, sorry. First item on our agenda is consider appointment to the parks and recreation advisory board and the historic preservation commission. City manager Martinez. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and members of council. Our deputy city clerk will be presenting this item. Welcome, Aaron. Employee of the year. Thank you. Uh good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and members of Council. Uh, the Historic Preservation Commission is recommending the reappointment of Barbara Human as a member of their board. And the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board is recommending the appointment of Quinton Koch as an alternate of their board. Does anybody have any comments on those proposed appointees? If not, we'll have it before us at our next meeting. Oh, who has them? Oh, City or Councilmember Green. I'll just say I've known Barb for years, and I think she'd be a great addition to the historic preservation committee. So full throated endorsement. Sounds good. We'll have it ready for next time. We will prepare a resolution and bring it to the next meeting. Thank you. Next, um executed contract listing tw uh January and February of twenty twenty-five. City Manager Martinez. Here to answer questions based on this will be our finance director, Katrina Asher. Good evening, Council. Um yes, your packet includes our list of executed contracts for January and February of this year. Um, as a reminder, when we show a change order, the amount listed there is the new total of the contract, not the amount added in that change order. And uh this does not include purchases or contracts where the purchase order is acting as a contract, so straight goods purchases um are usually done with a purchase order, so those are not listed on here. This is just uh contracts. So I'm happy to answer questions if you have any. I'd also like to point out that uh Michael and I are wearing the same pants this evening. Everyone is the same color pants. We have our we have our Brighton pen too. Yeah. I got a couple sizes bigger, but we're using our solidarity for sustainability. Yeah. Yep. Unified front on the sustainability front. Yeah. All right. Well, good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and members of council. It is great to be here with you this evening.
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