Special Town Council Meeting - Municipal Judge Interviews and Grants to Communities Funding - February 18, 2025
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Special Town Council Meeting - Municipal Judge Interviews and Grants to Communities Funding - February 18, 2025
The Erie Town Council held a special meeting on February 18, 2025, at 6:30 PM to conduct interviews for a new municipal judge and to consider a resolution awarding $79,920 in grants through the Grants to Communities program. No public comment was taken. The meeting included an executive session to discuss the judge contract.
Municipal Judge Interviews
Council interviewed three candidates from 6:30-8:30 PM: Bradley Moloney, Amanda Bailhache, and Whitney Stark. Each presented their qualifications, judicial philosophy, and how the role would fit their schedule.
- Bradley Moloney emphasized his 12 years as a deputy DA in Jefferson County and a philosophy that municipal courts are key to preventing violent crime, especially for juveniles. He expressed full support for restorative justice and the Victims' Rights Act. He noted this was the only presiding judge position he applied for.
- Amanda Bailhache has 19 years of legal experience, served as a public defender for a decade, and has been a municipal judge in Northglenn, Federal Heights, and Lafayette since 2019. She stressed procedural fairness (understanding, neutrality, voice, respect) and compassion. She highlighted her role in the Northglenn crisis response unit and her interest in community courts.
- Whitney Stark is an assistant municipal judge in Fort Collins and a part-time magistrate in Denver. She emphasized transparency, efficiency, and individualized decisions. She discussed her experience with marijuana licensing and programs like a municipal drug court.
Council members asked about juvenile cases, relationships with police and prosecutors, restorative justice, and challenges of a growing community.
Grants to Communities Program
Staff presented a resolution to distribute $80,000 in grants to local nonprofits. Requests totaled nearly $106,000. The review team recommended $79,920 to 12 organizations. Council discussed the need for objective criteria and reporting requirements. A motion was made to fully fund Biscuit Day ($4,000) and Collegiate Crossing College Planning ($5,000) and reduce the two Better Neighbors grants by $4,500 each. The motion passed 4-3 (O'Connor, Bell, Moore, Mortalero yes; Baer, Hoback, Parisamelli no).
Executive Session
Council moved into executive session at approximately 8:45 PM to discuss negotiations for a contract with a new municipal judge under C.R.S. § 24-6-402(4)(e). The meeting was adjourned without returning to open session.
Key Outcomes
- The council interviewed three candidates for municipal judge; no selection was announced publicly; the matter was referred to executive session.
- Resolution 25-008 was approved with amendments: Biscuit Day and Collegiate Crossing fully funded, Better Neighbors reduced from $7,500 to $5,250 each. Total grant distribution remains $79,920. Vote: 4-3.
- Council directed staff to develop more objective criteria for the 2026 grants program.
- Executive session held; no public action taken.
Meeting Transcript
I'm uh Mayor Moore. I'm calling to order the town council meeting on February 18th, uh, 2025. This is a special meeting uh where no public comment will be taken tonight. Um with that, um, will um you please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic, which is standards one nation under indivisible liberty and justice for all right, who will miss stamp, please take a roll call vote. Uh councilmember Professor Romelli. Councilmember O'Connor. Here. Uh Mayor Pro Tempel. Here. Mayor Moore. Here. Councilmember Baer. Here. Councilmember Martillero. Here. And Councilmember Hoback. Here. Mayor, we have a quorum. All right. We'll see if we have a motion to approve the agenda tonight. So moved. Second. All right. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say no. All right. We have an agenda and we have two items of uh order tonight. The first is uh interviews for our municipal municipal judge. And I think with that we'll just get right into it, and I'll invite uh Danielle Trujillo, our court administrator, to uh get us rolling. All right, good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you so much for making the time to consider our candidates for a new municipal judge. I'm Danielle Chihill, I'm the court administrator for the municipal court. And just a quick background of how we got here tonight. Um we are current presiding judge, Judge Ablau, let us know that her term is coming to an end uh this April 2025, and she does not wish to uh be reappointed, and so we started searching for a new judge. We put out a request for proposals, and we received 12 responses, and then we staff formed a selection team and we reviewed those responses. We interviewed four. And from those four, we are recommending three to come and interview with you all tonight. And what we've asked them to do is prepare a short presentation about themselves. We asked them to touch on their professional experience, their judicial philosophy, and then how this appointment would fit in with their current workload and schedule. And so we're gonna start with that. So they are free to leave when they're done, and then I'll be following up with them by email tomorrow. Their responses to the proposals are also in the agenda packet if you'd like to take a look at those. So we did put them in uh random order, so we are gonna ask uh Bradley Maloney to go first. Okay, wonderful. If uh Bradley, if you'll uh join us um up here, that would be wonderful. Or um that's a great question. Um if you're presenting if and you'd prefer to stand, that would be fine, but you can also join us up here if you'd prefer to sit. All right, sounds good.
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