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Record of Proceedings

Colorado Springs City Council Work Session: LART Updates, Housing Bonds, and BID Budget Amendment (April 21, 2025)

City Council — Monday, April 21, 2025
BodyColorado Springs, Colorado
SessionCity Council
DateMonday, April 21, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:41:00

Transcript — Verbatim
0:36

Good morning.

0:39

We're gonna get started now that it's 9 02 for the City of Clark Springs work session meeting agenda April 21st, 2025.

0:49

So we're gonna start with a call to order and um will the clerk please call the roll call councilmember Bailey Here, Councilmember Crow Iverson.

1:04

Here council member Donaldson.

1:06

Here council member Gold.

1:08

Present.

1:10

Councilmember Henjam.

1:12

Present.

1:12

Councilmember.

1:14

Councilmember Williams.

1:16

Here.

1:17

Councilmember Leinweimer.

1:20

I thought you forgot me here.

1:23

Oh, this is way out of order.

1:27

We're changing it up.

1:28

Uh Councilmember Rainey.

1:30

Here.

1:31

Councilmember Risley.

1:33

Here.

1:33

Sorry, I will get that fixed in the system.

1:41

All nine are present.

1:43

Changes to agenda.

1:44

Are there any changes to the agenda today?

1:47

No changes.

1:48

Regular meeting comments.

1:50

Are there any changes to the regular meeting tomorrow?

1:56

Review of previous minutes.

1:57

Will the clerk please read item 4A into the record?

2:02

City Council work session meeting minutes, March 24, 2025.

2:09

Are there any changes to the minutes?

2:14

Hearing none.

2:15

Staff and appointee reports.

2:17

Will the clerk please read item 6A into the record?

2:24

Agenda planner review.

2:26

Does anybody have any questions about the agenda planner review?

2:29

Agenda planner.

2:31

Yeah, madam president.

2:32

I I do have a question on that.

2:35

And the question is about uh for the work session meeting on May 12th.

2:41

The first item is health span business partners aging presentation.

2:47

Um what is that?

2:50

There was a presentation requested by uh previous council that we had agreed to.

2:55

We had them scheduled on the April 7th uh city council work session, but since that work session was canceled, uh we had to move them to a future date.

3:03

So I can uh resend the email on that one.

3:06

Okay, it looks to me like it's a private business.

3:08

Is that right?

3:10

Uh I would need to go back and look at it, so I'll make sure to reforward the email to you.

3:14

And so my question would be why is a private business coming and doing a presentation?

3:20

It's kind of an advertisement for them.

3:23

I don't uh I don't think we typically do that, so correct.

3:27

Yeah, it's only for things of public benefit and good, but we'll confirm that for you and make sure we re-review that.

3:33

Okay, thank well.

3:34

Yeah, if you could send that out so we could all agree to it or or not for for that meeting.

3:38

Thanks.

3:56

Contract update.

4:01

Good morning, honorable members of city council, and welcome.

4:05

I'm Shari McDaniel, Chief Financial Officer for the City.

4:08

And if um I may I'd like to just make a couple of comments prior to the presentations, uh the two presentations that you have coming before you.

5:02

So that's done in a few different ways.

5:18

Part of the expenditures of the LART fund are for contracts that are to attract visitors to the city and to the Pikes Peak region, encourage tourism activity, provide economic and cultural benefit, and enhance the quality of life in the city and engage the community.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Affordable Housing█████████████████████████25%
Tourism███████████████████████23%
Arts And Culture████████8%
Procedural██████6%
Public Engagement██████6%
Budget Equity Analysis██████6%
Economic Development█████5%
Business Improvement Districts█████5%
Contract Negotiation████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Colorado Springs City Council Work Session: LART Updates, Housing Bonds, and BID Budget Amendment (April 21, 2025)

The City Council held a work session on Monday, April 21, 2025, starting at 9:02 AM and adjourning at 11:42 PM. The meeting included presentations from Visit COS and the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region (COPPeR) on their 2024 year-end Lodgers and Auto Rental Tax (LART) performance, as well as discussion on a supplemental LART appropriation, private activity bond (PAB) resolutions for affordable housing projects (Bradley Ridge and Royal Pine), and an amended operating plan for the First and Main Business Improvement District No. 2. Council also authorized out-of-state travel for a councilmember.

