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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.regular.20200211 1 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 11TH, 2020 At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilmembers Richards, Hauenstein, Mesirow and Mullins present. CITIZEN COMMENTS: Janice Voss, County Clerk – Ms. Voss said she is here to give logistics of the upcoming election. She said this is the first presential primary in 20 years; super Tuesday, March 3rd. Ballots dropped yesterday, please look for your ballot later this week in the mail. If you are unaffiliated, you will receive both ballots in the mail, so please don’t vote both. The other thing to mention, if you haven’t received ballot, go to pitkinvotes.com. This will allow you to go into state system to look up your record and this system is important for students at school. Another service is ballot tracks. We’ll send you a message to let you know when you were sent a ballot, etc. There are three options to drop the ballot: by mail, in person, or in the drop boxes. There is a drop box on Main Street, Snowmass town hall, and Basalt town hall. On Monday the 24th, early voting will be in office from 8:30 to 4:30 pm and on Saturday the 29th from 10:00 – 2:00 p.m. On election day, they are open from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. For election night reporting, 7:00 pm is the cut off time. On pitkinvotes.com, you can go into the system and see what’s going on statewide. We need to dedicate staff to this effort, so, on election day, the DMV will be closed on super Tuesday, March 3rd. Councilwoman Richards thanked Janice for making the presentation. She asked when it is too late for someone to register for the primary and Ms. Voss said that if you’ve lived here 22 or more days before the election, you can register up until or on election day. David Michael – General counsel for Silver Peak. He said this is a really exciting proposition and we are respectfully trying to find a way forward. Aspen has always been at forefront of cannabis. What we are discussing, is doing a beverage consumption lounge to stop on a night out but have a social experience; especially for people who do not drink. This is garnering attention nationwide and would make Aspen more of a destination than it already is. We want to lay out a seed of an idea. The hospitality bill allows for these lounges. Councilman Hauenstein asked him to forward the hospitality bill to council. Sara Ott said there will be a work session for an education approach to the bill. We’ve been working with that, as well as other entities in the state as far as their experiences so far in managing these facilities. This work session has not been scheduled yet, but a staff resource has been assigned to this and is currently working on this. Lee Mulcahy – Mr. Mulcahy said he is grateful for many things. He said his mom just landed in Kenya and is doing 3 water wells at public schools. He addressed Rachel regarding her comment in the paper today. He said she rides roughshod over the law. He said that Mr. True destroyed a family and hopes we don’t go down that road again. Torre asked Mr. Mulcahy to have more decorum in council and not use a stare tactic to intimidate. Mr. Mulcahy said he has a signed petition with him from when he sat in the park outside of city hall to collect signatures and how a painting of his father was ripped accidentally. He said he was told by the city that they wouldn’t pay for it. Toni Kronberg – She said she is thankful for freedom of speech and it’s a cherished right. Thank you for honoring that. She said a thank you for the website and isn’t sure if it’s Nicole or another department 2 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 11TH, 2020 but said she has come to council many times complaining about the website because it’s been tough to navigate. She said it is now clear, concise and the calendar holds all public notices and hasn’t gone unnoticed and is greatly appreciated. She said the story pole request has been canceled since the elevator shaft is up for the new city building. She thanked council for letting her speak first last night and she appreciated that. She’s committed to the skycab project. She said the Rio Grande and the connector are really crucial. She said that Ward made a comment last night about how many trees it would take to offset carbon and she said she’s curious how many trees it would take to offset the carbon of the new city building. She said she was disappointed last night and expressed that because the memo didn’t include any comments from the public. She asked that those comments be forwarded to council. Shawn Eileen – She thanked the council for their service and said in most places in the United States, they help citizens to comply with the rules and said that very citizen should be afforded the same opportunity. Please consider this is in your decision-making process. James Hoge – Mr. Hoge said he is homeless, and this may be affecting Sandy Mulcahy’s health. He