Feeds and a special note the town of Vail has implemented increased fines for blocking roadways or failing to follow traction laws.

And remember, you can always check for road and weather conditions and closures, view live traffic cameras, and check for traffic or construction delays on the COTRIP app or at COTRIP.org.

It even has a trucker mode.

Thanks for watching this edition of Know Before You Haul.

Check out the other videos in the series and prepare yourself to stay slow, steady, and safe for the long haul.

On this episode of How to Denver, how to become a legacy business.

Designated legacy businesses appear on the city's online registry and also receive public recognition and networking opportunities, marketing and branding support, access to customized training opportunities and technical assistance, tailored support and referrals to other city and state business support programs.

Please note there is no grant or loan directly associated with this program.

The City of Denver launched the Legacy Business Program in 2023 to honor, promote, and support long-standing independent businesses that contribute to the character and vitality of their local communities.

The Legacy Business Program acknowledges the unique benefits these businesses bring to their neighborhoods and celebrates their resiliency and commitment to social impact.

These homegrown businesses represent the best of what makes Denver Denver.

To participate in the program, a business must meet eligibility requirements and submit a completed application.

The city anticipates offering one to two application cycles annually.

Eligibility, FAQs, application link, and deadline can all be found on Denver Economic Development and Opportunities website, Denvergov.org slash DDO.

Interested in recommending one of your favorite Denver businesses to the program, submit the brief nomination form on our website.

The business owner will be contacted and encouraged to apply to the program.

The city offers virtual information sessions during each application round.

These sessions are offered in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Check the website for details on the next scheduled session or to access the link to watch a recording of a previous session.

This information session will provide additional details about the application and evaluation process.

Application assistance is available upon request.

Questions can be submitted to InvestIn Denver at DenverGov.org.

Thanks for watching and make sure to subscribe for more how-to videos like this.

And if there are any city services you want to learn how to take advantage of, leave a comment down below.

In this episode of How to Denver, how to renew your car's registration.

Great news.

You do not have to visit a local DMV to renew your registration.

You do have several options when it comes to renewing your vehicle's registration or updating any information.

And none of which involves standing in line at the DMV.

You can use a kiosk located in the Metro Denver region.

Go online to myDMV.colorado.gov or by mail.

Kiosk locations can be found at COMVExpress.com.

If you require an emissions test, the results should automatically show up the day after your test is complete.

If renewing online, you'll need your license plate number, vehicle identification number or verification code, current vehicle emissions, if applicable, current Colorado insurance, and a valid credit card or check if payment is required.

If renewing by mail, please check your renewal notice for admissions or insurance requirements.

Include your payment, renewal card, and proof of emissions or insurance if required.

Please make checks payable to the Denver Manager of Finance for the total amount due.

Please do not send cash.

Address the envelope to Denver Motor Vehicle 2855 Tremont Place.

Denver, Colorado, 80205.

Notice and payment must be received before the last day of your grace period or late fees will apply.

Thanks for watching.

And if there are any city services you want to learn how to take advantage of, leave a comment down below.

In this episode of How to Denver, how to use your Denver public library card to get in free to some of the best cultural venues in Denver, like the Butterfly Pavilion, Wings Over the Rockies, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and many, many more.

You already know your library card can take you to other worlds and magical lands, transport you through time, but did you know it can literally help you visit amazing places right here in Colorado for free?

First, make sure you have an active Denver Public Library card.

And to get one, check out a previous how to video and then come back to this one.

We'll put a link in the description.

Now that you've got your card handy, you can go to Denver Library.org and scroll down the page to the other services section.

Then find Museum and Cultural Passes link.

Clicking the link will take you to a page where you can browse all the options.

When you decide on a spot, select a date that works for you.

Just know these book up well in advance.

So it's best to plan ahead.

Enter your library card number and password to confirm your reservation.

From there, you'll receive an email with your tickets with an option to present them visually or print them out.

Ticket amount and availability depend on each cultural location.

So make sure you read the details when booking.

Thanks for watching.

And if there are any city services you want to learn how to take advantage of, leave a comment down below.

Welcome to No Before You Haul.

This video will focus on the challenges, restrictions, and amenities that you should be aware of on Hoosier Pass.

Hoozer Pass is on Colorado State Highway 9 between mile markers 73 and 90, about halfway between fair play and the popular ski resort town of Breckenridge.

The pass is beautiful, but it's steep with tight switchbacks and limited passing lanes.

Hoosier Pass can be daunting if you're not prepared, especially in inclement weather.

Because the ascent has a grade higher than 5%.

This pass is a speed limit enforcement zone.

If speeding, CMV operators may receive double fines.

The northern side of the pass has a steep climb and sharp turns.

Just past mile marker 80, drivers will encounter a hairpin and should take this wide to avoid endangering a trailer.

Six more hair pins occur before the summit between mile markers 77 and 78.

Just past mile marker 79, shadows cause significant ice buildup throughout the winter.

As a reminder, drivers should maintain a low gear after summiting as they begin the long descent.

Vehicles approaching from the south should be prepared for a long climb.

A chain-up station is located at mile point 72 just north of Alma.

Colorado's mandatory chain law requires all CMVs must carry chains from September 1 to May 31.

Two spots on the pass have wide shoulders that are not regularly maintained, but could be used as pull-offs in an emergency.

These are on the right, just after mile marker 73 and before mile marker 80.

Be prepared for a steep and winding descent, including a number of sharp hairpin turns with icy spots in the winter.

Thanks for watching this edition of Know Before You Haul.

Check out the other videos in the series and prepare yourself to stay slow, steady, and safe for the long haul.

I am Dr.

Jessica Churchill.

I'm a shoulder and elbow surgeon as part of the sports division of orthopedics.

So the things I do most frequently are rotator coffee, for rotator coffee, things with shoulder pingment and athletes that have pain effect browing or shoulder dislocations and instability.

I also do a lot of arthritis care.

So I do book total to shoulder replacement and reverse to the shoulder replacements, which are my favorite procedure and they really help patients get back to their quality of life.

Shoulder injuries affect everybody, and they're very common sports athletic injuries, but they're also very common everyday life activities.

So mom is picking up their kids, shuffling their driveway for snow, taking care of things around the house, things like falls.

Also, a lot of us get arthritis in our shoulder joints as we age.

Sports, staying active, taking walks, playing with your grandchildren, those are really integral parts of your life.

It's really important for people to stay active and to do the things that they like.

And as far as I'm concerned for orthopedic surgery, a lot of times there is a relatively easy answer.

There's a lot of times where we can fix something and get patients back to doing what they were doing before an injury.

And for me that's really gratifying.

I would hope my patients would know that you know I care deeply about them.

I can't always give them the results they want, but I I care that they do better.

And I want them to improve.

I want us to improve together as a team, and I want them to succeed after surgery.

I hope that when they see me, they feel like I'm listening to them and they know that I care about them, how they do.

All our providers here care deeply about their patients.

They fight hard for them and they've worked for them.

Thank you for choosing Denver Health Orthopedics.

And I really hope that you have the most positive experience with her team.

Welcome back to this biweekly meeting of the budget and policy committee of Denver City Council.

Join us for the discussion as the budget and policy committee starts now.

Good morning, everyone, or good afternoon.

Sorry about that.

Thank you for joining us at budget and so we have a really packed agenda.

So let's get started with introductions and then I'll pass it around.

So I'll start to my left.

Jimmy Torres, West Denver District 3.

Uh Darrell Watson, fine district nine.

Paul Cash from South Denver, District Six.

Sarah Perity, your other council member at large.

Chantel Lewis, district eight.

Thank you.

So we have three briefings.

Hi.

District 4.

Thank you.

And I don't think we have anyone online.

Is that correct?

Yeah.

We have three briefings, so we're gonna have to just be pretty concise.

I think this one, Councilmember Flynn, if you don't think it would probably take like 20 minutes if less.

There's only six slides.

So council members, just cue me up as we get started.

The floor is yours, Councilmember.

Uh thank you.

This is a rule change in a DRMC amendment to address our ability to have contracts, actual contract documents to read at the time of committee.

This is something that dates back to 1982 in the original charter amendment, and it changed somewhat in the mid-about 10 years ago or so, 12 years ago.

We'll get into it here.

But 326F of the Charter gives the council the authority to accept or reject contracts and other instruments uh defined in the charter that are valued at a half million dollars or more.

Voters passed it in 1982.

There have been a couple amendments to it since then.

We look at some intergovernmental agreements and things like that.

The problem is under the current practice, uh we don't receive the actual documents until they're filed for city council the Monday before the council meeting.

And prior to that, we get to be frank, we get some really good presentations from the agencies on what these contracts do, what they cover.

Uh and sometimes they seem to miss the mark uh in other cases, and we've I think this came to a head, uh Madam President, when uh when we were looking at the women's soccer stadium and all the documents related to that transaction and having very little time to review them.

