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ITEM 1 - CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Burkholder called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, Lakewood Civic Center South, 480 South Allison Parkway, Lakewood, Colorado.
Full and timely notice of this City Council meeting had been given and a quorum was present.
ITEM 2 - ROLL CALL
Those present were: Mayor Steve Burkholder, Presiding
Jackie Herbst
Debbie Koop
Cheryl Wise
Ed Peterson
Carol Kesselman
Ray Elliott
Mike Stevens
Tom Booher
Bob Murphy
Absent: Barbara Martin
Others in attendance: Mike Rock, City Manager
Roger Noonan, City Attorney
ITEM 3 - PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Sister Cities Program
Councilwoman Kesselman reviewed the history of the Sister Cities Program. Dave
Heinricks, President of the Lakewood Sister Cities, presented the Mayor with
the gift of a book, representing the ten years of history with Stada, Germany.
Mayor Burkholder pulled Items 10, 11, 12, and 13 from the Consent Agenda and placed them on the Agenda at this point:
ITEM 10 - RESOLUTION
2004-63 - APPOINTING MEMBERS TO THE LAKEWOOD COMMISSION ON CULTURAL DIVERSITY
AND HUMAN RELATIONS
Councilwoman Koop made a motion to adopt Resolution 2004-63. It was seconded
by Councilman Elliott. Vote: All Ayes. No Nays. The motion carried.
ITEM 11 - RESOLUTION
2004-64 - APPOINTING MEMBERS TO THE LAKEWOOD YOUTH COMMISSION
Councilwoman Koop made a motion to adopt Resolution 2004-64. It was seconded
by Councilman Elliott. Vote: All Ayes. No Nays. The motion carried.
ITEM 12 - RESOLUTION
2004-65 - APPOINTING A MEMBER TO THE LAKEWOOD SENIOR CITIZEN ADVISORY COMMISSION
Councilwoman Koop made a motion to adopt Resolution 2004-65. It was seconded
by Councilman Elliott. Vote: All Ayes. No Nays. The motion carried.
ITEM 13 - RESOLUTION
2004-66 - APPOINTING A MEMBER TO THE LAKEWOOD VICTIM ASSISTANCE COMPENSATION
BOARD
Councilwoman Koop made a motion to adopt Resolution 2004-66. It was seconded
by Councilman Elliott. Vote: All Ayes. No Nays. The motion carried.
ITEM 4 - PUBLIC COMMENT
Newt Vaughan - 8663 W. Hawaii Drive - Lakewood, Colorado
Most of my comments tonight are not going to set too well with most people in
this room. Quite frankly, every time I pick up my newspaper, I read where some
city, some school district, somebody needs more money. It's usually at the blame
of the taxpayer, that we just don't give you enough. We give you 54% of our
income to some kind of government agencies. You choose to spend it on city halls
that we vote against. You choose to spend it on cultural cities instead of police
departments. You choose to spend it on many things instead of the police or
the fire protection or the roads and streets that 100% of us use. And you spend
it on things that only 8-10% use, if even that many. First of all, I've had
occasion in the last three weeks, my rain guage has had over 3" of rain
in it. Quite frankly, I do not think the parks need watered. Friday night, after
an inch and a half of rain, I went by a park that was watering in the middle
of the night. Sunday, I came home from my mom's house and the median strip was
watering on Kipling. There is no reason for that to be happening. It cost $15
to put a rain sensor on those things. It's time to do it. There are a lot of
people in this city and in this state that are out of work, good quality people,
that would probably work for a heck of a lot less than the City Manager that
we have here in Lakewood, right on down to the City Clerk. Quite frankly, we
pay our top people too much money and it's gone on for about ten years. If you
ask me, the kind of job that the City Manager has done, he has came to the taxpayers
twice that I know of for sure, asking us for more money. And twice, we've turned
you down. The main reason is because you are wasting it. I know darn good and
well that there are things in this city that we don't need and quite frankly,
we don't need this building and we don't need the building across the way here.
