Good afternoon.

Welcome to the City of Harris Springs special meeting for Wednesday, October 21st, 2026.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Casey.

Councilmember Crow Iverson.

Here.

Councilmember Donaldson.

Councilmember Gold.

Here I am.

Councilmember Henry.

Present.

Councilmember Lineweber.

Here.

Councilmember Raining.

Here.

Councilmember Risley.

He's excused.

Absent and excused.

A present one excused.

Moving out of item two A.

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

A

resolution authorizing a term for a lease of Colorado Springs Utilities Communications Network Act.

Good afternoon, Tristan.

Weird at this side, but good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Madam President Crow Iverson and honorable members of City Council.

My name is Tristan Gearhart.

I'm the Chief Planning and Financial Officer at Colorado Springs Utilities.

So under City Code, we can as utilities approve leases that go up to 25 years.

Anything that extends beyond 25 years does not fall in the uh span of utilities to be able to execute to a contract that uh reaches out beyond 25 years.

Um so uh we have here before you today um a resolution that under city charter section 10-16 would um be able to be approved um longer than 25 years if there is benefit to the community uh to the public for uh such a lease um our uh uh vehicle that goes longer than 25 years.

Um if I can draw your attention to the bottom of the the chart there, um we believe that the extent uh expansion of our uh lease on our um fiber optic network system um does bring economic benefit that's in the public interest, longer revenue uh certainty, greater cumulative cash flow cash flow, and higher net present value over the term of that lease.

So um the lease that we're uh looking to extend um currently uh goes through the year 2046.

That uh original lease was uh signed in 2021.

So that was a 25 year time uh frame on that lease.

What we are uh here in this resolution to ask is a um the authority to authorize a lease that goes out to 2057.

Um that's 30 years out on that lease.

It also has the option uh with the counterparty to be able to expand that another for two additional five-year uh terms, so from twenty fifty-seven to twenty sixty-two, if one was um authorized or was executed at that point in time, and another that would go out to twenty sixty-seven, a total of forty years that is there.

From the financial side, as we look at the cash flows that would come in um from leasing our excess uh fiber optic cable on that uh system going out to twenty fifty-seven, we would see um about six hundred and seventy million dollars compared to the four hundred and forty million dollars that's in the current lease.

That's about two hundred and thirty million dollars of additional uh cash flow that we see coming in on the lease by expanding the term out to twenty fifty-seven.

And by the time you get out to twenty sixty-seven, if we expand it for those two additional uh lease terms, uh lease extensions, we would see eight hundred and ninety million dollars that comes in um over the span of the of the lease.

From a net present value standpoint, if we discount those uh future payments back to today's dollars, that still is an increase for us.

It's fifty-five million dollar increase in net present value and eighty-five million dollars if we went out um to the 40-year lease with the two five-year extensions.

We believe that the cash flow that is generated by expanding the lease does bring back economic benefit.

It brings more dollars that are certain uh to the lease of that system, which is good overall for our customers, brings additional revenue which um offsets the cost of the build of that uh that system over time and it allows us to be able to have our utilities uh related benefits that we see along with that system.

So um that is the proposal that we have in front of you today is uh resolution that would uh allow us to um execute that lease that uh reaches beyond 25 years.

With that, I'm open to take any questions that you might have to um Madam President.

Um Madam President.

Yep.

Yeah.

I

don't I don't necessarily have uh have a question.

I I'd just like to state that I I support this.

You know the big reasons are right there on the bottom of our screen right now.

Longer revenue certainty, a greater cumulative cash flow, and a higher net present value.

And I I am a customer that uses the current service that that with Ting.

And oh

of course I

do.

I