Good morning.

Welcome to Colorado Springs City Council regular meeting for Tuesday, August 26th, 2025.

We are honored this morning with our invocation by Deacon Greg Papinu from St.

Paul Catholic Church.

Oh, yeah, I'm getting way ahead of myself.

Way ahead of myself.

I'm I'm like 10 minutes ahead of everybody else.

So we will we will get back to our I was just in such a hurry for invocation.

Um will the clerk please call the roll.

Councilmember Bailey.

Here councilmember Crow Iverson.

Here, Councilmember Donaldson.

Here.

Councilmember Gold.

Here.

Councilmember Henjam.

Present.

Councilmember Lion Weber.

Here.

Councilmember Rainey.

Here.

Councilmember Risley.

Here.

Councilmember Williams.

Here.

All nine present.

Okay, now we saved the best for last.

So good morning.

Please stand for the vacation from Deacon Greg Papinu.

Let us pray.

Gracious and loving God.

We gather here today to conduct the business of our great city.

We are grateful for the opportunity to serve our community and for the trust that has been placed in us.

We ask for guidance and clarity as we deliberate on the issues before us.

Grant us the wisdom to make decisions that are just, fair, and beneficial for all our citizens.

Help us to be good stewards of the resources and trusted to our care.

Inspire us to listen with open minds and compassionate hearts, to respect differing viewpoints, and to seek common ground for the good of our city.

May we work together in harmony, even in the face of disagreement, and always remember the dignity and worth of every person we serve.

We pray for our city, for our elected officials and all those who govern, our first responders, our educators, our health care workers, our local businesses, and every family member, an individual who call this beautiful city home.

Bless our community with peace, prosperity, and a spirit of cooperation.

May our actions today be a source of strength and hope for those we represent.

We pray all this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Moving on to item three, changes uh to the agenda and postponements.

Councilman Risley.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, I would respectfully ask that we pull item uh 4AB off the consent calendar so that I can recuse myself from that item.

We will now consider the consent calendar.

Okay, has it been acted upon?

We will now consider the consent calendar with the 4AB pulled off the items will be acted upon as a whole, unless a specific item which we just did was acted on.

So I will need a vote, a motion, and a second from Councilman Risley and a second from Council Wingold.

All in favor.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Seeing none for a second presentation.

Um moving on to item five recognitions.

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

A resolution recognizing September 8th through 13, 2025 is sober week in Colorado Springs.

Councilman Lymweber.

Thank you, President.

Um, good morning.

So um today we're reading a resolution um around sober week in Colorado Springs.

And um this is a little bit personal to me because I've had a couple of family members that um have struggled with alcoholism.

And um and the truth of the matter is they actually struggle with life.

Life gets so overwhelming, complicated.

I just need to calm myself down.

I'll just have a drink.

And um, then it leads to two and then three and then four.

And um, it's an easy predicament, um, I think for any of us to kind of get into.

It's particularly um hit hard with the food service industry because it's such a stressful job.

Um, you you work late, hard, hot hours, and um, and so um this is kind of focused on all of those things.

So a resolution risk recognizing September 8th through 13th, 2025 as sober week in Colorado Springs, whereas Colorado Springs, Sober Week is a week-long collaboration initiative hosted by local nonprofits, businesses, and community leaders to promote healthy alcohol-free activities, resources, and connection.

And whereas 17% of food service workers have been diagnosed with a substance abuse disorder.

And whereas Sober Week promotes wellness, recovery, and strong community connection.

And whereas Sober Week is focused on helping restaurants and hospitality workers, a group at high risk from stress-related health challenges, substance misuse, and limited access to resources.

And whereas events during Sober Week include yoga at Widener Field, Coffee Connection, and donut uh donuts at Acacia Park.

And a Sober Saray dance party.

Events are open to the public to encourage widespread community participation, and now therefore be resolved by the City Council of Colorado Springs.

Section one.

Um City Council recognizes September 8th through 13th, 2025 as sober week in Colorado Springs and urges its members of the community to take part in these special events.

Dated at Colorado Springs, Colorado, this 26th day of August 25th, signed by President Lynette Crow Ivison.

Um this is uh uh I think it's an important week to kind of demonstrate and to join others um in their struggles with um some of their different life issues.

I don't know if we had anyone who was gonna speak to this directly.

I'm trying to think.

Um, did we?

Oh, yes.

Yes, Sarah, why don't you come on up?

My name is Sarah Potter.

I'm the city director.

Oh, yeah.

I guess I could turn that on.

That's fine.

I just wanted to yell.

So uh my name is Sarah Potter.

I'm the city director of a nonprofit that focuses on supporting the restaurant and hospitality industry.

So it's just been a pleasure to come together with other local nonprofits and make sure that we're creating a safety net by all coming together to make sure that community is being shown throughout the resources that we have.

So thank you for having me.

I'm Beth Rolstad, CEO of Homeward Pikes Peak, and the reason that Homer Pikes Peak is participating in this proclamation is that we see the end result of addiction so often ending up in homelessness.

Uh, we've partnered with the Restaurant Association, recovery organizations, and the city to really have a thoughtful uh week where we are encouraging healthy activities as the proclamation state, approximately 17% of our hospitality workers face a out drug or alcohol addiction.

So we're hoping that we can create a culture of wellness in the mornings.

You know, we all benefit from structure in our lives, so if we can go to bed and then wake up and participate in something uh healthy in the morning that we can role model this activity for others.

Um thank you for your support in doing this.

Uh, I know we all want the healthiest communities possible, and we appreciate your support.

Beth, I have purchased my tickets to Sober Saray.

Tell me a little bit about that event.

What makes it so special?

Well, thank you, David.

Um, Sober Soire is our third year to have an alcohol-free fundraiser for the mission of Homeward Pike's Peak, and as you know, um often we have fundraisers where we help uh lubricate your ability to donate to nonprofits by offering you um drinks, and uh we feel that um it's more aligned with our mission to just show that you can have a really good time building connections and fun without the aid of alcohol.

Um so I hope you'll consider joining us at the sober soire.

It is a dance party, it will be a lot of fun, and uh, we have a lot of tremendous restaurants partnering with us.

That's the whole theme is working with our restaurant industry to provide wonderful food and mocktails to enjoy during the evening.

What date is that?

September 13th from 6 to 9 p.m.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

President.

I don't see any more speakers from the audience, so I'll bring it back up to the dais.

Um, Councilman Gold.

Thank you, Madam President, and thank you, Councilmember Lineweber, for bringing forward this proclamation.

I um would like to just share a little personal story here.

I have been sober for um a little over a year now, for about uh since January of 2024.

Thank you.

Um it was one of the best decisions I could have made for myself because I believe that alcohol has taken more from me than it could ever give to me.

And especially if I had never drank a drop of alcohol, considering how alcoholism runs in my family, it already took so much away from me.

So while I think that the consumption of alcohol, kudos to you who do it, um, but I think we have a culture of overconsumption of alcohol, and we should be more mindful.

Um it is a an addiction that is too easily accepted in our community, and especially when we think about our military community, which we have a whole lot of in Colorado Springs.

I'm glad to be a part of a city um that champions for uh more moderate consumption of alcohol and recognizes things like sober week.

So thank you again, Councilmember Lineweber for uh bringing attention to this.

And um, you know where the party is at on September 13th, y'all.

Councilman Hindem.

Thank you, Madam President.

Yeah, I'll I'll just jump in on this train and and highlight in particular the um uh sober soiree, which I was fortunate enough to attend the very first one.

And not only is it a blast and some good dancing, but I'm telling you, um for the restaurant folks, um, they can make some pretty mean mock tails that are extremely tasty and quite enjoyable, and I really uh support that element of it.

So um, and homework Pikes Peak is an incredible organization to be um supported by this effort.

So hope to see you all on September 13th at the Sober Soire.

And thank you, Councilmember Lineweber, as well.

For actually, I think this is a resolution that we get to vote on.

And so um I'm I'm grateful for you bringing this forward.

Thanks.

Seeing no other comments from the dais, I have a motion from Councilman Henjam and a second from Councilman Gould.

Let's vote.

And the motion passes nine to zero.

So we will meet you down at the front for a celebratory picture.

Um, moving on to 5B.

A will the clerk please read item 5B into the record.

A resolution of appreciation of Phyllis Goss Records Supervisor PD Records and ID for the 36 years of service to the city of Colorado Springs.

Good morning.

Morning, I'm Doug Trainer.

I appreciate this opportunity to recognize a uh city employee that was very dedicated and uh and would served for a very long time.

And I didn't even see where the heck Phyllis was sitting, so here she is.

All right.

This is a resolution of appreciation for Phyllis Goss.

Whereas the city has benefited greatly from the dedicated service of Phyllis Goss, record supervisor, PD, records and ID for the past 36 years.

And whereas Phyllis Goss began her tenure at the City of Colorado Springs on January 17th, 1989 as a temporary under employee under a domestic violence grant.

On July 26, 1990, she transitioned from a temporary role to a regular position, serving as an ID clerk.

On March 14th, 1995, she was promoted to an ID technician.

And on May 9th, 2004, she was reclassified to an ID and records supervisor.

On April 8th, 2007, she was reclassified to an ID specialist.

And on March 20 31st, 2013, her position was updated, and she spent the remainder of her career serving in the records and identification section as a record supervisor.

And whereas her contributions and efforts resulted in being presented multiple awards, she received one increased workplace efficiency, production of quality level three award, three certificates of appreciation, two written commendations, six commanders' commendations and letters of appreciation.

And whereas on several occasions, she played an integral part in facilitating successful National Crime Information Center compliance audits, earning high marks, distinction, and praise from the Federal Bureau of Investigation officials.

And whereas Phyllis collaborated closely with CSPD human resources staff to refine the usefulness of Spark videos, which led to interviewing better quality candidates and making the interview process more efficient.

And whereas in 2009, Phyllis assisted in making presentations to all the patrol divisions during lineups and created a reference brochure outlining records and ID protocols.

And whereas in 2023, she created a new hire wellness class, which introduced new hires to good self-care and mental health habits.

And whereas in 2024, she created a once-a-month coffee break with each of her direct reports, which created an environment for staff to share concerns and issues in a productive manner.

And whereas she served on multiple hiring panels and was a Colorado certified records technician.

And whereas while serving on the peer support team in 2015, she played a key role in helping the Canyon City Police Department establish its own peer support team.

And whereas she was an innovative leader who actively supported her staff's growth by mentoring and coaching team members.

She continuously sought to improve processes, techniques, and procedures to increase efficiency.

And whereas Phyllis was always willing to take on new responsibilities.

She demonstrated strong teamwork, was an excellent and compassionate listener, and she went the extra mile to assist customers.

And whereas we appreciate her dedication, commitment, informal leadership, mentorship, and stewardship of taxpayer dollars throughout her years of service to the city.

And whereas the city wishes her happiness and success in all her future ventures.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of Colorado Springs, Section One, the City Council recognizes Phyllis Goss for her 36 years of service leadership and contributions to the City of Colorado Springs.

Thank you, Phyllis.

Good morning, Phyllis.

Good morning.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Is there anything you would like to say?

I'm just grateful for the 36 years that I had to serve the city.

Um it was my great joy.

Um and um thank you.

So we'll bring it back up to the dais.

Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, thank you, Madam President.

And uh Phyllis, I want to thank you personally, and then you know others are gonna speak here also for the for just the service you have given the city.

You're you're think you're grateful to us or to the city, but uh I'm very thankful to you, and it's people like you that uh bring um consistency and stability to organizations like our police department in our city.

And you know, you have that institutional knowledge.

You just you've been there, and uh just read you know, listening and reading through your list of achievements and accomplishments.

You sound like a great leader.

Um I think we've been very fortunate to have you uh as uh as Lieutenant Trainer has pointed out.

So um thank you.

Councilman Gold, uh Mrs.

Phyllis, I have to second my thanks.

Uh um, like Councilmember Donaldson.

Um, thank you for being a trailblazer in so many ways, um, so many unsung ways.

We see you and we thank you for your service, and I hope that you do every single thing to have the most peace and enjoyment in your retirement.

And I have to say it's wonderful to see your family just beaming with joy for you.

That is so beautiful.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If I could, madam president, I just want to correct myself there.

It's not Lieutenant Turner, that's commander trainer.

That's on me.

Councilman Hingum.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, Phyllis, uh, so I'm gonna jump on the gratitude train, but I'm I'm actually going to also ask you a question, okay?

So you can take a moment to think about your response.

But given that you've been working for the city for 36 years and with Colorado Springs Police Department, you have no doubt seen all kinds of change and I'm sure some for the better, maybe some for the worse.

But would you be willing to share just maybe one observation that you have that would help us understand your experience of working for the city for 36 years?

Um, you know, what would you highlight?

What would you celebrate?

What would you uh want us to know?

I think I would celebrate um surviving all the changes over 36 years.

Um and still coming out positive.

Still coming out enjoying working for the police department.

Um I would say making a difference in a quiet way in a community.

Um my job was dealing with those who were arrested.

Um I saw people on their worst day come into our lobby who needed something, but it was a crisis for them and to be able to help them.

Um to see them, maybe I did say no, but but we helped them in such a way that they walked out and they were satisfied or pleased with it.

Um so we'll be the the times of helping people, and no one ever really knew that we were helping them in our community.

So wow, what a what a powerful set of um statements you just made, really about being a wise human being and and how we can show up.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Councilman Lineweber.

Yeah, I you know, as long as I've been serving, I have never heard so many whereas.

And it really speaks to the testimony of just all the things, and some of those things were things that obviously you initiated, and uh you wanted to elevate your position and those people around you, which is just a great testimony.

I hope that you look for ways to kind of mentor and and continue that um going forward um because um you know what sometimes it's tough working at the police department.

They deal with a lot of challenges, as you know, and um um going home at night is kind of sometimes difficult.

And uh I hope you have a great future career and you've got some great things planned.

And um I just can't thank you enough for all that you've given.

And again, just recognizing like that was a long list of whereas I was quite impressed.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

And again, Phyllis, congratulations and bless you in your retirement.

You will have big shoes to fill.

Um, but if you'll join us up front, we will have oh, I'm I didn't notice the handout.

We have a comment from have a hand up.

Okay, council women Williams online.

Okay.

Again, sorry, I'm not there.

But the fact that you did this for 36 years, and I feel like you're smiling as much today, if not more, as when you started, is definitely a testament to who you are and how you view the world.

And if you could share that with the entire community, I think we would all appreciate it and really look at how you've lived your life, even as we go through this day today.

So thank you for being a shining star, and thank you for being a shining star for the city of Power Out of Springs.

