May 17, 2021 Video Board Meeting

Transcript

Describer:
AGENDA
Board of Directors Meeting
Monday, May 17, 2021, at 6:00 p.m.
7404 Yorkshire Drive, Castle Pines, CO 80108

1. Welcome / Call meeting to order / Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Roll call / Determination of quorum / Disclosure of potential conflicts.
3. Consider approving May 17, 2021 board meeting agenda.
4. Consider approving April 19, 2021 board meeting minutes.
5. Directors’ reflections on voter-approved Inclusion of CPNMD’s water and wastewater utilities with those of the Parker Water & Sanitation District.
   A. CPNMD Voter Turnout: 34%
   B. Tuesday, May 4, 2021, Election Results:
   Votes FOR Inclusion: 2,709 (95.76%)
   Votes AGAINST Inclusion: 120 (4.24%)
   C. Eight-month transition period to Day 1, Monday, January 3, 2022.
   D. Acknowledging and thanking in advance Castle Pines constituents west of I-25 for their continued patience, confidence, and trust over the next eight months.
6. Project updates and insights from the City of Castle Pines’ designated liaisons to CPNMD’s board of directors, Councilwomen Deborah Mulvey and Tracy Engerman.
7. Opening public comment period via Zoom (three-minute maximum per person).
8. Open Space Manager’s report.
9. Finance Director’s report.
   Consider approving financial report, payables, and claims for payment, including check numbers 26006-26061 (April 10, 2021–May 7, 2021).

General Fund & Debt Service Approve $0.00 Ratify $92,755.05 Totals $92,755.05
Enterprise Funds Approve $0.00 Ratify $403,347.24 Totals $403,347.24
Electronic Payments (all funds) Approve $0.00 Ratify $75,450.33 Totals $75,450.33
Total Expenditures Approve $0.00 Ratify $0.00 Totals $571,552.62

1. Legal Counsel’s report.
2. District Manager’s report.
   CPNMD’s sewage-stench-mitigation efforts in the Forest Park and Castle Pointe neighborhoods.
3. Directors’ matters.
   CPNMD’s Notice of Damages letter to City of Castle Pines regarding City’s snow-removal practices.
   Mitigation-cost estimate for Phase 1 restoration of severely damaged rights-of-way adjacent to Monarch Boulevard = $435,124.99.
   Scope: Excavate and replace top twelve inches of contaminated soil and re-establish native grasses.
   Project completion timeframe: September/October 2021.
4. Closing public comment period via Zoom (three-minute maximum per person).
5. Adjourn.

Describer:

The video starts on graphic with a white background and forest green letters which says “Castle Pines North Metro District Board Meeting May 17, 2021”. The meeting opens on a shot of all board members present. There is also a T.V. screen showing the Zoom meeting for people joining the meeting via Zoom.

Describer:

David said “May 17th, 2020”, but he meant to say May 17th, 2021.

Board President David McEntire:

Good evening everybody to the May 17th, 2020 Castle Pines North Metro District monthly meeting. Those of you who are signing in and viewing from home, welcome online. Those that are present, those that are not physically here. But joining us via zoom one Chris Lewis, I see you, we've got council. It looks like we've got finance directors and, and a few others. So, welcome everybody.

Describer:

Off mic, Chuck inaudibly leans over to David to tell him that the year is 2021, since David mistakenly said 2020.

David:

What did I say?

Chuck:

2020.

David:

Oh 2020, 2021. So, again, welcome. I'm going to call the meeting to order and ask that everyone join us in saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

Describer:

The board members and the audience rise from their seats and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. When they are done, they sit down again.

All Speak:

I Pledge of 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.

Describer:

During the Pledge of Allegiance Chris is in the meeting via Zoom and he is reciting it on a slight lag.

Describer:

David leans over and pulls something out of the drawer next to Robert and off mic he is inaudibly informing him that he will be grabbing something out of that drawer.

Chuck:

This keeping you on our toes?

David:

I guess. I'm going to conduct a roll call. Not only to determine a quorum, but also, give each director a chance to disclose any potential conflicts.

Board Member Director Chris Lewis:

Director Lewis. Present, no conflicts.

Board Member Director Denise Crew:

Director Crew. Present, no conflicts.

Board Member Director Robert Merritt:

Director Merritt. Present, no conflicts.

Board President Chuck Lowen:

Director Lowen. Present, no conflicts.

David:

Director McEntire is here, no conflicts. Item number three is, considering the approving of the May 17th board meeting agenda, I'd like to piggyback item number. Well, at least item four on that as well. That is the consideration of approving the April 19th, 2021 board meeting minutes. My colleagues and I have had plenty of time with this information. I believe they stand as presented, but I would entertain a motion if there is one.

Chuck:

I'd like to make a motion, Mr. President, approving the May 17th, 2021 board meeting agenda. The approving the April 19th, 2021 board meeting minutes.

Denise:

I'll second.

David:

We've got a motion and a second to not only approve tonight's agenda, but also last month's meeting minutes. For all of those that are in favor, when called upon, signify by saying yea.

Board Voting All Speak:

Those opposed say no. Director Lewis. Aye. Director Lowen. Aye. Director Denise Crew. Aye. Director Merritt. Aye. Director McEntire is a yea. That passes unanimously.

Describer:

David’s mic cuts in and out and we are only able to hear short clips of what he is saying.

David:

Item number four, excuse me. Item number five, is the directors reflection of the vote.

The voter. Inclusion. Will.

Describer:

David has fixed his mic and we are able to hear him again.

David:

There we go. Now, item five is a directors reflection of the recently voter approved inclusion of CPNMD water and wastewater utilities with those of Parker Water and Sanitation District. Item A is the CPNMD voter turnout. To everyone that I've had a chance to speak with, for a number of those that have reached out to me. I would guess the common theme is, is wow, wow, wow wow. And not just to say wow in the percentage of turnout to those within our city, but wow to the election results of Tuesday, May 4th, 2021 and. The answer to many questions as to if that was the first act towards the second act. And so let me open it up to my colleagues.

Chuck:

Mr. President, I too have heard an awful lot of kudos and attaboys. And sometimes it's a little embarrassing because it wasn't me. It was a team. And I, I give all the grace and glory to our team, our consultants, our attorneys, this staff with Jim.

What a, what a great opportunity we had and we took. And, the results will surely indicate to all of us, I hope, what a little bit of hard work transparency will do when these sort of things are presented to the community, and, and looking at number A though, one of the things that sort of surprised me was the turnout. Although we succeeded in getting 95% of the vote were yeas.

The turnout seemed low and I assume that's fairly typical for this community. Whether it's typical or not, I'm a little disappointed that there were 66% that stayed home. And I hope that someday, when we go to the voting polls again we'll truly get a majority of the eligible voters to actually go to the polls. I think that's important. I don't know how we do it. It's just sort of a wish list of, of mine. I'll make sure my kids vote.

David:

Thank you, Director Lowen. Others?

Denise:

Yeah. Question on the 34%. Is that typical? Is, it's close to, isn't it?

District Manager Jim Worley:

You know, I don't, I'm sorry I didn't calculate that. The, the last one you had in 2018, I think there were like 3400, roughly 3400 votes. I don't know how many went out. We got to 34% by 8,300 sent out and 2,829 sent back.

So I don't have those numbers. I could look at that and see.

Denise:

Be curious to know.

Jim:

But isn't, it also surprised me too, Chuck. Which that, that it was only 300 or 400 more votes from 2018. But 2018, you had a ballot question and you had four of the five directors up, and there was not that much more. So.

Denise:

That's right. That’s right.

Jim:

Yeah. It's not much more in the total.

Denise:

About 3800 then.

Jim:

Yeah. I haven't looked at it in a while, but it was a little bit more. So, I don't have the answer compared to the 34.

Jim:

Yeah. I could sure try to find that out, but I don't know how many ballots were sent out at that.

Denise:

Okay. Regardless, I'd just like to say thanks, especially to our team. It's been a long three years, and we have, we've worked hard on moving this forward, and it's along the way. You know, you always hear the squeaky wheel and some of the negativity that's out there, which I always. Yeah, I take it personally.

Sometimes I try not to. So this has been super nice just to have so many, thank you's, and attaboy, and putting our, putting our district in the right direction. So thanks for voting. Thanks for supporting us. We really, really appreciate you. Thanks.

