The Mayor's Mixtape-Episode 51

Episode 51 of the Mayor's Mixtape includes a recap from Mayor Heather Graham of the City Council meeting held on Monday, March 9. We answer a question from our listeners and hear about a legislative update from Chief of Staff Brian McCain. 

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Transcript

Opening And Where To Listen

Haley Sue Robinson 0:07

Welcome to the 51st episode of the Mayor's Mixtape. I'm Haley Sue Robinson, Director of Public Affairs for the City of Pueblo. Heather Graham, City of Pueblo Mayor. And uh we also have our chief of staff, Brian McCain, with us today. I forgot to introduce you last week, Brian.

Brian McCain 0:25

It's okay. Hello, I'm here.

City Council Headlines Overview

Haley Sue Robinson 0:27

And then I feel like then we just had the voice behind the mic. Um no balloons this week. Sorry, Mayor. Yeah, what happened to him? We had to take the decorations down because for 151 51. Although Brian did say like maybe we should just have balloons for every episode. Yeah. It'd be kind of fun. Yeah. Um I do want to remind the listener, you can find this podcast on BuzzSprout, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. Um you can also watch on local channel 17. And if you have questions or topic suggestions, um you can reach out to us, mayor@pueblo.us. Okay, so mayor, we had city council meeting last night. Um a few much anticipated resolutions and ordinances. Um one in particular is we officially will have roofs for wastewater. So that was approved. Um we had a couple questions last night about that, but um that includes five buildings. So I know our director of wastewater, Andra Ahrens, was uh very happy about that. Um another thing that was interesting last night was uh council voted down the uh IGA or the intergovernmental agreement um for CSAC. Um we have normally seen that come forward all together. So the IGA and the um approvals for each of the proposals that CSAC recommends for the nonprofits, um, but this time it was separate. Um so what does that look like moving forward? Um that one a little bit threw me for a loop.

Wastewater Facility Roofs Approved

CSAC IGA Rejected And Fallout

Mayor, Heather Graham 2:12

Yeah, so they voted to not enter into the IGA with the county. So what the IGA does is it solidifies the county and the city's funding amount. So the city's was 550, the county's was four thirty-five. Um, and then it also really gives the framework on what nonprofits are funded, sure, how they're funded, how the reporting is, whether the city or the county will run that. Um so the previous week we saw the recommendations for 2026. Um mind you it is soon to be April, so uh four months into the year, and these nonprofits probably should have already been funded. Sure. But we've been waiting for the county. Um so it was surprising to see that city council voted down the agreement that allows the nonprofits to get funded. So I'm not sure if it's gonna be in City Council's purview to then review all 52, I think, applications that were lot um submitted and then make a decision on who they want to fund. Um I'm not sure if they will still fund uh the nonprofits for 2026. I didn't get any indication. I didn't get any indication on where that um was going other than they want they said that they wanted um to turn it back. But I mean they essentially are dissolving um the relationship with CSAC, so I'm not sure who you're going to turn it back to. Okay. So I'll wait to hear what city council plans to do. Um there will be a work session on Monday about the recommendations, and so maybe we can get more direction then.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:07

And we had the um we had the initial uh recommendations with uh Gina Lopez Ferguson. She's the chair of CSAC. Um and then I know uh Melissa Cook kind of went over the the priorities, but um Monday we'll have a a more in-depth conversation of what that encompasses. Okay, great. Um okay. Uh additionally, City Council approved the transfer of the quit claim dream uh deed for the uh Goodnight Barn. Um and it's my understanding that this was essentially mutually beneficial for the city. Um it kind of they didn't approve it. Oh, I'm sorry, they did not approve it. Did I say that I approved it? I did. Okay, sorry. That they did not approve it. Um but it was my understanding that this was going to be a a mutually beneficial uh opportunity for the city.

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:00

So they won a reverter clause added uh into it so that if the good night uh barn nonprofit ever dissolves that the property comes back to the city. So it's well on its way being approved, but they wanted that um contingency added in there.

Haley Sue Robinson 5:17

And they moved that to April. Um and that kind of ensures that uh moving forward when the nonprofit, the goodnight barn um nonprofit that's been established, when they're applying for grants, if for whatever reason in in the future there was an issue, um that property isn't just Yeah. Go by the wayside, yeah, exactly.

