HomeMy WebLinkAboutInformation Only 082724AGENDA
INFORMATION UPDATE
August 27, 2024
5:00 PM,
I.Information Update
I.A
State of Aspen’s Wildlife Program: 2024 Year-in-Review
I.B
Council Governance Workshop Follow Up
240816_-_State_of_the_Wildlife_Program_Info_Memo.docx
Follow-Up Governance.docx
Aspen Council Retreat Report.docx
1
1
INFORMATION ONLY MEMORANDUM
TO:Mayor and City Council
FROM: Lara Xaiz, Wildlife Coordinator
Shelly Braudis, Natural Resource Manager
THROUGH: Matt Kuhn, Parks and Open Space Director
MEETING DATE:August 27th, 2024
RE:State of Aspen’s Wildlife Program: 2024 Year-to-date
PURPOSE:The purpose of this memo is to update the Mayor and Council on the City’s
Wildlife program, specifically after the program shifted to the Parks and Open Space
department in March of 2024. This memo summarizes the city’s initiatives, successes,
challenges and future goals for the wildlife program.
BACKGROUND and SUMMARY: Aspen is home to many species of native wildlife. As
the population in the Roaring Fork Valley continues to grow, wildlife encounters and
conflicts will likely increase. Dangerous and potentially harmful encounters can occur
because individuals do not understand the risks that wildlife pose in the urban
environment. Additionally, people and businesses may not understand the attractants
that exist or can exist on their property
With the approval of the 2024 budget, a full-time position was established within the
Parks and Open Space department for wildlife management, moving the core functions
out of the Police department. With the full-time position, more time has been allocated
to education and outreach around the topic of coexisting with wildlife in our community.
The efforts include outreach with business ownersand citizens, and strengthening of
relationships with stakeholders and regional partners such as Colorado Parks and
Wildlife. A priority for the wildlife program is to strive towards full compliance of trash
storage to ensure that bears living in Aspen maintain a diet of their natural food sources
and away from human sources.
In March 2024, the City hired Lara Xaiz as the Wildlife Coordinator. Prior to Lara’s
position with Parks and Open Space, she was a Community Resource Officer with the
Aspen Police Department and assisted with the coordination of wildlife incidents as part
of her duties. With this strategic hire, the City has been able to build on the momentum
of a successful and established APD-led program and expand the discussion of wildlife
topics in the Aspen community.
2
Certain public safety related wildlife incidents continue to be managed by Community
Resource Officers or Police Officers when public safety is of concern; however, the
Wildlife Coordinator has been able to focus her energy on education, container
compliance, assistance with wildlife incidents beyond bears (injured birds, trapped
raccoons, etc.) and program development with partners.
WILDLIFE PROGRAM SUCCESSES:The wildlife program has been very successful
thus far in reducing human and bear conflicts within City limits. Over the summer, the
focus of the program has been patrolling and monitoring the downtown core and
residential neighborhoods throughout the City. These patrols aim to educate residents,
business owners and property managers on the proper methods for waste storage. The
following list summarizes some of the wildlife programs’ successes in 2024.
Decline in human/bear conflict based on Aspen 311 data
o 69% increase in compliance (securing containers),
o 25% decline in bear/trash intrusions from 2023 to 2024 (to date)
Increased use of the Aspen 311
platform to track wildlife related data.
Development of a Bear Hotline to
direct calls and emails away from
APD. 970.920.BEAR;
Bears@aspen.gov
A reduction in Colorado Parks &
Wildlife’s (CPW) response to bear
incidents by improving compliance
within City limits.
Development of a crab apple
gleaning project for employees and
volunteers to remove the food
source of crab apples from the City
core
An easy source of food in the City.
$64,260 grant from Colorado Parks and Wildlife to reduce human-bear conflict.
These funds will be used to purchase metal trash cans, and sturdy poly cans for
residents to use. The grant funds will also be used to begin the removal and
replacement of fruit bearing trees with non-fruit bearing tree varieties, and to
purchase electric mats that will be loaned to residents and business owners to
deter bears from entering their properties.
Coordination with Environmental Health to design information tags to leave on
recycling bins.
3
o A large challenge is unsecured recycling and contaminated recycling.
There is an ongoing effort between the environmental health department
and the wildlife coordinator to improve ‘clean’ recycling throughout the
community.