So prior to nine uh 2015, uh the council took action on 3.2.6 matters through a two-reading council bill.

The council 2011 council, I think it was the year before uh Councilman Cashrin and I and Councilman Gilmore came on with our with our other colleagues.

That prior council changed it to a one-reading resolution, but gave us rule 3.6 that said, well, if anybody needs more time to read a contract, you can delay it without any reason.

Just you know, hey, I'm 3.6 in this and delay it a week if you need to.

Uh but effectively uh it gives us only four days to review contracts.

So uh council president, uh, councilwoman parody and I are co-sponsoring this change to give us the contracts at committee, the current draft agreement at the time of committee.

And we do it through these two um changes.

One is uh change to the DRMC, chapter 13, Article 2 to clarify that the 30-day shock clock starts at the noon filing for city council, and the rules of procedure amendment, which basically right now says that the council president shall refer all items to the appropriate committee.

It adds a little bit of language to that that says the council president or the designee, so the committee chair, uh, shall not accept for that committee meeting a contract unless the documents are provided at the time of committee.

There's provisions to waive that.

Uh there may be certain, there may be a lot of circumstances where it makes sense to waive it.

I don't know, because we haven't encountered that yet.

The rationale behind this is the 30-day shock clock is this in the charter amendment in 1982.

It said that the 30-day review period starts when the item is submitted for council approval.

So when does that occur?

And I got a legal analysis from a former legislative counsel for city for city council, George Cerroni, who in the 1990s was the uh was the David Broadwell, the on Schwabaga, now the Jonathan Griffin of that era.

Uh and he provided me with a very robust uh analysis that said, giving the contract to the committee is not submitting it to council for approval because there are six members of every committee has six members of council who are not on it, not voting.

And so you're not submitting it for council approval until you submit it to the full council.

So that is the rationale behind it.

Very simple change and hope that it helps us out over the weekends when we spend most of our time instead of uh with our grandkids or our kids or doing things outdoors, we're reading contracts.

I know all of us are doing that, right?

I was gonna add that I like to read contracts, and it's very hard to do on the weekends.

Um, and that um I would just say that to me, this is um there may be multiple permissible interpretations of the charter language about when is submission, and this would be us adopting an interpretation that is certainly one permissible interpretation, doing that by ordinance um in a way that functions for us as a body.

Thank you.

And I really am grateful to council member funnel because this was honestly his work, and I'm glad to be along for the ride with council president.

Um, thank you.

Um, just as one of the sponsors, this did come up when you were reviewing the um use the sale and use agreement for the soccer, and when I keep getting asked questions on what blank documents I got, and I still pull up that email from Zara, and I show people the exhibits when they kept talking to the exhibits, and they're like, Oh, you literally got blank documents, and I'm like, No, I'm not exaggerating.

I'm literally we got blank documents, and it's I can't do my job unless we see them.

This doesn't make it necessary for them to have a signature, which I think is important.

Um, I know council member Flynn and Councilmember Parity, we talked about the signature piece of the contracts because some negotiations are still happening, but the meat and potatoes of the contract should be within this the what we're getting at committee because our committee, we don't have keel committees, right?

But we do have the ability to refer them to a date certain, and how do we know if they're ready for the floor if we haven't had the opportunity to read it?

So this is I just really believe this is um councilman sorrier and I are bringing forward something that's good governance.

Council member um Kendra Black was all about good governance.

She would like her whole thing, she'd be like, I'm bringing this because it's good governance, and so I think this falls under the line of good governance and makes us more transparent for all of us.

Um so thank you, Councilmember.

Before you go to any questions, I want to give credit to uh former councilwoman Debbie Ortega, for whom this issue was uh very difficult one for her.

When I ran in 2014-15, I met with her, and this was one of the issues that I said I would try to resolve, and now that she's no longer here, I'm sorry we're resolving it after she's gone, but I will call her after we pass it and let her know that we did it.

That's a reincarnation.

Also, I I realize something that might lead to questions that I'm just gonna answer really quickly that I forgot to hit on.

So what this means for those of us who share committees is that um essentially we'll be looking to see like do we have what the position is saying is the current language of the contract, and if it is still blank, maybe it's not ready for committee, right?

And so there's a little bit of discretion there about like um the ideas that we need to be reviewing this for committee, and so yes, it doesn't have to be signed, um, but it also shouldn't be a blank piece of paper either.

Yeah, the meet the substantive step substantive information should be there.

Um first up, we have council member alvides and torres.

Anyone else?

Council Member.

Councilmember Alvidas, take away take it away.

Thank you.

I appreciate this greatly.

I think it's been a struggle since I've been elected.

It was one of the shocking things that I knew we were voting on things without having all the information was very concerning.

And the other excuse they always bring up is like the shot clock.

How does that affect this?

By defining in the code that the shot clock starts with the filing submitted for council approval Thursday noon for the Monday meeting.

It means the shot clock does not start when it's presented to a committee a week earlier.

Literally, the committee cannot approve it, so it cannot be submitted to a committee for approval because the committees don't vote.

They merely say this is ready for floor action, where the decision is then made.

So that's that's why we're saying the clock starts, and uh George Sarony provided that opinion that it doesn't start until it's submitted for full approval of council, uh approval by the full council, rather, all thirteen of us.

And then one thing that came up, like when we were buying the Denver Post building was not having the appraisal on top of the contract to purchase, and so I'm curious: does it cover other documents other than like for example with that the contract of purchase?

The appraisal is also part, in my opinion, of those documents that we need, right?

So I'm curious about those related documents.

This does not specifically impact something like the appraisal, but we still have rule 3.6 where it can then be delayed, and so I'm delaying this until I can get the appraisal.

Yeah, but yes, I think it's just helpful to have everything in a committee before because we always talk about we don't want to be doing committee work on the floor, but why are we letting things out of committee when we don't have all the information that we need, and so that's an example of we should have had access to the appraisal.

Yes, we can delay it on the floor, but maybe that automatically means it's a no, and we're gonna have more questions once we have the appraisal.

So I'm curious about that.

Um I would say as a committee chair that like um I think this will help focus on what contractual type items are on a given committee agenda, and I think committee chairs still have the discretion not to schedule something into committee until we have what we need, even if it's beyond the contract.

Um so that doesn't we could be doing that anyway, right?

Um, but I think this will help like me at least go through that thought process because I'll be looking and thinking, like, okay, is this contract complete enough?

And then I feel like a natural thought would be well, in this particular case, we really need to see the appraisal, you know.

So, and I would be I think there may be a follow-on, like we may start to realize maybe we have enough information now to say that there are other kinds of documents for other kinds of transactions that we always need to have in hand.

Maybe we don't, and we follow up soon about that.

I like I hear what you're saying.

I appreciate that.

Contracts at least to start.

You know, it is part of our job as committee members and committee you know, chair to make sure we have all the documents we need, and I think it's a struggle with this administration because when you don't know what to ask for, you're not gonna get it.

And so thinking about um language or you know, next steps, probably more legislation that we need to do to make sure that we have things like an appraisal when we're making a real estate purchase, and we could we could consider something like the current draft and all exhibits to the point about the soccer stadium.

Yeah, actually that's a really good point because there were so many exhibits and what would be considered an exhibit.

For example, in that uh, you know, in all that documentation, there was the 2017 IGA, there was the new IGA.

There was like so many additional documents.

So just curious about that, but I'm grateful that you all did this work to make get us to this point.

Thank you.

This creates a lot more work for committee chairs, obviously.

But it's essential.

Yes, and just to your point, Councilman Alvides, with your first question, that's why um I talked about the signature of the contract, is it doesn't need to be signed because the shot clock according to this ordinance wouldn't start until that Thursday.

So in that agenda comes out, everything needs to be shared up and the signature needs to be on there, and there's no more negotiations, but this at least to give us no more blank documents for council committee.

That makes sense.

Thank you for that.

Yeah, thank you.

Councilmember Torres.

Thank you.

I was just also gonna echo the um uh additional attention from chairs on the materials that come through.

I think that's gonna be just an added um uh responsibility.

Um, and when you talk about contracts, it's not just contracts, but really anything that's coming through as a really resolution or bill.

So this is intergovernmental agreements, um, uh like our operating agreement with the with Denver Health, like, say I would agree with that.

Yeah, okay.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

And then Councilmember Heights.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, thank you for bringing this forward.

I know uh councilmember Flynn.

Uh this is my second time at the rodeo, and um in our first class, you were you were talking about this before, and it's interesting to hear that Councilmember Ortega was talking about it even before I took um office in 2019.

So I know this has been an ongoing conversation for quite some time, so thank you for um and thank you for bringing it forward.

Uh it I I mean, if I were to start with a a value statement, I would say we um in America expect three functioning branches of government, and um and this is an opportunity for us to uh to make sure that while there are lots of conversations of whether the federal level has three functioning branches of government, um we are uh it uh reaffirming Denver's values in that the people of Denver want there to be three functioning branches of government, and uh so we want to make sure that uh this is a mayor's town, there's uh knowledge disparity that happens uh when we are meant to or expected to cast votes on blank documents.

