Inside Arvada

Inside Arvada's Municipal Courts with Judge Kurtz

• City of Arvada • Episode 34

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Judge Kathryn Kurtz discusses Arvada's Municipal Court and the value of balancing community safety with support for the individual.

In this episode: 

  • Arvada's Municipal Court handles 7,500-8,000 cases yearly including traffic violations, ordinance violations, code enforcement, and animal control issues
  • A ballot measure is being considered to remove the residency requirement for judges
  • The One Small Step Court program offers specialized support for individuals experiencing homelessness
  • Judge Kurtz shares her judicial philosophy of "own it, fix it, forget it" – encouraging people to take responsibility, make amends, and then move forward with their lives

New and events: 



Visit us at ArvadaCO.gov/Podcast or email us at podcast@arvada.org.

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Inside Arvada, the City of Arvada's official podcast. Today, we have on Judge Catherine Kurtz. Judge Kurtz is the presiding judge for the city's municipal court and she previously has worked for the First Judicial District Attorney's Office, which supports Jefferson and Gilpin counties, and as a relief judge for municipal courts in Lakewood, north Glen, federal Heights and Golden. And we'll learn more about relief judges in the episode. And Judge Kurtz has lived in Arvada since 2009 with her husband raising their two kids here, and, as always, I am joined by my co-host, sean hey, sean.

Speaker 2:

Hi Katie, Great interview today with Judge Kurtz. As we were preparing for the interview and figuring out what questions to ask, we both realized we didn't know very much about municipal court and so got a lot of lessons learned during this interview with Judge Kurtz and I really appreciated her motto, which you'll hear toward the end own it, fix it, forget it. Judge Kurtz, welcome to Inside Arvada. Thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, I'm excited.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, let's begin with our lightning round and telling us what your favorite thing is about Arvada.

Speaker 3:

I think my favorite thing about Arvada, and what brought me here, is that it's really got a small town feel, even though it is a big city. I think it's if you've been here long enough, everyone knows everyone and it's a really great place to raise your family. So that would be my favorite part.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. I've heard it referred to as a really large, big, really large small city, or really small big city. Right, so absolutely. And then what was your first, last or best concert?

Speaker 3:

So my most recent concert, which was probably my best concert I've ever been to, was Coldplay. I saw it a couple weeks ago at the Empower Field with my kids, who are both now adults, and it was so fun. It was an incredible show, incredible music, and it was so fun to be with my now adult kids.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, that sounds great. Yeah, to share that experience sounds really special. You alluded to it a little bit, but what brought you to Arvada?

Speaker 3:

So I used to work at the DA's office in Jefferson County.

Speaker 3:

I worked there for about 15 years as a prosecutor, and when I was working there, everyone who I worked with, or a lot of people who I worked with, lived in Arvada.

Speaker 3:

There, everyone who I worked with, or a lot of people who I worked with, lived in Arvada, and one of my coworkers, Mark Randall. At the time I asked him what's so great about Arvada and he just said it's the most amazing place to raise a family. At the time, I had two young infants and my husband and I were trying to figure out where we wanted to live long term, and we just landed on it because we wanted a place where we could raise our family. Something that we always saw with my coworkers was that they were born and raised, they went out, explored the world and then they came back, and that's what I want my kids to do. I want them to go explore the world and then come back and live near me eventually, and so we just felt like it was the best place for our family and what we wanted out of a city schools, town, close parks, many mountains.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. I think we've heard that answer from a few guests before. And then, what was your first job?

Speaker 3:

My first job was at the Ritz Pastry Shop in New Canaan, Connecticut, where I grew up. I was a morning shift worker and so I got into work around 5 am and I was in high school at the time and made coffee and donuts and bagels and muffins and we had cookies and cakes et cetera, and I was just the early riser and got into the bakery early for the morning shift.

Speaker 2:

I don't know if you could pay me enough to get up that early as a high schooler.

