Council Connects

Something else to worry about: https://coloradosun.com/2019/09/12/emerald-ash-borer-colorado-battle-ends/?utm_source=Pico&utm_campaign=068ef3de78-Sun-Up&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2e5f9a0f1b-068ef3de78-55835705&mc_cid=068ef3de78&mc_eid=6d7dcedb3c

Denver could raise tobacco and nicotine age to 21 — and change how products are sold locally: https://denverite.com/2019/09/10/denver-could-raise-tobacco-and-nicotine-age-to-21-and-change-how-products-are-sold-locally/

Rocky Flats Stewardship Council – 9 Sep 2019
Lindsey Masters, Chief of the Hazardous Waste Division, CDPHE, briefed the Council about recent soil testing along the right of way of the proposed parkway:
1. The Jefferson County Highway Authority (JCHA) hired an environmental firm to do soil tests along the right of way of the proposed parkway. Radiological testing has been done on over half of the 250+ samples taken.
2. The test on one sample was significantly over the “Action Level” but under the “Risk Level” as outlined in EPA directives. The second test on the soil sample was under the Action Level.
3. The Environmental Laboratory’s testing protocols have not yet been provided to CDPHE.
4. The contractor is preparing/has done “step back” sampling around the site of the elevated sample for additional testing.
5. An environmental firm/individual, representing interested citizens, was reported to have taken soil samples from all the sites taken by the JCHA environmental contractor. The citizen firm reported an elevated finding on the same above site but has not yet provided laboratory documents to CDPHE or the RFSC.
6. The RFSC Executive Director noted that “hot spots” were expected to be found following the “Clean Up” of RF but not at the level observed.

I recommend we monitor and stay tuned

I am sharing links to a couple of articles about Deliberative Engagement. As we lead into election "season," these ideas about why process matters and how/why our brains are easily drawn into polarization might be useful to you.

https://cpd.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/48/2018/05/carcasson-why-process-matters-national-civic-review.pdf

https://cpd.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/01/tackling-wicked-problems-through-deliberative-engagement.pdf

It looks like we are not the only town in which citizens are concerns about event fatigue:
https://www.summitdaily.com/news/summit-county-residents-are-dealing-with-event-fatigue-and-their-local-governments-are-listening/?utm_source=second-street&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=local-news-flash

Hi all, below is a link to my interview on the City Council Chronicles podcast. Many of you are featured in various clips as well. We covered a wide range of topics, including what type of MillerCoors product the City Council most closely represents, the recent building moratorium, and expanding voting rights to ages 16 and older. Hopefully I didn't embarrass the City too much!

https://councilchronicles.com/2019/08/11/interview-143-golden-co-mayor-pro-tem-casey-brown-with-podcast/

3. (Continue DRCOG info)
Area Agency for Aging briefing.
Go to DRCOG/calendar for July 23rd and click on it for the packet

DRCOG BOARD PACKET: LI mention three important issues address during our recent, last Thursday I mention three big issues that were addressed in powerpoint presentations in the last Wed DRCOG packet:
1. Strategic and Tactical plans for the METRO region (see Unified Plan)
2. Options for funding METRO transportation
3.

On a related topic to crosswalks, I thought this article on pedestrian "beg buttons" was interesting and relevant to the pedestrian experience in downtown Golden: https://denver.streetsblog.org/2019/07/17/guest-post-the-pedestrian-beg-button-why-is-it-still-a-thing/

Related to the crosswalk manual:
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/16/741814860/walking-on-painted-keys-creative-crosswalks-meet-government-resistance

an interesting article in the Denver Post about land trusts working on behalf of affordable/attainable/workforce housing:

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/08/denver-affordable-housing-land-trusts/

An interesting article in the Denver Post about land trust entities working on affordable/attainable/workforce housing:

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/08/denver-affordable-housing-land-trusts/

A FEW MORE CML NOTES

Municipal Courts
- have a good judge Eval format
-consider CC meeting with the Judge quarterly
- use/ read new CML pub on courts

" The Last Mile"
- check out the slides on line at CML - mostly Denver lessons learned and actions