And I hope you enjoy every day and have just as big much just as much of a big smile now as you do going forward.

So thank you for your service.

Thank you.

Okay, we'll have a picture.

You need to vote.

So sorry.

We do need to vote.

I do need coffee, that's for sure.

Um, we have a motion from Councilman Hindum and a second from Councilman Gold.

Let's vote.

We need more coffee because we can't keep your dance.

The motion passes nine to zero.

Okay.

I know.

Moving on to item 5C, will the clerk please read item 5C into the record?

A resolution of appreciation of Brian Cates Parks Operations Administration's Parks Recreation and Cultural Services Department for 30 years of service to the City of Colorado Springs.

Good morning, Kim.

Good morning, Council.

Kim King, Assistant Director for the Parks Recreation and Cultural Services Department.

We are here today to recognize Brian Cates for 30 years of service, another long-tenured employee with the City of Colorado Springs.

Again, he is here with us.

We're very excited to recognize him.

And I will now read the resolution.

And I have the large print version in front of me, but it is this.

Whereas the city has benefited greatly from the dedicated service of Brian Cates, Parks Operations Administrator for the past 30 years.

Brian began his career with the Parks Recreation and Cultural Services Department in 1994, operating the therapeutic recreation companion program, matching adult volunteers in the community with program participants with disabilities.

In 1995, Brian managed the team programs at the West Center for Intergenerational Learning, which is now part of West Middle School.

And whereas in 1998, he truly found his place and his purpose as the director of the Meadows Park Community Center, managing both the programs and the facility itself.

Even with a total of five position title changes throughout this time there, his goals and commitment were always the same to serve the community and the people in it to the best of his ability.

And whereas Brian's three decades of work are filled with highlights of the services provided and the people positively impacted.

Just a few programming highlights include hosting 132 Friday night teen night dances with an average attendance of 175 youth, conducting 38 Blue Moon Trail run races with proceeds benefiting community center programming, and establishing the annual 10th Mountain Division Hut trip, which involved taking 10 to 12 middle school and high school aged youth on a backcountry overnight experience.

And whereas there is no better illustration of Brian's belief that there's always a way to overcome adversity than his collaboration with community members to create the collaborative community partnership model during 2010, which operated on the premise that community stakeholders could work hand in hand with government operations to achieve common goals and services while operating on a limited budget.

This effort was recognized in 2012 by the Colorado Parks and Recreation Association with an award for outstanding achievement in local government innovation.

And whereas Brian's commitment to the field of park and recreation and its many benefits has gone far beyond the city with his work in establishing the statewide Colorado Public Health Parks and Recreation Collaborative, which focuses on improving community health through education, discussion, and project collaboration with like-minded professionals.

And whereas we truly appreciate his dedication, commitment, leadership, and mentorship given to the community throughout his years of service to the city.

And whereas the city wishes him happiness and success in all his future endeavors.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Colorado Springs, Section One, that City Council recognizes Brian Cates for his 30 years of service, leadership, and contributions to the City of Colorado Springs, dated at Colorado Springs, Colorado, this 28th day or 26th day of August 2025.

Wow.

Nicer words have never been spoken.

Had I known that uh a month ago, maybe I wouldn't have put in my papers.

I'm just kidding.

Um I want to thank you, City Council, for all the the years that uh we've worked together and help serve this community.

But the word that always comes to mind when you're a community center director is family.

And I feel like I've been blessed to have four different families, my family of origin, some of whom are tuned in on the live stream.

Dan and Arlene Cates in Florida, hopefully they're listening in.

My sister Julie Cates, my son Josh Cates, who's starting his second day of a senior year in his civil engineering program at CSU.

I've learned a lot from those guys.

Um there's my work family, my work group.

I know we have Kirsty and Anderson here, our uh decades-long administrator at the community center, and and what we've done as a work group uh through good times and difficult times.

It's been an absolute honor serving the needs of the community.

And and then um when we get to leadership, and that's you guys, that's Kim, that's Britt.

Um sometimes people say they couldn't do my job, which is being in the trenches, facing the public every single day.

And usually I come back and say I couldn't do your job, um, the job of politics of having to deal with all the issues of the city on a daily basis.

I think it's been a good partnership, and a lot of times we work together to try to get the job done.

I look at some of the portraits on the wall here, and I'm really heartened.

Uh speaking of family.

We have Leon Young whose program Young Stars, which has always aspired to have marginalized communities, children in particular have access to what most of us would consider rights of passage, like summer camps.

Those camps live on, and I've been privileged to manage that the last several years.

We have Mayor Bob, who uh we had a participant at the community center who lived to be 103 years old, Daniel Kennett was his name.

And one of the stories he liked to say, living down in Strutton Meadows where the community center is, is that when his family decided to sell the house, they sold it to a young couple with a little boy named Bob Isaac, who grew up to be mayor.

And then we have Mayor Make Peace, Kids, Cops, and Cars is what she ran on.

And the kids part of that in particular spoke to the community centers and the importance of funding them and keeping them important in the eyes of city government.

Uh, we haven't always seen eye to eye on that.

We've had mayors come up and tell me that community centers are not mission critical.

It's not an essential form of government.

Umbe it's the East Coast Jewish progressive in me, but we we haven't often seen eye to eye on what critical services of government are.

Um a lot of what I do is under attack now, so-called wokism.

Um, but we continue to serve the underserved and deal with such important issues as food insecurity, loneliness, mental health issues, and if that's woke and that's a bad thing, then guilty is charged.

I think it's a critical role of government.

So uh I leave for three reasons.

I leave because I can, because I'm privileged that the city has been so great to me, and uh the PERA program for public sector employees is so strong.

I leave because the community center is in a really good place with outstanding staff with resources to provide all the programs that the community needs us to provide.

And I I leave because there's other things that I need to be doing.

I'm going to be a school counselor, a high school counselor starting in October, and uh will continue to serve the public in that manner.

I will always be a champion for the city of Colorado Springs, a champion for community centers and for the parks, recreation, and cultural services department.

Thank you.

So we'll bring it back um up to the dice if we have no more public comment on this.

So again, congratulations.

Um bless you in your retirement.

You're going to need it if you're going to be going before counseling children today.

You will you will need all that stamina you've learned, and I and I'm sure you will succeed in that role as well.

So thank you for years of service, and we'll bring it to Councilwoman Williams online.

Thank you, President Crow Iverson.

I'm not gonna stop saying this because it really doesn't happen this day and age, but thank you for your 30 years of service.

It's really wonderful that that people would come into the city, and I'm not saying they don't now, but you come into the city, and like you said, you find a home, you find a family, you find a place that you feel safe to just pour your talents in year after year after year.

And to hear that you're not even done and you're on your way to be a counselor is even more admirable.

So uh as Lynette said, bless you with that.

And thank you for your years of service.

And I wish I could see in person, but that's uh a pretty impressive tie you've got there.

And I feel like this is the perfect occasion to wear it.

So maybe you might need that uh if you ever have a special person in high school, so you can distract them a little bit to catch them off guard to get their attention.

So thank you for everything that you've done, and good luck, and we're glad that you're sharing all of your talents with the community.

Thank you, Counselor Williams.

Councilman Hingem.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, Brian.

Uh I will also say uh how grateful I am for your 30 years of service and for your comments, actually, about the importance of community and community centers in particular.

And clearly you have been um deeply engaged for 30 years in building community, basically, is what you've been doing.

And it's so critical.

In fact, last night I happened to be in a conversation with someone um about the senior center ribbon cutting that we're going to be doing this Friday, which is a community center designated for seniors, only one in a city of 500,000 for a city that has a lot more uh seniors than anybody else.

So um I I hear your point about the the healthy tension that exists between what you know, what is the role of government and and how do we best support uh the members of our community?

Um I I share your your opinion and your value and um just want to thank you.

I happened this weekend to be uh with Alan Beauchamp of the Trails and Open Space Coalition, and we did a legacy loop ride, which I've done now with him many times.

And um we stopped in front of the Leon Young um picnic pavilion that was put up in honor of him and all of the work that he uh did on behalf of the communities.

So we stopped and we talked about parks and some of the challenges with funding and you know the the push and pull of where and how to use those dollars.

But uh clearly you have been a terrific use of revenue for 30 years uh for this city, and so I'm very, very grateful and would give you the opportunity if there's anything else you want to share in terms of the question I asked our last city employee who's retiring.

Anything you would offer to us over those 30 years, um something that you would like to highlight for us that you haven't already.

Wow.

How much time do you have?

I'll be brief.

Um thank you for those kind words, and I like to think you got your money's worth that you didn't get cheated uh for my service.

I I think uh when I started, you know, I started in 1994, the world was a much different place.

There was no such thing as youth uh type 2 diabetes, they were running the basketball court.

You didn't really hear about mental illness, you didn't really hear about teenagers and 20-somethings being lonely and isolated.

That was more of a 70-plus issue.

Um we were being trained as program providers.

It was a focus on recreation and leisure during out-of-school time.

Now there's a lot of public safety and first responder type of training that we undergo.

Uh a lot more known disabilities, diagnosed disabilities, food insecurity.

And yet the spirit of humanity lives on.

Kids are kids, and community is community.

And we have rolled with the times.

We have weathered great recessions where I had five pink slips in two years, and it was the community that lobbied, including Mayor Rivera, who's on the wall to restore operation under a new business model, which you heard Kim talk briefly about.

When you break down the word community, you could say it breaks down to common unity.

And I think that has remained steadfast for not just me, but all that I serve, all the people for 30 years.

So where we disagree sometimes politically, religiously, any other way, that level of respect and community centers being those third places, those homes away from home.

We've we've seen an erosion of that.

We've seen an attempt for the virtual world to replace the in-person experience.

It does not.

So libraries, community centers, these are the things that we need to open.

We lost our Rockerman library.

We are down to four community centers.

We had six when I started, and we had half the population.

So we're not going the right way.

Thank you so much.

Such wise words and appreciate your historical context and everything.

So thank you very much.

Councilman Gold.

Thank you for being here, sir, and congratulations on your retirement.

Thank you, Madam President.

You know, I've heard us referred to as the city of champions here in Colorado Springs because of the many Olympians who have graced us with their presence.

But as I sit here and hear you speak, it's really a city of champions because of public servants like you.

So I thank you so much for your heart.

Um and you are choosing to go into counseling post-retirment.

And I'm in the season where I think wise counsel is probably one of the greatest gifts you can receive in life.

And as I hear your words of wisdom, those who are going to continue to benefit from your wise counselor are very blessed and privileged indeed.

Thank you for serving and continuing to serve.

Deeply appreciative of your words, Counselor Gold.

Thank you.

Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, thanks, Madam President.

And um I also just have to comment on that tie.

Caught my eye right when you walked in here because you can't see it behind uh behind them, but it is uh it's a picture of a runner crossing the finish line with others, you know, coming in behind them.

So uh quite uh appropriate for today and uh eye-catching.

But I do want to say again, uh thank you for 30 years.

You know, it's a huge chunk of any of our lives.

You've dedicated it.

You've dedicated it to uh our city, our citizens, the park system, but but you've had a special focus on what you've talked about today, and uh I appreciate that.

And uh perhaps we can get together here in the next uh month or two if you're gonna be around, sit down and have a cup of coffee.

Well, thank you, and I welcome that.

You're my representative.

I live in District One.

So let's do that.

Yeah, yeah.

I noticed your reference to Rock Reman Library, so I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Lineweber.

Well, the tie caught my eye also, and uh Donaldson stole some of my thunder because there has to be some kind of story behind that uh for sure.

Um, but I really wanted to kind of focus on um really just the cultural shift or change.

I mean, when we grew up and when we were kids, and I'm just comedy, but I think we're of similar age.

Um free-range parenting was just the thing.

I mean, the mom kicked us out the front door and said don't come back till five.

And we found ways to play and communicate and get to know one another and do all that types of stuff.

But suddenly our culture has changed.

Uh neighborhoods don't feel as safe.

Uh parents are more concerned, they have more fear, and free range parenting is almost considered child abuse.

And um, and so it be it brings a dependency on finding places where we can have structure play that are in safe environments.

Um could you just speak on that a little bit?

Because I think it's really important for people to hear that.

Well, everything you said is is true, and there's a lot of research that shows it.

It's not just that it feels that way.

And all the host of issues that happens when children and adults, when we're not engaged with each other.

The former Surgeon General said that we have an epidemic, a mental health crisis, in part because of the loneliness caused by us not getting together and our reliance on devices and the impact that it has, the addictive qualities.

But the flip side of that is the mental health, the anxiety, the depression, and the loneliness is through the roof.

So I like to say we can be innovative by going back in time.

If you look at the original community centers, these were the settlement homes, like in Chicago, uh, New York, where it was just um, you know, vacant brick buildings and vacant lots across from those buildings.

Those were the original playgrounds, and sticks in the mud, um, and volunteers coming in, nurses and teachers preparing freshly made food and providing medical support and counseling support.

That was in the late 19th century.

I I think in a lot of ways, if we go back and operate much the same way, a lot of these troubling trends that you've identified will start to dissipate, and we will take further strides to becoming Olympic City USA.

Yeah, I think that's so important, and I think you just said that really, really well.

I I uh keep landing on um a um, you know, well, using my device, I was listening to Jordan Peterson, and he was questioned on how do we solve the mental health crisis?

And he's response was well, we have to start at three years old.

Because that's when kids for the first time realize that there's others and they begin to negotiate, like negotiate for that toy, you know, or whatever it might be.

And that give and take of relating with one another is what is really the foundational building box.

And he went on for an hour and expand, you know, went on to more details of of why it's so important that we focus on our kids if we really want to solve this mental health crisis.

And so I uh wholeheartedly agree with that.

And um, thank you for all your service and everything that you've kind of put forth.

Thank you very much.

Councilman Raimi.

Thank you, Madam President.

And uh, much like my fellow uh council members have stated, uh congratulations on 30 years of dedicated service to our city.

Um that's very rare these days.

Um, but also I greatly appreciate what you did with the photos and giving the history of what leadership back in the day did to make us thrive and move forward as a city, and as you go into your second career, um I I really uh hope and challenge that you will continue to sing the story of Colorado Springs.

I think sometimes, uh, and maybe it's the history buff in me, sometimes we lose sight of that.

Um so telling people what we were, how we got to where we are at, and how we can move forward into the future.

So thank you very much for sharing the story of some of these legends who have uh made Colorado Springs thrive uh moving into the future.

And I also just like to add um no matter what the political environment has, to see people like you and Phyllis who've dedicated over 30 something years of their lives to this city.

