Good morning.

Welcome to the City of Colorado Springs regular council meeting for Tuesday, November 25th, 2025.

Will the clerk please read the role?

Call the role.

Councilmember Bailey.

Here.

Councilmember Crow Adams.

Here.

Councilmember Donaldson.

Here.

Councilmember Gold.

Here.

Councilmember Hinge.

Present.

Councilmember Lion Weber.

Here.

Councilmember Rainey.

Councilmember Risley.

Here.

Councilmember Williams.

Hair.

All nine present.

Please stand for the invocation this morning.

Today we're joined by Pastor John Goodell from First Presbyterian Church.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Let's pray together.

Lord God, thank you.

And this week of Thanksgiving for these leaders who are willing to lead our community.

We thank you for those who are here who care enough about our community to want to listen, to learn, to share what they see that's important.

And this morning we pray for wisdom for decisions that are made.

We pray for clarity for whatever needs to be spoken today.

And Lord, we pray for the ability to listen, even when others' opinions may be different from our own.

And so please go ahead of this time now that it would be productive, that it would be beneficial for our community.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Moving on to the consent calendar, we will now consider the consent calendar.

Items will be acted on as a whole unless a specific item is called off for discussion by a council member or a citizen wishing to address city council.

Is there anyone wishing to pull any item off of the consent calendar?

Seeing none.

All in favor of the consent calendar, please say aye.

Any opposed.

Moving on to item 5A recognitions.

Will the clerk please read item 5A into the record.

A resolution honoring the life and service of former council member Merv Bennett.

Councilman Risley.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um first I'd like to apologize for not being able to be there in person.

Um but uh I am very honored to read this resolution in honor of Merv.

He was a tremendous mentor uh and friend of mine, and uh he will be deeply missed.

So I'll go ahead and read this resolution, and then I know there are a number of um folks in the audience that would like to make some comments uh about Merv.

So this is a resolution honoring the life and service of former council member Merv Bennett, whereas Merv Bennett was a pillar in the Colorado Springs community, exemplifying the values of service, selflessness, and leadership, and whereas he started his career of service in Colorado Springs in 1972 to serve as the physical director of the Pike's Peak YMCA.

He was later promoted to vice president and chief operating officer in 1979 and then promoted to president and chief executive officer in 1992, where he continued to lead the organization until his retirement in 2011.

And whereas under his leadership, the Pikes Peak YMCA grew from a four million dollar organization to a 20 million dollar annual budget and opened nine new facilities.

And whereas in 2011, Merv was successfully elected as a council member at large and was re-elected to the same position in 2015, serving the city for a total of eight years on city council.

And whereas during his time on council, Merv served in the leadership roles of council president, president pro tem, and chair of the Colorado Springs Utilities Board of Directors.

And whereas the City of Colorado Springs is grateful for Merv Bennett's many years of dedicated service to our community and recognizes him for commitment and leadership to the city and to the citizens of the city of Colorado Springs and to the Pikes Peak region.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Colorado Springs, Section One, the City Council honors the life and service of former council member Merv Bennett and his impact on the city of Colorado Springs that will be felt for many generations to come.

Stated at Color Springs this day of the 25th day of November, signed by our council president.

And again, Merv was just an incredible individual and somebody that I um have always held in deep respect and uh and again think the world of him and and he will be sorely missed.

And with that, uh Madam President, I do believe there are a few um folks in the audience that would like to say a few words about about Merv.

Good morning, uh Mayor John Southers.

I see a few more here.

Make sure the green button is on.

Madam President, members of the council.

The world needs more Merv Bennett.

Uh for those that knew him personally, I don't need to convince you of that fact.

You know it.

For those of you that did not know Merv uh personally, the good news is it takes a heck of a lot less than three minutes to convince you that the world needs more Merv Bennett's.

Merv knew exactly why he was on Earth.

And I find it shocking how many people today don't have a very good sense of why they're on Earth.

Merv knew he was here to love his God, love his family, uh, love his country and love his community, and he did.

Um those of us who knew him uh saw his small town roots and everything he did.

You know, he spent uh most of his childhood in uh Lahana, Colorado.

He was humble, he was genuine, uh, he had no pretensions.

Um he was kind, and he was an absolute gentleman, uh, one of the most gentlemanly people I ever met.

Uh he had a loyalty about him uh to his friends, his family, uh, and an organizational loyalty.

Think about it.

Uh he joined the YMCA when he was 23 years old as an assistant athletic director and retired 40 years later after 17 years as the uh president and CEO.

Who does that today?

Who spends 40 years uh in the same organization?

You know, we have a culture that uh give me, you know, five dollars more hour and I'm gone, or give me one other benefit and I'm gone, things like that.

That is a loyalty that you just don't see uh in in today's America.

But I would stress to you that I think what we can all take from uh our knowledge of Merv and hopefully apply in our own lives is his basic civility.

I watched uh him in this room uh in the course of uh heated debates on various issues, and uh he may have participated in the debate, but the fact of the matter was uh he never said a derogatory word about another individual or their position.

He was respectful of the people, he was respectful of their uh position.

And how much do we need that in our country today, in our community today, we need people who engage in civic uh discourse and a civil manner, uh, like he did.

So let's uh think about the way that we can most pay tribute uh to Merv, and that's lead our lives in uh in more of a way than that he did.

And I think the thing we can most take away is his commitment to uh civil discourse.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Jill Gabe Water.

Good morning, Madam President Crow Iverson and Council members.

It is an honor to be here today to to celebrate the life of Merville Bennett, and um I really have no more words than what Mayor Southers just said.

He used all the the perfect adjectives for this for this man, and and it really is that he was a gentleman.

He had great civility, and in the six years I served with him on city council, I never once heard him again say anything derogatory.

I never heard him raise his voice.

And um, for me, he was a great role model and mentor.

He taught me that through dialogue, through kindness and through a smile, he was always smiling.

You can find compromise, you can find collaboration.

And he was that genuine spirit to the core.

He was authentic and so genuinely kind that uh no one could resist that type of effort and work in in someone's life.

I saw him as his pro Tim.

Um people would come up here as you know, angry, so angry.

And not only was he able to defuse those situations, he often was able to change the hearts and minds of those individuals, and they would come back later with a completely different spirit.

And that again is the type of person we need leading our cities, leading our organizations, and I am so grateful to have served with him and so grateful that he served the city of Colorado Springs because it is forever better because of his his work.

Thank you.

Richard Scorman Well, it again, everybody said a lot of the wonderful things that I was planning to say.

And I'm pretty old these days, so I couldn't remember him anyhow.

But but having said that, uh Merv was so gracious to me and helpful.

I became the president of the council, and he wanted to stay president.

And I was all kind of riled up, it was a strawberry field, you know, here, and I was I wanted to come in and you know and lead the city in the right direction.

And Merv was so gracious to me, so kind.

He was disappointed, and he said, right off, congratulations, Richard.

Let me show you around anything I can do to help you.

And then he sat next to me for the last two years of his term.

And all the things that people said were really true.

He but he would write me little notes.

He would grab my hand.

Uh he would uh give me a little elbow in the side.

And uh and Merv was my moral compass.

He really was.

If and and it was funny because many times Merv would say, God, I guess I'm supposed to be a you know conservative Republican, and you're supposed to be a liberal Democrat, Richard, but we agree.

And uh and that's really what it was about in many ways uh for Merv.

It wasn't wasn't about who was right and uh and who was wrong based on an ideology is what was right for the city.

And uh very grateful for his counseling and his guidance.

I was so disappointed when he wasn't there anymore.

And thank you for all the sacrifices you made to be to allow him to be on council, as you know.

You know, the $500 a month and the 60 hours a week that you put into this uh is not appreciated that much.

But spouses are the ones I think that really have to deal with a lot of the uh the hardness.

So but but thank you for doing this today, and uh really appreciate uh all that you're doing.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else in the um audience that would like to speak on behalf of Mr.

Merv Bennett before you bring it up to the dais.

Okay, we'll bring it up to the dais, Councilman Williams.

Thank you.

I have a few stories that I can add because Merv and I were elected at the same time back in 2011.

And I want to echo the sentiments that I worked a little too hard back then, but so did Merv.

He was there right beside me, every committee we came up with.

Obviously, we needed two of us, and Merv was gracious enough to volunteer.

So um Jan Martin led the effort to get to the hospital to the point that we had um a partner to negotiate the lease with.

And I of course volunteered to do that, and Merv was right by my side the whole time.

And when I came up with the outlandish idea to create a foundation, Merv said, I'm right there by your side, and we put the foundation together, and um, just so everybody knows, we we put 53 million dollars back into this community and counting, and and we're still going, and we had a great partnership.

And I told Roseanne we were in the right place at the right time, and it all worked out beautifully.

And this community is gonna be forever grateful for all that he contributed.

Um, I will admit, I don't think I'm gonna live long enough to ever have Merv's personality.

So I appreciate the fact that he came to that state of grace at such a young age, and we're gonna miss him, and I know you are too.

We just want to say thank you.

Councilman Lineweber.

Yeah, I've known Merv for uh a while because of his fishing pursuits.

Um he used to frequent the store and and uh of course he um nudged me to get involved with the YMCA camp, and we helped uh start kind of a kid's uh fishing program there, and um I was just um happy to do it because it was it was difficult to say no to Merv.

And um and when I was uh in the pursuit of deciding if running for city council is a good idea or bad idea, um I went and talked to Merv and Merv said, actually, you would be a good idea.

And uh so he uh he encouraged me uh to kind of pursue this, and um I I'm kind of happy to serve.

And I and as he was very happy to serve.

He was always happy to serve.

And he had a love for kids, and um I just I don't know, I can't really speak more highly of him.

He's purely one of the the the people that you look up to.

Um and uh uh it would be an o it's just an honor to be you know sitting in the same seats that he kind of has sat in.

And um, I'm really um um well he's he's one of the all-stars.

