I call the December 9th, 2025 City Council meeting order to order at 5 p.m. Clerk W, please call the roll. Mayor Ingerman. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Eubanks. Here. Council Member Mulvey. Council Member Cole. Here. Council Member Salazar. Here. On mute. There you go. Council Member Salazar, I think you unmuted over tonight. Oh, sorry, I'm here. I was trying to fix my profile picture. I'm here. We at least saw you. We see you, I know, but we still don't. Hold on one second. Yeah, she's, she's, so does that make her, I mean, that's the problem. I am here. Oh, if we could see her, she'd be like. I mean, maybe that they should turn on the camera. I'm here. Oh, there we go. Yay. You not hear me? Present. And Council Member Hudson. Here. Hmm. He's trying to. Yeah. I'm suspecting it. We didn't get Council Member Hudson. We couldn't hear him either. Okay. There we go. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. All right, we'll go ahead and move on to the Pledge of Allegiance. Would everyone please rise and join me? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Right, moving on to the approval of the agenda. If there are no objections, the agenda will be approved. Hearing none, the agenda is approved as presented. Next, we have our public comment, which is designed for you to share your thoughts and concerns with city council, but it's not an interactive discussion. If you are attending tonight's virtual meeting and would like to give general public comment, please sign up by typing your name and address into the chat feature. If you called into tonight's meeting, the clerk will recognize you with the last four digits of your phone number. If you'd like to give public comment regarding tonight's hearings, please wait until that portion of the hearing. We will pause to give individuals a chance to sign up. Do we have anyone signed? We do. First on the list is Whitney Shank. If you want to start, push the button to light up the microwave. The microwave. The microphone. Whitney Shank and it's 7437 Village Square Drive. Mayor and Council, thank you for the opportunity to comment on the 2026 budget that is before you this evening. I'm unable to stay for the public hearing on the budget, so I'm making comments in the general public period. The Castle Bynes Chamber of Commerce has reviewed the proposed 2026 budget, but we have the following support comments. The Chamber supports the roads capital funding, including the Happy Canyon interchange. Having a safe and maintained roadway system supports economic viability for our businesses. The Chamber supports the proposed funding of park maintenance and improvements. continued emphasis on events, and the additional monument at I-25 and Castle Pines Parkway. All these expenditures are in service of creating a sense of community. The Chamber absolutely supports the City's continued investments in all these areas. No surprise to any of you, the Chamber supports the update to the Economic Development Plan and the Council's continued support of the Castle Pines Urban Renewal Authority. At the chamber, we are continuing to be educated in the area of land use. We fully support completing the Unified Land Development Code update and the update to the city's comprehensive plan. With the vast growth of our community, we believe it is critical that the council continue to update the comprehensive plan to ensure that it is in alignment with the community as it grows and evolves. While it may not matter to a lot of the greater population, we support the renovation of the city's community center to create a permanent location for housing the city's public meeting and enhancing space for public use. We were supporters of the city hall back in the day, and while a relatively small change, we believe that creating an enhanced physical space for council and board discussions will elevate public dialogue and public debate. Finally, the chamber strongly supports policy question number one. The city has acquired and retained top talent to implement council policy and manage the city's operations. As a business-focused entity, we understand and value the ability to recruit and retain qualified staff. Your support of this policy question continues the council's longstanding support of our exceptional municipal staff. In conclusion, the Castle Pines Chamber of Commerce believes but the proposed 2026 budget that is before you this evening is good for the community and good for the current and future businesses of Castle Pines. We encourage you to approve the budget this evening. Thank you all for your service. And we want to give a special thanks to Council Member Hudson, who is now on Skype, for his service since 2018. We understand this is his last official meeting, so we wanted to extend our heartfelt gratitude from the chamber for all that he has done for our amazing community. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Do we have anyone else signed up? Tiffany Ball, if you'd like to start with your name and address for the record. Hello, I'm Tiffany Ball, and my address is 7005 Highland Hill Street, Castle Pines. Tonight, I stand beside, before you as a person that you all know. I'm a resident that wears many hats in the community. I'm a board leader, I'm a mother, I'm a local business owner and I'm a citizen of this community. I would describe myself as a strong woman and I'd also describe myself as a human being. I come to you tonight because over the last few months, I've seen numerous examples of dehumanizing behavior on social media from certain members of council. As a person that seeks to be an example in the many facets of my life, I've been kind of disgusted enough to run council tonight and staff and say that I'm appalled and embarrassed about some of the commentary that I've seen in recent months. some of which has been directed to me, and it's been inappropriate in my opinion. Article 4 of the City Council and Board's Commission Protocol states in Section D, Council and Board members should practice civility, professionalism, and decorum in discussions, debate, and on social media. Members should be aware of their tone and temperament in community communications, especially in written media and social media. I wanted to come tonight not because my feelings are hurt, but just because I wanted to really talk about the importance of the examples that we are in the community. One of the people that my particular comments are directed to is not here tonight. To Councilwoman Mulvey, I would like to say publicly, you are a part of council. You are a part of local government. You have to have been trusted as a leader by many members of this community. You can choose to plant seeds of doubt and tear the entire community apart with lies and distrust, as you've done on social media platforms over the last couple of months, or you can be the leader that I know that you're capable of. being and work as a member of a team that really believes in our community goals and democracy. I have seen much beauty happen in this room and I believe in you guys. And I think that we are better than some of the things I've seen over the last couple of months with the election and other things. And I just really like enjoy being part of like something beautiful here. And I don't, I don't want to see that torn apart by ugliness. Everyone is going to have different opinions about goals, money, and a million other things, but each of us is a representative of the people that elected you. Having differing opinions and planting seeds of doubt are different things, and as a fellow community leader, I would challenge all of us to think of tremendous burdens placed on our shoulders and to be the good that we wish to see in the world. I want to say, let us try a little harder to be a little better in coming months. Let's go forward tonight and remember who we are. I've seen good in each of us despite our disagreements over things, and I challenge us all to rise to the occasion. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have anyone else? Just check and make sure there's no one else. Oh, we do have Emily Olson online, but let me get back to the microphone. No rush. Emily Olson, who is online. Katie, if you would promote her to panelist. And Emily, once you get on, if you could start with your name and address for the record. Hi, thank you, and thanks for letting me join virtually. My name is Emily Olson. My address is 7367 Serena Drive. Sorry, we can't hear you, Emily. I think you're speaking. Yeah, we don't have to hear anybody tonight. Shh. Shoot. Does that sound better? I couldn't hear Roger and Corey. It's consistent. It's true. So I'm able to hear everybody, so let me see if I can do something about it. On the screen, bottom right-hand side, all the way over to your library. Katie, I think that, well, let me see if it's... I'll pull the way on the right by the card. Yeah, by the, by the, where it says buy one. Oh. Over, over. Keep going, yeah. There, there it is. One over. One more. One over, there you go. There you go. Okay. Yeah, click on it. And it's. If you click on the little arrows to pass the. Can you guys hear me now? Emily, can you try that again? Yes. Yep, can you hear me? I can hear you, Emily. Can counsel hear us? Let me check the system presentation. I can also just, you know, put comments in writing, too. So don't worry if it's not working. Okay. I shouldn't be doing this, though, so hold on. Yep, we can hear you now, Emily. Oh, good. Wonderful. All right. Everybody can hear me okay now? Yes. Great. My name is Emily Olson. My address is 7367 Serena Drive, and I serve on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. I just wanted to join the public comment tonight to voice my support for the proposed city budget, which includes investments in parks, public spaces, and the community identity pieces. And I just wanted to reiterate, as some of you have seen who have joined the Parks, Recreation Advisory Board, advisory board meetings that we've really worked hard to consider and guide the improvements and the proposed investments. And we appreciate so much the leadership of Chair Ball, who it sounds like is there tonight, as well as all of the city staff who have you know, shared some of the proposals we've been able to discuss and workshop them and guide recommendations that have come to you all. So I just wanted to voice my support and my appreciation for being able to serve on a board that feels as effective as the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board feels, thanks to the great leadership. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have anyone else? We have no one else. Sign up for Bubba Common. All right, we'll go ahead and move on to the presentation of our minutes. Are there any corrections to the minutes for November 11th, 2025 city council meeting? Hearing none, the minutes are approved as presented. Okay, we'll move on to the consent agenda. On tonight's consent agenda, our resolution 25-53, which approves a first amendment to the intergovernmental agreement between the city and the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Douglas regarding a financial contribution for the design of the Happy Canyon Road I-25 interchange project. Next item is Resolution 25-54, which approves a professional service agreement between City of Castle Pines and Jacob Engineering Group, Inc. for 2026 on-call professional land development review and general engineering services. Next is Resolution 25-55, which approves an agreement for services and equipment between the City of Castle Pines and Broken Arrow Landscape and Design Inc. for the 2026 General Public Works Parks, Open Space, and Stormwater Maintenance. Next is the Resolution 25-56, which approves a professional service agreement with Lighthouse Transportation Group, LLC, for 2026 Traffic and Pres... pedestrian signal, and street light maintenance. Next is resolution 25-57, which approves the professional services agreement between the City of Castle Plains and an operating fitness and company for 2026 on-call engineering services. And last, Resolution 25-58, which approves an intergovernmental agreement between the City of Castle Pines and the Board of County Commissioners of Douglas County on behalf of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office concerning law enforcement and animal control services for 2026. May I have a motion for the item signed? May I move to approve all the items on the consent agenda? Second. Motion and a second. Court, if you would please call the vote. Councilmember Salazar. Yes, can you hear me? I am, thank you. Okay, yes, thank you. Mayor Pro Temi-Bakes? Yes. Council Member Edson? Yes. Mayor Ingerman? Yes. Council Member Cole? Yes. Council Member Ballou? Aye. And Council Member Mulvey is on and unable to mute, but she has indicated that she would like to vote. Yes, is that appropriate? Yes. The motion passes. All right. We'll move on to general business. Our first item on general business is the public hearing, Resolution 25-59, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Constance, Colorado, adopting a 2026 budget and making appropriations for the same. Open the public hearing at 5.16 p.m. Our staff presentation will be given by Finance Director Mike Friedman. Turn it over to you. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. First off, to start off by saying I'm very happy to be here in person tonight presenting, as opposed to last year being under the weather and not being able to be here. So I really am very happy to be here. Tonight's presentation is an abbreviated presentation from the full presentation you received on November 11th, I believe it was, or November 14th. Better today. And I'll just step through the presentation. Next slide. You may recall the budget by charter, Home Rule Charter, in accordance with that, was submitted to you on September 30th. And on October 26th, there was policy discussion, no dollars, but just for policy and strategic direction. On November 11th, study session is the same presentation tonight, but in an abbreviated format. This was presented in more detail on November 11th to you at the study session. And then tonight we're here to present and then obtain city council's adoption of the budget, as well as the mill levy for 2025 for 2026 budget purposes. There were, From the budget that was submitted to you on September 30th, there's been a few changes. They are minor, particularly affecting revenue. There was reprojected revenue that made its way into the budget document tonight in Exhibit A. It's really small dollars in comparison to the whole budget. They