Um I would say this is not just something that's in this administration.

Um we had the same frustrations and concerns about the previous administration, so um, you know, went out in my first term.

So uh this is uh I would also as a value statement say that we want council president says we want to um create legislation that survives um the test of time or seven generations as she says and um and I see this this is not a necessarily response to this administration, it's a response to the knowledge disparity that has uh been somewhat intrinsic in the way Denver's government has functioned historically.

So um the only other thing that I I wanted to mention to Councilmember Elvidros's question about uh appraisals, um, the biggest benefit I see is that um the prior interpretation was that the shot clock started before committee with this interpretation of the shot clock starts the Thursday before full council.

We can delay as long as it needs, uh as long as uh you know it's is necessary to get a signed appraisal or all the documents that we need to make a decision without worrying about the shot clock, and so uh while it may not um explicitly cover um appraisals or other documents, it gives us all the time in the world we need to wait so that we can make a uh an informed decision.

So, so yeah, I'm uh you and I have talked about this uh over years, and I'm so excited that uh that it's actually here.

So thank you.

And uh thank you also to the spot the other sponsors too.

Thank you, I should I should also give uh mention to a former councilwoman Kathy Donahue and the members of the council that put it on the ballot in 1982 because of what you mentioned uh and councilwoman about conflicts with the third floor.

That's historic with every administration, and this dates back to frustrations with the McNichols administration when Mayor McNichols could issue a contract for 50 million dollars without even coming to the council, and that's how this came about.

So thank you for bringing that out, but it's historic.

Councilmember Lewis.

Um, I just wanted to tell you all thank you.

I spent a lot of time reading the contracts, and I think one of the things that this also solves towards we would often hear from the departments that we couldn't postpone something because it would jeopardize whatever operations that they have going on, and so this gives us an opportunity to get the contracts well in advance so we don't have to um move things by postponing them at the what feels like the last minute to the departments, but us receiving it at the last minute as council members.

So thanks for solving this, you both.

Thank you.

And it was Councilman Kennich for whoever wants to know who changed the contract process.

Um, she felt it was good governance to only go to one vote.

I don't think it was a unanimous vote.

I remember Council Member um Terra was upset with that, and then that's when they came up with the compromise of the 3.6.

So some historical information.

This feels like we're kind of polished, like I feel like this is additive to those steps and sort of makes what they were attempting to do with that work a little better.

Um, less than being like a swing back in another direction.

I think it's just correcting a little more what they were going for there.

And then talk about next steps.

Is there was there a next when does it go to committee?

Um, let me talk to let me talk to the chair of the committee and then as soon as that committee will have us.

And the analyst, but uh as soon as it's reasonable, it's the first available opening.

We'll bring it up.

Okay, I mean we just email everyone to let them know which committee so we know the next steps.

The calendar, okay.

Uh really quick clarification.

Um the chair makes the decision only when they've been asked to by the president.

Um I think the president could choose to delegate.

Sorry, I'm waving or I think the president could say I'm delegating this to chairs, period, or the president could not.

Okay, I think that's up to her.

Thank you.

That's the current language, anyway.

That the president shall refer matters to committee.

It doesn't even mention the chairs, it's just implicit and it's always been done that the committee chairs say okay, this is for action, this is consent, etc.

And there were times when I was chair of the land use transportation infrastructure where I would hold the um CIP adjustment for um the zoo, botanic gardens, and what was the other one?

We had a third one come through, and they didn't want to share any of that information with committee.

And I said, Well, then you're not gonna get scheduled.

So send us the contracts because we need to know what this would look like for our community on price increases, and I held it for five months as the chair.

I I went to Councilman Torres and I said, Hey, just so you know you're I'm gonna be in trouble with our agencies, and she and Torres was like if that's what you feel like they don't want to share it, hold it.

And I did um until they got us that information, and we could read it prior to coming.

So I think this will help those types of situations.

All right, thank you all so much.

Next up, we have Councilmember Lewis with the update on the proposed civic assembly.

Okay, thank you.

That's it in the right folks.

We're back.

This is a presentation that or this is a conversation that you all are pretty aware of because it's the second time I've come to budget policy.

Um, and I'm excited to come back and talk to you all about civic assemblies.

So this presentation is going to focus on the ways that a civic assembly process could be drafted into Denver's charter so that we can use it in the future.

There is no draft language currently, and I'd like to encourage all of you all to collaborate with me in terms of what you all would like to see as we begin to look at drafting a bill.

Um I would also like to shout out Tyler Fisher, who is online.

He is a man of many talents, um, but the one most relevant to this conversation is he's working on a charter chain task task charter change task force, excuse me, for the city of Edgewater.

One one of the recommendations the task force is looking at is bringing a civic assembly process to Edgewater.

And so he is online and he'll be here to answer any questions at the end of the presentation.

And I'll run through this quickly because I know we don't have a lot of time.

Um, so I wanted to start with grounding ourselves in some of the background with the civic assembly.

The next couple of slides are a quick recap recap of the first time that I came to budget and policy, but I've also included all of the process slides from the first meeting in the appendix of this presentation for your convenience.

So, what is a civic assembly?

A civic assembly brings together a diverse group of residents selected through a civic lottery.

Delegate delegates are given time, information, and support to learn about the issue, hear from a full range of perspectives, deliver it together, and craft informed recommendations that reflect broad community support.

The Civic Assembly is like a legislative body of the city of everyday citizens.

It's made up, its makeup should be represented of the people, um, its recommendations should be implemented as if they were part of a decision-making body.

Um so this is not an advisory body intentionally, this is meaningful public participation.

Each civic assembly has three key elements to reach resolutions.

The who, the what, and the how.

So the who, the participants in a affected area, in this case, it would be citywide to a neighborhood, and they're selected by a civic lottery, as I mentioned.

The invitations are sent at random to households in that targeted area.

The number of invitations you have to scale according to whatever the budget that you might have, as well as the size of the issue that you might be discussing.

Using this, we could use the same system that the city uses to inform people of zoning changes.

We don't have to, but that's just an example.

The recipients of the invitations opt in, and so the city could provide multiple avenues and able to be able to do so.

So mail-ins, email responses, text messages, et cetera.

The what?

So these participants are provided stipends for their time to learn about the nuances of the topic area and then to deliberate in depth with their fellow assembly persons over the course of multiple meetings.

And so once the assembly selection is finalized, the body will come together and learn and then deliberate.

The panelists are given enough time for all of this, typically over the course of multiple all-day sessions.

So you'd think maybe four to eight days total, but again, these are scaled based on budget.

The assembly, the assembly is guided by professional facilitators to ensure respectful and balanced dialogue and to handle logistical issues that may arise, but the facilitation does not have any say over the final recommendations made by the assembly.

The how the Civic Assembly produces recommendations based on 70% or more on an issue.

So if they can't find consensus with 70% or more, then it's not a recommendation that would move forward.

The assembly makes their recommendations, and then it's up to the decision-making body to implement those recommendations.

So again, when I brought this before you, that decision-making body is council or the mayor.

The OEC, the OECD has found that most decision-making bodies do, in fact, implement at least a portion of the recommendations that are made.

So, for example, in Fort Collins, which is the civic assembly that I had the opportunity to attend, at the start of the process, council passed a resolution committing to implementing the recommendations of that panel in partnership with their mayor, I might add.

So future ordinances or charter change could specify which could specify means by which the council or the mayor may or must implement the recommendations of the Civic Assembly.

Implementation could look could look like any of the following formal resolutions or ordinances to implement the recommendations.

It could look like a ballot question where next were necessary on recommendations.

It could be some kind of public accounting for why recommendations were not implemented as well.

Thanks, Jesse.

Okay, so here's the recap.

Now we're going to look at how this could be implemented by legislation.

And I wanted to mostly focus on the pieces of the process that council members had questions about last time before discussing some of the other general considerations.

I wanted to start with a brief overview of some of the sample ordinances that we found around the country.

I know that when we were here last time, Council President Sandoval, you wanted to know if there were examples of where this has been done before in a strong mayor system.

We've not been able to find that example of these type of ordinances and legislation that we have found.

There were two kinds.

The first kind is the example of the Petaluma and the Fort Collins ordinances.

These are simple ordinances that allocate funding and specify the party to run the civic assembly and a sketch of the rules for the process and the party to be awarded the funding.

I've been working with John to understand how Denver could do this without having to go through an RFP, and it seems like that is not possible.

That means it would take some time to get these things set up for if Denver attempted to go this route.

Given that these are supposed to cover hotter controversial issues, that delay to me is unacceptable.

And so that brings us to the second type of bill, which is a charter change.

This is the Cambridge, Massachusetts example, and it also is being worked on in edgewater edgewater, which I mentioned earlier.