Robert:

I'd like to start off by focusing on is it on? No. Yeah. Yeah. I think it is.

Describer:

David points at Robert to indicate that his mic is not on. Robert is asking if his mic is on. David leans over to check to see if it is on and working because he thought it was off at first.

David:

Oh, yeah. I’m sorry, Go ahead.

Robert:

Okay. I like to start focusing on the overwhelming 96%, that everybody agreed that we should move forward with this and focus on the positive. I think that's absolutely awesome. Also, would like to bring to attention that this person that spearheaded and was the pathfinder and leader and to most of the avenues that led us to this point.

And that’s your President, David McEntire. He did an absolutely above and beyond amazing. I mean, he worked so hard, and was so informative and with his experience. He's very humble. But again, this would not have happened without David McEntire. He pushed so many things through. He not only fixed the fence on, you know, on the side. He was every single week dedicated with phone calls and ideas, so cannot thank him enough. And thank you all that voted and 95% of, a yes. So, appreciate it. Thank you.

Chris:

So then I'll just close out. I would reiterate everything that was said before and, and Robert, absolutely. Thanks to David. Thanks for your leadership. Appreciate all the calls, all the emails, all the, what are we doing, here is the update, you know, above and beyond.

Weird hours I was in the morning, so that's really good. I also want to, you know, I'm pretty humbled to the fact that the constituents actually place that much credibility in what we had to say. And also, you know, the transparency that was throughout this whole process that definitely helped. I was not, looking I was not expecting such an overwhelming support.

But I was expecting the support. But I would agree with Chuck also. I thought, I actually thought the 34% was kind of pretty low for something that is so impactful and, to every household. And I'm going to tell you, I had to whip up the vote in my house, Chuck. I was calling my daughter in Oregon and was like, honey, you're going to have to send in your ballot.

Did you get your ballot? You know, Kim was going to, can attest to this. You know, I was contacting his folks saying, hey, can I email her her ballot? No, you can't do that. And then I was calling my wife. I was like, honey, you're going to have to overnight that ballot to Oregon because she's got to send it in.

So I whipped up the vote in my household. So but, you know, and I guess the next time we're going to have to keep whipping up this vote. But even so, like I, I, like everyone has said, thank you. We appreciate the confidence you guys placed on us. We appreciate all the help from the teams from, Kim and from Amanda and from Jim and all his team, you know, without all the work they did to provide the information back to Parker and the evaluations and work through that process, that it was a lot of hard work.

So we appreciate it. And thank you very much. And, we look forward to just closing out a couple, little things and then moving on. So that's all I'd like to close with.

Chuck:

One, one, one last, one last thing if I could. One of the things that I heard from several people and we even read it as a note to, to Ken in the metro district is, good job on phase one. What are you doing with phase two? Who, who's going to take care of the trails? Who's going to take care of the open space, who's going to take care of the buildings, blah, blah blah, blah. What I'm confident in now, having gone through the first half experience, is that whatever we do with the second half is going to be well thought out.

It will be, not rushed, and it'll be transparent and it'll be just like we handled the first half. And so I couldn't be more pleased with where I think we're going. And that's what I expressed to the constituents that have talked to me about what do you do phase two? Because I know we're going to handle it the same way. And that's reassuring. Reassuring to me, and reassuring to the community that, it's going to be handled appropriately, appropriately and to their benefit.

Chris:

Absolutely. In the best interest, in, in the best interest of the constituents, in the best interest of, you know, most cost efficient, and definitely something that's going to be fully transparent in the whole process. Absolutely.

Robert:

And I'll finish with David McIntyre on board. We know it'll be fiscally responsible.

Chuck:

Amen. No pressure, David.

David:

I won't buy him anything. Thank you. To my colleagues and, and, each and every one of you separately and, and, as a team as it's been brought up a couple different times. As I started out, the last few comments I have begins with a wow. You know, it was two and a half years into this process.

And then two years and seven months, two years and eight months, and two years and nine months and just kept dragging on, and on. And I remember talking to so many folks about what we believed we were on to. But it wasn't too much after, call it two months, or two years, nine months that I. I no longer believed it.

I knew it was a good idea. Absolutely knew it. Without question, without doubt, with all the confidence in the world that this was a good idea. So it is time to finally eradicate permanently that 2015 grossly overpriced and underserved.

Describer:

David picks up the old renewable water plan book from 2015, and holds it up while he is speaking.

David:

Renewable water plan that we all resisted, but unfortunately inherited. So, Jim, if there are any remaining boxes, if there are any remaining 2015 plans shred them. Eradicate this office, and this organization permanently, and replace it with what I know and what the residents have embraced, and endorsed to be a good idea.

Jim:

You want me to keep one and frame it so that we all, no. You don't even want me to keep one? Okay. It’ll be an absolute pleasure to get rid of those from my office. You bet. If anybody wants one, catch me before tomorrow because they're going to be gone.

David:

Very good. Let me just wind up by saying that with a renewed emphasis on our core objectives, numbers three, and four. Prominently put out there as a part of our platform and as a part of the service to the community. It is illustrated online within our website.

And constantly, related to or referred to in a variety of, of conversations over the last three years and will be until we're either replaced, or we have completed the work that this board is, is set out to accomplish. We're going to use the next eight months thoroughly, to evaluate the potential future of the CPNMD’s remaining service, and stewardship responsibilities. We're going to look at trails, we're going to look at open space, we're going to look at parks, and we're going to look at stormwater.

No more than what we've done from day two. But we're going to do exactly what Robert indicated that we did in, in, and, and Chuck referred to in, in, call it phase one. But what I've said many times before, make sure that there's no stone unturned when it comes to making sure that the residents are getting more for less.

So it's business as usual. Know that we are going to continue to evaluate the opportunities that may exist, those that currently we have responsibility for. And, I would guess that over the course of the near term, as quickly as time is rolling this year, that by year's end we'll have got our arms around phase two, that final piece, and share that with everyone who has been asking all along. Who is that?

It's, it's the people of this community, more so than anyone else. And it is an honor, and we take it seriously. Once again, we respectfully ask for your continued patience, your continued confidence, and trust over the next eight months.

I'll close if there's no other comments from the directors. Let me, I’ve said I'm going to close now twice. I'm going to do it three times. I wanted to give a shout out to, again, the whole team, not just my colleagues, but the ones that have joined us, online. The ones that have participated, the last three years.

Our director of communications, Mr. Smith. Nice job, my friend. Nice job. And, and his team as well. Nice job fellas. Nice job. And in, and in, wrapping things up, it's a nice segway to move from closeout item number five, and move to item number six. With a that a girl. To our council woman, Deborah Mulvey. Deborah, thank you so much for the last three years. You have the floor.

Describer:

Deborah is speaking in person at the podium.

Deborah Mulvey, City Council member for District 1:

Thank you. Good evening. Directors, I almost called your council members. Tonight I have with me, Tracy Engerman, who I'll introduce more formally in a moment. But I want to first congratulate you on doing something for our community, which I think a lot of folks appreciate. I mean, they obviously do because of the vote. But, as you know, we appreciated that you came to City Council and shared information with us, which helped us share information with the constituents.

And I personally appreciate the effort that you put in. One thing that you may not know about Tracy and I, Council Member and Engerman and I had been attending the metro district meetings well before y’all were elected. She longer than I. And so we know well how this would benefit the community. So thank you again. It's been my honor to work with you.

You know, my work as a liaison is by appointment, and we transfer those periodically. Usually it's by year, but this has been a little more than a year. And as luck would have it, or karma, you know call it what you will. I was asked to serve as head of a nonprofit that has almost 100 members here in the Castle Rock area, and so that's going to take up quite a bit, quite a bit of my time.

And I do some other nonprofit board work. So with that, and the council work that I do in the transportation arena, which involves some work on I-25, transportation funding, and also paying attention to the Front Range Passenger Rail plans. I wanted to clear the deck, so to speak, and give some of the other duties that I'm doing to some of my other council members, and they've more than willingly stepped up.

And so as a result, we have collectively appointed Tracy Engerman as council member for district three to be your liaison going forward. And that will include the same discourse that we've had. And I want to thank you all for that. I have greatly appreciated the fact that we, as electeds, can have this constant communication. It's meant very much to the rest of the electeds on City Council and to myself that we could have that interchange, that not just as mutual constituents.