So anyway, thanks.

And I also had the pleasure of knowing Merv for many years.

I was one of the lucky ones that was uh founding member of the Health Foundation, Health Car Springs Health Foundation um as liaison some urban brandy.

Um I was one selected for eight years.

Um in addition to that, um just many community events that we had done together, um, things that needed to be done in the community with the private sector and Merv on council just came together really well with the working team.

But um more than that, Merv and I have roots in La Hunta.

So we talked about the pickle factory, and those that remember La Hunta with the pickles, you would smell a lot of that.

And then we talk about the feedlot smells and the cell barn smells, and and and we had a lot in common around that little community as well.

Um everybody that knows me knows I love labs.

Hatch is my favorite lab right now.

But um Merv and I talked a lot about hunting and his labs, and um, other than our faith that we had in common, he was again everything everybody said here and more, just an exceptional human being.

And and I know Roseanne, you will miss him, and our thoughts or prayers are with you.

And it just speaks a lot to his character to have um leaders like Richard Scorman and Jill Gabler and John Southers here today speaking about him.

That that says it all.

So um we have a motion from Councilman Williams and a second from Councilman Risley, so we will vote on this resolution.

And the motion passes none to zero.

So if you all want me to step front for a celebratory picture, we would appreciate it.

Moving on to find item five B, will the clerk please read item five B into the record?

A resolution recognizing November 29th, 2025 a small business Saturday.

Councilman Lineweber.

Yes, I'm excited to read this.

I actually um I think this is the third time I've read it.

Um I I am known as the fishing guy, and um and I um own a small business, um, have owned Anglers Cubby for I keep forgetting how long it's been um since nineteen ninety-nine, but Angla Anglers Covey's been in business since nineteen eighty-two here in Colorado Springs, um, helping people experience the passion of fly fishing.

And uh, and that's the thing.

Small businesses are always engaged in their passion.

Um it's often a a family business um or a couple of friends getting together and starting something that they've always wanted to do.

Um small businesses are all often very unique um in the way they they kind of deliver a product in a very special way and and also very local.

Um they have a strong connection to community, and um I'm really excited that we um elevate the importance of small businesses to our community and uh this resolution is really about just encouraging everyone to um think about small businesses during this holiday season.

So um I'll go ahead and read the resolution.

The resolution recognizes November 29th, 2025 as small business Saturday, whereas Small Business Saturday was founded in 2010 and has since become a nationwide movement to celebrate and support small independent businesses for their vital vital contribution to our local and national economics.

And whereas the US Small Business Administration has officially recognized Small Business Saturday since t 2011, encouraging consumers to shop local during the holiday seasons, and whereas small businesses account for approximately ninety-nine point five percent of all businesses in Colorado, serving as the backbone of a state's economy and community fabric.

And whereas in 2023, consumers spent an estimated 17 billion dollars nationwide at a small business on small business Saturday, demonstrating the impact of local shopping on an economic vitality.

And whereas shopping small keeps dollars in local economies, supports jobs, promotes entrepreneur diversity, and sustains a unique character of neighborhoods throughout Colorado Springs.

Whereas organizations such as Pikes Peak Small Business Development Center, SBDC, and the Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC provide year-round support to small businesses through counseling, education, and advocacy.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Colorado Springs, the City Council recognizes November 29th, 2025 as Small Business Saturday and encourages all citizens to support local ump entrepreneurs and small businesses, both in person and online on this day and throughout the year.

Okay.

So that's what I got.

Councilman Williams.

Yes, here we go.

We do.

Um Shikana Tetter from the City of Colorado Springs Economic Development Department.

I'm the small business development administrator, so thank you to council for recognizing this for supporting the small businesses.

I always like to say they're what make Colorado Springs unique and exciting and a great place to live, work, and play.

So thank you to all the small businesses and just another opportunity for the community to support to come out and to show some love to the small businesses that work hard every day to provide that uniqueness, that spark and that life to Colorado Springs.

So thank you, Bill.

Thank you, Shikana.

Um Councilman Williams.

Thank you.

I just wanna add on a little bit, because I know that parking is sometimes an issue for people.

So I wanted to list the days that the meters are gonna be free.

And they're gonna be free in downtown Color Springs and in old Colorado City.

And if that's not the case, send me an email and Sam will take care of it.

Thanksgiving, November 28th, garages, lots, and meters are free.

Black Friday.

Well, the Thanksgiving is on the 27th, so the 27th.

Black Friday, November 28th, garage lots and meters free.

Small business Saturday, the 29th, also my brother's birthday.

Garages, lots, and meters are free, festal of lights, Saturday, December 6th.

At that point, downtown parking garages are free from 3 to 11 p.m., encouraging you to park in the parking garage.

Christmas Eve, December 24th, garages, lots, and meters are free.

Christmas Day, December 25th, garages, lots, and meters are free.

And New Year's Day, garages, lots, and meters are free.

So just wanted to let everybody know it makes that downtown holiday unique shopping a little bit easier.

Councilman Gold.

Thank you, Madam President.

I just wanted to take a minute to highlight some of the work that Shakanda does in support of small businesses.

She does something called a small business walking tours, and where she goes out and she actually speaks to the small businesses directly to do outreach, and she's always happy to schedule one in your district so that you can speak to your business owners directly.

So really wanted to shout that out.

And also being such a large community with a large military presence, I really want to shout out the fact that the office has created the military welcome program.

Oh, look at me.

And that is a directory of all of our small businesses that give a military and veteran discount.

So please check that on our website.

It's a wonderful resource and a great way to save some money and support some veteran owned businesses or in our community.

Thank you.

Do I have anyone online?

Seeing none, we have a motion from Councilman Gold and a second from Councilman Risley.

Let's vote.

And the motion passes none to zero.

Shekinah and Shauna, will you mean to stand front for a celebratory picture?

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

A joint proclamation proclaiming November 25th, 2025 is Zonta says no to violence against Women's Day.

Councilman Williams.

Good morning.

Thank you for this.

And I want to thank Mary Emmy for joining in this proclamation.

As I read this, I wish none of the information on this proclamation was true.

But it is, and that's why we're bringing awareness to this issue.

Zanta says no to violence against women, November 25th, 2025.

Whereas violence against women and girls remains the most widespread human rights violation in the world today.

An epidemic rooted not in culture or geography, but in the abuse of power and the silencing of dignity.

And whereas such violence takes many forms, including physical, emotional, verbal, sexual, psychological, and financial, and is used to dominate, isolate, and control.

And whereas this harm knows no borders, it strikes in cities and villages and conflict zones and peaceful communities alike.

It affects women and girls of every race, age, and income level, including here in our own city.

And whereas this violence invades the sacred spaces of privacy and safety, robbing individuals of their humanity, and often leads to lasting trauma, health complications, and increased vulnerability to disease, including HIV.

And whereas, according to the World Health Organization, one in three women globally has experienced physical or sexual violence.

And whereas the United Nations finds that the most common form of human trafficking, nearly 80%, is sexual exploitation, most often women and girls.

And whereas more than 200 million women and girls have undergone female mutilation, a violent practice with no medical benefit, only pain, risk, and control.

And whereas for more than a century, Zanta International has worked across 64 counties to advance gender equity, empower women, and end violence.

And whereas during the global 16 days of activism, from November 25th to December 10th, the Zonta Club of the Pikes Peak area joins its sister chapters in raising voices, advocating for policy change, and challenging the cultural norms that allow this violence to persist.

Now, therefore, I, Lynette Crow Iverson, president of the Colorado Springs City Council, and I, blessing Yami Moviladi, Mayor of the City of Colorado Springs, to hereby proclaim support for Zonta International's fight against violence and gender equity.

Zonta says no to violence against women in the city of Colorado Springs, and we call upon our community not just to observe, but to engage, to educate ourselves, to support survivors, to speak out when it's hard, and to build together a city where all people, especially women and girls, can live free from fear, full of dignity, and secure in their right to flourish.

In Colorado Springs, we say no to violence, and we say yes to hope.

Thank you.

Jamie.

Thank you, Councilwoman Williams.

We appreciate you bringing attention to this important matter.

Uh mayor is out of town today, but I'm pleased to be here to um offer his support.

Uh and he was pleased to sign this petition because make no mistake, violence against women does happen here in Colorado Springs.

This is a community issue, and it requires a multifaceted response.

Um, here today we have represented our public safety professionals, our police and fire chief, uh, as well as Tessa, one of our community organizations that does offer fantastic resources for those who are struggling with abuse and domestic violence.

Just to quantify the issue, uh Tessa in 2025 served 17,000 individuals in El Paso and Teller counties.

The SAFELINE, which I'm going to provide the number for, answered 10,895 calls.

So that helps us understand just the depth and breadth of this issue.

Um it also reinforces why we do and must continue to invest heavily in our public safety and see this as an issue that requires not just a government response but a community response.

So I'm pleased to recognize Ann Markley, who is here from TESA today.

Um, and as promised, I want to share the safe line in case anyone you know or yourself is dealing with domestic violence.

That number is 24-7, and it is 719-633-3819.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Amanda is here if you would like to say a few words.

My name is Amanda Lunday, and I am the current president of Zonta of the Pikes Peak area, which we have been a part of this community for 76 years.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, Madam President, and City Council members for taking time to read this powerful proclamation and to affirm the status of women and girls in our community.

You join cities and governments around the world today, raising awareness about gender-based violence and helping to create a better, safer world for women and girls, not only here in the Pikes Peak area, but beyond.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll bring it up to the dais for any comments.

Seeing none, I have a motion from Councilman Williams.

Oh, that's right, it is a proclamation.

We don't vote.

So time for a picture.

If you could meet us and Merkel and those that speak at the front for a picture.

Thank you.

Moving on to item sixa, uh, mayor's business.

Yes, thank you.

Just a couple of quick announcements.