If this route was selected, it would allow the city to have their framework ready when the next big issue arises, and all that would be required for city council is to make that appropriation.

So, in other words, what we'll be describing from here on out would be a charter change that would merely create a framework.

It would not be appropriate, it would not appropriate money because I know that might come up, and it would not impose active obligations upon the city.

It would just create a tool for us to use in the future.

So the first consideration and how civic assemblies could be called would we could specify multiple ways for a civic assembly to be called.

The mayor could call a civic assembly, city council could convene the civic assembly by majority vote, and there could even be a provision which the community could convene a civic assembly by gathering signatures.

The community could request the civic assembly by including a specific remit and question for the assembly to answer the geographical boundaries for the question, either citywide or specific neighborhood.

Signature thresholds would vary, but after a certain threshold is met, city council could debate the request and vote it down, but after a higher threshold is met, the city council could not vote it down.

The second of considerations resolve around the lottery assortion process.

These include the selection of geographic areas and the process for notifications to folks in those areas, as well as an opt-in procedure.

After the notifications are sent out and people opt in, there is a screening process somewhat similar to jury selection.

Councilman Watson, you asked about this process last time I came to committee and the comfort and the considerations around what the process screens for would include age, gender, race, and ethnicity, location of residence, educational attainment, housing status, experience of a disability income.

There are a number of other ones that I also included for you, Councilman Watson, and you can look at those, such as the level of prior political engagement, et cetera, et cetera.

But those are included in the slide.

So the information committee is meant to inform the delegates about the issue, which may entail entire meetings of the civic assembly be dedicated to education about the issue before any recommendations are floated.

And this way we could make up for any deficiencies in the delegates' understanding about the issue.

I know that came up in terms of delegates not being experts in this area in specific areas.

These considerations around drafting for the information committee include ensuring the interdependence of the committees, ensuring that the information committee is advisory in nature, the roles of the various stakeholders, and a process for adding the committees as requested by the delegates.

One additional point to consider is flexibility in the design of the committee.

The makeup of the information committee is slightly different in each assembly, but who sits on an information committee is determined in collaboration with the convening entity, and its membership can be influenced by the topic of that assembly.

So, for example, in the dischutes where the topic of youth homelessness required more expertise, experts were invited to participate in the Hughes Civic Assembly when the use of the Hughes site was largely a matter of public opinion.

The committee included both experts at large, experts and at-large community meet members, as well as folks who were looking to be able to have space on site of the Hughes site.

So some of those kind of nuances is required in order to be able to allow some flexibility.

Finally, the final consideration ought to include clear pathways to implementation, a transparent reason for why implementation was not done, as I stated before.

So implementation could look like any of the following for formal resolutions or ordinances to implement the recommendations, ballot questions when necessary on recommendations, and some kind of public accountant for why recommendations were not implemented.

Thanks.

Finally, I just wanted to discuss the considerations for drafting.

So one ensuring that recommendations are made with 70% approval or more.

How delegates are paid or reimbursed for their time because that's an important aspect.

How the city can delegate the authority to authority to run a civic assembly to a third party, such as healthy democracy, the nonprofit task was running the one for Fort Collins, their civic assembly, and that's just an example, it's not a recommendation, and then a formal formula, excuse me, for determining the length of time that an assembly should run.

With that, I'm happy to take any questions.

I have recent the QA follow-up that you all requested back in October when I first came.

And what I really like to hear from you all is areas of concerns in terms of how we would draft this or further suggestions about what the bill should include.

I will also reiterate that I would like to collaborate with any and all of you who might be interested in bringing a civic assembly to Denver.

With that, have you taken questions?

Thank you.

Councilman Parity, Council President, Remero Campbell.

So yeah, I this really um captures my imagination, but I haven't had the chance that you had to go and um watch part of this process.

I don't remember exactly what you were able to go see in the Fort Collins Civic Assembly.

Could you remind us of what like I just remember that you got a thought about it?

I think you actually went.

Yeah, what were they doing?

Like, can you I know I know you told us okay this is October?

But the youth site, I would akin it to like the Park Hill Golf Course where there had been a lot of discussion around what they did the old um the site that once held the old stadium.

And so there was mixed reviews in terms of what um where they wanted to land, and so what I was able to see is actually the delegates deliberate.

So I went for the entire time that the civic assembly was um yeah, and so I was able to see um the informational aspects of it where they were presenting um to the delegates what information they had, um, the plans that they were hoping to be able to implement, and so they were a number of plans.

I saw them actually come up with plans in real time, the delegates, based on the information that they were receiving from folks.

Um so I was able to go from start to finish.

Um I sent spent the weekend there so that I can engage with the process and then as well as the final um vote in terms of the recommendations that they were going to move forward to council.

I then followed up to see um once they took that back to council um how that presentation went with the council members as well as the mayor.

And how did they come to the decision to have a civic assembly on that piece of land?

If you know, that's a good question.

I'm not I'm not sure that I'm just curious about the great question where it's like if we have the tool in our structures of city government and one of these really hard problems came along.

Um I like the three paths to enact like activating a civic assembly, the idea that like the mayor of the council or uh or petition, right, could could do it.

Um it feels like a it feels like a cool thing to like have in the um just in the toolkit, you know.

Um so that's really all I have to say about it.

But I'd be very curious to know anything more about how Fort Collins landed on this and how they um what process they had to go through to get one to happen, kind of.

Um so the so to answer the um latter part of your question, um they did so um through um money that the council had agreed to appropriate for the civic assembly um specifically for the Hughes site, and um it was an ordinance that they moved forward in order to be able to do so.

Um they agreed to the recommendations prior to the recommendations actually coming from the obviously from the delegates within the civic assembly.

And I know that both their mayor as well as um most of their council members uh were in agreement that a civic assembly should move forward.

I can't remember the vote um off the top of my head, but I'm happy to find that for you.

Okay, and if the organizations that you're talking to, it seems like that was kind of a rare opportunity, and so I'm glad one of us went.

Um, but if the organizations that you're talking to know of any other assemblies that are happening anywhere that we could kind of watch unfold, I would personally love to.

Sure.

Those were my only questions.

Thanks, Madam President.

I'm happy to ask.

Thank you.

Next up we have Council, Chairman Mayor Campbell, Flynn, and then Councilman Perry.

Uh thank you, Madam President.

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, so I think I remember when you had come um the first time with the civic assembly information, and I think it has a lot of value, and there's been a lot of success around the country for civic assembly.

Um, one of the in in those models, I'm wondering with the work that um you have also been doing and thinking about raising and lifting voices through the RNOs.

I mean, is that another um consideration of like where this would sit or how that might also be able to be generated?

In terms of like a city department?

Yeah, not city department, but I think it's another tool in the toolbox for um civic assembly.

So there'd be different ways you had the council, count or mayor, council, and mayor, and petition.

Yeah.

I mean, I guess that would that would be determined based that would be determined based on which body decides it.

So if council decides that, I think that's it would sit within the auspices of council, but if it's something that the mayor decided to do during to do uh through executive order, for example, I think he would have he or she would have the opportunity to determine where that might say.

It could be that the administration decides, hey, we need a new department that's specifically for civic assemblies.

Um there's a lot of flexibility in that.

Um I so there's two things that I'm also trying to figure out like how they fit together, and and I think it's I think it's different enough, but it's but there's similarities like with the participatory budgeting um process that we have and being able to engage um residents in it's kind of the other way.

It's like we have this amount of dollars and then engaging community around what those projects might be.

This would be the other side of we have an issue, and my understanding from civic assemblies and like National Civic League also um runs and does a number of uh civic assemblies as well, is it's the success is being able to hone in on what that issue is, so that it's not too broad or too narrow.

Yes, and not every issue is a civic assembly, you know, issue, and so it's like thinking about what that vetting process is for the topics for the topic.

Yeah, and again, that really comes down to whatever the cabadi who convenes it decides.

And so, like when we were having these initial conversations with the administration, um, just the conversations were really grounded and rooted in housing.

Um and really getting as close to specific as we could while also keeping it broad enough for folks to be able to find resolution for.

And so if council decides to convene a civic assembly, um and we do so, we would get to determine what the topic might potentially be.

Um, that would be obviously a topic that touches all of the districts um that we all hold.

I think um those the one that I'm thinking of specific is like I believe it was in uh California, where they had looked at a um what was a I think was a fair ground that was vacant, and then they were trying to repurpose that property and space um for uh it was a state, it was a stadium or a fairground or something, but do you know what I'm talking about?

That's the pedal of my uh, yeah.

So I think that those, I mean, I think it's a good tool and it seems to have a lot of success um over a longer period of time.

So I would just be interested in more of how we would how a sick how the civic assembly would be activated.

It's like either like what would trigger what would trigger it because again to distinguish that it's different than participatory budgeting because participatory budgeting starts with here's the dollars area.