were reprojected revenue in their increases. The other thing that I had mentioned at the study session was a staff that was originally budgeted for in Parks and Recreation has been moved to the ROADS Fund to better match the expenditures that they're being used for or the purposes that they're being used for. And that's just a reduction in the Parks and Rec Fund and increase in the ROADS Fund for those salary and benefit amounts. Next slide. As we always do, done in the past, is align the budget and the budget requests with the strategic plan that city council visits each year. We align with the 2025-2026 strategic plan. Another big point of this budget is it balances near-term needs with long-term infrastructure investment. And then in the end, it still will maintain fiscal stability while advancing community priorities. Next slide. And just a few highlights of what's in the budget that does align with the strategic plan. Next slide. And next slide. First of all, safe and sustainable infrastructure. You'll see 16.2 million in transportation capital improvements. Part of it is the Happy Canyon I-25 diverging diamond interchange. the pavement maintenance program, continuing that, and then also year six of the road solutions plan. In addition, in the stormwater fund, there is a partnership with High Flood District for the Happy Canyon tributary improvements, which is something that we've been working on for last year, or 2025, and now continuing into 2026. The strategic key focus areas, a sense of place, You'll find 5.8 million in projects and programs, park improvements that have been guided by Parks Recreation Advisory Board, renovation of the community center, community events, northbound off-ramp at Castle Pines Parkway I-25 monumentation, as well as continuing the work that we've been doing for several years now on the Castle Pines unique or own zip code. key focus area, vibrant and healthy economic development. In 2025 or 26, we will be continuing the new economic development plan, working with the consultant on that, as well as community. I think you might be, we might have one slide behind. All right. One more slide, please. Thank you. Sorry. I can't go. You're fine. Yeah. Complete the new economic development plan, something that we've engaged consultants with 2025, but most of the work in the actual meetings with the area community residents, the Sloan City Council and boards to work on this plan, and then also continue our support with the Castle Pines Urban Renewal Authority. Next slide. And finally, key focus area grade government. All city funds are balanced and meet the 25% reserve policy. Compensation adjustments per the 2022 Council approved philosophy. We also have in there an outsourced compensation study, completing the unified land development code update, and updating the comprehensive plan. That's the discussion on the strategic... 2025, 2026 plan and its alignment, or the budget's alignment with that plan. Next slide. And one more. So just wanted to highlight the funds themselves. I went into more detail at the November 11th meeting on the revenue projections, how we forecast them, and then, you know, what our major revenues are, what the makeup of our revenue compensation is. In this case, I'm just presenting each fund at a high level. And just to point out that this slide will show you, as well as the following slides, will show you the funds and their healthy ending fund balance, which meets or, in some cases, exceeds the 25% reserve policy. Next slide. Outside of the policy questions, here are a few examples. Other operational initiatives and organizational projects planned for 2026 within the budget. Grants to residents and HOAs for wildfire mitigation efforts continued. And there's also conducting a comprehensive compensation study, this time outsourced. Three or four years ago, it was done in-house. And for next year, we're proposing an outsourced compensation study, $35,000. Also conducting a comprehensive fee study, and that will be evaluating all city fees just to make sure cost is being recovered and also aligned with current city level or current service levels of industry standards. And next, complete and publish the unified land development code, 119,000. update the city's comprehensive plan, which was last updated in 2021 at 60,000. And then there's in the end from the general fund, there's a transfer to the capital improvements fund of 6.5 million to continue improving transportation and other community amends. Next slide. Here's an overview of the parks and recreation fund. I guess the big highlight in this fund is it's the first year that all park operations and maintenance are in a single fund. Previously, we had proceeds from the Metro, Caspine's North Metro District and North Pine Vista's Metro District, which had to be accounted for in their own funds because that was money that was restricted to those areas. That funding was used last year in 24 for the North Pine, And all that, those expenditures were then accounted for in the main Parks and Recreation Fund. And in 2025, the funding that we receive from the Castle Pines North Metro District will be fully used. And leaving us to 2026 being the year that all parks, operations, and maintenance are accounted for in our single, which has existed as far as I know, probably since the city has incorporated, Formerly it was just Elk Ridge, but now it's all city parks accounted for in this Parks and Recreation Fund. Another thing that's different with all the new parks, not new, but parks that are accounted for in this fund, we thought it would be good to give city council and residents the breakdown of the expenditures for each park rather than have repair maintenance that where all of the parks were accounted for. They're in their own cost center within the parks fund. So you can see the breakdown among each park and the budget for 2026. Also at the bottom of this, you can see just for, next slide please. So there's the breakdown that I was talking about for each park. And at the bottom, just for comparison purposes for 24 and 25 budget to compare to, and then the 25 year in projection to compare to the 2026 budget. At the bottom, there's summaries of the other funds just to show the growth of the overall expenditures park citywide for parks and recreation. It also doubles as an eye test. And I guess the main thing to point out here is In 25, the adopted budget was 5 million, and with a year in projection of about 5.5, but you can see the 2026 proposed budget is 5% increase over the 2025 adopted budget. And that just gives a better comparison of citywide as opposed to just showing you the Parks and Rec North Fund and this fund, but it just makes it a little clearer as to how those expenditures compare. Next slide. Rhodes Fund overview. This fund is now a couple of years old since the 1% sales and use tax was approved by voters in 2023, starting in 2024. So this is actually the third year for which we've had this fund. And you see the revenues, 5.6 million, That's not only the 1% sales and use tax that was approved, but it was also sharebacks from the county and also the state highway users tax fund that make up the revenues. And then you can see the expenditures for road maintenance and operations. And then following council policy, funds were transferred from