Support of the Roaring Fork Valley Safe Passages Initiative
o The City is a stakeholder in the feasibility effort underway to analyze options
for wildlife crossings in the upper valley.
Response to other wildlife related incidents with animals such as snakes,
crows, large rodents, and assisting in wildlife rehabilitation efforts when possible.
Public Education and Outreach Campaign:
o Developing relationships with HOAs, Property Managers, business owners
and residents to solve problems with site visits and education, in partnership
with Roaring Fork Bear Coalition,
o Partnering with ACES for public wildlife education,
o Internal coordination with Environmental Health (Recycling), Community
Development Compliance Specialist (compost), Construction Mitigation
Officer (construction sites) and the Utilities Department (getting compactor
running),
o Recording public outreach videos with Communications Department and
developing tags, stickers and fliers for education.
WILDLIFE PROGRAM CHALLENGES:Over the course of the first summer, several
challenging issues have emerged. Staff aim to make incremental improvements on these
more challenging and complex problems.
Compost requirements have added 50% more cans for restaurants in the core.
While compliance has been good and they have largely been latched, the
numbers of receptacles needing to be checked and cleared from the alleys has
increased. The City’s current compost hauler provides compost buckets to most
of their residential customers that are not certified as bear resistant by the
Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC). This will need to be addressed as
the City rolls out its residential compost program.
Ownership and responsibility for shared compactors in the core can be
difficult to trace following an intrusion. Compactors can be shared by multiple
businesses in the core, tracing culpability following an intrusion can be difficult as
a result.
Wildlife resistant containers lack consistency in their performance and in some
cases may lose certification for use. The Wildlife Coordinator is working closely
with waste haulers to identify appropriate containers and upgrade their supply of
wildlife resistant containers before summer 2025.
4
Effective trash cans vs. ineffective trash can
WILDLIFE PROGRAM GOALS FOR 2025:
With the Wildlife Coordinator in place, the wildlife program will continue to grow and
improve in 2025 with the following goals.
Host a valley-wide meeting of wildlife managers and municipalities to share
knowledge and bring continued improvements to individual wildlife programs.
The ability to learn and share with other wildlife programs in the valley will benefit
wildlife and communities.
Continued education and outreach in the community is a priority for the wildlife
program. Bringing more awareness to the Bear hotline and email address
(970.920.BEAR; Bears@aspen.gov) through coordination with the
Communications team is a program goal for 2025. Along with increasing
awareness of the communication tools related to bears in the City, the wildlife
program will develop additional education materials for other wildlife in the area.
This includes moose, coyote, mountain lion and wolves. Quality wildlife habitat is
within and around the City making it crucial to develop education programs to
ensure that the community and our wildlife co-exist in the landscape.
Develop interpretive signage related to wildlife across the City. There are many
open spaces providing quality wildlife habitat across the City, including Jennie
Adair, Maroon Creek Wetlands and Deer Hill. The Wildlife Coordinator will work
with the Parks, Open Space and Trails teams to develop and improve interpretive
signage across the City.
The removal and replacement of fruit bearing trees is a task that will take
significant coordination with different programs across the City. It’s important for
the Wildlife Coordinator to help coordinate this effort to reduce and eventually
strive to eliminate this food source for bears within City limits. It’s a meaningful
5
and impactful project and one that is a priority for implementation in 2025 and
beyond.
CITY MANAGER NOTES:
6
FOLLOW-UP MEMORANDUM
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
WORK SESSION MEETING DATE:June 24, 2024
FOLLOW-UP MEMO DATE:August 13, 2024
AGENDA TOPIC:Council Governance Workshop
PRESENTED BY:Jenn Ooton, Senior Project Manager
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:Mayor Torre, Councilors Doyle, Hauenstein,
Rose, and Guth
______________________________________________________________________
WORK SESSION DISCUSSION SUMMARY:
City Council in June held a facilitated conversation in a workshop regarding Council
governance to provide insight to the development of new rules for mutual expectations
and guidelines for City Councilors in their roles as elected leaders.
Councilors in a follow up survey indicated skepticism about whether the results of the
workshop would lead to lasting changes and also noted that Bob’s Rules of Order
should be implemented.
City Council’s currently adopted rules are set forth in Resolution 51, Series 2005 and
reference Roberts Rules of Order as the rules for parliamentary practice during
meetings. The council could at a future meeting adopt different rules of order to govern
City Council meetings, which could include Bob’s Rules of Order.