I mean, one of the one of the ideas that um I thought this would that a civic assembly could be a really um fantastic opportunity was around the 250 million dollars that we were trying to solve for as a um that we were trying to solve for for 25 and 26, and it's one of the ideas that I actually brought to the mayor um as an opportunity, and many both have used it for like of issues like that as well.

Um so the topics can be very broad from figuring out budget deficits or things that are really controversial are trivial that you just can't figure out in c and community homelessness might be an incredible one to be able to bring forth the civic assembly where folks are talking um based on facts and not emotions, and you're bringing more people to the conversation as well.

So there's a lot of flexibility and opportunity as well in terms of topics.

Um, you know, public restrooms tackle public pressure.

Yeah, seriously.

Um, that's it.

I yeah, go ahead.

Um I'm done.

Sorry, not go ahead.

Yes, thank you, Madam President.

Okay, Council Member Twin.

Uh, Madam President.

Um, I am I'm very hesitant at this point to uh lend any support to moving forward with this right now.

Uh we here are the civic assembly.

We're the elected representatives, and I we need to have a much better understanding of how this could uh diminish my representation of my constituents, by surrendering any authority that would bind the council to do something that was that was decided by a body outside of this council.

So under our charter, we don't I mean we don't do co-governance, we are the governance here, and I'm very concerned about my continued representation of the people in District 2, or if I remember from any other district, of surrendering that the charter authority to uh a randomly selected uh by you know mail going out to to 30,000 homes, and we select 50 of them.

So, how do you envision this process binding the council to uh uh be compelled or forced to adopt whatever uh they come up with?

I saw one of the recommendations was we look at affordable housing.

I think that that defies a very simple solution that can be derived within 50 days by 50 randomly selected people.

I wouldn't want to be bound to whatever they tell us we need to do.

So I'm very concerned about that.

Yeah, so the I it might be helpful honestly, Councilman Flynn, if you reached out to the folks in Fort Collins to ask if that's how they've experienced it as council people to see if they have felt that their power or representation as a council member or even mayor has been diminished, and I think you might find the opposite of that um in terms of their experience.

The the delegates are intended to um help to improve our processes so you have more everyday people coming to the conversation to help us resolve.

Um I think it's a a value misalignment because I do believe in co-governance, and this is the opportunity um for us to bring co-governance, and I think if if it's a not a value that you hold, I think you might just stay in that place, and I respect that.

The charter doesn't have co-governance, so but I do which is why it would be a charter change.

I do uh like the at the prospect of having more informed input from a more robust process than going out to our RNOs or going out to advisory committees that have been set up.

It's not that much I like.

What I don't like is when it when it leads to a uh compelling this body to have to approve something uh that we surrender our charter authority, and that I don't I don't uh I don't like.

Yeah, I don't know if I understand the surrendering of the charter authority, but I will say that the delegates have a responsibility to have 70% consensus, and you don't see that happening in any of the uh the dialogues or decision-making bodies that we have currently that are making big big decisions for this city currently.

Um and so I think that's one aspect that I I think addresses that is that the consensus building is really important.

Um and the the importance of having us make that commitment to the recommendations is so that we don't so that we actually implement them, but we also have the opportunity to build trust in communities that hey, when council says they're going to do something that we actually do it, and that's what they've that's what we found in the examples as well that we've seen is most of the time people do implement the recommendations.

I think it might sound scary because you don't know what folks are gonna come up with, but I just trust that for the for the most part there are reasonable folks amongst us who would be willing to participate and engage in in dialogue with integrity and honesty and transparently um and the way in which civic assembly sets up folks to be able to do that.

I think in terms of an output provides um true solutions that gets more community buy-in than if it's just a few um folks having that discussion.

Thank you.

I would love to have that more the uh more robust input provided to us for us to make the decision.

I don't want when I talk about surrendering.

I don't want to surrender the authority to make that decision to an unelected body uh that doesn't represent my constituents in Southwest Denver or wherever I may be sitting.

And the and some of the representatives could be folks from Southwest Denver, right?

That I think that's an important aspect as well, but it looks like Tyler might have something that he wanted to add.

Sorry, thank you, it's not being attentioned.

Okay.

Um, um, hi all um pleasure to be with you.

Um I thought I would respond to Councilmember Flynn's uh remark, but also a question that was raised earlier by like what was the origin story for the Fort Collins decision?

So in Fort Collins, there's a 2021 ballot measure that set out some high-level guidance for how 150 acres previous stadium lot would be used.

And the council for several years tried to figure out a legislative solution that would comply with the ballot measure.

Council tough debates couldn't figure out a solution.

They commissioned this uh civic assembly to come together, study the issues.

So about 20 residents spent 30 hours together, and they ultimately issued a recommendation back to council, and then council referred an initiative to voters based on the council uh the um civic assembly's recommendation.

And uh nowhere in the United States have I seen where a civic assembly or citizen assembly has uh authority to change an ordinance or change anything in the charter.

Um so all of the recommendations from civic assemblies and citizen assemblies ultimately come back to council as you're describing uh council member Flynn.

Um, so that they don't get authority, uh like formal policymaking authority.

The kind of question about what whether they should be in the charter, what I proposed in Edgewater and what has been proposed elsewhere, is a charter requirement that one civic assembly be convened per year, and that the council every year would decide which civic assembly gets convened.

But again, that civic assembly wouldn't actually have the power to implement their policy recommendation.

Anything that a civic assembly or citizen assembly does ultimately comes back to the policymaking body.

We've discussed them in the local context.

They've also been used uh by the Irish parliament and the French parliament as well on a national scale.

So I thought I would just kind of answer both questions that were raised.

Is we could also add draft guidelines, like similar to how um we make zoning decisions that could um make the case why you should or should not implement a specific recommendation.

Thank you.

Next up there, followed by Watson.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, I I'm happy I would love to be a brainstorming partner on this because I have so many questions about how it would really be implemented.

I'm not sure in my mind it's appropriate for the charter.

I think that obligates us to things that I do worry about.

Um like that needing to be changed or tweaked, given we've never done one yet, right?

Um, and uh jumping to this should be in the charter, I think is a pretty big jump in my mind.

So I'm I'm wondering like Edgewater's um population just in a quick search, 5,000 people.

Fort Collins's was 170,000 people, like what compels what is the kind of issue that compels us to pull together Denver rights for a civic assembly?

Um that I'd want to understand a little bit more.

Um what does it cost?

Um, so what do we know to budget, particularly if you're thinking about somebody, whether it's citizens or it's council initiating this mid-year or before we've determined what the budget will be for the year.

So I have uh a variety of questions about that, and then how does this replace other existing advisory bodies that are created for a public purpose?

Um, like uh community advisory council, like I've got for a small area plan or an NPI or something.

Thinking about some of those um questions where I think it seeks something similar.

It is not co-governance, they don't um come forward with like directives, but I will say it's definitely interesting for me, even on the Fort Collins website.

Um, seemed like a deeply controversial issue that council wanted more input on that led them to that, but they still ended up in 2024 with competing ballot measures, right?

So citizens initiated something, and then the citizen assembly or the civic assembly initiated something that council put on the ballot that had different.

That's totally fascinating to me.

I want to read a little bit more into um how they were different from each other.

Um, but it it's it still feels like there was um navigation of residents wanting to go a couple different ways, even if it wasn't directly from the civic assembly where that was negotiated.

So it's very interesting.

I love that you're thinking about this and how it gets implemented.

Um would love to just I'm I'm happy to be a um thought partner.

Well schedule some time.

Um for the um how does this replace it doesn't?

That question also came up.

Councilman Watson um asked about the strategic housing advisors, and it it doesn't.

So those those would still remain in place.

Typically, civic assemblies are specifically designed to deal with the controversial issues.

Um, and that's the intention.

It's the one where you we can't find resolve, and so we need something outside of our normal everyday everyday processes.

Um, in terms of the cost, we sent around the proposal that um came back in October.

What's the map?

Um so there's a range basically for um 50 to 60 hours of deliberation in the draft um affordable housing civic assembly that was brought before the mayor.

Um it would be basically 50 to 75 delegates, um, and it would run um a range from 350 to 450,000 dollars, but most of that in the draft affordable one was to be covered by philanthropic philanthropic dollars, and then the city would front something uh I don't want to speak out of school here, but I I believe it was something like a hundred thousand of that, and then the rest would be supplemented from um philanthropic dollars.

Um, and that most of that is most of that cost is covered by um the cost of paying the delegates.

Uh, and I can send over the full like amount, but that's uh the numbers that we have here.

One last question, have you seen an issue that Denver has faced where you said that would be great for a civic assembly?

Several.

Well, you can name a couple.

Um so one, I thought the two hundred and fifty million dollar budget deficit was a great opportunity for us before we arrived at furloughs or even layoffs that I feel like community probably could have come up with something a lot more um creative.

Uh, in addition to that, I think the conversations that we've been having around um homelessness and housing.

Um, yeah, I think would be a fantastic opportunity because it's one of the ones where we can't find agreement and it's quite controversial.