We were doing just fine. I think a city that is a little overcrowded would be
a lot better off than a city that is bankrupt. Thank you.
George Valuck, Executive Director of Alameda Gateway Community Association
and the Alameda Corridor Business Improvement District- 9206 West Alameda Avenue
- Lakewood, Colorado
I appreciate the opportunity to speak today. I've got three quick things I would
like to talk about. First, I would like to dispel the rumor that there has been
a sighting of dinosaurs in Lakewood. In fact, it is true and there is a dinosaur,
right now, inhabiting the northeast corner of Kipling and Alameda. I want everyone
to be aware of that. Stay away. It's Arty the Artisaurus. This is not a dinosaur
that has been funded by the City of Lakewood. There are no extra costs to Lakewood.
This has been provided by the Alameda Gateway Association, the Lakewood Arts
Council, and the Friends of Dinosaur Ridge. We will continue to monitor the
habits of that dinosaur on that corner and take action if it gets a little rowdy
there. The second thing I would like to talk about is addressing some of the
budget issues with the City, with concerns of maintaining the appearance of
the Alameda Corridor. I would like to say, that I respectfully disagree with
the previous speaker. In fact, I think the City of Lakewood has done an outstanding
job in monitoring their resources and in providing what we need. In particular,
this year, in light of the fact that we had a couple of mowing schedules cut,
the Alameda Gateway Community Association and the Business Improvement District
felt it was necessary to pick up the slack. Indeed, we did do a mowing last
week along the corridor to make sure that this corridor gives the appearance
that we need. It is very important right now in the history of Lakewood to recognize
that we have such great things going on: the Belmar Development, this beautiful
Lakewood City Commons Development, everything that is happening at Colfax and
Wadsworth. We have to maintain what we are doing right now. The integrity of
our programs and also, the people. I applaud the efforts of the Council and
you, Mayor, in determining what our specific needs are right now. The third
thing I would like to talk about is a joint program between Alameda Gateway,
Alameda Business Improvement District, and the Lakewood Police Department. We
are opening up a storefront office, again at no additional cost to the City
of Lakewood. This is going to be picked up by the Gateway Association and the
Business Improvement District. We'll be opening sometime in late July, early
August, in the Alameda Crossing's Shopping Center and we'll have a regular schedule
of hours. We will be able to provide information about what is going on along
the corridor in terms of the business interests, activities, things happening
at Belmar, the Cultural Center, and things throughout the corridor and generate
excitement and take the lead in positioning Lakewood as one of the premier cities
in, if not the Metropolitan Area, in the entire Rocky Mountain West. That's
our privilege to be here and we appreciate it. Thank you.
Kimberly Cadena - 4251 Kipling Street - Lakewood, Colorado
I'm with Congressman Bob Beauprez's office. I just wanted to take a minute to
introduce myself to the Council as well as to everyone else here and to let
you know that if anyone has any concerns or comments that you would like me
to take back, that I'm available to listen. The phone number is 303-940-5821.
Walt Heidenfelder - 940 S. Yarrow Street - Lakewood, Colorado
It appears, once again, I'm forced to change my subject matter this evening.
I intended to speak about several local issues, but I can take those up with
Mr. Peterson or Ms. Herbst, effecting Ward 3. I'm really at odds with Mr. Newt
Vaughan. Newt and I are casual acquaintances and I would say casual friends,
on a friendly basis. His comments this evening are just not appropriate. The
fact of the matter is that we are not taxed at 54% in this country. The overall
taxation rate for all of us, including all taxes, is approximately 37%. Also,
the state of the budget in Colorado is such that every service, every human
service, has been reduced in the last couple of years because of budget problems.
This has affected the disabled, elderly, children, everyone. We are at a point
where we cannot continue to operate as a civilized society, as a civilized state.