said she is a very religious woman who cares for many people and his heart goes out to her. Public comment closed. COUNCIL COMMENTS: Councilman Hauenstein said that he did make a request for all public comments and we will be seeing those. One of the most difficult tasks we have in this country, is blind justice and I subscribe to that. Sometimes, we at the council table, are conflicted by people who are enforcing the law and the responsibility we have to enforce the law. Sometimes this causes conflict in personal relationships. He quoted Thomas Jefferson regarding never considering a difference of opinion as a cause from withdrawing from a friend. It’s our duty to uphold the law. There can’t be a different set of laws for different people. Councilwoman Mullins thanked Janice for coming. She said everyone needs to get out and vote. She said we are in such a precarious and dangerous time in our country right now. People are giving up their faith in democracy. Councilman Mesirow said we’ve been having frequent conversations about mental health and connection to one another. He was grateful to participate in the 9th annual aspen cares fashion show last week. They raised over 100k, which is amazing. Thank you to Belly Up and everyone. It’s not too late to donate and help heal the valley. To build on what Ann was saying, in this role, people come with a lot of ideas and frustrations. He understands where these frustrations come from. It’s important for us as a community to realize that things happen with us, not to us. It’s not about the individual, but about what we choose to do. Each of us can do our part. Get involved, and vote. Councilwoman Richards said that public comment is open for the national and environmental policy act. The Trump administration has proposed many changes. This last weekend, the Denver Post had a story on the NEPA process and Glenwood Canyon. The city and county will be commenting, but also individual letters can help make a difference. She’s traveling early tomorrow morning to testify on the tobacco legislation. Thursday and Friday are both legislative policy days. Tara Nelson and Sara Ott will also be there. 3 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 11TH, 2020 Mayor Torre said as usual, there is a more fun and exciting meeting right now happening at the Wheeler, which is Time Travel Tuesday. There is a community meeting tomorrow for mental hygiene at 5:30 at CMC, which is another great community discussion. There have been many stories in the paper regarding the Mulcahy case. This council wants to see APCHA rules followed and we want to see qualified families in this housing. This council was made aware of negotiations, and they came to us, we didn’t seek it out. We asked our city manager to look into this for us and it’s our hope that we move to terms that are written within the deed restrictions. Let’s close this chapter and have Lee as a contributing member of our community. Some of the characterizations were inaccurate. These were just talks and it’s our duty to investigate these as much as we can. AGENDA AMENDMENTS: None. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: Ms. Ott said she will be traveling to CML on Thursday. Rachel will be covering the vote. That evening, she will attend a meeting with the consulate of Japan. Sister Cities asked her to attend this and it’s a great way for us to build those bridges. She said the school board has their finalists coming the next day after our scheduled meetings, so we will delay our joint meeting on the 18th. We’ve agreed to reschedule this to later in the spring. We still want to have Katherine Sands and CJ present on the youth health with tobacco tax dollars. Lastly, she addressed the Mulcahy case regarding the difference between receivership and foreclosure. She said he has a promissory note on file with the county and that note is due upon demand. This deed of trust is the first lien on the property and there are no known payments on this note. It is valued at more than APCHA’s sale price. This predates the note and the deed of trust, as he is upside down in the loan. In this situation, receivership takes over the property and debt of sale stays with the property, but not with the seller. This could mean additional legal interactions to fight not paying, or additional tax and fee dollars or a valuation of the sales price. We have the same goal of returning the unit to a qualified family. She’s continued to say she wants to find a resolution. We want to work collaboratively with our partners, and we would look at a sales contract from Mr. Mulcahy. Councilman Mesirow said this is complicated and there are a lot of community members that wish we’d take a firm stance. It’s not black or white, and we ask the public to view them as community members. Sara has done a great job handling this. There are safety issues and we are trying to come to the best resolutions. We owe them appreciation and kindness. Councilman Hauenstein thanked Sara for following council’s direction. We want a peaceful