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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20190812Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 12, 2019 1 SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES – APD Bear Aware Campaign Update............................ 2 CITIZEN COMMENTS ............................................................................................................................... 2 COUNCIL COMMENTS ............................................................................................................................ 3 CITY MANAGER COMMENTS ................................................................................................................ 3 CONSENT CALENDAR ............................................................................................................................ 3 RESOLUTION #75, SERIES OF 2019 – Sandwich Board Signs Policy Resolution ....................... 4 ORDINANCE #18, SERIES OF 2019 – Code Amendment – Sandwich Board Signs .................... 5 ORDINANCE #19, SERIES OF 2019 – Request to table item – Major Subdivision approval to vacate a western portion of South Aspen Street ................................................................................... 5 RESOLUTION #91; SERIES OF 2019 – Silver City Ice Rink Temporary Use – 433 E. Durant Avenue ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 ORDINANCE #20, SERIES OF 2019 – adding a second alternate to the Commercial Core and Lodging Commission ................................................................................................................................. 9 ACTION ITEMS ........................................................................................................................................ 10 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 12, 2019 2 At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilmembers Richards, Mesirow and Mullins present. SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES – APD Bear Aware Campaign Update Public appearance – APD bear aware campaign update. Linda Consuegra and Ginna Gordon told the Council in 2019 there have been 303 bear calls to date with 23 bear home intrusions. Mostly through open doors and unsecure windows. We are putting attention to getting the right public safety message out. The majority of calls this year are related to bear trash calls. We spend a lot of time in bear education. We work collaboratively with CPW, ACRA and SMV police dept. Outreach includes working with restaurants prior to the season to review solid waste procedures. We increased the use of signage, specifically on the pedestrian mall. Councilwoman Mullins said she saw the sign at the airport and it is great. 23 home invasions, is it secluded areas. Ms. Consuegra said most are the east side of town, Smuggler and Hunter Creek area. It is critical to understand that we need to lock our cars and homes. They will come back. Councilwoman Richards said she appreciates the outreach. It is valuable and proactive. She asked about the fines on restaurants not securing trash. Why are warnings being given. Ms. Consuegra replied if we have evidence we will issue a ticket. The problem we run into is we go and the places have been cleaned up. We started an earlier shift. Mayor Torre asked about using detractants. Ms. Gordon replied we recommend it specifically cleaning out garbage containers with bleach or ammonia. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. David Loughren, Nancy Taylor and Don Brown, Snyder Park home owner associations. We sent a letter yesterday. We are looking for mitigation for parking on Midland Ave. We have parking for almost all our residences cars. Visitors must park on the street. We want some consideration to make use of the street. Now the street is open and empty with the change in parking zoning. Councilwoman Mullins said you are saying the street is empty now that it is paid parking. Mr. Loughren replied people use to store cars on the street. Now there are 5 or 6 a day. Councilwoman Richards stated we don’t make decisions through public comment. I appreciate your letter and we’ve sent it to appropriate staff to look at. To me it’s about making it comparable to other neighborhoods with paid parking. Mayor Torre asked about the paid parking. Mitch Osur, parking, said the way it works in all the residential zones, parking is enforced Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm. 2 hour free parking. After that it is 8 dollars to park. Kathryn’s Way is a private street. We cannot do enforcement of a private street. Mayor Torre said I did one site visit this weekend. I think we are all growing with the new parking that has been implemented there. I’m happy to look at this. 2. Lee Mulcahy passed out handouts. The petition we circulated did request a public hearing. I would love to get in front of the compliance officer. We are in front of the court house protesting judge Seldin refusing to give us a public hearing. 3. Sandy Mulcahy said the notice of violation was sent out prematurely. Everything was based on that date. The lawsuit was filled incorrectly. What has taken place is wrong. 4. Bob Morris said he is concerned about the impacts of growth. I don’t think growth is inevitable. Change is. Ski Co is the main driver of growth. When I have to raise my wage levels to compete with new hotels, I can’t. 5. Toni Kronberg asked council to send someone from engineering or transportation to the next airport advisor committee meeting. On the meeting day change she would like to see the packet published a week before the meeting. