All right.

The town the time is seven seventeen PM.

Uh this is it is uh Tuesday, October fourteenth.

Uh I am calling to order the town of Erie regular meeting, and uh would you please join me for the stand in joining for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Can we get a roll to call attendance?

Absolutely.

Council Member Passamarelli.

Present, Council Member O'Connor.

Here.

Council Member Hoback.

Here.

Council Member Baer.

Present.

And Council Member Mortalaire.

Here.

Mayor Partem, you have a quorum.

All right.

Thank you.

For first item, uh, can I get an approval of the agenda?

So move.

Okay, we have approval of a second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

Okay.

Uh, for the consent agenda, there are several items on here.

I know the mayor likes to read these off, but to save time here, just invite everyone to read uh that's posted online if you have any questions.

Um I have a motion to accept the consent agenda.

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

Okay, so uh two first that are your okay.

We'll have Counselor Brearer for the first and Council Member Mortalowra for the second.

All those opposed.

Okay.

Sounds unanimous.

Uh next item is public comment.

Uh Ms.

Hamp, do we have anybody sign up?

We have one person signed up.

Okay.

All right.

Just have a quick script here.

Uh it is now the time for the public comment portion of the meeting.

Please remember public comment is not an interactive question and answer forum, but rather a time for you to state your comments on a particular item or issue.

Public comment provides the opportunity to discuss items that are not public hearings.

Please sign up using the kiosk in the lobby.

If you have a handout, please give it to the town clerk to left.

They will distribute it to the council and include it into the meeting record.

When called upon, please state your full name and location for the record.

Public comment is limited to three minutes per person.

You'll be given a 20-second warning when your three minutes are almost up.

At the three-minute mark, you will be asked to wrap up your final sentence.

All opinions are welcome.

Please be respectful to each speaker to ensure everyone feels welcome to share their comments.

Please refrain from any cheering, clapping, booing, or otherwise disruptive behavior.

Can you call?

Jim Davis.

Maybe he's online.

Let me let's have let me just make sure he's not online.

Nope.

Okay.

All right.

Um with that.

Uh we will close uh public comment.

We'll move on to general business.

Uh first item on the agenda is 25573 presentation of the 90 second celebration video.

Um sorry, apologize.

We have somebody let's move back to public comment.

There's one other person signed up there.

Sorry.

Are they did you sign up for public comment?

Oh, yep.

Okay.

Sorry about that.

Well, I have two people that signed up for a planning commission public comment.

Is that oh yeah, no worries at all.

Yeah, uh go ahead.

All right.

Sorry about that.

That's right.

I was looking down.

So we go ahead and talk.

Yeah, go ahead.

Okay.

Sorry about that.

Uh so um we were here in September for the council meeting um discussing the lapsing property.

Oh, sorry for uh John Rondash.

Um, and the address is 4242 119th Street, Lafayette.

That's the property in question.

So um it's up okay.

So we uh Meg and I both were here um in September um to voice our thoughts of what's happening to our property, which is being flooded by the development of a KB homes on the Lafferty property.

We came to voice our opinion on that, also the facts that we've gathered since then.

Um since that time we've had a meeting with the um some of the representatives and the city of Erie engineer.

I think that was on the 20.

That was September 20.

We we had a meeting with them.

I don't have the exact date sitting in front of me right now.

Anyway, so we sat here and chatted about it, and then um it was kind of cut short because it was too much information to go over.

We also were able to speak with Mark Armstrong, who's the developer of KB Homes, uh uh virtually, and that was an that was uh just last week.

And so basically what's happening is the with the Colorado Reclam uh uh Colorado Department of Reclamation and Mines has made a recommendation about what the legacy mines that run underneath the properties and between the RTD and also the Lafferty property that KB Homes disturbed or move the monolith, um which they have we've noted that that was done when they did that around June of 2025, it flooded our property.

We had we had and still have quite a bit of water at a hundred gallons per hour running through our basement.

We have three separate sump pumps that were put in a few years ago, those are running 24-7.

I had to put a bilge pump within those sump pumps just to move it outside of the house so it did not flood the floors.

Um we brought this to the attention.

KP Holmes is not getting back to us.

They finally got back to us, so we had a conversation without legal representation, trying to come up with a solution.

The first thing he was asking was what are we looking for?

And I asked him directly, we need new studies because the studies he keeps quoting is talking about uh historical flows and everything in the properties in that area.

Well, they started to develop another 220 homes there, and before they cap that that uh the parking lots and everything like that, it's gonna have a quick runoff.

There's nowhere for that water to run.