Um, I want to focus on our airport for a moment since it is the holiday season and hopefully everybody is flying COS because of its incredible convenience, cheap parking.

Um, and uh in October, some good news to report is our traffic was up six and a half percent over last year.

And that's the number of total passengers who passed through.

Um, also out of the airport.

I am allowed to only tease a couple of big economic development announcements coming in early December, which will bring high-paying jobs to the southeast.

Um, and finally, our sales tax numbers are in for uh October.

Um, those are showing an increase of almost two and a half percent.

So I'll hopeful that those are great signs for our economy.

Thank you.

Councilman Lineweber.

Yes, I have a question.

Um, you know, with the holidays right upon us and uh all the construction that's happening on Taon Street.

Um we have the city of lights, and I wanted to understand how we're preparing to kind of um uh enhance the city of lights, but not have the construction impact it.

Uh what are what are some of the things that we're doing to kind of make the experience um well, what it always is a great experience.

Uh thank you for that question.

We are very excited about the Festival of Lights Parade, and they did do some uh rerouting.

It will still be down Tejong Street, but they made sure that the sidewalks will be safe, and we do get a crowd of something like 30,000 down there for this event, and I hope to see that again.

So please know despite the traffic, yes, the Festival of Lights Parade will go on as usual, and they will get the construction materials out of the way so that they can continue on that same route.

We are also offering um free parking in the city parking garage for that day.

Uh, we do that in an effort to work with a downtown partnership to make sure that we don't negatively impact the downtown businesses.

So please know you can use those city garages.

They're uh inexpensive, well, free in this case, um, and very convenient in a very, very short walk.

So we hope that that encourages people and they're not dissuaded by the um construction that has been going on, but they do come down and enjoy that event.

So we'll have one of the blocks will be pretty much completed, which is great, and the other block will just be partially completed and just you know, um secured in a way that it will be sex safe, is what I'm correct.

There should be no safety hazards, um, and people should be able to come down and experience the parade like usual.

Okay, awesome.

Great.

That's good news.

Thanks.

Moving on to item eight A.

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

An ordinance creating a new article 15 prohibition against the use of gray water within the city of Chapter 6, neighborhood vitality community health, prohibiting the use of gray water within the city.

Good morning, Lauren.

Good morning.

Morning, President Crow Iverson, President Pro Tem Risley, and Council members.

My name is Lawrence Wenson.

I'm the environmental services manager for Colorado Springs Utilities.

I will be presenting an ordinance to prohibit gray water reuse within the city of Colorado Springs.

So today's agenda will be explaining what gray water is, giving you some background on the regulations, describing what current regulations stipulate and what's changing under state law.

We'll explain why we're recommending an initial opt-out for Colorado Springs.

And then I'll turn it over to my colleague Jenny Bishop to discuss how gray water fits into our broader water reuse strategy and describe our next steps.

So when we talk about gray water, we're referring to wastewater from fixtures like wash-in machines, showers, bathtubs.

And this water is collected and it's reused for beneficial purposes like toilet flushing or irrigation.

We're not talking about wastewater from kitchen sinks, so not dishwashers and not toilets.

That still goes to the sanitary sewer.

We have a separate plumbing system to collect gray water.

So you've got a series of dedicated pipes that are connected to those approved fixtures, and the water drains through those pipes to an on-site system where it's treated and then it's distributed for reuse.

So to toilet bowls for flush in or to a sprinkler system for irrigation.

It's a pretty extensive system, and so its most feasible application is going to be in new construction.

So for some background on these regulations, under current law, reuse is only allowed if a local government authorizes it.

And to date, Colorado Springs has not authorized graywater reuse.

So it is currently prohibited in the city of Colorado Springs.

Under this House Bill, which is the measure to incentivize gray water use starting January 1st, Colorado switches from an opt-in to an opt-out model.

So that means that gray water use is going to automatically be allowed unless it's prohibited by local government.

And if we don't opt out, we do have to follow some strict requirements for compliance.

So we have two options.

Option one is going to be to opt out via this ordinance, and we would notify the state at that time.

Our second option is to not opt out and to allow gray water use.

If we don't opt out, we need to create a local gray water control program, which is a new regulatory framework that involves multiple entities.

So it's not just Colorado Springs Utilities.

It's going to be Pikes Peak Regional Building and El Paso County Public Health as well.

Colorado Springs Utilities' role is going to be to protect our drinking water system.

So our interest is in making sure that backflow prevention devices are connected to these systems to protect that drinking water system.

Pikes Peak Regional Building is going to be responsible for overseeing business code.

So plumbing and those backflow devices.

Code would have to be updated to provide notification to Springs utilities for the installation of these systems so that we can track those backflow prevention devices and make sure that those are installed appropriately.

And then the county's role is going to be to oversee standards for water quality and sanitation.

Lauren, I have a comment or a question from Councilman Risley online.

Okay, thank you.

So our recommendation at this time is to opt out by ordinance and prohibit graywater use in the city of Colorado Springs.

This is going to allow us to comply with this regulation and buy us time to evaluate a long-term strategy and define roles and responsibilities between all three of these entities.

We do have to act before January 1st because failure to do so is going to result in automatic adoption of this rule.

We can always opt back in later, but we cannot opt back out again once that deadline passes.

Good morning.

My name is Jenny Bishop.

I am a water resources engineer with Colorado Springs Utilities.

And so I'm really going to talk about the water rights impacts of gray water use.

As you all know, Colorado Springs Utilities champions the reuse of water.

And in fact, we fully reuse all of our reusable water supplies.

But we do that in a centralized collective manner, meaning that all of the wastewater that goes into our wastewater treatment facilities, once it is treated and goes into the streams, we exchange that for further use through storage programs, through reuse programs.

What gray water does is it does not mean more water reused within the community.

Instead, it uh kind of decentralizes that reuse on an individual homeowner basis.

I would also like to be clear that this legislation does not apply to industrial reuse.

So if you had a chip manufacturer or some other industry that has a reuse process within its system, this this legislation does not touch that, and that will still be allowed and encouraged to reduce the overall demands of that industry.

Gray water may have a place in our future, though, as another tool for us to be able to reuse water.

Where this may come into play, though, is with new developments that have some sort of uh collective gray water um mandate in order to reduce their overall demands on our system or something like that.

And we would like additional time to evaluate what that means.

Um and uh better understand how we protect our water quality as well, um, because that gray water reuse system again has to be completely separate.

So we believe it may have a place in the future, but right now we don't see it as a near term strategy to reusing our water supplies.

What we are asking from City Council is to approve this ordinance so that we uh do not have gray water allowed in our city until we are really ready to implement that effectively.

And we can answer any questions.

Councilman Resley.

Thank you, Madam President.

I just wanted to underscore one of the comments that uh uh was just made a minute ago about the building department.

Um, as many of you know, I am also on the chair of or I'm on the board for the regional building department, and this came up as a um conversation topic uh at our meeting last week.

One of the concerns that PPRBD has is they don't have the staff or the funding available to hire the staff to conduct all the inspections that would be necessary for uh a graywater system if it was installed um in a new home, and you heard the conversation around backflow preventers.

That's a that's a component of it.

But ultimately, what this would entail is the installation of an entire separate collection system within a house.

Uh and they just don't PPRBD just doesn't have the bandwidth and the capability to conduct those inspections and track all of that.

The second comment that I wanted to make um, because it requires the installation of another system within a house, that obviously comes with some significant um cost, an additional cost increase.

And uh if the state is really interested in housing affordability, which we hear them talk about all the time, I find it fascinating that they would mandate or implement without this opt-out provision uh the requirement for a gray water system within uh construction of new homes, because that does nothing but drive up the cost of housing.

And so if housing affordability truly is something that is important to the state, this type of legislation makes absolutely no sense.

Um so I want to underscore that for uh for folks as well.

Thank you.

Councilman Gold.

Thank you, Madam President.

Jenny Lauren, I just want to say thank you for this education.

I personally find this very fascinating, and I'm very thankful that we're gonna hold off for just a bit.

And I hope we're able to learn from other municipalities on best practices so that we can maybe one day down the line incorporate this in the the best way that makes sense for our residents.

Thank you.

Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, thanks, Madam President.

And uh Jenny, I want to thank you and Lauren for the presentation today.

And um at the on the utilities board, we asked you to come over and give a presentation so that our citizens can understand, can get some uh information about, for example, the fact that any water that goes down their sink or when they flush the toilet or take a shower, it it goes to our treatment plants.

It is uh cleaned and then it is reused in uh at a centralized location.

A lot of times there's economies of scale, you save money by doing things in quantity, and that's what we do.

Um, and I think it's very prudent what you're recommending that we wait uh until we're really ready to decentralize uh this process.

And um so I think it's a great recommendation.

I I think you'll have a lot of support on this today here at council.

Thanks.

Thank you.

We have a motion from Councilman Gold and a second from Councilman Williams.

Let's vote the motion passes none to zero.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Moving on to item 9A.

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

Ordinance number 25-92 amending section 101 vehicular traffic limited of Article 27 park traffic offenses of chapter 10, motor vehicle and traffic, vehicular traffic limited of the code of the city of Colorado Springs 2001 is amended pertaining to park traffic offenses.

Good morning, Eric.

Good morning, City Council members.

Eric Becker, Parks Maintenance and Operations Manager.

Um Britt Haley and I were here last month presenting an amendment to an ordinance, proposed ordinance for uh motorized use, redefining that language a little bit in our parks chapter code that would give us the ability to be able to enforce some different types of motorized use.

Um so I don't have any additional items to present this morning.

Seeing no further questions for you, I have a motion from Councilman Bailey and a second from Councilman Williams.

So we'll vote.

And the motion passes nine to zero.

Moving on to item item nine B.

Will the clerk please read item nineb and nine C into the record?

9B and Ordinance number 25-93, amending section 201 General Penalty and Part 2, General Penalty of Article 1, Administration of Chapter 1 Administration, Personnel and Finance, the Code of City of Colorado Springs 2001 is admitted to a police department technology surcharge.