Speaker 3:

I was always an early riser, though not quite 5 am, but even now, to this day, I still get up at 4.30 every day. So I'm great in the morning not so great at night.

Speaker 2:

And then, finally, what's the favorite project you've done with the city?

Speaker 3:

I think the project my favorite project that we've worked on, that I'm most proud of, is our One Small Step Court, and I know we're going to talk about that in a little bit, but it's just really. Anytime you can shift the criminal justice system a little bit to bring a different approach to how things have normally been done or historically been done and have better results, I think that's incredible, and I know we have a very large population of individuals experiencing homelessness in our community and so to be able to shift that to bring about better results, both in the criminal justice sense but also better results for those individuals, I think that's also not only creates better community safety but also, again, better serves those people who are coming into court.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and well, like you said, dig into this more. That's the program that supports our homeless population, correct? Yeah, so we'll talk about it more here in a bit. Sure, but that's a good segue to just. I know Sean and I are both a little bit less familiar with the work that you do here at the city and kind of the municipal court system, and so can you tell us just a little bit more about municipal court and what you do? Sure.

Speaker 3:

So I always describe to people that we address quality of life concerns. We address low level offenses that happen, often committed by very good people who have just happened to made a bad choice on that day, the type of cases that we see. We handle most traffic violations in the city. We handle ordinance violations, so that's any like criminal violations, like assaults, thefts, disorderly conduct, trespassing, public intoxication, you know things of that nature. We handle code violations, so anything from accumulation of rubbish, tall weeds, inoperable vehicles in the parking lot. And then we handle animal violations, so anything from barking dog, animal at large, aggressive animal, animal cruelty, neglect of animals. So we handle a wide range of offenses. There are all misdemeanor levels. We have court Monday through Friday, so we're a full-time court, and we also have a juvenile docket, I should mention as well, on Wednesday afternoons where juveniles who have committed ordinance violations come in. So pretty much any ordinance violation or criminal or traffic violation that happens in the city of Arvada, most of them come to us rather than state court.

Speaker 2:

Go ahead. Speaking of code violations, I like to work in our dog leash code as much as possible in the podcast because it is a frequently talked about topic among our community members and so, as a judge, you've seen people get ticketed for that violation. Come and see you, for that it's interesting.

Speaker 3:

I'm a dog lover, I've got two dogs, but I also see every single dog case in this city, and so I'm very mindful of what can go wrong when dogs are off leash. People always say, oh, my dog's so nice, they're not aggressive, and I always tell them until they are right, until they are, and I've seen a number of circumstances where dogs off leash have attacked other animals, attacked adults, kids, and the consequences can be pretty severe. I myself was bitten by a dog several years ago and I ended up in the hospital for five days from a very simple dog bite Right, and so it is very frustrating to see people have their dogs off the leash. I live in an area on the west side of town where people let their dogs off the leash all the time, and it's very frustrating for me because I do know what goes wrong when that happens.

Speaker 3:

And it's very simple Just put your dog on a leash. It's not that hard to do. There are some cities nearby who have what they call sight and sound ordinances. If your dog's within sight and sound, you're allowed to have them off the leash. We don't, and I personally think that's more responsible to keep dogs on the leash so that incidents don't happen.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's not just lip service, it's something that we actually enforce.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Right, you mentioned ordinances that youth violate, and then we have codes, and then we have laws, and are those things all the same thing? Are they different things? I think that would be a good thing to clarify for our listeners.

Speaker 3:

Sure, absolutely so. Laws are laws. Laws can be called several different things. Our laws of the city are called ordinances, the laws of the state are called statutes. Right, so they're both laws. But our city enacts ordinances and those are the law, or the laws, the set of laws that the city residents and visitors are supposed to follow within the city. If you break a state law, you're breaking a state statute. So that's just the differences. But here we have ordinances, we ask people to follow them. We have ordinances, we ask people to follow them, and if they don't, if they're alleged to have violated an ordinance, then they generally get a ticket to come visit me in court.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's helpful. I think I don't always know the distinction in that terminology myself. Sure, yeah, and then what is your role as the judge overseeing all of this work? What does your work?