And then councilwoman Romero Campbell has mentioned to me on more than one occasion, so I feel like I have to give this some light, is the conversation around the bathroom supporter parties.

Um is one that she is really interested in as well.

And I and I think it feels different for us to have a different opinion from the administration than for like it to rise to a level where we have to pull together residents and you know, I don't know.

Super, thank you.

No, you're gonna go my time.

Okay, thank you.

I'm gonna stop this conversation at 2 30.

Um, so uh because we we were happy to meet with anyone one-on-one as well.

Okay.

Uh council member Watson, followed by Councilmember Cashman.

Thank you, Council President.

Very quickly, I I concur on the charter piece that that would be uh a deep concern um for me without um uh a little more clarity on uh what we're trying to solve.

Um my understanding of uh civic assemblies um and some of the um the uh the gathering or the community engaged process like neighborhood circles that came from the civic league with the same thought process but smaller micro targeted um processes were always ways for community to come together around an issue, elevate community thought, and then have that executed by whatever the governing body is.

Um, so what he said absolutely confused me um even more as to as I keep reading um what's being brought forward, what I read, and I just need for clarification was that the civic assembly um would be that city council and the mayor's office would have some level of determination that we will accept the outcomes of the civic assembly, whatever the idea is that was put forward.

What I'm hearing from Tyler isn't there's a role of accepting, it is whatever comes from the civic assembly comes back through city council or the mayor's office or whatever for approval.

There's no pre-clearance from us saying we're creating a civic assembly and we're gonna approve the outcome.

Can you clarify that difference?

Because I'm hearing both, and I'm not certain which is correct.

I'm not I'll let Tyler opine because I'm not sure I understand your question.

Well, my question is as proposed, does city council and the mayor's office pre-approved the outcome stating we will support what the civic assembly is delivering or deliberating on.

Yes, that's how civic assemblies are designed is that whatever the convening body is, if it's the mayor to executive order or if it's city council through ordinance would say we're convening this civic assembly, and we are agreeing that the recommendations get that are put forth that we will implement those recommendations.

So I have extreme deep concern with that.

What I don't have concern with is civic assemblies um coming together on tough issues, elevating those issues, and then council through our charter responsibilities for the 75,000 folks that I represent in District 9 that I vote and make a determination as to whether we're gonna execute on that.

So still we need to have uh a deeper dive on that, but that is absolutely uh something that I have deep concern with along with the charter piece.

Thank you, Madam President.

Councilmember Cashman.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh Madam President.

Um I understand the discussion about the charter.

Um, but my understanding is that this is civic assembly would be a topic where mayor and council would say, hey, why don't you do this?

Not why don't you do everything?

It reminds me a lot of um our uh people's budget.

Yes.

We're out of our 1.66 billion dollar city budget, we set aside two million dollars a year and tell the public, here you go.

And I would see the same thing on whatever issues uh council and the mayor would deem appropriate to hand over to uh uh public voice, uh, but it's not gonna be everything.

It's not like okay, I got nothing to do, because the public assembly's doing everything.

So um I I just think it's an interesting concept and another way to uplift uh the voice voices of our of our residents and involve them in their own governance.

And outside of this body, like I have a deep respect for council members, but before we were all council members, we were community members, and so to give community members as community has given us an opportunity to be able to opine on really controversial and tough issues is essentially what we're proposing here.

So I appreciate you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you, madam president.

Thank you.

Um Council Member Say, or anything.

Um, just really quickly wanted to just put my I'm over here.

It's fine.

I also don't know why this chair is so low.

Um, really appreciate this.

I really appreciate the like the theory behind it, and I think that there are some really valuable things that this could work for.

Um, for example, if we were to move to a two-year budget cycle, a civic assembly would be the perfect opportunity for um the community to set the community's goals for, you know, for however the mayor's office and team would then execute on um achieving those goals.

So uh just flagging that for you.

I did I will say I I am hesitant in this case, um, to go into this, first of all, as a charter change, and second of all, um without some clear guardrails around it, because my fear is that um this would be an opportunity for city council to hand over its power in co-governance, and like we already struggle with um ensuring that the powers that are delegated to us under the charter of city and county of Denver are respected and that we receive all of the you know budget that we need and staff support that we need in order to execute as a legislative branch of government, and spoiler alert, we are getting all of that now.

And so my fear is that if we added or layered in this piece that we would be giving up even more of that because most of the stuff that is decision making piece as it comes to kind of co-governance and the examples that you've given are operational, which means we the space where we have to um share our thoughts and feelings about the operational decision that the executive branch is making would be get would be handed over to a civic assembly, and that concerns me.

So just flagging that for you.

I know we've got to move on.

Happy to talk to you about it more, but I think it's like a really great idea.

It's the execution of it that we need to think through really carefully because I don't want to hand over more council power to anyone.

Yeah.

Can I just say two things because I really appreciate you saying that one appreciation for the um connection to the two-year budget cycle, 100% agree?

The second is why I may not um have a deep belief based on my experience as a council member, the information we've received from the administration in the administration.

I do have a belief in the people that they would provide even support for us to be able to provide that um accountability.

If if it's if it's the recommendations are known beyond us as council members, because I think so much has often happened behind happening behind the scenes, and it's not, you know, council members aren't don't want to go out and badmouth anyone, even if they're experiencing frustration from a lack of information from the administration, but I think this gives us an opportunity for communities to know what's happening behind the scenes and really participate in some of the sausage making.

In terms of the operational piece, I think that's a really good flag, and I don't have a good answer for it today, but I'll get you one.

No, it's a lot more.

Thank you.

So I have lots of questions too.

I'd love to set up a separate time to walk through.

I feel like this, even if we do a charter change, it still operationally lands at in the mayor, right?

I mean, uh the I mean that's true for anything we do.

So I would want to see how where it would live.

Um if we had, I would I don't know how we would go through the if it let if city council, one of the proposals was city council would lead it.

I don't even know how we would go through and decide from all 13 of us what project rise to the top to allow that.

So I could see like redistricting, you know, that impacted all uh all of us, but then even the last time we had redistricting, it turned and we had a how outside facilitator, it turned really controversial because one person wanted to have a minority district where the rest of us wanted to have minorities spread throughout everywhere.

Um, so it was it was interesting to lead that process, but it would have been I did our best to actually have a third-party facilitator and have um people participate instead of having it be all just city council ran.

So I could see something like that.

I could see um a couple other things.

Um I just have to think more about it, and I also think maybe if we can't figure out operationally how to run it, I don't think we should put it in the charter yet because it ultimately would have a fiscal note.

It has to have a fiscal note.

So I want to know more about the fiscal note and where in the charter where'd it land because most things we put in the charter um they still have to be operational.

Yeah, section, but um I would love to talk to you more about the operational piece because I don't know what kind of we'd have to talk about it because to your point in terms of being under strong mayoral control, like he's the operator of the city, and so like any time we run anybody of any legislation, any ordinance um by way of city council, he's he or she would still be the operator of such.

And the implementers, and so that's why I'm always thinking about like the implementation of it, unless it's just solely on the city council side.

Yeah, where we don't have to the mayor can't veto a ballot initiative, right?

Yeah, we so do we slowly in city council's realm where we the mayor also can't veto any land use.

It's totally us.

Now we can have a super majority where it can fail if they get um a petition, but does it land?

Does do you want it just to only be on the city council side, or do you want it on the operational side, which I think is like more of that's where the meat and potatoes lives.

That's right, yeah.

I'm excited to talk with you more.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next up, we have host, um, the um preservation ordinance presentation.

You might just run a little bit over because they have 22 slides and we have 30 less than 30 minutes.

Okay, if you'll just introduce introduce yourself for the record, the floor is yours.

Perfect, thank you.

Um good afternoon.

My name is Kendra Garrett.

I'm a housing development officer with host.

Just know we won't go through all 22 slides, I think only half of them.

There's more questions, I can pull it.

Thank you.

Um, so the gender be a background on the affordable housing preservation ordinance, um, and um, and the next we'll go through the state bill that was passed two years ago, House Bill 241175, um, some recommended changes to the housing um preservation ordinance, and then examples of what that looks like in action, and then we'll stop with her question and answer.

So, sort of in our current housing market, I think we can all agree that maintaining housing affordability is equally as important as creating new affordable units across the city.

And so the preservation ordinance was adopted in 2000 but admitted in 2019.

And so 19, including the rules and regs, establish a right of first refusal or rofer for federal and local preservation projects.

Um, this allows us the first opportunity to match an acceptable offer to purchase an existing affordable multi-man league development, preserving um housing units across the city.

And so over the last years, we've helped preserved um 1,443 units across citywide.

Um ways that we are able to preserve housing units is through our GAP funding, our loan products, and so um through acquisition preservation, sort of or rehab um loans, and then we do have an emergency grant for sort of very short, um like small budget um emergency items that are needed for um for properties.

Um additionally, we have a list of approved uh preservation partners.

