Monica LaSalle, Central City. The Central City Council met on Tuesday, February 19th for its bi-monthly session. The meeting opened after the counsel left an executive session to discuss specific legal questions and to instruct negotiators regarding proposed amendments to 1999 Growth IGA (Intergovernmental Agreement dated September 29, 1999), specific legal questions related to the process for collecting delinquent sales and use taxes, and specific legal questions related to Article VII of the Home Rule Charter. Council member Judy Laratta motioned to amend the agenda to continue the 2nd phase of executive session with unanimous approval.

On the consent agenda was the regular bill list and counsel minutes. Charges for towing a plow truck off the Central City Parkway and guard rail replacement were briefly yet satisfactorily explained by Public Works Director Jason Hoover. The guard rail was damaged by Gilpin Ambulance Authority, and the repair bill to Ideal Fence was reimbursed to the city by them. Discussion moved to the rapid food assessment costs paid from grant funds to consultants and city staff time towards the assessment, with findings to be presented in April. Laratta moved to approve consent agenda, and there were no public comments offered regarding the consent agenda.

Because the notice to the public regarding discussion of Ordinance No. 19-02 amending the municipal code to establish an administrative citation procedure for addressing specified violations of the Municipal Code, specified violation of the Municipal Code, specifically adding a new Article X to Chapter 2 titled Administrative Penalty Citations for Code Violations was not included in the Weekly Register-Call, the council was unable to discuss the proposed amendment. The discussion has been postponed to the next council meeting March 5 to enable adequate public notification of the hearing.

Resolution No. 19-06 was the first of two action items up for discussion. The council moved to approve the resolution accepting project completion of the construction of Source Water Diversion Structure Improvements Project after it was made clear that the acceptance would be pending the one year warranty period. There were also some comments concerning bringing the disturbed area on Forest Service land back to looking undisturbed during the warranty period.

The discussion then moved to the second action item, Ordinance No. 19-03, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Central, Colorado, amending Section 2-4-10 and 2-4-60 of the Municipal Code to clarify Code of Ethics in an effort to avoid future conflict with the broad interpretation currently being made by the Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) in other municipalities around Colorado that are also home rule. As an example, City Manager Daniel Miera sites Glendale as the first home rule municipality to have had a jurisdiction conflict with the IEC regarding codes of ethics that was eventually settled in District Court. The council approved the amendments, with Aiken motioning to approve on first reading and hold a second reading and public hearing at next council meeting March 5th.

Ray Rears got up to discuss the Live Well grant that was used to perform the rapid food assessment, a 3,500.00 grant of which 3000.00 was spent on utilizing the two consultants and the remaining 500.00 was retained by the city to enable them to cover staff expenses.

Conversation then moved to discussing a request for additional street lights on the Parkway. Public Works, the city engineer and a consultant from the consulting group had met that morning in anticipation of an evaluation meeting with Xcel, with agreements towards performing a lighting assessment including any additional design requirements with preliminary bids to be presented to council members prior to moving forward with changes. Council requests that Nevada St. lighting be addressed at the same time, and was reassured that the Eureka cross street project performed by Xcel 4 years ago would also be included.

Thanks were offered by Council member Judy Laratta on all the help and support she received while being out dealing with illness. Comments were made regarding excited anticipation of receiving the rapid food assessment results, with Council member Jack Hidahl expressing approval of the positive approach to encouraging business and home owners to clear their sidewalks of snow in a timely manner through the posting of a flyer around town with kind and humorous language. He also expressed concern over putting some attention towards reviewing ordinances to ensure proper authority for neglected buildings and fees associated with them, towards holding another council retreat to finish items from the last one, and towards ensuring the public charrette on the Belvidere be held at a future date if not March 14th.

Last, Council member Hidahl expressed concern over the lack of contractors either known or willing to work in the area, making it increasingly difficult to make improvements around the city either by citizens or the City. He requested they hold a work session to brainstorm ideas on how to increase shared knowledge of contractors willing to work in the area. Prompted by Council member Laratta, the council moved back into the 2nd phase of the executive session.

(Originally published in the February 21, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)