That means something.

That is something extra special.

And I just want to say thank you for doing that.

Congratulations, and I'm gonna give you a hearty good luck with that counseling.

Um definitely, as you mentioned already, uh there's some unique challenges out there, but it sounds like you're the right man for the job to go get it done for our kids.

So thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Appreciate it, and I do vow to try to keep history alive in Colorado Springs.

So we have a motion from Councilman Gold and a second from Councilman Hingem, and now we'll vote on this.

It's happy.

Yes, and then motion passes and zero.

And the motion passes up front for a picture.

All right.

All right.

Moving on to item five D.

Ratification of Councilmember liaisons.

Will the clerk please read item five D into the record?

Radication of Councilmember liaisons to City Council appointed boards, commissions, and committees, and council member membership on boards, commissions, and committees.

As outlined in council rules and procedures 51A1 and 51D, Councilmember liaison assignments to city council appointment boards, commissions, and committees.

Require ratification by council.

This item includes updated assignments to both city council boards, commissions, and regional bodies requiring council's representation.

We have listed Councilman Rainey to the Colorado Aerospace and Defense Council and Councilman Bailey to review the SIMD appointments.

Is there any comments or discussions for the DIS?

Seeing none, I need a motion.

And I have a motion from Councilman Rainey and a second from Councilman Lineweber.

Let's vote.

Moving on to item six.

Um, is there a mayor's business this morning?

Yes, there is.

Thank you very much.

Um, I have two quick announcements.

First, uh looking back at this past weekend on Friday, we celebrated the opening of block one on Tejone Street.

Um so great news for residents of Councilwoman uh Henjum and Um Williams area.

Uh the new changes, the glow up as they're calling it on Tejone Street, uh added nine point five feet of dining space uh for our restaurants down there and ten foot sidewalks, adding some walkability um and safety improvements to our downtown.

Uh the second block starts on September 2nd, which is Pike's Peak to Kiowa.

And secondly, on Saturday, we hosted our second keep it clean COS event.

Uh almost 70 community volunteers showed up to help us clean up the um east lawn of Monument Park.

Uh so special thanks to TOPS, uh neighborhood services and CSPD's hot team in facilitating that.

Uh they managed to clean up um one point seven five miles of the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail, and they collected eighty fifty-five gallon bags of trash and three shopping carts and keeping those out of the creeks.

Um so that is great news.

There are more cleanups coming September twenty-eighth to October sixth, which is creek week, uh, and they will continue monthly.

And so just encourage everybody um online or in here to go to uh the keep it clean page on Collar Springs.gov and sign up to help.

And that's all I have.

Thank you.

Um item seven, items called off consent, um, which was for B and we're we have nine C.

We'll just move to both of those.

When we get to that section, right?

Okay.

Moving on to 9A.

Will the clerk please read item 9A into the record?

Ordinance 25-68 vacating a portion of public right-of-way known as Holly Avenue and excuse me, First Street, consisting of approximately 2.13 acres located northwest of the intersection of 1st Street and Lake Avenue.

Good morning.

Good morning, council and council president Crow Iverson and Pro Tem Risley and all council members.

My name is Ethan Schaefer.

I use the NHE pronouns, and I'm an urban planner here for the city planning department.

Today I have a presentation of an application for you for a right of public right-of-way vacation for Holly Avenue and First Street.

It is, as far as zoning goes, it's currently right-of-way, so it does not have an associated zoning.

If this ordinance were approved, the zoning would snap to the existing zone districts adjacent to it.

So that would be, I believe, MXM, mixed use medium scale, OR, office residential, and RE estate, which is our single family large district.

The site area is 2.133 acres.

And it is proposed to continue to be a right-of-way, but under private ownership and maintenance.

This application is a vacation plat for public right-of-way.

The file number is SUBD 250021.

The applicant seeks approval of a right-of-way vacation plat to vacate portions of Holly Avenue and First Street for the purpose of traffic and parking control.

As you can see on the right hand side here, we have a site plan that shows the area proposed to be vacated.

I'm going to go back one slide just to kind of provide a visual of how that actually impacts the site.

So if you're looking here, the yellow outlined area, you're going to see Holly First Street and Holly Avenue on the west here, and you're going to see Elm Avenue, Maple Avenue, and Hazel Avenue.

Those are separated.

They do actually have a physical barrier in between those right-of-way connections where it had originally been plated all as one kind of large right-of-way roundabout style.

Some additional information for you to be aware of.

As I'll talk about in a second, some of the public comment that came back was in regards to worries of neighborhood character and commercial impact on the residential area located to the east and to the north.

And so the applicant is aware of that neighborhood concern as well as the need for easements over that area.

So therefore, the applicant has included the following notes on the vacation plat.

First, that the vacated portions of white right-of-way are subject to the reservation of public access, public drainage, and public improvement, and public utility easements as set forth in section two of the City of Colorado Springs ordinance that I'll be reading to you today.

Second is that there shall be no creation of vehicular or pedestrian connection will be allowed from the vacated portions of Holly Avenue and First Street to the public rights of way of Hazel Avenue, First Street and Maple Avenue or Elm Avenue.

And the reasoning behind that is to address some of the significant concern of uh commercial impact, commercial traffic on the adjacent um residential properties.

This application was initially submitted on February 21st of 2025.

It's undergone four review cycles, and it was ready for the agenda on June 27th of 2025.

This application was publicly noticed at time of internal review, as well as it prior to see this city council hearing.

We sent out postcards to property owners within a thousand feet of this application area.

A total of 282 postcards were sent out, and six public comments were received.

One was received after project routing of this, so it was not included in the agenda.

Um, but it was in support of this application.

Upon the first submittal and notice to the public, residents were concerned with the following contradictions with city council conditions from earlier Broadmoor developments that protected neighborhood access and character, increased commercial traffic that would disrupt adjacent quiet and family-friendly streets, potential decline in property values and reduced property tax revenue for the city, and why the city would give away land to benefit a private entity with no clear public gain.

After further review and refinement of the application, staff received three public comments that addressed the following.

One from Peter Fisher, the initial concerns that you just heard some of them in my um prior comments there is an increase in commercial traffic to the quiet residential streets like Elm Avenue, undermining traffic protections established during the Bartolin Hall Convention Center approval, and negatively impacting the surrounding neighborhood safety and quality of life.

After we, after the applicants made the adjustments to this application, and as of August 4th, 2025, Peter reached back out and indicated that their concerns were addressed by the restrictive language added to the plat the Broadmoor plans to file.

Not restrictive language is what I read to you in regards to not allowing any future um uh vehicle or pedestrian access into the adjacent um residential lands there.

Uh Richard Young, a longtime resident of over 50 years and close neighbor to the proposed vacation area, supports the proposal due to issues with parked vehicles obstructing the delivery trucks that are attempting to utilize that road to access the Broadmoor's um uh their commercial uh loading docks.

And that's kind of the big problem of this application and where this stems from is that that section of Holly Avenue and First Street has had um some significant uh issues in regards to vehicle parking and obstructing the ability for the Broadmoor's commercial vehicles to access the Broadmoor itself.

Um Anita and Phil Lane, owners of nearby commercial property also support the vacation, citing the Broadmoor's effort to accommodate neighbors and improve operational consistency.

Um all comments that were received during agency review have been addressed in the review, or comments weren't received from the following entities that you see here on your screen.

Overall, um the project complies with the applicable visions, big ideas, and strategies of Plan COS.

And the criteria for approval are the right of way is no longer needed for public transportation purposes.

The vacation will not adversely impact use of the right-of-way for public utility andor drainage purposes.

The vacation will not adversely impact the uniform width width of the remaining portions of the public right-of-way along the block frontage for which vacation is sought.

D, access to lots or properties surrounding the public right-of-way will not be adversely affected.

And E, the vacation is consistent with the purposes of this UDC.

After evaluation of the right of way vacation plat, the application meets the review criteria.

Some proposed motions are available for you on the screen.

Um some context as to why you're also hearing this today is that between the first reading, which was on consent, the last uh city uh uh city council hearing, uh, there were some minor changes made to plat language and to section two of the ordinance to bring the easements into further compliance with how city code reads substantially, nothing changed to what we were trying to achieve in general.

It was just more so language.

Also, some language was added to section two of the ordinance itself to state that we um the process is in compliance with state statute in regards to how land is allocated after this is it's potentially vacated, which is allocated by the county assessor.

So those are the two things that were added, and that's why we're here in person presenting this rather than having it on consent.

Um, and also after further communication with the city attorney's office, um, they may recommend a third reading as there were changes made in between the first and second.

Do you have any questions for me?

I don't see any questions at this time.

Thank you.

So now we will hear from the applicant.

Good morning.

Uh good morning.

Uh um uh councilmember Iverson and uh members of city council.

Um, thank you for this opportunity uh to share with you a little bit about uh the proposed uh right-of-way vacation.

My name is Chris Lieber, and I'm a principal at uh at NES.

A moment here for our presentation to be pulled up.

Right.

Thank you.

Um, this morning, uh, I am also here uh uh uh representing uh the Broadmoor uh hotel.

And uh Mr.

Jack DeMalley is uh is joining us, uh, president and CEO of the Broadmoor, and he's certainly available if there are some questions uh that you may have as we proceed through our presentation.

Uh I want to say I think Ethan did a wonderful job of of kind of setting the stage uh for uh the uh this item.

Um what I'd like to do is kind of walk you through a little bit more, a little bit more detail in terms of how this corridor functions today and uh the purposes that it serves, kind of outline some of the challenges that um uh the Broadmoor has been experiencing, and hence really the reason the rationale for the uh for this uh uh request.

And then also dive into uh really how uh we've responded to some of the comments that have come back uh from uh from the from the community.

Uh the slide that you see before you, I think does a nice job of really uh showing the various land uses, the various functions uh that occur uh along this section of Holly and First Street.

Um to a large degree uh the the way that this function uh was determined uh by a land use uh um uh item, and that was the approval of the Broadmoor Hall and uh and other uh land use items really beginning in around 2004.

And at that time there were some uh commitments made uh to the neighborhood.

And so I want to talk about how this uh provision or this this uh uh uh suggested right-of-way vacation continues to honor uh those uh those commitments.

So if you if you start really at Lake Avenue and work your way in through the uh proposed vacation, uh you'll see uh the Golden B, uh access to the Golden B, uh access to Colorado Hall, uh Broadmoor Hall, and ultimately a Bartolon uh hall.

And if you were to uh visit this particular corridor, you would realize that it essentially takes you into uh what is the Broadmoor's parking lot behind Bartolon Hall and is uh is essentially functions as a dead end um uh street and and corridor.

Uh other properties uh that are located to the east, uh the Broadmoor Outfitters, uh, and then the parking that you see right above that, those are also uh owned by uh the the Broadmoor or an affiliated uh Broadmoor business.

Uh the one exception uh to this uh is the uh uh world figure skating museum.

Their primary access is off of Hazel.

I might add they do have a loading dock at uh loading dock access off of Holly, and uh this proposal would allow that to continue.

Um so they would continue to maintain uh all of the access uh that they have today.

Uh as Ethan pointed out, um at the kind of the bend in in the uh the neighborhood streets where Hazel Avenue, Maple, and Elm come together.

Uh since uh the the mid-2000s, there has been a landscape buffer.

Uh there is a uh, if you will, a kind of a privacy wall, privacy screen that has separated really access from Holly and First to Hazel, Maple, and Elm.

Uh this proposal would, of course, uh maintain uh that and that that relationship.

So the request is specifically for vacation of just over two acres uh of right-of-way.

As I pointed out, this uh does uh uh lead to the street does lead to a dead end, primarily service serving the Broadmoor's parking, but also very importantly a number of the loading docks uh associated with Bartlin Hall as well as uh a Broadmoor Hall.

Um all of the properties or all the primary access, excuse me, from this roadway segment uh are owned uh by the by the Broadmoor.

Um and we're gonna be protective of the one exception, and that's simply loading docks uh for the museum.

Uh no physical connection uh to the uh adjacent neighborhood uh will be allowed uh and long-term maintenance of the uh of the right-of-way uh would uh be the responsibility uh of the of the Broadmoor.

I think another piece that's very important to note, there are extensive public utilities uh underneath this set this section of of both First and Holly.

And so there is uh what I what I'm gonna refer to as a blanket easement uh that the city will retain uh for all of the for all of utilities as well as uh access uh to uh to maintain those.

So that in effect this right-of-way will remain as it appears as it looks today, uh continuing uh in uh both for vehicular access but also uh for um those uh utility uh purposes.

Uh one of the primary reasons that the Broadmoor is interested in this vacation is the desire to be able to manage uh parking, manage access along the corridor.

If you can imagine those uh various events that take place at Bartolyn Hall, Broadmoor Hall, uh think about the space symposium, for instance, and the very large vehicles that uh need to traverse this corridor to access those those halls uh when there are other uh let's uh I would say private vehicles or other vehicles that are parked along this corridor, it can it can cause some very significant impacts uh to that access.

And so um by uh uh by vacating this right-of-way, uh the Broadmoor will be able to uh better manage uh how that uh that corridor uh is used.

Uh this slide just points out in a little more clarity, uh, ownership of the various uh parcels uh along the corridor and uh uh their relationship to the Broadmoor uh overall.

As Ethan pointed out, uh the uh uh criteria uh for consideration today are pretty uh pretty straightforward.

I want to address those on our next slide, uh, but begins by asking the question whether or not the right-of-way is needed for transportation purposes.

Um we believe the answer to that is from a vehicular standpoint.

No, it's continued to the need is there for utility access, and we are continuing to uh provide that.

Uh several of the neighbors uh brought up questions about uh the 2004 uh Broadmoor Hall Development Plan.

And as I mentioned when I began my presentation, uh the conditions that exist there today, the the closure, if you will, the separation uh from the neighborhood streets from First and Holly really came from uh conversations and commitments that were made in 2004 that uh we want to continue to uh to uh uh to honor.

Um at that time in 2005, uh there were uh a number of requests for uh vacation right-of-way.

Some of those uh were uh approved at that time, but uh the specific conditions were that a median and wall be constructed to block neighborhood uh impacts uh from the event center.

And you can imagine at that time there was concern about service vehicles, for instance, uh leaving the the Broadmoor Hall area and traversing through through the neighborhood.

And so that decision uh to install those improvements uh was made and the Broadmoor then followed through on that.

And ever since that time, there really has been no vehicular access uh between those uh between those two points.

And the important thing is that this uh request does not uh does not change that.

And so you can see there in the background uh the extent to which those landscape improvements have have been made.