There's no permits of the catchment or release of that pond that's out there, and all that water is gonna go across our property through our neighborhood, and everybody else can is gonna get flooded out.

him directly we need new studies because the studies he keeps quoting is talking about uh historical flows and everything in the properties in that area well they started to develop another those 220 homes there and before they cap that that uh the parking lots and everything like that it's gonna have a quick runoff there's nowhere for that water to run there's no permits of the catchment or release of that pond that's out there and all that water is gonna go across our property through our neighborhood and everybody else get is gonna get flooded out and we have studies that um do show that so what I asked Mark was we need more studies and everything's gonna stop we just need to get some studies to figure out how we can fix this 20 seconds so that that's basically and Meg's gonna finish what I'm talking about because it's way too much information so just catching you guys up to date so thank you Meg Knopfing you can go ahead yep my name is Meg Knopfsinger and I own the property at 4242 North 119th Street.

I came last month after months and months of calling every official I could think of because my basement was flooding mold is happening in the basement I have three kids my pasture became unusable for any of my horses or animals which requires us to board animals it's been quite an expense we finally showed up here asking for help because we understood that you permit these people who don't live in the town of Erie to come and build all of these houses and it's affecting our home it's affecting my neighbors homes you know they're all like well I thought we were gonna get together and do something but I'm too busy working and managing kids to try and organize an entire neighborhood who's having the same issues so the water's throwing flowing through this property first and then to the neighbors but um after the last meeting here the council asked for us to come and go to a room upstairs and just basically went through reports well our report says it's this so and there was no help so we've sunk all our money into this property we are asking you for help to stand between this development that doesn't live in this town that has no investment in this town and to please stand up for our rights as homeowners in this town who are living working and dying in this place so please if you could find somebody in the city the town to help us because we are at a loss and I cannot fight a multi-million dollar company to save my home thank you um Mr.

Fleming I'm uh unfamiliar with the situation do we have people on staff that are we do have staff that are working on this issue and we'll continue to until we get a resolution okay thank you um so with that we'll uh before I move on anyone else for public comment okay we will close the public comment portion of the meeting move on to general business first item 25573 presentation of 90 seconds celebration video presenter Melissa Wiley deputy town manager thank you so much Mayor Pro Tim and Council um it's been a while since we did one of these so we're excited to bring this to you today and I'm actually not going to introduce it I'm gonna hand it off to Kathy Cron who's our development and neighborhood services division manager in Parks and Rec.

And um just some logistics Kathy will introduce it we'll watch the video and then we'd love for all of you to take a picture with the Boy Scouts this evening so after the video if you could come up to the front for a picture.

Thanks Melissa again Mayor Potem Bell and counsel I'm Kathy Crohn Development Neighborhood Services Division Manager with Parks and Recreation and I have the honor to introduce introduce this 90 second video to celebrate completion of a successful Eagle Scout project by our Erie resident Jeremiah Havron Jeremiah's here with his parents um and just a few of his friends the the scout troop um scout leaders um so so thanks for joining us tonight this is exciting um so Jeremiah has been patiently working with town staff for over a year um to install flight collection boxes around town hopefully you've noticed the one outside of town hall on at the south entrance um and I just have to say that it's no easy task working with staff of with different departments and divisions to get things approved um he's also been raising funds for the project he's been managing the budget um he coordinated installation with his troupe um and kept track of all that um most importantly he fed everyone I believe important things um so anyway I'm I'm just excited to celebrate the success he saw a need in the community figured out how to to meet that need um in my understanding it's been really successful I think I read in the report that he collected 80 flags in the first three weeks of having them installed so um with that I just let's enjoy the video and and uh take a look and and and take the photo afterwards thanks local eagle scout here I have need in the community and set out to have his scout troop fill that need what what was needed a respectful place to retire one

Thanks.

What was needed?

Ensuring their handle with dignity.

For the past year and a half, Jeremiah has been working with town leaders to obtain approval and determine appropriate locations, all while designing the boxes and having them fabricated.

The boxes are located at Town Hall, the Erie Community Center, Clayton Park, and Columbine Mine Park.

Community members who have worn U.S.

flags can bring them to the collection boxes.

And Troop 62, Uri's hometown troop will take it from there.

We're grateful for this opportunity in partnership with Eagle Scout Jeremiah and proud to celebrate this service and contribution to the community.

Head out to a collection box near you and help Jeremiah in Eagle Scout Troop 62 honor our nation's symbol by disposing of it respectfully.

I already used it.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, okay.

Oh, yeah.

Sorry.

Exactly.

Okay, Scott.

I know.

One, two, three.

I have one more phone.

Hold on.

No, I didn't do ours.

Well, you should have leads to ours.

All right, ready?

One, two, three.

I mean the video's problem.

Yeah.

Okay, on the side.

Yeah, so exciting.

Usually we have new girls over here, so we want to start this right here.

Um then they're all connected.

That was awesome.