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 12, 2019 3 COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilwoman Mullins attended the ribbon cutting for the Hallam Street bikeway today. It is safe, direct and really well marked. Great improvement. Keep it clean started about a month ago to keep our waterways clean. The community picnic is Wednesday at the Red Brick. Framing the future, engagement of affordable housing in Aspen is also going on. Mail carriers are now out until 8 or 9 at night. Not sure what we can do about it except be nice to them. Councilwoman Richards attended the Club 20 meetings on July 25th and 26th. Discussions about forest management and health. We did not get to special designations. Their fall conference is in September on the 20th and 21st. She spoke about the tragedies of the recent mass shootings. Within our community people know how integrated immigrant workforces has been for many years. The national dialogues are creating a tremendous amount of fear in our community. Not sure how the city can or should address this. We need to find new ways to let everyone know they are safe within our communities. Councilman Mesirow attended the first newly constituted APCHA board meeting. We have a strongly constituted board that is eager to get things done. He attended a Summit conference at powder mountain Utah. Lots of talk about social equity and building diversity. Mayor Torre asked everyone to recognize Janet Garwood with a moment of appreciation. Her memorial service was last weekend. She was a long time Aspenite who served on the Red Brick committee and Aspen Snowmass arts committee. Her daughter Sara Pletts and Janet brought great energy to the arts here. Congrats to Rotary for a fabulous ducky derby. Amazing event. The community event was fantastic. Shout out to the art museum for their 24 hour party. It was an amazing event. We all attended the EOTC retreat. Great work and we got to a place for better governance and vision by the EOTC. Community picnic is Wednesday 4:30 to 7 on the red brick lawn. There is also a kids fair. The ACRA board met. We talked about renewed efforts at the institute for community involvement. Councilwoman Mullins said RUEDI water and power met, discussed aquatic nuisance program, specifically zebra mussels. More and more threat to Colorado water. CORE met and discussed strategic planning and upcoming partnerships. Talked about 2020 budget for grants that core will give out. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS Sara Ott said last month Ndaba Mandela and Teddy Warria were here for a proclamation. Teddy came back and presented us with picture books about Nairobi . CONSENT CALENDAR Councilwoman Richards moved to approve Resolutions #89, 93, 92 and the minutes. Seconded by Councilman Mesirow. All in favor, motion carried. Resolution #86 – Truscott roofing Councilwoman Mullins said we budgeted $38,000 for a consultant. Are they acting as owners rep. Evan Pletcher, asset, said there was discussion amongst staff to bring an expert in to help with design and implementation of the RFP. We wanted to make sure we had accurate bids and we were unsure of what materials to use. He will be our expert eyes on the project to ensure we get a good product. Jeff Pendarvis, asset, said Mike Gardner is the consultant. He will ensure it is not only constructed properly but able to maintain the warranty. Councilwoman Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 12, 2019 4 Mullins said if we are creating such a tight project why is the contingency 20%. Mr. Pletcher replied part of that is the unknowns with the condition under the existing roofing. There has been some leaks in the past. There are additional bid items that were given in a linear foot number. Mr. Pendarvis said we really won’t know until the roof is removed. Councilwoman Mullins asked what’s the 491 fund balance and how will it pay back the 150. Mr. Pendarvis said that is a question for finance. We ask for the money and they tell us where to get it from. Councilwoman Richards said on the finance, in our memo it said the construction loans will be paid off in 2021. That will help. To the extent we are looking at further renovations on the interiors that will take a while as well. It seems odd to be getting the request to fund the consultant after they have been engaged. I would support this but if you already engaged them I’m not sure where those funds came from. Ms. Ott replied that was part of the procurement process that was previously approved through that process. We wanted to make you aware of the total cost. Mayor Torre said Ann touched on the same topics I was. In the bid there are three tiers of materials and that surprised me. I was surprised that there would be options. We did not chose the most expensive option. Are we being too frugal or is this the best option. Mr. Pletcher replied our consultant suggested the material we went with over everything else. It can be patched by staff and safe to walk on. The other options are more difficult to work with. Councilwoman Mullins moved to approve Resolution #86; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. RESOLUTION #75, SERIES OF 2019 – Sandwich Board Signs Policy Resolution Phillip Supino, community development, said Council is asked to consider a policy resolution to extend the expiration date for current permits by one year. Beginning in August 2017 council and staff worked to be Reed compliant with the sign code. We developed new regulations which were content neutral. There were a few lose ends from that process that were left wanting. One was around how best to administer regulations around sandwich boards. Council decided to eliminate that type of signs. There was a 12 month window before it became effective. In July 2018 staff returned to council with some public input. Council decided based on comments to extend the deadline for another year. We are here once again to extend that deadline. Staff will come back to have a conversation with the new council regarding sandwich board