Governor's lunch presentation:
- echoed many of the new Bills and efforts and programs
- noted that new state wide kindergarten is a "funded, un-mandate" for locals
- emphasize the new DOLA Renewal Energy Grants

Social Media - legal issues
- - my take :) : speak/write "no evil", hear "no evil", & see "no evil"
-- don't block anybody
- announce things, don't discuss - could be quasi judicial

Collaborative Legal response to Homelessness
- Arvada has done a lot in ordinances etc.and we could probably gain from their work

Benefits from park, Rec, and Outdoor activities - my take Golden is doing good - will share handout with Steve G and Rod T


Census - be prepared, help prepare to be successful & make sure all are counted!

Closing Session
Change Never Dies
- BEFORE ACTING
--Check
--Ask
--Replace

Opening Session
Many things but....
Email & correspondence:
Tell folks if you want action upfront or is it just info
Put it in the title

More CML Notes

Buena Vista Housing Project - Lessons Learned
1. Communicate early and often
2. Be transparent:
- who's the Developer?
- What will it look like?
- How much city $s?
- what qualifications to get a unit?
3. Don't minimize impacts
4. Have backup plans
5. Pursue grants
6. Get local involvement
7. Ensure:
-proper land use
- appropriate elections
- preparation for litigation
8. Prepare to help applicants through the IRS requirements for residency in a units
7.

More CML Notes:
AFFORDABLE HOUSING - Attracting Developers - city incentives:
1.rebates and reductions in impact fees
2. reduced tap fees
3. provide road, sidewalks and/or curbs
4. assist with federal Tax Credit application to CHFA
5. Deed restrictions - years to perpetual
6. designate rent cap units
7. workforce housing - example is Vail t 90% market rate
8. provide land
9. use RFP
10. URA
11. Community Reinvestment Act $s
12. multiple sources/layers of funding
13. another approach - Rifle put housing on top of their city hall
A good local resource/resident - Kimball Crangle with Gorman and CO.

NOTES FROM CML

DOLA ( Department of Local Affairs) Activities and Issues
1. Continued rural broadband effort
2. Energy $ set asides
3. Census support rant program (apply before Nov)
4. Governor's Subcabinet work groups:
- rural development
- Healthcare
- climate & energy
5. Affordable Housing funding(triple previous $s)
- uses: buildings, land, & vouchers
- focuses: rural, seniors, abused, addiction recovery and poor (particularly those on the edge)
6. Disaster recovery and Resiliency Office
7. Special teams - Field & Community Development
8. State Demographer's Office; great resource
9. Numerous financial assistance programs - see the website

WHAT MAKES IT A “LIVING WAGE” ANYWAY?

Everybody’s talking about a living wage, but what is it? Minimum wage in the U.S. is $7.25 per hour, in some localities it’s as high as $15, but is that enough to live? This is the question asked by Eric Ravenscraft in the New York Times article of June 5. According to the federal guidelines, a two-person household with total annual income of $16,910 is living in poverty. To get above that limit, at least one of these people would need to get a raise to $8.13 or more. But can two people live on $16,910? The $15 per hour minimum wage in New York City generates income of $31,200. Ask people from New York how long you can live in the city with an income of $32,200. The woman who designed the federal guidelines was Molly Orshansky who said at the time they went into effect, “There is not, and indeed in a rapidly changing pluralistic society there cannot be, one standard universally accepted and uniformly applicable, by which it can be decided who is poor… If it is not possible to state unequivocally ‘how much is enough,’ it should be possible to assert with confidence how much, on an average, is too little.” Her formula is simple. In 1955 the Department of Agriculture survey revealed that cost of food accounted for one-third of the average American family budget. Ms. Orshansky merely multiplied the cost of food by three, and that has been the poverty guideline since 1969. The number hasn’t been recalculated since, only adjusted in accord with the Consumer Price Index. Per Ms. Orshansky, if you are below the line you are in poverty — if you are above the line you may still in poverty because it doesn’t account for the cost of housing or transportation. But if you want to know what a true living wage is today, look no further than the Living Wage Calculator developed by Amy Glasmeier, now a professor of economic geography and regional planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The tool uses more specific data based on location for local housing and transportation costs, numbers of household members, costs of insurance, food (not eating out or fast food, mind you), child care, medical, etc. Now that Colorado municipalities can set their own minimum wage as soon as next January, this tool might get some use here. The MIT Living Wage Calculator drills down to Jefferson County level: http://livingwage.mit.edu

