HomeMy WebLinkAboutInformation Update.201908261
AGENDA
INFORMATION UPDATE
August 26, 2019
4:00 PM,
I.INFORMATION UPDATE
I.A.Sales Tax, Business License & Short-Term Rental Compliance Software
I.B.CC4CA Policy Statement
I.C.Update on Rio Grande Recycle Center Targeted Collection
I.D.Legislative Update and Involvement
I.E.Police Quarterly Update (previously published with July 26th packet)
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INFO ONLY - MEMORANDUM
TO:City Council
FROM: Pete Strecker, Finance Director
DATE:August 2019
RE:Sales Tax, Business License & Short-Term Rental Compliance Software
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SUMMARY: The Finance Dept needs to implement a replacement system for Innoprise,
our sales and lodging tax collection software. The current system is unstable and there
are multiple advantages to bringing on a new program that is more robust, will address
delinquency and customer service issues in the process, and will address the Council’s
goal for greater short-term rental compliance for the Air B-&-B, VRBO, HomeAway type
units within our community.
BACKGROUND: Innoprise had shared space on a server with our legacy financial and
permitting software, Eden, until mid-2018. During last year however, the server crashed
and took both software offline which caused significant disruption to ComDev, Finance
and the tax paying community – the Innoprise system was down for multiple weeks. Since
this occurrence, the City has migrated the two software to separate servers to help with
the burden placed on the server, but the Innoprise system is still instable and can go down
at any time. In fact, the server required a reboot at least once since the migration following
a staff-initiated data extract, which was too great for the server to handle.
Concurrent with the existing software issues, the Finance Department has been reviewing
new software options to aid with the identification and registration of short-term rental
offerings within our Community. Council support has been given around ensuring that
these lodging options comply with the City’s business license and lodging tax remittance
requirements just like any other hotel provider (an equal playing field). Reports have
shown there are over 2,000 possible short-term rentals within Aspen – many are not
licensed or remitting tax at this time.
DISCUSSION: Finance Staff has identified a software package that will address the
City’s needs for sales and lodging tax collection and compliance, plus business license
application and renewals. The software provider is based out of Durango, CO and has
implemented its product in other nearby municipalities, making the software and filing
process familiar to the local vendors that will be interfacing with the system for their tax
remittance. The software is a paperless solution for the City, comes with a customer
support team to assist vendors with issues, and for the short-term rentals area, has the
ability to “scrape” data from various short-term rental sites and pair data to identify the
location of the offering and then mail notices to file for appropriate licenses and remit tax.
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Two be specific, there are two different software solutions that work in tandem to provide
the above coverage:
(a) MuniRevs provides the business license and tax remittance portal – this would
be the solution to the current Innoprise solution that is beginning to fail.
(b) LodgingRevs is a new application to address the short-term rental issue and to
bring these establishments into compliance with licensing and tax remittance
requirements. This solution will work with MuniRevs for the licensing
component which makes the package of the two software solutions ideal for
the City.
FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPACTS: The cost of the new software is shown in the table
below assuming a 9/1 contract date and based on the number of businesses and
anticipated short-term rental listings that have been identified through an internet
scrapping process. The actual contract for these two solutions equates to $49,000 for the
first full 12-month period and is below the Council approval threshold of $50,000;
however, staff wanted Council to be fully aware of the proposed software to address the
short-term rental issue and to know the cost associated with this solution.
Costs 2019 (4 months)2020 (12 Months)
Set Up Fees (one time)$3,000 $0
MuniRevs $7,330 $26,670
LodgingRevs $8,000 $34,400
Total Cost $18,330 $61,070
Because the Finance department currently pays an annual licensing and maintenance
fee for the existing Innoprise software program, those resources ($8,000) can be applied
to this new expense. Additionally, the City also has many tax filers remit their payments
to a lockbox service in Denver, and the fees for that service are volume driven. With the
new software solution proposed, vendors will be able to remit payment via the online
portal (either with an e-check (at no cost) or by credit card (fees apply)). These new
payment methods will reduce the City’s cost for the lockbox going forward (another
$15,000). Thus, the net cost to the organization is roughly $38,000 in additional budget
authority beginning in 2020, which will be requested in the annual budget process.
Budget Impact 2019 (4 months)*2020 (12 Months)
Total Cost (from above)$18,330 $61,070
Less Innoprise Authority $0 ($8,000)
Less Lockbox Charges $0 ($15,000)
Less Dept Savings ($18,300)$0
Impact to Budget Authority $0 $38,070
* Assumes no authority to repurpose in year one as Innoprise hosting has been paid and
implementation time to get the system active will limit savings to lockbox fees. However,
the Finance Dept will use departmental savings to cover any additional costs in year one.
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While there is an additional cost to the City for the two solutions, the City does anticiate
improved interfaces with tax filers for business licenses and tax remittance. Additionally,
the City will get a new tool to identify and push for compliance from short-term rentals
within the community, and with that, additional revenue:
The City would be collecting for each new business license on these rental units.
With reported short-term rental listings in Aspen exceeding 2,000 units per some
sites, there is potential for significant revenue for those that are currently not filing.
While the average rental rate varies significantly depending on the time of year
and the size and quality of the unit, the 2.0% lodging tax would be applied to these
newly identified and licensed short-term rentals, along with the 2.4% City sales tax.
Intangibles: There are additional benefits to bringing on these two new systems.
These include the removal of the monthly and annual manual processes to track
down and notice delinquent tax filers and business license renewals, allowing the
Sales Tax Technician to refocus her time on other tasks within Finance.
Additionally, the process can be better automated to facilitate the approvals of the
Clerk’s Office, Environmental Health, and Community Development for business
license review and approvals and can cut down on the time to review applications
for all departments. Access could even be extended to the Fire Department to
facilitate its review on such applications, as needed.
Staff feels this is the correct solution to address the current sales tax and business license
software that is already failing, plus allows for the City to address the licensing and tax
compliance of short-term rentals that has been desired for a number of years. The two
software solutions work in tandem seamlessly and allow for operational efficiencies that
cannot be achieved with other current off-the-shelf products. Additionally, the City did
solicit bids for a competitive quote option and received an alternative product estimate of
roughly $78,000 and that solution did not go beyond the short-term rental solution. This
benchmark reinforced the value of the price for the MuniRevs and LodgingRevs tandem
solution of $49,000.
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MEMORANDUM
TO:Mayor and City Council
FROM:Ashley Perl, Climate Action Manager
THROUGH:CJ Oliver, Environmental Health and Sustainability Director
MEMO DATE:August 19, 2019
MEETING DATE:August 26, 2019
RE:Information Only – CC4CA Policy Statement
SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND: This is an information-only memo, and there is no
request of City Council. This memo is intended to provide City Council a copy of the Policy
Statement for the organization Colorado Communities for Climate Action (CC4CA), a
coalition of local governments across the state which advocates for state and federal
policies which support clean air, clean water, reduction of fossil fuel consumption and
other contributors associated with greenhouse gas emissions.
CC4CA was formed in 2016, with the City of Aspen as one of the first members. For the
last three years, CC4CA has actively followed and engaged in state and federal policy to
advance Aspen’s and other local governments’ climate action and environmental
sustainability goals, while also identifying impacts to Colorado’s communities from state
policies. This past year was especially successful for the coalition, as shown in
Attachment A – CC4CA 2019 Highlights. The mission of CC4CA is in alignment with the
City of Aspen’s Climate Action Plan and the Aspen Area Community Plan, and CC4CA’s
work is essential in advancing Aspen and the state of Colorado towards significant carbon
reductions. CC4CA’s membership now includes twenty-seven total municipalities and
counties from across Colorado, all listed here.