Thank you.

All right.

That was cool.

You guys have a tough act to follow there.

So all right.

So the next item on our agenda is 25546.

This is a presentation of the 2024 annual comprehensive financial report and audit.

So with that.

Yes.

So thank you.

Control of Finance stuff.

Thank you so much, Council.

My name is Sarah Hancock.

I'm the director of finance, and I'm joined this evening by our deputy director of finance, Ann Penny.

If you've not met her yet, she's fantastic, and we're so happy that she's joined the town.

We're also joined by our partner with CLA, our auditor, Allison's life.

And so we're essentially going to go through our audit process, the findings that we do have this year, and our corrective actions for those findings.

And then we'll have time for questions and anything that you guys want to know about what happened this year.

So with that, I will hand it over to Allison.

Great, thanks so much.

Good to see you all.

Thanks for having me this evening.

So we did put together a power PowerPoint presentation just to try to summarize the very large uh financial statements that are issued.

So certainly if there's any questions or or if you want me to uh cover things cover anything a little bit further, I can.

So just to keep us on track here, though, we'll go ahead and just summarize the audit scope.

So way back when we were uh engaged uh every year we get engaged to perform the audit uh as from an external audit perspective.

Um so this really summarize what that scope was.

It is the same as what what we were originally engaged to perform um an audit over the the town's financial statements, issue an audit opinion over the financial statements, and then there's various other required communications that we have as being the external audit firm uh directly engaged to perform the audit.

So there is a required governance communications letter that does get issued at the end.

So I'll cover some highlights from that letter.

Um and then uh because the the town is subject to a single audit, which is because of uh federal funding that the town received.

So um this threshold has changed, but uh it it was still um 750,000 or more of federal funding.

The town has to go through a single audit.

So that's basically a deep dive into federal programs, um, both over internal controls as well as compliance with those uh programs.

So there's basically um two other reports or audit opinions that we issue at the the back part of the financial statements.

Um one is over internal controls or over financial reporting, so that's related to the financial statements themselves.

Um, and then there's also an uh report on internal control over compliance with major programs.

So that's for the actual federal programs that we audit.

Um and then any sort of findings or recommendations is also part of that um overall deliverable uh with our audit.

Next slide here.

Uh so just a very high-level audit process, kind of what we went through during our planning uh procedures, which were earlier uh within the the first part of uh 2025.

Um we do go through internal controls and we do testing over certain key controls uh related to the town's processes and procedures.

Um also part of that, we also review the information technology systems or IT uh review by um folks that are uh in uh direct employees of CLA that are IT specialists, so they go through a deep dive on the IT side.

Um there's also different aspects of the audit process that are really summarized in that letter I referred to around any sort of major estimates or um findings, things like that.

Um then we I already mentioned the single audit, so um, I'll cover that in a second in terms of those results over those major federal programs.

Um and then this past year related to the 2024 year end, there was a new accounting standard that was uh implemented, um, required to be implemented by government or uh organizations, so such as the town and other uh governments that report under government accounting standards board or GASB is that acronym.

So um that was statement uh number one oh one, which was related to compensated absences.

So um we'll cover that in a second, but that was a new standard that all governments had to analyze kind of what their um leave balances were, kind of what would fit under the standard, and then implement that uh accrue additional amounts related to that new uh standard.

So that was really the biggest new change, if you will, that that um was required to be implemented for that year.

All right, moving along.

So in terms of the audit opinion and audit results, so I mentioned those kind of three main um uh audit opinions, if you will.

So one of them over the financial statements, uh, one of them over federal uh awards, and then also internal controls over the financial statements.

So those are kind of the three main audit opinions.

So um the actual financial statement over independent auditors report is what we call it, but that was an unmodified or clean opinion, which is the best opinion that the town can receive.

Um so did want to congratulate the town on achieving that again for this past 2024 uh fiscal year uh related to the overall opinion on the financial statements.

Um there was also uh related to the um federal awards here, kind of on the left side of the screen here.

We did have so kind of the two options is a unmodified or clean opinion or a modified opinion is kind of the next uh level, if you will.

So we did need to modify our overall audit opinion related to one of the federal programs that we did audit.

Um and that was the COVID uh 19 um ARPA Fiscal Recovery Funds program, that SLFRF is the acronym, but that's the fiscal recovery funds program.

And that was related to one of the compliance areas that we did test uh for procurement suspension debarment.

So I'll cover that in a bit more detail as far as the details of that finding, um, but did want to just mention that.

Um but we did have an unmodified or clean opinion for the rest of the programs we audited or the the compliance requirements that we audited.

So on the on kind of the right side of this uh were the overall results.

So related to the internal controls over financial statements, we did have one material weakness noted.

I'll cover that in a in a bit more detail in a second.