9C and Ordinance 25-94, amending section 106, failure to pay fund of Article 3, procedures of Chapter 11, municipal court of the code of the City of Colorado Springs 2001 is amended pertaining to failure to pay funds, costs, and surcharges.

Good morning, honorable members of city council, Shari McDaniel, Chief Financial Officer.

And um Deputy Chief Koch and I have made presentations previously, and we're very happy to do that again if the council desires.

I did though want to just um call attention to a couple of of items.

The first one is in the ordinance itself for the police technology surcharge.

The sections that we're adding, particularly section H1.

I wanted to just call attention to it, and what it says is all proceeds derived from the police department technology surcharge shall be applied to technology systems utilized by the police department for the response to or investigation, enforcement, or documentation of criminal and traffic laws or ordinance violations.

So within the ordinance language, which will go into the city code, it very specifically delineates exactly what those funds can be used for and limits it to that police technology.

Also uh on the police 2026 budget narrative on page 411 of the budget.

There is a bulleted line item specifically that says increase of approximately 1.5 million in general fund for contractual obligations.

And that contractual obligation that is referenced there, that 1.5 million is for police technology contract, um, specifically that acts on contract that um we're gonna be hearing about a little bit later today as well.

So there is a very direct link and tie between that technology surcharge, what it can be used for, and then directly into the police department's budget.

So I just wanted to make sure that um everyone was aware that there is very specific uses on that funding, and that in the police department budget, you can see very specifically what it will be used for.

And of course, the 1.5 million dollar increase in the police department's technology um contract line is is in excess of what will be collected by the surcharge.

But I wanted to just make sure that um it was clear that there's a very direct link and tie even within the ordinance and the budget document that we have coming into 2026.

And um Deputy Chief Koch and I would be happy to answer any questions, or if the council desires um additional presentation, we'd be happy to do that as well.

I don't see any additional this time on the item um nine b which we'll vote on first, and we have a motion from councilman henge on item nine b and a second from councilman gold.

So we'll vote on that specific item.

And the motion passes six to three.

So moving on to an item nine C need a motion for nine C I have a motion from Councilman Henjam and a second from Councilman Gold.

Seeing no other questions at this time, we'll vote on nine C and the motion passes seven to two.

And the motion passes 7 to 2.

Moving on to the item 9D.

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

Ordinance number 25-95 adopting the annual budget and appropriating funds for several purposes named and said budget for the year ending December 31st, 2026.

Good morning, honorable members of City Council, Sherry McDaniel, Chief Financial Officer.

I don't have any additional presentation, but I'd be happy to answer questions if there are any.

I don't see any at this time.

We have a motion from Councilman Hingeham and a second from Councilman Golds.

So we'll go ahead and vote on 90.

And the motion passes by vote of seven to two.

Thank you, Council.

Thank you.

Moving on to item 10A.

Will the clerk please read item 10A and 10B into the record?

10A, a resolution authorizing the acquisition of approximately 130 acres identified as the CMSP extension through the Trails Open Space and Parks TOPS program.

10 billion ordinance admitting budget ordinance 24-104 2025 budget appropriation ordinance for a supplemental appropriation to the trails open space parks fund of up to 4.150 million to complete the acquisition of approximately 130 acres of property identified as the Shine Mountain State Park extension for the purpose of public open space and trails.

Good morning, Lana.

Good morning, President Crow Iverson, members of the City Council.

Lana Thielen, TOPS program manager for the City Parks Department.

I did present this to you at work session, but wanted to go through it briefly and walk you through what we are looking to acquire today.

It is a three-party collaboration with the City of Colorado Springs, the City Colorado Parks and Wildlife, CPW, and Trust for Public Lands.

We are looking to acquire the North Parcel, which is about 130 acres.

CPW is looking to acquire the South Parcel, which is about 350 acres for a total of 480 acre addition to Cheyenne Mountain State Park.

These properties are located on South Highway 115, just north of Cheyenne Mountain State Park.

You can see the road that winds between the two parcels, that's Norad Road, and that leads directly into Cheyenne Mountain Space Forest Station.

We are just across the road from Fort Carson between Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station and Fort Carson.

Three major things that we are looking to do with this acquisition.

First of all, it's conservation of this property, so there isn't the development of 95 single family homes.

Secondly, it's protection of land near two military bases, Shine Mountain Space Force Station and Fort Carson.

When I was before you last time, we had one letter from Fort Carson, but we did receive a letter from Shine Mountain Space Forest Station in the interim.

Pass that along to all of you all.

And it was a really great letter, really supporting this acquisition.

We appreciate that support.

We received it from Craig Biondo.

He's the executive director of Shine Mountain Space Forest Station, and we're looking for continued collaboration with them in the future.

And then thirdly, it's a connection of the Fishers Canyon Master Place Fishers Canyon Open Space and Cheyenne Mountain State Park through the Chamberlain Trail, which is connecting these two parcels.

We receive gardens from both our park system master plan as well as the trails and open space guidance.

The master plan itself encourages us to acquire candidate open space.

If you look at the south part of this map, you'll see where there's these two parcels actually shown as candidate open space that assists us in filling in our gaps.

And through this process, we are also creating those partnership opportunities with CPW and TPL.

Our TOPS evaluation looks at wildlife habitat corridor, water resources, and significant vegetation, all three of which are very prominent on the site, as well as the preservation of scenic qualities.

It looks for open space linkages and trail connections.

This does connect many pieces of our open spaces.

It looks for passive recreation opportunities, which we intend to put through the trail system that we would implement on the site.

And it looks for uh properties that have high and immediate development potential, which I mentioned this property does, and that community sport and partnership.

Just a reminder, this is um an extension of what was originally completed in the early 2000s, which was a partnership between CPL, TPW, and the Parks Department in order to uh originally form the Shine Mountain State Park.

The city currently owns about 60% of Shine Mountain State Park.

Uh and CPW is uh willing to engage in a memorandum of understanding with the City Parks Department in order to extend their ability to maintain and patrol the parcel that we would acquire.

So, really, this acquire allows the city to use their strength in acquisition as well as CPW to use their strength in enforcement and management on that parcel.

So we talked about what might happen if we weren't to acquire this property.

It would be um it's already have a development plan approved.

It's going through a plating process that has paused uh that would allow 95 single family homes as part of the jail ranch master plan.

Chamberlain Trail, it's a refresher of the Chamberlain Trail, uh runs along the west side of our mountain backdrop, all the way from the Air Force Academy down to Shine Mountain State Park.

Once completed, we would propose it to be about 32 miles in length.

Uh we currently have about 21 miles of that completed.

This uh parcel would allow us to extend from Fishers Canyon through residential development into this parcel and then down into Cheyenne Mountain State Park.

A couple of views of what that extension might look like.

These are existing Chamberlain Trail in that um extension location.

Um, and then just a visual of kind of where we are in the world.

Uh this is taken from the top of Fishers Canyon.

Uh, you'll see the yellow parcel, which the city would acquire, the blue parcel across Norrad Road for CPW to acquire, which is just an extension of Shine Mountain State Park.

Um you can see across the road Fort Carson, and then kind of how this landscape that blends together to really create an open space area for residents and visitors.

Just a couple images of the property itself, um, really some beautiful existing vegetation, um, scenic views.

You can see back to um Fishers Canyon, and then out over the plains into the east of our city.

And then I really like these pictures showing some of the water that goes through the property, really a beautiful area as you get down into the property.

Uh what we've done so far, we had an appraisal in June of 2025, and it appraised it about $31,000 per acre.

Um, what's happening is the trust for public land is acquiring the property from the current ownership, and then they would have a two-step sale from the ownership to the city of Color Springs for the northern parcel, and then to CPW for the southern parcel.

From our current fund balance of 2024, the TOPS program has about 12 million existing.

We've acquired a little over four million uh in 2025 up into the state.

So we have approximately 16 million dollars available for acquisitions.

Uh, we reserve about 10% of our funds, giving us a little over 14 million dollars for acquisitions.

We've worked through this entire process.

We are to the last piece of it.

Uh, we did receive approval from our parks advisory board as well as our tops working committee.

So you recommend this moving forward.

Uh we were before you at work session, and then these are the two hearings today, and then December 9th at City Council.

We do intend to close the first quarter of 2026.

Two motions before you, one for the supplemental appropriation, approving up to 4.15 million for the acquisition of approximately 130 acres, and then the requisition to allow the purchase of the property.

I'm gonna pause just one moment to see if there was anyone that has arrived from our supporting agencies.

Okay.

Just wanted to recognize anyone if they had come into attendance today.

Um, but there are uh definitely very supportive from both TPL and CPW in this acquisition process, and able to answer any questions that you might have.

Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, just uh good morning.

Good morning.

Um could you go back to slide number nine?

It was the one with the map on it.

Yes.

Who is it?

You know, the north parcel, there's the blue, which is the southern, we'll call it the southern parcel.

Then there's this um just to the east of the yellow line of the parcel we're we'll acquire.

There's lots of scrub oak and uh just kind of open open space in there.

Who is it that owns that?

Do you know?

So there's a couple of parcels in there.

The one directly east that hugs Norrad Road is a actually in the county.

Um it's owned by a uh church group.

I can't recall their name off the top of my head, but there is a private ownership in that location.

Okay.

It looks like those are the last bits that uh aren't developed with with housing.

If so if there was that's the only part left that you could attach to what what is been created with this.

There's actually two parcels there.

There's one that's rectangular, runs kind of east-west, and then there's one just north of there that's um approximately 50 to 60 acres.

It's also vacant, um, kind of extends to the northern part of the north parcel.

So there's technically two separate parcels, but yes, correct, both are currently vacant.

So, you know, who knows what the future holds, but it it might be nice if we could you know fully acquire what's available in this side of 115 on the on the west side there that's not already developed.