NEXT STEPS:
Staff have begun drafting new rules for consideration by Council by the end of the year.
ATTACHMENT:
Summary document by consultant Hilary Shine.
7
1
Aspen, CO Council Retreat Report
July 8, 2024
The City Council of Aspen, Colorado, held a retreat on Monday, June 24,to discuss the
principles of good governance and those which could be improved.The retreat was
attended by the Mayor, all members of the Council and the City Manager. The retreat
was facilitated by Ron Holifield and Hilary Shine of SGR. Below is a summary of the
main discussion of the retreat.
Pre-Work
Interviews were conducted with the Mayor, each member of the Council and the City
Manager prior to the retreat. A series of questions were asked in order to gain individual
perspectives on group dynamics, areas of concern and ideas for improvement. The
results of those interviews were compiled in composite lists that are detailed in the
retreat summary.
City Council Retreat Summary
Governance: Ron Holifield presented a session on governance as a system and
principles of good governance.
Review of 2023-2025 Goals: Council reviewed the body’s adopted 2023-2025 goals
and affirmed that they still represented the common will of the Council.
Perspectives: Individual member perspectives were solicited in advance interviews and
compiled for discussion at the retreat. Perspectives were divided into two categories:
Today, those issues which currently exist and challenge the system of governance, and
Legacy, how Council’s service is and will be perceived.
Today
8
2
•We want to do what’s best for Aspen
•There is friction in how we want to do business
•We have split votes
•There are personality and style differences
•There is disrespect to each other and processes
•We could improve the rules of engagement
•We need to make decisions on big issues
•Members should better articulate their positions
•Staff feels attacked
Legacy
•We gave back to our community
•We took action on major issues
•We set Aspen up for success
•We deliberated thoroughly and thoughtfully
•We worked together
•We inspired others to get involved
•We improved government
•We made a positive and lasting difference
•We preserved Aspen’s character
Rules of Engagement
To begin the discussion of areas for improvement, Councilors were asked what they
need, want and promise individually to give their best to City Council moving forward.
The following lists represent their responses.
Need
•Communication
•All perspectives to be heard
•Open discussion
•Cooperation
•Participation
•Clarity in decision-making
Want
•Work collaboratively
•Members to enjoy/be fulfilled by the work of Council
•Cooperation
•Participation
•Full attention
•Efficiency
Promise
•To be supportive
•Honesty
•To listen
•Patience
9
3
•To be more articulate
Members were then asked what they would collectively agree are standards they would
apply to themselves and expect from each other moving forward. The following
statements represent their responses.
Councilors will act with civility and create an environment that fosters mutual
support and trust.
Councilors will do the work of preparation and critical thought in advance of
meetings and work collaboratively on solutions.
Councilors will deliberate, decide and move forward. Doing nothing is not an
option.
Councilors expect to have access to all information held by other members or
staff for deliberation.
Governing Standards
Council had previously given direction to the City Manager to work on improved
governing standards for the body. Facilitators presented areas for group discussion and
feedback to help begin drafting those standards. The following feedback was received
at the retreat.
Absences
•Notify the Mayor and City Manager as soon as possible when an absence is
expected
•Members should attend meetings in person and use remote technology only
when necessary
Confidentiality
•Need specific guidelines and indicators
•Need better training/understanding of executive session uses
Councilor Requests
•Requests for information may be made to department heads and above
•City Manager will ensure Councilors always have a current list of those
individuals
•Information provided in response to one Councilor will be provided to all
Councilors
Agendas
•Would like times allotted to agenda items
•Items that will or will not receive comment should be indicated on the agenda
10
4
Chairperson
•Chairperson will do a better job to guide toward commonality
•Chairperson will summarize/restate/clarify all motions and decisions
Debate
•Each member must speak once before any member may speak again
•Standards and adherence to point of order
•No further discussion during vote
•Votes will be taken by roll call (order will be shuffled)
Confidentiality
•Need specific guidelines
Next Steps
Councilors asked for staff to draft governing standards based on their feedback
at the retreat. They also requested that staff offer suggested language for other
areas in need of consideration.
Present the governing standards document, which should include the rules of
engagement, to Council for consideration and official adoption.
Establish a regular cycle of review and adoption (preferably after every election)
as part of the adopted document.
11