Council Connects

Note below from JCPH. I will be meeting with them in January to talk about placing air monitors in Golden for measuring air quality.

Yes, January 09 at 2:00pm works for me. Please note that James Rada, Director of EHS will be out of the office on this date and will be unable to attend. I will extend the invite for conversation to Debby Bower, Community Engagement Coordinator, Jessica Hymer, Environmental Justice Coordinator and Luke Martin, GIS Analyst as well.

I have reserved a conference room for January 09 from 2:00-2:45pm at JCPH. Upon arrival, please continue to EHS (second floor) and ask for Madison 😊

We look forward to meeting.

Please note, I typically work Monday through Thursday, 5:30am to 4:00pm



Madison Pitts, REHS/ RS, MBA

Supervisor Environmental Health Services



Jefferson County Public Health

645 Parfet Street

Lakewood, CO 80215

o 303.271.5759

c 720.835.7637

One thing I had meant to mention in the budget discussion on 12/5/2023 was the amount of budget transfer that goes to Splash, Community Center (CC), Museum and somewhat reverse transfer from Fossil Trace and the Campground. I had wanted to include a per attendee value for comparison but did not get the numbers in time to make comment on that. Still, this graph I made shows the ratio of monies transferred to the funds versus their revenues. A value less than one indicates how much of their costs they are covering. It ranges from about 40% for the Museum to over 200% for the Campground. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18lTQl9PbqLFG8aOOn99ZIARzyGQgGrvY5Pqs8LC6sSE/edit?usp=sharing When I get the attendance numbers I will update this. I hope we have a conversation about this in detail. Without the attendance numbers, if one does a calculation of how many visitors would result in a $5 transfer per visitor, and accounting for the days that the venues are open per year, the attendance DAILY would have to be 476, 580, and 404 per day at the Splash, CC, and Museum respectively.

Really interesting article on CPR today about the G line and connections (or lack thereof) to Golden. Worth the read! https://www.cpr.org/2023/11/30/rtd-wanted-g-line-to-golden-free-shuttle-ending/

The Boards and Commissions sub-committee, in cooperation with CIRSA, provided training to our new board members. We provided information from the Boards and Commissions manual and highlighted some focus areas as well as the Policy update procedure. Here is a link to the training, but it does not include the CIRSA slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ucibd0bghnkRAIeAWMsL3Am73IVm9iat/view?usp=sharing

Really interesting article in High Country News on the effort from Habitat for Humanity to build affordable net zero homes in the Roaring Fork Valley: https://www.hcn.org/articles/south-housing-can-net-zero-homes-really-be-affordable

https://www.westword.com/restaurants/jesus-silva-golden-mill-sushi-sora-mark-shaker-16327157

In reference to asking the city to be involved in an internal dispute, this article lays out why it is not a city matter.

Housing Stability Flex Fund update: Golden contributes annually through the Metro Mayors Caucus (MMC), $3,000 in 2022. Here are some 2022 facts:
• 193 Households helped
• 489 Individuals assisted
• $214,770 dollars allocated
• Nearly $150,000 raised by MMC
• $1,113 average household assistance
• 38 local agencies accessed the Fund for their clients
• 146 at-risk households helped in 15 member municipalities
• 47 literally homeless households helped in 12 member municipalities
• 26 Veterans served
More information: https://www.mdhi.org/flex-fund

Mayors Institute on Pedestrian Safety with AARP Liveable Communities: Deadline to apply is February 24th. I will be bringing this up for Council consideration at our next meeting. I think this work could tie in well with our focus on Senior living and the Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan. https://mayorsinnovation.org/our-work/mips/

CML 2023 State of our Cities and Towns: https://cmlresource.com/state-of-our-cities-and-towns-2023/
Some highlights: Housing remains a top 3 challenge in 2023, as it has been every year since the 2016 report.
• Over 40% of respondents – representing almost three-quarters (72%) of the municipal population covered by the survey, are taking action to promote affordable housing.
• Top actions being taken:
o Permitting accessory dwelling units: 73%
o Approving increased density on smaller lots: 52%
o Offering waivers for lot size/width/building height restrictions: 36%
o Reducing review fees: 33%
o Reducing parking requirements: 33%