Speaker 3:

look like Sure. So I preside over all the cases that come into my court. Oftentimes people come into court for an arraignment, which is their first court appearance. They'll speak with the city attorney to see if there can be some sort of plea resolution. People often hear the term plea bargain. They'll speak with the city attorney first, see if there's some plea resolution or plea bargain that can happen and then they'll come into my courtroom to talk to me. Oftentimes people want to explain what happened in that situation. You know whether it's an animal violation, code violation, traffic matter or criminal violation. They just want to be heard and part of my job is to let them be heard, let them have a voice in the process.

Speaker 3:

I listen to what people have to say. I accept plea offers if someone enters a plea, and then I sentence people. So oftentimes when people come into my court, it's really important for me to hear what they have to say, to have an understanding of why the offense was committed. People also have the right to enter a plea of not guilty and set their case for trial. So if they enter a plea of not guilty and set their case for trial, then I'll preside over the trial.

Speaker 3:

A trial could be a trial to the court, which means the evidence is presented to a judge and the judge makes a determination of whether their guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Or so in some cases people are entitled to a jury trial, and in a jury trial the evidence is presented to a jury and the jury makes that determination of whether the guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Either way, whether it's a court trial or a jury trial, I still decide sentence. But it's just the big difference in a court trial versus a jury trial is who makes the determination, or who makes that finding of guilt or not guilty.

Speaker 1:

And is that just kind of based on the type of offense?

Speaker 3:

that it was. If someone's facing a jailable offense which a lot of our criminal ordinance violations are jailable offenses then they're entitled to a jury trial. If it's a non-jailable offense, like possession of drug paraphernalia, they are not entitled to a jury trial. They would only be entitled to a court trial. Juvenile offenses are only entitled to a court trial. They're not entitled to a jury trial because they're not jailable.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that makes sense, and then we talked a little bit about this offline. But that workload is pretty substantial for you, right, it's a lot.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's busy, it's hopping down in court. So we have court five days a week, every single day. On Fridays we have our jury trials. So we are busy. We handle about 7,500 to 8,000 cases per year and again it runs the gamut of traffic violations. We have different dockets on different days Tuesday, wednesday mornings, we do traffic. Wednesday afternoons, juveniles. Thursdays, all criminal docket. Fridays jury trials. Mondays are what we call review hearings. So it's different every day. It's very busy. I have an incredible team of about 15 people. I've got court clerks, administrators and two full-time probation officers and we handle every single case that comes into our court. We usually have about 50 cases per day come into our court and it is busy. You'll see if you come into our hallways our part of City Hall it's busy. I have experienced that for sure.

Speaker 2:

And you are the presiding judge for the City of Nevada, and so you are the judge for most of the cases. But we also have relief judges, correct? And what's the difference there, and how do they play into your team?

Speaker 3:

So I am the presiding judge and I'm also the only full-time judge in the city, so I preside over all the cases and I love being in court. So I try and be in court as much as I'm able to be, but there are times when I might have a city meeting that I need to attend. I'm also part of the leadership team for the city and so I attend a lot of leadership team meetings. Or if I'm out of the office for some reason, if I have an outside meeting, or if I take vacation or I'm sick or something along those lines, I need someone to cover my court docket. So I have what's called a relief judge come in to cover the docket for me.

Speaker 3:

A relief judge I say it's kind of similar to being a substitute teacher A relief judge comes in and substitutes for me when I'm out of court. They have to be an attorney, they are sworn in as a judge and they have the same qualifications that I do, if you will, and they're bound by the same ethical rules and guidelines that I'm bound by as well. Right now I have about three full-time relief judges. We just hired two additional ones, which is super exciting for me, but they're an incredible team of people that cover for me when I'm out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I believe we have a ballot measure that the city is looking at as it relates to relief judges, because we have kind of a unique way that the code is written right when it comes to relief judges in Arvada they have to be residents of the city. And can you share with us a little bit about what would be on that ballot initiative as it relates to relief judges?

