The Mayor's Mixtape-Episode 49

Episode 49 of the Mayor's Mixtape covers the City Council meeting from Monday, February 23. Mayor Graham talks about the new appointment of a new HR Director, contracts with HSPPR and Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment, and a grant award for new lighting at Benedict Park. Plus what does change to half cent sales tax criteria ordinance mean?

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Transcript

Haley Sue Robinson 0:07

Welcome to the 49th episode of the Mayor's Mixtape. I am Haley Sue Robinson, Director of Public Affairs for the City of Pueblo.

Mayor, Heather Graham 0:14

And I'm Heather Graham, City of Pueblo Mayor.

Council Recap And Park Upgrades

Haley Sue Robinson 0:17

And it's just the two of us. We don't have a guest today. That was a little surprising for us. We've been on the on the guest train for a little while. So I do want to remind the listener that you can find us on Apple, YouTube, Spotify, BuzzSprout, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find us on local channel 17. And don't forget, you can email us mayor@ pueblo.us if you have a question or topic suggestion. We would love to hear from you. Mayor, last night we had City Council. It was a long meeting, but not a late night. Because we have the new format, so I was very excited about that. But there were a couple of important topics and ordinances passed last night. One thing in particular was we uh welcomed our new HR director, Bella Trujillo. Um so that was exciting. Um and then also we received a grant from the Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority for lighting at Benedict Park. Um Steven Meier, our parks director, said that that will be kind of an ongoing project uh through the summer and then we'll start to see work maybe in the fall. Um so I would anticipate that we see uh a project completion probably early next year, maybe.

Mayor, Heather Graham 1:45

Probably for the lights.

Haley Sue Robinson 1:46

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 1:47

Um but the the rest of the park is gonna be a little more elaborate.

Haley Sue Robinson 1:52

I know there's going to be um path upgrades as far as like concrete pathway around the park. Um they're gonna have some fencing, the hub new equipment, um benches, and then like was approved last night, the uh lighting for the park as well. So um I know that the uh Bojon Foundation has been working on that, uh big community group who has put a lot of effort into this. So exciting to receive that grant and see some community investment um kind of adjacent to our building back Bessemer area. So or I would say maybe included in the building back bessemer area.

Mayor, Heather Graham 2:34

Right over the bridge.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:35

Yeah, so uh that will be that will be exciting. Um also we had two contracts approved, um, one for the health department, um, which is our uh contractual obligation that we have with uh Pueblo County as well. Um and then HSPPR.

Mayor, Heather Graham 2:54

Yep.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:55

Um and that was just follow-up from the uh uh budget approval from the fall, correct?

Mayor, Heather Graham 3:02

Yeah, so those are yearly contracts that have to be approved um three ways. So between us, the county, and then the entity for both of those. So we had to wait to see what the county funding was gonna be before we put it in the contract.

Contracts With County And HSPPR

Haley Sue Robinson 3:18

Understood. Okay, great. Um finally, I think the biggest topic of the night, it was also the last ordinance on the agenda was the update to the criteria ordinance for the half cent sales tax. Uh this is the third time that we saw this come forward to city council, but it passed uh five to two. So I thought we could maybe talk a little bit about that.

Mayor, Heather Graham 3:41

Exciting, exciting. It's a new it's a new day here in Pueblo, Colorado.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:45

It is.

Half-Cent Tax Criteria Passes

Mayor, Heather Graham 3:46

Um big thanks to the city council members who share the same vision as President Aliff would say about trying to bring different types of economic development into the community and not just primary jobs.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:59

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:00

Um we know primary jobs are a huge part of it, but we have uh sixty-four million dollars sitting in the bank.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:07

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:07

Um and we think that we can use some of that money to incentivize other businesses who are gonna be sales tax drivers, uh, economic catalysts, economic leakage, and placemaking. So maybe small businesses, um health care, like Counselor Danti spoke about last night, vet services, um, those types of things will now fall and be able to be incentivized through the city of Pueblo.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:33

And I think um one thing in particular that is important to note is that there was clarification that this doesn't take away from the city's effort to incentivize primary jobs.

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:44

Right.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:44

Those are important. Um it's just an additional tool. And and um an expansion of the criteria. Is that maybe the correct term?

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:55

It's been expanded um three other times.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:58

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:58

Uh one for the RTA, so uh that's how it's

Haley Sue Robinson 5:02

which gave us the convention center, right?

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:04

Convention center, boat house.

Haley Sue Robinson 5:06

Yeah.

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:06

Um for the COVID loans. So the city took five million dollars out of the half cents half cent sales tax that was repaid uh to give grants and loans during COVID. And then they also did an addition to add eight hundred dollars uh per primary job for training in kids. So those were three amendments that have been made probably over the last ten years.

Haley Sue Robinson 5:31

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:32

So this is just another amendment to the criteria.

Haley Sue Robinson 5:36

Great. Um

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:37

Which city council has the sole authority to do.