It effectually effectively, both visually and physically uh uh closes uh that uh that uh kind of historic uh access.

Um it is worth noting that because of some of the challenges that the Broadmoor has faced uh for over the past year, uh the Broadmoor has requested and received uh in um uh permits uh to close this right-of-way for that exact reason.

And you can see the cones that are that are identified there in the in the photo.

Um those allow for that kind of if you will, unfettered uh uh access.

And so rather than continuing with this kind of 30-day uh window or approach, uh the decision I think is is a good sound one to uh really look at right-of-way um vacation.

So uh the agreements again regarding access and protection for the neighborhood that were identified in 24 or 2004 uh as part of that conditional approval uh for Broadmoor Hall are upheld.

Uh that does not does not change.

Uh the Broadmoor is going to retain the existing uh landscape wall and uh uh separation.

Uh they've continued to maintain that at a high standard.

We'll continue uh to uh to do that.

Um of the other provisions was to close the second street access to the east parking lot.

Uh that of course happened in 2005.

That does not change.

And then all in all, um a real desire to for the Broadmoor to do everything they can to really prevent that bus and truck uh staging in the uh adjacent neighborhood.

And this uh continues to uh protect that.

So uh some of the concerns that we did hear from the neighborhood, uh, which I think Ethan addressed uh concerns about uh from the neighborhood uh about potentially losing uh the protections that were put forward in 2004, and I can give you assurance that all of those are maintained and protected uh uh through this, uh particularly with the note that has been added to the plat, uh which uh does not allow the creation of any future uh access uh into the the neighborhood.

Um the potential for the Broadmoor to provide a physical connection to the surrounding residential streets, uh that is in place, and again uh protecting from commercial traffic continuing into the community.

So uh I think uh we we've uh addressed the provisions that are included, uh particularly with the uh restricted language that prevents again access uh into the neighborhood.

Uh the Broadmoor is happy to provide that and provide those assurances, uh, also provide the necessary easements uh to protect all of those uh and provide uh the Colorado Springs utilities uh and the city access uh to that corridor for ongoing maintenance of those underground um uh utilities.

So at this point, I'd be happy to answer uh any any questions, and again, uh Mr.

DeMally is also available uh should you have uh questions um maybe more specific uh to the Broadmoor or their other operations.

So thank you for your consideration.

Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, thank you, Madam President, and uh good morning, Chris.

It's still morning, so we're always happy on city council when it's not after 5 p.m.

Two easy questions, I think.

One, the world um figure skating museum is in support of this.

Yes, uh Councilmember Donaldson, that is correct.

We received uh written confirmation uh stating so they supported or don't object.

And then you you actually kind of answered this um about what guarantees do the the citizens have that at a future date um for whatever reason the physical barrier wouldn't be removed between the neighborhood and uh this road.

I believe you said there was a note added to the plat.

Is that yes, uh good council member, the the the note specifically prohibits any future access points, um, but it's actually the 2004 um memorandum that that uh um identified that barrier and the commitment was made at that time to maintain that that barrier.

So those remain in place.

Okay, and our um planning department uh confirms that.

I see I see our our uh representative shaking his head, yes.

So okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Lineweber?

This is more of a curious question.

I mean, I can understand the whole business rationale around this, and and really during a big event, I can imagine the chaos that kind of goes on behind um this area where everyone's trying to jockey to get their booth set up or whatever it might be, and because this is kind of one of the main accesses to some of those places.

But um is is the idea, I mean I'm just making an assumption here that that perhaps there might be some kind of gate or something put up on First Street that might control the entry into this area.

I mean, this is gonna, I mean, basically not be public anymore.

Um I would I would assume that or or or some kind are we just gonna go with signage or what what what what's kind of the thought possible behind that?

Interestingly enough, what drove this is that because it remains a public street, uh the Broadmoor originally had requested uh no parking signs uh and to be able to manage it in some in some other way short of uh right-of-way vacation.

And after going through all of those those conversations and permutations, it then made more sense to uh uh to look at you know how best to be able to manage and control access into this dead end uh became uh the you know um by taking control through uh the right-of-way vacation, again, that became the best the best avenue.

Uh, there are no specific plans to uh install a gate uh at this time.

Might that be something perhaps in in the future?

Um, you know, I think that's that that could be uh a possibility, but right now it's really about how do we how can the Broadmoor best control a parking along that that corridor?

And I may uh ask uh um uh Mr.

DeMale to come in and kind of talk maybe a little bit about the well just the idea of citizens, you know, turning down the street that they kind of think maybe there's some parking back here, and they're just gonna drive down, right?

I mean, that's just the character and reality of it.

And then they get caught up.

I mean, it's kind of an interesting area.

I I've driven down that street looking for parking um because I had a quick meeting and I didn't really want to spend the time.

So um, but um I should have just used the vote ballet, but anyway.

Yeah.

Councilmember Limeer, if I may, it's also um it's not uh signed as a dead end currently.

It's another example, and particularly when there are trucks at the loading docks, it's difficult to uh to turn around if you drive into that.

No, exactly.

Especially if it's a larger vehicle um that may have been a little bit of a down its money, so I was able to get turned around.

But thank you.

All right, thanks.

Councilman Rady.

Thank you, Madam President.

Uh you mentioned earlier about uh one of the major events we have here in the city and as to space symposium.

So a lot of times when you're turning down First Street, off to the right hand side, there's a big parking lot that a lot of people utilize, and then there's a trickle-down effect of parking uh closer and closer.

So if I'm understanding you correctly, members will no longer be able to park down that area.

How is that going to be controlled?

No, uh, if I may, Councilman Randy, that there is an intent to be able to utilize all of the parking that is both on the well off the end, but particularly parking that's on the east side of First Street, that that would still be accessible for uh for events, um, certainly parking that's needed uh for for the hotel uh for a variety of different functions.

Um so that that would continue.

Uh and um I think as many of you know, often when you are a guest at the Broadmoor, um uh you're given directions or instructions, or if you're coming to an event, uh instructions on which parking lots might be available, or you're encouraged to go to a particular lot.

Um, the intent would that that would continue, and that those lots would would also serve in that vital purpose.

Okay, thank you.

Councilman Hingum.

Yes, thank you.

Uh Chris, actually, I would love if if Jack wouldn't mind coming up and just describing how you all kind of intend to manage the the parking situation, that would be really helpful.

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

Jack De Mole, president and CEO of the Broadmoor, and uh President uh Crow Iverson, um, Pro Tem Risley and City Council, thanks for allowing me to address this.

So what has transpired really came out of a city violation notice because we were having no parking signs on First Street, which have always been there, at least in my 12 years.

So that's kind of what started this scenario.

As far as the parking at the Broadmoor goes, the east parking lot, as I would call it, pulling in first street, the first parking lot on your right, would maintain itself as a parking lot.

That's where our golden bee patrons park.

That's where many people coming to visit the Broadmoor that don't want to park in the parking garage can park.

Uh, we validate, of course, uh any parking for restaurant patrons, and that is something that's that's common.

So with space symposium, that's kind of like um the really uh poster child for something that's totally different.

The parking scenarios during uh space symposium are are unique and challenging, and including for the most part, the space foundation controls the parking at the Broadmoor.

And so they have uh with military, with the cybersecurity and their various patrons, they control who's coming into those east parking lots, the parking garage, et cetera, et cetera.

Patrons for the uh for the space symposium itself would park at the Broadmoor World Arena, and then they're shuttled up uh Lake Avenue.

So kind of a whole different kind of scenario if that answers the question.

Yeah, it is helpful.

And and what will you do should people be parking in maybe on the west side of the street where they shouldn't be?

How how will you handle vehicles that maybe are then parked improperly?

We would like to notice them and uh and give them ample opportunity to move their vehicle.

And in particular, during high times of of movement, space symposium.

We actually have people out there directing traffic, making sure that we can kind of understand who's coming in and not tying up the fact that there are multiple semis waiting to get to Bartland Hall to unload, including those being staged down at the Broadmoor World Arena, waiting for their time, their slot to come up and unload and get ready for the big event.

Thank you.

I see no other questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So moving on to public comment, I have in support of no one signed up at this time.

Uh moving on to in opposition, I have Roger Matthews.

After that presentation, I really don't have any opposition.

Uh I guess my only concern is the parking that you showed along the road.

I live on Maple.

And I think that's pretty much organized parking.

Is that by the Space Foundation?

Because they they all park, usually they'll all park, not like you just displayed it, but oblique in a row.

They'll park in.

Should I the parking, I I would assume uh the best way to describe it would be haphazard.

And uh some go nose in, some go parallel, and some go double.

And so when it's not controlled, that whole scenario just is a free for all.

So you're not talking about then, you're talking because it is controlled for the space symposium and things like that.

Major movements, we do have people there that that um assist in the traffic flow.

Okay.

Well, it's just the living in the neighborhood.

I have one of the parking lots in my yard, basically, on a curve.

I don't own that street, it's public.

But uh I have you ever considered then maybe lowering the parking costs so that folks don't can move and take advantage of that.

Because what happens is they park in the neighborhoods.

So they because they don't want to pay the price.

Um we have, and we've also strongly encouraged neighbors to request no parking signs, which uh has their uh advantages and disadvantages, including for the resident not being able to park on the street in front of their house.

So we've had uh neighborhood discussions and uh and those are things that we have talked about.

I would fully support neighbors having no parking signs uh on second, third and down the street if that's what they would like.

Yeah, my wife won't let me put it.

Um and and I think one of the things that has come out of the neighborhood dialogue is the fact that not only do we have the 2004 language, but we strengthened it with the fact that I was told, well, Jack, what happens in whatever years that you're not there?

Your word is that you're not going to encroach upon the neighborhood.

That's why we came up with the strengthened language to ensure that in perpetuity that that would never occur.

Okay.

Well, like I said, I it sounds great.

The berm was my main issue uh that barrier, and that's you know, as long as trucks are not we're not punching a hole through that to drive up to the dock areas that is we will not be in the neighborhoods at all, the wall stays, the 2004 agreement stays.

And I think that's everybody was everybody's concerns.

So I love the Broadmoor.

Thank you.

Well, thank you for your comments.

So that does close um public comment for this hearing, and we'll bring it back up to the dais for questions or deliberation.

Seeing none, I have a motion from Councilman Bailey and a second from Councilman Lineweber.

Let's vote.

And the motion passes nine to zero.

So moving on to nine B, but I've had requests from several council members to take a 10-minute break.

Good morning, Myra.

Good morning, Council President, President Pro Tem and Council members.

Uh I'm Myra.

I'm gonna write it.

We'll read it into that.

I was just saying good morning.

Good morning.

Um back in session.

Um, will the clerk please read item nine B into the record?

Ordinance number 2569, amending ordinance 25-31, section five, appointing Natalie Level as city auditor and prescribing her duties, compensation and tenure in office, and superseding and repealing all primary ordinances inconsistent with the revisions of this ordinance and removing the requirements of certification as a Colorado certified public accountant for the position of city auditor.

Don't ask me what's going on with our technology up here.

Okay.

Good morning, my right.

Now it's your turn.

Good morning again.

Uh council president, President Pro Tem, and Council members.

I'm Myra Romero, Chief Human Resources and Risk Officer.

Uh during city council work session on July 21st, I introduced an ordinance removing the requirement for Colorado certified public accountant or CPA for the position of city auditor on August 25th at regular session.

I removed reviewed the information presented on the July 21st work session.

Um I'd like to ask if there are any additional questions that I can answer at this time.

Councilman Lineweber?

Yes, so I had a couple of ones just to kind of like get uh a scope of understanding.

So um when was this requirement, the CPA requirement initially put into play?

I mean, so as far back as we can tell, the CPA requirement was part of the um classification was that was created for the city auditor role back in 2014.

Okay.

So um, you know, we've had the city auditor department for a while, and we've changed things in government.

My thinking um is that there was a moment in time where that auditor role wasn't very large.

In other words, they probably sat a few people uh kind of in that office.

But over time, as the city has grown bigger, is my assumption that the office has grown much bigger um is is uh a true statement and kind of thinking about the overall changes to how that office functions Let me confirm that for just a second.

Yeah, that that's that's correct.

I mean, I I just it's an assumption I just wanted to kind of just get some solidity to, because uh I think the overall thinking here is of course we need to have CPA certification when doing certain practices and stuff like that.

And in a time when the office was much smaller, you know, a lot of those roles were concentrated with just a few staff.

Now that the department has expanded, because obviously our government has expanded and we have much more other issues, and and what we're finding out is that there's a lot less of a CPA role and quite a bit more of a compliance role that it the office itself has kind of changed.

I mean, they're managing a team that is working on a broad scope of ranges, and because of that, this is some of the reason why you've recommended that this is probably a good thing to look at, right?

Right.

And you've suggested that perhaps this it's time to rethink about this role because it is bigger in scope.

Correct.

And I think also that the city auditor would not be completing the audits themselves.

They'd be overseeing the staff that would be completing the audits themselves, or they'd be hiring third-party people to be completing the audits.

Exactly, which you know, contracting out, I'm actually in favor of that.

Instead of hiring a full-time CPA that maybe doesn't work all the time, might not be good use of city funds.

It might be better to contract out as a needbe basis in order to meet certain requirements that we kind of come across or whatever it might be.

It might be in a more efficient way to run government, particularly when we're under some financial um tightness, which comes from time to time with city government, right?

Um, it provides more flexibility.

And so I think the big piece that I kind of wanted just to kind of like highlight is that the scope of this job is much different than just CPA.

It's managing a whole team, it's it's primarily doing compliance considerations, along with looking at CPA type things that need to get done.

But all those is more of a management um consideration.

And because of all that, you have suggested HR that we consider um changing some of the requirements and stuff to this role.

Am I in line with all that?

That sounds correct.

Okay, thank you.

Councilman Bailey.

Thank you, Madam President, Ms.

Ramiro.

Thank you for uh coming here and talking with us again.

Um when you brought this change to the requirements to us, you you kind of illustrated for me and some of my new colleagues probably the you know, a little bit of insight into the how the process works and the the question of qualifications for any specific job is is is what we're considering here, and it seems to me that those qualifications should be codified in a job description, and we have the ability or any hiring authority for any position in the city has the ability to change and alter those those position descriptions and the requirements.

Is that is that fair to say is that correct?

That's correct.

And where we come in is we we look at what the benchmark is and what the other organizations are doing, and we'll come forward with the recommendation on does is that in line with what we're seeing in the industry.

So in this case, we are seeing that the CPA is no longer a requirement of the position, however, it may still be in the preferred, and there may still be people that have their CPA, so it's not something that you may want to take completely off the table, and that's where you all come in and you can decide is that something that you want to do or not.