Speaker 3:

Sure. So embedded in our city charter, which was created in 1963, we have a requirement that all judges of the municipal court, whether it be the presiding judge, the associate judge or relief judges, they all have to be residents of the city. Historically, I think it was a very well-intended measure to be part of the city charter. I can tell you, across the state we have about 215 municipal courts and only four municipal courts across the state require their judges to be a resident of the city, and I think it's Greeley, pueblo, arvada, and there's one other I can't remember offhand, I think Glendale. There's a couple others. Boulder requires the judge to be a resident of the county, but every other city across the state does not have a residency requirement.

Speaker 3:

There are benefits to residency requirement. Some of the perceived benefits are that you have greater community investment. Some are that you have better ease of access to the judge because they're a resident. I'll tell you, the flip side of that is it's awkward for me when I'm walking through the grocery store and I run into defendants. It's very awkward. So the ease of access isn't always a good thing, but I think it was a very well-intended part of our charter. The downside is that I'm having a really hard time finding relief judges who meet those qualifications. We've done a whole bunch of job postings to try and get more relief judges, since I only have or up until recently I only had three, and most people who would apply either weren't a resident of the city or didn't have a law license.

Speaker 3:

And those are just two absolute requirements. I think there's a lot of downsides and pitfalls with that residency requirement. I think you reduce your applicant pool significantly. There's a reduced diversity of perspective. If you have a residency requirement, it's very hard to find and attract other relief judges who are qualified. I mean other cities of comparable sizes like Lakewood, westminster. So cities similar size Thornton have 14, 15, up to 18, 20 relief judges and the only difference is that they don't have a residency requirement. We do.

Speaker 3:

So it's a lot easier for them to attract relief judges who are qualified to do it. The concern is if, for some reason, I can't be in court and I can't find a relief judge to cover for me, then we have to cancel court, and that's never ideal. We've had to do that once so far this year and that's worst case scenario.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

So the ballot measure is to try and remove that residency requirement, both for the presiding judge, associate judges and relief judges both for the presiding judge, associate judges and relief judges. And a quick background on my own story on that was that when I was hired by the city, I believed I lived in the city. I'd lived in the city since 2009. I was hired in 2021. We started out living in Five Parks neighborhood and then we moved to a neighborhood called Westwood Estates which is on the northwest corner of 72nd and Indiana. My very first day of work at the city of Nevada, someone broke into our house, which was very concerning and alarming, and my kids were home at the time and my husband was home because it was in the middle of COVID, so everyone was working or going to school from home. So I went home over lunch and the sheriff's department was there at my house, not the police department.

Speaker 3:

And everything that was going on was so overwhelming for me that it didn't register with me on that day. Wow, Like, why isn't the police department? So a couple of days later, Mark Devon, who was the city manager at the time, pulled me aside and said do you realize? You don't live in the city. I'm like, of course I do. I'm in 72nd.

Speaker 3:

Indiana, it's the heart of the city and he was like no, you actually live in unincorporated Jefferson County. Obviously I should have known that was on me, and so at the time my options were to resign or move. I believed in this job. I was so grateful for the opportunity that we did move, and I now live a mile west in the city. But the point being with that story is that I'm not more or less of a judge just because I happen to live a mile west. I'm still passionate about serving the city. I'm still passionate about this community. I still believe in serving our citizens and bringing justice to our community and making sure that it's safer. It was just a bummer in my case.

Speaker 2:

What an interesting way to find that out. I know, right, right. I mean, if you look at a map, there are these random little pockets that are unincorporated, and so to find that out with a sheriff office at your house and not the PD, that's a trip. But it shows how committed you are to the position and that you're willing to relocate into the city just to keep that job and fit the requirement.