You could ask me, I could ask you and, but that our residents can hear it all the time. Whether they're listening to our meeting or your meeting. And the fact that we as electeds can communicate, much like we as electeds communicate with other elected boards and council members in other regions, Lone Tree, Parker, et cetera, the county. So it's valuable and the city values it. And I know that you'll be very well served with Council Member anchorman.

So thank you for this collaborative work. And I don't think that we'd be where we are today as a true community if it weren't for your willingness to do that, and our council members' willingness to do that. So without that, I'm going to ask if Tracy, you want to come and I'll introduce you?

Describer:

Tracy stands at the podium next to Deborah while she introduces Tracy. Deborah then sits down and Tracy begins speaking at the podium.

Deborah:

Tracy serves on city council longer than I have, and she's officially turned over. So she's going to be doing the usual report that I would normally be doing. And so I'm going to sit down and listen. Thank you.

Tracy Engerman, City Council member for District 3:

Hello. It's great to be here with you guys. The actual first city of Castle Pines-like entity meeting that I ever went to before I ran for office was in front of this body. Just to introduce myself and actually learn more about what the metro district did. So it's great to be back here and to be a liaison with you and to continue that dialog and that communication and that open communication.

So I look forward to it. The main thing that we've had on city, that we've had action taken by council is, that's relevant to you, is probably that we had hired our contractor to start work on Castle Pines Parkway, and between Yorkshire and Monarch where we're going to tear up, and replace everything. And so that has been approved by a council, and we are starting work immediately.

The, the one of the items that we still have on our task list is the IGA between your body, and ours that needs to be signed so that we can continue the work with the partnership that we're working on for replacing the water lines that are under the road that you guys are working on. So right now that's the only, you know, cross T’s dots the I’s that we need to do left.

But I think, from what staff said, that we can start on the South side of the road first to get, so we have time to get that IGA signed. The timeline that's projected, it's tentative right now is to start immediately, and then we're probably still going to be in September before it's completely done.

So it's, it is definitely going to be an inconvenience to citizens, and it's going to be still going as we start schools. Which that's going to, that road is going to be utilized a lot. So the more we can do to get all of our ducks in the road to make everything move would be great. That's kind of all I have in terms of updates for you guys. That, If you have questions, I'm happy to answer questions.

Robert:

I can start us off if you'd like.

Tracy:

Sure.

Robert:

I don't think it'll be any more inconvenient than going and getting our cars realigned every other month.

Tracy:

That is true.

Robert:

Because of them. So I think the constituents will look forward to the new roadways, I hope. But, and as much needed, if not overdue. But if we could back up just a little bit, could you tell us a little bit how, how long you've been in the community and a little bit about yourself?

Tracy:

Sure. I have been in the community since 2008, and I have four children here in the school system, and I have been in Colorado since 2003. Let's see what else I. I've been on council for two terms. This will be my second term. My first, first term was a two-year term, and I was actually a write-in candidate. And then, now I'm on my second year of my four-year term currently.

Robert:

Thank you.

Tracy:

Sure.

Chuck:

Can I back up even one step further?

Tracy:

Sure.

Chuck:

Deborah, I don't want you to get off so easy. Just by, just by saying goodbye and sitting down isn't going to cut it. Okay. I want to personally thank you for sharing relevant detail of information that the city offered and being a great liaison. Your accuracy, and your professionalism, very much appreciated. And you will be missed. So good luck in your future.

Describer:

Tracy responds to Chuck off mic.

Tracy:

Thank you. It's mutual.

Chuck:

Thank you.

Chris;
Yeah. I'm going to chime in too. On, on that. So, so Deborah, we did certainly appreciate all the, the cooperation and, and the updates you, you provided and timely updates too. And we appreciated the fact that you, you came here every meeting. And we are, an easy, I guess, an easy audience.

But also we asked a lot of questions, and you are willing to entertain us and make sure that you provide a good update. So thank you for that. And Tracy, we welcome you. We welcome you, and hope that you, you will be as open and as transparent and, we welcome even more information than, you know, just the projects that we might be working on together because we are definitely interested in all things that are interested for the constituents. So, so that would be my little comment on that. But welcome, I'm sure you were going to do an outstanding job. And we look forward to, and I look forward to working with you in the future.

Denise:

Deborah, we’ll miss you. It's been nice getting to know you, and working with you, and all of the information that you've shared with us, and vice versa, so thanks. And I'll piggyback on what Chuck said. You've been extremely professional and we, we appreciate it a lot. So thank you so much. And Tracy, welcome.

Tracy:

Thank you.

Denise:

Hopefully we won't be too hard on you. I think you'll enjoy it. Hopefully we'll keep the communication going. and then one other question. You talked about the IGA. Do we need an update on that? Is there anything we need to know or do? We’re all good?

Jim:

Working on it.

Denise:

Okay.

Robert:

I'd like to, hopefully.

David:

No, go ahead and finish up.

Robert:

I wasn't going to let her get off so easy. So, Deborah Mulvey, can't be overstated how important you were. Not only to every meeting that you made and all the time consuming stuff that you let us know about. But she went back to the campaign days, and she was actually involved in the process that none of us knew or myself. Anyhow, I can only speak for myself and was here for the vote counting and everything else on her own time.

So I want to personally thank you for everything that you put in, even in the, three years ago when this all started. So much appreciated it. You'll be severely missed. And thank you, thank you, wish you the best. And, just ask you when you're coming back. Thank you.

Chuck:

Tracy, one last, one last thing, Tracy. Welcome.

Tracy:

Thank you.

Chuck:

We're not a hard group to get ahold, get along with. Will make your life happy tonight. Next month, maybe not so much.

Tracy:

All right.

Chuck:

But Deborah did, did you tell Tracy that she has to stay for the entire meeting?

Describer:

Deborah walks back up to the podium.

Deborah:

Actually, I think the role is what y’all made it. And actually, I think the role is what y’all make it. And one of the things that I think we've all benefited from is that it's the, it's the personality part.

It's the how we communicate part. And we have somewhat different personalities. I'm a little bit louder, and Tracy's a little bit more reserved and, eminently diplomatic. So, you know, it's what you make it. And so she may not do things the same way, and you all may choose to do it a slightly different way, and that's the way it should be, in my view. But thank you.

Chuck:

Good luck.

Describer:

Deborah goes back to her seat.

Robert:

I'd like to thank you both.

Tracy:

Thank you.

David:

Tracy.

Tracy:

Yes, sir.

David:

I think Deborah said it well. She's a little louder, but so am I. And we might as well pick up where we left off. Keeping in mind, however, none of it is personal. It's all a matter of the business that we each are, desirous of, of conducting and, and, the responsibilities that we have and the stewardship that we have taken on for our residents.

That the conversation that we started some months ago, plural. I need to continue giving your report tonight. First, the roads. This IGA that you're speaking about, has been in the works for months.

Tracy:

Yes it has.

David:

Okay. And that IGA has been presented to this board for months. The same red lines, identical red lines have been given back to the city multiple times, and nothing has come of it.

Nothing more than what we find out as a surprise this last week, where what was hinted would be a change in the type of roadway. Of which we never got all of the information that this body asked for. But that was acted on as you said last week, sufficiently so. To cause the following grief. Okay first, no IGA. Secondly, the interruption to the public that you're talking about forcing you to start on the South is a, is, is not fair, because.

Tracy:

Oh, it doesn't matter which side we start on. That's just the choice that we need to start on until we have the IGA completed.

David:

Okay. Fair enough. But the contractor that you chose on the heels of the presentation that was made at City Council, where it was represented in, in writing that CPNMD’s share of that expense, that short little section, from Yorkshire down to Castle Pines Parkway was going to be North of a million three. Okay if anyone had asked us what our estimates were and these are, these are estimates by capable individuals, right. Knowing well, $500,000 difference, okay.

But no one asked. And so now it's my understanding that we may have some difficulty with the current contractor, and his ability to deliver that work at a quality, or at a level of quality that we demand. At a number that is most advantageous to the residents. Okay, so there's been no delay on the IGA. There's been a switch on the, on the road and we've got a huge obstacle to overcome.

Nothing more than what you and I can handle. I'm confident, loud or not. I just needed to let you know. And I really appreciate you coming this evening and allowing me to share that with you. And, I'm always available to you. Okay, email, telephone. However we get together again, it would be my pleasure. Thank you again for coming. Thank you for listening and welcome.

