Alexander Joseph, Central City. The regular meeting of the City of Central Council began at 7:12 p.m. on January 19, 2021. Roll call was taken and in attendance were Mayor Jeremy Fey, Mayor Pro-Tem Judy Laratta and council members Jeff Aiken, Jackie Johnson, and Kara Tinucci. 

After the Pledge of Allegiance and with no additions or conflicts of interests to the agenda, the City Council then moved onto the consent agenda which consisted of Regular Bill lists through January 5 and City Council minutes from January 5, 2020. The consent agenda was passed unanimously. 

There was no comment in the public forum participation section and the council moved onto the second reading of Ordinance No. 21-01: An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Central, Colorado, vacating portions of the Central City Parkway. After opening a public hearing into the Ordinance, during which there was no comment, a motion was put onto the floor to pass this Ordinance. 

Next the council moved to the single action item, which was Removal of Commission Member Shelby Ellis from Main Street Central City Commission. The grounds for removal were that Mr. Ellis had wished to resign, but had not officially and had stopped arriving to meetings. The Council then moved to remove Commission Member Ellis from said commission and this vote passed unanimously. 

It was then time for staff updates during which City Manager Miera detailed the ongoing involvement of Central City with the 5-Star Certification Program, a program which is on its way but is not quite in effect yet. 

The second item on the staff updates, was that CDOT has awarded the City of Central with a $50,000 grant for various improvements at the Belvidere Theater Park, funds which will be used to improve the grounds of this park. Nothing of note was mentioned during the staff comments, and there were no comments during the Public Forum/ Audience Participation section. 

At 7:52 p.m. the Council adjourned for an executive session to Pursuant to C.R.S. §§ 24-6-402(4)(a) and -402(4)(e)(I) to discuss the potential lease of City-owned property and to determine negotiating positions and instruct negotiators regarding the terms of said lease.

The next City of Central Council meeting is February 2, 2021.

(Originally published in the January 21, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)