Um and then we did also have uh two other uh findings related to the federal awards.

So one was a material weakness, and then one was was a significant deficiency.

So um just to kind of recap kind of the differences there.

So kind of the most severe um type of finding that you can have is a material weakness, a step down from that is a significant deficiency, um, still gets reported as part of the results, but kind of not as um pervasive or severe as a material weakness.

The three programs that we did test uh this past year was the ARPA Fiscal Recovery Funds program that I mentioned.

And then we also tested the hazard mitigation grant as well as the airport improvement program.

So those were three uh programs that we did test as part of the single audit.

All right.

Um so the first finding, and I'll kind of go through just kind of the um bullet points, if you will, the highlights on each one, and then I'll pause uh to allow management to kind of address um the each finding and the corrective action that the that the town is taking uh to address these findings.

So um this first finding is uh labeled 2024 001.

So that's just the if you're following along with the actual document, um, that's how that's labeled.

So this is the material weakness and internal controls over financial reporting.

So this is over the specific control as it relates to financial statements.

There were um several different audit adjustments and revisions that were necessary to properly state balances at year end.

So basically for the town to achieve uh unmodified or clean opinion of the over the financial statements, these were adjustments that were reconciled and corrected so that the financial statements that were issued were materially correct.

Um here I kind of summarize just the different aspects.

The actual finding detail within um your financial statements has a lot more detail, um, but they primarily related to year-end accruals, um, reconciliation of cash activity, developer deposits, um, and then some other related kind of cash uh uh true-ups, if you will, between the different uh funds of the town.

We also did have um uh significant year-end adjustments related to grant activity uh to make sure that things were properly presented as well.

So um, those were kind of just the you know, real quick bullet points related to the finding, um, but there is a lot more detail within the actual detail of the finding um within your your annual comprehensive financial report document.

Um I'll pause there for yeah, Sarah and Ann if they wanted to cover cover that.

No, thank you.

Um, and if you do want to follow along in the audit, it's actually on page 153 with the specifics of um those uh adjustments that needed to be made.

So um I'm gonna let Ann talk a little bit more about this because this is actually really her forte and what she's been working on since we did get this um this finding.

Um last year we did have a similar finding where we had to put additional controls in place for our year-end um uh checklist and add additional layers of review.

Um again this year we've needed to add more review, and a lot of that has to do with the sheer volume of what we're encountering at this point.

Um so I'm gonna let Ann talk about our new checklist um and kind of what that entails.

Thank you.

Um yeah, so basically when we um received these findings after um the end of the audit, uh we've already debriefed amongst staff.

So uh our accounting um staff as well as our grant staff.

Um and what we've um come up with is just a really much more detailed year-end checklist than we had previously.

Um, and for each of the areas that are noted here, amongst others, we want to make sure we catch this in any area, um, added another level of review, which would be what I'd be doing at year end um to ensure that you know not only is our staff reconciling these accounts, um, but that we really have that kind of higher level review before it's getting to the auditors.

Um and so we've really tried to implement that um within the new checklist.

Um, we've also you know taken another look to it, our monthly um checklist that we do as well, um, just you know, so we can catch this along the way.

So it's also not such a large lift at year end um due to Sarah noted the volume of transactions we're looking at now in the town.

Great.

Thank you.

All right, so going to the the next finding here.

Um so these uh two focus specifically on the federal uh programs that we've been audited.

So um this next one relates to the fiscal recovery funds program that is uh funded through the COVID-19 monies from uh years ago, but uh you know, spent over multiple years that you as you all are well aware.

Um this relates to procurement suspension debarment.

So this was um the finding that we did have that did result in that modified opinion related to that specific area of procurement suspension debarment.

So um we did not have uh any sort of modification of our opinion related to other compliance areas, but that was one of the compliance areas.

So um part of this uh testing, just to kind of back up a little bit or what this is is um any sort of vendors or contractors that are paid out of uh federal funds, um, if the feds have basically deemed it as an area of testing, we do have to test procurement suspension debarment.

So that's to make sure that the proper procurement procedures were followed.

Um, there's different thresholds that the that the feds require, as well as your own town policies, and then suspension debarment is kind of another aspect of that to make sure that any sort of vendors are not suspended or barred or debarred based on a federal website uh uh process, basically.

So just to give a little background on what that is.

So during our testing, um, we did note that two out of the four vendors that we did select for testing um had not been checked to verify that they were not suspended or debarred prior to the start of those projects.

And then um on top of that, the vendors were not active within that system that the feds do kind of track and that um vendors are required to be registered and kind of tracked that way.

So um that was uh that was the kind of ultimate um issue, if you will, that resulted in that qualification because we weren't able to verify that they were not suspended or debarred.