By the way, I failed to mention education, which we are now in K-12, approximately
49th in the country for funding. I would certainly disagree with Mr. Vaughan
that we are overtaxed. As far as the City of Lakewood is concerned, I personally
have taken the time to study the management of the City, financial management,
and I've discovered that it is run at least as well as any private corporation
and I challenge anyone to come up with a different answer. We can do this just
by comparing the figures of what it takes to run the city. I would guess that
this is one of the best run cities in Colorado. Furthermore, I really don't
know about the sprinklers, certainly we must have some problems that need to
be dealt with, but I don't think sprinklers are really bankrupting the city.
Once again, I want to say that a civilized city, a civilized state, a civilized
country needs to have an adequate base of taxation, an adequate level of taxation
for us to be proud of what we have. Thank you.
Jennifer Bowser - 960 S. Arbutus Street - Lakewood, Colorado
I'm here to protest two things. I realize it is too late for anything to be
done about this, but I just want to be heard. First and foremost is the closing
of the Patterson Infant and Toddler Care Center. My son, Benjamin, is six months
old and has been in care there since he was three months old. Second, I would
like to protest the manner in which it was done. First, the Center, it was a
wonderful place. It was safe. It was clean. It was stimulating. You probably
know, they had an almost new facility there that they had renovated in the last
year with grant funds. It was just a great place. The staff was skilled and
they were loving. I felt reassured every morning when I left my son there with
Janet and the Grandmas. They cared for him as well as I could. They helped him.
They cuddled him. They loved him. It's extremely rare to find daycare like that,
a nurturing environment where your son is loved and cuddled and held throughout
the day is of immense value to parents and very hard to find. But, I'm afraid
that none of you knew how wonderful this center was because with one exception,
the Mayor, none of you ever visited the center, before you voted to close it.
I actually have a photo album that center staff made for me on the last night
with some pictures from the center. You never asked us to come before Council
and tell you what we thought of this service that we were getting from the city.
You decided in private to close the center. You didn't publicize the decision
prior to the public vote. We never had any opportunity to give input before
the decision was made. When center staff found out this was going to happen,
mere hours before the meeting, they called all the parents to let us know that
this vote was coming up so that we could come and voice our opinion. When administrative
staff found out that the center staff had done that, they were threatened with
immediate termination and forced to call us back and ask us not to come to this
meeting after all. That's why you didn't hear from parents at that meeting.
We didn't want our staff to be fired. We have all sent you letters, phone calls,
emails, and I got one response back from a total of six communications that
I made. That was from Councilor Elliott. I don't think this is how government
should operate. I don't think this is how decisions should be made and I think
you, as elected public servants, have an obligation to hear from the stakeholders
in issues like this. I understand that budgeting is difficult, even in the best
of times. In times like this, with the difficulties we're having now, it's nearly
impossible. I'm not naïve, but I think tough times like this mean that
you have to prioritize what your various programs and services are and I resent
being labeled as low priority. I think that twenty children and the loving care
that they receive every day is more important than the new sign my neighborhood
got a couple of weeks ago at city expense, or the landscaping I've seen cropping
up around some of the new streets and things like that. I think children are
much more important. I'm disappointed. I'm disillusioned. I'm not the kind of
person that is cynical about government. I've always been a big defender of
government. I, in fact, work in an organization that serves government and if
you can make me cynical, it's a sad day for Lakewood City Government.
Kim Bernall - 820 Vance Street - Lakewood, Colorado
I, like Jenny, although the Patterson Infant/Toddler Center has already closed,
I want to express my disappointment and frustration again with the city's decision
and the actions over the last several weeks. The hasty schedule for the budget
revision and the 30-day closure notice was irresponsible. Council was not able
to gain adequate knowledge of the program and intentionally excluded families
involved, in searching for an alternative solution. I accept that it's difficult
to provide affordable infant and toddler care. However, I do not believe that
it is impossible, nor do I believe that it is wrong for profits achieved in
one children's program to subsidize another children's program. In my views
that is a perfect example of citizens in the community supporting others with
common needs. The department should not have waited for a budget revision mandate
from City Council to take action on this valued 3s rated program. The Department
of Housing and Family Services chose to ignore the root of their financial troubles.