the roads fund to the capital improvement fund to fund solely road improvements. Next slide. Conservation Trust Fund. Really, only really thing to point out here is no expenditures are proposed or no transfers for Parks and Rec expenditures are proposed out of the Conservation Trust Fund. So you can see that it will just grow 194,000 in revenue and that's mostly lottery proceeds, but there is some interest also earned in this fund. bringing the ending fund balance to 1.4 million. Next slide. A little different this year. This is a fund that was created several years ago with proceeds from the sale of PA-12, a little over 3 million. This year, we are proposing to transfer 908,000 out of this fund into the Capital Improvement Fund, and that, those proceeds will be, or that transfer will be used to complete the renovation of the community center. But the ending fund balance will still be left at 2.4 million. Next slide. Capital improvements fund. Just to say about this is revenue of 16.75 million. That is all revenue coming from Douglas County as their contribution towards the highway or the I-25 Happy Canyon interchange, 16.75. And then there's, you see the transfer from the general fund, which I spoke about, and also the Rose Fund also spoke about. And then the $908,000 coming from the community investment fund for the community center renovations. Expenditures. You'll see all of those as policy questions. And an ending fund balance of 10.6 million. A lot of that is funding from Douglas County, because you'll see for the Happy Canyon interchange, there's 10 million expended or proposed as an expenditure. So we're getting the 16.75 million from the county, but that'll be a large amount of that will be carried over into 2027 as work on that interchange continues. Next slide. Stormwater Utility Enterprise Fund. Revenue is primarily made up of the residential and commercial stormwater utility fees that we bill annually, as well as some interest earnings. You see 1.1 million in expenditures, leaving an ending fund balance of 2.2 million. Again, I already spoke to the partnership with Mile High Flood District. And that is also a policy question that we'll be speaking about. Next slide. And then next slide. I'll just walk through the questions real quick. These are the same policy questions, no changes that we discussed on November 11th. You can see that all of the policy questions when we did visit them with city council. There was head nods or support for each question, so they are coming to you exactly the same as they were presented on November 11th. First one is, does city council support increasing staff compensation in line with the city's compensation philosophy to remain competitive, to include performance-based adjustments? And here is the 4.5%. We reached out to And we also saw other surveys of other cities of what the average, and I take an average of the proposed increases and see the 4.5 is a makeup of our direct competitors or near neighboring communities. And there was 4.5 in one, I think 5% to others. And we went with the 4.5 as our proposed proposal. Also in here, part of the increase, the 91,000% plus a 54,000 increase for a compa ratio adjustment, that's for employees that have met the years of service and following the compensation philosophy that was adopted by city council in 2022. They've met that next threshold in that year. within the comp ratio. And then I also mentioned that the expenditure proposed for the comp study that will update the philosophy that was adopted back in 22, take a look at it, make sure we're still in line, which I think was something that was important to city council back in 22, make sure that we don't fall far behind our market. Next slide. Policy question number two, comprehensive plan update. Last update was the 2021 compensation plan. And policy question number two was about updating that plan in 2026, budget impact 60,000. Policy question number three, next slide. The road solutions plan improvement. That's the road solutions plan that we started several years back. And we are, I believe it is in year six, in 26, will be year six. And we're proposing improvements, Castle Pines Parkway, westbound from Monarch to Forest Park Drive. And budget impact is $1,750,000. Next slide. This slide is here just to show all the work that's been done with the road solutions plans since 2021. It goes, you know, which segment was improved, the amount, and it just gives you the history, which is the top five columns, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25. And then the road solutions plan throughout through 2030, going from this upcoming year's proposed budget and then the plan for 28, 29, and 30. You see there's nothing in 27. That's a lot of them, because we'll be still working on a lot on the interchange. It had to change to 925. Next slide. Policy question number four is regarding the Pavement Maintenance Program. And the City Council support funding the Pavement Maintenance Program consistent with a PCI target of I think a few months back you presented the pavement maintenance program and what it meant to hold the road standards or PCI at 80 and how that keeping it at 80 reduces the long-term cost of roads. So there's $4 million proposed in this budget to continue the program and work to maintain that PCI target of 80. Next slide. Policy question number five, regarding stormwater infrastructure investment. We're asking city council for support in continuing the multi-year investment in stormwater infrastructure, which include contribution in 26 to the Mile High Flood District for improvements to the Happy Canyon tributary. The tributary, the contribution for 2020 Six, looks like it's gonna be 500,000 in discussions with that district. You also recently approved an IGA contributing a million five. I think the IGA you just approved a few weeks ago was 600,000 and that adds to the 405,000 that was already approved before. And then there's another 125,000 budgeted for a stream condition assessment. and then 100,000 to fix drainage issues, sidewalk floor flow, failing cutoff walls and ponds. Total budget impact of those is 725,000. Next slide. Policy question number six is regarding the Happy Cannon Road and I-25 interchange. And this is just kind of an affirmation We've already been going down this road and 26 is a big year for construction. And we have 10 million budgeted in there for the actual construction to start this project. Next slide. And this slide just shows a recap of the total costs for the construction. You can see the funding sources. as well as the costs, and then you see the total project, 44 million currently estimated, budgeted, and you see the revenue sources for that, for the $44 million project. Next slide. Policy question number seven, regarding parks capital improvements, and does City Council support these capital improvements with priorities that are shaped by PRAB? and recommended to city council. There's 2.2 million that will go towards phase one of capital improvements at Coyote Ridge. Just as a reminder, we have 5.7 already budgeted in 2025, and the expenditure budgeted in 26 will bring the total project costs to 7.9 million. You can see there are some of the improvements that go along with that 7.9 million. Another million dollars in capital is budgeted for signage, missing trail