So the risk is that uh vendors are being paid out of federal funds that are that have bigger issues going on or or you know, reporting issues across um all governments, not just you know the town.

And so that's that's ultimately the risk.

And that finding detail is um laid out in a lot more detail within the the finding language within the ACFER, but um that was the finding number two that we did find.

So I'll pause there for response there.

So the good news is this is a timing issue.

Um, as some of you may know from last year, this was a finding from last year as well.

Um we did have corrective action in place, and we did put that corrective action into place um in December and then um solidified it in our purchasing policy in April of 2025.

Um so the testing that was done were on vendors that had already gone through the process prior to the audit finding of last year.

Um, so we have rectified this, we do have controls in place, and we also have um contract templates that uh address this for the federal grants.

Um, we also have ASAM.gov check that is included in our procurement process as well.

So this has been addressed and will continue to be addressed with every federal grant from this point forward.

Great.

Thank you.

All right, and then the last uh finding that was contained within the actual um schedule of findings and question costs is finding three uh related to the airport improvement program.

So um this was over reporting requirements that uh is part of that program, and this is a significant deficiency in internal control and other matters, so that's not a material weakness that we were talking about.

So step down from that.

Um so one of the the federal reports is called the SF uh 271, um wasn't submitted timely, um, and then it was submitted kind of as part of the audit process after the fact.

So um that is required to be submitted on um periodic basis, and so um it wasn't uh you know, met the requirement, if you will.

So that was not a pervasive issue though, and and we didn't feel like that was a material issue, but it it still was an internal control item um that we did note there as well.

And so um this program in particular, we actually contract this out.

Um so the airport and FAA grants are actually contracted with um a consultant group that specifically works with FAA grants.

We don't have the technical expertise in-house to write those grants, um, and they were responsible for submitting those.

Um we did not have a proper check in place to make sure that they were submitted.

Um so we are actually in the process right now putting together the scope of work for the new RFP because luckily that um contract is up for renewal and we will be including language in that scope of work that actually um ensures that our grants team who has a very good track record of putting our federal uh um compliance documents in on time, um, they will be not only taking over that, but ensuring that anything is submitted on time.

So that will be um actually handed back over to town staff and will no longer be done by the consultant.

Thank you.

All right.

Um, and then we did uh just more as a comment.

This is more of a letter that we do issue um to management about any sort of kind of best practice recommendations or um kind of lesser items that we do notice.

And so we did uh through our IT review that we uh conduct, we did have five uh recommendations that were provided to management.

Um we don't typically put that in writing just because of its IT related and security and and all of that.

So um, but those were communicated as uh best practice recommendations as a result of the IT work.

All right, so just to uh finish up here, um, I mentioned that governance communications letter.

So that was already issued as part of the audit um issuance just to uh recap just some of the highlights, if you will, from that letter, um, I already mentioned uh implementation of compensated absences.

Um, I already mentioned uh implementation of compensated absences.

So um that did not result in any sort of beginning impact with your net position or or fund balances, um, but that was something that basically uh additional work had to be done by the town to implement that properly with the standard um and no issues of of note there with that work.

Um in terms of no other kind of particularly sensitive estimates or anything like that.

We didn't note um we did also have so under kind of the right side of the the slide here other items.

So these were more um items that uh we are required to report to you if we do have any sort of um audit adjustments that the town does record, which we've already talked about those in the first finding.

Um, but there is what's called an uncorrected misstatement.

And so that means it was something that we did notice as part of the audit uh procedures, but it's not a material issue.

So um that's uh something that we just have to note as an uncorrected misstatement.

Um typically it's a timing uh thing with maybe accruals or or recording things in the uh wrong period or the wrong account.

So um in this case, this was related to one of the subscription base IT arrangements or Subita um items.

Uh that was really a timing um aspect as it relates to kind of when that um that uh subscription liability was recorded as long as as well as the related asset um and specifically the implementation costs related to that um was uh recorded as a reduction in expenses versus um kind of uh incorporating that as part of the overall liability.

So um nothing of material nature, as I mentioned, but um just something that we did need to point out.

Um then we did have the the various corrected misstatements that we already covered in that finding, um, but no sort of disagreements with management as far as how things should be reported or um corrected or anything like that.

It was all um we all agreed on you know, kind of the final results and and do want to uh say thank you very much to the town staff and management, Sarah and Ann and everyone, um, because it was a lot to get through and and just a lot of changes and things going on.

So we appreciate everybody sticking with us and getting to the the right results in terms of concluding on the audits.

I did want to just uh say thank you for all the hard work there.

Um so otherwise, just a real quick um, you know, us auditors are always living in the past, so it's nice to look into the future a little bit.

So these are just kind of real quick recaps of some upcoming governmental accounting standards boards changes.