Right.

And and so you as part of your review of various positions, that's one of the things that that came up here.

And while some of us may have wished that the process would have been a couple of months ago before we were sitting up here, um, this is this is where we are.

Uh so thanks for clarifying the process.

Uh again, for me, this is something that uh, you know, the the information that you've presented us, the research that uh that I and I know many of my colleagues have done, you know, clear clearly supports your recommendation that there's no need for uh a CPA certification for this particular position.

And uh so I I uh would would like to just move this forward and and and get it finished and then move on to the other to the rest of the city's business.

Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, thanks, Madam President, and uh good morning, Myra.

He was the recommendation to remove the CPA requirement.

Did that originate in your office, or was that suggestion brought to you by the current city auditor?

It was brought to me by the city auditor on behalf of council leadership to look into it.

Okay, and I'll leave it up to council leadership if they want to write want to clarify who brought the recommendation to them.

But thank you.

Councilman Hindem.

Uh thank you, Madam President.

Um actually I I I just want to add a little bit more um context and some of the research and that I've done and I have some things to reference, um, some guidance from the Association of Uh Local Government Auditors, which is ALGA, uh, the Institute of Internal Auditors, and the Government Accountability Office.

Um, but I I want to share this because I think it's um important to note that um in the and I appreciate the public's um interest in this, and they have become very interested, and we have received quite a few emails of people who are very concerned about the integrity of this office and that this council is ignoring uh a very important certification.

And I would like to share my perspective on that.

And I think it's unfortunate that uh that that cloud of question of integrity is hanging over this council, and unfortunately, an individual is being um drug into that and her own integrity is being questioned.

Um but I I do appreciate the public's sentiment and their questions and their concerns, and so I would like to address those directly.

Um as I just mentioned, referencing those bodies, um, the government accountability office, their own yellow book requires that government auditors collectively possess the skills needed to conduct audits and cites CPA licensure as a recognized qualification for financial audits for performance audits, qualifications like the CIA, which is the uh certification of internal audits, CFE, which is a fraud examiner, or equivalent expertise are equally relevant according to the GAO.

According to ALGA, the National Association for City Local Government Auditors, it emphasizes independence and professional competence, but does not require CPA or a CIA.

It recognizes that a CPA licensure is particularly important if the auditor's office issues financial statement audits, which our office does not, while CIA is highly relevant for performance and best and internal control audits.

The best practice according to these organizations is that many city auditors' offices value having at least one or more CPA on staff.

However, elected and appointed city auditors don't necessarily have to be a CPA if their role is more about oversight, policy, and performance auditing.

ALGA, that association of local government auditors, highlights the importance of a mix of credentials in the office.

And this is what I um believe that um councilmember Bailey was referencing, and you, Myra, were talking about in the um the revision of the job description, which um actually Ms.

Lovell has uh committed to working with you on and and this council on making sure that going forward that that job description does reflect the variety of potential different certifications that could be held.

Um they also do suggest that an MBA is one of those qualifications for the role of which uh she does hold an MBA.

So with that and with understanding the public's concern, um I would actually like to go ahead and make a motion on the ordinance with an amendment.

And our city auditor, Natalie Lovell has committed to and brought to us the um her decision to get a certified internal auditor certificate in the same amount of time in two years, um, which I think is very appropriate.

It is a certification that very much matches the requirements of this particular auditor's office.

I think it helps to address the public concern and um unfortunate projected mistrust about this council's decision.

And um, so I would actually like to go ahead and formally um make that motion that we uh have the ordinance for hiring uh uh Natalie Lovell as our auditor with the requirement um that she complete the sit the certificate of internal auditors um uh certification, uh which she has committed to uh to completing.

I'll second that.

Um just as a point of order, there is a motion on the floor to approve to approve the existing ordinance.

That's council member lineweimer seconds by councilmember Bailey.

So that's the motion on the floor.

Councilmember henjums would be a motion to amend that actual ordinance.

Thank you.

I didn't see that that it had been done on the screen.

I believe there's if the motioner is friendly to the amendment that um if you could help with that, Ben, please, how we proceed with uh with this, given that he just seconded the code.

I just seconded it, so that might suggest that.

Do I need to just remove my Ben Bullinger City Attorney's Office?

So as I understand it, uh Councilmember Bailey is made the main motion.

No, I made the motion.

Mr.

Leinweber made the main motion.

In that case, Mr.

Lineweber can agree to amend his motion if Mr.

Bailey agrees to the amendment.

It was not a Mr.

Bailey does not agree to the in that case.

Um Councilmember Henjam's motion should be made as an amendment as an intervening motion.

So I would like I would like to make an intervening motion to amend the ordinance to include this certification of internal auditing, uh assuming that Councilmember Limeweber is still supportive of that.

I would love his second.

I have second so we have a motion from Councilman Henjam and a second from Councilman Lineweber.

Um to amend, do you do we need to read this entire ordinance?

I I think it's just helpful to restate the motion, and if if uh I I'll offer that up and council member henjum can confirm if I've gotten it correct or not.

But it would be to add a requirement to the ordinance that Natalie acquire the CIA credential within two years of her original appointment.

So it would relate back to um the March or April appointment.

That is correct.

And if I'm not mistaken, although the version I have is not redlined, um, it still removes the condition of Colorado CPA, but section two states now that it is amendment amended to reflect that Natalie Lovell's at-will appointment is conditioned on her attaining certification as a certified internal auditor, CIA, within two years of the date of her original appointment.

Before we vote, I am going to have um call on Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, thank you, Madam President.

Since our first vote two weeks ago to remove the CPA requirement for our current city auditor, I have been told by another councilman that Natalie that our that Natalie Lovell has admitted to him that she has previously taken and failed the CPA exam.

She had not informed City Council, or to my knowledge, HR of this when she was advocating for the removal of the CPA certification to withhold this information and not give city council all pertinent facts, brings her integrity into question.

To only present the facts that support the outcome she desires and will personally benefit her is unacceptable.

The process by which we have arrived here today damages our citizens' trust and confidence in city council.

Remember, our city auditor was appointed only five months ago on the express condition that she attain her CPA within two years.

She has a record of failing the test, which she did not reveal to us.

And she is now recommending that the requirement be removed.

Let's base our decision on a more complete and impartial evaluation of what qualifications best serve the City of Colorado Springs.

I do not support removing the CPA requirement under these circumstances.

And again, I would like to move that we table this ordinance today and appoint an impartial body to examine whether or not the CPA certification or the CIA certification should remain as a as a minimum qualification.

Um could perform this function, but that can be worked out later.

I would like to make a motion that we table this today and hand it off for evaluation by the by a select committee.

Thank you.

And I ask for a second.

To table, to table until there's an outside correct, an impartial body, and I recommend the audit committee, but we can make that decision, doesn't have to be here right now to evaluate this and decide what qualifications make sense for the Colorado Springs uh city auditor.

Okay, let's vote.

Council President.

Sorry to interrupt and belong to City Attorney's Office.

Um actually, in the order of precedence, uh Councilmember Henjam's motion would come first.

Okay.

Well that's keep this in order.

We had a motion and then councilman henjam made a motion that then we reverted to a third motion.

So can you just explain why it's different for the third?

Absolutely.

So in council rules, there is a list of motions and they are listed in the order of precedence as one intervenes over the other.

Councilmember uh Donaldson's motion was a motion to postpone indefinitely, which comes after a motion to amend but before the main motion.

Okay, thank you for that clarification.

Sure.

So we go back to councilman henjam motion, councilman lineweber second to that.

Can we still make comment on that?

Sure.

Councilman Lineweber.

So I uh all right, let's go down the list.

We have a list.

Okay, I just wanted to make sure we stayed.

Okay.

I wasn't sure where you were in the line from the first or second third.

So councilman Rainey.

Thank you, Madam President.

And um as I uh sit here and read the uh provided amended ordinance um that in section two removes the certification of a uh certified public accountant to a certified internal auditor within the same two years.

Um I too share the same concerns that my fellow council member Dave Donaldson um shares um to remove a requirement from an ordinance at the dais with a paper amendment and take a vote today without doing our due diligence on behalf of this city, I think is a little haphazard.

We need to set up truly table this, make sure that this requirement that is in this amended ordinance is the if it is, if it's the requirement that we as a council on behalf of this city want to move forward with, well, let's do the due diligence of making sure that that's the direction.

And I do believe if we do that, the citizens of Colorado Springs will respect us for it.

But to haphazardly make a change, that's like me going to my office, making an adjustment to something, coming back to the dais and saying, well, take this and consider it.

No, we don't do that, and we don't do that on behalf of our citizens, and we definitely don't do that as a representation of our city auditor's office.

Now, I'm not saying here that you know all of this is 100% inaccurate.

I'm just saying let's table it.

Let's make sure this is the direction that we want to go.

Let's make sure that we have a unbiased organization, whether it is the uh the audit uh council or whether it's another organization, let's make sure that we're doing the right thing.

Because if I understand, and Ben, please correct me if I'm if I'm wrong here.

If we move forward currently, now the motion on the table based on council member henjam's comment is to move forward with this particular certification in the ordinance.

Once that vote takes place, we would have to come back for a second vote.

Is that accurate?

Yes, that's correct.

If if if the amendment passes in the and then the ordinance passes in an amended condition, that would require a third uh reading because it's a substantive amendment and on the second reading.

So the fact that this is an amendment removing a CPA requirement, and once again, I think I heard you correctly, a third reading is required.

That's right.

The the amendment would be to add the CIA requirement, the original ordinance removed the CPA requirement.

So with that being said, um, once again, I actually support let's table this.

So with that being said, um once again, I actually support let's table this, let's take this amended ordinance, let's do our due diligence on behalf of our citizens, on behalf of the office, and let's make sure as a council that the trust of this council, this dais, and this city's office is intact moving forward.

And the fact that we are not going to sit here and make a snap decision from an employee who is recommending a change and an ordinance to their job description to the employer.

I want y'all to think about that for a second.

I don't know.

I maybe I might try that today with my boss, but I don't think that is not the appropriate way to go about this.

Let's do due diligence here.

That's all I'm asking.

Councilman Bailey.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um you guys can rest because you're not going to applaud to what I have to say, but that's not why I'm here.

Um I want to offer a different point of view here because the implication that this body has not performed its due diligence and needs more time, seems to be a tactic that gets used regularly because only when a vote or a decision goes the way you don't with in a way that you don't agree with.

And that seems a little silly to me.

We have we saw this um uh presentation from Ms.

Romero.

We've seen this ordinance, we've had it in our hands for at least two weeks to consider whether or not the requirement for a CPA should be one that we hold our current auditor to.

And if I recall correctly, pretty significantly we voted last time to move this forward and said, yeah, we we've got it, we have a have an ordinance, let's take it to the second reading and let's vote and move on.

Um as to the question of an amendment to this to add a different certification, I would say that you know, two wrongs really don't make a right.

The fact that we made an exception to a job description at some point before, and now we're gonna substitute a requirement.

That's an HR problem.

That's a hiring question in my mind, and it shouldn't be part of an of an ordinance.

We, as this body, as the um hiring authority, as the supervisors of our city auditor, our job is to hold he or she in this case, Ms.

Lovell accountable to doing the job that we've hired her to do.

And whatever certificate she has hanging on her wall, uh to me is completely irrelevant as long as she's doing the job that I expect her to do.

Um everything that I've asked for, I've gotten.

I've gotten more than I've asked for because oftentimes she's been able to point out, hey, did you think about this?

Have you considered this?

And you know what?

I didn't.

So I, for one, appreciate the leadership that she's given the office, the accountability that she's brought to the office, and the service that she's brought to us here on council.

There's no need for me anyway, and I guess I can't speak for the other nine, but how long do you need to consider an issue?

I mean, we can we can generate public support, public opinion by um you know, putting columns in the paper and getting people to send emails, and we got about 162 emails as a result of that of that.

Um we got plenty of people in here applauding and clapping for one particular point of view, seeming to disregard the vitriol, the you know, the venom that's been spit at a person.

This is a question of a requirement for a job.

It's not a question of the person, it shouldn't be personal, and to impugn someone's character by questioning whether or not they said something or not in a uh you know, in a job interview or did something within the last couple weeks, uh I I find that disturbing that our society has gotten to this place where we can hide behind anonymous emails or letters, even you know, we've got got letters in the mail, no signature, no return address, just here's a sheet of paper that I wrote, everything negative that I can think of about a person, about a job requirement, and even our performance.

Yeah, I've been in this job very short period of time, but the criticism that I've received because I don't vote the way somebody wants to, you know.

I I know that uh Mr.

Clark out there doesn't have a very high opinion of me, and that's his right.

That's absolutely his right.

But I don't know that we need formal former council members to write letters to the Gazette, you know, questioning our ability, the nine of us up here who are currently elected to represent the people in this city.

Do I need him to tell me I'm not doing my job?

I didn't assess, I didn't look at him when he was doing the job.

How does he know how much I'm preparing, how much I'm studying this, how much I'm who I'm asking for this, to read out into the public record anonymous accusations from anonymous people or former employees or or former supervisors or what have you, that's not doing due diligence, taking extra time to gather more information, you know, that might be potentially damaging to somebody.

I don't see how that really helps the process.

So you know, you can you can save your applause for when um when my colleagues speak again, but I just think that there is really no point in us extending this any further, certainly changing the requirements and and and dragging it out there again so some can use this issue to keep it in the in the public eye to distract us from other things that we should be doing as we go in to figure out how to create a budget for 2026 for this city.

That is not the kind that's not leadership, that's demagoguery, and we don't need that in this city.

We need leadership, we need people like Ms.

Lovell to stand up, lead the departments that do the work of the city, and we need to move on and do something productive instead of uh listening to what we've heard for the last 20 minutes or so.

I guess that's the time I've been speaking.

We definitely need to move on from what I've been saying for the last few minutes.

Thank you.

Councilman Williams online.

Thank you, President Carl Iverson.

Um Ben, I just wanted to go back to you to make sure I'm following.

So are you are we tracking that we had a main motion and then we amended it?

Or did the main motion ever get a second and make it anywhere?

And now we're on to an amendment.

I'm just trying to make sure I'm following the right order of operations.

Sure, be happy to run through that.

So there's a main motion, but a main motion always comes last as intervening motions are made.

So the order we have right now is a motion to amend uh from councilman member henjum that would amend the main motion.

I get now.

Then we have a motion to postpone indefinitely from councilmember Donaldson, which would end this matter before we got to the main motion.

Yes.