Tracy:

Thank you. Any other questions?

David:

I guess not. Okay. Thank you again.

Tracy:

I would say one thing that I would encourage you guys, because it's been so beneficial for us on council to have liaisons and different entities within the city, to encourage you to possibly, maybe appoint someone to attend our meetings. Because I think that would be helpful, because some things I may not know that I need to convey that information, that it's of interest to you.

And so then you have someone on your body that's also listening and attending our meetings to catch those things that I may not summarize for you in the full detail that you wish.

David:

No, fair enough. And, and when we invited Councilwoman Mulvey, we had that conversation and, and, and, while we've been peering in online with everyone else, I think we're up to speed. But again, feel free to contact any one of us, at your whim. And we are at your service.

Tracy:

Great, thank you.

David:

Thanks so much.

Tracy:

Thank you.

David:

I'm going to close item six, which was the. I'm going to close out item six, and open up item seven, which is the open public comment period via zoom. Three minute maximum per person. Do we have anyone, Mr. Smith, that is signed up for this evening's meeting? Hearing and seeing none, then I will close the open, public comment period and move to the Open Space Management report. Craig, are you with us this evening?

Describer:

Craig is speaking via zoom.

Craig Miller, Supervisor, Parks, Trails, and Open Space, CPNMD:

Yes, yes, I am, and thank you, Mr. President. Just a, you all have my report, and you've read through it. I just want to highlight a few items on it. David has been working on irrigation systems startup. He's charging up sections of the system, and testing the system to make sure that it's working.

But we do not anticipate running our irrigation until probably the end of the month, not June 1st. We are encouraging all of our residents to do the same. The issue right now is we've had so much rainfall. We're getting well over an inch a week, and that's all that turf and trees need at this time of year is about an inch in moisture over a week.

So as long as we continue to get that, nobody should be running irrigation anywhere in the Castle Pines North. Although I see the sprinklers running all the time. It's very frustrating to me because it's a waste of our water resources. As I like to say, you never watered wet soils. You don't get the advantage out of it. You’re giving me extra credit. The other thing I'd like to point out is our irrigation audit program is still accepting requests for free sprinkler system evaluations.

At this point in time, our sign up is very limited because of the rainfall. Nobody's running their irrigation system. Nobody's getting bills that are outrageous at this point in time. So there's not a whole lot of interest in it yet. There will be once temperatures heat up. But I encourage all of you that are in contact with any in the community to encourage them to sign up for these audits, so that we can help them out with their, their water bills during the summer.

The last thing I'd like to point out is, we did do another round of soil samples on May 7th. On that section of Monarch between Catarotta Way and Serena. We should have the soil test results back by the end of the month. It was very interesting. I was up with our open space, weed and restoration manager, Ray Sperger from Ark Ecological, and his ecologist, who was an extremely knowledgeable woman.

And we were all looking at the situation, as you can see in the photos in my report. It's scorched Earth out there. We just basically have very little life, and just an incredible amount of deposition of squeegee, for lack of a better word. It's mixed, obviously, with the ice slicer even though the city denies that, and it's, it's very sterile environment.

So as we've discussed before, in order to get anything to grow there, it is going to have to be replaced and reseed. But, I was very interested in their point of view from Ark Ecological as we walked the site. So with that, anybody have any questions? Oh, and by the way, the handicraft, camp, handicapped ramp and the railings at the community center have been replaced, as you noted, David will be painting the railings. And the contractor did an excellent job into turning that into something that's now very usable. Any questions please?

Chris:

Hey, Craig. Chris, I got a couple comments. The first was on the, the large trees that you guys planted. The 33 last large trees.

Craig:

Yep.

Chris:

That's pretty good. Are we planting any other trees anywhere else?

Craig:

Oh, absolutely. We did plant the 66 seedling trees that we got.

As I've noted before, we get 66 seedling trees that are about anywhere between 12 to 20 inches in height. They're bare root. We get 66 of them for the price of one two-inch bald burlap tree. And if you drive around the community, you will see these little white tubes everywhere. Those white tubes are tree shelters that are designed to help those trees establish.

So far, our success rate on these seedling trees that we've been working on this project for seven years now has been about 70% survival rate, which is huge. You're spending about 500 bucks a year for 66 trees. The larger trees, that was just our initial stab at it. As I noted in my report, I am looking at a bunch of tree removals.

You may have noticed a lot of pines have declined over the winter. And again, this is a direct result of the trees being planted in wire baskets, being planted too deep with ropes around the, the base. After 20 plus years, they're giving up the ghost. So as we remove those, we replace every one of those trees adjacent.

We are being very careful on the South side of the road not to plant pines anymore, because those pines shade the road in the wintertime, and you end up with a lot of icy spots. The pines are going in on the South sides of roads and anywhere we can, because after all, we are Castle Pines, right?

Chris:

Yeah. The, the other comment is, I do want to give out a, give a shout out to the church group.

Yes. That wanted to essentially do the clean up.

Craig:

Yep. Yep.

Chris:

So, you know, anybody's listening, thank them. But I just want to give a shout out to that. And, appreciate the update on, the, the number five, the soil samples. I did look at the report from Jim, so I'm pretty sure he's going to mention something. So we'll hold comments on that till later.

Craig:

Yep. And like I said, I was pleasantly surprised, Chris, at the church group reaching out to me. There was no encouragement from our end. And they said, we desperately want to do this project.

We want to give back to the community, and I thought that was just huge. The latest update I got from them is it won't be at the end of May. It'll probably be the first week of June, but we welcome their assistance in that. Coyote Ridge Park, as you know, is the one that gets the most use, gets the most littering.

David spends every Monday morning picking up trash there. So any helps that we can get is greatly appreciated.

Chris:

Thanks.

Robert:

Craig, real quick, can you expand a little bit on the soil samples that were taken, and the validity of them, and the relevance for the constituents of what has happened with that soil? And just expand on that a little bit for everybody so.

Craig:

Absolutely. The last soil sampling that we got I believe, was in 2019 and the soils report came back showing that, salinity and alkali in the soils were high, as well as boron and pH, making anything impossible to grow there. So it's not going to be supportive of any kind of plant life. We have tried in the past saline and alkali resistant grass species.

And they've worked to some extent, but not very well. They don't give us good coverage at all. So we did the second round of soil samples just to confirm what we saw in 2019. Before we even consider doing any kind of replace, remove, replacing and, seeding project, we want to make sure that we're on the right path.

And again, they've told me yeah sure to remove and replace there's nothing we can really do to grow any grass in these areas just simply because the soil solemnity, the alkali, the boron and the pH is so high and outside the range of any plant growth ability.

So it's been a very frustrating situation for me when I came to this community in seven years ago we did have some grass growing in there and it's, it's gradually declined to the point where not only are we losing those grasses upon Monarch Boulevard, and you can see it all up, and down the length of Monarch Boulevard.

But we're also losing plant material that we planted on the Castle Pines Parkway xeriscape corridor. It's kind of interesting to me as you head North of the city limits on Castle Pine, on Monarch Boulevard the difference is night and day. Douglas County is managing the snow removal very well and again that'll be later on discussed in this meeting.

To the point where the grasses there are thriving, whereas you hit the city limits and there it's almost desolate just because of the poisoning of the soil. So again, we have no option other than to remove and replace to a depth of 12 inches, putting in new amended topsoil, and seeding in, which we are using, we are expecting for our contractors a blend that is saline and alkali resistant.

And it's been proven. Blend that's been used by CDOT in the past where they've had some issues being able to grow turf or native grass along their roadsides where they do snow.

Robert:

And just for details, what was the lab again that did those soil samples?

Craig:

You know I don't have the name of it offhand. It's the same lab that we're using again, but it's the name's on the tip, tip of my tongue and I don't have the documents with me.

Robert:

I saw it someplace and I was looking for it in these papers.

Chris:

Yeah it’s, hold on, I’ll give you. It’s Colorado Analytical Laboratories, Inc.

Craig:

That's it, Chris. Thank you. That’s it.

Chris:

Reported on 11-22-19. Okay.

Craig:

Yeah, and they are one of the most respected soils labs in the state, and they give us a much more thorough report than we can get from anybody else. Anytime you take soil samples in Colorado, they're generally the go-to people.

