The Mayor's Mixtape-Episode 61

Episode 61 of the Mayor's Mixtape give a recap of the City Council meeting from Tuesday, May 26. Plan to join Mayor Heather Graham for one of the four town halls about the budget. First meeting is Wednesday, May 27 at the George Williams Banquet Hall at 5:30 p.m.

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Transcript

Welcome And How To Listen

Haley Sue Robinson 0:07

Welcome to the 61st episode of the Mayor's Mixtape. I'm Haley Sue Robinson, Director of Public Affairs for the City of Pueblo.

Mayor, Heather Graham 0:15

I'm Heather Graham, City of Pueblo Mayor.

Brian McCain 0:17

Brian McCain, Chief of Staff.

Haley Sue Robinson 0:20

And I want to remind the listener you can find us on YouTube, BuzzSprout, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch us on local channel 17. And don't forget, if you have questions or topic suggestions, you can email us, mayor @pueblo.us.

Why Project Falcon Is Delayed

Haley Sue Robinson 0:37

Mayor, last night we had pretty full council chambers to start uh the meeting last night. Um I think maybe we should just come right out and talk about it. Um and maybe address why the Project Falcon MOU was not on the agenda last night.

Mayor, Heather Graham 0:53

Mm-hmm. Yeah, uh I don't I'm not really sure when the council chambers were so full of PEDCO board members. Um but I would assume it's because a council member called them and asked them to come and cheer them on is what I would assume. So um yeah, Project Falcon, so the big the big the big project that everyone's talking about in the community that we can't talk about because we're all under NDA. Um the reason that it's not on the agenda is because Project Falcon um has not agreed to allow City Council to talk about what the project manufactures.

Haley Sue Robinson 1:32

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 1:33

Um and that's really an important part um when you're going to be having public hearings uh to talk about incentivizing a company at $65 million in half-cent sales tax funds uh to come into our community. City council needs the latitude um to be able to discuss that on the dais. The public needs to know uh what this company manufactures, and then they need to be able to weigh in on whether they want that type of manufacturing in the community, um, that they want to use all the half cent sales tax fund to incentivize. And I think that they want to know what other types of incentive packages are they getting uh throughout the community, right? Because it's all taxpayer dollars, whether it's Pueblo County, Renewal Authority, um, City of Pueblo, State of Colorado, um this is the people's money. And so I think that in order for city council to make a non-biased decision, which I think is going to be very hard, um, because I do have city councilors um talking to Project Falcon, sending Project Falcon confidential city information. Um and so I think it's gonna be kind of hard for a couple, maybe three or four of these council people, uh, to come in with an open mind and hear from the public on whether they want to see this type of incentive package roll forward.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:07

And the reason this MOU was not on the agenda is because we can't talk about what type of manufacturer they are.

Mayor, Heather Graham 3:15

Yep.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:15

Um but what does it look like, I guess, for next steps or or where are we in this process?

Mayor, Heather Graham 3:22

City is will try to negotiate the NDA uh to allow us. They have you know given us certain talking points that we can't talk about. Councilman Hernandez pretty much touched on all of those talking points last night in his uh commentary. Um but at the end of the day, that doesn't give the community a picture, the overall picture, the magnitude of this project. Um and I think the most important thing for the community to know is um what these jobs are gonna be making.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:54

Sure. So um we're will there be a work session or will we see uh will it just come up on first reading?

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:03

It'll come up on um first reading, I would assume, if we can work through that NDA process.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:09

Sure. Okay. And then that's when um the public will have the opportunity to learn more about Project Falcon. And then um the MOU is separate from an actual agreement?

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:23

Yeah, so the MOU is non-binding.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:27

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:27

Um and as I said last night, it really just signals to the community and the other taxing entities that the city of Pueblo um is willing to do 65 million and it kind of will put into play what everybody else needs to do. So

Haley Sue Robinson 4:42

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:43

Um, a lot of moving parts, um, a lot of people, a lot of entities wanting to see what move the city makes first before they're even willing to have discussions with their boards. Um it's costly to do the studies and the plans, etc. So um I think once the city decides, uh that will really signal to the community moving forward what that looks like. And then you'll see a whole nother uh incentive package come to the agenda that will have their name, the company's name, um, and all of the information at that time, it all has to be public um when those agreements come before city council.

Haley Sue Robinson 5:29

Okay. So it would no longer the ordinance that would come before council would no longer say Project Falcon, it would say the name of the company and who were entering the agreement with.

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:43

It has to say the name. Yeah, and it has to have all of the specifics within the job incentive agreement, just like all the other ones.

Haley Sue Robinson 5:43

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:44

So you're looking at probably two more votes uh from City Council before it even happens.

Haley Sue Robinson 5:52

Okay. So um that's next steps, and we'll see what happens next.