And then assuming that motion to postpone it if it were to fail, then we would vote on the main motion at that point.

So that's the the order of votes when when we get to it will be motion to amend, motion to postpone main motion.

Correct.

And right now we don't have a main motion and a second, do we?

Yes, ma'am, we do.

Uh council member um Lineweber made the main motion with a second from council member Bailey.

But because that's done on the uh iPads, you often don't hear it.

Right.

But I'm wondering if that motion is the amendment that we'd be voting on, or is it how it was presented to council prior to let's call it yesterday?

Yeah.

Councilmember Lineweber's main motion is for the ordinance as it existed prior to yesterday, and council member henjam's amendment would add the CIA requirement.

I just want to make sure that council member Lionmobert is aware of that, and he doesn't think that he's making a main motion for Nancy's amendment.

He he's aware, and uh, we went through that, but because the second didn't concur to uh change the motion, we're just we're using the amendment process.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Yep.

Councilman Hingem.

Uh thank you.

So I'm gonna restate it so we're really clear.

My amendment to remove the CPA and to add the CIA is the first motion that we will be voting on.

Yes, ma'am.

Um, so I want to speak to um comments from Councilmember Donaldson regarding um uh Miss Lovell's uh not having passed this CPA exam.

What is really really unfortunate about his making that statement is he's he has done what I think all of us do often all the time, probably every day, and that is to assign intention to a behavior.

When you talk with Ms.

Lovell, and I hope that she will have the opportunity to speak to this herself.

She took that test in 2011.

She can say this herself, but she shared this with me.

She took it in 2011.

She missed passing by I think two questions, something like that.

But it was 2011.

It did not occur to her to bring it up.

And yet the assumption of intention that she is withholding information, I think again, creates a shadow of doubt on someone that we have chosen to hire to serve as our city auditor.

And we all make that mistake.

I I am an executive coach and I've been coaching leaders for for a couple of decades.

More than that.

And one of the first things that you learn is about how to give feedback.

And when you're giving feedback, you share with someone the impact of their behavior.

You do not assign intention or judgment about why they did or did not do a certain thing.

And I think we need to listen to our auditor about what her intention, if there was any, in not sharing her, uh not having passed that exam.

Um so I think that's really important.

And um again, I stand behind my motion because she also came to us um after having spent, you know, the the majority of counsel voted for this auditor, and she came in to listen and learn, and she did that.

And in the process of doing that, she made some determinations about what's happening in the auditor's office and what's necessary and what is a good use of her time.

She is recommending to us that it is a good use of her time to obtain the certified internal auditor certification.

Again, I state again that is supported by all the major bodies who speak to this nationally.

So I think it's very appropriate for us, and I respect council member um Bailey's uh perspective that this just draws it out, and in fact it does.

It does give you all a chance to come back yet a third time should this pass and speak your piece.

But from my perspective, it offers the assurity that the public needs around a certification of somebody who is qualified to take the job and wants this certification.

Thank you.

Councilman Line member.

Yes, I just want to um thank um Councilman Bailey, first of all, because I I I totally, totally agree.

I mean um this um this idea that um well one in any business, you want to be able to have an opportunity to change and mold and do whatever.

And and sometimes good leadership stands up and says, Do you think this is the right thing?

And you look and you go, yeah, maybe this isn't the right thing.

And so we took it to HR.

We went and did our due diligence.

HR evaluated the whole thing.

We have an excellent HR department.

Um they took the time and to say that we didn't really have enough time to consider all this.

Oh, it's been two weeks.

I mean, we've been we've been talking about this over and over and over again.

I'm like, I I'm so sick of talking about it.

I mean, I voted to hire Natalie, not because she's a CPA, but because I recognized that that auditor's department needed leadership.

Leadership was at the primary thing.

And if anything, 80% of that job suddenly dawned on me is compliance issues.

And so all of a sudden it's like we don't have the right things lined up for the this type of role.

We need someone that can work with people, bring a team together, and really be a positive force moving forward.

We need an auditor that's gonna ask the right questions.

We needed an auditor who's gonna build good relationships, but still ask the hard questions.

Someone who's willing to put the right thing first before anything personal.

And that's what I keep seeing over and over again happening here.

And um I just again, I all the reasons why I voted to have Natalie be our our um city auditor have come forward, and that's the fact that this job really needs solid leadership and doing the hard things.

This could have just like been, you know, pushed away.

But she asked the question, you know, and and that's what we want.

We don't want to just do the same thing over and over and over again.

Let's let's find a way to increase efficiencies within our government.

Secondly, I uh I just abhorred the politics of this.

I have heard I've seen emails who say that she's you know she failed the test twice in the last couple of months, and and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Those are all rumors, and I've heard these things kind of coming out of people that uh that I thought had integrity.

Those are not accurate statements.

The statement is 14 years ago.

She took a test and it didn't pass, and she didn't really think it was relative with the job that she got, and so she moved on and did the job that she was doing.

Uh I don't know what I was doing 14 years ago.

It's probably on Instagram somewhere.

Please don't go look.

But 14 years ago is a long time ago.

And and to think that that's like imperative.

Like, why didn't you tell me that 14 years ago you slept on a beach nude?

I don't know what.

Right?

None of that's relative.

It's not relative.

It's too, it's almost too much information.

That's my point.

It's just silly.

It is silly, and it's got you moments that I absolutely don't appreciate from my fellow councilman.

I'm not telling the whole truth.

Not telling the truth.

Yes.

Did she fail?

Yes.

Was it 14 years ago?

I think that's relative.

So that's what I have to say.

I stand by my um my motion and my second to the um whatever the second thing is.

Thank you.

Natalie.

Thank you.

I I did sit for the CPA exam 12, 11, 10, I don't know, 2011, 2012 time frame, just to clarify for Councilmember Hingum and Councilmember Lineweber.

I'm don't have the details, but it was some time ago, right before shifting my career to project management.

I wasn't trying to hide that fact.

I was simply focused on what was relevant today and germane to the conversation of whether or not a CPA is required for this job.

In lieu of the CPA, I have offered to get the CIA the certified internal auditor certification.

I don't walk away from challenges.

And that is me doing my job as a city auditor.

So we're back to Councilman Donaldson.

Thanks, madam president.

I'll simply say that I believe we should have an impartial body look at the best requirements for the city auditor of Colorado Springs, not the city auditor herself.

Um and what she recommends.

We're we we've had testimony from prior city auditors.

Again, I think that the right thing to do to restore confidence in this process is have an impartial body look at it.

It's not the matter of time, which has been brought up.

We've had plenty of time to look.

I'm looking for an impartial body with people who are essentially subject matter experts to give us a recommendation.

I believe that is how the uh requirement for the CPA was originally put in place, and I think it was back in the 90s.

That's what one of our storm former city auditors had told me.

So I asked my colleagues, consider that when we vote.

Thank you.

So we have a motion from Councilman Hinchem and a motion from Councilman Limewember for amending the ordinance.

Correct.

Um to add to remove the CPA and add the new requirement.

Let's vote.

Okay.

Oh, yeah, it says um Councilman Donaldson and Councilman Rayleigh on the it's not the right motion.

Motioners will it is in my system, so let me see if I can get it.

Try now.

What is it telling you now?

Yeah, we need to go back to the previous motion.

I am in my system.

I don't know why it's not flipping for you guys.

But we could do a roll call vote, but it it does say table this to a later date on our screens.

Let me try one more thing.

Yeah, let me sorry, I can't get it to switch.

It switches on mine, but it's not switching on yours.

So can we just do a roll call vote?

Sorry about that.

Yes, would you please call the roll?

Councilmember Bailey.

No on the motion to amend.

Councilmember Crow Iverson.

Yes.

Councilmember Donaldson?

No.

Councilmember Gold.

Yes.

Councilmember Henjam.

Yes.

Councilmember Lineweber.

Yes.

Councilmember Rainey.

No.

Councilmember Risley.

Yes.

Councilmember Williams.

No.

And the motion passes on a vote of five to four.

Okay.

So we'll then have a third reading.

Well, we have to have the main motion voted on.

Before we do that, we'll have to vote on Mr.

Donaldson's motion to table.

Okay.

So I have a motion from Councilman Donaldson and the second from council don Councilman Rainey to table.

Um and ask for a third party to do some research.

Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.

Yeah.

Okay, so we'll vote.

And that one is on our tablets.

That one is showing yes.

And the motion fails on a three to six vote.

Okay, so this first motion passes.

We will move on to another.

So now we've reached the main motion, and because the amendment successfully passed, you are now voting on an ordinance that removes the CPA requirement and adds the CIA requirement.

And if this passes, it will require a third reading.

Okay.

And do I have the same motion from Councilman Hingem and the second from Councilman Lineweber?

Yes?

Okay.

No, this one was different because David made the original motion and Tom seconded.

So it doesn't change, does it, Ben?

Yes.

So this is the main motion that Councilmember Lineweber made and and Mr.

Bailey seconded.

So that but the motion was amended by a vote of the body, right?

Nancy's motion passed.

Councilmember Henjam's motion passed.

Right, but I didn't want to confuse people because it is the main motion, and then that main motion is now different, but the same people still made the main motion and then seconded the main motion, correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, thanks, Madam President.

Um we have several citizens here today.

One's a former uh city councilwoman Yolanda Avala.

Um they would like to speak on this.

Uh I assure you when they step to the microphone, they won't be anonymous.

They'll be easily identified.

So I would ask that my I move that we allow them to speak.

Do you have a second?

A second so I have a motion from Councilman Donaldson and a second from Councilman Lineweb or Risley to allow public Rainey.

I'm so sorry, Rainey, to allow I'm my tablet is not showing up here again.

So what I'm showing now I can see it.

So I have a I have a motion from Councilman Donaldson and a second one from Councilman Rainey for a motion to allow public comment.

Let's vote.

And the motion fails on a two to seven vote.

Okay, so now we're back to the original motion, which I believe was Councilman Lineweber and Councilman Bailey.

So a motion from Councilman Bailey and a second from Councilman Lineweber.

Is that correct?

As amended.

Yeah, it's an amended motion.

I believe Mr.

Lineweber was made the motion and Mr.

Bailey seconded it.

Yeah.

And what is that amendment again?

Um, Councilman Bailey.

There isn't there is no amendment.

It was already amended unless Mr.

Bailey's about to offer one.

No, I I think what I what I was going to try to clarify is essentially, and and I'll defer to this uh city attorney to clear to correct me when I'm wrong.

This is essentially a second vote on the amendment, because now to what we were handed today, this this amended uh ordinance is now the main motion.

Um I don't think I can withdraw my second.

I don't think that would be productive anyway, because I think somebody else would probably do that.

But the what we're voting on now, am I correct in saying it's it's this motion that uh you wrote yesterday and handed it to us today?

Yes, what the council's voting on is essentially the draft ordinance that was circulated earlier this morning.

So we have a motion from Councilman Lineweber and a second from or a motion from Councilman Bailey.

Councilman Lineweber, a second from Councilman Bailey.

I'd like to withdraw for this ordinance that was passed out this morning.

Do we need to read it again?

Do we need to read it, Sarah?

I'm sorry.

I was trying to get the system to work.

I'm sorry, what did you ask you you do not need to read the the ordinance, but if there are any council members who need clarity on what they're about to vote on, I'm happy to provide it.

You probably should just give clarity.

So what you have in front of you now is a motion to pass an ordinance that would remove the requirement for Ms.

Level to uh get a CPA within two years, and add a requirement that she get a CIA within two years.

Okay, that's the motion in front of you now.

Is there any discussion?

Just uh to clarify for everybody, and this will have to be voted on again in two weeks, correct, Mr.

Attorney.

That is correct, sir.

Okay, let's vote.

And you're gonna have to do this voice vote because I can't get the system to switch you back to the main motion.

Okay, go ahead and call rolling okay.

Councilmember Bailey.

No.

Councilmember Crow Iverson.

Yes.

Councilmember Donaldson.

No.

Councilmember Gold.

Yes.

Councilmember Henjam.

Yes.

Councilmember Lionweber.

Yes.

Councilmember Rainey.

No.

Councilmember Risley.

Yes.

Councilmember Williams.

No.

No.

And the motion passes on a five-to-four vote.

Moving on to four um four or nine C, but we are gonna read four AB first.

Oh, yeah, go ahead.

Madam President, if I might.

Uh my firm serves as the architect of record for this project.

And so although I believe I could be impartial in my decision making, I would uh like to recuse myself from these items.

Councilman Williams.

Yes.

Did I we are moving on to 9C, but first we are going to read in the 4AB that was called off of consent and the 9C that is on consent.

Are you?

I just wanted to make sure you were aware of that.

Yes.

Um I wish Brian and I worked on all the same projects, but we don't.

So okay.

Thank you.

4AB.

Okay.

Uh 480.

Ordinance 25-70 annexing into the city of Colorado Springs, the area known as PTAA edition number one annexation consisting of 14.12 acres located south east southeast of Stetson Hills Boulevard and North Mark Shovel Road intersection.

Chris Sullivan, senior planner, uh case planner for this project.

We are at the second reading.

Uh we did a public hearing two weeks ago.

And what we're looking at today is the two presiding ordinances that go with the annexation that includes the annexation ordinance and the uh zoning map amendment or zone establishment for bringing property into the city going to MXM APO, which is mixed-use medium scale with airport overlay.

Uh this is a 14-acre site, two parcels, voluntary annexation.

Um other kind of update you're looking for before you can make a decision.

I don't see any.

Thank you.

So we will vote on the first one for AB first.

And I have a motion from Councilman Bailey and a second from Councilman Rainey.

Let's vote.

And the motion passes on a seven to zero vote.

And moving on to 9C.

Do you want to read 9CN?12 acres, establishing a mixed use medium scale with the airport overlay zone district located southeast of Studsen Hills Boulevard and North Mark Shuffle Road.

Any questions for Chris Sullivan, uh senior planner for playing use review team.

Any questions for me?

I don't see any at this time.

Just making sure.

Okay, we have a motion from Councilman Bailey and a second from Councilman Linework.

Let's vote.

And the motion passes on a seven to zero vote.

Okay, I'll just wait for Councilman Risley to return and councilman Williams to get back online.

Moving on to 10 A.

Will the clerk please read 10 A into the record?

A resolution in the City of Colorado Springs approving a consolidated service plan for the contrarian airport metropolitan districts one through six, located northwest of the intersection of Drennan Road and South Mark Shuffle Road.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Uh Kevin Walker, City Planning Director.

Uh good morning to all council members.