Robert:

I just wanted to thank you for that because I saw that name, and it looked impressive. Your work is always impressive. So thank you for getting to the bottom of it and for all the groundwork that's been laid. Appreciate it.

Craig:

Thank you. Like I say, we just want to confirm before we move ahead with anything. I should have those sample results back by the end of the month. Excellent.

Craig:

Any other questions?

David:

Craig, two questions. One, as it relates to that church group. Of course. If there's any others that come your direction, I think it would be a whole lot more fun on a quarterly basis if they are willing to wait for us to all get together as we have in the past. And based on our quarterly cleanup efforts that we launched last year.

Don't forget, we could do that in tandem, and cover a lot of ground. If, if they can't, of course, any time in the field is, is appreciated. We've got one coming up. If it'd make it easier to do it as a group is the reason I'm bringing it up. Second question, when we are talking about the loss of trees and planting on an annual basis, is that a one-to-one margin. That we are attaining or are we planting more than we're losing on an average?

Craig:

We're definitely planting more than we're losing, especially when you consider the seedling tree program, which allows us to plant 66 trees a year for about 500 bucks, which is the cost of a single two-inch caliper tree. So I would probably say we're more on a one, and a half tree per one replacement ratio.

We want to make sure that as we lose trees, we're replacing. Obviously, when we put a new tree in, it's much smaller than the tree we have removed. So we want to make sure that we're presenting some value to the community in terms of we're putting in more trees than we've lost.

David:

Very good, thank you. Any other questions? Hearing none, I'm going to close the open space management report item eight, open up the finance director's report, Eric or is it Amanda that's presenting tonight?

Describer:

Amanda is speaking via the Zoom meeting.

District Finance Director, Amanda Castle:

It will be me, Amanda, that's presenting tonight.

David:

Hi Amanda.

Amanda:

Hello hello.

David:

When you.

Amanda:

Pleasure to see everybody. I am in the midst of a pretty, you know, spectacular start to a thunderstorm.

So if you hear any loud bangs or anything that's what's happening so, the joys of Northern Colorado for sure. So this evening we have presented for, provided for the board's review and approval. The financial statements as of April 30th, 2021. Just a couple of items to highlight on the financials. On page four, the balance sheet for the general fund, you'll notice that the cash balance is higher than year-end.

That's always a trend we see at the beginning of the year as property taxes tend to come in. But as the year progresses, we would anticipate that that cash balance becomes closer to the cash balance at the end of the year. So those property taxes have come in, but will utilize said taxes and expenditures of the district.

And we do have a 6-1 debt service payment upcoming, so we'll want to make sure that that's all taken care of as well. So I just like to highlight that always for everybody's attention. Beyond that there are a few items for the board to consider or to note. Property taxes relative to April 2021 totaled just over $2.2 million.

That accounts for 61.78% of the total collection in 2021. This time last year, we were just over 59%. So there is a slight increase in that collection, which is good to see. A really great item of note, specific ownership taxes are coming in above projections for the year. As such, we went ahead and revised the projections upward by $60,000 to account for current trends.

We'll continue to monitor that as the year progresses, but we're happy to see that that number is coming in above our expectations. On the opposite end of that coin, interest income is coming in below expectations. So we have revised numbers across all funds downward, but we'll continue to watch that as the year progresses. Obviously, depending on interest rates.

Relative particularly to COLOTRUST, we may see some changes there, but we'll continue to monitor, and provide information to the board as necessary. Beyond that, if we look at the enterprise funds, the district has seen slightly lower than normal water usage. It's trending lower than 2020 year-to-date usage. It's still really early in the year.

Obviously, we'll see big amounts of usage come in, in the summer months. So probably starting next month, we'll see a little uptick and then that will continue through. October. So we will continue to monitor that and adjust revenues as anticipated. Typically once we've seen kind of a six month trend, we can start to analyze where we would anticipate those revenues to go.

So we'll continue to monitor that. I'm not super concerned right now with a little bit lower than average trends simply because the summer months tend to be where we see a lot of that usage. So we'll continue to monitor that, and notify the board of any changes that we might see. Beyond that we are seeing a positive budget variance related to the water and wastewater collection and investment fees.

We've had um faster than anticipated absorption in Lagae Ranch which has equated to those revenues coming in above budget so that's good to see and it's nice to have those revenues in. We also have some unanticipated repairs to the collection system in the wastewater fund. That has resulted in the maintenance and emergency response exceeding budget by $44,000.

That's really due to that, anaerobic sewer stench mitigation at Forest Park and Castle Point neighborhoods. So you will see that come through the budget. But those were all, say, at least known costs that went through there. And hopefully we're able to recognize some cost savings and other areas throughout the year to help offset that overage. Really beyond that, the finance department on our side is really busy right now.

That's really due to that anaerobic sewer stench mitigation at Forest Park and Castle Point neighborhoods. So you will see that come through the budget, but those were I'll say at least known costs that went through there. And hopefully we're able to recognize some cost savings in other areas throughout the year to help offset that overage. Really beyond that, the finance department on our side is really busy right now. We are completing the year-end audit. Eric and I have met with the team at Reuben Brown a few times just to go over some items and walk through questions and that sort of thing. We have a final meeting to start reviewing the draft tomorrow and then we should have a draft here pretty soon once we have a draft.

Eric and I will give it a pretty thorough scrub to make sure that we feel it is ready to pass along to the board. The board will then receive a draft by the June deadline so that we can go ahead and approve and submit to the state timely which is that end of July deadline. So everything is trending really well for the audit.

We've worked with Rubin Brown for a few years now. I would say they're pretty tough, but I appreciate that in an auditor. They're extremely thorough, and it's really nice to hear the questions they have and see the ability to provide said responses to those questions. Beyond that, we are also working to prepare for the 6-1 debt service payments, as I said.

So everything's been transferred to the appropriate trustee so that those payments will be made timely. Finally, we are working with the team on the continued efforts around the inclusion. We were really excited to see the results of the election, and are now working really to figure out what their transition looks like. So paying off debt service, reviewing the budget to amend the budget relative to the activity that needs to occur for this inclusion.

So continue to work with the board, Kim, Jim, and the whole team to go through those next steps, that second phase as the board called it. So we are prepped, and ready and excited for the next steps. If there are any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them. If not, we simply need a motion to approve.

David:

Amanda, I finished my audit work as well with Mr. Anderson, and his conversation and, and, and mine included, FYI, conversation about the associated expenses of the inclusion. And as you mentioned, all of those expenses were pre-approved, or approved in last year's budget work. They've all been within budget, and would be available by and through his audit work in 2022.

But, as, as my point is, is, that as we are wrapping up that piece of business, we want to make sure that if there's any questions, or comments, or concerns about any of that, those expenses, that we talk about them before journaling them and, and make sure they're where they're supposed to be, et cetera.

Amanda:

Yeah, absolutely. Eric and I would pay close attention to that. At this point, we're not aware of it. I'll say the journal entries the auditors might have, but we've got continued conversations with Andy and Mitch on their team to go ahead and walk through any questions that they might have.

David:

Very good.

Amanda:

We obviously make you aware of that.

David:

Super. Well, If you want to include in your request for a motion, the payables, and the claims for payment. Then we'll act on that. If you'll go ahead, please.

Amanda:

Sure, so we just need a motion to approve the finance director's report as presented and to consider approving the payables and claims for payment, including check numbers 26006-26061 for checks dated from April 10th, 2021. through May 7, 2021.

That total for ratification in the general and debt service funds of $92,755.05. The enterprise funds of $403,347.24, and total electronic payments of $75,450.33 for a total expenditures of $571,552.62.

Denise:

I'd like to make a motion to approve. I want to get the right wording. the financial reports, payables and claims. Yes.

Describer:

After David says “yes”, he says something else off mic right before Robert speaks.

Robert:

Financial director’s report.

Denise:

Okay.

Robert:

I’d like to second that motion.

David:

Very good. We've got the director's financial report and the payables and claims for payment with a motion to approve, a second. All those in favor, or no, let me open it up for any further comments or questions or concerns. Are there any more questions of Amanda?

Hearing none, when I call you, if you'll please indicate you're approving by saying yea or nay if you disapprove.