Um just uh thanks for the information though.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Williams.

Thank you.

And thanks for presenting this all the times that you have presented it and giving us a heads up.

I just want to take this opportunity to say that I am in support of this, and I will put it on the record that I'm still in support of putting parking and access and all of those um accoutrements that go and infrastructure that go with this on a flat space that's easy to access rather than on a side of a mountain where it encourages people to go up and down really steep, potentially really icy roads, probably not gonna help public safety or the neighborhoods.

So I'm much in favor of this, and um, I'm gonna continue to advocate that parking be placed in this location and not through a neighborhood.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate the support.

Councilman Lineweber.

Yes, um I I think you can answer this or or Brett.

Um how long have we had a relationship with um CBW down here?

Because I guess what I'm getting at is um a lot of people don't realize that nearly half of um Cheyenne Mountain um State Park.

The state park, thank you.

Shine Mountain State Park is actually owned by Colorado Springs.

We own the land.

And yet it's a unique relationship that has formed where CPW is actually managing that land for the city.

And so as we enter into these relationships, I want to understand how is that relationship?

Is it a good relationship?

Is it been very positive?

I just want to kind of put on record how has it gone?

I appreciate that question.

And you're correct.

Um back in the early 2000s was when I believe that partnership began, began.

Um, and we have continued a strong partnership between the two entities uh throughout this process.

Uh I know when Britt was in my position uh prior to my time, she had a great relationship with the former uh parks manager there, and I do have a great relationship with the current parks manager.

Um they uh really work well with us, um, and they are looking to work with us as we expand in the future for this parcel.

Uh, they understand um connections and trails that we would like to make.

They have worked closely with us and the Fishers Canyon property uh to look at connections back across into Shine Mountain State Park as well.

So I would say it's it's very strong.

Um, and I believe Jason Hagen is the current manager, he's either on his way or uh would arrive shortly, but he uh definitely could speak that speak to that if he does arrive.

Because I think it's important to highlight the benefit we receive by having such a strong partner with Coral Parks and Wildlife, and I just wanted to kind of highlight that.

Um, that here's a case where um we actually have the state helping us manage some of um the city land that we own.

And um and so I want to just kind of elevate that a little bit.

Um also I know there was some discussion about um the road and how the Chamberlain Trail will cross that road.

Um has that been resolved, or is that just something we're gonna have to kind of work out in the future on how that trail may be able to kind of because that road is a military road.

Correct.

Yes, norad road um is currently has an easement over it for Shine Mountain Space Force Station.

Um we are currently working with them for vehicular access to continue that agreement, which will expire in 2026.

Um at this point, we have um began the conversation of a trail connection.

We've not finalized that conversation, but we do intend to continue that uh with the acquisition of these two parcels, it becomes uh more clear of our intent for conservation and working with that base, and we're hopeful that we would be able to get um across Neward Road at some location.

Yeah, I can kind of see how this little bit of cart, you know, the cart before the horse type thing.

We need to get this land kind of like taken care of, and then we can enter into those conversations.

So I'll be um um anxious to hear how that goes and what stipulations are gonna be involved in that and everything.

So anyway, I'm super excited about this.

This is just a really great extension of an area that's real popular.

They've actually added um, well, they've they've tripled, so they added a whole new uh section for camping because camping is in such demand in our region.

And uh here he comes right now.

Um so I asked the question, um, Jason.

Stay right there.

How has the partnership, how has the partnership been?

So we've had this partnership since um 2000.

Um, you know, with you with you really managing city property.

Um, how's that relationship been?

Has it been positive?

Is it been a benefit to our community?

Yeah, absolutely.

Uh sorry, I'm a little out of breath.

I was running up the stairs.

I'm trying to get here on time.

I'm so sorry.

Um, to answer your question, uh it's been a great partnership between the city and the state.

Uh it's a unique partnership.

It's kind of uh not very similar to any other relationship in the state.

Um, I think we benefit from uh the city's ability to purchase property and then CPW can uh do what it's best at with managing property with the enforcement capability um a little more than the city does.

So hopefully that answers your question.

Yeah, I think it does.

I just wanted to elevate the benefits of this partnership and really even um, you know, um the trust for public land has a big role also in this whole thing.

And so just the way that this whole thing is kind of come together.

Um it's kind of nice not to have to go in on our own and and yet lean on these partners, which I think CBW is just such a um a great partner to have because of the expertise you have.

Um I also talked briefly about how popular your park is and how you just recently expanded the camping.

Could you elaborate on that a little bit more?

Yeah.

Uh so very popular park.

Um we did just finish uh well, we have two more campsites to finish, but uh we're anticipating it to open in the spring or early summer.

Um we have 11 new full hookup sites.

Our camps, our campground is pretty much full every single night from the day it turns warm in the spring till the day it gets really cold or snows in the fall or winter.

So um extremely popular.

Um and just a great asset to the city of Colorado Springs and then the community.

Great.

Thank you for that.

Thank you.

Councilman Rainey, and he's online.

Yeah, thank you very much, Madam President.

And I I just wanted to emphasize uh and extend a major thank you to the entire park team for working with uh our military partners.

Of course, we have Shine Mountain there, and uh it was very critical that we coordinate uh to make sure that this acquisition was not going to have any significant impact uh to any operations out there, and of course it does not.

But what I wanted to emphasize, uh, and I think everyone can agree with me on this is just how critical it is as we continue to move forward as a city when these type of acquisitions come about, that we made sure that we include our military partners and coordinate effectively with them.

Uh, for example, we got the letter from Colonel Clock uh emphasizing how critical the missions are, and I can attest to that myself by knowing that we have to maintain a reliable horizon to horizon coverage out of Shine Mountains, making sure that there's low electronic uh magnetic interference coming out of any development.

And I think this uh type of acquisition helps protect that and to make sure that we avoid any type of encroachment in that area.

So I just wanted to extend uh heartfelt uh thank you for uh I know I threw that out as a uh requirement at the last session, and not only did your team deliver, but you made sure that it was properly documented and that all the right military leaders and uh stakeholders were actively involved in this process.

So thank you very much.

I greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

Councilman Hindum.

Uh thank you, Madam President.

I actually would like to invite um Britt Haley up to the podium if I could, and and to have her park staff join her.

Um at the podium.

That means you too.

David, excuse me.

Um, you know, I want to invite Britt in particular up here because I believe this will be um the last time that she will be formally a part of a land acquisition with our open space dollars in front of this council.

And um, you know, absolutely to express my gratitude uh to you, Britt, for all of your hard work for all of you and the parks staff, for all of the people before you um and all the voters, quite frankly, who have approved this and see this as a great value to our city.

And um, I'm actually really, you know, in this week of Thanksgiving, which is about gratitude.

The bells are ringing.

Um I I just am really moved to express my personal deep gratitude um for what we value as a city and for land and my gratitude for the earth and the beauty of the earth and what it brings to us and the well-being it brings when there's so much pain.

And yet there's so much beauty.

And I'm reminded of a hymn that we sing in my church.

And the first verse is um for the beauty of the earth and for the beauty of the skies for the love which from our birth over and around us lies.

God of all to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.

So we're doing business here, and we're approving the spending of dollars, but it is for a much much greater purpose.

And so I'm grateful um to all of you and to this council and to the city um for our love of the planet.

Thank you.

Seeing no other comments, um, we have a motion from Councilman Henjam and a second from Councilman Gold to vote on 10A.

The motion passes nine to zero.

And I did a motion for 10 B.

I have a motion from Councilman Dan Donaldson and a second from Councilman Gould um to vote on 10 B.

And the motion passes nine to zero.

Moving to item 10 C, will the clerk please be please read item 10 C into the record?

Resolution approving the intergovernmental agreement by by and between the city of Colorado Springs on behalf of its enterprises in Colorado Springs and Ear Report in the Peak Metropolitan Districts number two related to the reimbursement of design and construction costs.

Good morning, Alex.

Good morning, Madam President Crow Iverson, members of City Council for the record, Alex Kovach, Director of Aviation for the Colorado Springs Airport with a presentation of the proposed intergovernment agreement between the City of Colorado Springs and District Number Two of the Business Park.

I know we discussed this in work session, and I'm happy to do the presentation again if needed.

If there's no comments from the dice, I have a motion for Councilman Donaldson.

Um president, and uh I would just ask we give Alex like maybe just one or two minutes to uh talk a little bit about uh the airport and uh flying from Colorado Springs Airport over this holiday season.

I know we have some special deals on parking and stuff like that out there.

This is a chance to make a plug because I think it's important for citizens to know if we want our airport to offer flights across the United States, international flights, we have to support it.

We have to fly from it.

And so if you think you can save $15 by going to Denver in the long term, we're hurting ourselves because our airport can expand and offer more flights.

Can could you uh with the president's permission, would you give us a couple minutes on that?

Of course, we'd love to have your infomercial.

Excellent.

Thank you, sir, and thank you.

Let's start with parking.

So parking promotion happening throughout the holiday season for Thanksgiving and also around Christmas time, uh, 50% off.

I would say it's a great deal if you compare to Denver.

I'm trying not to use that word, uh, the Denver International Airport.

Um but our long-term parking is discounted to $4 a day.

Uh short-term is not this kind of because we prefer that uh you park in in long term in situations like this.

And also we are open for the overflow parking.

Um I just got some numbers as I was sitting here from the parking operations.

It looks like we still have plenty of parking spaces available, and um, we're open for business as far as international travel.

Cancun came back on the 22nd of November, so last Saturday.

Um the outbound flight was fairly full.

Inbound flight needed more people, so there were plenty of seats available.

It's it's one of those challenges, right?

So you start the flight on on the same day, both inbound and outbound.

So inbound is meant to be a little bit lighter than than normal.

Um overall, we have 19 non-stop destinations, all available for all of you to fly, so please support Colorado Springs Airport and uh use us for your travel needs.

We're there to serve you.