As an outsider witnessing the enrollment over the last two years, there were
obvious problems. First of all, only one infant successfully transitioned from
the infant room to the toddler room since the inception of the program. In fact,
many families that have never used another daycare provider chose not to attempt
to transition and left the program all together due to a lack of confidence
in the toddler room staff. Families knew that the center did not support the
staff either and enrollment at one point was down to three children. Last summer,
the department finally took action by replacing the lead teacher in the classroom.
Since that time, at least five infants have successfully transitioned to the
toddler room. Unfortunately, delays in actions from the department greatly contributed
to the center's $30,000 shortfall last year. The center collects nearly $8,000
annually for each fully paid toddler and if the center could have enrolled only
four more children for the entire year, they would have experienced a profit
have enabled the program to add enrollment there as well. Secondly, this department's
decision to allow part-time enrollment and tuition restricted their ability
to collect higher tuition. In addition to the financial aspects contributing
to this decision, the city should have considered the superior service that
was being provided in the community. As I indicated in my email communication
to all of you on May 25, 2004, the staff helped many of us grow as parents,
but what I didn't tell you was how they accomplished that. Over the last two
years, this remarkable staff has offered support and guidance for families dealing
with severe eczema, various tummy problems related to eating disorders, several
asthma including administering nebulizer treatments, special needs of a premature
infant including the use of oxygen, special feeding of a child with severe clef
palate, an amputee learning to walk with a prosthetic leg and foot, diagnosis
of autism and providing a continued teamwork atmosphere to provide a maximized
development for that child. You made the wrong decision.
Public Comment was closed.
Mayor Burkholder - Miss Inman, what is the process for when we get service requests here in the City?
Joni Inman, Director of the Mayor and City Manager's Office - When we receive an individual Council member's, or when a Council as a whole receives a letter, or an inquiry or a statement or a concern from a citizen, that is usually directed to a Citizen Communication Administrator in the City Manager's Office who coordinates responses back to the citizens. Two things occurred this year. One of the budget cuts was the elimination of that position. At the same time, we had a number of communications to the City regarding budget cuts across all departments and all levels of service from the city. We needed to make a decision on how to respond to those and we were inundated with numerous communications regarding a couple of issues. Our decision was to respond if there was a question or an inquiry for information on a specific topic, but we were unable to respond to all of the communication where constituents were expressing their concerns about the elimination of a program. Particularly, when there was a letter writing campaign, for instance, where most of the communication had the same type of statements and information in it. We were just simply unable to answer every individual in that situation. We have shared the information with City Council and we have kept all of the information for future considerations, but we are unable to, at this point, contact and address every citizen that contacts us.
Mayor Burkholder - I would also like to stress that the budget process that we go through on an annual basis seems like it is almost a year-round basis any more. We're starting into the 2005 budget now. It is a very open and public process and you are certainly welcome to come to any of the meetings. If you go to the Cabinet Room, you'll see that this Council here has established what we consider to be our "core values." Those are values that everything in the city we do is judged against. We certainly take into account the discussion that each of these City Council people have had in the community. It has been a tough situation. The past four years, we've cut just at $13 million from the budget. It was with necessity that we had to go in and cut some programs. Quite frankly, previous to this year, we have been able to do a lot of that internally. We've asked a lot out of our staff. We've asked them to do a lot more work. This year, with sales tax coming in as they did, we cut revenues prior to the cutting of these services. Revenues just did not come in as we anticipated and so cuts had to be made and had to be done in an expeditious manner. This Council does care. We do look at each item and at each program in the City. All the programs do serve a need.