Board Voting All Speak:

Director Lowen. Yea. Director Merritt. Yea. Director Crew. Yea. Director Lewis. Yea. Director McEntire is a Yea. Motion passes unanimously.

David:

Thank you Amanda, great job.

Amanda:

Thank you. I appreciate it.

David:

I'm going to close item nine on the agenda this evening. Open up item 10 which is legal counsel's report. Legal counsel Mr. Seter, you have the floor sir.

Describer:

Kim is talking with the mic off via the Zoom meeting, and no one can hear him.

Chris:

You're on, on mute.

Amanda:

Kim, you're muted.

Legal Counsel Kim Seter, Esq.:

I just gave the greatest speech of my life and nobody heard it. Good evening board, sorry about that. Congratulations on the election, and you have a copy of my report. There's nothing that you need to approve this evening. With regard to Parker Water and San., as of election night, we have begun having weekly meeting, meetings to prepare for the January deadline.

I will have in my report for you next month, I hope. A timeline and checklist of the items that we will be completing and when we complete them. I'll be working with Amanda and Eric and others to make sure that we do things in a proper order. So we don't find ourselves at a dead end at some point.

That process has already begun. I also wanted to thank Councilwoman Mulvey, for information she provided to us regarding entryway features. We were kind of stymied on one of our projects and she provided information that has now allowed us to move forward. It's greatly appreciated. And I think the only other thing to report on is in the report there is an item called new well site acquisitions.

That's one of the first items that I started after the election because I thought it was going to be a very long-term project. It's to acquire three new well sites to replace some of yours that are, are petering out. It looks like we'll be able to acquire those without any condemnation actions and at a very minimal cost.

And I suspect we may have that done, if not by your next meeting, by the one after that. So very good news with regard to phase two. Other than that, I have nothing to report unless you have any questions.

David:

Thank you, Council. Not to belabor the benefits that we've all enjoyed in the relationship with Councilwoman Mulvey, but she, too, provided me with some information of late concerning the foundation item. The Castle Pines North Foundation, the contact information that we needed. If you’ll take Tom Weldon his name down. He was recently serving on the Park Authority board. And contact information, I'm sure, is available through the city who manages that asset now. He may be our, the catalyst for finishing that project as well. Okay.

Kim:

Got you.

David:

Otherwise, I don't have any questions. Job well done on the inclusion again. You and your team did a masterful job. I can tell you that Pinnacle is teed up to accommodate all your needs. As we get closer to January 3rd, we might end up being a little ahead of time and be able to take Christmas off. But, thank you again for the report. Anyone else?

Very good. I'm going to close the legal. I'm going to close item number 10, legal counsel's report, and open up item 11, which is the district manager's report. Mr. District Manager, you have the floor.

Jim:

Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate it. You have my report in front of you, but I want to highlight and talk about this Forest Park odor issue.

You recall back in December, a lot of stuff hit the fan. If you know what I'm talking about. And what has happened since then, we went through, and we replaced some manhole covers. Some manholes that are better sealed. That was one step. Another step was to install three different vents along the line that some of these odors that get trapped and come out of.

But the most impressive one that we did was a pilot test program where we inject ozone inside it. We started that on, I think it's April 14th, I think I put it on here, yeah. And on a regular basis, we test down below that to see how the residuals, and how that's doing odor-wise, and that has worked extremely well.

Extremely well. We don't get calls anymore. Nathan in our office stays in contact, I think, with one gentleman over there that. They had most of the conversations with. Everybody seems to be pretty happy with it. So we're moving forward now to do a permanent type injection. Always lift station three because that's really the one that, that is causing this issue.

And so we're putting together a cost to arrange it so that it is constantly injecting this into the product that flows through there. So, that I think a very good success story. And my understanding is there's a lot of organizations watching what we're doing because this is somewhat new from what I understand. And so it's working very well. And we hope that continues. But I'll keep you posted on that. Okay, address any other questions you may have.

Chris:

Well we see that you also save a bunch of my manholes with the new pilot project too, so that's good. You bet.

Chris:

I do have a couple questions for you. So, if no one else in the room I'll go. Alrighty, hearing nothing. The, the risk and resiliency survey, how is that going? So I, I, I read over the report from Kennedy Jenks. I guess we're supposed to have a couple of interviews, and pretty much due next month. So have we started to have those interviews? Has anything come of it? You know, my interest, of course, has peaked because of the initial attack in Tampa. On their water treatment plant and how that, their chemicals were manipulated.

And now we just had, you know, some additional cyber activity that caused down on the East, the South, Southeast side coast have issues. So I'm just kind of wondering, so make sure that we don't have any type of risk on our, what we're doing from, water and, and sewer and so forth perspective.

Jim:

That program, as, as you, as you stated, Chris, we have to provide a report by June 30th.

We're already having meetings on that. As a matter of fact, I've got a meeting tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock with Kennedy Jenks. That's who's doing this report for us. So I don't have anything else to report now, except we're focused on getting it done by June 30th. There's a follow-up of a, of a plan that needs to be put together by the end of this year. So we haven't started on that yet, but we're moving forward with Greg. Particularly, Greg Sekera with Kennedy Jenks, on continuing and getting this done by June 30th.

Chris:

Okay. So, so far nothing, nothing has come up to the pre, previous meetings, right? Because it says we should have had a couple meetings, and it's May 17th. So I'm thinking we only have, we may have had one or two meetings already, right?

Jim:

Yes, we've had some discussions on that. We'll probably end up with four meetings between now and June 30th. But we've already started that process.

Chris:

Okay.

Jim:

You bet.

Chris:

Thank you.

Chuck:

Jim quick question on item. I guess it's number two in your report, concerning the Castle Pines Parkway waterline replacement phase. Maybe I'm confused, but it seems like there's a disconnect somewhere along the line. Have we been communicating effectively, and I don't know what effectively means, but to the city. Because if I heard Tracy, right, they want us to hurry up and get it done. And I thought we've already been down that road. What, What am I missing? What's the urgency all of a sudden? Help me here.

Jim:

The urgency is to get it done, of course. Yes, we've been working together. There is a piece, and, and President McEntire referred to that a few minutes ago, and we'll probably talk about that in a little bit. But we do have to complete the, the MOU. Memorandum of Understanding that we put together that we've been communicating with.

So I've been working with Larry Nimmo over there on this project. Greg Sekera and Lisa Swain have been working on it on our behalf, Kennedy Jenks, for the, for the project. So it's coming to the point to where we need to move forward on it. We've got some pieces that we need to take care of. David and I are working with them on that, and I think we'll have that done really pretty quick.

As what Tracy said a while ago, they'll start on the other side because you really can't shut all four of them down. So they'll start on that side. We'll get it all taken care of, I believe, in the next week, week and a half, and then we'll keep moving forward on it.

Describer:

Chuck is inaudible and talking off mic.

Jim:

Your mic,

Chuck:

Is our delay, or maybe it's not our delay. Is the delay causing the city to start at a different location than where we believe it's appropriate? Help me with that.

Jim:

I don't think so because you can't shut all four lanes down. So you've got to work on one side. And so because we're still working on this side, because this will be the side which is the North side, that's where our line is.

And so they'll start on the South side. The other two lanes, still have these open. And we'll certainly have our agreement, I'm sure worked out by the time we're ready to start on this side. Can't do them all at once.

Chuck:

Okay. I think I understand. Thank you.

David:

Director. And I, I echo, your initial reaction, to what we heard tonight. And that's why I took the opportunity to share the information that I had with Tracy so that she could help us out in that regard. It's true that this entity and the city have been working on this project for months. But like most projects, get it down to about the 11th hour.

A small change ends up being a monumental change. And is, is almost like throwing a wrench in the whole project. But with the time and the effort, the know-how, that we have all put forth on this project, it will come to fruition. It's just a matter. And, and everyone is anxious. It's just a matter of making sure that we have been able to acquire through these subcontract relationships, and the design work, as well as the relationship between the city and the district.

The most for the least amount. The MOU has drug on, unnecessarily in, in, our opinion. But again, Councilwoman Engerman is going to address that as well as, as, your work Jim. So I, and, and we'll get back to the issue of, of Schmidt’s subcontractor in Double R Excavating. Not matching up with either our numbers or, the familiarity and, and the experience and qualifications that we insist, but we'll work through those.

We'll, we’ll work through those. But again, I appreciate where you come from. That kind of feels that way on the onset, but. But, but we're well on our way, and we'll get there.