CC4CA is governed by a steering committee of representatives from member
communities, and unanimous consent among members is required to set the coalition’s
policy priorities each year. An integral part of CC4CA’s priority-setting process is the
adoption of the 2019/2020 Policy Statement (Attachment B), which is updated on an
annual basis and reflects unanimous agreement among the coalition members on the
steps that should be taken at the state and federal level, often in partnership with local
governments, to enable Colorado and its communities to lead in protecting the climate.
DISCUSSION: The 2019/2020 CC4CA Policy Statement is based on five General Policy
Principles that support 28 specific and actionable policy positions. These detailed
positions are organized into the following categories:
Statewide Climate Strategies
Local Climate Strategies
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Energy Generation
Energy Efficiency
Transportation
Fossil Fuel Extraction Activities
Solid Waste Reduction
General
Staff from the City of Aspen Climate Action Office participated in the creation of the Policy
Statement and are confident that the statement aligns with Aspen’s climate action
priorities and will support Aspen’s work towards reducing carbon emissions.
As a member of CC4CA, the City of Aspen supports the Policy Statement and the
coalition’s actions towards implementing the direction contained in the statement.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS: There is no additional budget requested. The City of Aspen pays
$5,000 in annual dues from the Climate Action Office budget to maintain its membership
in CC4CA.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS: Greenhouse gas emissions are the leading cause of the
uncontrolled and detrimental warming that the Earth is currently experiencing. Bold and
impactful local projects are required to reduce those emissions. However, local action is
limited by state and federal policies that either make local action more challenging or limit
the impact local action can have on global emissions. To truly address climate change,
every town and city across the world must act, complemented by their state and federal
governments with equally bold policies that support emissions reductions.
CITY MANAGER COMMENTS:
Attachments:
Attachment A. CC4CA 2019 Highlights
Attachment B. CC4CA 2019/2020 Policy Statement
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Aspen · Avon · Basalt · Breckenridge · Boulder · Boulder County · Carbondale · Clear Creek County · Crested Butte
Dillon · Eagle County · Fort Collins · Frisco · Golden · Lafayette · Longmont · Louisville · Mountain Village · Nederland
Northglenn · Pitkin County · Ridgway · San Miguel County · Summit County · Telluride · Vail · Westminster
Colorado Communities for Climate Action Highlights
July 2019
Colorado Communities for Climate Action is a coalition of 27 counties and municipalities
across Colorado advocating for effective state climate policy. Our members span the Western
Slope and Front Range; small rural towns and major suburbs; counties and municipalities; and
wealthy, middle income, and low-income neighborhoods.
New members over the past year include Avon, Breckenridge, Dillon, Longmont, Northglenn,
and Ridgway. Representing one-seventh of all Coloradans, and with rural Western Slope
communities making up two-thirds of the membership, CC4CA has become an impactful voice
for clean air, climate action, and public health protection.
Legislative Successes
As an increasingly influential organization at the Capitol, CC4CA regularly meets with state
legislators, is regularly invited to testify at legislative hearings, and played a highly
consequential role on climate-related legislation during the 2019 session:
• CC4CA actively supported thirteen bills tackling carbon pollution in the 2019
legislative session. By providing compelling testimony from our local elected officials
and local government staff, publishing guest opinion pieces in newspapers around the
state, and meeting frequently with legislators, we helped pass every one of these bills
as stand-alone legislation or incorporated into other bills.
• CC4CA led the successful effort to pass Senator Donovan’s greenhouse gas inventory
bill, coordinating political and coalition strategy, generating substantial support from
local elected officials, and providing key legislative testimony.
• CC4CA played an important role in the successful coalition effort to codify statewide
greenhouse gas goals. This marquis legislation established aggressive emissions goals
and directed the Air Quality Control Commission to adopt regulations for achieving
those goals.
• CC4CA helped defeat the one bill it actively opposed, legislation that would have rolled
back Colorado’s newly adopted “low emission vehicle” standards and prevented
adoption of the “zero emission vehicle” standards now under consideration.
• CC4CA effectively leveraged the power of local government voices – which bring
particular concerns and perspectives to the table – throughout the legislative session
with legislators and the governor’s office. The results have the potential to be
transformative: the PUC will incorporate a social cost of carbon into its analyses, key
Tri-State decisions will now fall under PUC oversight, tools for ensuring that all of
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Colorado benefits from EV deployment, sweeping Air Quality Control Commission
authority to adopt rules that enable Colorado to meet its new carbon pollution goals,
and more.
Advanced Clean Car Standards
In an ongoing effort that began early in 2018, CC4CA played a key role in securing two critical
Colorado Air Quality Control Commission decisions:
• CC4CA led an energetic effort by local governments to persuade Governor
Hickenlooper to consider adopting “low emission vehicle” standards, and then played a
central role in the Commission’s decision late last year to actually adopt them. These
standards, which twelve other states have also adopted, will protect Colorado from the
EPA’s planned weakening of federal emissions standards.
• CC4CA also worked hard – successfully – to persuade the Air Quality Control
Commission to begin a rulemaking process for the so-called “zero emission vehicle”
standards, designed to substantially expand electric vehicle opportunities in Colorado.
CC4CA is now playing a lead role in the effort to actually adopt these ZEV standards, with
hearings and a decision scheduled for August. If we are successful, electric vehicles will
become more affordable and Coloradans will have dramatically improved access to the full
range of electric vehicle models on the market, including SUVs, crossovers, and trucks. These
standards will also help ensure that all of Colorado – rural and Front Range alike – will fully
benefit from the spread of electric vehicles. CC4CA and its coalition partners in this effort will
remain heavily engaged until these standards are adopted.
Pushing for Strong Executive Branch Policies and Programs
CC4CA helped secure a critical Public Utilities Commission decision in February 2019 that
gives many of our members a better chance at being able to expand their use of renewable
energy. CC4CA began establishing a credible presence at the PUC last year, testifying in
support of Xcel Energy’s proposed plan to retire early coal-fired power plants and invest
instead in renewable sources.
CC4CA is working closely with the Governor’s staff, the Colorado Energy Office, the Colorado
Department of Public Health and Environment, and other state agencies to reduce Colorado’s
carbon emissions and better prepare for the local community impacts of climate change.
The new governor’s cabinet and senior staff appointments include a number of CC4CA’s local
elected officials, including the new director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment, who relinquished her positions as an Eagle County Commissioner and CC4CA
President in order to take on the new role. The coalition has already built a reputation as a
knowledgeable and trusted player.
Training Members for Effective Advocacy
Over the past 18 months CC4CA conducted four well-attended regional training sessions
around the state for elected officials, managers, and program staff of member jurisdictions.
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The sessions armed attendees with information and tools to more effectively represent CC4CA
and their own local governments in state and federal climate advocacy.
CC4CA also ensures that its members – local elected officials and local government staff – have
the opportunity to serve as witnesses during legislative hearings, meet with their legislators,
testify during agency rulemaking processes, speak to reporters, and publish opinion pieces in
local and statewide media outlets.