connections, and existing park upgrades, all of which will be reviewed and then recommended to city council for approval on those contracts. Total budget impact is 3.2 million. Next slide. Policy question number eight is regarding gateway monumentation and the proposed Monumentation is at the northbound off-ramp, City Castle Pines Parkway and I-25. And that is 1.2 million budget impact. And all these, again, most of these questions, aside from the compensation, are in the Capital Improvements Fund and in the Park Improvements or in the Parks and Recreation Fund. And next slide. Also question number nine is regarding the community center renovation. And this is seeking council support to remodel the community center, basically to provide a dedicated civic meeting space for city council and board meetings, and replacing the current use of the library, this library event hall. Budget impact, 900,000. Next slide. I just, even though it's hard to see, I just relisted all of the policy questions here for discussion, but feel free to let me know to go back to a previous slide if we need to. But that's the end of the presentation, and here are further questions. Great. Thank you very much for the thorough presentation. Counsel, again, although this is not time for discussion or debate, does anyone have any clarifying questions for us? Fair and prudent. Thanks. Thank you, Mary. Just one quick question, Mr. Farina. So the conservation fund, does that have to be used solely for depot projects? No, it does not. But it does have to be used for parks, recreation, trails, open space. It does not have to be capital and nature, though. In the past, we've used them for maintenance. Any additional questions? Council Member Bloom? Yeah. I thought when we looked at the slide that talked about the road project that we're working to build the plan, I thought we had talked about moving the Morris Park to Buffalo Trail up to 26 because we're just doing a grinding as opposed to a reconstruction. And I didn't see that in there. We didn't because the price ended up being within operational dollars. to grind it, and I think they're actually going to, correct me if I'm wrong, going to try to get it ground this year. That's what I thought. They're going to try to do it in 26. No, this year. Oh, like the next week. Yeah. We lost the opportunity. We lost the opportunity. So we want to schedule an opportunity. But it's in operations maintenance. Oh, there's not a capital project. Okay. Great question. Thanks for clarifying. Additional questions? Do you have anything else? Oh, Corey, for some reason I couldn't see the hand there in the white background. Yes, Council Member Salazar. Sorry about that. I just wanted to clarify one thing also about the roads. We had talked about doing some work on the I-25 and Castle Pines Parkway Bridge, making it three lanes. Is that happening in 2026 or is it future? Just wasn't sure where that was. So great question. That's a condition of the developer. based upon future home build pieces. So I would expect that that would probably happen in 27, maybe 28, based on potential traffic volume. So we're talking about it and working with the developer, but it's based on traffic volumes ultimately. So we don't have exact time. And that is a developer funded project. Oh, perfect. Okay, thank you. Councilman Mitchell. And to follow up on that, will that money come from the developer into our budget and then be spent or will he spend it directly? Yet to be determined. We may want to be, and CDOT may want us to be the IGA partner. That's what I was through that. And that's some of the prep work that we're doing. We're the voice of the developer right now in consultation with CDOT around this potential solution. So don't really know yet, but I would anticipate that it would be an IGA with CDOT and the developer. Okay, thank you. We've got one more. Anybody else wants to? The additional questions? All right, go back to you. All right, Luke. Happy Canyon. What exactly is happening in 26? I know we're spending a lot of money in 26. So 25, through the end of 25, we should get the 1601 approval, which is the CDOT approval. We believe that we're in a place where the feds have already approved us. The level of improvements really pull the feds out of it, and we're just dealing with CDOT. We should get those approvals. And the hope is that we can start in, if all goes well, in spring of 2026, to start placing the abutments and the girders and start the construction and essentially build the first bridge in 2026. Second bridge, sorry. The new bridge. And then that bridge will be just real quick, if I may. So that bridge would be completed, connected, and then the old bridge would be torn down to rebuild the current bridge that's there. And we'll certainly update you in early 26 on the entire timeline in kind of those major milestones of the construction. Mr. Farid. So going back to Postmember Blue's question on the project, if you were talking about the Castaway Parkway for Forest Park Drive, Pioneer's Trail, that is in the Capital Improvements Fund, we just didn't ask a policy question for it as it being $200,000. There are also a couple of other improvements in the Capital Improvements Project Fund, traffic signal improvements and... pedestrian safety improvements, which are in the budget every year. And so the amount of those 150,000 each, we didn't ask a specific policy question, but those are within your budget, proposed budget or option. Thank you. Any additional questions? All right, seeing none, I'll entertain a motion. Move to approve the resolution. I'll poke your answer. Yes, thank you. I'll open the public comment at 5.46 p.m. Thank you guys for keeping me honest. If you would like to give virtual public comment on Resolution 25-59, please use the chat feature to sign up with your name and address. If you're attending in person and would like to give public comment, please sign up on the club board at the back of the room. When the clerk calls your name, start with your name and address for the record. Individuals will have a three-minute time limit, and persons speaking for a group will have a five-minute time limit. Chair Duffy, do we have anyone signed up for public comment? We do. Tiffany Ball, if you'd like to approach the podium and start with your name and address. Hello, I'm Tiffany Ball, and my address is 7005 Highland Hill Street, Castle Pines, 80108. Tonight, I am speaking on behalf of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board as Board Chair. As... We are enthusiastic and excited about the budget proposals that Mike has been working on. Thank you so much for all the work that you've done. Tonight, we wanted to just high-level say that you will see, according to Mike's numbers this year, $5.3 million is what it will take to maintain our parks. After an exciting vote in 2023 to combine efforts with our metro district and city, you will see that the city brings in $5.8 million with the 12-mile shift from tax migration. Obviously, this will show you that we don't have a huge amount of excess allocated to the exciting new developments in the city, but as a board, we feel that we've absolutely delved into research with the residents of the city the last five years. Tonight, you will see propositions from us to propose allocating money for Coyote Bridge and improve... in this coming fiscal year, you'll see proposals to also allocate money towards Soaring Hawk. We wanted to just high-level remind you that the changes at Coyote Ridge are really to improve accessibility to all residents in the community, and the proposed money to Soaring Hawk is really to propose things towards the master plan, which can absolutely be adapted at any time. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have anyone else? We do not. Great, great. I will close the public comment at 5.48 p.m. May I have a motion to begin discussions? I move to approve resolution number 2559, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Paso Pines, Colorado, adopting the 2026 budget and making appropriations for the city. Second. Second. We have a motion and two seconds, so we are good. Council Member Bloom, we'll kind of start with you. I'm thrilled about this budget. I think that Mike, you've done a great job. And Mr. Farina, you've done a great job. And Mr. Penny, you also did a great job making sure that we were informed and giving us enough information giving us a number of meetings where we would talk about the budget, understand what was going into the budget. I think we all have a fairly good idea of what's happening now. Because of all that work, so I really appreciate it. I'm looking forward to this year. I think it's going to be exciting with the improvements that are coming. The capital outlays are going to be very exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing Coyote Ridgemark. Looking forward to seeing what happens at Happy Canyon. And so it's going to be, if this is a good budget, then it's a good year, and I'll look forward to it. Thank you. Additional comments? Council Member Mulvey. Yes, thank you. I apologize for not being present. I'm having some technical issues as well. I'm in favor of the budget, but I do want to highlight a few things. The first thing is that... You might recall my views about our tax ballot measure with transferring the mill levy. The bottom line is that although the money is accounted for, not quite the way I like to look at financial things in the context of government, the reality that you can see if you compare the prior years is that we bid off more than we expected. When we took over, the transfer of the new areas, the new community areas, we took on the requirement and the cost of establishing the new landscape and the new infrastructure. And our parks manager and our finance director both acknowledged in the parks authority board meetings that the reason we have some $8.5 million of expenditure is very much because of that. So whereas last year, and I bring this up because we have to do forward planning, we have to look ahead. Last year, you might recall that we took $4.5 million, another year it was three, but roughly $4 million every year projected as reserves from the new tax ballot measure. to go over a four- to five-year period to save for Soaring Hawk Park. We had to reduce that this year because the amount that we reserved from last year, the $4.5 million, is expended and needed this year. So that's how we get to the roughly $8 million. So when you look at, if you were to compare the revenue, which I spent a lot of time on this because it concerns me, And I love that everybody's looking down. But if you were to compare that when we looked at our budget in 23, and now you take it over until now, you can see that the 12 mils in revenue that we received citywide is roughly $4.5 to $5 million. And that those funds, if you look at the parks budget, compared to last year's are directly needed to account for the new expenditures for taking over these new areas. And so I bring it up because we have the expenditures, we have the obligation, but let's make sure we don't do it again. And let's make sure the next time we make a decision, we're forward looking and we look and see how it's gonna impact our budget. Because there may not have been an easy reception when I asked these questions in the past, but now we see how it's come to pass. And it's not my fancy to be a naysayer, but it is my preference to look forward. And some of us did do so. And so let's learn when we have to take over an obligation to establish the new landscaping. Let's make sure that we need it. Let's make sure that we have the money for it. And let's not think that, wow, we're going to get this $4.5 million every year and then be able to use it for the new Soaring Hawk Park. Because the reality is at, you know, 16 or whatever percentage we have for the reserves for Soaring Hawk Park on the park side, or for incidental expenditures, we can't afford it. We can't build that park, bottom line. So I want to highlight that. I also want to highlight a concern that I had. I was looking quite closely at the economic development numbers and had a brief discussion with the finance director about it. It's always been a concern to me that we have such a large share back. of the canyons use tax but what really concerns me is that when i look at how we're spending economic development dollars there's a portion of allocated salary the actual expenditures that we budgeted last year are substantially less than we budgeted in prior years And we're going to have to do a budget amendment to account for the recently approved contract for branding for the new expenditure. And I'm not sure that that was part of the decision making when we approved that contract, but I want to highlight it because last year's budget was for some $30,000. And the contract is ultimately, as you can see in the actuals or the projected actuals, it's going to be more like 80. Let's make sure that let's watch. Let's make sure that we're using our money carefully. Let's plan ahead, even on the short term of a year to year basis or a month to month basis. And then finally, when we're booking the use tax. Now, that's not really economic development, but that's where it's booked. So we look like we're spending half a million dollars on economic development. When we're really not, we're giving it back to the landowner as part of the annexation agreement. So I bring these things up because sometimes we think as colleagues that it doesn't matter, this is just a budget and it all looks great and it's fiscally conservative perhaps, and perhaps it accounts for things that we are looking forward to spending on and we've all approved. Let's look at our other decisions in the context of our budget. If we have an annexation agreement, if we have somebody coming to us asking for something, how is that going to impact our future? So are we going to take over the new... parks, trails, and open space for a new development earlier than we can really afford and bite that off when the Metro District for that new development really should have been taking all of that expenditure itself the whole time? And are we going to continue to have a half a million dollars tune out of our budget when we could be really using that money for economic development? So... Thank you for listening. I think these are important things to discuss at budget time because it does relate to the budget itself. With that, I do support it. And I thank everybody for the hard work on the budget and for cooperating with me on the inquiries I had as I did my work. Any additional