Council Connects

CORRECTION -- They lived need 19th & Cheyenne.

A feel-good post. As you know long-time Golden resident Ralph Frang, along with two fellow D-Day vets from Denver and Pueblo, was honored yesterday at ceremony in the State Capitol. They received the French Legion of Honor medal, established by Napoleon Bonaparte.
It was wonderful for many reasons, and I thought I'd share a few conversations I had with attendees.
1. Many of those there for Ralph grew up in Golden and many still live in Golden or close-by. They loved Golden then -- AND love how it has evolved over the years. They were neighbors living near the intersection of 19th and Golden. They remembered the neighborhood kids' freedom to roam from their houses on 19th Street to the Lookout Mt. Boys School -- without any buildings in between. Their families rented top floor bedrooms and sometimes basement apartments to Mines students (not much changed)-- one was the only one willing to rent to foreign students (much changed).
2. Mines students used to set off massive 4th of July fireworks from Castle Rock. This tradition stopped the year they all went off at once.
3. A gentleman from Forty & Eight, a World War I-established veterans group, wants to hold the organization's 2020 Promenade (national meeting) in Golden in April 2019.
4. When I was introduced to another veteran, his first remark was "I hope you are not passing any gun laws." I told him that we had enacted one -- the Child-Safe Firearm Storage measure. He responded that this was a great idea and he was all for it.
5. The Denver-honored vet, a D-Day flight engineer/top turret gunner, asked if that "fancy restaurant" was still in Golden. We agreed he was talking about the Briarwood. He said his family held birthday celebrations there. His son (nephew? grandson?) said he loved going there as a child and he still enjoys coming to Golden for nice meals.
6. Ralph's Golden celebration will be at Calvary Episcopal Church on June 3 at 11:00 (instead of their usual church service). We're all invited, though I haven't seen anything in writing yet.

The Colorado Supreme Court issued an interesting TABOR case today that discusses fees vs taxes:
http://www.cobar.org/Portals/COBAR/Repository/opinions/5-21-18/No.%2016SC377.pdf

Hi Council:
To follow up on our discussion at Thursday's study session, below are some links to examples of other city councils that make their emails publicly available.

Boulder City Council web page: https://bouldercolorado.gov/city-council
Boulder CC email archive: https://goo.gl/86CCU4
Boulder CC packet emails: https://goo.gl/mmqz3B

Louisville City Council web page: http://www.louisvilleco.gov/government/city-council
Louisville CC 30 day email archive: https://goo.gl/aHvmiH
Louisville CC past week email archive: https://goo.gl/8aozSh

Fort Collins City Council web page: https://www.fcgov.com/council/
Fort Collins CC email archive (but first have to register at main CC page): http://www.fcgov.com/emailtransparency

Here's a concept for I-70 that I hadn't heard before:

https://www.summitdaily.com/news/local/cdot-has-announced-a-550-million-plan-to-improve-expand-westbound-i-70-near-floyd-hill/?utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=local-news-flash

Good morning, all -
I quick thought on part of our discussion from last night: Instead of creating a youth advisory board, what about adding youth advisor positions to the boards they might be most interested in (e.g. MTAB, PR&M AB & Public Art)? It doesn't address Saoirse's initial concept, but it might be a way to get youth involved.

PROTECT YOURSELF, YOUR NJEIGHBORS & YOUR PETS
Colorado Rabies Update
Between January 1, 2018, and May 14, 2018, the Colorado State
University and CDPHE laboratories have confirmed rabies infection
in 156 animals. Of these animals, 153 were skunks, two were
domestic animals and one was a bat. Rabid skunks continue to be
found in the Front Range and across the eastern part of the state,
with epizootics currently ongoing in Denver and El Paso counties.
Remind your communities that all cats, dogs, and ferrets should be
up-to-date on rabies vaccines. Unvaccinated animals exposed to
rabid wildlife must be placed in quarantine for 120 days or be
euthanized. This can be avoided if the animal has been vaccinated.
For more information about rabies in Colorado, please visit:
https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/rabies. PLEASE MAKE SURE
TO VACCINATE YOUR PETS!!! Dr Dale AKA Jim Dale , Ward 3 Councilor