https://coloradosun.com/2018/11/09/voters-snap-purses-shut-for-statewide-tax-measures-but-are-good-with-taxing-tourists-and-sinners/
A Colorado 2018 backdrop for the lodging tax discussion. It's worth clicking on just to see the Buena Vista anti-tax mailer.

Longmont Council considering a new Sustainability System for evaluating development proposals:
https://www.timescall.com/2019/06/10/longmont-considers-new-system-for-evaluating-development-impacts/

At next Thursday' meeting, I'll bring up this request to sign on to an amicus brief in a U.S. Supreme Court case on whether discrimination based on gender identity is included in discrimination based on sex. Here is the full email:
Dear Mayor Sloan,

I am following up with our mayors and cities who signed on to the Masterpiece Cakeshop amicus brief last year; as you may already know, we have an opportunity to join another US Supreme Court brief involving a set of critical cases in support of employment nondiscrimination protections for the LGBTQ community.

The deadline for signatories to the Title VII Amicus Brief is July 1, so I am writing in advance to give Mayors an opportunity to approach their respective councils if need be in order to have the city/town sign on to the brief (individual Mayors may sign on if the municipality is unable to participate). [A]ll signatories to this brief will require a signature block from their City ...Attorney.....
I am including our initial outreach email below for your review, as it contains further details regarding the brief. Thank you in advance for your support- happy Pride month!
Sincerely,
Danielle Long
Project Coordinator, Mayors Against LGBTQ Discrimination
E: dlong@freedomforallamericans.org
C: 206.228.2250
(she/her pronouns)
Dear Mayor,

[W]e invite you to join an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court in support of employment nondiscrimination protections for the LGBTQ community. The brief is prepared by a coalition of local jurisdictions, including the City of Los Angeles and the County of Santa Clara, with the assistance of the Public Rights Project.

This fall, the Supreme Court will consider how Title VII’s ban on workplace sex discrimination protects LGBTQ people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in a trio of cases: R.G.& G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. EEOC & Aimee Stephens; Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda; and Bostock v. Clayton County. The EEOC and many federal courts have recognized that anti-LGBTQ discrimination is a form of sex discrimination. The Court will now decide whether to revoke these non-discrimination protections.

The amicus brief will share the unique perspective of local governments when it comes to protecting LGBTQ people in the workplace. The brief will have two components. First, a section will discuss discrimination against LGBTQ people, especially in the workplace, and the profound effect of discrimination on LGBTQ members’ lives, and the community itself. Though LGBTQ people are most immediately and severely harmed by this discrimination, the damage resonates through local governments and the entire community. When LGBTQ people lose their jobs or sustain other workplace injury because of who they are – and then are unable to redress that injury in court – a local government, which provides the first safety net and essential services such as job training, social safety net, health care, housing and the like, carries a significant burden.
Second, a section will detail the experience of local governments that have long protected LGBTQ people from discrimination in the workplace, and show that these municipalities’ protection of LGBTQ people has benefited and strengthened these communities.

We hope you will encourage your city to join the brief and in cases where the city is unable or chooses not to join, mayors are invited to sign on as municipal leadership. A signature block including municipal or corporate counsel should be listed for individual mayoral signers. We are happy to assist you in these details. The deadline for signers is July 1. A draft of the brief will be circulated on or around June 24.

To be included on the brief, please respond to Danielle Long at dlong@freedomforallamericans.org or call (206) 228-2250. For legal questions regarding the brief please contact Jaime Huling Delaye in the San Francisco City Attorney's Office at Jaime.HulingDelaye@sfcityatty.org or (415) 554-3957.

Thank you,
Mayors Against LGBTQ Discrimination