City Council holds meeting on Zoom

Those tuning into Wednesday’s City Council meeting did so via Zoom. A 6-1 vote passed the reopening of the golf course. (Courier photo)

Vote passes to reopen Cattails

ALAMOSA — Things were a little different for city council members on Wednesday night. With COVID-19 continuing its march across the country and the state, health was the top priority for all.

Rather than meet in person, the council elected to tune in via Zoom. There was plenty of acknowledgment for the hard work that the city information technology department (IT) went through to make the meeting possible.

There were three major aspects to regular business; two ordinances and an overview of COVID-19’s impact on the city.

City Manager Heather Brooks delivered an update to how the city was dealing with the crisis. She discussed the current amount of work and the exchange of information that is taking place before addressing current closures including City Hall, the public library, the Recreation Center, the Multi-Purpose Pavilion,  playgrounds, the Park Pavilion and walk-ins to the police station. Before covering what was still open including the parks, trails and dog parks.

Brooks went department by department stating that nearly all facets of the city were already working from home excluding various maintenance departments, police, fire and finance. The main concern in each department was a need for personal protective equipment (PPE) which everyone felt was a concern while acknowledging the need to put healthcare workers first in that respect.

Budget discussions were raised regarding hygiene facilities that could be placed in the park including hand washing stations and a mobile shower station. The handwashing station was explained as only being needed until public restrooms could be opened for the coming season while reimbursement from the coming stimulus package (CARES Act) was explored for the mobile shower station.

Brooks then covered some projections on the financial blackeye that COVID-19 would leave on the local economy. The city anticipates a 25% reduction in sales tax for 2020, which would translate to a $2 million hit to the general fund along with a $360,000 hit to the recreation fund, street fund and enterprise debt fund each, excluding plans funded by grants.

She stated that the current projection is that sales tax may not normalize until 2023. The general fund will operate as normal with some department heads tightening their belts.

Brooks stressed the plan would not include large department budget cuts but would likely decrease the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) by 20%. A decrease in the CIP may shelve 2020 projects such as wayfinding signage, a multitool loader, a PDA pack and the plan to update street lighting to LED.

In addition, funds for the recreation center upper track and tennis court resurfacing would possibly be frozen in the recreation fund for a time. None of the projects are being eliminated. A possible lowering of the CIP along with all postponements would be revisited in July or August.

With that, the council discussed the closure of the golf course and voted 6-1 to reopen Cattails.

Brooks prefaced the discussion by highlighting all the different things that went into their decision to close the course including the city providing a unified front with the governor’s message to stay home and the risk it presented.

The argument was made by multiple council members that the golf course holds no more risk to people than trails around the city. That along with the fact that Governor Jared Polis has made no such decision on golf courses as well as the precedent set by other courses including Salida, Walsenburg, Redtail, and HollyDot all remaining open as well as other states like Ohio stating courses can stay open. A stance they just recently reversed from a ‘no’.

Those in favor of a reopening also covered all the possible stipulations and safety standards that could be put in place to ensure health and safety.

The discussion was had, that despite all that, it may not be worth the risk, Mayor Ty Coleman stating, “To me, revenue is not the concern right now, the concern is the safety of our citizens, the safety of our staff, (not) exposing additional people to the COVID virus... If one person gets infected because of the action that we take, that’s one person too many.”

Coleman thanked the outpouring of comments he’d received from the public before reiterating his disagreement.

After Councilor David Broyles presented the motion to reopen the golf course immediately with stipulations on attendance and safety standards the motion carried by a 6-1 count with the lone dissenting vote coming from Mayor Coleman.

Regular business also included the second reading of Ordinance No. 6-2020, which essentially modernized Alamosa’s ordinance that deals with orders for restitution upon conviction of an ordinance violation, making the city more in line with state statute.

As explained by City Attorney Erich Schwiesow the ordinance was two-fold, “One, is to provide a process in our Code of Ordinances for how we pursue restitution in cases in front of a municipal judge,

“and the second is to make that process nearer a process that is set forth in state statute for pursuing restitution in the state, county, and district courts in the state of Colorado.”

Schwiesow notified the council that after conferring via email that there were minor changes to wordage along with taking out a few references to state code. The state code was in relation to pain, suffering and hardship which are not compensable in restitution.

There was also a simplification of interest calculations and payment plans. Government service animal costs, government and private investigation costs and insurer’s use of a subrogation claim as a restitution claim were removed because it was felt they weren’t appropriate in municipal court. Following a public hearing the council voted and passed it unanimously.

City council also completed the first reading of Ordinance No. 10-2020 which similarly sought to make Alamosa’s code more closely related to the state code. The current city code on false reporting does not include benign calls such as requests and questions on the emergency line as false reporting., which Schwiesow felt opened the city up to cost and aggravation.

What the new ordinance would do would be to seek to limit the abuse of the 911 system. There was concern about where the discretion would fall in each case which Schwiesow said that it would be an ordinance violation that would be handled by a judge. The motion passed unanimously, and the second reading was scheduled for April 15.

The city council meeting was adjourned with each speaker offering words of positivity and encouragement to the public and plenty of appreciation being expressed for all the essential personnel on the front lines keeping things running.


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