Opportunity to hear full session with Martín Carcasson TONIGHT ...

http://cafescicolorado.org/CafeSci2%20Carcasson.htm

Otis White, President of Civic Strategies, posted an article in Governing, discussing how “wise leaders” have brought progress to their cities, and reaching some important conclusions. White found that there are two distinct ways to lead cities to success, incremental change and great leaps. While he distinguishes between them he found that both are necessary. White points to leaders who have had a great impact during their terms. Michael Bloomberg rezoned 40% of New York City almost without notice at the time. Joseph Riley, 31-year mayor of Charleston was “even subtler” as he focused his main efforts on the fabric of the community, the infrastructure of streets, buildings and parks to create the “national treasure” Charleston has become. In Boston, the late Thomas Menino thought of himself as an “urban mechanic” who tinkered with services and amenities to make the city gleam. So, White concludes that incremental change like this is needed, but sometimes cities also need great projects to mark new beginnings, projects that are bold, visible and a break from the past. And they have to be “undeniably successful.” He defines seven elements found in great projects.
1. Most projects start outside city hall, with community groups, nonprofits, etc., and smart leaders aren’t threatened by that.
2. They require collaboration across organizations and sectors.
3. The idea of the project resonates with the public.
4. The turning point is the political leadership to a way forward.
5. The role of the city remains limited.
6. As the project advances, other interests find new reasons to support it.
7. Even when completed the project will generate new challenges that smart leaders will have anticipated and planned for -nothing is sadder than a past project fallen on har times.
The author closes with this question: Can leaders be both incrementalist and a visionary?” Or should the question be, “What does your city need at this time—a great project or steady progress? He imples the answer is incremental when the wind is at your back; bold when the city is depressed or dispirited. The article is a quick read and thought provoking.Here's the link: http://www.governing.com/columns/smart-mgmt/col-7-elements-great-civic-projects.html?utm_term=7%20Elements%20of%20Great%20Civic%20Projects&utm_campaign=What%20Eric%20Schneiderman%20Means%20for%20New%20York%20State%27s%20Culture%20of%20Corruption&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/housing-crisis-small-cities-boise_us_5ae878f7e4b055fd7fcfcee0
A thoughtful article about housing-crunched cities.

OpenGov
Since the City is moving forward with using OpenGov for our budget (to start), I wasn't sure if everyone on Council has had a chance to see the platform. I was in a session at NLC in November that got me so excited about the possibilities for Golden. I visited with the vendor and went through a demo and looked at several cities/counties real-time sites. Here is the link to the paper from that session - https://opengov.com/customers/allegheny-county-pa-streamlines-management-reporting-with-opengov

Here is another about performance measures - https://opengov.com/article/meet-performance-measures-latest-enhancement-to-our-operational-performance-solution

Thought this was interesting. Fort Collins and the Center for Public Deliberations (founded by Martín Carcasson of "Wicked Problems" fame), have partnered to host this forum on two issues that the city identified as challenging to balance. https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2018/04/27/fort-collins-issues-forum-looks-affordable-housing-outdoor-wood-burning/558235002/

DRCOG (Denver Regional Council of Governments) AWARDS BANQUET
Last night I attended this recognition event. Individuals, organizations and municipalities were recognized for their contributions to the metro area for activities such as:
1. Assistance to Seniors and Disabled
2. Multimodal transportation
3. Active / Healthy Living
4. Parks and recreation
5. Affordable housing support
6. Lifelong contributions to the Metro Vision

BTW, many of the activities recognized are those, that I believe, we Goldenites sometimes might take for granted and that are part of our "living" Golden Vision 2030. I am proud to live in our wonder city.

Was good to attend yesterday's dedication of the Wildland's Fireman statue at Coors located by the Copper Kettle. Coors has been contributing $.25 per case of Coors Banquet sold in the western mountain area (over $1 M and counting according to Pete Coors) to the Foundation for families of fireman lost fighting wildland fires. The Colorado Storm King fire families are an example of those being helped. Thanks Coors!