comments? Mayor, continue. Thank you, Mayor. So I've asked this question before. And I know the answer, but I'm going to ask it again. We are able to use money from which fund if we want to complement slash supplement the money that we have from the 12 mil from the Metro District? If there's something that we'd like to do, we're limited today to that dollar amount from that fund. Is there a... You can pull from the general fund and transfer to the parks fund. You could also pull from Conservation Trust. There's grants, partnership with the county, public-private partnerships. There's alternatives, but within your control of the Conservation Trust Fund and the general. And my thinking was, thank you, Mr. Penny, was the conservation fund, which is why I asked that question earlier. I'm not of the belief that 12 mils is too high. We have... too much money. I would love to do more with Parks and Rec. I'd love to be able to do more. My interest in 26 would be looking at if potentially there are things that make sense that we can use some of that conservation fund money for, because seemingly for the last several years, we just keep putting it in the bank. So no ask for anything. I'm not asking anything. I'm just telling you what my mind's thinking is. We have a million dollars that we could do more, not seriously spend it all. I'm just saying that you know, potentially we can do more. And I just don't believe 12 million is enough. Additional comments? Okay, I just want to, you know, celebrate that this is a great budget. What we've put forth, we have a lot of capital projects coming forth around, you know, with Ash's Roads, with stormwater. We had residents that impacted one of the decisions with the grants. We had them ask about ash boring and beetle kill. We will include that in their grant programming. And we've done all of these things with the... The monuments and the parks and the gateway and the community center renovation, all this is still, we're able to do it without taking on any debt. And to me, that is a huge celebration for this community. We don't have a giant budget compared to other communities of our size, and we're able to still accomplish a significant amount. We're a very lean staff, and I'm... excited to be able to support them and be able to celebrate their work, what they're doing, and be able to include the increase for their future, for their salaries. So to me, this is a wonderful, successful budget. Thank you so much for all the staff's work on this. I know it takes many of you to come together to put this together. So thank you. With that, Crypto Huey, please call the vote. Council Member Mulvey. I'm sorry, trouble unmuting. I vote yes. Council Member Cole? Yes. Council Member Blue? Aye. Council Member Salazar? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Eubanks? Yes. Council Member Hudson? Yes. And Mayor Ingerman? Yes. The motion passes. All right. Close the public comment at 6 or public hearing at 6 p.m. Our second item in general business is the public opinion for Resolution 25-60, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Castle Fines, Colorado, setting forth certain findings of fact and conclusions as to the eligibility for annexation of certain property known as the Crow's Nest annexation. This hearing has been vacated and no actions will be taken. Our final item on general business is Resolution 25-61, Resolution of the City Council of the City of Castle Vines, Colorado, levying general property taxes for the year 2025 for the purposes of meeting law enforcement expenses for parks, recreation, trail, and open space improvements and maintenance for the 2026 budget year. Our staff presentation will be given by Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Director Marcus Graves. Go ahead and turn it over to you. and i'll get some microphones oh it's my freedom okay i just have i was just like my son marcus is not setting up the fight he's like why are you asking me mayor sorry i think we all kind of looked over there like yeah all right so we will go ahead and uh i will turn it over to mr all right um good evening again the mayor and city council This is Resolution 25-61 to levy the property tax or set the mill levy for the property taxes for 2025 for the purposes of meeting law enforcement expenses and Parks and Recreation, trail and open space improvements and maintenance for the 2026 budget year. The policy question is, does City Council support levying 4.5 mils general property taxes for the 2020s each year for law enforcement? and 12 mils for parks, recreation, trails, and open space improvements and maintenance. And then also authorized the finance director to certify the same to Douglas County commissioners. Just a little background. We have remained at 4.5 mils for law enforcement purposes. And that's just the direct in and out and collect the property taxes. And Douglas County Sheriff uses those funds to provide law enforcement services within the city. Then on November 7th, 2023, city voters approved a mill levy of 12 mills, and that's to support parks, recreation trails, open space improvements, and maintenance. And the Douglas County Assessor certified our total assessed valuation at $402,891,918 in November of 25. The state statute requires that we certify our mill levy to Douglas County. So certifying 4.5 mills will generate $1,813,014 in property tax, which is for law enforcement. And a 12-mill levy generates $4.8 million to be used for maintaining and improving parks, recreation trails, open space within the city. These mills, as I just said, the revenues for each mill levy. And with that, questions? All right, Council. Do we have any clarifying questions for Mr. Verena on this fault? All right, same now. And I would entertain a motion to begin discussion. Mayor, I move to adopt Resolution 25-61. a resolution of the City Council of the City of Castle Pines, Colorado, levying general property taxes for the year of 2025 for the purpose of meeting law enforcement expenses and for park, recreation, trail, and open space improvements and maintenance for the 2026 budget year. I second the motion. All right, I have a motion and a second. Mayor Parson-Eubanks, go ahead and begin the discussion with you. I have no comments other than to say that I mean, we're not doing anything different. This is the 12 mils and four and a half mils that we've been doing. So we're just making it official for 2026. So I have no additional comments. Sorry. Other additional comments? All right. Seeing none, clerk Duffy, please call the vote. We have a question from Eubanks. Aye. Council Member Mulvey. She's got technical difficulties, Mayor, and is voting no on 2562. Council Member Hudson? Yes. Mayor Eggerman? Yes. Council Member Cole? Yes. Council Member Blue? Aye. And Council Member Salazar? Yes. The motion passes. All right. We'll go ahead and move on to comments and reports. City Manager Penny, do you have anything to report this evening? Mayor, I just want to, two things. One, I want to thank Council for your support of the 2026 budget and appreciate the kudos and comments. It is a lot of work, but it really starts with all 18 of us coming together and putting this project together. And we're excited as well. So to voice, follow up on Council Member Bloom's comment, 2026, there's a lot of capital projects and really excited to bring those all to fruition. So it's going to be great. Looking forward to that. And again, all of your trust in us to be able to carry out your policy directive. So we agree. take that seriously in order to be successful in 26. And then I know council member Hudson is remote, but this is his last official meeting. So I just wanted to personally say thank you to council member Hudson. It's been a pleasure to work with you. You were on the council when I was hired. It was an honor. I'll share some more personal stories with you, but I remember a specific email where there was some opposition. And you really stood up for me at that time and meant a lot to me. So it's been an honor to work with you and wish you the best in the future. Hopefully we'll see you on January 13th for the celebration of the outcome. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. All right. We'll go ahead and begin with comments and reports. Council Member Salazar, I'm going to start with you. I have nothing to report at this time. Thank you. Council Member Hudson, I'll move to you. Appreciate that. And thank you, Michael. I appreciate that. I remember our first meeting together and being so impressed with you when we first met. And I've got to tell you that you've lived up to all the hype. And I'm so grateful the city has had you during these eight years. So I really appreciate that. You've been a really great ally and a friend. I appreciate all that you've done. to help me through these eight years and what you taught me. I'm going to keep it fairly brief. I really am. There are two points I really want to make really quickly. One is these eight years have been so impactful on my life, challenging, but also I'm so grateful for the city and for the staff. They really have been a chapter in my life I will never forget. Anyone who can invest in public service should do so. maybe not for eight years, but they should definitely invest in the time. It is worthwhile. It is certainly an investment in your community. I will also say on a sad note, Castle Pines has been my home. It has been the safest place I've ever felt until recently because, and to Ms. Ball's point, and I wasn't going to mention it, but when she mentioned about social media, I am sorry that she felt... that she was attacked or felt unsafe on social media. I would counter that and say, you know, $40,000 worth of negative mailers going out to your family and friends and community will make you feel even less safe. I would also say that you probably don't know this. I know Michael and Linda know it. I've also, Tony and I have received really hateful mail left in our mailboxes. We've had homophobic things said to us. We've had some really vicious things left in our mailbox. You know, God hates faggots was one with guns drawn on them in a city that has been so loving to us and made me feel so safe. It is a really awful thing. This election, I think, is the low bar point for Douglas County. I think in a mayoral race, I hope we never see anything like that again. There were some outside sources that came into this election that should not have been here. The Douglas County Sheriff's involved now. We have an open investigation because these are, I think, with guns involved. It's kind of a death threat kind of thing. I hope we never see this again in the city. I'll be honest with you. I don't feel safe in my home anymore. But I do appreciate all of you. I appreciate the time. I definitely appreciate the city. I appreciate the neighbors. And thank you for everything. That's all I have. Thank you. Council Member Moldy. Mayor, she was having those technical difficulties, so she may not be able to comment. Okay. All right. Council Member Cole. I'd just like to thank Roger We're helping this old hillbilly. He used to go to the city council. He made a transition very easily and was very patient with all the questions. And I wish him the best in the future in his next chapter. Mayor Gretchen Eubanks. I'm going to keep it brief, just like Council Member Cole. I just want to thank Roger again. I do wish you the best of luck. I hope you are here on the 13th so we can celebrate you. And I also look forward to welcoming Mr. Weiniger on the 13th. I'll start with Lou. Yeah, thank you. To follow on the theme, Roger, I remember when you and I were talking about when I was running for mayor and you were running for the seat that I think I was vacating. I think that's actually how that played out. But it was a pleasure serving with you the last four years of your service, and I look forward to seeing what you do next. Thank you very much for everything you've done. Great. Thank you, guys, for your reports. And thank you again, staff, for the wonderful work on the budget. Thank you to our event staff for the fantastic event. the Ridge, the Blessed Weekend, and all of the wonderful events that we have planned for all of the winter celebrations. So make sure that you are checking your calendars and checking out what's at the Ridge for the community. And then also, yes, thank you for Council Member Hudson's service to the community and enthusiasm for a service as well. We really appreciate it. With that, we can go ahead and move into our executive session pursuant to Sierra. Yes, let's take a five-minute recess, and we'll come back and move into a second session. I don't know if some members online, if you would lock off of this link. Don't they have to hold on to it? Oh, they have to vote. Sorry, don't jump yet. And I will, I'll be running the exemplar session, just so you see. Me as the host. I think we're smart. Okay. Here we go. All right. We are back for a break, and we will go ahead and move into executive session pursuant to CRS 24-6-4024B for discussions of specific legal questions with the attorney who represents the spy for the purposes of receiving legal advice. regarding the possible closest annexation and pursuant to CRS 24-6-4024B for discussions of specific legal questions with the attorney who represents this body for the purposes of receiving legal advice regarding work completed on North Monarch by Jalisco Construction. Second, if it needs one. I forget if this needs one. We have a motion and a second. Clerk W. Mayer, before you, I'm not in the position to do a friendly amendment, but you might want to add to adjourn the meeting. Oh, yes. Thank you. And adjourn the meeting from the executive session, the normal meeting from the executive session. And I'll second the amended motion. Great. We have a motion and a second. Clerk W., please call. Council Member Bloom. Aye. Council Member Mulvey. Mayor Ingerman. Yes. Mayor Parton-Eubanks? Yes. Council Member Cole? Yes. Council Member Salazar? Yes. Council Member Hudson? Yes. Yes. The motion passes. All right. Thank you, everyone. So City Council will now exit the regular meeting at 621 p.m. and move into the executive session, and we will see everyone else. um in 2026 on january 13th so thank you so city council and appropriate staff members will remain in this room and we will ask all others to please exit the event and then um council members online will be staying on this link or they're going to they're going to please use the other link that was provided for you before the executive session and as a reminder council members we will not be using the lights very fast