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:42

Um but it's gonna be beneficial to the nonprofit to be able to apply for it gives them more flexibility. Um the cities uh it's hard when the city owns a property uh for then the entity who's running the the business or um the barn to receive additional state or federal dollars because it is property of the government already.

Haley Sue Robinson 6:13

Um and I know they've had a lot of um opportunities in the past, like their truck wagon rendezvous, uh they do a lot of school tours and things like that. So they want to do weddings and yeah, making it more of like a destination venue. Um yeah, and and an event space. Um so I I think that's exciting for everyone moving forward.

Mayor, Heather Graham 6:35

The the you know the conversations last night were well this has been funded by taxpayer dollars. Um but really it's been funded by it was f the it was remodeled with a grant. Right. Um and so the the taxpayer money that funds it is the the utilities, which is about fifteen hundred dollars a year um that we pay, it's very minimal. Sure. Um and then large maintenance items we do, as Mr. Hayes said. But the smaller items, um the folks that are are running it, they take care of the day-to-day stuff there.

Goodnight Barn Deed And Reverter

Haley Sue Robinson 7:07

Yeah. Okay, great. I can't believe I I messed that one up. I but I realized I I wrote it down wrong in my question. So thank you for helping. Um also the final ordinance that was approved last night was the uh um PAGE union agreement. Yeah. Um that essentially gave uh a a COLA, a cost of living um increase of 1.75%, but um they essentially agreed to take a zero uh moving forward in 2027, is that correct?

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:39

Yeah. So they they get the the CPI um which is one point seven five this year, um, but we met with all of the unions. Um they understand the city's uh problems for 2027 and they want to be a good partner. Um so they graciously agreed to to take the zero. Um so hopefully we can get the other two unions on board to do the same. Okay. And what does the timeline look like for the other unions? Uh police is going to be coming soon. And then fire um you'll see in June. So Got it. But this is fire's year year to negotiate. Police, this is their second year of their contract. Um, so it's a little bit different for for each of them.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:25

And are those uh two or three year? They're three years. Okay. Yeah. Got it. Okay. Wonderful. Okay. Um also, Mayor, we got a question. Um well, I I guess I should ask, is there anything else you want to add for the city council meeting last night before we go into some questions?

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:46

Um they they pulled a lot of stuff off. They didn't have the um consent and off of first presentation, you know, one of the items that was pulled is the PEDCO uh settlement. And so this has um been something that's been in the works for the last several months, and and Councilor Gomez has had some questions for me about, you know, are you really gonna take their building after 40 years? Um and the qu the answer is that's part of the settlement um that they have agreed to in the litigation. So the city um was going to sue PEDCO um for uh what I would call misappropriation of funds, um, not having funds tied directly back to primary jobs, in which we have been funding them $350,000 a year.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:44

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 9:45

Um they have refused to share their financials with the City in their reporting with the city. Um we requested these documents 11 times last year and were not successful in receiving them. Um and so after digging a little bit deeper, there is a a reverter clause. Since we're talking about reverter clauses, okay. Um on the building that they have, the city gave PEDCO that building uh many years ago with uh a reverter clause in there about having to pay 25% of their uh revenues generated. So it's it's kind of a long story. Um but the reason that it's on the agenda um is because they have agreed to a settlement with the city um in lieu of litigation. Sure.

Union COLA And 2027 Constraints

Haley Sue Robinson 10:33

And you mentioned one thing in particular that um Councilor Gomez brought up as well is um whether this piece of property would be uh revenue generating for the city. So you just mentioned uh 25% of the lease agreement. Um so we have folks that are tenants in that building with PEDCO right now, so when the city takes over, um we would take over those leases. Yep.

Mayor, Heather Graham 11:01

So there's multiple businesses. Um I don't have the list. We that hasn't been shared with us at this point, or how much uh each individual office pays, but I do have their overall financials, and I can tell you that um the revenues that they generate for from their rent um can pay for the property uh their expenses. And there's additional expenses in there that the city uh would not have to pay. Okay. And so um I look forward to seeing who's in the building, what they're doing in the building. Uh the BTC is a Business Technology Center. Right. Um hopefully we can get some businesses to come in there and um utilize the space. Yeah, maybe it's uh an incubator for uh new businesses that want to come to the community. Sure. Like you see in other communities, business incubators. Um so you'll see that on second reading um the end of the month. Um and we'll go from there.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:05

Okay. So that'll be uh second reading March 23rd. Yeah. Great. Okay. Um Mayor, we had a question about what does CAB stand for? Um so a lot of folks uh still refer to the building as the old PBR building. Um and we know that we'll hear that for a while because it it takes some time for um folks to get on board with a new name, but what does CAB stand for for that building?