Speaker 3:

I had a long conversation with my mom. There's a lot of tears, don't get me wrong, because we had just moved into that house a year prior and had done a lot of work on the house to kind of make it our own. And I talked to my mom and she said you know, home is where your family is and she's like you can make any house fabulous. She's a New Yorker, you can make any house fabulous. And so we moved, we redecorated the new house and life is good. My family, they were grumpy for a while but it's all good now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. And so for our listeners, they can expect that on the ballot come this November, right, yeah?

Speaker 3:

So we are asking our city council to approve it to be a ballot measure that will hopefully go through in August and then it will come before the citizens of Arvada to either approve and reject this ballot measure and ultimately the question is will you approve doing away with the residency requirement for judges all judges in the city? And again there's some positives to it. But the other thing I'd mention is there are also downsides to me living in the community. Part of my things that have come up since I started is that I've always been very active in the community. I'm on a whole bunch of nonprofit boards. Most of them are sports related because I've got kids who I've raised in the community. But I ran the Five Parks Piranhas for years. I am the president of the Ralston Valley football team. I'm on the booster club for Ralston Valley lacrosse. You know I was on the board for Robbie's Hope. I've been very active and involved in the community and you get to know a lot of people that way.

Speaker 3:

And my kids have gone to public school in Nevada throughout their entire lives and so I see people I know in court all the time and that's just an inherent conflict. My judicial ethics require me to raise that conflict. When anyone I know comes into the courtroom and I raise the conflict, I have to have both parties, so both the city attorney and the defendant. I have to disclose the nature of the conflict. A perfect example is yesterday. I have five of my son's friends in court during our traffic docket Five, that was a big day. Yeah, it's normally one or two, but five of them in court yesterday. Summer is here.

Speaker 1:

Summer is here and they're all picking up traffic violations.

Speaker 3:

But for every single case I have to raise the conflict, disclose the nature of the conflict, and either side can ask for another judge to hear the case, or either side can waive the conflict and allow me to hear the case.

Speaker 3:

Most of the time it's a traffic violation. There's standardized fines and people waive the conflict. But if I'm to be a fact finder let's say any one of those individuals decided they wanted a trial and it was a court trial I then am in a position to determine facts and to determine credibility and once that happens, I'm out, I have to recuse myself. So when I recuse myself, that means a relief judge has to come in and substitute for me, which is another reason why we need a good amount of relief judges and why having the judge be a local resident isn't always ideal, especially if you're involved in the community. It just happens on a regular basis and the same thing.

Speaker 3:

Every single one of my relief judges have lived in the community for a very long time, so they have those conflicts come in as well, where they see people they know or a lot of them are private attorneys who previously represented someone and former clients are coming into the courtroom. Conflicts arise on a regular basis. Going back to what I said at the beginning, arvada is a small town. Everyone, it feels like everyone knows everyone and when that happens it feels good to live in a community like that. But on the flip side, it's not always great when you're the judge.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that sort of context around it too, right, because it's not just about allowing you to go on vacation or some of those other duties assigned that you mentioned earlier, and we do have a webpage devoted to this potential ballot measure that we'll link in the show notes. People can learn more about it. It shows about you know Westminster and comparable towns and how many relief judges they have. Perfect.

Speaker 3:

And I'm always happy to answer questions for people if they've got concerns or want more understanding about it. But ultimately we're not trying to change things. I just want to make sure that we have a fair judiciary, that people have trust in our process, that they know that our judges are impartial and unbiased and that we have enough judges to cover so that we don't ever have to cancel court.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and then shifting gears a little bit. We mentioned the One Small Step court program at the top of the show, but we wanted to explore a little bit more in depth now. So tell us more about that program, because I believe you had a hand in getting it started.