Item #14 was pulled from the Agenda and will be placed on a future agenda for consideration. (ITEM 14 - ORDINANCE O-2004-17 - DISCONNECTING FROM THE CITY OF LAKEWOOD CERTAIN PROPERTY LOCATED IN THE NOTHEAST ONE-QUARTER OF SECTION 32, TOWNSHIP 4 SOUTH, RANGE 69 WEST OF THE SIXTH PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, CITY OF LAKEWOOD, JEFFERSON COUNTY, STATE OF COLORADO)
The following Consent Agenda items were read into the record by the City Clerk:
ITEM 5 - RESOLUTION 2004-58 - APPOINTING BARBARA TEICH, JOHN BUCKLEY, AND JIM WESTBROOK TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE ALAMEDA CORRIDOR BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
ITEM 6 -RESOLUTION 2004-59 - AMENDING AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH METRO WASTEWATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT (METRO) TO DELEGATE ADDITIONAL PRETREATMENT /INDUSTRIAL WASTE CONTROL PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES FROM LAKEWOOD'S SANITARY SEWER UTILITY TO METRO
ITEM 7 - RESOLUTION 2004-60 - FOR ACCEPTANCE OF BID AND AUTHORIZING A CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF 14th AVENUE WATER MAIN CONSTRUCTION
ITEM 8 - RESOLUTION 2004-61 - AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF THE GRANT AGREEMENT REGARDING THE LAKEWOOD BIKE TRAIL MASTER PLAN AND AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES TO SIGN THE GRANT AGREEMENT
ITEM 9 - RESOLUTION 2004-62
- AUTHORIZING A LEASE PURCHASE CONTRACT WITH BANC OF AMERICA LEASING &
CAPITAL LLC FOR AN LED SIGNAL LIGHT CONVERSION PROJECT FOR AN INITIAL ANNUAL
PAYMENT NOT TO EXCEED ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS SUBJECT TO ANNUAL
APPROPRIATIONS FOR A TERM OF SIX YEARS
ITEM 15 - ORDINANCE O-2004-18 - AUTHORIZING THE TRADE OF FIVE (5) SHARES OF MERRITT DITCH COMPANY STOCK AND A 3.6 PERCENT INTEREST IN THE WARD LAKE ASSOCIATION OWNED BY THE CITY OF LAKEWOOD FOR TWO (2) INCHES (TWO FORTIETHS OF ONE SHARE) OF THE AGRICULTURAL DITCH AND RESERVOIR COMPANY OWNED BY ARNOLD L. GREENBERG
ITEM 16 - ORDINANCE O-2004-19 - APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING A SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION TO FUND THE CONVERSION OF TRAFFIC SIGNAL LIGHTING AND LIGHTING OF ARTERIAL STREETS TO A MORE COST AND ENERGY EFFICIENT SYSTEM
ITEM 17 - ORDINANCE O-2004-20 - AMENDING SECTION 5.47.110 AND REPEALING SECTION 5.47.115 OF THE LAKEWOOD MUNICIPAL CODE PERTAINING TO THE REGULATION OF ADULT BUSINESSES
ITEM 18 - ORDINANCE O-2004-21 - AMENDING CHAPTER 2.52 OF THE LAKEWOOD MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM PROCEDURES
ITEM 19 - ORDINANCE O-2004-22 - TO REZONE LAND LOCATED AT 8090 WEST MISSISSIPPI AVENUE, CITY OF LAKEWOOD, JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
ITEM 20 - ORDINANCE O-2004-23 - AMENDING SECTIONS 17-2-2, 17-5-7, 17-5-8, 17-5-9, 17-5-10, 17-5-11, 17-5-12, 17-5-13, 17-5-14, 17-5-15, 17-5-16, 17-5-17, 17-5-18, 17-5-19, 17-5-20, 17-5-21 AND REPEALING AND REENACTING ARTICLE 17-8 OF THE LAKEWOOD ZONING ORDINANCE
ITEM 21 - APPROVING MINUTES OF CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Regular City Council Meeting May 24, 2004
ITEM 22 - ACCEPTING MINUTES OF BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS
• Heritage,
Culture & the Arts Commission Meeting May 19, 2004
• Lakewood
Housing Authority Meeting April 29, 2004
• Lakewood
Planning Commission Meeting June 2, 2004
• Lakewood
Liquor & Fermented Malt Beverage Licensing Authority Meeting April 8, 2004
• Lakewood
Liquor & Fermented Malt Beverage Licensing Authority Meeting April 22, 2004
Public Comment:
Walt Heidenfelder - 940 S. Yarrow Street - Lakewood, Colorado
City Council and City Administration has recently had to make some tough decisions
on the budget. In view of that, I'm wondering whether it is necessary or even
prudent to now spend $150,000 for the items as stated in Item 16 of the Agenda.