In the past year alone, forty CC4CA representatives have testified in legislative and
rulemaking hearings, CC4CA has been quoted at least 18 times in news coverage, three dozen
of our local elected officials and staff have published guest opinion pieces, we have met with
legislators and members of the governor’s team many dozens of times, and coordinated with
dozens of other stakeholder groups.
Building Strategic Relationships
CC4CA continues to build constructive relationships at multiple levels. For instance:
• We offered every gubernatorial candidate from both major parties last year an
opportunity to meet and learn about CC4CA and the climate-oriented concerns of our
local government members. The candidates we ended up briefing included the new
governor and helped us establish a strong relationship from the very beginning of his
term.
• Similarly, CC4CA maintains communication with every member of Colorado’s
Congressional delegation representing CC4CA members, and CC4CA members have
been meeting systematically meeting with these Senators, Representatives, and their
staff members.
• CC4CA communicates and meets regularly with members of the governor’s cabinet, his
senior team, and other key agency staff.
• CC4CA maintains a strong working relationship with other organizations representing
local government interests, including the Colorado Municipal League and Counties &
Commissioners Acting Together (CCAT).
In just three years, Colorado Communities for Climate Action has evolved from an interesting
idea into an influential coalition shaping state climate policy. It can be very difficult for
individual local governments to influence state policy on their own, but our coalition of more
than two dozen local governments all speaking with one voice is having an outsized impact.
For more information:
Jacob Smith • jsmith@cc4ca.org • (303) 810-6017 • CC4CA.org
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CC4CA Policy Statement
(With Explanatory Text)
Effective July 1, 2019
Adopted by the CC4CA Steering Committee on June 27,
2019 for Final Member Sign-Off
Colorado Communities for Climate Action is a coalition of local governments
advocating for stronger state and federal climate policy. CC4CA’s policy priorities for
2019-2020 reflect unanimous agreement among the coalition members on steps
that should be taken at the state and federal level, often in partnership with local
governments, to enable Colorado and its communities to lead in protecting the
climate.
CC4CA generally focuses on legislative, regulatory, and administrative action,
supporting efforts that advance the general policy principles and the detailed policy
positions described below, and opposing efforts that would weaken or undermine
these principles and positions.
General Policy Principles
The following general principles guide the specific policies that Colorado
Communities for Climate Action advocates for:
Supports collaboration between state and federal government agencies and
Colorado’s local governments to advance local climate protection.
Supports state and federal programs to reduce carbon pollution, including adequate
and ongoing funding of those programs.
Supports analyses, financial incentives, and enabling policies for the development
and deployment of clean energy technologies.
Supports locally driven and designed programs to support communities impacted
by the clean energy transformation.
Supports prioritizing policies that put people at the center of decision-making, do
not exacerbate or create disparities in growing the green economy, and enhance
equitable outcomes for all.
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Policy Positions
Colorado Communities for Climate Action supports the following policy positions:
Statewide Climate Strategies
1. Reducing statewide carbon emissions consistent with or greater than the
State of Colorado’s 2019 codified goals.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is at the heart of CC4CA’s policy positions.
CC4CA supports the state’s new goals for reducing emissions and regulatory actions
that support or accelerate meaningful emission reductions.
CC4CA supports other actions by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, the
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Air Quality Control
Commission, and other state agencies and entities to ensure that Colorado achieves
or exceeds established emission reduction goals and timelines. CC4CA believes it
essential that the state government provide an opportunity for meaningful,
sustained collaboration with local governments in developing specific climate
actions tied to meeting the state’s goals.
2. Securing accurate, frequent greenhouse gas inventories and forecasts for
Colorado.
CC4CA recognizes the importance of credible inventories and forecasts in assessing
the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of various emissions reduction strategies.
Updated sector-specific emission baselines and projections are vital in making
strategic decisions about maintaining progress toward and improving the state’s
emissions reduction efforts. CC4CA supports the Colorado Department of Public
Health and Environment’s new requirements to conduct frequent and accurate
greenhouse gas emissions inventories and forecasts. CC4CA also supports
opportunities for local jurisdictions to access data from the ongoing updates, and
the ability to engage in designing the reporting structure that is most useful for
stakeholders.
3. Adopting a comprehensive market-based approach to reduce Colorado’s
greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change is resulting in part from the failure of markets to put a price on
climate pollution. Because there is no cost to emit heat-trapping gasses, producers
have no incentive to eliminate them. Society bears the increasing cost of this
pollution as climate change progresses. To overcome this market failure, CC4CA
supports a market-based approach to reducing carbon emissions statewide,
including policies to ensure the benefits of legislation accrue justly and equitably to
impacted communities. A market-based approach could be undertaken at national,
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regional, or state levels, and could take different forms. One approach is a fee or tax
on climate pollution. Another is a cap-and-trade program that allows trading of
limited emission rights that are sold and then could be traded to achieve
economically efficient emission reductions. Examples include the Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative covering 10 northeastern U.S. states and California’s
statewide cap-and-trade program.
4. Expanding the consideration of the environmental and health costs
associated with the use of fossil fuels.
The social cost of carbon is a measure of the economic harm from the environmental
and health impacts of emitting one ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,
expressed as the dollar value of the total damages. CC4CA supports the Public
Utilities Commission’s new requirements in SB19-236 to consider the social cost of
carbon when making decisions related to electric utilities. CC4CA supports
expanding the use of a social cost of carbon to other emissions modeling efforts,
including to clean energy plans submitted by utilities to the Air Quality Control
Commission. Additionally, CC4CA supports the use of a social cost of carbon in the
decision-making processes associated with other emissions sectors such as heating
and transportation.
Local Climate Strategies
5. Removing barriers and promoting opportunities that allow counties and
municipalities to maximize the deployment of local clean energy and climate
options.
The deployment of local energy generation and distributed technologies will
continue to be a critical component of Colorado communities’ climate efforts. In
many cases, regulatory or legislative limitations exist that will need to be removed
for communities to fully explore new local program options and technologies that
can effectively reduce fossil fuel use, increase energy resilience, and support
community values related to climate protection. For example, the integration of
local renewable energy generation, storage technologies, and microgrids all support
a local jurisdiction’s ability to address the supply side of energy-related emissions.
These strategies should be designed to ensure affordable, accessible, and equitable
delivery of reliable clean energy for everyone.
6. Enabling local governments to obtain the energy use and other data they
need to effectively address climate change.
Local governments need convenient and consistent access to data that is essential
for developing and administering local programs related to greenhouse gas
emissions. For example, access to uniform data from electric and gas utilities is
critical for implementing building energy use disclosure and benchmarking
programs designed to make sure building owners, tenants, and others are fully 13
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informed about energy performance. Local governments also struggle to get
consistent data regarding waste collection and disposal, oil and gas operations, and
other sources of heat-trapping emissions. CC4CA supports state government
actions and policies that lead to uniform systems for collection and distribution of
data from investor-owned and public utilities that is easily accessible to local
governments, while still protective of data privacy for residents and businesses.
7. Supporting a public process for evaluating retail energy choice options for
local jurisdictions.
A growing number of cities and counties are establishing ambitious near-term
energy goals, but there is currently no practical way to reach many of these goals
because the jurisdictions have little choice or control over the energy sources used
to produce their electricity. These communities, as well as businesses with energy
or sustainability goals, deserve a solution that is timely and cost-effective. CC4CA
does not advocate for any particular solution, but rather calls for an inclusive and
transparent public process to evaluate all of the options. This process should be led
by state level decision-makers and informed by a broad variety of stakeholders
including local governments with energy goals, business interests, environmental
and consumer advocates, utilities, independent power producers and marketers,
and the general public.