This is a uh a request to establish uh uh six metropolitan districts and the consolidated service plan uh for an area immediately to the west of Mark Shuffle Road and adjacent to Peterson Road or Peterson Air Force Base, excuse me, uh Space Force Base.

Sorry about that.

Uh we presented this in detail last uh at the last work session meeting.

Um did not have we we had some discussion around special improvement districts, uh but I can run through this again very quickly, or uh, or just answer questions, however, you would like for me to do this.

The applicant is here also has a slideshow if needed, or can also answer questions.

I don't see any questions up here, but we do have public comment.

Oh, okay.

So we will start with public comment then.

Um we have in support Corey.

R.

Crace.

Good morning, Corey.

Good morning, Council President and uh President Pro Tem and everyone else.

Uh, my name is Corey Arcaries.

I am here as the Chief Financial Officer for Harrison District 2.

We um uh we respectfully propose that the city zone the contrarian airport metropolitan districts numbers one through six um to Harrison District 2.

Our district has the capacity and resources to effectively educate any of the students residing within this area.

We're very proud of our district.

We are a growing and improving district, and we're here to advocate for this new zoning.

Um, unlike some neighboring districts, such as Whitefield School District Three, we currently fake who currently face capacity restraints.

We do not, and so we're looking for a continuous uh district to continue to expand out east.

Um, and this is part of a larger plan that we are looking to implement.

We are well equipped with available space and uh transportation infrastructure to accommodate any additional students as we operate a fleet of um reliable transportation.

We offer a wide wide range of educational and extracurricular activities that support the student growth and success.

Our district has demonstrated consistent academic progress with test scores and screw improving year over year.

Our district is proud to have received multiple awards and accolades, including two recent Colorado Assistant Principals of the Year and the 2023 Colorado Superintendent of the Year.

Furthermore, our superintendent was recently recognized as the national winner of the 2025 Women in School Leadership Award.

These honors reflect the strength of our district and the dedication of our leadership team and staff.

We have an outstanding team of educators that are committed to high quality instruction, supported by an engaged community in the southeast side of Colorado Springs, which further enriches our students' learning environment.

We respectfully ask you to give this zoning request thoughtful consideration and zone it is Harrison District 2 so that we can have again a contiguous school district.

Should you require any additional information or wish to discuss this proposal more in detail, please um uh I'm ready for any questions.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Next we have Aidan Gallegos.

Good morning, everybody, council president and distinguished members of the city council.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

Um my name is Aiden Gallegos, and I serve as one of the two student board representatives in my board of education.

Oh, sorry.

Today I represent the voices of 12,301 students from kindergarten Drew High School, who all share something in common the potential to become the next generation of leaders.

As said in our mission statement, Harrison School District 2 gives the opportunity to give students the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors to succeed.

And I like to go over how Harrison School District 2 does that for knowledge.

Harrison School District 2 offers programs ranging from advanced placement courses to career and technical education.

Every student has access to rigorous academics and real world training and prepares them for higher education or skill careers as they are passionate about.

Harrison School District 2 ensures that every student can succeed academically and socially, graduate in time and participate fully in school opportunities.

Our culturally and link linguistic diverse education program, representing 42 different languages, gives tailored instruction to help students develop proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking and listening in English, ensuring they succeed academically and giving every student the same opportunity to develop successful skills in school and outside of school.

For behaviors, Harrison School District 2 understands the background every student comes from.

This is where our student representation comes from, like as what I'm doing right now.

One story could forever change policies.

One stories could land them a job they find so interesting.

And one story could change history forever.

Harrison School District 2 understands every student's background and will create and or give the opportunity to benefit as our district believes that student leaders could change the world forever.

As I close, Harrison School District does more than educate and empowers our district investors in students as leaders, believing that their stories, their voices, and their talents can influence policy, inspire communities, and even shape the pure and shape the future.

They will all not only succeed, they will thrive.

Thank you for your time.

I'm Aiden Gyagles, a future leader by Harrison School District 2.

Thank you.

I don't see any more comments up here.

We have a motion from Councilman Bailey and a second from Councilman.

Is that correct?

Councilman Rainey.

Okay, I'm just making sure my tablets updated.

That is correct.

Um having no other comments, we'll vote.

We're gonna power through, I guess.

And the mention passes nine to zero.

So I'll refer to my colleagues.

We have about 30 minutes of public comment, and we have also a lunch at 12 o'clock.

So can we power through?

Yes.

I believe the mayor is here at 12, but um if we want to start late, I we can certainly do that.

Maybe five minutes, 10 minutes at the very most.

Is that okay?

I think that's fine.

Okay.

Then we will um start our citizens' um comments for today.

We have um each citizen will have three minutes to share comments.

I have a list of those signed up.

Please come forward when your name is called.

Um, limit yourself to topics that are relevant to and German to city business, and again to three minutes.

Um Julie is it um hey shh.

I probably am not saying that correctly, but you good morning, council members.

My name's Julie Shea.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Julie Shea.

Last December, my dog Loomy was killed while in the care of a sitter.

After her death, a relative of the sitter took her body to his veterinarian and claimed ownership.

He added Lumi to his family's vet account and signed cremation paperwork with false information.

No one verified that I was a legal owner.

I asked animal law enforcement to obtain the cremation form from Bijou Animal Hospital because they had known since December that Loumi's ownership was misinformed, but didn't collect any documentation.

When I finally received the cremation form in June, it listed the wrong sex and birth date for Loomy, confirming false ownership.

I alerted animal law enforcement, but their response was that they would no longer comment.

A separate case against a dog owner is still open with a jury trial set for September 8th.

Under Colorado law, pets are treated as property.

Lumi was a purebred Pomeranian valued at over $3,000, well above the amount of felony theft threshold.

Yet when I try to report the false ownership and the attempted destruction of my property, CSPD told me to call animal law enforcement.

Then animal law enforcement told me to call CSPD.

Neither agency took my report.

Well, they depend on what both CSPD and animal law enforcement collect and provide.

So when information is missing or delayed, it undermines the entire case.

With council support, we can improve ownership verification, clarify how cases are handed off between agencies, and ensure victims are informed and supported.

So no other family has to experience what mine has.

Thank you for listening.

Veronica Baker.

Hi, my name is Veronica Baker.

I'm a Rock Riman resident and member of COS Reads.

And it's been a while since I've been here, and I've not been able to give you the update of Pikes Peak Library District activities, and I'm glad to do that now.

The lawsuit against the library district has been dismissed, and we are once again in the process of searching for a Pikes Peak Library District Board of Trustee.

Actually, two, since Debbie English's term will soon be at an end.

And perhaps most importantly, the Ruth Hawley Library has been secured for its community.

And we are deeply grateful that our collective advocacy helped keep this vital branch open for its patrons.

Millions of dollars of donations will be used to purchase the Ruth Hawley Library building and ensure this library will remain open.

However, at this meeting, I believe the audio quality prevented the board from hearing about a possible multi-million dollar donation for a library building for the northwest part of Colorado Springs.

We would hope this proposal is respected and that it is engaged with thoroughly.

Multi-million dollar donations should be effectively vetted by the PPLD board.

Additionally, a recent audit of the 2024 PPLD budget revealed a moderately strong financial position, including a $2.4 million carryover projected for the 2025 budget.

Meanwhile, potential new sites in the northwest part of the city have also been identified, an encouraging sign that solutions are possible.

We also have Commissioner Lauren Nelson, who's now serving on the joint appointment committee for the Pikes Peak Library District.

We hope her involvement brings a fresh voice and a new perspective to the conversations ahead.

And throughout this process, one outcome of the lawsuit has been a broader public awareness of the challenges facing our libraries.

Many residents now understand the importance of careful analysis before closing any more library branches.

We're looking specifically at Cheyenne Mountain Library right now, whose lease ends in one year.

We sincerely hope that our libraries may be in a stronger position now than they were a year ago.

We have renewed hope that library access may finally expand to underserved areas, including the much needed east side of Colorado Springs.

We feel optim uh we feel optimistic about the future, and we look forward to continuing this work together.

We would welcome the chance to meet with each of you individually as community members.

We are eager to collaborate, and we hope that you are willing to listen and work with us.

As elected leaders, you have the power to build strong, lasting relationships with your constituents.

Let's move forward together to mend fate to mend fences, build bridges, and create a future where our libraries serve the needs of all residents across Colorado Springs.

Thank you.

Councilman Donaldson.

Thank you, Madam President.

And uh thank you, Veronica, for uh for that presentation.

It's actually useful for us.

We don't get lots of information, certainly from uh the PPLD itself or the board.

However, I did notice on our agenda planner.

I'm not sure if it's two weeks from today or four weeks, there will be a presentation from uh PPLD here uh here to City Council.

So that's good.

Thanks again.

Yep.

Dina Cam.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Dina Cam.

I'm here to urge you to support a resolution requiring immigration and custom enforcement agents operating in our city to unmask and clearly identify themselves during enforcement actions.

The corresponding petition signed by approximately 200 members of the community was emailed to you yesterday.

This is not about undermining law enforcement.

It's about strengthening it.

When agents operate in plain clothes without visible identification, it creates confusion, fear, and mistrust, not just among immigrants, but among all residents.

We saw this firsthand on Friday near Platte Avenue in Cedar when a father was forcibly detained by ICE agents in front of his family in a city where many citizens legally carry firearms.

Such confusion could lead to tragic consequences.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police have spoken clearly on this issue.

They warn that the use of face coverings and the absence of visible identification during enforcement operations can increase operational risks and erode public confidence.

Their guidance is clear.

Visible agency affiliation and unique identifiers, such as badge numbers, not only enhance accountability, they also protect officer safety and align with long-standing policing practices.

Let's also ground this conversation in legal reality.

Crossing the border illegally known as improper entry is classified under federal law as a misdemeanor.

To put that in perspective, exceeding the speed limit by more than 25 miles per hour is also a misdemeanor in Colorado.

These are infractions that, while serious, do not justify the use of unmarked, unidentified enforcement tactics that sow fear and confusion in our neighborhoods.

And let's talk about contribution.

In 2022, undocumented immigrants in Colorado Springs contributed approximately 436.5 million in state and local taxes.

That's a major investment in our schools, roads, and public services.

In fact, they pay a higher tax rate than the top 1% of households in Colorado, with an effective rate of what 7.8.

And for those of you who look to skip scripture, let me read you this passage.

When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.

The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as a native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.

That's Leviticus 1933.

So we can uphold the law and still uphold compassion.

We can protect our community and still protect civil liberties.

I respectfully ask for you to consider sponsoring or supporting a resolution that requires ICE agents to unmask, wear visible identification, disclose their agency affiliation, and follow protocols that reflect the values of transparency and accountability.

Thank you.

Sean Maddox.

Thank you so much, Counsel, uh, for the opportunity to speak.

I'm here today to present you with a petition from your constituents.

Over 500 community members have signed this petition at various events.

They are asking that you support a resolution insisting that officers wear no masks or face coverings during ICE detentions and arrests, that there is clear identification of what agency is involved, and that every person involved wears um clear name tags and uh identification.

Although the occurrence excuse is to protect agents from doxing, et cetera, our police officers are out every day working in this community with their identities clearly shown.

Why would we want other agencies to not follow those same policies of transparency and accountability in dealing with the community?

Is that not unfair to our own police officers that are out every day being very clear?

This is loud because this is long.

Personally, I feel uh it's about 30 feet.

Uh personally, I feel part of the reasoning for this officers doing this as a psyop.

It is meant to invoke terror and fear.

I would hope and assume, I hope rightfully, that council would want to ensure that all of the constituents in the community feel safe.

I am asking you to really hear the voices of your constituents and listen to them on this important issue.

Thank you for your time.

We're gonna leave this petition here.

I'm urging you to please look at it.

Thank you.

Don Klinger.

Hello, and thank you for having me here to give a presentation.

Last time I was here, it was with a group of Mexican postdoctoral students about five years ago.

And I thank Congressman or Councilman Donaldson for recognize me again.

And I said hi to you Londa, who was there five years ago to welcome us.

I would like to talk first about the big issue behind masking and identification for ICE agents.

Colorado Springs depends heavily on immigrant labor to pick our crops, to wash our dishes, to cut our lawn, to do just about everything else that needs doing in our growing economy.

One of the things that this administration has done is to use fear of crime and fear of public safety being out of control to demonize immigrants.

In fact, they are among our hardest working taxpaying lowest crime people in the community.

And statistics will show this if you take a look at them.

So the big picture in the room is we are embarking on public policies that demonize the people that we need on to grow our economy.

The problem with all of this comes down to where the rubber meets the road.

I taught public administration for 48 years at four public universities in the US.

Most recently at UCCS, where I retired as a distinguished professor in uh four years ago.

What I would tell my students that is that government depends on the cooperation between citizens and law enforcement.

And that's that cooperation is not fostered when agents wear masks and do not have identifying badges on.

The thing that separates armed thugs from law enforcement and community accountability is identification.

And as a citizen, I would like you to keep in mind that all of us depend on good relations between people and public safety, and between people and our elected officials.

So the last thing I'd like to thank you for is your work here and doing such a good job.

I love public administration.

Some people think that a city council meeting is like a root canal.

I disagree.

I think it's government in practice.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Naomi Rockefeller Hi, good morning, everybody.

Well, we still got morning.

One minute.

My name is Naomi Rockefeller.

I am a veteran with two combat tours and a master's in social work.

And both those professions, there's an expectation, clear standards, training requirements, and ethical codes that are not optional, right?

All right.

So when I see ICE agents detaining people in our community with their masks, their face masked or covered, I ask, where's their accountability?

I couldn't hide my face in combat.

I made eye contact with every person that I saw in combat.

I had to look civilians in the eyes while we cleared their villages.

While their children's looked at me, a woman.

All I'm asking is for the same in our community.

When I when we allow our law enforcement or federal partners to operate and mask, we're not just creating trauma, especially for kids and families.

We are lowering our civic standards.

We're saying that some roles can sidestep transparency.

And now tonight, this council is discussing doing the same thing for a role in city auditor, removing professional credentials, requirements because it's more convenient.

Whether it's ICE or the city auditor, we should be raising the bar, not lowering it.

Trust is built through consistency and standards.

If we want to protect our communities, we need to hold every public actor accountable.

We want to protect our communities, not just our veterans, not just social workers, but everyone who operates under the banner of public service.

That's not leadership.

That's selective ethics.

And our community deserves better.

My name is Dami Rockefeller.

Thank you.

Zuri Horowitz.

Hi, I'm Zuri Horwitz.

Um, I just wanted to talk about the horrific impact that ICE has had on our community and the way that ICE has been used to violate due process and make our community less safe.