So this is something that um it will be effective for your current fiscal year end 25 as well as upcoming in 2026.

So um uh Gasby statement 102 um around risk disclosures.

We don't um based on our understanding, we don't envision this would probably be a material impact for the town's financial statements as you head into the end of 25.

Um, but there are some pretty uh significant changes in 2026 just to be more aware of as it relates to financial reporting.

So this is really more the financial statements, um, especially as it relates to your enterprise or business type funds, some kind of nuanced changes there with the with how things are reported, as well as some changes in your um capital asset disclosures.

So just wanted to give you a heads up as the financial statements will look a bit different as you go into your 2026 uh fiscal year end.

Um with that though, uh we'll I'll kind of kind of conclude the final presentation though.

Certainly happy to address any questions, um feedback, anything like that.

We're always uh willing to talk through anything there.

And I do have my contact information uh within the slides as well that you're always um able to reach out additionally if with any questions.

All right, thank you for the presentation.

Uh before I go around here, just uh one quick question with the airport uh portion of that.

I assume we've reached out to Vector or Jason for uh our process with that.

Yes, so um David Passik is actually um has been in communication um with them.

We have gotten everything in that needs to get in.

So that has all been rectified.

And again, we are um up for uh renewal on that contract.

So they're going to actually, like I said, review the scope of work and um actually put out an RFP to ensure that we're getting the best services as well.

Um so uh we're pretty excited to make sure that that is corrected because the FAA um does like to get their reports on time.

Um luckily they're also very good partners, and so they were pretty forgiving with us as well.

There we go.

Thank you.

Um so I think I'll just maybe go around the dio service we'll still tomorrow.

So great job.

Congratulations on the unmodified opinion.

Um I really don't have any questions.

You it was a great presentation.

Thanks.

Council member.

Yeah, thanks for the presentation.

Um happy to see everything's been tied up and um corrective vaccines have been put in place.

So thanks.

Councilmember Hobak.

Uh thank you.

Um ready for your questions.

No, I'm ready for your questions.

I know you have a financial background, they're always great.

Um, the um vendor issue.

Um that was not a vendor we actually did business with last year.

It was they were just in the database as an approved vendor, and therefore they so um it was the hazard mitigation um or uh it was the hazard mitigation uh project that we used ARPA funding for at the cheese man property.

And so that particular one we did utilize that vendor.

Um our understanding is that there is there was no issue um that came up during that, but they were not active in Sam.gov, which is why um that was flagged.

So there's no way for the auditors or for the federal government to verify that they're not suspended or debarred in any other or any and in any trouble with any other governmental entity, which is why it's flagged.

Um the work is completed um and over with, but um to Allison's point, there is still a risk at that point that if for some reason something did happen, um, we did use federal dollars for that.

Um so again, that's why those checks are now in place to ensure that that does not happen moving forward.

Okay, thank you.

Um I guess the only other one I'll call out is the um the largest of all the adjustments, adjustments the 4.6 million dollar.

That was just that was really just classification, right?

We're calling something a negative asset rather than a liability.

Exactly.

Yes, okay.

Um congratulations on yet another opinion.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right, Councilmember Passer Melly.

I don't have any questions.

Oh well, one thing was uh when we don't submit, do we have penalties for the report to let it one?

I'm sorry, say that again.

Um finding since we did not support submit the 25.

Are there any penalties that we had to do?

No, we were able to get everything in time or in to the FAA, and um so far everything is okay.

We're squared up with them.

Um if we do hear anything otherwise, we'll definitely let the council know.

Thank you.

Council member O'Connor.

I have no questions other than um just want to say congratulations on the clean opinion, and uh um, you know, this is kind of my first time into this, so I'm observing and learning as I go here.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Uh just one quick thing um on the IT verbal recommendations.

Was there anything around our ERP systems?

I know that's come up in the past.

Is there that was the focus of yeah, so so basically um we kind of go through hey, what are the significant IT systems that the town has, and then um certain like user access testing, um, you know, testing against the policies that are in place.

So um nothing that we felt like we had to bring it to a finding level, it was just more best practice recommendations.

Okay, yeah.

Right.

Thank you.

Uh well, uh yeah, again, yeah, uh reflect my colleagues' opinions here.

They're not gonna another clean audit.

So yeah, appreciate it and uh appreciate all the work.

I know you guys go through a lot to get this out here.

So uh thank you.

And uh I know you've got the next agenda item here.

So I'll be here all night.

There you go.

All right.

So thank you once again.

Thank you, Bob.

Um, so the next item is 25536, a resolution of the town council, the town area expressing the intent of the town to be reimbursed for certain expenses relating to the construction of certain public improvements.

So I realize that's very vague.

Um so thank you, council.

Um here again to discuss this.