signs. Staff is interested in ensuring the existing regulations do not run up against Reed. The suggestion is to extend the deadline and have additional discussion with council. In order to amend the land use code you must first pass a policy resolution. Ordinance 18 would execute the code amendment. Councilwoman Richards said if we extend for another year it will maintain the status quo of grandfathered in signs but won’t allow any new signs. Mr. Supino said there is also the question of enforcement. Without clear direction staff is only in the position to enforce when we receive a written complaint. Without that direction we are responding on a complaint only basis. There may be a scenario where a sign is displayed without a permit and no complaint received. Councilwoman Richards asked why not just make it to next June and have the new regs in place for the summer then I realized the complexity of this. This maintains the status quo for a year. Councilwoman Mullins said I would support this until we come up with a better solution. Thank you for the explanation of content neutral. Councilman Mesirow said while limiting the number of signs to something reasonable especially for business that are hard to navigate to. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 12, 2019 5 Mayor Torre opened the public comment. There was none. Mayor Torre closed the public comment. Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Resolution #75, Series of 2019; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #18, SERIES OF 2019 – Code Amendment – Sandwich Board Signs Mr. Supino said the ordinance will extend the date from September 28, 2019 to September 28, 2020. In no other way does this amend the regulations. Second reading is set for August 26. Councilwoman Richards moved to read Ordinance #18, Series of 2019; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE NO. 18 (SERIES OF 2019) AN ORDINANCE OF THE ASPEN CITY COUNCIL ADOPTING CODE AMENDMENTS TO LAND USE CODE CHAPTER 26.510- SIGNS. Councilwoman Richards move to adopt Ordinance #18, Series of 2019 on first reading; seconded by Councilman Mesirow. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Mullins, yes; Mayor Torre, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #19, SERIES OF 2019 – Request to table item – Major Subdivision approval to vacate a western portion of South Aspen Street Councilwoman Mullins moved to table Ordinance #19, Series of 2019; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. RESOLUTION #91; SERIES OF 2019 – Silver City Ice Rink Temporary Use – 433 E. Durant Avenue Mr. Supino said the discussion is for a temporary use for the Silver City ice rink. The applicant is requesting temporary use for the 2019-2020 season. That use would be in place of the approved ice rink which was originally approved as part of a planned development approval in 1992. The temporary use would be to deliver the active public amenity approved as part of the park zone development, and as was envisioned as part of the original development approval. The Grand Hyatt Aspen developed the rink to meet the open space and parks requirements for that site in the early 90’s. As part of that, it was exempted from growth management, subdivision requirements as well as various fees including parks and water tap fees. The approval states the park shall feature a refrigerated ice rink that will run from Thanksgiving through March 31st. The rink presently provides a popular active and aesthetically pleasing amenity for locals and visitors. Last year the applicant citing maintenance and replacement costs for the existing system requested to substitute the ice surface with a plastic skating surface. The community development director in the fall of 2018 granted an insubstantial PD amendment to allow for that surface. This was based in large part on representations made by the applicant about the adequacy and quality of the skating experience provided by that surface. However, following some pretty significant comments mostly negative, from the public, about the skating experience provided there and additional research by staff, we revoked that approved amendment. It then required the applicant to restore the rink to its approved condition. The applicant has appealed that revocation, which goes to a hearing officer, and that case is pending. The applicant then submitted this temporary use application which is intended to provide Council with an opportunity to provide direction on the preferred use of the site for the upcoming winter. There were three options presented in the memo. They indicated a desire to Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 12, 2019 6 have a discussion about the future permanent use of that site to be different from the approved use. While that discussion falls outside of the scope of this application, staff is aware those items are linked together. The approval or not of a temporary use would not commit the Council to any discussions about the future use of the site. Typically, we require robust documentation for approval of temporary uses including appearance, operations and neighborhood impacts. Staff’s position is generally to continue the hearing if you are amenable to one of the options presented. That would allow the applicant to provide us with more information. The park or unrefrigerated skating surface proposal does not include sufficient information to determine its appropriateness. Staff recommends continuing the hearing for additional information. Councilwoman Richards asked isn’t a third option to deny the permit and require them to fulfill the refrigerated ice requirement from their original approval. Mr. Supino replied yes, that is an option. The temporary use request outlines three proposals from the applicant. Should Council decide not to grant the approval it would revert them back