8. Supporting policies that promote energy efficient buildings.
More than 40 percent of the energy consumed in the United States is tied to the use
of buildings. Building codes, consequently, are among the most powerful tools
available for reducing carbon pollution (and, not incidentally, saving money in both
residential and commercial buildings). CC4CA supports the newly-adopted state law
directing local code jurisdictions to adopt one of the three most recent energy codes,
and also supports jurisdictions having the option to adopt “advanced” energy codes
such as those that meet Net Zero standards.
However, the pace of improvements to energy performance in codes has stalled
with the 2015 and 2018 versions of the International Energy Conservation Code.
International Code Council processes allow local governments to vote on proposed
provisions in pending codes. Building departments, fire authorities, sustainability
departments, utilities and other similar groups are all eligible voting members.
Through this policy position, CC4CA could encourage its members to participate in
the voting process. This policy position recognizes the ability of local governments
to influence energy codes “upstream” while retaining the ability of local
governments to choose when to adopt codes and/or make local amendments.
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9. Providing for equitable strategies to enable and accelerate beneficial
electrification.
“Beneficial electrification” refers to replacing direct fossil fuel consumption (e.g.,
propane, natural gas, gasoline) with electricity in end uses like heating buildings,
heating water, and transportation. While the ability to decarbonize fossil fuels is
limited, electricity will continue getting cleaner (including Colorado’s goal for 100%
renewable electricity by 2040), meaning that electrification will generally lower
GHG emissions and has the potential to lower energy costs as well. Electrification of
the US transportation, commercial, and residential sectors would reduce GHG
emissions by 70%. Replacing natural gas heat with electric heat pumps is one
example: heat pumps are over 200% efficient at capturing heat from the air, ground
or waste sources. They also cool buildings, which will be especially important as
climate change causes hotter summers.
Enabling policies would need to look at energy consumption holistically and across
the economy. CC4CA supports policies, strategies and practices that accelerate
locally-sensitive beneficial electrification targeting the most practical, high impact,
and valuable fuel switching opportunities while saving money for consumers,
reducing GHG emissions, improving quality of life, and making the electric grid more
robust and resilient.
Energy Generation
10. Accelerating retirement of existing fossil fuel generation facilities and
their replacement with cost-effective and reliable clean energy supplies,
through means that protect both utilities and consumers.
Wind and solar energy is now cheaper than the energy generated by many aging
coal plants and is increasingly cost competitive with natural gas power plants.
Colorado is blessed with some of the best solar and wind resources in the country,
which should allow for a quicker and a more affordable transition to clean energy.
The key to unlocking emission reductions and electricity bill savings is developing a
legal framework allowing utilities and their customers to equitably share the
benefits and costs. CC4CA supports actions in Colorado to enable the early
retirement of fossil fuel-based power plants and their replacement with clean
energy sources, while protecting the economic interests of both the utilities owning
the power plants and electricity customers. In Colorado, there is an opportunity to
recover up to $1.5 billion in undepreciated asset value by existing coal-plant owners
to facilitate the voluntary phased retirement of the coal plants.
11. Expanding the ability of electric cooperatives to independently purchase
local renewable electricity and take other steps to reduce carbon pollution.
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association’s electric cooperative customers
have faced the imposition of contractual limitations and steep fees when attempting 15
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to expand their use of local renewable energy sources. CC4CA supports the ability of
electric cooperatives to purchase non-polluting electricity without limitations like
these.
12. Expanding distributed generation, energy storage, high levels of
renewable energy generation (distributed and utility-scale), and appropriate
technologies through grid modernization.
A wide array of grid modernization policies and actions are available to both
communities and utilities that can reduce energy consumption, better align
availability of electricity to demand, expand renewable energy generation, and
collectively reduce carbon pollution from the power generation sector (while also
improving reliability and reducing cost). CC4CA supports policies and funding that
result in these types of grid modernization efforts in Colorado.
Energy Efficiency
13. Expanding demand side savings from efficiency and conservation for all
energy types.
While the 2019 legislative session produced significant greenhouse gas emissions
legislation, no new action was taken to update utility-level efficiency goals. As GHG
and renewable energy goals ratchet up in coming years, a continued focus on least-
cost energy efficiency is important to minimize ratepayer costs and ease the
transition to more renewable sources. Governor Hickenlooper’s Executive Order D
2017-015 set a new goal to achieve two percent per year energy efficiency by 2020,
which is readily achievable and should be extended beyond that date. The state of
Massachusetts, for example, had an electric energy efficiency target of 2.95% for
2018.
Moreover, no recent state actions have included energy efficiency targets for natural
gas utilities or unregulated fuels such as propane. Establishing a two percent annual
energy efficiency savings target for these utilities is one potential action. Such
actions could also include encouraging municipal and cooperative utilities to adopt
and achieve similar efficiency targets and exploring mechanisms for establishing
similar goals for non-utility energy providers (e.g., propane sales).
14. Supporting ongoing and sustainable funding for weatherization and
renewable energy assistance to low-income households so that all Coloradans
have access to comfortable and affordable homes.
Reducing energy bills is a key component to home affordability, and low-income
households are often forced to spend a disproportionately large percentage of their
income on energy utility bills. Assisting families and seniors by increasing the safety
and comfort of their homes while reducing their energy bills will allow all
Coloradans greater choice in where they live while also improving energy efficiency. 16
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Sources of existing funding for programs include the annual federal Weatherization
Assistance Program allocation, supplemental funds from state severance tax dollars
and utility allocated demand side management funds. CC4CA also supports
expanding programs to assist these households with obtaining renewable energy,
both onsite and as part of community solar gardens. Additionally, programs that
assist communities in transition from coal-dominated economies should include
these types of weatherization and renewable energy programs to assist those
community members who need it most and to help build the local clean energy
economy.
15. Providing counties and statutory cities and towns with the same authority
held by home rule cities to implement local energy conservation policies and
programs.
Unlike their home rule municipal peers, Colorado’s counties and statutory cities and
towns in many cases lack authority to adopt and implement many energy
conservation policies and programs. For example, only Colorado home rule cities
have statutory authorization to enact energy conservation ordinances despite how
effective they are for improving the energy efficiency and performance of existing
residential and commercial buildings. Enabling legislation is needed to provide
Colorado’s counties and statutory cities and towns with the authority necessary to
enact policies and programs that can support and promote energy conservation
within their jurisdictions.
Transportation
16. Ensuring effective implementation of Colorado’s vehicle emissions
standards and other regulatory activities designed to reduce carbon
emissions from vehicles.
Transportation remains one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in
Colorado, and strengthening emissions rules and expanding electric vehicle
deployment are two central strategies for reducing transportation-related
greenhouse gas emissions. To this end, CC4CA supports adoption of motor vehicle
emission standards equal to or exceeding those already adopted by California,
including requirements for zero-emission vehicles and collaborative efforts for
effective implementation.
17. Implementing the 2018 Colorado Electric Vehicle Plan and other efforts to
increase electrification of all motor vehicles.