Um so I I was going to put this on consent, but we did pull it off and thought that it would be good to just um discuss it a little bit and allow you to ask any questions that you had because um this is a unique type of resolution that we put forth when we're anticipating debt like COPs.

Um so I want to be very clear up front that this resolution does not appropriate any funding, it does not issue any debt.

Um this is essentially allowing us to, if any contracts come forward related to uh projects that we would like to fund um with certificates of participation in the future, we can go ahead and um approve those contracts and then reimburse ourselves once those COPs are issued.

Um we do have sufficient cash to do that.

Um so we are in a position where we would be able to do so.

Um but this essentially allows the timeline for some of our projects to move forward as we get towards the guaranteed maximum price on particularly the public safety building, um, because we need that amount in order to have a um a much more finite dollar amount for our COP issuance.

So a lot of those contracting components have to happen before you issue.

And so this is kind of where the cart and the horse happen.

Um so this resolution essentially allows us to move forward with those contracts, and of course, those will still come to council, they will still be subject to your approval and your discussion.

Um, but at that point would then allow you to approve those, knowing that the debt issuance would be coming.

Um so that's all that this resolution does.

Um again, if you decided to change direction, nothing is appropriated with this.

It simply allows that to happen.

Um so with that, I would just wanted to make sure that you all understood and that you if you had any questions about what that meant, um, that I could answer them for you.

Sure.

Okay.

Um questions?

So good.

Questions?

Okay.

We're good.

Okay.

Uh uh just one quick question.

I know that we talked about um uh in addition to the public safety building.

There were some other things we're talking about, packaging together, such as this amount.

I know we got the higher number with the uh that's roughly takes up most of that 50 million.

So uh the if if there's additional allocations, that would be in a future disbursement or so.

Yes, um, but I wouldn't expect us to hit the 50 million before issuance.

Um that would be uh gotcha.

Um that would be like pretty significant that that GMP um will happen pretty close to when the actual issuance happens.

Um so I just wouldn't expect that.

Um so if we do have to appropriate, I would I would expect maybe about half to three quarters if we were get to get that far.

Um, but based on my conversations with Hilltop, um the 50 million was the was the safe number to go with, um that the timing uh for when we were gonna issue that GMP would line up pretty well within when the COPs were issued.

Okay.

So that was their advice.

Yep.

All right, thank you.

So with that, uh, does someone want to entertain a motion for the approval of this?

Motion to approve.

Second.

Okay.

I have a motion and a second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

All right.

Motion passes.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, be seeing you soon on the budget.

All right.

Some extra thing up there.

Yeah.

There we go.

All right.

So exciting.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There we go.

All right.

Um next, we're through mostly agenda items.

The next item is uh council member reports and announcements.

What's my left this time?

I'll go to my right.

So council member O'Connor, do you have a thing?

Sure.

Thank you.

Um I uh wanted to thank the Erie Economic Development uh department for hosting uh another round business round table last week.

Uh Councilmember Bear, Councilmember Mortalaro, and I had a chance to sit in and um hear from local business owners about uh about their successes, their struggles, ideas, um, hear about uh the business grants and rebates, the composting programs and resources, commercial development updates, and uh some networking conversations.

So thank you for hosting the event.

Um and on that note, uh wanted to highlight that uh the home-based business directory is now been published and is available on the town of Erie website uh to uh you know get out there and support your small local home-based businesses.

Um last item is the town of Erie Tree Board.

Uh their next newsletter is about to be published, and it's filled with information, tips, and uh it's the sixth one that they've put together.

If you're interested in signing up for the newsletter, uh check out the uh tree board's website on the town of Erie's website.

And if you want to view the five previous newsletters, you can uh find a link there below the sign-up area.

And that information is always evergreen.

So it's still relevant.

That's it.

Thanks.

Thank you.

That was a tree post.

Uh yeah, Councilmember Hobak.

Uh I don't have anything to report.

All right.

Thank you.

Council Mortal Laura.

Uh couple just a couple things.

Uh grand opening for the Erie wetlands uh is this Saturday at 10 o'clock on a uh 1000 brigs, right by the recycling center.

So if you can make it out to that, uh great natural habitat uh for our our native plants and and wild uh life and uh birds uh so they say that that's exciting that that's gonna be opening uh here after a few years of of a lot of work.

Also presentation by um Motus uh theater uh this Saturday at ECC at seven o'clock uh on the uh gift of unexpected kindness.

Uh Councilmember Bear and myself will be two of the narrators.

Uh so if you can make it out for that, that'd be great.

And the medication take back is October 25th from 10 to 2 at the Erie Police Department.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Bear.

Thank you.

Um, I'm excited about the uh MODIS theater um event.

I I know the last one was really pretty great.