to the 1992 approval for a refrigerated surface. There is a pending appeal of the revoked approval for the synthetic surface. The applicant has indicated if the temporary use is not approved they would move forward with that amendment. The future use of the site would depend upon the decision of the hearing officer. Councilwoman Richards asked is there any timeline on the appeal. Jim True, city attorney, replied not now. We stayed it pending this discussion. The code says within 30 days or the closest time practicable. Councilman Mesirow asked is it the only publicly available outdoor ice rink. Mr. Supino relied correct. Mr. True stated it is available for a certain period during the winter. Applicant – Chris Bendon, representing the applicant, and Bob Weisman, chair of the board. The Hyatt is the operator of the site. It is zoned public. It functions as a public park. Outdoor skating at the time was very topical. There was a lot of discussion of wanting to have an outdoor skating facility. That became part of the requirements for this project. In 2018 we were struggling with aging infrastructure. It would be a pretty significant reinvestment. That combined with CFC 22, refrigerant, is a banned substance now. There is a significant amount of energy use. There is a desire by the association to have a discussion with the city as to what is the best use of the parcel. Given the significant reinvestment what should this be. We approached the city to replace the surface with the synthetic material. It was seen as a temporary solution while we had the long term discussion. We were up front that it was synthetic. It does have a different feel to it. It is not as slippery as ice. There is more friction. It is used in training facilities for professional ice skaters and other places. We submitted the application and it was approved by planning staff. We bought and installed the material this last season. Without notice to us we got the revocation letter. We did not have a chance to engage with the city about the concerns. Based on that there is an appeal that is pending. Staff reached out to us and encouraged us to pursue a temporary use route. We would like to have a conversation as to what are the ideas worth pursuing without having to do the full engineering. Our short term proposal is to buy that time to have that conversation. We have 3 ideas including the synthetic material. We have it we made the investment. We would like to go this route and address the feedback the city received. We are taking over the maintenance which we think will have an improvement. The city is also contemplating the synthetic surface for possibly the tennis court. The second idea is using ambient temperature to freeze the surface. We’ve looked at a temporary chiller but there is the noise to consider. We are not able to retrofit a temporary chiller into our mechanical room. Flooding the surface and letting it freeze might work for Christmas and New Years, but with sun we don’t think we can get through a full season. The third option is for a pocket park. Chris gave out handouts. We could make an interesting place for hanging out. It could be interactive and experimental for kids. We would need to fully vet these ideas. Long term there is a need for a major redo and significant investment. We want to engage with the city on Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 12, 2019 7 exploring ideas that are minimal costs to us. The city does have a sketch plan review in the code. It is an opportunity to come forward and run a bunch of ideas before you. We would want to do that. The temp use would allow us that kind of time. Ideas range from what is there now to a park. We heard there is some need for additional special event space. Ideas for parking below. Taking the park up and commercial on the street level. Councilwoman Mullins said the original ordinance, was summer use dictated or just winter. Mr. Supino replied the park zoning requires an open space facility. The putt putt that is there now is not stated in the approval. The only explicit statement is a refrigerated ice rink to operate Thanksgiving to March. Councilwoman Mullins said I don’t want us to be forced into putting the plastic down again. It is not acceptable as a substitution for a traditional skating rink. This parcel does merit a much bigger conversation. It is a year long discussion. We are backed into a corner. Is the refrigerated system completely bust. Mr. Bendon replied that is my understanding. It utilizes CFC22 which is not available any longer. We are not intending to back you into a corner. We thought we had a viable solution. We are truly trying to come up with a scenario that is a viable use for the space. Councilwoman Mullins said it will have to be pretty convincing before we go back and change the ordinance. Councilwoman Richards said I think it was more the concept we wanted it to be refrigerated ice not ambient. I’m looking at this and the 1992 approval. It was good 25 years ago. What has been the annual allocation for capital replacement by the owners of the property. Mr. Weisman said the property only opened in 2006. We inherited the ordinance and took over when we acquired the property. Councilwoman Richards said what I’m wondering is the dedication was required in place of fees. Would those become due if they fail their obligation. Mr. Supino said we don’t have the means to retroactively access impact fees. Councilwoman Richards said if the amenity no longer exists and the agreement was in perpetuity it seems like there should be some look back to the obligations. Mr. Supino replied there is an obligation there. Our position would be the obligation would be to continue to deliver an ice rink until that approval is amended as opposed to retroactively seeking to recoup fees we didn’t collect at the time. Mr. Bendon said