The 2018 Colorado Electric Vehicle Plan provides a good roadmap for accelerating
the purchase and use of electric vehicles, including a goal of having nearly one
million on the road by 2030. One key component of an effective EV strategy is
adequate public charging stations, including an abundance of DC fast charging
stations, to increase general awareness and provide assurance of the ability to 17
8
charge vehicles on longer trips. This is especially true in rural areas and along
highway corridors. Other important elements include incentive and grant programs,
increased EV availability and model types, reduced barriers to expanding EV fleets
and transit, and expanding EV education and outreach. Colorado should continue
taking advantage of other opportunities to expand EV deployment as well. For
instance, CC4CA supports the current plan to commit all of Colorado's remaining
share of the Volkswagen emissions control violations settlement to the construction
of electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the state and to the purchase of
zero emission transit vehicles.
18. Increasing multimodal transportation funding.
Multi-modal options are expanding but access and availability are still limited in
many areas. CC4CA supports increasing the proportion of multimodal funding in
transportation plans across Colorado, assigning a significant amount of dedicated
multi-modal funding with new funding sources and allocations, generally
prioritizing expanding high-speed electric transit and bus rapid transit, employing
transit-oriented design principles where appropriate, promoting transit alternatives
over general purpose highway lane alternatives when feasible, and expanding
accessible, bicycle, and pedestrian infrastructure.
19. Incentivizing and selecting mobility alternatives, including movement of
both people and goods, based on energy efficiency and environmental costs
and benefits.
Evaluating transportation alternatives in terms of their transportation efficiency–
that is, the efficiency and environmental costs of moving people and goods–can be a
powerful tool for reducing emissions from the transportation sector. CC4CA
generally supports a range of strategies for improving transportation efficiency,
including: promoting a mode-shift away from single-occupancy use of vehicles to
shared and high-capacity vehicle use; comparing the efficiency of transportation
alternatives based on energy consumption and carbon emissions per unit of payload
delivery; employing Context Sensitive Solutions or similar processes to determine
the local environmental and social impacts of all major transportation projects;
including the full range of costs in the life-cycle analyses of competing
transportation alternatives; supporting the use of Travel Demand Management
strategies for all high-capacity highway corridors; incentives/fees designed to
encourage ride-sharing or other strategies aimed at lowering per rider GHG
emissions generated by operators of Transportation Network Companies like Lyft
and Uber; and encouraging the deployment of connected vehicle technology.
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Fossil Fuel Extraction Activities
20. Expanding monitoring of and reducing the full life cycle emissions from
fossil fuel extractive industry activities.
The mining and extraction of fossil fuels can result in significant levels of direct
carbon pollution. One primary culprit is methane. Methane has a shorter-lived but
much more potent heat-trapping effect than carbon dioxide. Reducing methane
emissions is consequently a highly effective way to buy time to implement more
comprehensive actions to reduce industry-wide carbon dioxide emissions. SB19-
181 directs the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to consider
developing more stringent regulations to control the release of methane from the
production and transportation of oil and natural gas. CC4CA supports actions like
these to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the entire extraction and
transportation processes involving raw fossil fuels. CC4CA also supports expanded
monitoring of the full life cycle emissions from these activities.
Solid Waste Reduction
21. Granting CDPHE the authority to implement a plan for meeting Colorado’s
statewide and regional solid waste diversion goals.
In August 2017, the Colorado Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission adopted new
statewide and regional municipal solid waste diversion goals, including separate
goals for 11 Front Range counties and for the remainder of the state for the years
2021, 2026, and 2036. CC4CA supports CDPHE having the authority it needs to meet
these goals and supports increased data collection and reporting by the waste
hauling industry, including statewide reporting standardization.
22. Reducing the use of disposable/single-use products and promoting the
reuse of materials.
Existing protocols for emissions inventories do not include emissions associated
with the use of resources other than landfill-related emissions. However, C40 Cities
investigated the consumption-based emissions from 79 cities, focusing on the goods
and services consumed and used by residents, and found that total consumption-
based emissions were approximately 60% higher than the traditional energy sector-
based inventories. Construction and demolition waste, for example, is an important
contributor to emissions. CC4CA supports traditional recycling and composting
initiatives, legislative efforts like eliminating the state’s preemption of local
authority to ban the use or sale of specific types of plastic materials or products or
restrictions on containers for consumer products, and strategies to reduce the
embodied emissions associated with the goods and services consumed.
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10
23. Fostering infrastructure, policies, incentives, and programs for recycling
and composting.
Zero waste strategies such as recycling, composting, reuse, and source reduction are
proven solutions that reduce emissions of both carbon dioxide and methane and can
be implemented immediately. Recycling 90% of our discards by 2030 would reduce
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of closing more than 80 U.S. coal-
fired power plants. However, Colorado has a poor waste diversion rate of 12%
compared with the national average of 35%. Not all recycling and compost solutions
are created equal, so individual proposals and policies should be evaluated based on
their potential to reduce emissions in both the short and long term
The largest climate benefit from recycling is the reduced energy and materials
needed to manufacture new products. CC4CA supports a range of actions, including
encouraging remanufacturing and market development for recycled products,
including purchasing policies that include recycled-content standards.
For organic waste, composting is often an effective strategy. Forty percent of our
waste is organic material, which not only produces methane when it breaks down
anaerobically (e.g., in landfills), but can be a powerful climate solution when
converted aerobically into compost. Research is just starting to quantify the carbon
sequestration potential of this material. CC4CA supports food waste diversion and
rescue efforts as well as purchasing policies that drive market development.
General
24. Promoting proactive programs and efforts that improve the resilience and
adaptability of Colorado communities in the face of natural disasters and
other major challenges associated with climate change.
Even under the best case greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, some degree of
climate change and climate disruption will continue for years to come. CC4CA
encourages and supports initiatives that increase community resilience (e.g., of
community infrastructure) to climate-amplified economic challenges and that help
communities prepare for human-caused and natural hazards through education,
research, planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance. Emergency
response planning can incorporate climate change science, for instance. Similarly,
local jurisdictions can utilize comprehensive risk and vulnerability assessments that
consider event likelihood and consequence, encourages mitigation strategies,
monitors outcomes, and addresses recovery and return to service. This type of
resilience planning should be routinely included in the planning/design process for
infrastructure at all government levels.
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25. Optimizing the potential for carbon sequestration through regenerative
agriculture, improved soil health, and forest management.
The United Nations’ 2018 report on limiting global warming emphasizes the
importance of increasing land-based carbon sequestration. Sequestering a
significant portion of the anthropogenic CO2 already emitted into the atmosphere
involves a range of strategies including carbon farming via regenerative agriculture,
and afforestation and reforestation. Combined, these two sequestration strategies
could capture and store an estimated 27 gigatons of CO2/year globally.
Regenerative agriculture involves holistic land management practices that
sequester carbon while improving soil health, crop yields, water resilience, and
nutrient density – an immense opportunity to convert agriculture from a net source
of CO2 into a carbon sink. Forest management practices emphasizing carbon storage
can occur at both the landscape and urban scale. CC4CA supports policies aimed at
creating new mechanisms and opportunities that support Colorado’s agricultural
sector through land use policies and incentives that recognize the importance of
healthy ecosystems on addressing climate change, in addition to policies, resources
and strategies to optimize the carbon sequestration potential of Colorado’s urban
and natural forests.
26. Incorporating equity, accessibility, and just transition considerations into
climate policies and actions.