Speaker 3:

Sure, so the city attorney's office actually started it long before I was there and then it kind of took a pause during COVID Court, took a pause during COVID Court, took a pause during COVID for a couple months there, but we restarted it up back in the fall of 2021. And I had had experience working in specialty court dockets, both in state court when I was a prosecutor and in other municipal courts when I was working as a relief judge. And so my goal really with that, as we were kind of restarting it and recreating it and reshaping what it looked like was really to provide that balance of enhancing community safety with making sure that we're addressing the needs of the individual. In this case, every single one of our defendants who receives a ticket, they're ticketed into our docket. So if the officer has a concern that they may be housing, unstable or what they call literally homeless at the time their ticket date is on our OSS docket. Defendants are given the option of doing the program or not. They don't have to. It's 100% voluntary if they're interested. But the goal of it is to shift the sentencing. So instead of doing our normal sentencing like fines, community service work classes, treatment which is mandated, instead we just say come on Tuesdays, come every Tuesday. So there is certainly some accountability and structure to the program. They're required to come every single Tuesday and then the rest is voluntary. We ask that they meet with our case managers. We ask that we meet with our supervising probation officer. We ask that they meet with treatment providers for substance use disorder or mental health treatment. We've got Benefits in Action Community Table a whole bunch of nonprofits who are there to provide services and resources if they're interested.

Speaker 3:

I've learned a lot over the past several years with a lot of these individuals who are struggling with substance use disorder or mental health treatment. You cannot force treatment. I mean you could. It's not very productive and the outcomes aren't that great. But you can offer voluntary services and when people voluntarily engage the outcomes are much better. So a lot of our defendants are in the program. Sometimes you know they just need a helping hand and they were housing and stable and we get them back on the right course and they're employed and they get housed and it's a pretty simplified process.

Speaker 3:

Some of our defendants have been on the streets homeless for 10, 15 years. Those are much harder and sometimes that requires a much longer investment in time and honestly, for some of them, the first six, seven, eight months is them just coming in and checking in with me and really not making progress. But over that time period we're building trust and rapport so that when they start to make progress they really have that investment in themselves at that point. You know, it's interesting because I have a couple defendants that I thought man, I'm just not quite sure we're ever going to get there with this individual, just because their life trauma, their life histories are so traumatic and just so deeply ingrained in a life of instability that I thought are we really going to be able to make change here? And I've seen a couple recently who were, and that is the most rewarding thing on earth, just to see.

Speaker 3:

I've got two defendants who I'm thinking of offhand, who I just thought man, they just have such significant either fentanyl or methamphetamine addictions and that just seems like an impossible hill to climb. And so when they're able to make that shift and make that change, this one guy, dylan, that we've been working with for years, was recently stabilized, went into treatment, is now living in housing. He started working. It's so cool to witness, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

It's just really, really cool and we work as a multidisciplinary team. We've got our homeless case resolution managers, We've got the police department core team, the city attorneys, our nonprofit partners and our probation officer and they do an incredible job helping support these individuals. Our case managers and our probation officer do a lot of life skills class, or classes, I should say, that really holistically support our defendants so that they can get to a better place in life.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think that really speaks to the overlap, like we had Hudson and Alex on a while ago for the handlessness case managers. But the overlap between all of these coordinated efforts that are happening and just a different approach to I was like our value of innovation was coming up for me A hundred percent right. And just thinking about different ways of doing things to better support everybody over the long run. That makes our community safer and it supports that individual, which is kind of what you said at the beginning.

Speaker 3:

It's just great, and a lot of courts have really shifted recently to do those specialty court dockets because I think people are recognizing you don't always have to do the same criminal justice approach. You can shift the focus and it feels weird at first. Right, you're like, oh, there's no consequences. What's really happening, and what I try to explain to people, is there's actually a lot more accountability and structure by requiring these people to come in every single Tuesday than there would be if I just said go do some community service work. And, by the way, we haven't helped you make any changes in your life and so you're still reoffending and committing crimes Like that to me is banging your head against a wall, right. But if we can get this person to a better place in life, they're less likely to reoffend and therefore the community safer.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's great. So, last but certainly not least, we like to offer the opportunity for all of our guests If there's any misconceptions or just other information that you'd like to share with our listeners.