Chuck:

Thank you, Jim, and thank you, Mr. President.

Chris:

So, can I ask a question, David and Jim? Because I am actually, I was looking at the Kennedy Jenks report.

Describer:

When they say $1.4 they mean $1.4 million. And, you know, David, when you mentioned the overall, the initial cost from the city perspective. I think I thought you said $1.3 million or $1.4. And I'm looking at the Kennedy Jenks report and it says that, Schmidt Construction Company, their bid was the lowest and it came in at $558, that $100,000 and, and that we estimated it to be somewhere like $764, $180. So where's the, where's the additional monies of, $1.3 million came from? And, and that's definitely, that sounds like almost double our estimate too.

David:

Unbeknownst to the councilwomen that are here anyway, I've been peering in on those meetings that they've had at the city. And, and, Chris, to answer your question, there was a memorandum, to the mayor and city council from Larry Nimmo.

Dated May 7th. And on the second page, under the staff analysis, it specifically states that CPNMD’s cost portion of this project is. And we're speaking about that short little run of street, the smallest one of the four, in fact. But, but anyway, the cost portion is $1,321,656.42. That's where I got that number.

And, while Jim and I have spoken about that, he goes on to state that it includes a 25% of schedule B and all of schedule C, which is an outline of the specific inclusions. And the details of this agreement are included in the attached IGA. The, the, the references are, there's no doubt about that.

But as I've mentioned before, for months now, we have made the same redlines to the IGA having nothing to do with cost, because the cost was never disclosed to us. Nor.

Chris:

Right.

David:

Let alone asked if we were in. You may recall that we don't have anything but opportunity here to reduce the cost to the residents, in whole, and improve the project.

But the last resolution that we passed, was, was, prefaced on the outcome of ballot issue A. So for that reason, and even though it was stated in that resolution, we think it's in a good business, both the city and ourselves, to consummate that MOU or the IGA. And, and flush out any of these discrepancies. And that's, that's exactly what it is. It's a big one, but not insurmountable. Let's hope it was just a typo. And, and, but we're on it. But that's where it came from, okay.

Chris:

Yeah, thanks.

David:

Any other questions for Jim? Jim, you sleeping any better since the inclusion vote?

Jim:

I actually slept pretty well before it, to be honest with you. You know, it's one of those things. I don't like to jinx it. And so while I have been, and was very optimistic because of the conversations I had, and what I didn't hear in the community. And that is a rumbling of some issues. Anytime an issue came up, we addressed it, which I think is that transparency part, which helps, and I think a lot of people appreciate that.

So, I'm very fortunate. The only time I can't go to sleep is when I already am asleep. So I don't have trouble with that. But, it's a little more relaxing. It is, but, let me add, if I could, while I've kind of got the, the opportunity here. This has been something that I don't think has been done in the state of Colorado as far as utilities of this size merging.

We've had it with fire districts. You might have heard some of that happen in Highlands Ranch, but this is, this is huge. And, and, and driven by the board, certainly staff and everybody, and Parker was very much involved. But everybody had their eyes open, and their ears open. And we're ready to do what's right for both organizations.

And so led by David, I think anybody needs to, to see the fact that this gentleman spent a lot of time on this. All of you did, too. But David really spearheaded that, and that's been, been addressed here. So working with him has been a pleasure working with Ken. What a great wordsmith, and his last name is absolutely appropriate.

So this has been when I was approached almost three years ago about this opportunity, when David and I talked about it I said, my goodness, what a good opportunity and, and something that's different than just someone calling and saying, my, my water meter runs too fast or whatever. So thank you to all of you for the support. And David, thank you for major support, and guidance, and sometimes pushing to help us all get there.

And, and very good job. So thank you.

Chuck:

Jim. I'm sorry. Yeah. Thank you David. I'm not going to let you go that quickly. I have a question on your, your third topic, the Monarch Right-of-Way Revegetation. You know, over the last several years. And I think you know this. I get really irritated when I come down Monarch and turn on Castle Pines Parkway, or I come down Castle Pines Parkway and turn on Monarch. And I've seen that corner redone, and destroyed, and redone, and destroyed, and redone, and destroyed and.

Describer:

David waves his finger in a circle to represent the never ending cycle of repairs.

Chuck:

Yeah. And we're paying for the repairs, we do it. So then I read this May 7th letter, which I concur with. But I also made the mistake of reading in its entirety the original. License.

Chuck:

License agreement with the city. And I didn't read the date. And I thought it was something the board just approved while I was on vacation, and I was ready to kill somebody.

But fortunately saner minds prevailed, and I read the date. And it's an old document dated 2009. But my concern now is we're going to take on the repair and replacement of the landscaping per se, in all of the right-of-ways that you have noted, for the tune of over half a million dollars. Almost half a million dollars. Is that correct?

Jim:

That's correct. But that's not all of it.

Chuck:

I didn't want to hear that either. So does this mean that this will just be an ongoing activity? Because we've seen what happens when we just do a small corner of the community destroyed, repaired, destroyed, repaired. Is this a wise time to spend $400,000 for something that's eventually going to get destroyed? Unless we have assurances that the city will step up, and handle the roadways properly in the winter with removing snow and ice.

Jim:

Yeah, what you're, what you're referring to at the corner down here of Monarch and Castle Pines those, those tire trucks in there. That's from someone just turning around when it's wet and getting in there. That may not have been a contractor.

Describer:

When Jim says “A couple years ago, is what it was.” Chuck says “No, I'm talking about Castle Pines and Monarch.” at the same time. Exactly.

Chuck:

Right there that we've replaced several times.

Jim:

Yeah, yeah. That corner there. All of the.

Describer:

Jim stops talking because Chuck was talking at the same time when Jim said “All of the”.

Chuck:

And it’s a different contractor. It's a cable.

Jim:

Right.

Chuck:

Company, but they don't give us

Describer:

Jim interrupted Chuck at the end of his sentence.

Jim:

Yeah that was a fiber optics, and we actually got paid for that originally.

Chuck:

You know I got paid for mine on my property too.

Jim:

Oh yeah. You did. Yeah.

Chuck:

But it's, if you go down there again, guess what.

Jim:

It looks terrible.

Chuck:

It's being damaged today.

Jim:

You bet. Yeah.

Chuck:

There's trucks out there driving all over my property.

Jim:

Yeah.

Describer:

When Chuck says “Where are we headed with this?” Jim says “How do we, how do we take care of that? Yeah” at the same time.

Chuck:

Where are we headed with this?

Jim:

How do we, how do we take care of that? Yeah.

Chuck:

This, this doesn't seem logical to me that we, we shake our finger and we pay half a million to watch it get destroyed again. What? There’s got to be a better way, David. Jim.

David:

There, there is. And, and, over the course of the last three years, we've been watching the antics of those out there destroying the right-of-way.

And while uncovering this agreement with the city, it clearly denotes that we were engaged in not only the initial installation, which was mutually approved, but also the ongoing maintenance and the water. And we've been doing that. However, come to find out after further analysis, we've been chasing our tails all along, as you mentioned. And it's not just with the snow removal and the damage along all those roadways. But it is the insensible damage done by others, whether it be a byproduct of a lack of policing, or a lack of, of contractual, proper contractual obligations and responsibilities articulated therein, et cetera. You.

Chuck:

Appropriate oversight on a daily basis.

David:

That, that, you know. There's so many facets of it, but it, it reminds me of the same conversation that we had about that intersection before all that work started a year ago. And we were assured that, that all of that destruction for the curb and the gutter work was going to be taken care of as our own maintenance people were, were inundated with frozen trees. And, and our tree replacement program and all the maintenance that comes into play seasonally, et cetera.

But this was a, a, a huge amount of damage that was occurring. And wow things like that happened, right? You may recall we had a conversation here, and, and specifically made sure that Jim was aware that the budget, that or the contract that was left by the city, and the budget that was approved had specifically $75,000 in that budget for landscaping for that intersection.

This was the intersection replacement project. Okay. And, and. That it doesn't matter who is working in that right-of-way, whether they're a party to the agreement or not, if they damage it, the landowner, the one that is ultimately responsible for it, is the city. And, and in our agreement. You'll note that damage. Whether it be by pickup truck or tractor or trash truck or snow plow. It doesn't matter.