resolution and any comments of you acting rogue or in error isn’t ok. We have to entertain every option. Councilwoman Richards said these promissory notes are public record. This isn’t executive session stuff. Councilwoman Mullins thanked Sara for her explanation. She said that the mayor said it well, it comes down to council directed staff. In the end, the buck stops here. 4 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 11TH, 2020 BOARD REPORTS: Councilman Hauenstein said there is a RFTA meeting coming up Thursday morning and Sister Cities is tomorrow night. Councilwoman Mullins said Reudi Water & Power Authority is coming up. Councilman Mesirow said APCHA is a week from tomorrow. Councilwoman Richards said the last week of the month, she will have a Club 20 executive meeting in Grand Junction and a Club 20 subcommittee meeting on the 28th. CONSENT CALENDAR: Councilwoman Mullins asked for Resolution #001 and Councilman Hauenstein asked for Resolution #011. Councilwoman Richards motioned to approve the minutes of January 28th, 2020; Councilman Mesirow seconded. All in favor, motion carried. RESOLUTION #001, SERIES OF 2020 – McLain Flats Gravel Pit Feasibility Analysis– Tyler Christoff and Raquel Flinker. Mr. Christoff said this contract is in regard to exploratory borings and feasibility study for the gravel pit located in Woody Creek. This is exploration for potential locations for our conditional water rights. Councilwoman Mullins said she is very supportive and there are no surprises here. Ms. Flinker said that on page 4 of the memo, there was some imprecise wording. It was clear that some physical work was happening, which is part of the feasibility study. There are borings on site and test bits. She said they will modify the word “construction”. Councilwoman Mullins didn’t want people to think they are just going ahead with the project. Councilman Hauenstein said he is comfortable with this. Councilwoman Richards said it’s important to reach out to the Woody Creek homeowners. Councilman Mesirow said he went on a tour of this area in mid-summer and confirmed that this is just the basic work to know if it can be used and Mr. Christoff said yes, this is their due diligence, and everything is still on the table. Mayor Torre said this suggestion arose a couple months ago and asked if there is a process or phone call from the city to contact the owners. Ms. Ott said that from the staff side, they are not quite ready. We’re trying to find out if the site is worth moving forward with the right stakeholders. If it happens, the first priority is water storage. Councilwoman Richards said this discussion is enough to raise the temperature of the Woody Creek caucus. She’s not exactly sure where energy would be the most productive. Ms. Ott said this is an example of council’s expectations being on engagement and figuring out the right place along the way. We will put this as a side note so we can get some clarity. Mr. Christoff said it’s important for council to know this is a long-term planning project and it’s really about planning for Aspen’s future. 5 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 11TH, 2020 Councilwoman Richards motioned to approve Resolution #001; Councilwoman Mullins seconded. All in favor, motion carried. RESOLUTION #011, SERIES OF 2020 – Contract approval for Esri Small Municipal and County Government Enterprise Agreement – Bridget Kelly. Ms. Kelly said she is the GIS program manager. She proceeded to explain the basics of GIS to the board and how the public can access information as opposed to internal city staff. All content provided to staff and the community is available through web service and it can be utilized in several ways and maintain hundreds of layers of info. This can be accessed through the City of Aspen website, where we can find data sets, interactive mapping applications and static pdf documents, or search for what you’re looking for. Councilwoman Richards asked if there will be a fly over done and Ms. Kelly said yes, we are due for one in the 2020 budget, and will be putting out an RFP for that soon. Councilman Hauenstein motioned to approve Resolution #011; Councilwoman Mullins seconded. All in favor, motion carried. PUBLIC HEARING: Ordinance #01, Series of 2020 – Second Reading – 620 Gillespie Avenue and 845 Meadows Road Mr. True recommended opening the public hearing. Mr. Supino said there are no new updates on this. Councilwoman Mullins recused herself, but Mr. True said she could stay for the continuation. Mayor Torre opened the public hearing and closed it. Councilwoman Richards motioned to continue to February 25th; Councilman Mesirow seconded. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Hauenstein said he will be out of town on that date, so it’s up to Rachel, Skippy and Ann. Mr. True requested that council move into an executive session. Councilwoman Mullins motioned to move into executive session, Councilman Hauenstein seconded. All in favor, motion carried. ______________________________ Nicole Henning, City Clerk