Donations for Dignity: Sharing for Council reference for future retail marijuana tax dollar discussions to advance public health and equity in Golden. Link to last week's webinar (and organization website) https://www.donationsfordignity.org/resources/about-the-toolkit

MDHI update: Golden partnered with MDHI and Built for Zero back in 2021. The focus has been on veteran homelessness which has decreased 31% since November 2020. Annual State of Homelessness Report: https://www.mdhi.org/blog/annual-state-of-homelessness-released-1

Hi all, as you may have seen, RTD has completed their Equity Fare Study and is now presenting two alternative fare structures for public feedback. One of those fare structures (alternative B) eliminates the Regional fare penalty that has so unfairly impacted Golden by drastically increasing the cost to the W Line Jeffco Government Station but not other similar stations like the G Line Ward Road Station. In the past, Council has written letters to the RTD Board advocating for eliminating the Regional fare penalty, and I think this would also be the appropriate time to again weigh in and give feedback in support of Alternative B. For more info, see the RTD Fare Study Feedback page at https://www.farefeedback.rtd-denver.com/

From DRCOG, but required a click through. Using Balancing Act (we tried it on the Golden United Housing Task Force) for planning purposes instead. Worth a read: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-08-08/the-virtual-tools-built-to-fix-real-world-housing-problems. An interesting quote, from Eastvale California, which had to add 3000 units, "“The beauty of this tool is that literally, unit by unit, you can say where the housing should go,” said Gonzalez, who called the software a game-changer for the town’s once-contentious new-housing debate. Before the simulation process, a standing-room-only meeting of angry residents opposed the development; when the housing element was later passed in council chambers, after Balancing Act, nobody was there to oppose the final vote. "

Pretty incredible Washington Post article about a Denver RTD driver and what they encounter and have to deal with regularly. It's maddening and heart-wrenching all at once. https://wapo.st/3NvtPF9

Oddly I'm just finding out I was not subscribed to this page. So I'm seeing some great new stuff. But more importantly, I want to share with council my summary notes (sketchy I know) from the Water Alliance Now conference I went to in Philadelphia last month. I also shared these with Anne Bierle in Public Works:
Financing

Much of the first panel was about funding sources. Some money is grants, some is loans, some is forgivable loans. The State Revolving Funds (SRF) is an area we should be engaging in, because those funds can be used even for local grant matches. Funds available for projects across water issues, :

An interesting element (new to me anyway) was Section 108 funding from HUD, can be part of CDBG and can be used for

Economic Development
Housing
Public Facilities
Infrastructure
Acquisition

Funding – www.build.gov, searchable database from the Whitehouse on funding approaches from AIIJ act (American Invest in Jobs Act?)


Creative projects that are intersectional are a good way to apply for money. For example a storm water project that results in a park getting built. So, for example, could Bachman property do water detention/storm water quality and provide money toward a park?

Water reuse can make use of SRF funding, could we apply for that for our gray water program?

EPA has money that they flow through SRF but also directly. Do we have fingers into EPA local regional director? If not, should we reach out? Kathleen Becker, Region 8 Administrator, based in Boulder.

Equity and Social Justice

There were several panels on this, all of them making the same message that water is a human right, and preventing access to water is a moral choice. One city (Durham NC?) stopped charging late fees, cutoff fees, and gave up $1.5M in revenue. The worked with LEAP programs to pay utility bills, partnered with social impact groups and housing authorities to keep people with access to water. Many other groups made the same point. Should we investigate whether unpaid water bills are leading to utility cut off?

Access to good water quality is not an issue in Golden. But how well known is that? Are there people in Golden, maybe immigrants who come from countries where that is not the case? They are drinking, at great expense, bottled water instead of using our good tap water? What education can we provide around this?