Okay, and uh thank you for that, Alex.

And I'll just say it is such a more pleasant experience to fly out of Colorado Springs than to fly out of that other place we won't mention.

Uh it's not even close.

And I always love it when I fly back, and I can walk out of the airport and get in my car and go home versus ride little trains and then hope hopefully your car is still there in the parking lot up there, because there's a lot of lot of cars get stolen up there.

So I'm telling you, if you park up there, your car's gonna get stolen.

So I would say fly from there.

Fly from here.

Thank you, sir.

I maybe we're a little too old to ride around little trains.

Okay, seeing no other comments on the item.

I have a motion from Councilman Gold and a second from Councilman Bailey.

Let's vote.

Moving out of item 10 D.

Will the clerk please read item 10 D into the record?

A resolution of the city council of the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado, rescinding resolution number 183-24 and establishing fees and charges associated with the building permit applications for development review enterprise.

Good morning, Kevin.

Good morning, madam president.

Uh Kevin Walker, City Planning Director.

Um, I have a little bit of a slideshow.

This item has uh been before you about a month ago, maybe six weeks ago, uh, at um uh work session.

And uh there at that point in time there was some questions that I thought needed to be a little bit better explained, and so here we are today to better explain them, we hope.

Uh so this is uh the development review enterprise.

Um the planning uh director is in charge of uh the uh enterprise that involves both uh DRE planning and DRE uh fire construction services, as we discussed at our lunch meeting last week.

Uh so it's a fairly complicated uh management situation, but it uh what we're here today to talk about is the development review enterprise fee schedule for planning.

Um and so I wanted to give you a little bit of detail as to what we've done in the past uh 18 months to try and um uh get that managed.

So we've done uh some analysis of cost of service.

So uh that includes the numbers of building permits, inspections, administration and financial assurances, uh, and our hillside and sign programs.

Uh we've analyzed our staff levels, our systems, our regulatory efficiencies, and we've also worked really hard at trying to get some performance benchmarks and tried to get uh our uh um uh situation there right size.

So uh the principal objective is to balance DRE planning revenues and expenses.

So that's been our charge since I've started about 18 months ago, like I said.

In 2024, we did some cost and counting analysis on hours per review item.

Uh and you'll that will come into play here in just a second when I explain some of these fee increases.

Uh in 2025, we did some right sizing of expenses, primarily salaries and benefits.

We reorganized a lot, not just at planning, but also at uh DRE planning, uh, and have been able to achieve a 20% uh reduction in budgeted expenses.

And so that's the first step in terms of trying to get our budget balanced.

Uh and in 2026, we are trying to get our fees uh uh uh cost accounted and and to try and build a fee that covers our cost for those specific items.

That does result in a 16% increase in overall fees.

That's based on the fact based on the numbers that we did in 2025 and 2024.

Um we think that there's probably a uh a drop in the numbers that are gonna be occurring next year.

And so we're uh anticipating a little bit of a drop.

So uh our fees probably won't go up uh by that amount in gross numbers.

This will give you a little bit of an idea as to how we have calibrated these fees with our cost accounting.

Uh we figure it in in terms of resident, they're primarily in three areas.

Residential alterations where it takes about an hour for us to do that, and our fee uh has gone up to 130 dollars uh for that residential alteration.

Um in Hillside Residential, uh you can see those figures as well, five uh hours and three point seven five hours for alterations in our fees uh reflect that, and same with the sign code.

Sign code uh had been uh had been adjusted last year, but it prior to that it hadn't been adjusted since uh oh, I think around 2015.

Um so those are the three places where we are proposing an increase in fees to align those with uh our hours that we actually spend uh on uh uh providing the services.

This is a much more complicated uh situation or uh uh explanation of how we've compare to 2024, 2025, and then uh proposed for 2026.

Um this to this was shared with our uh um development review enterprise uh uh committee last week, and um uh so in terms of detail, I can provide that detail if you need it.

Again, estimate a total increase in 16 percent.

Uh we think it's necessary to implement the proposed change for DRE planning in order.

We're trying to maintain a stable DRE reserve fund.

I'll have a couple couple comments on that again here in just a second.

Limited fee adjustments based on the 2025 permit data.

So we're basically um don't think that there's going to be substantial change between 25 and 26.

If anything, it'll be um lower.

Uh and we're like I said, expecting a reduction in permits.

Uh so um this gives you an idea.

Our proposed fee estimate uh for 2025 is 1.5 million.

Our total expenditures are showing 1.2, 1.3 million.

Um could return potentially 200,000 to the reserve fund if our numbers stay the same.

This is a give you a quick analysis of the last four or five years of the um uh dessert uh DRE reserve fund balance.

Now remember now this is both for uh city planning um our plant DRE planning and DRE uh construction services.

And at the end of uh at the beginning of 2021, it was 4.7 million, added a little bit in 21, and then you see the substantial drops in 2022, 400,000, 2023, 800,000, and the same for 2024.

2025, we are expecting that to be balanced now with our fee with our cost reductions.

Um and so there's been a substantial change in that budget in the last year.

So we are expecting this to be pretty close to balancing this year.

We have some additional work to do there that we want to give you an idea of.

We shared this again with uh the committee last week.

Uh we we want to continue to monitor our permit and workload.

Um got pretty good numbers there, but uh we think we can do a little bit better in terms, especially in terms of reporting that.

Uh we want to increase our transparency with monthly and quarterly reporting.

Right now we're at quarterly, but we can want to make sure that our um committee there knows what's going on on a monthly basis.

Um we want to continue to discuss the proper size of the DRE reserve fund.

Right now it's at about 2.7 million.

We expect it to stay that way this year uh and are projecting for it to stay about that same next year.

But we also know that that's uh a uh of considerable um uh attention, and so we're not sure what the exact number should be, uh whether it's 2.7 million, whether it's 2.5 million, whether it's 2 million, 4 million, whatever, but we will uh commit to discussing that further with um our committee and bring a recommendation back to you sometime next year.

Uh we also uh uh are offering a detailed review of our overhead calculations and costs.

Those are costs that are shared by the city of Colorado Springs to all of its enterprises.

Uh they've gone up substantially in the last uh you know, four or five, six, eight years.

Um, and there's some questions about that, but um uh and and we we are facilitating a meeting with our committee uh with the budget office.

They've been a little bit busier last three or four months, so we haven't tried to push that this year, but for next year we will definitely have uh our budget office give them a review of our admin pro rate expenses, which is basically our overhead.

Um, and then we also want to continue to educate and uh transparency of fees charged for building permits that are administered by PPRBD, because there's thousands of permits that go through that.

Some of those thousands we we actually review, some of those thousands we do not.

And so I think that that's been a bit of a mystery in terms of what uh the committee understands we do get charged for and what we don't.

So we don't do things like uh hot water heaters, not something land use review is interested in, but um alterations on decks and things like that we do.

We also have committed to the committee uh to um explore the possibility of splitting this uh enterprise into two, uh, fire construction services, which is basically under the management of the fire chief, uh, and DRE planning, which is basically under my management, have been combined since 20 uh 2004, basically on city manager fiat at the time with no explanation.

And I think that it's can it causes confusion uh around who's who's collecting too much, who's collecting not enough in terms of the fee, and uh and I think that the accounting and the transparency would be a lot better if we if we had two enterprises rather than one where we could do cost accounting a little bit better.

So we're gonna explore that with um uh with the committee next year, uh hopefully to have a recommendation and uh for next year's budget cycle if we're gonna split them into two to implement that in January 1, 2027.

So I'll answer any questions.

Um again, this is a uh little bit more detail, a little bit more follow-up from our work session with the highest uh uh concern being the 16% increase in fees.

Gave you a little bit of background as to what those fees are and and why they increased.

Any questions?

And as I understand it, the majority is on commercial, correct?

I'm sorry?

Fees the majority of it as on commercial.

Well, not a majority, but uh but a substantial portion.

I would say it's more probably 50-50 in terms of commercial development.

We're gonna do some cost accounting on that next year, try and make sure that we're right size for that as well.

This fee structure actually adds a cap to those commercial fees, so we don't get into a situation with a really large commercial building uh where it takes one review of the development plan, whether it's 10,000 square feet or 250,000 square feet, uh, we put a cap on that at 10,000 in terms of the uh the fee.

So that's an addition as well.

Well, I for one appreciate your accountability and um the detail that you that you provided in this compared to what we've been told in the last many years on the other side as well.

Um and the just the fiduciary um attention that you've paid to it, paid attention to this.

So I do appreciate that very much because I know there's a lot of mysteries around DRE.

We're trying to pull the curtain pull the curtain back.

We're gonna make them unmysterious.

Um, Councilman Bailey.

Thank you, Madam President.

Yeah, I just want to want to echo that.

Thanks for uh taking the time and effort to study this.

We want to make sure that the fees that we charge people are appropriate for the services that they get from our city, and so this effort is is important.

I know it's gonna continue.

We've talked about this kind of thing for a little while, so I know this is a uh um an area that you're interested in and have a priority for.

So um thank you for that.

And but we have to do these kinds of inspections and we have to do these uh kinds of things to comply with the regulatory environment we find ourselves in.

We hate to increase the fees because we know that gets passed on as higher prices for housing and to commercial interests and everything else.

But um we've got to do this, and so thank you for the efforts you've made.

Keep up the good work, and uh we'll we'll see you when we have to change this again next time.

Thanks.

Thank you.

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

Well, and we'll vote on 10 Dision passes nine to zero.

Moving on to our last item 10E.

Will the clerk please read item 10E into the record?

A resolution of the city council of the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado, opposing the state attorney general's lawsuit against the United States president regarding the relocation of U.S.

Space Command and reaffirming Colorado Springs Commitments a partnership with the United States Space Command and the Department of War.

Councilman Rainey.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

This resolution, and I'm uh pretty excited to read this resolution because we as a city would and need to reaffirm uh just our commitment not only to U.S.