I'm running for Congress in Congressional District 5, and so sometimes people will tell me stories when I'm just out and about.

Um, one of them was a woman that works at Penrose Hospital, and ICE came to try to detain an immigrant while they were in the ER.

Another, I was calling, making fundraising calls, and somebody said, Well, my co-worker's husband was taken.

Um he has a green card, he was tortured by ICE allegedly, and then he's self-deported because he decided it was better for him to leave his family and children than to stay in ICE custody.

Um, these are just another time I'm out and about talking to people.

Somebody talks about a friend who was detained in a Home Depot parking lot.

Again, these people don't want to speak up because it's really dangerous too.

And yet, we have these officers who do not have a badge, who do not have a number, who do not share the name of their supervisor with us.

They do not have warrants with specific probable cause signed by a judge.

They are not clear in terms of how they're identifying themselves and what's going on.

They are detaining green card holders, they are detaining DACA residents, they are detaining residents, they are pulling them out of vehicles.

This isn't okay.

If we care about the rule of law in our country, these are some of the things that I believe are important.

Um to make sure that we have due process.

We need to make sure that they are not going to churches, that they are not going to religious um locations, that they're not going to hospitals, that they are not going to schools.

Families should be safe in their community attending school.

We also need to make sure that they aren't going in and sorry, I lost my place.

Um there's no collaboration between local law enforcement and ICE.

Local law enforcement already struggles with response times.

ICE has a hundred and seventy billion dollars.

That's what we funded this year instead of funding and we're going and seeing all these people at food lines now because of inflation and that and cuts to care and share.

That's what we're funding 170 billion dollars to ICE.

We have a billion-dollar hole, and we're gonna use local law enforcement's resources to abduct people.

That's disgusting.

ICE agents need to have their names and badges visible along with the name and contact info of their supervisor.

They must have a warrant specific to the individual they are seeking to arrest with cods, e.g., a violent crime the individual has committed.

This should be true throughout the country.

We also so should have a fair pathway to citizenship for immigrants, but at the least these measures will ensure an order, order and lawfulness in our community as well as respect for human rights.

There is a lot going on right now.

There is a lot of tariffs, there's a lot of inflation.

We can put our money towards much better things that need our help than abducting people in our community.

Thank you.

Carol Hoffman.

Hi, sorry, I'm gonna be nervous.

Um, my name's Carol Hoffman.

I'm a 24-year-old or 24-year resident of Colorado Springs.

Um, no other law enforcement agency, I don't think is allowed to go around wearing masks.

If you want to ensure the safety of ICE agents, let's make them not look like kidnappers.

And if someone threatens them or doxes them, go after that person, prosecute them.

That's how our civil society is supposed to operate.

As it is now, they wear masks, sunglasses.

You can't see any part of a human face.

Sometimes they're in full tactical gear with long guns, looking like they're ready to go to Iraq.

There's no badge numbers.

We don't need name tags, so we need badge numbers.

You don't know what agency they're from.

They're in unmarked vehicles, sometimes no license plates to people on the street, they are simply masked thugs, members of a secret police.

This is terrifying.

Imagine if you're a woman or a child, and you have two to ten masked, unidentified, highly armed men approaching you on the street.

Every day, we as a nation are terrorizing human beings, children, women.

As Colorado Springs council members, I admire you doing your job, but I'm afraid, but now you will be personally responsible for this.

You're gonna be a cog, a small cog, but a cog in the giant wheel of President Trump's tyranny.

And those of you with white skin, you're okay.

This won't happen to you.

But Latinos citizens are being swept up in these raids by massed unidentified men.

I'm gonna cry.

Simply because they have brown skin.

And you all probably don't have friends or family who are undocumented.

So it's not gonna affect you personally.

But what?

Just think about it.

Imagine your daughter being approached by masked unidentified men, swarming you, or your wife, or your mom, or your aunt or your sister, okay?

If there's no way to identify these agents with badge numbers, how do we report bad apples?

If an agent is consistently breaking the law or abusing people, how do we report those people?

And this is not just happening to Latinos or residents or undocumented people, it's now happening to citizens.

I encourage people to go online and look at the case of Amanda Traybach in LA, an ICU nurse and U.S.

citizen.

She was volunteering, she was filming totally legal public property.

She was they weren't making an arrest, they were just driving their ICE vehicles out of a parking area.

They messed with her.

They came over, they pinned her on the ground, they put their knees on her head, they treated her really roughly, and they pushed her face in the pavement, shoved her under thing.

She was never charged with anything because she wasn't doing anything illegal.

They were just trying to intimidate a citizen from filming and documenting uh legally.

This is this having masked unidentified law enforcement in our community, it's bad.

It's bad for our civil society, and it's bad for all of our constitutional rights.

Thank you.

Councilman Henjam.

Thank you.

Um, I don't know how many more are here to speak about ICE, but I just want to say um thank you for coming and and raising public awareness and attention to what is happening.

I believe you are correct.

It does, it is a march toward um authoritarianism and tyranny.

And I appreciate you coming and speaking to us.

I I do also want to read a statement from our police chief about what our police department does or does not do and what our authority.

I have exchanged emails with some of you.

And this council unfortunately does not have the um the legal authority to uh demand that ICE um not wear masks.

So I just want to make that clear.

And then regarding CSPD from our police chief.

We are unable to cooperate with ICE in immigration enforcement or sharing of information on contacts we have with people who might be here illegally.

This is a state law which was strengthened during the last legislative session.

We can no longer even ask questions that might lead to a person's status.

In short, we do not engage or cooperate in immigration enforcement.

So again, I really appreciate you being here.

Um feel free to come back.

I think it's important for people to be aware, for you to raise your voice, um, and also for you to know uh what our uh legal uh authority is and what it is not.

Thank you.

Erica Carpenter.

Hello, my name's Erica.

Uh bear with me, I'm not much of a public speaker, but I am a proud resident of Colorado Springs.

I am here because I love the city and I love my neighborhood.

But many of my neighbors have been facing oppression and attacks for some time now.

Um, and these attacks have only escalated over the last year.

Um, as Dean said, a video surfaced on Friday.

Numerous men, some in vests, some in masks, some in plain clothes, dragging a woman out of her vehicle in the middle of Platte Avenue.

She screams and sobs as another passenger is tackled to the ground by several other men.

A small child is sitting in the back watching.

These men then drive away, leaving a third passenger to clean up the broken glass because they had broken a window of the car so as to forcibly enter.

Several members of the community who witnessed the incident risk their own safety to help her as cars race by.

I say men and odd agents because I don't know who these people are.

They don't identify themselves, they don't justify their actions.

They appear seemingly out of nowhere, terrorize our streets, homes, small businesses, courthouses, schools, churches, and then they disappear without any accountability.

They disappear with our friends, family members, neighbors, coworkers, and business owners.

They leave the shattered glass, zip ties, bullet casings, tear gas residue, and emotional trauma for us to replace for us to repair as a community with no additional resources.

I was present in the aftermath of the raid on the event center, located on an academy, when more than a hundred of my community members, many of whom had never even been in that building before were violently tear gas arrested and taken.

I was also present in the Black Forest after our hardworking contractors were shot at and chased down.

But I was so troubled by this particular video.

The callousness, the lack of professional conduct and regard for due process or even basic human decency.

I began to question if these could even be the federal agents that are paid with my very hard-earned tax dollars.

Our local law enforcement has no way of verifying if these are federal arrests or vigilante kidnappings without an investigation.

I know this because I called the non-emergency hotline on Friday and asked a sergeant.

He said that if they are not wearing identifying uniforms, I should call and report it as a kidnapping.

We know these federal agents are not performing arrests out of you, or performing arrests out of uniform.

It's been happening around the country.

We also know that there is a rise of so-called ICE imposters performing robberies, fake traffic stops, and assaults.

But I also understand that you have far more knowledge, influence, connections, and power than I do.

I know what I've been doing to protect my community.

My question is, what can you do?

Thank you.

Councilman Gold.

Thank you, Madam President.

Dina, Sean, Don, Zuri, Carol, Erica, I hear you, I see you, I am you.

Um right now my parents are visiting from Korea.

I have a set of Korean parents, and I have a set of black parents.

One Korean parent is an American citizen who served 32 years in the United States Army, and she is married to a Korean citizen who did not serve, is not a United States citizen, obviously, does not speak English.

While they have been here, I have taken time off from city council so that I can accompany them to different locations.

Um, because I'm wildly uncomfortable with the idea of my parents who are short in stature and small in stature and who do not live in America to advocate for themselves.

So uh when I tell you I feel your fear, I feel it on an everyday basis.

And I hate that this is what the time that we're living in.

Um, as council member henjam has stated, our our hands are tied.

We could do a resolution.

We could we could.

However, let me let me don't applaud yet.

You're not gonna like next part.

Uh we could do a resolution, but it would be empty words with no authority and no enforcement.

Well per with no authority, may I may I say.

Um, with that said, what can we do, right?

And when we say what can we do, I'm actually looking right back at you.

Um, I want you to be brave like Erica and speak up even when your voice shakes.

I want you to be brave like Zuri and run for office and get involved and engage in our community, be like Dina and organize and engage and bring a large wrestling piece of paper that shows the value of our community, which I've asked to be removed only so that it's not damaged by water and so that I can keep it in my office to be reminded of who we represent.

Um, and while um I have the floor, I also want to say um get in, get involved in a larger way that can positively impact our elections.

As you know, we have abysmal turnout in Colorado Springs.

So keep this fire and keep this passion to get involved to make other people care, so that maybe our government looks a little bit more like you want it to look like.

And there's people like Wes Sawyer in the room who who leads the Colorado Forward Party here in Colorado Springs.

Get involved, get involved, get organized, keep that fire, keep that passion.

Because here, um, you know, I I will be very honest and candid.

I thought, man, there's so much.

I made it to city council.

I can make some change.

But guess what?

City council is a body.

You need five votes at least, as if you can see, as you've seen today.

Sometimes you need six, a supermajority.

We need more people to speak up for the marginalized.

So please keep that fire, y'all.

Thank you for being here.

Lawrence Clark.

First, I want to correct some statements by Tom Bailey.

I don't like dislike you, Tom.

I just don't like some characteristics that I that I see in you.

Another thing, I wonder if Lakin Riley ever had that choice.

She was raped and murdered and kidnapped by an illegal immigrant who came into this country illegally.

If I go and commit a crime and I'm with my family doing it, they will I will be separated from them too.

It's unfortunate, but you know, it's just how it is.

As far as mass, it it is a touchy subject.

But when I was down in California, I went to go like to the border and I touched a metal wall.

I had six dudes on ATVs fully dressed out.

But you also have to understand what they go through.

And call in Called Juarez, Mexico, gangs are literally killing families, wiping out whole bloodlines because of one person's actions.

So it's like, yes, they in the kind spirit 100% they they should not be wearing masks.

They should have their face visual.

But also too, who they're fighting against.

They're not fighting against the average farmer.

Yes, they are wrapped up in it, but that's not the targeted goal.

The targeted goal is to go after Trende Agua, who is running nightclubs when I was petitioning to you guys about who was running security and who owned like those clubs.

I was totally avoided on that.

And then literally a week later, 114 of them were all arrested.

And who was running like that security?

That was like the United States Army.

Unfortunate.

But you know when people have things that are going on in their lives and their occupations bring serious risks to them and their families.

You can Google photos of people hanging from the bridges in Juarez because they were a snitch or they stole some money, or they were a federal agent.

You know, it's unfortunate that that this happens.

It's unfortunate that we have a Donald Duck for president who has.

I mean, I'm more scared of him sending National Guard to our to our streets.

That's standing armies without the consent of our legislators.

You know, that was a usurpation outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

You know, it's I think we should really just focus on making our community whole again.

But yes, having accountability, but also too knowing the real threat out there.

And the real threat is not the mom and pop coming over for a better life.

The real threat is the drug smugglers, is the Almayos who just pled guilty in Brooklyn Superior Court, literally like three days ago on drug trafficking, conspiracy charges, gun running charges, all of it.

Those are the people that we need to spend our money on.

All coming as life together as the people having the backbone to go after those people, not the people who are coming here for jobs and opportunity.

Because those people should I've worked with those people.

I love those people.

I've I've had many years of work opportunity with those people, and they're great people.

They talk about their families, they talk about their life back home, but you know, they cannot be marginalized by the real terrorists.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Steve Lightfoot.

This is a microphone.

I guess so.

Um wouldn't mind if I had the camera on me here for a second.

Is that possible?

Thank you.

I wore this shirt for a reason.

Uh I saw about 2,000 people protesting right in front of your building here at uh Nevada and Kiowa about two months ago when the ICE people were the subject.

If you had that same kind of interest in what I do, you would make world headlines.

You would uh establish an industry here that would create billions of dollars.

My evidence that proves Stephen King got John Lennon's last autograph and shot him is news, folks.

And you would care if you were aware.

Now same place, same time.

Well, actually, not the same time, same place, October 9.

I need about a thousand people to demonstrate to get this in the news.

Nixon and Reagan let Stephen King killed John Lennon.

And we're never gonna solve the problems of this world if we don't get on top of this.

Things are just gonna get worse.

We may even find ourselves freezing to death after an asteroid punishes us for being so stupid not to react on this evidence sooner.

I left California because they took sides with Stephen King.

That's right.

They all know Stephen King killed John Lennon.

They resent me that I have the uppittiness to confront this, to pull society's pants down, and they have sided with evil.

It can happen to you, Colorado.

The reason I came here is Colorado is normal compared to California, and all I ask for is normal.

Okay.

Normal people will get mad about this.

October 9th is John Lennon's birthday.

There was never a trial for Mark David Chapman.

If you knew all the details that I know, you'd swear, oh my God, we've been under a communist takeover since the day we were born.

Anyway, uh I'm 71 years old now.

I'm almost to the point of I don't care if an asteroid wipes you out.

I mean, if you're that stupid to let Stephen King get away with John Lennon's murder, you shouldn't be breeding.

That's my honest opinion.

And I saw the big one just missed this in 66.

They're still out there.

A mountain size of Pike's Peak going that fast.

Just missing us in 66.

I saw it.

I'll another man saw it.

It's not my imagination.

It took me 40 years to find a man who saw it.

He was in North Carolina.

Uh locally speaking, I like Colorado Springs.

I've searched the entire west side of America, settled here.

Only thing I would suggest is better asphalt mixtures and better mixture of the asphalt when you fix your roads, because I noticed some inconsistencies in the mixing, and that is a problem here.

Other than that, I'm very happy with it here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And that concludes um citizens' comments, and that concludes our council meeting for August 26th.