Wanted to draw your attention to this event. Community Wellness Fair (Mental Health awareness, that is). Sponsored by Golden Rotary. See the agenda at goldenrotary.org/fair. The agenda is outstanding and includes a presentation on Growing up LGBTQ and also a presentation on the Sources of Strength best practice prevention program at GHS recently highlighted on 9News. I will mention this at our council meeting, but I thought it was worth an "extra" bit of attention for you and perhaps your constituents.

Community Wellness Fair
A family-focused, valuable day of education, fun, music, prizes, and food.
It’s free and open to the public!
April 28, 2018
9:45am-3pm

goldenrotary.org/fair

Parker's attempt to short circuit erroneous land-use rumors -- an online "Active Development Tour." https://parkerco.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Shortlist/index.html?appid=7879283391d3453da213a439f2dca232

FYI - An Metro Mayors Consensus Statement

MMC CONSENSUS
By consensus of the Metro Mayors Caucus, the following position was adopted on April 23, 2018.

The two issues that most directly impact quality of life in Colorado are transportation and our rising cost of housing. Recognizing this, the Metro Mayors Caucus has worked to address these issues through a variety of initiatives, including our multi-year construction litigation reform efforts, our work to break down silos and enable data sharing around homelessness, our consensus support of FasTracks, our multi-year first time home-buyer program and our 5-years of work with partners statewide to develop a comprehensive transportation and mobility funding strategy for voter consideration on the 2018 ballot.

As the mayors of 40 cities and towns in metro Denver, we understand just how critical transportation is to our residents. Our constituents comprise more than half of the state’s population and our region is the state’s economic engine and yet our residents are spending 49 hours per year stuck in traffic! This is time that could be spent with family, relaxing or at work. But without a new and sustainable source of transportation dollars, we are running on empty. Colorado last raised the gas tax in 1991 and our inability to invest in transportation shows. The gridlock that we see across our metro area and on our state highways as we try to get to work, to school, to shop, and to access our state’s great amenities represents a real threat to our state. While we understand the legislative efforts to target existing general fund dollars for highways, it is only a partial solution, because nearly three quarters of the paved roadway miles in Colorado are maintained by cities and counties. Every trip begins and ends on local roads. To truly make a difference in the day to day lives of Coloradans, we must invest in local roadways, multi-modal options such as transit, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, as well as the federal and state highways that link communities across the Colorado, and to do so will require voter approval of new revenues.

There are concerns that two Coloradans have petitioned to put a 10 county growth limit before voters in 2018. The petitioners seek to limit growth in 10 of Colorado’s front range communities (the Cities and Counties of Denver and Broomfield and Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, and Weld counties) through statutory initiative #66. To be sure, they have a steep hill to climb, as they first need to gather 98,000 valid signatures. If this hurdle is cleared, they will further need to convince voters that the proposed limit will not have the widely predicted effect of further driving up home prices and causing jobs to flee the state.

While we believe that Initiative #66 is ill advised, our responsibility as elected officials is to develop concrete and practical solutions to the challenges at hand. We think it would be reckless and short-sighted to shift our focus away from developing a comprehensive and reliable transportation funding solution for statewide voter consideration in 2018. We simply cannot afford to divert our energy from addressing the very real problem at hand – transportation. If voters approve a 2018 statewide sales tax for transportation, for the first time in a quarter century, Colorado cities, counties and the Colorado Department of Transportation will have a predictable and sustainable revenue source to tackle the roadway and multi-modal investments needed to keep Coloradans mobile.

Attended the DRCOG sub-region (Jeffco - Cities & County) TIP meeting this morning. Organization & process were discussed. A draft IGA will be forth coming. Meetings will probably be held on Thursday mornings.

DRCOG Study Session: 4 Apr - Discussion of the application review process for subregion Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) submissions was done in detail. DRCOG staff will review and score the submissions prior to review through the DRCOG committee process and DRCOG as a whole. Steve G and I will attend the first subregion(JEFFCO -cities and county) planning session on TIP on 9 Apr.

Rocky Flats Stewardship Council: attended on Monday. An Advocate presented an alternative view to the CDPHE briefing (posted on Guiding Golden) of February 2018 to the Council on the status of the Flats. I will get it posted when I receive it electronically. scientific, political and emotional perspectives were voiced at the Council meeting.