Speaker 3:

I think it's important People. It always surprises me that people seem very nervous to come into court because I'm like it's just municipal court, it's not a big deal, right, but it's not something. They're psyched about coming. They don't love getting a ticket. You know what have you? I always liken it to going to the dentist office. No one likes it, but sometimes it's unnecessary. You got to do it.

Speaker 3:

From my judicial perspective, my philosophy is that the majority of people who come in front of me they're really good people who just happen to make a bad choice on this day, and I really believe that our goal, especially in municipal court, is to give people the support and resources they need to do better moving forward. My motto in juvenile court but it applies in other courts as well is own it, fix it, forget it, own it, take responsibility for your actions. When a juvenile can come into my court and own it and take responsibility, it just is such a beautiful thing to witness. I love seeing that. Fix it, do what you need to do to fix it. You know, if you are speeding, what do you need to do to figure out how dangerous that is and the danger you pose to yourself and the community members. So do what you need to do to fix that and then forget it.

Speaker 3:

I think that's the most important part of this is whatever you did to bring you into the courtroom, it doesn't define who you are as a human being. I think sometimes my fear with people especially, again, juveniles is they'll think, gosh, this must mean that I'm a bad person because I committed a theft or I got in a fight at school or I possess marijuana. No, not at all. It's not about what you did, but it's how you grow from that. That defines who you are as a human being. And I think that applies most significantly for juveniles, because I think that message is really important, but also for adults. You know, just own what you did, do what you need to do to fix it and then move on. And again, our goal is always balancing the needs of the community, community safety, with getting people to a better place in life, and I believe we can do that in the justice system. I believe in it with all of my heart, and so anything that we can do to support people to be better and do better, that's our job.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think that's a great ending message and really can apply for a lot of us in life.

Speaker 3:

It does Even outside of the court system. I use it on my kids on occasion I was going to say Own it, fix it, forget it guys.

Speaker 2:

Own it, Own your stuff Right.

Speaker 1:

Take responsibility.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Well, Judge Kurtz, thank you so much for coming on with us today.

Speaker 3:

We really appreciate it, thank you, thank you guys for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much Before we let you go. As a reminder, hearing from our listeners. You can stay in touch by texting us using the link at the top of each episode. You can also reach out via email at podcastsarvadaorg. We love hearing your feedback about what you enjoy, what you'd like to see different or maybe some future episode ideas. And on to our news and events segment.

Speaker 2:

Our Movies Around Town series continues Friday, august 8th with Happy Gilmore at Bridgeside Park. The movie will begin approximately 8.45pm with live music before that. This is a free showing hosted by Arvada Festival's Commission. We also have our People's Choice Movie pull-up as well and you can help decide what will be shown at the final Movies Around Town event on August 29th. And High Tea for Seniors is coming up on August 9th from 1-3pm. This event is for Arvada residents 85 years and younger excuse me, 85 years and older to mix and mingle and enjoy some music and some food and desserts. If you know anyone who's interested, have them reach out to our special events manager, adele Burton. But be quick about it because our RSVPs for that event are due here on July 25th.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and then coming up, August 5th is National Night Out, and so this is an opportunity where the police and fire department you can request one of the members of the police or fire department to come to your neighborhood event whether that's a block party, barbecue or anything else happening in your neighborhood and meet with community members, and so we'll put a link, as with all of this, in the show notes. There is a form to request attendance from a member of either of those departments for the event. And then the final bulky item event of this year is Saturday, august 16th, from 9 am to 2 pm at the North Area Athletic Complex. As always, proof of residency is required, and then a list of acceptable items is available online, with more information at arvadagov. Thank you again to our guest today, judge Catherine Kurtz. Be sure to listen to the next episode with our city forester, ian McDonald. He's going to tell us a little bit more about Emerald Ash Borer and what's going on with our city trees. So today's podcast was edited and recorded by Arvada Media Services.

Speaker 2:

And today's fun fact is that Judge Kurtz became Arvada's first female presiding municipal judge when she was appointed to her position by city council in 2021.

Speaker 1:

Whoa.