So in 2013 2023, we went out for um uh RFP to for developers to apply to be our preservation partner.

It allows us to the ability to sort of sh um send over properties that are coming to the market um that they might be interested in so that we can um help preserve affordable housing across the city, um, and then um if they do um sort of go through the PSA process um and actually purchase a property and then they're looking for funding, those comes with a 60-year affordability covenant based on the current preservation ordinance as it states today.

And so current highlights over current ordinance is that it's only for um current existing affordable housing properties across the city, um, and then with the um introduction of House Bill 241175.

Um the state bill was passed in the 24 legislative session um that outlines a process for local governments to exercise or waive their right of first offer and also write a first um refusal so rovers for existing existing affordable housing units and then roofers for sort of your NOAA properties, you're not actually occurring affordable housing.

Um, and so updates to this ordinance would address some inconsistencies, provide some clarity, but then also add some conformity to the state law.

Um, and then our policy will be a bit more favorable to the city, particularly in terms of timelines, um, so that it helps facilitate our process for preserving affordable units.

Um, so a couple um, so the big highlights that I want to go over is um we are proposing to change our 60-year covenant to a 90 year covenant to be on par with our um EHA policy for the city.

Um we will be adding a full right-of-first offer section that applies to market rate properties at least 15 units.

I'll talk a bit more about that, and then at least 30 years old to be in um to match the state bill, and then we will um include and accompanied with the ordinance opt out resolution um just to make it clear that our um ordinance is the guiding policy for the city um and we're opting out of the state bill, which um the state bill allows for that provision.

Um so House Bill 24 1175 um provided local governments across Colorado, the ability to exercise or waive their writer first offer or writer first refusal.

Um, and so the roofers for any affordable units at least five units.

It comes with, so once if a property owner is intending to sell the property, they have to provide us a two-year notice and then a six-month notice.

It lets us know that, hey, we're thinking our affordable restrictions are about to expire.

What are they?

And then they have a trigger event that happens when they are intending to put them back the property on the market, either by assigned LOI from a pensional buyer, a market like a marketing the property for sale or the acceptance of a conditional offer, and that sort of triggers us at 14-day notice for them to send us, letting us know that they're planning to sell it, and giving us an opportunity to review the property and the property information, and for us to consider if we want to waive our write-of-first offer or write-of first refusal.

If we decide to move forward with that PSA according to the state bill, we have 30 days to sign a PSA and then 60 days of close.

The timelines are a little different for the writer-first offer for market rate properties.

They will let us know, give us a seven-day notice of a plan sale, then we review that information, express our interest in it, and so we kind of go back and forth with the seller, determine if we are interested in purchasing property, reviewing their due diligence items, and if we so choose to, then we move forward with making an offer.

If not, then we waive a write-of-first offer.

And this bill does not apply to mobile homes, mobile home parks or ADUs.

And so I'm gonna go through sort of the ordinance proposed changes, and everything in red is us conforming to the state bill.

So we've added some definitions.

We've added we've changed our notice we in this current ordinance, we have a year notice.

We've now added it, we've changed the one-year notice to a two-year notice, and then we've added the six-month notice, and that's to be um with the state bill.

Just letting us know they're tending to sell or we may not, we um when the whenever the covenants or the affordability restrictions are expect to expire, um, and then if they have any intentions of selling in a couple years, or in six months.

And same thing for the local preservation project project, changed in one year to two years and added a six-month notice.

Um, no other timeline changes, and then also at the same time they notify us, they will also notify tenants if they are intending to sell, and then during that time period there is no cause eviction requirements within the state ordinance, within our city ordinance.

Um, and then we are changing the affordability restrictions from a 60 years to 99 years for all preservation properties.

Um, this doesn't apply to our emergency grant program just because it's small amount of number, a small amount of dollars that goes to that program, and also allows us some flexibility to negotiate with the property owner for that program.

And then we've added a write-of-first offer section.

So this will apply to all market properties that have no federal or local dollars attached to it or subsidies.

Um, the only change here is that it's for all properties at least 15 units.

We um met with the mayor last week and he'd like to remove the cap in the state bill, it does cap it between 15 and 100 units.

He'd like for it to be only all properties above 15 units and at least 30 years old.

So that will be a change that we'll make in the proposed ordinance.

Um in our ordinance, the seller must provide us a 21-day notice of plan to sell or intend to market the property.

Um, and then that ordinance includes some notice requirements that are required for them to provide us about details about the property, how many units, year of construction, what's so they can see what's the occupancy rate, condition of the property, and things like that.

Um, and then we will review the information, or our preservation partner, and have 10 days to respond if we're interested.

And then that would, if we are interested, then that would require the seller to provide us additional due diligence items, whatever we would request from them to give us a bit more information about the property, and then if we are interested, then we let them know that we intend to either exercise or waiver writer first offer.

And then sort of in turn, the seller would accept or reject our offer within 14 days.

And then if we do decide to move on to executing a PSA, we have 90 days to execute the PSA and 120 days close, which is a much deeper timeline than what's stated in the state bill.

And then we have the same tenant notification and no cause expiction requirements for our writer first offer, like we do for our rofer.

The enforcement of the rofer is the same as our rope, as the same as our rover is the same as our rofer.

And then the ordinance will be in effect pending city council approval.

So current timelines that we have, we've had a public stakeholder meeting in November, with we reached out to the housing development community and sort of gave them the same presentation and opportunity to ask any questions and incorporate that feedback into ordinance.

We've had a couple briefings here last week and then previously about the fall of 2024.

I met with the PLRC committee as well to give them an overview of overview of the update to the preservation ordinance.

And then we've also had some smaller groups reach out to development committee as well to garner any of their feedback.

Right now we are here with budget and policy to give you a briefing, and then we are set to move towards community planning and housing committee on April 28th, which would start the city council process for us to adopt the new provisions in the ordinance and the right and the accompanied opt-out resolution.

And then once it's approved by council, I will update the rules and regs over the summertime, and then we will have a web page that will accompany the preservation ordinance and give folks more information and all the updates.

That was the law information.

So I'm gonna kind of show you what it looks like in action.

So let's say you are the owner of a 60 unit affordable housing property.

It's got a chaffalora on it, a city loan, and a city covenant.

So this would be considered a local preservation project.

The Chaffelora expires in two years, the city covenant expires in 20 years, and you're interested in selling the property.

So ideally you would have given us a two-year notice and then a six-month notice letting us know like you're intending to sell the property and when the expect when those reportable expirations expire, restrictions expire, sorry.

Um and then when you're actually closer to intending to sell the property, you'll give us a 90-day notice.

This lets us know that you are intending to plan the sale, and in our notice form, it also provides a list of due diligence items required, last three years of financials, any last any capital improvements in our outstanding that need to be done on the property, your rent roll, year-to-date on the financials for the property itself, things like that.

And then you provide the same notice to tenants letting them know that you are intending to sell.

And also, this gives us an opportunity to sort of evaluate on the property, and then if we think that this property would be a good would be suitable for our preservation partners, we'll send it to them for their consideration.

Once they provide us all the information that we require, then they can start beginning to market the property and engaging interested parties.

Whenever they have a contingent PSA with a prospective buyer is when our official writer first offer, right or first refusal clock starts.

It's a hundred and twenty-day clock, and so they send us the PSA, we review the information with the sales prices, has language around if there's any assignment assignment, any assignment or assumption of all loans and covenants on the property, and then we review that if we and then at that time we decide if we want to exercise or waive our writer first refusal.

If we waive it, then I'll provide sort of an executed waiver letter to the seller as well.

And then prior to closing, the seller or the buyer must assume all loans and covenants prior to closing.

Cool.

A little difference around just like some additional information around our rofer, and so federal preservation projects include federal loans or other federal assistance, so a 221 D4 loan green funding through their government if it still exists and then section eight or have contracts.

And then a property that has an active cabinet that expires within two years.

It still is required to give the two year and a six month notice if it still applies it also allows those opportunities to engage with the owner about keeping it affordable long term.

If the property is a mix of affordable and market rating units, the ordinance still applies.

So if it's got 15 affordable and 60 market it still has to go through our row for our right our ordinance in terms of their notifications.

The preservation does not cover commercial space and then rolls and regs will be updated after the ordinance has been approved by council.

So I'm gonna do the same example but for our writer first offer um so you're again 60 unit property built in 1985 financed with no government funds or subsidies and you're interested in selling the property you would send us the 21 day notice letting us know that you would like to sell the property and so you give us essentially three weeks notice before any public listing or marketing or engaging of any interest parties.

This notice would include all the information listed in the ordinance and at the same time you would notify tenants of your intent to sell so they are aware.

And during this period owner shall not initiate any no cause evictions.

The city or our preservation partners have 10 days to sort of express interest to purchase property and then we send that to the seller seller has 10 days to provide us information that we require any due diligence items that we'd like to see to let us evaluate the property and if we want to continue the process and then once we receive that we have 14 days to let them know and they submit an offer to purchase a property or waiver writer first offer and then if we decide to move forward they have 14 days to sort of accept or reject our offer.