Mayor, Heather Graham 12:36

City Annex Building. Okay, okay. Annex like additional. So addition in addition to City Hall. Okay, got it.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:44

We had to think of something catchy. So yeah. CAB building. Well, and and then it kind of uh goes along with the fact that we just love acronyms in government, right? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Okay, wonderful. Okay, thanks for explaining that. Um Chief of Staff McCain, do you have a legislative update for us?

PEDCO Settlement And Building Control

Brian McCain 13:03

Yes, real quick. So this is the bill that I spoke about a little bit last podcast. It's House Bill 26-1140. It is um Representative Ty Winners bill, who represents a sliver of Pueblo, a tiny portion there. Um, and it is the local government impact hearing. So the city officially takes a position of support on this. Both um every member of council signed a letter along with the mayor. And as I went over last time, uh reading the kind of the modern updated version of it, what this does is if there is legislation, up to five pieces of legislation, and they impact a local government, if this bill passes, it would require the the leadership, both on the majority and minority side, pick up to five bills and they have no more than two hours. So a hearing of up to two hours with the local governments that it impacts. And it's at the start of it. It will be in front of the committee, not the whole uh Congress or legislature, but in front of the committee that it's uh where you go to see the testimony and where you go up to testify. But what it does is it it basically gives us as a local government to express our views, our support, or opposition on this legislation. Um it designates the time at the beginning of the hearing so we don't have to sit up there until one in the morning and talk for three minutes. Yeah. Sometimes it's five minutes, but in the mayor's experience and the city staff experience, you sit up there for eight hours and you get three minutes to speak. And you need a lot more time than three minutes to talk about these bills. So it is on second reading today. So hopefully with our support and some support of the other communities, that they'll actually move this forward. Um there there is some bipartisan support on it, which makes it hopeful. We didn't think it would get this far. I don't know why. This seems like common sense. So um we back this and hopefully it passes.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:56

So is this the kind of thing that um when we see uh legislation passed and we complain about like unfunded mandates, we we could bring that forward and express that?

Brian McCain 15:07

Yes. So unfunded mandates, um burdis burdensome regulations. So um an example, there's some bills this session and last session that really impacts our ability to create local laws and enforce them.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:21

Sure.

Brian McCain 15:21

Uh that's very particular to our community. And again, last year going up, we got what, three minutes to talk after.

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:29

I mean, it's embarrassing. You go, you spend all of this time, they're not even listening to you, they're taking selfies, they're eating their to-go steaks up on their dais, not even listening, and almost like mocking you when you're up there talking. It's like ridiculous. But um, yeah, that's what we get, three minutes, and then we might get some crude questions back to us. Yep. Um So this this gives the um solid time.

Brian McCain 15:58

Yep, no less than one hour, no more than two hours. Great. Which you can say a lot in two hours. And it and speaking, you can say a lot in an hour. Yeah, and specifically for the local governments or an organization that represents local governments, which is going to be CML for municipalities and CCI for counties.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:15

Okay. Great.

Brian McCain 16:17

So yeah, so we'll have an update next week on if it moves forward or if they kill it.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:23

Okay. That sounds great.

Brian McCain 16:24

That's all I got.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:25

Okay. Uh anything else, Mayor, that you want to add? No. No? Okay. Uh we do have a um town hall later this week on Thursday at 6 o'clock at station four with the fire department um talking about fire mitigation and being ready if uh there was a fire in your home, how to make a go bag, and sign up for emergency notifications. Um we will also have that live streamed on the Facebook page for the fire department. So join us if you are able. Um and I'd like to remind the listener you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, BuzzSprout, wherever you get your podcasts. Um, you can watch us on channel 17. And if you have questions, email us at mayor @pueblo.us. And we'll see you next week.