Sarah Haas, Central City.  Funding for the construction of the Central City membrane building, a spatial structure built with tensioned membranes, like Denver International Airport’s roof, is close to being secured. Council unanimously approved a supplemental appropriation to the City’s 2018 budget and lease agreement with Prime Capital Inc., to account for and fund the project.

The building, which began accepting proposals in October 2017, is to be built just south of the sand shed on the Central City parkway and will belong to the Public Works Department, that will lease space to the Fire Department. The cost, projected to total $450,000, is financed on a 10-year-plan, to be paid out of the City’s Transportation Enterprise Fund, or about $55,000 a year.

City Staff anticipates minor changes to the language and cost figures in the coming two weeks as contractual discussions come to a close. Final figures will be presented at the next City Council meeting for final approval by Council.

With a narrow 3-2 vote, Central City has become the 54th community in Colorado to confirm a commitment to obesity prevention and the promotion of healthy and active lifestyles. In partnership with Live Well Colorado, the City will work to remove barriers that inequitably and disproportionately affect low-income communities and people of color.

Council Members Jeff Aiken, Judy Laratta and Mary Bell voted in favor of the Resolution, noting the program had no fiscal impact and only positive contributions. Opposed were Shirley Voorhies and Mayor Kathryn Heider, the Mayor commenting, “I have a problem with the Resolution because it deviates from more important things.”

In Council Comments, Mayor Heider took the opportunity to put in public record what she saw as an “error” in The Weekly Register Call. On February 1, the newspaper accredited her with a successful State of the City address given on January 16.

“It was a nice article in the paper, but David Josselyn [journalist] gave me entirely too much credit. It was a group effort including everyone in the city and on Council. I wrote a letter to the editor to share the love,” she said, as she distributed printouts of her letter among the room.

Josselyn spoke in Public Comments, not as a Journalist but as representative of the Gilpin County Arts Association. On their behalf, he offered an informal update on the organization’s plans for the year ahead including a housewarming party in celebration of the recently installed heat at Washington Hall, to be held on April 21, 2018, from 2 to 4 p.m.

Before concluding the meeting, Council went into a closed Executive Session to discuss the potential donation of a property to the city, the potential lease of said City-owned property and legal questions related to the Notice of Claim were submitted to the City on January 26.

(Originally published in the February 15, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)