Climate change impacts everyone, but certain communities (e.g., people of color,
low-income communities, immigrants) stand to be disproportionately impacted due
to deep-rooted systems (e.g., systemic racism, housing costs). Conversely, those who
have contributed the most to climate change have much better capacity to protect
themselves from its impacts. As the effects of climate change mount, so does the
urgency of addressing this equity challenge. CC4CA supports approaching equity in
a holistic manner, focusing on dividing the burden of responding to the threat of
climate change and sharing the opportunities and benefits of climate action. CC4CA
recognizes that equity challenges are presented both between and within our local
jurisdictions and we support the need to identify and accelerate opportunities for
enhanced synergies between climate action and development needs and priorities
of communities and individuals.
CC4CA supports the type of just transition efforts proscribed by SB19-236 and
HB19-1314, such as the creation of a new state Just Transition Office and requiring
investor-owned utilities to incorporate workforce transition plans when proposing
an electric generating facility retirement. CC4CA supports the expansion of the just
transition requirement to all electric utilities to ensure Colorado communities and
workers are protected and can access the benefits associated with the clean energy
transition.
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27. Encouraging investments that achieve climate-positive solutions.
Divesting assets of fossil fuel-related holdings is an increasingly utilized climate
action strategy. CC4CA supports policies that encourage entities investing public
dollars to consider partial or full divestment as part of their investment strategies.
28. Maintaining protections and authorities currently provided under
environmental laws like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
Protecting Colorado’s air, water, and land is vital to its environment, economy, and
people. The protections and authorities afforded by landmark federal laws such as
the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act are foundational to the fight against climate
change. For example, the 2007 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that greenhouse gas
emissions are air pollutants and thus subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act,
and the subsequent 2009 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency endangerment
finding that indeed, such emissions present a danger to public health, obligate our
federal government to utilize the protections provided by the Clean Air Act to take
action to limit emissions. Local governments rely on these protections and can be
critical allies in this effort, as scores of communities across Colorado already are
implementing a broad array of initiatives to advance climate protection at the local
level, and often doing so in collaboration with the state and federal governments.
CC4CA communities support the protections and authorities provided under the
body of existing environmental law and will strongly oppose legislative, regulatory,
and other efforts to roll back or diminish them.
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MEMORANDUM
TO:Mayor and City Council
FROM:Liz Chapman. Senior Environmental Health Specialist
THROUGH:CJ Oliver, Environmental Health and Sustainability Director
MEMO DATE:August 19, 2019
MEETING DATE:August 26, 2019
RE:Information Only – Update on Rio Grande Recycle Center Targeted Collection
SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND: This is an information-only memo, and there is no
request of City Council. This memo is intended to provide City Council information about
the progress of switching the Rio Grande Recycle Center from single stream recycling
collection to targeted collections of yard waste, glass, cardboard, and metals, as well as
other waste reduction and diversion efforts by staff.
On August 5, 2019, Council directed staff to reject the proposals received to continue
single stream recycling collection at the city’s drop-off center (Rio Grande Recycle
Center) and pursue the less expensive option of Targeted Collection of limited materials.
Since the City of Aspen Solid Waste portion of the Municipal Code requires waste haulers
to charge and offer curbside recycling services along with curbside trash services, Council
decided to offer free public recycling collection to augment the single stream recycling
collection, rather than duplicate it. This will result in an increase in tonnage of materials
being diverted from the landfill through collections at the Rio Grande Recycle Center,
although it will reduce the variety of materials accepted at the center. Specifically, yard
waste (grass and leaves), household metals (aluminum & tin cans, scrap metal items from
households), glass bottles, and corrugated cardboard will be collected in 10 to 30yd roll-
off containers (depending on the material). The current collection of household batteries
and textiles (clothing and shoes) will be unaffected by this change.
There will be several materials which are accepted in single stream recycling systems
which will no longer be accepted at the Rio Grande Recycle Center. All types of plastics
will be the most noticeable material no longer accepted. The vast majority of plastics must
be transported overseas to be recycled and those markets have become saturated since
China is no longer a viable market. This means the Material Recovery Facilities (MRF’s)
cannot sell the sorted and baled plastic, so they must pay to store it or landfill it. There is
a similar scenario for low-quality mixed paper (newspaper, junk mail, chipboard, etc.).
These two material streams are the primary reason it has become so expensive to collect
and process single stream recycling. The City is avoiding those expenses by switching to
Targeted Collections, but this also means that all plastics, junk mail, magazines, milk and
23
juice cartons will not be part of the Targeted Collections. These materials can still be
placed into the single stream recycle bins collected at the curbside of local homes and
businesses, as well as the Pitkin County landfill recycle drop off location.
DISCUSSION: Staff is making arrangements with various partners to ensure the Rio
Grande Recycle Center (RGRC) will be able to serve the community with as little
interruption as possible. Advertising has already begun and more educational materials
(mailers, brochures, magnets, signs, etc.) are being developed. City of Aspen and Pitkin
County landfill staff have been working together to ensure there are collection containers
for the targeted materials (i.e., yard waste, household metals, glass jars, corrugated
cardboard, textiles, household batteries).
Timeline
8.20.19 through September - Advertising upcoming changes (newspaper, online,
social media).
8.30.19 – Rio Grande Recycle Center will be closed to the public while containers
and signage are changed.
8.31.19 – Targeted Collection of yard waste, metals, glass, and carboard begin.
Staff and signage will be in place to educate the public about the changes and inform
residents and businesses about the inclusion of recycling services in the trash services
bill within both the City of Aspen and Pitkin County.
9.?.19 – Staff will return to Council for approval of contract for hauling cardboard
from the RGRC.
9.30.19 – Staff will evaluate the need for continuing to staff the center daily.
Late Fall 2019 – Staff will return to Council to discuss progress and next steps in
the waste reduction and diversion efforts for the City of Aspen.
Single stream recycling options
Curbside service for residents (& most businesses)
Adding curbside recycling bin at a business location
Free drop-off at Pitkin County landfill recycle center
Compost options
Yard waste drop off at RGRC (starting 8.31.19)
Free food waste drop off at Pitkin County landfill SCRAPS container
County is evaluating accepting some paper materials for composting with grass
and leaves from RGRC
Ongoing efforts to expand SCRAPS (compost collection) participation
Staff is evaluating ways to provide a community food waste drop-off location.
These will be part of future discussions with Council.
Waste reduction efforts
“Minimalism” film showing and panel discussion at Wheeler Opera House on
Wednesday, September 18 (6:30pm).
24
City staff has been working with the lodging community and Aspen Chamber
Resort Association visitor centers to provide bags to visitors.
Staff is monitoring and supporting legislation at the Colorado State level which
would reduce the use of single-use plastics.
Staff will return to Council in the late fall to discuss other actions Council can take
to further reduce the generation of waste in Aspen.
Education
A multi-media educational campaign to educate people about the changes at the
RGRC, how to recycle properly, and that curbside recycling is included in the
curbside trash bill has begun and will continue through October 2019.
City and County staff will be meeting in the fall to develop a shared education
campaign aimed to encourage proper and mindful waste reduction, reuse,
recycling, and compost participation.
City will be continuing various methods of educating the public and engaging in
dialogue on waste issues through the next year.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS: Staff will limit the expenditures for the switch to Targeted
Collections to the previously approved budget estimates:
o Annual cost for hauling materials: $100,000 –200,000
o Annual additional labor costs for maintenance and enforcement: $25,000
o Estimated one-time cost in equipment $25,000 - $100,000
o One-time educational campaign regarding changes: $100,000 - $150,000
Total Cost: $225,000- $450,000 for this initial year (ongoing costs estimated
at $125,000 - $225,000 annually)
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS: By reducing the amount of material sent to be buried in
the landfill, resources are conserved. It also extends the life of the sources of raw
materials. The embodied energy and carbon emissions of manufacturing products from
virgin resources are reduced when materials are recycled. Recycling results in
greenhouse gas reduction, even when transportation emissions are considered.