I have to admit that I'm not totally informed of just what this LED signal involves,
whether it involves a great savings to the city or not, but it does raise a
question in light of the budget problems. Why are we spending this money at
this time?
Jim Richey, Traffic Engineering - That is a great question and the reason we are bringing this now is because of the cost savings an LED light emitting diode signal can bring to us. One red incandescent lamp burns 150 watts of power. One light emitting diode signal burns 69 watts of power. The new ones coming out now are burning even less. We propose, if this is approved, and the technology available, the wattage of the signals that we are looking at will be 23 watts. The savings in electrical energy alone will manufacture $113,000 a year in savings. We are actually reducing our energy consumption by this much by changing our incandescent lamps which burn 150 watts to the much lower wattage LED lamps.
Councilman Stevens - The light emitting diodes were used on a traffic signal on Morrison Road just west of the Metro Area, very close to Bear Creek Park and we got several complaints from citizens that these light emitting diodes were so bright that people were literally blinded by the light driving down the road. These new light emitting diodes you are talking about, are we going to have that same problem?
Jim Richey - No sir. The point you bring up has been brought by others. The technology today includes diffusers that are placed over each intense LED array. So the diffusion actually makes it look like a regular traffic signal, but you still get the intensity as you approach the signal. You are not going to get this beacon in the night like you see out there on West Alameda.
Councilman Peterson - You mention the cost savings in energy. Can you tell me what the lifespan is of an LED as opposed to an incandescent bulb?
Jim Richey- Incandescent bulbs last approximately 18 months, the special traffic signal variety. LED signals we're proposing last ten years.
Councilman Peterson - So there is an additional savings in maintenance as well as the electrical consumption.
Councilwoman Koop - My question is similar. The question that was first brought up was whether it was worth spending $150,000 a year and you had mentioned the $113,000 savings on energy costs and all. In our report here, it shows a total of $11,000 savings per year because there are other savings. Can you expand on that just so people in our audience understand why we are doing this?
Jim Richey - The document contains two projects. One of the projects is for the replacement of the incandescent signal with a light emitting diode. This is where we get our $113,000 a year savings. The $150,000 number in that document is what Xcel Energy is going to return to the City of Lakewood as a rebate for installing these devices to lower energy consumption. The other piece of the project is working with Xcel Energy to reduce our streetlights from the 400 watt to the 250 watt street lights. The street lights can give us the same amount or real close to the same amount of light while consuming much less energy. There are actually two projects in the item that you are looking at tonight: street lights and all the arterial lighting and all the stop signals.
Mayor Burkholder - Another very valuable thing to remember is that after the payments have been completed after that six year period, we're going to be saving approximately one-half of that $166,000 which will all go into the General Fund, so we're saving the taxpayers about $82,000 or $83,000. This is an example of staff looking into how we can become more effective and more efficient in the services we provide.
Councilman Elliott made a motion to approve the Council minutes; to accept the minutes of Boards and Commissions; and ordered all ordinances introduced on first reading to be published in the Lakewood Sentinel with public hearing set for the date included in the ordinance; and ordered the adoption of resolutions, all of which were included in the Consent Agenda items introduced into the record by the City Clerk. Councilwoman Koop seconded the motion.
Vote on the Consent Agenda: All Ayes. No Nays. The motion carried.
ITEM 23 - GENERAL BUSINESS
None.
ITEM 24 - REPORTS
City Council reported on their attendance at various meetings and events and
announced upcoming events and meetings.
ITEM 25 - ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Council; Mayor Burkholder
adjourned the meeting at 7:53 p.m.
Submitted by,
Margy Greer, City Clerk
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