Minutes Approval

  • The minutes of the March 24, 2025, Work Session were approved by consensus.

Staff Reports

  • Agenda Planner Review: Councilmember Donelson questioned a scheduled presentation by Healthspan Business Partners at the May 12 work session, noting it appeared to be a private business. Deputy City Council Administrator Michael Montgomery said he would re-forward the information.

Presentations for General Information

  • Visit COS 2024 Year-End LART Update: Doug Price, President and CEO, along with staff, presented fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 Key Performance Indicators. Total LART collections in 2024 were $9,624,000, up 1.38% from 2023. Visitors spent nearly $3 billion in the region, saving each local family $945 annually in taxes. Occupancy rate was 63.2%, down 1.8% from 2023. Room nights booked via Visit COS were down by about 35,000 compared to 2023 due to non-repeating groups. Marketing Director Melissa Williams presented a resident sentiment survey (conducted August 2024, 400 likely voters) showing 60% believe positive impacts of tourism outweigh negative, but 40% said tourism diminishes quality of life. Councilmember Henjum asked about collaboration on a potential November 2025 ballot initiative; Ms. Williams said they will work with the solutions team. Councilmember Leinweber asked how the four contracted tourism entities coordinate; Chief of Staff Jamie Fabos stated the goal of the new LART structure is to tie them together for a more comprehensive strategy. Councilmember Donelson requested a refresher on how LART was historically distributed (when Visit COS received 66% of collections).
  • COPPeR 2024 Year-End LART Update: Angela Seals, President and CEO, presented the cultural office's 2024 performance. The region has over 550 arts and cultural groups; 82% are within Colorado Springs. 48% of tourists engage in cultural activities (20% above national average). PeakRadar.com saw increased tourist usage, with 71% of users in 2024 being tourists and over 17,000 clicks on

Meeting Transcript

Good morning. We're gonna get started now that it's 9 02 for the City of Clark Springs work session meeting agenda April 21st, 2025. So we're gonna start with a call to order and um will the clerk please call the roll call councilmember Bailey Here, Councilmember Crow Iverson. Here council member Donaldson. Here council member Gold. Present. Councilmember Henjam. Present. Councilmember. Councilmember Williams. Here. Councilmember Leinweimer. I thought you forgot me here. Oh, this is way out of order. We're changing it up. Uh Councilmember Rainey. Here. Councilmember Risley. Here. Sorry, I will get that fixed in the system. All nine are present. Changes to agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda today? No changes. Regular meeting comments. Are there any changes to the regular meeting tomorrow? Review of previous minutes. Will the clerk please read item 4A into the record? City Council work session meeting minutes, March 24, 2025. Are there any changes to the minutes? Hearing none. Staff and appointee reports. Will the clerk please read item 6A into the record? Agenda planner review. Does anybody have any questions about the agenda planner review? Agenda planner. Yeah, madam president. I I do have a question on that. And the question is about uh for the work session meeting on May 12th. The first item is health span business partners aging presentation. Um what is that? There was a presentation requested by uh previous council that we had agreed to. We had them scheduled on the April 7th uh city council work session, but since that work session was canceled, uh we had to move them to a future date. So I can uh resend the email on that one. Okay, it looks to me like it's a private business. Is that right? Uh I would need to go back and look at it, so I'll make sure to reforward the email to you. And so my question would be why is a private business coming and doing a presentation? It's kind of an advertisement for them. I don't uh I don't think we typically do that, so correct.

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