So that's gonna be great.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the women in leadership summit.

It was a sellout crowd, and it was um tremendous uh camaraderie, and um it was just really great to hear all the different stories.

I walked away feeling very inspired.

Thank you to Deputy Town Manager Wiley for MCing the evening and um giving a really amazing, incredible um presentation.

If you guys ever get a chance to hear her um speak, I encourage you to take that.

She's truly amazing as well as Deputy Chief.

Um Carcino is so great.

Um and then let's see, I have the Dr.

Cog building decarbonation decarbonization oversight committee, and I have really good news.

We we renamed that because that is too hard to say.

So, and now is Power Ahead Colorado Oversight Committee.

So pretty excited about how that project is moving forward.

Um being able to roll out our 200 million dollar um EPA grant into the community, into you know, um local governments as well as building owners and business owners and um and low-income families in their homes.

So more to come with that.

Um we also got the update on the comprehensive climate action plan for Dr.

Cog region, which is pretty great.

Um, this has been a uh plan that's been going on for many years.

They got a uh million dollar grant back in 2023, and it's due at the end of this year.

So pretty excited.

And I was excited to learn that they've included waste.

Um while waste contributes about one percent of the state's um emissions, it can treat contributes about a third of the town of Erie's, and so it's exciting that they'll be looking at that and looking at ways to um sort of address those emissions.

So um, other than that, I'm testifying at AQCC tomorrow.

I have Dr.

Cog tomorrow, and I will see you on Saturday.

So that's it.

All right, thank you.

So uh as you can tell, the mayor's not here tonight.

Um, he had uh knee replacement surgery, so uh I spoke to him this morning.

Everything went well, so he's on the men, so we wish him all the best.

Um I know he's he wants to be here next week.

I told him not to push himself, and uh he's got a very rigorous uh PT uh regimen to go through.

So uh obviously our thoughts and prayers with her with him on a speedy recovery.

Um and thankful that everything went well with the surgery.

Um so uh thank you, Councilmember Mortalar for mentioning the the wetlands opening.

So that's gonna be really exciting.

Um Saturday, October 25th.

There is a uh medication uh takeback.

Um so uh for those of you who are trying to clean out the covers.

I know I've got a couple prescriptions I don't have any more, so it's a good chance to get rid of that.

Uh also on the 25th, uh the Erie Erie downtown.

So chance to see our young kids out there.

Um, just a safe environment for them to go uh trick-or-treating and and uh so it's always a great experience if you haven't been down there before.

Uh it's really and then uh or sorry, the Erie Erie is the race.

So the yeah, the uh so excited to see that happening again and then the boo on briggs the same day.

So um uh yeah, Halloween's coming up, so also just uh be careful the youngsters out there and uh as you're driving along, and uh Halloween's on a Friday night this year, so obviously uh yeah, be a little extra careful.

And uh also uh I know it's not a normal election cycle, but there is uh an election now, and uh ballots have been mailed out, so there are some important statewide initi uh initiatives on the ballot, and there's also um uh a local school board election going on here, so just encourage everybody to uh turn in their ballots.

Uh you would want to turn them in at uh uh any of the uh uh ballot uh collection areas.

There's one at the Rux Center on the Well County side, there's one uh at uh Metal Ark elemental elementary on the on the Boulder County side.

Um also uh just a final note here.

I just wanted to uh just uh reach out to our our uh Jewish community in town.

I know that um uh very emotional uh uh day yesterday um for the returning of the hostages and uh I happen to know uh some friends of mine that that have um you know relatives that are living in Israel, so this is very personal for a lot of people.

So very glad to see um the returning of those uh remaining hostages.

So our thoughts go out to them.

And uh with that, uh that's all I have.

So uh the last item on the agenda, we have an executive session item.

I know that um uh very emotional uh uh day yesterday um for the returning of the hostages and uh I happen to know uh some friends of mine that that have um you know relatives that are living in Israel so this is very personal for a lot of people so very glad to see um the returning of those uh remaining hostages so our thoughts go out to them and uh with that uh that's all I have so uh the last item on the agenda we have an executive session item so I asked for Councilmember O'Connor to make the motion I move to go into executive session execution executive session one to hold a conference with the town attorney to receive legal advice on specific legal questions pursuant to CRS 24-6-402B regarding Erie Highlands Metro District one and two to hold a conference with the town attorney to receive legal advice on specific questions pursuant to CRS 24-6-402B and to determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations develop strategy for negotiations and or instruct negotiators pursuant to CRS 24-6-402 for e all regarding the town the Erie town center all right we have a motion is there a second second okay all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed okay uh we will enter an executive session we will we will adjourn the meeting uh immediately after the executive session so we will not be returning uh to the regular meeting so uh thank you this evening and we're adjourned