Who Controls The Funds

Haley Sue Robinson 5:40

I think that was another um really important uh point that was clarified last night is that um some folks are confused about who has authority over the half cent sales tax, who does it belong to. Um it belongs to us, the the voters. Um and when I say us, I don't mean us as in you and you and I. Um I think that's another thing that was uh misconception was that suddenly this money was going to belong to you as the mayor, um, or that this 15% would then be um your discretionary uh pot of money that you could um allocate. It's my understanding that you don't have any money that you can just allocate.

Mayor, Heather Graham 6:30

Yeah, everything has to be approved by

Haley Sue Robinson 6:32

It all goes through city council.

Mayor, Heather Graham 6:34

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 6:35

Okay. So you have a dollar. You don't have any special funds, you have no discretionary funds. I know you have the mayor's contingency, um, but that's approved in the budget by city council prior to you spending it.

Mayor, Heather Graham 6:49

That has to be used for nonprofit uh work if we get invited to an event or I think city council has used my contingency more than I have.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:01

Sure. I know there's been times.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:03

Uh we'll okay, we'll do twenty five hundred if the mayor will do twenty five hundred of the yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:06

Yeah, they volunteer your contingency.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:10

Um it's all the same, but

Haley Sue Robinson 7:11

Which is good.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:12

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:12

I I think uh I think that investment is good. There's been times where it's for special events or community events, so that's those are

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:20

we used it to to bring the the warthog?

Haley Sue Robinson 7:24

Oh yes, yeah. We used it for the the warthog, we've used it for the um hot air balloon fest for Chili Fest. Um

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:33

Sometimes it's like a match to whatever city council's giving.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:36

Great. Uh so you don't have uh authority over this funding? City council has a authority over the funding. They've always had authority over the funding.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:49

I know people are confused because PEDCO was the city's um

Haley Sue Robinson 7:54

economic arm.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:56

Yeah. And you hear oh the PEDCO money, but quite frankly, it's not the PEDCO money, it's the city's money.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:02

And there were some folks that um spoke up and said that they understood it wasn't PEDCO money, and then there were other folks

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:09

that kept calling it PEDCO

Haley Sue Robinson 8:10

were confused about it.

No New Tax Clarified

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:12

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:12

Um I also saw a lot of confusion yesterday you posted on your uh Facebook page, and so folks were very confused that this was a new tax um or that the the taxes were being raised, and so there was some clarification that um the half cent sales tax was approved by voters uh again to be extended in November of 2025. Um that was set to ex uh expire after this year in 2026. So it it extends five years beginning in 2027.

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:45

Correct.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:46

Uh so there is no new tax, correct? Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:51

No new tax. Existing tax.

Economic Leakage Explained

Haley Sue Robinson 8:53

Great. Um and I know we've talked about this here on the podcast. We do have some new listeners and some new followers, so I know it it sounds like we're beating a dead horse for our folks who have listened to us from the very beginning, but can you talk a little bit about the the three expanded criteria as far as placemaking, economic catalyst, and economic leakage? What does that mean?

Mayor, Heather Graham 9:14

So economic leakage is when we talk about people within the community who are taking their money elsewhere. So whether you're going to Colorado Springs to go shop at Trader Joe's um or Costco uh because you find that you can't get those goods and services in our community. Um so we would be able to attract businesses like that to come here and we wouldn't necessarily be giving Costco five million dollar check. You know, we might be buying a piece of land, subdividing it for them, um, doing something that allows them speed to market to move into the community faster than they could somewhere else. Um placemaking is going to be some kind of a amenity where people stay in the community or move to the community because you have this amenity. It could be something like the Riverwalk, it could be something like Jellystone. Um we have uh the developers from Jellystone looking at putting one of those parks here in Pueblo.

Haley Sue Robinson 10:15

Yeah

Placemaking And Tourism Projects

Mayor, Heather Graham 10:15

With the way the criteria was written before, we would never be able to incentivize that kind of a package because it's not primary jobs, it's more tourism-oriented. Um the last one is economic catalysts, so large sales tax drivers. So we know um Starbucks and McDonald's and fast food. Um, the restaurants are high, high sales tax drivers here in our community. And so instead of the city again giving Starbucks a million dollars, we might look at some kind of investment into infrastructure um within the property around them. So the Starbucks that's been sitting on the boulevard um that was ready to open the day after Thanksgiving, it's still closed, they're waiting to install a traffic signal um across the boulevard at Mirror right there, which is gonna be about two and a half million dollars. Um so they're on the hook for that now. So this original idea for this ordinance came when we knew that there was gonna be several businesses coming on the boulevard, and how could the city um expedite that process to bring these businesses here when it comes to infrastructure requirements by CDOT? And so it was my proposal that we put the infrastructure in and then enter in development agreements with these developers, paid back over an amount of time, you would pay the half-cent sales tax, but the city would be putting in the infrastructure.

Haley Sue Robinson 11:38

Okay.