Space Command, but also to those stakeholders and partners that we are building in order to bring more uh defense capabilities and resources to Colorado Springs with the recent decision of moving U.S.

Space Command uh to Huntsville, uh, which is well within the purview of the Commander in Chief.

So I will go ahead and uh read this resolution uh fairly lengthy, but uh I think what everyone will take away is that we are calling on all elected leaders uh at the federal, state, and local level to be shoulder in shoulder and focus more on collaboration uh rather than confrontation.

And with that being said, this is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Colorado Springs opposing the state attorney general's lawsuit against the United States president regarding the relocation of U.S.

Space Command and reaffirming Colorado Springs commitment to partnership with the United States Space Command and the Department of War.

Whereas the United States Space Command serves as a vital role in safeguarding America's national security by coordinating global military operations in the space domain and ensuring U.S.

readiness and superiority in defense technologies.

And whereas Colorado Springs is proud to have been the operational home of U.S.

Space Command, providing the infrastructure, workforce, and community support necessary to fulfill this mission.

And whereas the people of Colorado Springs, including its military families, veterans, aerospace professionals, and businesses have made significant investments in building a national defense community second to none.

And whereas, while the city of Colorado Springs continues to advocate strongly for keeping U.S.

Space Command in Colorado Springs, the City Council believes that suing the sitting president of the United States is not the productive path forward.

And whereas litigation of this nature risks politicizing what should remain a mission-based national security decision and could risk damaging Colorado Springs' trusted relationship with the Department of War, U.S.

Space Command, and other defense departments.

And whereas Colorado Springs must remain a constructive, respected, and reliable partner to our federal and defense leaders focused on collaboration rather than confrontation.

And whereas City Council recognizes the criticality of all Colorado elected leaders speaking with a unified voice in support of partnership, cooperation, and mission readiness.

And now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Colorado Springs that in Section One, the Colorado City Council expresses its strong opposition to the decision of the Colorado Attorney General to file a lawsuit against the President of the United States concerning the relocation of U.S.

Space Command as it approach is detrimental to the interest and reputation of Colorado Springs.

Section two.

Section three.

The City Council urges that the state of Colorado and the Office of the Attorney General to abandon litigation and instead pursue collaboration, diplomacy, and advocacy with federal leaders, aligning efforts with local and state elected officials, the businesses, community, and defense partners.

Section four.

The City Council formally urges that the Colorado Springs mayor to join City Council in supporting this resolution and to take strong public stance with Colorado Springs and its residents in opposition to the state's needless lawsuit.

Section five.

The City Council directs that copies of this resolution be transmitted to the governor of Colorado, the Attorney General, the Colorado Congressional Delegation, and the Secretary of War.

Dated Colorado Springs, Colorado, 25 November, 2025, signed City Council President Lynette Crow Iveson.

And once again, Madam President, and to all that are listening and in the chamber, this resolution really reaffirms our commitment to being a steadfast defense industry leader in the entire country with all of our military installations in the region, especially those that are committed to the space mission, and that we are looking with a lot of efforts.

I've been in several conversations with many congressional leaders that I know are working hand in hand currently with the uh administration to bring in different capabilities into Colorado Springs.

And we would uh definitely hate that any type of litigation would hinder that process uh from that coming to our great city so we can continue to thrive as a defense uh base industry.

Uh thank you very much.

Back to you, Madam President.

I'll bring it up to the diaspora.

Any comments.

Councilman Bailey.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um my support for this is largely based on the um comments that were in section three that were just discussed.

We make political decisions at all levels: local, state, federal, all the time.

And we don't always agree on those political decisions, but I think that uh as the resolution states, it's incumbent upon us to work together once those decisions are made to make sure that we get the best possible outcome.

Litigation that tries to overturn or undo decisions with which you don't agree aren't productive.

There are productive ways to address these things, and I think that that's what we need to do.

This resolution expresses um, I think very well, uh, at least my sense, and I hopefully the sense of the rest of my colleagues here, that uh we need to move beyond the petty political and come to um a solution that will be best for the city of Colorado Springs.

Councilman Lineweber.

Yeah, I just wanted to thank uh councilmember Rainey uh for bringing this forward.

Um we I do want to just echo um uh uh what's been kind of mentioned.

Um we need to get out of this political divide and and find better ways of working together.

Um, find ways to move the ball forward instead of just bickering.

We we end up just taking all these extreme positions and and we end up not moving forward um as a city as a state, as a country.

And um, I just really um want to um elevate the fact that um um working together with key partners is really the crux of this matter, and um uh Colorado Springs is always um wanting to be a key partner uh with our federal partners in any um place possible and um work together on just advancing what's good for our citizens.

So I wholeheartedly support this effort.

Councilman Gold.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, I just would like to point out um while I have deep respect for council member Rainey.

Um, this particular item was not brought to my attention until it was placed on the agenda.

So I think Councilmember David Leinweber said very uh well working together is the crux of this matter.

Um, and this is just another example of how we as the body um do not work together as a body of nine, but sometimes as a body of five.

Seeing no other comments, I have a motion from Councilman Risley and a second from Councilman Rainey.

Um let's vote on 10 E and the motion passes seven to two.

Moving on to item um 13.

We have now come upon our hour of citizens' comments.

Citizens will have three minutes to share their comments.

I have a list of those who have signed up.

I will call your name.

Please come forward, introduce yourself and limit yourself to topics that are relevant in germane to city business.

First up, we have Max Wisner.

Good morning, Max.

Please make sure the green button is on.

And you have three minutes.

All right.

Good morning, council.

I'm here today as a resident of Nevada Avenue.

I've been requesting that the city add crosswalks to intersections on Nevada Avenue.

I recently moved here, and the lack of crosswalks in these intersections make what makes walking downtown from my house a dangerous walk.

There are four intersections with no safety measures for pedestrians on the way.

I'm requesting that crosswalks be added north-south and east-west at intersections on Nevada Avenue and Wasatch Avenue to encourage community interaction and ensure safety in the area near Colorado College and downtown.

Last night, the city traffic engineer responded to my request and said that the city could install 16 crosswalks north-south at the intersections of Nevada Avenue, Wasatch Avenue, and Dale Street, East Monument Street, East William Rent Street, and East St.

Brain Street.

Though they did say they didn't personally understand the benefit of this in.

Also, I think it would do a lot for the safety of my community and for the capability of community interaction in my neighborhood if it were safe to walk around.

Thank you.

Next, Councilman Gold.

Hi, I just want to say thank you for your comments.

Being a walkable city is a great value to a city, and um we must protect our pedestrians and cyclists and people who are non-drivers.

So thank you for your advocacy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Williams.

Thank you.

Um I didn't know if you wanted to respond to that first, and then I can comment after I know a little bit more.

No, you go ahead.

I wanna make sure I'm on the right page.

I want your definition of a crosswalk, which to me is striping, but you might be thinking something else.

Nice to meet you.

Yeah, I was wanting to set the email.

Yeah.

Uh Todd Frisbee.

Um, sorry, let me start over.

Uh, members of council, uh, Todd Frisbee City Public Works Traffic Engineering.

Do you want me to?

Okay.

My question is what is yeah, your definition of crosswalk?

Because it sounded like he said you're agreeable to that, at least on the north-south.

Is that correct?

Did I across what we're talking about a marked crosswalk?

So with the with the stripes, just the stripes, not necessarily signalized.

Not necessarily similar.

So yeah, so uh uh actually every intersection uh is you can legally cross at every intersection, right?

And so in my comments uh in my email last night, it is not our practice to install marked crosswalks on stop controlled, two-way stop-controlled intersections, right?

Uh you think about the thousands of intersections we have across the city.

Yeah, we normally don't do that, right?

I think they're uh in this area, particularly between Boulder and Cash Lapuder is what we're talking about.

It's about a half mile between those two intersections.

That's a little long of a distance without any protected crossings.

So if we were going to do any kind of crossings, marked crossings across Nevada, the best way to do that is with some form of protection, like a signal or a stop sign or something, some places like that.

Um so the city traffic engineering, I think there's some way, I think there are maybe some options for um uh looking at how we can cross that, you know, make a shorter distance between that that half mile.

We don't you know shorten that up and find a good location for a marked crossing or a control crossing on some of these streets.

But I have at this at this point I have not thought far as that far beyond that comment.

So um, but that's that's how we approach cross marked crosswalks in uh in the city.

So could we call a phase one north-south striping on the I would rather not I would rather not mark the north-south.

Um again, I just think it's um uh like I said, it's I don't think there's benefit to it uh because you can still cross.

You don't need the markings there to cross.

Uh and and the same state laws apply, whether you're whether the crosswalks is marked or not.

Uh and so that's why how that's how we approach when it comes, you know, it comes down to resources and maintenance and uh you know you can imagine trying to maintain thousands of crosswalks across the city.

Uh and so we try to be more strategic in how we use our striping uh in uh in and around our in and around our city.

Okay.

I tried to explain that in my email last night.

So thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilman Lineweber.

So uh I I like the idea, but I I like what you just said is strategic.

Yeah.

Um I think that's probably key.

I know this area has looked into um like um uh calming, I guess uh traffic calming, I guess is what we call it.

Um to kind of help slow down the speeds and stuff like that.

Um and I know in some areas we've used like bump outs and stuff like that.

So you actually reduce the amount of distance that someone has to actually be in the street.

Yeah, and then there's protection that are on the curves and stuff like that uh to help with that.

That's what we're really talking about when we look at kind of like how do we strategically look at this, that's what need that's what you're really talking about, right?

That right, that's what I'm talking about.

Like so take the this particular example uh between um boulder and Cassiopoder.

Like I said, it's a half mile on an urban grid that's a little longer than we want to see on an urban grid.

And so if you look strategically, like is there a good midpoint, you know, along along these corridors where you could have a more defined um and designated crossing.

Uh and you know, will a mat will lamb it.