We are since we're working with market rate property owners we just assume that all you know all negotiations are in good faith.

And then once if we if the offer is accepted then we have 90 days to execute a PSA and 120 days to close.

And if they reject it at any point on our side or their side we effectively waive our writer first offer.

Thank you so much for your time any questions.

We have four people in the queue so I'm gonna list them Alvidres Plan Taurus parity all right council member Alvides start us off and we have like maybe 15 minutes.

Okay I'll take them all I definitely have a lot of questions so I'll set up a follow-up briefing but why is it starting at 15 units?

I think we don't want we don't want to um sort of look at some of the much smaller ones and then you're getting to triplex and in your duplexes and so 15 units is pretty a pretty small but sizable multifamily property that we would want to acquire and it also doesn't do any like single family homes or anything like that.

Well you could go to four five units you know FHA backs a four unit property quadplex so it doesn't make sense to me what happens with the five unit to 15 unit properties they're just gonna become not affordable.

So I just want to flag that as a concern um for the one year notice changing to two years and six months is there like separate notices there I'm confused.

There are some notices yeah so the two years you let us know that hey your affordability restrictions are expiring in two years what they are and just puts it on our radar if it's not already on a radar and then six months gives us enough time, but not so much time to have negotiations with the owner if they do intend to sell.

Um so I've gotten one that's um I've already um spoken with their owner and toward the property um a couple weeks ago, they aren't intending to give us an official notice and can sell until later this year, but it gives us an opportunity to like look at the property um and then um market it to our preservation's partners and give them much more time than the market would have a month before it goes on the market.

Okay, and then um that makes a lot of sense.

Uh what if I just don't notice you?

What's the consequence there?

Um in our ordinance, the enforcement starts with like civil fines, and if it gets um more egregious, then we have some additional enforcement provisions within our rules or rigs that we can't take.

I'd love to like have those fines.

What are those fines?

Um just to be clear, we're not purchasing anything, we're just facilitating a purchase for a developer, correct?

Okay, um, at this time.

And then how many properties are we purchasing through this proper process one every year?

We the last time when we purchased a property was in 2022, but since um I've been with the city since 2024 none.

Most of them, pretty much all of them have been waived, and some it's in fashion.

Why I can jump in a little bit here, Adam Lyons, Deputy Director of Housing Opportunity.

Uh, the current rules and regs with the preservation ordinance has a couple items that qualify for an expedited waiver.

One of those being 15 years more of your affordability restrictions.

Because we know that you know, if we were to act on these now, they're they're not uh expiring imminently.

They still have plenty of time left on their affordability restrictions, and because CHAFA's tax credit Laura is typically 30 to 40 years, our affordability is 60 years.

Um, you know, most of these projects still have lengthy times left on their affordability covenants.

So we just waive those knowing that they're not gonna convert to market at any time, or there could be other um transactions such as a tax credit project where the tax credit investor is leaving.

Um so technically they're selling it to the general partner, that's uh an expedited waiver under the the rules and regs as well.

So really the we we've acted twice thus far on our write or first refusal, both times they were uh going to convert to market rate or even more likely demoed and just having uh new luxury housing built in their place.

So we did exercise our right of first refusal just twice under the existing ordinance, um, assigned one of those to elevation community land trust, the other to habitat for humanity.

They were both great candidates for uh town home conversions.

Um so that's really the reason a lot of these that we do get have multiple years left of affordability.

But if we did purchase one that had, let's say 30 years left, couldn't we re-trigger another 60 years or 99 years as part of our part of the purchase?

Because also my concern is if we're waiting until the covenants are going to expire, then that property is going to be worth much more to a private developer.

Correct.

It would fall into the right of first offer at that point, uh, because it's no longer restricted and it's just naturally occurring affordable housing.

So if they were to sell it after all the restrictions, we would still have a crack at making a first offer or assigning that offer to a partner.

Um so it doesn't necessarily get lost to market rate developments, but you are correct that it does become a lot more expensive.

And so when we're but then my first question was if we purchase it and there's 30 years left, does it re-trigger another 60 years or 90?

Can we make the rules for that land covenant?

It would correct.

It's just whether that's you know, um, you know, with with unlimited budget, that's a great uh example of how we would use this policy.

Um, but with with much more limited budgets, it's tough to make that trade-off between um investing in something new or that may be expiring versus something that's not gonna be lost to the market for for 15 or more years.

I'm not sure I totally agree with the strategy, but I'll have another reading.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Flynn, followed by Torah.

Uh thank you, Madam President.

I want to make sure I understand.

First of all, do we know how many, and I we probably do how many 15 to 100 unit properties that are 30 years old or older exist in the city that are not in our in the program already that are just out there, they've just been around for 30 years.

I got plenty of them in my district.

Uh do we know that data?

I don't know the data.

I'll just help my head, but I can we can look into it and see if we can.

I'd love to see that.

Uh I'm trying to understand how so any 15 to 100 unit property that's 30 years or older, uh, where the owner wants to sell, would have to let us know.

Not not a subset of that, like they're below market rent or their whatever their medium median rent is, or no qualifiers like that, just any property.

Yeah, any market rate property that's at least 15 units and at least 30 years old.

Okay, and no federal no subsidies on the but being at least 30 years old, there is some assumptions being made that they are kind of naturally occurring.

Sure.

I'll take that.

Yeah, I have a plenty in my district.

Uh so my question is how do they know?

I mean, if the owner wants to sell, they're based at a real estate trust in Florida.

They say, hey, we need to get rid of this property.

How do they know?

I mean, that part sort of conforms to the state law, and typically their attorneys or title will let them know that they need to come to us or like notify us that they're intending to sell.

Does it work that way?

It has.

We do get these notices fairly frequently.

A lot of times it is, you know, just buildings because with the right of first offer, we under our current, we don't have it under our current policy, so we also can't assign it to a partner.

So when we get these requests for 20 30 million dollars, it's kind of an easy waiver.

Sorry, we can't we can't cut you a check.

Um, so but their their brokers are very well or aware.

Title companies are very aware.

So we are getting these notices fairly frequently.

Interesting.

That's all I'm in for it.

Thanks.

Councilmember Tars.

Uh, thank you.

The um thanks everybody.

This is a great topic, I think, for budget policy before we have to absorb it all in committee.

Um, I can appreciate the request for no cap.

Um, I don't know that that harms anything, but um, I am interested in the conversation of why we would increase the age of the property um that would be eligible under the rofo.

Um, so I mean, our 30 years is mostly to um conform to the state bills so the debate will outline, I guess I'm wondering why the mayor wanted to go to 50.

There was no change in the in the years, only just removing the cap on the number of you.

Oh, I thought I heard you say that increasing to 50.

So I think she's I heard 50 as well.

Oh, okay, okay, perfect.

Thank you.

Um erased that question.

Um, so Adam, this kind of reminds me of the conversation we had about the Eighth Avenue properties in the Villa Park neighborhood, right?

Naturally occurring affordable.

Um, uh is there in the time that those come through us?

Negotiation on price, because the discussion on at that time for those natural naturally occurring, I think there was 32 units in one of those eighth Avenue properties, uh, was that they were just asking for too much money uh for them.

Do they negotiate on that?

Can they just give an astronomical kind of um estimate and then walk to the market and change that?

Or does it come back if they go back to the market with a different number?

It would change if they go back to the market with a different number.

So if they come to us and says, say, hey, we're looking at selling this um for you know five million dollars um when we know it's probably worth two, um, and then we just waive it and then they actually publish it at two million dollars, then it would have to come back to us, and the same for the right of first refusal as well.

You know, there's there's you know, they an owner could essentially, you know, kind of get their buddy in the room and have a PSA for way more than than what uh the property's worth, but if they amend that uh PSA at any time, it would need to come back to us as well.

So same with the right of first refusal and the right-of-first offer.

And we would you know hope to see it may be a little premature in some cases, but oftentimes they do send us their offering memorandum that kind of goes through the property, what the purchase price is, and that could start as a basis point in those negotiations for a purchase price.

Interesting, okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next step we have Councilman Parity to close us out.

Okay, it's 3 p.m.

I I have some asks for um this presentation when it comes back to committee, but I'll just email them.

Just basically taking notes on things that you all asked to swallow.

So I don't need to ask it here.

Thanks, Madam President.

So next steps are can you define the next steps?

Yeah, so it sucks.

We will be presenting to the community planning and housing committee on April 28th, and then it starts the four-week process for ordinance adoption.

Okay, so are you gonna ask for individual briefings between now and then?

Yeah, absolutely.

So just put in the yeah.

If you could at least follow up with individual briefings before committee, that would be greatly appreciated.

All right.

See no other further before the committee.

We start a dream, and I'll see you in a half an hour for counsel.