The Golden City Council of Colorado held a regular business meeting on August 25, 2026, at 6:30 PM. Key actions included approval of a separation agreement with the former city manager, adoption of a new marketing contract with DVA Advertising emphasizing stewardship, and approval of a new waste collection fee schedule with state recycling reimbursements. The evening featured public comment on the fire department's reputation and city finances, a subcommittee update on an ongoing third-party investigation, and five proclamations.
The consent calendar was approved unanimously with the exclusion of Item 7D (DVA Advertising).
Discussion on Removed Items: Councilor Cameron clarified the separation was due to irreconcilable loss of internal trust, not a policy violation, making the contractual severance unavoidable. Councilor Connell stated she intends to apply lessons learned from the current contract to the future permanent hiring process. Council leadership defended the acting manager's compensation structure by noting Golden operates as a full-service city that manages services other municipalities contract out.
Mayor Weinberg read five proclamations into the record:
Item 7D: Resolution 3345 – DVA Advertising Professional Services Agreement
Item 9: Resolution 3348 – MOU with Circular Action Alliance
Item 10: Resolution 3341 – Updated Waste Collection Fee Schedule
Good evening, everyone. It is six thirty on August twenty-fifth, twenty twenty six. We are here tonight for the City of Golden regular business meeting of Golden City Council. Please begin by standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republics for which he stands, one nation, under God, individual with liberty and justice for all. Counselor Evans? Here. Here. Counselor Bow? Here. Councillor Krasinski. Here. Mayor Walbert. Mayor Putin, you have a quorum. Thank you. Thank you. Next is the approval of the agenda. I believe we have a proposed change this evening. Uh Madam Chair, I would move to remove consent item seven D from the consent matters and move it after the proclamations and before item nine on the agenda. So noted. I'll second all in favor. Aye. Thank you. Next on the agenda is public comment. This will be the only time this evening folks will have a chance to address counsel. If you would like to speak to council during public comment, please approach the podium. State your name, your address, or your neighborhood. You will have three minutes to address counsel. And uh Councilor Fowl will be doing our timing this evening. And that public comment has been posted. The first person to sign up for public comment is Tony Memory. Um this is a statement that's not I wrote it down. Um District One, two twenty um Jackson Street. Um so I'm just gonna run through this. Recent events that have been discussed at length in details and decisions made. I certainly don't condone the actions of those who we uphold through the positions to the highest standard with the city, whether elected or assigned. That being said, my concern is this. We have men and women of the fire department who save lives and put their lives at risk. This fact mayor is somewhat of a double-edged sort of perception, both locally and online. Moving forward, I would like to know as a community member. What strategies can be initiated now to support the vital services of the men and women of our fire department beyond classroom DEI training. Sometimes it's a personal opinion. You have to take the punch on the chin. That's all well and right. What I'm personally don't think is positive is for the community that has the department that's left in the kind of limbo of perception. Transparency isn't just saying we, meaning all will do better. Transparency is the conversation openly and honestly shared, not online, as we see with many online warriors who never show up at these meetings. I imagine of necessity there are going to be some really difficult decisions to be had in the future. We took the opportunity to go over and walk over to our fire department and speak with two people over there.