You know, depending on where you're from on how you pronounce that, uh, will lamb it.

Well, you know, it is a good actually when you look at it, it's it's about the middle point, it's a good location where you start you could start to think about some control crossings on Nevada, Weber, Wasash, because it provides a good connection to the Middle Schulkes Rotten neighborhood because that's you know, so anyway, those are just I'm off the you know, I this is it's dangerous for me to sort of show you.

No, no, I understand if the dyes.

But I wanted to open up like the idea of what we're actually talking about here.

Yeah, just putting paint on pavement doesn't uh I don't see how that enhances safety.

Um that's why we avoid, especially on roads like a Nevada or a Wasatch, we just don't put a painted crosswalk on an uncontrolled approach because it can create a false sense of security for a pedestrian.

Uh and so when we do a painted markings on a roads like roads like that, and I and I mentioned yesterday, we're we're strategic.

We we do it at trail crossings and we enhance the signage in that type of crowd.

We do it at designated school routes or a connection to a public space like a park or something like that.

We try to be strategic, but when we do that, we add additional measures, signs, or even control uh on those crossings, depending on the on the volume of uh volume of traffic.

So that's the that has been our approach is that you know I get to request a lot for marked crosswalks on across arterials and and I'm just not comfortable just doing it on control crossing.

And I think there's other considerations about commercial and even the fact that we have the arena there too.

Um you know, have we kind of considered those type of things?

Those are things that you would probably look at in the larger scope of things of again taking some time and being strategic about this.

Yeah.

And in some of those locations, we you know um you can't have a control crossing everywhere, so you have to you got them you have control crosses at cash and you have them at Boulder.

So for c for to me for CC in the marina, you've got that control crossing at Cash Laputer.

Um if you were coming from the west, or I'm sorry, coming from the east.

Uh so you know, again, we have to look we try to consider the whole context when we look at stuff like that.

All right, thank you.

Councilman Henjamin.

Hi, Todd.

Yeah.

I should have stayed in my office today.

I know.

Um I I also want to thank the the uh citizen for for bringing this to uh our attention.

It's it's not obviously not just in this area, but pedestrian safety, which I know you care about.

I am 1,000 percent confident and and appreciate your uh care of of our uh management of our traffic engineering.

And and as you know, we've had conversations about Nevada north of you went to all the way to um to Fillmore, which I'm not gonna go into, but but Nevada is a corridor which um has a has a fair amount of traffic and often pretty fast.

And I I just want to um make sure I'm understanding.

So from cash to plat, there is no signal boulder.

Cat Castle Puder to Boulder Street.

Boulder.

That's there's no right.

So what and and and I think I heard you say that is a decent amount of distance without some kind of protected crossing.

So with all the other things you're having to take into consideration in 200 plus square miles of the city and how we make um crossings more safe, I would ask, given the emerging uh densification of our downtown area, the near north end, that this is a neighborhood that people cross that street to go to hockey games, to go to the college, to go to shops on Tejon, to go to church.

Um it is used very frequently.

Yeah.

And um to consider what strategically, where might a signalized, you know, uh more safe crossing of Nevada so that you don't have to go all the way.

Um is is is worthy of consideration and quite frankly, you know, extending well down south uh South Nevada, um, where there are also we've heard uh from the Meadows Park community the challenge of crossing Nevada on the South E.

And so it's a tough area.

We used to be a highway.

Um, I get all of that.

So I I just I just want to affirm the intention and again remind us all that over the last 10 years, there's been a hundred and sixty-seven percent increase in pedestrian deaths in El Paso County.

And so as we grow, I don't know how much of that is just related to growth and more roads.

I mean, I don't know that, but but I know we want a safer pedestrian city.

So thank you for being here.

Thank you for responding to the constituent.

Thank you to the constituent for raising this concern.

And clearly it's something that we all really care about.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you.

Councilman Donaldson.

Yeah, thank you.

Um, Todd, I just want to I want to say thank you to you because uh for citizens, even even folks on council sometimes, you don't realize how many different requests like this one.

It's a kind of a one-off uh from all over the city.

I know you get them from district one, and Todd is very responsive as far as personally answering emails, going out, meeting with citizens, um, and your your office, you specifically.

I've been impressed with that.

So uh I'd say have a little patience with our traffic engineer.

He he's putting out lots of well, you're not putting them out, but he's dealing with lots of requests and issues throughout the city, and uh so this is you know the issue today, but overall, thank you for uh what you do.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Donaldson.

Councilman Williams.

Oh, okay.

Almost done.

Yes, I neglected it the first time.

I do want to thank you for your email and reaching out.

I think it was one of the ones I received late on a Friday night or something like that.

But I don't want to design in real time, because you and I both know that's not good.

But since crosswalks are not, you know, making it to the top of the list.

What about signage?

Is there a way to put uh person walking signage on each end?

Because there's a stop sign there.

So in theory, they should stop and then let the people walk.

But I think at this point in time in 2025, we need a lot more reminders to um make people aware of their surroundings than we did say 20, 10, 20 years ago.

And I one thing we could do, right?

Again, I don't like the design from the diet.

Right.

But um, and I I to be honest, I can't remember if there are stop bars on the side street, right?

I just can't remember if there are or not.

But so I think uh, you know, uh, like I said, I don't think like the design from the dais, but I can look at I can continue to look at some options that we could do in the short term, possibly even uh in the long term for that stretch.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you, Todd.

Right, you're welcome.

Next up we have Wally Waller.

Been looking at that cute dog the whole time.

Um my name is Wally Waller.

Uh thank you very much for letting me speak to you today, and Madam President and Council people.

Um happy Thanksgiving.

Has anybody said that to you today?

And the reason why I want to say that is I meet people where they are in the field.

And I use a gregarious personality to impact behavioral health.

When we talk about community, we talk about standing up for each other and creating a sense of joy where we forget where we end and somebody else begins.

In this moment, I'm doing my best to not be emotional.

I'm a mental health professional that is licensed in public health.

And I'm I'm I'm trying to ask for help.

I've only lived in Colorado Springs for a year.

I don't know a whole lot about the infrastructure and the organizations and the things that are out there, but I have a feeling you all do.

And we need help on the street.

We're getting ready to um freeze.

We're getting ready to have black toes in folks that are our citizens, the children of our citizens nationally, homelessness.

The study has not saying that all wrong.

More than half of the homeless that are in cities across the country are from the cities that they are in.

These are the citizens of our fathers and daughters.

These are the citizens that struggle not only with substance abuse, but they also struggle with severe mental illness.

I have witnessed in my own experience in Colorado Springs, somebody with both mental health and substance use be sat on the corner and left a hospital with black feet and bloody toes.

What I'm seeking today is the memorandum of understanding between myself, my organizations that are our work in this area and the city of Colorado Springs.

And I say that to be very profound, but not really.

We just need help.

These are the folks that can help.

Because I want to set up a continuum of care from the streets to a new home, not necessarily a new one, but a new one to them.

A place where we provide permanent solutions for the folks that really need our help.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you for your passion, sir.

I would uh recommend that if you have not already to speak with Sam, who just walked in.

Um I think he will be a great first step in a lot of the resources and advocacy that you're trying to do, and then um we could potentially have a conversation moving forward after a converse, a lengthy conversation with Sam, because there's a lot of resources.

Okay, thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Michelle Weisblatt, Dane.

Hello.

Thank you, Madam President and City Council people.

Uh I have included a copy of my speech for you, and as well as the New York Times article that it references within my speech.

Um, I am here to ask the city council to reconsider establishing an official Charlie Kirk Day as a rebuttal.

And although I understand that the vote has already taken place and public comments may have been heard, I am still requesting reconsideration, as I did not hear about this until after the decision, as did many of my friends who are here.

And while I regret the passing and firmly condemn the circumstances surrounding it, I do not believe this warrants dedicating a day in his honor.

He was not assassinated politician like Senator Melissa Hortman or President John F.

Kennedy.

He is not a figure such as a mayor or a police officer, nor has he contributed to our town in the way General Palmer and Spencer Penrose have.

And what message does this send to the people of color who reside in our town?

Colorado Springs is a diverse and inclusive community that welcomes LGBTQ plus individuals.

Charlie Kirk made his views on transgender and gay rights very clear.

What message does this send to the LGBTQ community?

And as cited by the New York Times article, he was proponent of replacement theory, a once fringe conspiracy theory, posting that the Jews of the are trying to replace the Americans with non-white immigrants, the Ali ideology and motivated gunmen who killed lesbian worshippers at Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018.

I am one of those from the Jewish community.

He also made other anti-Semitic statements.

What message does this send to our Jewish community?

Charlie Kirk stated America has freedom of religion.

Of course, we should be frank, he said in April, large dedicated Islamic areas are a threat to America.

What kind of message does this send to our Muslim community?

And for everyone with a daughter or granddaughter, it should be equally important that we do not have them idolize this man.

He has visited colleges and openly said that girls should be not pursue careers, that they should stay home and care for their families.

What message does this send our girls?

And while Charlie Kirk has a right to his opinion, and as a city, we should not support him by placing him on a pedestal.

I hope his views do not reflect the Colorado Springs stands for.

I hope his views do not reflect the Colorado Springs standard stands for.

Why do we want our children and grandchildren to look up to him and ask, why do we have a dedicated day to him?

What has he done to earn such reverence?

Thank you.

And that concludes our citizen comments, and that concludes our meeting today, and we are now adjourned.

Councilman Donaldson.

I think it's worth just a point of clarification here, Madam President.

I think that vote, which which I I voted nay on that, but it was for the one day, right?

It's not an annual day of remembrance or recognition.

Is that right?

That is correct.

Okay.

So that was a one time thing.

Personally, I voted against it, but it was one day.

It doesn't go forward where you're, you know, other it will happen every year, just a matter of fact.

Okay.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Um, and again, that is the end conclusion of our meeting today, and we are adjourned.