Access to recreation is an issue in other parts of the country too (Fredericksburg, VA) was a case study. The local utility partnered with advocates to educate, and celebrate latinx visitors. They also are trying to engage residents in a discussion of a new sewage treatment plant that will be close to people who have been previously (or still) marginalized. Developing partnerships and trust was key. If you want to draw a more diverse population, value their input, pay them. Their time is valuable. In fact to them, it may be more valuable than yours, if they are foregoing time with family, work, or church.

Communication

In some cases utilities ensured they educated users about the quality of their water, drainage, etc. to build trust. This helped when utility work was done, lead line replacement, storm water changes. A new phrase to me, in dealing with citizens, government, and big projects, was this line, “Projects move at the speed of trust”. Welcome people in, the strongest impact is when people can use their own power, share power.

Green Infrastructure

I toured a really cool UPenn athletic complex that was built ($46M) on 14 acres of parking lot, and before that sort of a brownfield weedy mess for decades. They put in bio-swales, detention, cisterns, well drained fields used almost continuously (artificial turf). The planted high water use trees in the swales and have lower water use plants/trees on the paths on the berms. They also had some super small swales that just allow percolation into the soil. It is well maintained, which is key, so there is not an accumulation of trash.

Some cities are replacing sidewalks with planters/cisterns, permeable pavers, even off setting the curb and asphalt so the gutter can store some capacity of water before it recedes. One innovative idea was to pull out some sections of sidewalk, put in flowers, native plants (not turf) and allow more water to perk into the soil. Granted the places they are doing this deal with more rain events than Golden has, but it is a great way to seed green space into areas where it is lacking (multi-family, parking lots?). But another way to look at storm water control that reduces flooding, creates green space, even tiny parks, addresses equity to a degree.

In Golden I am worried that addressing flooding in Leena Gulch may set up the owner of Golden Terrace to displace residents and create a few more mobile home sites, displacing those on “temporary” pads who can not find another place to be.
Walking paths around/near water treatment with signs, same for the sewage treatment plant. Water heroes, murals, community members, drinking water from a tap, moving them away from bottled water.

Interesting local reporting about cities investigating drone shows in lieu of fireworks displays to minimize fire risk. Wouldn't it be cool if we could partner with Mines students to do something like this? https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/2-colorado-towns-4th-july-drone-shows-fire-risk-2022/73-44b6f3ca-29aa-4e6b-91c2-a63d429793f2

New CML Housing resource has launched - https://bit.ly/35vItvu . I am on the CML Board subcommittee focused on housing this year and one goal was to create a space for cities to share housing resources and ideas.

Entertaining video on the history and downsides to suburban single-family zoning, with a cameo from the Golden City Hall at minute 16:30. https://youtu.be/SfsCniN7Nsc

Interesting article summarizing researching showing a strong correlation between COVID-19 deaths and lack of internet access. Could a colorable argument be made to expend some recreational marijuana tax revenue on municipal broadband-related projects?
"This March, researchers at the University of Chicago published a study in the journal JAMA Network Open that showed one of the factors most consistently associated with a high risk of death due to Covid-19 in the US was the lack of internet access, whether broadband, dial-up, or cellular. This was regardless of other demographic risk factors like socioeconomic status, education, age, disability, rent burden, health insurance coverage, or immigration status."
https://www.vox.com/22979086/covid-pandemic-deaths-mortality-broadband-internet-access

Council is engaged in “one of the most important decisions we will make” during our tenure.

Without a specific background in hiring municipal executives such as a City Manager, I believe it’s important to research and rely on best practices from professionals in the field. Our very own Colorado Municipal League (CML) has a great primer that may inform our work regarding both the City Manager search as well as options for and the importance of an Interim City Manager.

https://www.cml.org/docs/default-source/uploadedfiles/issues/employment/hire-2013.pdf