Damage is not a part of maintenance, and isn’t a part of our budget process, isn't a part of our responsibility. Got the oversight that you talk about. We take seriously. And for that reason, we gave Jim direction to ensure that the landscaping down there on that new intersection trying to start anew, was not formally accepted until which time it was formally accepted by the district.

And we went as far as before the work was complete, correct me if you recall otherwise, offering to take the $75,000 and do the remedial work ourselves and take on that task, as we had done in the past and done it successfully. But what we have right now, as you mentioned, and it happens on a weekly basis, for whatever unknown reason I, I flooded Jim and his staff with pictures over the course of the last couple weeks.

It never ceases to amaze me how much damage is being done in the right-of-ways without, to the best of our knowledge, any replication other than the district continues to. Dish out the money and the time necessary to try to keep up with it, and we can't any longer. So it was with that in mind, as well as the, decade old issue of, of the, the damage that the saline has, created in the right of ways and our inability to maintain plant stock.

There, that we provided as the agreement calls for the notice that this has got to stop. And, and, so, again backing up about a year. We haven't accepted anything that has been promoted or, or, or expected of us to be brand new in an acceptable condition. And while the damage continues, we've now put a plan together.

We presented it to the city. We've asked for them to reply with a commitment by this month’s end. So that all of the residents, multiple, multiple, multiple residents are involved in this issue, and are anxiously awaiting the outcome of, of our efforts here inside of this year. As Craig will, will has, has clearly denoted, time is of the essence, and the remedial work is slated to start in the fall as it is prescribed by the horticulturists. And, and with the commitment from the city at, at the end of this month, we'll be able to get started.

And, and it, and again, it is a start, unfortunately. But it is, it is, it's in, it’s in difficult shape as you've already shared with us. As as the roads and. So we're going to take this action and, and keep our fingers crossed that, that we're able to begin that remedial work inside of the, that. Inside of this year. Does that answer your question?

Chuck:

It doesn't defer my frustration. Sure.

Chuck:

And I'm sure everybody feels the same way. We're tired of looking at what is considered by many constituents our responsibility, which it is for this license agreement dated May 19th, 2009. Yet. Except damages.

Chuck:

It yet. The damages.

David:

Yeah.

Chuck:

And I'm anxious to hear from the city. My other question, I guess, would be to, our legal counsel, this license agreement, does that have a termination clause? Can it be terminated? Yes.

Chuck:

Should it be terminated?

David:

It's got a 30 day termination.

Chuck:

And if it's terminated, then who takes over it? Who, who assumes that maintenance responsibility?

David:

Well, one party or the, other. It's a two-party agreement.

Chuck:

You’re right. It's the city and it’s Castle Pines North Metro District.

David:

That's right. Either party has terminating opportunities.

Chuck:

Either party to either party does.

David:

Either party.

Chuck:

Yep.

David:

And as you mentioned, given the perception that this is something that we have dropped the ball on, it's unacceptable moving forward.

Chuck:

I couldn't agree with you more.

David:

If that means termination to rectify it. Yep.

David:

If that's what the will of the residents are again, we'll do just that.

But at this moment, we have high hopes that we can come together again. That we can get a commitment to move forward, to begin this remediation work right along with, with the other projects that both entities have going as we should, but.

Chuck:

Well it's, it’s a good letter to the city, Jim. And, I will be anxious to see what the response is. I know you'll share it with us. Thank you.

David:

All right. I'm going to, if there's no further questions for Mr. Worley. Hearing none, seeing none. Thank you, Jim. Closed item number 11. Move to item 12, director's matters. I think that we have fully vetted in our last conversation item A, A dot, A dot, dot, and A dot, dot, dot. So if there's any further comments, questions, concerns as it relates to the notice of damages letter to the city of Castle Pines regarding not just a snow removal. But damages quote unquote damages. Like to hear him now, Chris, anything.

Chris:

I, I think my concerns have been voiced, and discussed, and I'm fully in the same place that you guys are. That this is definitely something that needs to get addressed. It needs to be addressed, it sounds like, in a timely manner. And, and I am not of the opinion that I want to be, have that, that reputation that we are not doing something that we're tasked to do.

So yes, if the city is not going to be able to meet their obligations of, of coming up with a plan to say, hey this is what we're going to do, maybe we need to change the, the chemicals we use. It can't be that difficult. We, we go down the road, and beautiful, right in front of the schools, right.

So just talk to our neighbors, find out what they're using, use the same thing. So, we need to be able to change the process that they're using. And then at the same time, we have to get it reimbursed from the restoration work that we're going to do. Other than that, you know, I'm, I’m in the same I, I would agree, a termination.

Yep. And that's what's going to lead to, someone taking this over and doing it right. And when I say someone I already know we are doing it, we. So the termination means that the city would be responsible, and they’ll pay to do it and they'll do it. So either way it's got to get fixed. It's been going on forever.

Robert:

Like to culminate that cooler heads will prevail. Acknowledgement of the sides of the roads, and with the laboratory work and the things that have been done incorrectly people will be accountable for it. And we'll press on in a new direction where it'll be able to be managed. So I'm confident with David's stewardship that we’ll all come together. Acknowledge that it's not what it should have been, or is. And the plan going forward will be a lot better than what we've had to go through. So I just wanted to put that as a side note.

Craig:

If I could add a comment here, pigtail on what Chris was saying. Chris, the city says that they're using the exact same products that Douglas County is using, and again drive North on Monarch and Douglas County, and the grass is pristine there.

The issue is their methodology. They're not applying the product correctly. They're over applying the product and they're not doing it in the same manner that Douglas County does. And I have implored Larry to consider, taking a page out of Douglas County snow removal playbook. They obviously have a maintenance manual for snow removal. And follow the exact same procedures that they're doing.

And you'd end up with the exact same results. Where I live here in Parker, Douglas County, does my snow removal. We have pristine grasslands on both sides of the road. We don't have any issues whatsoever. It's just the methodology, it's not the materials. So they, basically Castle Pines needs to get on board with what Douglas County is doing 100%.

Robert:

Thank you, Craig. It's very obvious.

Chris:

Craig, Thanks for that. Go ahead. Okay. I was going to say Craig, thanks for that. And I would say, maybe they hired Douglas County to just do the snow removal for us. That'd be good. Anyone else?

Craig:

I don't think they'd be on board with that. Chris. It'd be a nice call, though, because if, if you consider before, the city took over all maintenance of the roads, how well snow removal was being done. Many of you may have seen the 10-year timeline from Google Earth of photos that I took, and put together that shows that the native grasses, and that's this one questionable area up there on North Monarch Boulevard were in excellent condition.

They were actually in excellent condition when I came here seven years ago. Contractors were changed at that time and their snow removal procedures are not following what is, is normal. Throughout the industry, so that's what I've been seeing.

David:

Very good thank you Craig anyone else? Hearing, seeing no one else I'm going to close item 12. I'm going to open it up for closing public comments. We didn't have any, anyone signed up at the beginning. Mr. Smith, anyone signed up for the end? I'm going to without any additional public comments being necessary, I'm going to close item 13.

But before we pursue a motion to adjourn one more time, we want to recognize Councilwoman Mulvey with a small token of our appreciation. Councilwoman Mulvey, if you'll step to the front or allow me to come that direction. Either way, just a small token. Thank you.

Describer:

Deborah walks up to the front of the room where the board of directors is seated and shakes hands and says her goodbyes with David, Chuck, Robert, and Denise. She also walks over to the Zoom meeting monitor and says buy to Chris, and shakes Jim’s hand, and leaves. She is also not on mic, some of what they say is audible, and some parts are not audible.

David:

Very good. Do I hear a motion in the background somewhere? Hear a stir, anyone?

Robert:

I would like to make a motion to adjourn Monday, May 17, 2021’s meeting.

Chuck:

I'll second that motion.

David:

We've got a motion. We've got a, a rush of those wanting to, to adjourn.

Board Voting All Speak:

All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. The opposed doesn't matter. Motion carries unanimously.

David:

Thank you, Mr. Lewis, and thank you, colleagues for all your kind words and compliments. Appreciate it. Good night. Thank you.

Robert:

Thank you Chris, for your service as usual. Thank you.

Chris:

Hey, I'll see you guys this weekend. Outstanding. What? Yay! Excellent. Okay.

Robert:

I'll be home.