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INFORMATION ONLY MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Tara Nelson, Paralegal and Policy Fellow
THROUGH: Sara Ott, Interim City Manager
MEMO DATE:August 15, 2019
MEETING DATE: August 26, 2019
RE:Legislative Update and Involvement
REQUEST OF COUNCIL: Information only memorandum. No request of City Council.
SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND: As a Policy Fellow for Administration, I been tasked to
design and implement a state and federal policy tracking program, including coordination with
departments, develop policy positions, and prepare policy position letters as well as coordinate
with legislative advocacy organizations, state and federal government officials. To date, I have
taken an active hands-on collaborative role and delved in with staff, council and legislators to
further coordinate our involvement at the local, state and federal level.
The City has subscribed to State Bill. This entity acts as a ‘spider’ that sits on the Colorado General
Assembly’s website and pulls in new information every five minutes when legislation is in session
to ensure we receive the most up to date information possible. You will be presented with custom
bill reports for those bills that pertain to matters that mean the most to us. Further, State Bill has
an internal polling function so we can send a report internally to gauge opinion and ask questions,
get a list of vote counts by bill, and review audio and video from the Capital and other
functionalities in a clean, easy to use format.
Please note that future legislative updates will be tailored in a different format for you. I aim to
format the legislative update similar to that of Pitkin County. You should expect to see a Summary
of Report, Requests for City of Aspen Action, Fact Sheet, Committee Hearing status, any further
Status Update, and finally City of Aspen Action taken as well as any updates on past action(s). I
will include a hyperlink with each bill so you can easily click and be directed to the Colorado
General Assembly site on that particular bill to see prime sponsors, summary, version, votes, status
and text.
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2
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - August 26, 2019
Staff has taken initial steps to meet internally with stakeholders in our organization. This dedicated
team of ten (10) members bring reliable sources, affiliations, experience and information about
legislative issues and the impact in their profession and/or field. This preliminarily dubbed Policy
& Advocacy committee will formulate and identify a list of top six (6) policy agenda priorities,
mainly at the state level, to present to you before the next legislative session commences. We aim
to synchronize this with CML policy process and ensure that Ann Mullins, who is our current
CML Policy Committee appointed member, is privy to our priorities and recommends specific
positions to the CML Board if applicable.
DISCUSSION:City Council and staff remain active in local affiliations and organizations. A
short synopsis of past and upcoming events is listed here:
AQCC: August 13-16. Colorado Air Quality Control Commission will rule on whether to adopt
a proposed Zero Emission Vehicle Rule. Chris Menges from Climate Action office testified
August 14, along with the local government coalition (9 city/counties), and hit home on our local
source of manmade air pollution to further emphasize how achieving our climate and air quality
goals will not be possible without ZEV adoption. Ann testified at first hearing. Update:
Commission voted 8-1 to adopt zero-emissions vehicle mandate.
CAST: August 22-23 in Frisco, CO. Torre will attend.
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET: August 29 regional representative Alyssa Logan to meet
one-on-one with constituents at Basalt Regional Library from 10:00-3:00 PM
MOUNTAIN PACT: September 11-13. Washington DC fly-in. Ward Hauenstein will attend.
This is a two-day organized meet with Trump administration and federal agencies on mountain
issues.
CCL: September possible valley wide climate march
CML: 2019 Policy Committee – Proposal for Legislation or CML Policy Position DEADLINE
CML: September 12 is the District 12 meeting in Snowmass Village, CO. Rachel, Torre and
Skippy will attend.
CLUB 20: September 20-21 Fall conference in Grand Junction, CO. Rachel and Skippy will
attend.
CML: September 27-28 Municipal Law Annual Seminar in Greeley, CO. Jim True will attend.
QQ: Fall meeting TBD
MT2030:October 2-3 climate summit, Park City, UT. Torre and Skippy will attend.
CAST: October 24-25, Aspen, CO
CCL:November, Citizens Climate Lobby DC meetings include training on Energy Innovation
and Carbon Dividend and citizen lobbying
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3
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - August 26, 2019
UPDATES ON PAST ACTION
Colorado Water Plan: August 8, 2019 correspondence was sent to Senator Kerry Donovan
encouraging a long-term sustainable source of funding for the Colorado Water Plan which includes
an established, robust, open and transparent process for prioritizing projects that receive funding
and support from the state level. Senator Donovan quickly responded, “Have you taken position
on DD?”
NEPA: August 8, 2019 correspondence sent to USFS and White River National Forest, Scott
Tipton, Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet requesting the Forest Service withdraw its proposal to
modify NEPA regulations. Our letter and position was also vetted, aligned, and sent via portal and
emails with Pitkin County.
POTENTIAL REQUESTS FOR CITY OF ASPEN ACTION:
HB19-1327 Authorize and Tax Sports Betting Refer Under Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights
Ballot Measure / Colorado Proposition DD: states may now authorize sports betting. This
measure authorized legislature to authorize sports betting and create a 10% tax on sports betting
proceeds to implement a new tax which requires a vote under TABOR. According to fiscal impact
statement for the measure, revenue from the 10% tax on sports betting proceeds is expected to
generate revenue for the state of around $10 million for RY 2020-21 and is expected to grow to
between $13.5-15.2 million for FY 2021-22. Revenue generated from tax on sports betting would
be used to fund expenses related to administration and regulation of sports betting in Colorado and
to create and fund the Water Plan Implementation Cash Fund.
Agency Position(s): Because the regulatory mechanism follows the intent of the voters regarding
limited gaming in Colorado, and the revenue goes to the Colorado State Water Plan which will
have a direct municipal impact, the Colorado Municipal League does now support Proposition
DD.
Ballot Title: Shall state taxes be increased by twenty-nine million dollars annually to fund state
water projects and commitments and to pay for the regulation of sports betting through licensed
casinos by authorizing a tax on sports betting of ten percent of net sports betting proceeds, and to
impose the tax on persons licensed to conduct sports betting operations?
If City Council wishes to discuss Proposition DD during a work session please contact Sara
Ott.
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4
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - August 26, 2019
HB19-1257 Voter Approval to Retain Revenue for Education & Transportation
Ballot Measure / Colorado Proposition CC: authorizes state to annually retain and spend all
state revenues in excess of the constitutional limitation on state fiscal year spending that it would
otherwise be required to refund. The general assembly would be required to appropriate or the
state treasurer is required to transfer this money to provide funding for public schools, higher
education, roads, bridges and transit. I have not vetted various departments about how CC would
impact (or not) their budgets and services provided. Republican pollster Megellan Strategies
recently yielded 54% of voters intend to approve this proposed elimination of state spending caps
this November.
Agency Position(s): Because of the potential to assist with local transportation funding needs, as
well as to protect municipal interests from constraints on the state budget during times of economic
prosperity, the Colorado Municipal League does now support Proposition CC
Ballot Title: Without raising taxes and to better fund public schools, higher education, and roads,
bridges, and transit, within a balanced budget, may the state keep and spend all the revenue it
annually collects after June 30, 2019, but is not currently allowed to keep and spend under
Colorado law, with an annual independent audit to show how the retained revenues are spent?