Catalysts And Infrastructure Deals

Growing The Tax Base, Not Just Jobs

Mayor, Heather Graham 11:38

You would all get to open. Um, not one developer would be on the hook for all of the money, um, and we'd start to see some new businesses go up, sales tax increase in the area, right? Uh but unfortunately the previous city council did not agree that that was a way. I keep hearing um you're trying to incentivize retail jobs. Um what we're trying to do is grow our tax base. So whatever we have to do, a job is a job. And um we want people to spend money in our community, we want to keep the money in our community, we want to grow the tax revenue that's being spent in our community. So you have to look at different avenues than just primary jobs. Um the primary job attraction was great 20 years ago, um, but we heard two different counselors last night, Councilman Hernandez and President Aliff, talk about the city's population, you know, only growing 8,000 people in the last 20 years. So you have to ask yourselves, what were the primary jobs doing? Where were these families? Why wasn't our growth much more than just 8,000? Um and I think a lot of it has to do with the primary employers that we have. Um, as soon as one opens, they they offer bonuses and you see these same manufacturers go from train to CS Winds to Evraz and whoever's you know offering the higher pay at that time, that's where these people are gonna are gonna go.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:10

It's mixed from inside the community. There's not a lot of folks from outside the community.

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:13

Yeah, how could there be if your population's only grown 8,000 and we've incentivized big corporations like Train, Evraz, CS Winds. Um we're not saying new people move here. Um our population is is just plateauing. So I don't know how they explain that with the primary job theory.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:33

Okay. I think one thing um that was really important that you just mentioned was uh folks have really been against this retail job um incentive. However, you talked about specifically what's on the boulevard. It we would enter into an agreement so that incentive would actually get paid back to the half cent sales tax.

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:57

I mean city council could decide that 50% of the investment is coming from the city, 50% is gonna come from you. So over the next 10 years you're gonna pay the city back the two million dollars.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:06

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 14:07

Um or fifty percent of that money. However, city council sees best to um incentivize development.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:14

Okay. So there um can be some stipulations of how those incentives are uh dispersed or how it um potentially pays back the half cent sales tax fund. Because I think that's another um sticking point for a lot of folks is we don't want to just spend all this money all at once, um, which I think maybe you agree with as well. Um

Mayor, Heather Graham 14:36

That's where there's a cap.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:37

Right. And so that fifteen percent then allows us to um still have the rest of the fund to incentivize primary jobs and um ensure that we are not just emptying the half cent sales tax fund all at once.

Mayor, Heather Graham 14:52

Yeah, since I've been the mayor, uh we've used the half-cent sales tax two different times.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:56

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 14:56

Um so one time was for the boathouse, we took three million out, and then one time most recently for the airport renovation.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:04

Got it.

Payback Structures And Caps

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:04

Um so that was about seven million dollars in total. So um we have sixty-four million of unencumbered in there as of yesterday. Um we would be sitting well above seventy million if we wouldn't have done those two projects, which are gonna be two great uh assets to the community, two new amenities uh that would have never um would have never got done without being able to use the half cent sales tax.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:31

Sure. Okay, great. Um anything else that you think you want to clarify about the criteria ordinance or anything else you want to say about what it looks like potentially moving forward?

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:43

No, I'm just uh super thankful that City Council um shares the same vision that I do and uh they want to work together and try to bring new ideas to the community. Um I like their ideas um and I'm here to help them get those types of projects done.

Current Balance And Recent Uses

Haley Sue Robinson 15:59

Great. Okay. Um couple of upcoming events, or at least one on the horizon, uh, tomorrow. Uh Wednesday, February 25th, is the public transit open house at Barkman Library in the community room from 5.30 to 7. Uh you can come to the open house and ask your zero emissions questions about the new hybrid buses. Um we also have a plan for a new uh bus facility in the future, and so talking about those plans and our fleet upgrades for public transit. Um we also have the city council uh work retreat on Saturday. That's from 8 to 3 at the Public Convention Center, um, and that will be live streamed on the city's Facebook page and available for folks to attend in person if they would like to as well. Um anything else I'm missing, Mayor?

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:51

I don't think so.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:52

Not today.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:52

Not today. I I get to do something cool today.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:54

Oh, tell us.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:55

Yeah, I'm gonna go out to the fire tower.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:57

Oh, cool. The training facility?

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:59

Yeah, with the fire department and city council.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:02

Great.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:03

Um so we're that's where I'm headed next.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:05

That's a really cool location.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:07

Yeah, see what they do out there, try to lift a fire hose.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:10

Those are heavy, so good luck. Um also don't let them convince you that you should climb up the ladder truck, okay?

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:18

Okay.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:18

Okay. I know there's a harness, but don't do it.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:22

Okay.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:22

Okay. Leave it to the professionals. All right, okay. Just for my own peace of mind.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:27

Okay.

Events: Transit Open House And Retreat

Haley Sue Robinson 17:27

All right. Thanks. Um, I'd like to invite our listeners to email us with uh questions or topic suggestions, mayor@pueblo.us, and you can find us on Buzzsprout, YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Um make sure you like, subscribe, and share with your friends. And we will see you next week for episode 50.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:49

Wow.