if we need to go through the appeal process there would be discussion of equities on both sides. Councilwoman Richards said even the term temporary use permit is temporary. Mr. True said the amendment was an insubstantial amendment to the approval. We feel staff appropriately revoked it based on information that was gleaned over the winter. That is up for appeal. This is a method looking at whether there is a temporary solution that would avoid those further processes that perhaps leads to an amendment or perhaps not. Mr. Bendon said instead of having a legal conversation of what we are obligated to do we wanted to have a planning conversation as to what we would like to do with the parcel. That is why we are here. Councilwoman Richards said she is concerned with the process of something being better. I’d love to take a look at this. If we are going in to appeal we need the records of what has been invested into the property. It was granted to your hotel to be an amenity. There were obligations to keep it up for the guests. It is inconceivable to me we are in this place. I am very disappointed. I don’t see other park uses for that site. It is immediately across from Wagner park. The malls are right there. Councilman Mesirow said I support staff’s position. I think based on the history it is pretty clear what is expected. I’m not closed to other creative ideas. It was very clear what the community wanted. There needs to be clear evidence the entire community would be happy with the result. Mayor Torre opened the public comment. 1. Toni Kronberg said for 30 years our community wanted a second ice rink. Twice voters defeated a second rink. I voiced my support for an ice rink in that location. If we took a look at this parcel that is zoned park and open space there are a lot of opportunities. The noise from a temp generator is a nuisance. They have a solution that professional Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 12, 2019 8 skaters skate on then the next thing you know the approval is revoked and voided. In all fairness they don’t want it to go away. They want it to be the best. The city put them in this position. They weren’t given the opportunity to make amends. Go out to the public and see what they would like to do. 2. Craig and Samantha Cords Pierce, operators of CP Burger. It affects our business and we have kids who like to skate. The city may not have gone to the Hyatt about the complaints but we did. They knew about it. The experiment failed. Craig said it’s hard to sit here and listen to what has been said. We are tenants of their building. I had the idea of the burger joint in 2010. When I went in the skating was where the burger place is now. We opened the burger joint, created the kitchen and created the energy there. Thousands of people go there every day for what we created. It is such a great place for people to come to and get that break from their kids. Without the one the other one doesn’t work. I can’t keep selling 7 dollar hamburgers without the other side of it. We love it there and have 10 years to go. I’m an idea guy. I create opportunities and spaces. I wish we were brought into this process before anything happened. This is the first we’ve had an opportunity to talk about this. Within a week of the synthetic ice going in we knew it was not working. We were told you have to deal with it. We are the face of the rink. Our counter people get abused every day. We were giving the money back, cleaning it and maintaining it. We lost over $180,000 this winter. We communicated every week showing what was happening with the sales. We just want to be heard. We are good for the space. Through this whole process not one time was CP burger mentioned. We were not even thought of. Samantha said there are other options for real ice that don’t use the banned chemicals. They are a fraction of what they thought they would spend. Councilwoman Mullins asked is it ice you want to see there in the winter. Samantha replied for visitors and the town. Councilwoman Mullins said the plastic ice was a failure. Can you see the only option a rink. Samantha replied yes. Snowmass didn’t use synthetic ice. Vail didn’t use it. Councilwoman Richards asked did your lease say an ice rink. Samantha replied it says we operate an ice rink. Mayor Torre asked have we looked in to the additional information. Mr. True replied it is part of the record. I do not know if they have investigated it. Mr. Supino replied staff has not had time to look into it. Mayor Torre asked were you made aware of alternative ice. Mr. True said there are clearly alternatives to the coolant. I have not vetted the alternative. Craig said it would go directly on top of what is there. I have no qualms about talking about the opportunities that could be there. I’m in favor of those conversations. The only thing that is hard for us is we are the only ones being affected by this. We don’t want to be seen as the guys that put down the crappy ice. We can’t survive by the way we were affected last year. We’ve invested in lights and speakers and done everything we can to create this place everyone can come to. Samantha said in 2017-2018 we registered 7700 skaters. Through the end of February we only had 1700 skaters. Mayor Torre closed the public comment. Councilwoman Rachael asked about an executive session. Mr. True said staff is recommending a decision be postponed and continued at least for 2 weeks to get further information. You do have a right to go into executive session and receive advice from council. Mayor Torre asked do you have a dollar amount on the savings, fee waivers from the original approvals. Mr. Supino replied no. Mayor Torre said we are being requested to continue this item for 2 weeks. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 12, 2019 9 Mr. Bendon said we are interested in a continuance if there is something to pursue. We thought it would be more like 4 or 6 weeks before we come back. We want to have some direction from council if there are things you want to see. Councilwoman Mullins said we can’t have the plastic ice again. If continued, I don’t want to see the discussion of future uses. I would want to see how you would solve the problem using refrigerated ice or ambient ice. Worst case is having it empty all winter. Mayor Torre said my support here is not for a change to a park or plastic ice. I’m intrigued if there is an option for a different cooling system. My preference is to uphold what the original ordinance and approvals said. There is a lack of information here as well. We don’t know what upkeep looks like or what the original waivers were. For me if it is a continuance to explore a different system or ambient ice. I would support that. I am not interested in a conversation about park features or plastic. It is a bad situation but it is not dire. I think it is fixable. Councilwoman Richards said I echo Torre for the most part. I would like to know what the waivers were and the context for understanding the Hyatt’s financials better. It is the classic we got our approvals and now want to shed our responsibilities. That is how it feels. Councilwoman Mullins said I think the point is we want to see ice there this winter. We can have a conversation on the other uses that can be there. Mayor Torre said maybe there’s an opportunity for the city to help with costs if that is really an issue. If you prefer the city to take over the operations you could deed the property to the city. Councilwoman Richards asked how the parcel came into city ownership. Mr. Bendon asked for more than 2 weeks. To address Rachael’s perception of our position, what we are facing is a significant reinvestment in to that parcel. We want to make sure we are doing what the community wants us to do. That may be ice. If there are other ideas we want to bring them forward. It is not an attempt to back out or shift the obligation. Mr. Supino said staff is concerned with ensuring that the city and applicant are providing an amenity at that site for the winter that meets community expectations. Council is looking for the total value of the fee waivers. Ensure that staff and applicant explore reasonable alternatives for a reliable skating surface. Rachael also requested the context of the Hyatt and their commitment. Ms. Ott said there was mention about looking at ownership. Should we be spending time on it. Mayor Torre replied the applicant can come back to us if they are interested in that. Councilwoman Mullins moved to continue Resolution #91, Series of 2019 to September 9, 2019; seconded by Councilman Mesirow. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #20, SERIES OF 2019 – adding a second alternate to the Commercial Core and Lodging Commission Mayor Torre opened the public comment. There was none. Mayor Torre closed the public comment. Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Ordinance #20, Series of 2019; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Richards, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Mayor Torre, yes. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 12, 2019 10 ACTION ITEMS Letter to Senator Donovan regarding funding the Colorado Water Plan Scott Miller, public works, said staff has written a letter to Senator Donovan. There is a request of the Colorado senate to consider funding the water plan on a permanent basis. The plan was implemented by Governor Hickenlooper. There was lots of conversation about the problem and possible solutions. Councilwoman Mullins said we’ve been meeting for years about this. The plan has specific recommendations and is not close to being fully funded through the state. The gambling tax would fund part of it. Councilwoman Richards said the real challenge is the department of natural resources of Colorado is funded through a tax primarily. It is a fluctuating and unreliable source. As the state goes greener there will be less revenue to fund these things. I’m ok with this but we are not commenting on if we want to support the ballot question. I don’t know that we are making it clear that we are supporting the ballot measure. The letter is not specific on if we support the ballot question. Councilwoman Mullins said I read it as support in whatever way she can figure out to support the water plan. One of the criticisms of the water plan is it is a little heavy in sending water over the front range. Overall the value of having the water plan overcomes that. Potential meeting say change for regular council meetings Mayor Torre said this came up at the retreat. Do we still feel the same. Mr. True said all you need to do is amend the rules of procedures that were adopted in June 2005. The effective date would need to be the first meeting date in October. Councilwoman Mullins said the BOCC has their meeting on Tuesday. Is the live streaming and the website fulfill the obligation to be publicly filmed. Mr. True said there is no requirement that the meetings be videoed and streamed. It will be streamed on our website and facebook as soon as the meeting commences. Councilwoman Richards said to be clear the only delay would be the grass roots live feed. Councilman Mesirow said if we swap then the regular meeting would still start at 5. Ms. Ott said all work sessions start at 4. Mayor Torre said I’m in favor of trying this. Councilwoman Mullins moved to amend Section 2 of the rules to hold regular council meetings on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month commencing in October 2019; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. Councilwoman Richards moved to adjourn at 7:55 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Mesirow. All in favor, motion carried. Linda Manning City Clerk