If City Council wishes to discuss Proposition CC during a work session please contact Sara
Ott.
HR 763 Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019:City Council signed Resolution
11, Series of 2016 in support of Carbon Fee and Dividend. This effort was previously referred to
as Carbon Fee and Dividend, and the primary group of supporters is organized under Citizens’
Climate Lobby (CCL). We are monitoring H.R.763 / S. 3791 which has been referred to a
subcommittee on Energy. Current opportunities include adopt a new or updated Energy Innovation
and Carbon Dividend resolution to express support, sign-on opportunities individually at the US
Conference of Mayors Resolution supporting Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend (link),
engage directly DC meetings in November with CCL.
If City Council wishes to update the Resolution please direct staff accordingly.
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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - August 26, 2019
NEW LEGISLATION TO BE INTRODUCED:
Colorado Outdoor Recreation Economy Act, or CORE Act
Colorado Recreation Enhancement and Conservation Act, or Colorado REC Act
H.R. 2509 Ski Area Fee Retention Act establishment of a Ski Area Fee Retention
Account to amend the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996. Tipton
& members of congressional ski and snowboard caucus introduce legislation to support
recreation improvements in ski areas. This was introduced in the House 5/2/2019
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2019 Q2 Update
The police department sees an opportunity to
provide the Council with a brief overview of
activities and challenges throughout the year that
expands our operational transparency with the
community.
This memo is the first in a series of quarterly updates that the police
department will provide. We will be seeking feedback on this format and the
effectiveness of these communications in a year’s time. If there are subjects
you would like to receive an update on that are not covered, please let us know
and that information can be provided. This initial briefing will cover 2019 YTD.
Turnover, Staffing &
Reorganization Pitkin Area Co-Responder
Teams Body Camera Program
911 Surcharge
Council was provided an informational memo dated February 1 2019
describing an upcoming request of the State PUC to increase the 911
surcharge received for each phone line. The PUC did in fact agree to the
increase from $1.25 to $2.00 per line. This increase gives the 911 Authority
Board flexibility to manage large capital projects, look at systems
improvements, and potentially expand dispatch staffing. It also enables such
improvements without the need to impact municipal budgets.
st
Special Events Preparedness
The police and special events departments have contracted with an outside
vendor to look at event security issues as well as evacuation planning for the
City of Aspen. A draft report has been received and is being reviewed.
Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting is a new service being provided at the police department.
Recently the State of Colorado transitioned to a system whereby anyone
wishing to obtain fingerprints for various licensing reasons had to do so via the
State approved vendor. The program has limited the number of locations
where people can do so and until June our community members had to go to
Glenwood for this service. Appointments are available online at
http://www.coloradofingerprinting.com/cabs/
[http://www.coloradofingerprinting.com/cabs/] every Wednesday at the Aspen
PD.
Community Outreach
As always, the department places a high value on community outreach. This
year the department has committed to hosting a minimum of one community
outreach event per month. Here is a list of events hosted to date:
Coffee and Quiche
Hot Cocoa with the Cops
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https://www.cityofaspen.com/Admin/CivicSend/ViewMessage/Print/87742[7/18/2019 4:10:47 PM]
Free Ski and Snowboard Registration (x2)
City Departments Luncheon
Senior Center Bingo
Dispatch Appreciation BBQ
Preventing Sexual Assault, an open forum and discussion
ACRA Meet and Greet
Preschool Tour
Free Ski and Snowboard Reg.
Bike Rodeo
Bike Auction/Theft Prevention/Bike Registration
Picnic in the Park
Bike to Work Day - Paepcke Park
Ice Cream Social
Self Defense Classes
Senior Soirre
Farmers Market Dog Outreach
PACT Kick Off
What to do in an active harmer situation
Copyright 2018 City of Aspen. All Rights Reserved.
130 South Galena St. | Aspen, CO 81611
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EXHIBIT
�R
fill
CITY OF ASPEN
August 8, 2019
Via E-mail: nepa-procedures-revisions @fs.fed.us
The Hon. Victoria Christiansen, Chief NEPA Services Group
U.S. Forest Service c/o Amy Barker
1400 Independence Ave, SW USDA Forest Service
Washington, DC 20250-1111 125 South State Street, Suite 1705
Victoria.christiansen@usda.gov Salt Lake City, UT 84138
nepa-procedures-revision@fs.fed.us
RE: Forest Service proposal to Revise National Environmental Policy Act Regulations,
R1N 0596-AD31
Dear Chief Christiansen and Ms. Barker:
Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the Forest Service's proposal to modify its
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. We have outlined our concerns
below and recommend that the Forest Service withdraw its proposal.
Creating numerous new "categorical exclusions" would permit the Forest Service (USFS)
to approve actions without the necessary environmental analysis, no consideration of
alternatives, and no City or public involvement. We believe that this proposal will have
significant impact to the City of Aspen and the surrounding areas with the following
effects:
• Limited public comment on many proposed projects.
• More Categorical Exclusions (CE) will benefit projects such as logging and road
building, both of which have the potential to degrade the landscape.
• Environmental Assessments (EA) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS)
may not be required for many projects.
• Weakens the "extraordinary circumstances" for CE proposals. Extraordinary
circumstance provides protections for things like sensitive species and wetlands.
• Applies "conditions-based management" strategies more broadly—work could
occur without having knowledge of what's on the ground. In particular,the
potential for exemptions from CE and USACE/Section 404 compliance which
eliminate wetlands surveying would have a negative impact on biodiversity,
water quality, and habitat.
et ripe C G BIA'I 1975 1 F 970920 5000 1 F:970920.5197 1 cityofaspen corn
• Adopts a "determination of NEPA adequacy" —where existing EA or EIS
documents are determined adequate. Many times, existing EA or EIS documents
are outdated and do not provide an accurate survey of existing conditions
essential for sound decision making.
• Converts illegal off-road vehicle (ORV) routes to official Forest Service System
roads or trails. This undermines biodiversity, fragments habitat, and circumvents
established practice for road and trail development.
The City of Aspen, through its Parks Department and other agencies, has significant
experience with NEPA. The City has worked hand in hand with the USFS, Pitkin County,
and Aspen Center for Environmental Studies to successfully accomplish many projects in
this area, including notably in the Hunter Creek Valley and on Smuggler Mountain —all of
which were approved through the NEPA processes. The outcome has yielded numerous
successful projects with public participation and recognition on the national level for
working with partners on Federal lands.
The City of Aspen is surrounded by lands managed by the Forest Service. These scenic
lands are critical to the City's identity, economy, recreation amenities, clean water, and
quality of life. We deeply value not only these landscapes but our productive partnership
with the Forest Service professionals with whom we have worked with to protect and
wisely manage these resources.
We agree that there are many worthy projects that would benefit both the City of Aspen
and the Forest Service with prompt action. We understand that budget constraints may
limit the speed with which these projects can be processed. However, we do not believe
that restricting public — and City — involvement and curtailing consideration of sound
science and environmental impacts is the most effective way to build support for, and to
effectively complete, important projects.
We therefore request that the Forest Service withdraw the proposed rulemaking.
Sincerely,
Torre
MAYOR, CITY OF ASPEN
cc:Scott Fitzwilliams,White River Forest Supervisor
Rep.Scott Tipton
Senator Cory Gardner
Senator Michael Bennet