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:58

Yeah. Yeah, I la last night was interesting, you know, we had uh a citizen come up and you know talk about how the city has no expertise when it comes to economic development, which I thought was particularly rude. Um because the city is is trying to pick up the pieces, right? I mean, we we're in the middle of a lawsuit uh with PEDCO because they committed fraud. Um and still, still you have people showing up to city council um to support that effort. And I just I can't imagine um why that is. It's it's it's like trickery. Um but when they talk about the city not being experts in anything, I mean, it is the city who does all of the horizontal work for all of these economic development projects, right? Whether people want to believe it or not when it comes to annexation, subdivision, wastewater, stormwater, utilities, it is the city of Pueblo who orchestrates all of that work. Um that's done. So um I think we have some pretty amazing people who work for the city who are intelligent and are experts um within their own field. Um, I mean, I'm not even an expert, and I can tell you that um the city the city's come a long way when it comes to economic development and what we've been able to do just in the last year. Um whether it's bringing primary jobs or other things that tie into economic development. I mean, for citizens to show up at city council and, you know, say the city's the worst ever, that's just that's unfortunate and unnecessary and completely uncalled for.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:47

Okay. I don't think

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:48

If you want to know how I really felt.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:50

Yeah, I was just gonna say I don't think we're confused about how you feel, Mayor.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:53

I'm just I'm disappointed.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:54

Yeah.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:54

Yeah, I'm disappointed. Um but so I guess we'll hear what the court has to say about all of that um moving forward and maybe that'll be a little more eye-opening for the community uh when we get to that point.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:10

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:10

Um but until then, Advance Pueblo is still here. Will still be here, even though uh Councilman Gomez, I think, tried to order a cease and desist on the mayor saying Advance Pueblo or having anything to do with Advanced Pueblo, which is really against my First Amendment rights, so I'm not sure how he's gonna play that one off, but uh TBD.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:31

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:32

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:33

We'll find out an update on that one.

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:34

I can't wait.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:36

I think uh maybe what I may do is go back and listen to this episode and listen to how many times you say advanced pueblo and and then we'll have like a guessing game, like a little clip.

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:46

Yeah, I mean, uh yeah, it's like regardless of what I want to call anything within my office as the mayor of this community, city council thinking they can limit my free speech. I mean, they might get themselves in trouble.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:03

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 9:03

Yeah. TBD?

Haley Sue Robinson 9:06

Okay.

Council Highlights E-Bikes And Connectivity

Haley Sue Robinson 9:07

Well, that's how uh council started. Um it wasn't a super long night, um, but we had some really good things that happened last night. Um we had something that I call essentially like a cleanup ordinance last night um with uh Steven Meyer, our director of parks, about um e-bikes on paths that are not bike paths or river trails. Um formerly in the ordinance it said by the director, unless uh specified or permitted by the director. So uh we cleaned it up to say the director of parks and recreation because otherwise it was just like who is that director?

Mayor, Heather Graham 9:46

Maybe it was you?

Haley Sue Robinson 9:47

Maybe it was me.

Mayor, Heather Graham 9:48

Director of Public Affairs.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:49

Yeah. It's maybe

Mayor, Heather Graham 9:50

Bikes.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:51

That'd be cool. Is that a public affair?

Mayor, Heather Graham 9:53

I think it might be.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:55

I think it could be.

Mayor, Heather Graham 9:56

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:56

But thankfully last night we cleaned it up. Now we know that it's the director of parks and recreation. So um I did want to bring that one up though, because recently you have heard a lot of uh feedback, I would say, about e-bikes. Um we went to a middle school about two weeks ago, and I think you probably fielded close to 10 to 15 questions about your feelings on e-bikes. So at first when they asked these questions, I was thinking of e-bikes like in this ordinance, which is like electric pedal-assist bikes, right? Uh yeah, that's not what the students were talking about. And they wanted you to uh

Mayor, Heather Graham 10:37

make dirt bikes legal,

Haley Sue Robinson 10:39

legalize dirt bikes, electric dirt bikes.

Mayor, Heather Graham 10:42

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 10:43

Yeah. Um so I you know I didn't know if we were gonna have any kids show up last night and say, Mayor, yeah. Make it legal.

Mayor, Heather Graham 10:50

You did it.

Haley Sue Robinson 10:51

Yeah. Yeah. Um so I thought I'd bring that one up. Um also we had um two ordinance passed about the West Side Connector project. Um, that is the RAISE grant, which is one of the largest grants the city has ever received. So we've already done some of that project with um updates to um transit with uh bus stops and um ADA compliance, and now we're starting the uh next phase of development. And one one thing in particular was the design for the BNSF, the um railway, and uh the building of an overpass. Um so that was passed last night. I know there's gonna be additional information coming about the West Side Connector Project, but um you know that's that's exciting because for years, um, and I mean still even now, it's just been really difficult to access the West Side. And um, you know, from here at City Hall, uh getting over to Fire Station 11, you gotta take

Mayor, Heather Graham 11:55

Park, go through the park,

Haley Sue Robinson 11:57

go a back road or down the boulevard, and it's like big and around, and it's not a very direct route. So um, you know, it it seems like this is a long process, but at the same time, we've been waiting, you know, decades for anything to happen with uh connection from downtown to the west side. So good to see some progress happening there.

City Park Restrooms And Skate Park

Haley Sue Robinson 12:18

Um we also uh council had a 7-0 vote for the MOU with uh Friends of City Park and the uh Historic Public Inc. group. Um I think one thing in particular that was um maybe misunderstood and and I saw some chatter online too was that maybe you were gatekeeping this uh this MOU to come forward. I know we discussed it um previously um on a on a podcast that they were waiting for their nonprofit status. Um

Mayor, Heather Graham 12:51

They just don't have it, yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:53

Yeah, so that's why um Historic Pueblo was brought on as a fellow nonprofit so that they could accept grant funds.

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:00

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:01

So um I just thought maybe we should clarify that as well. That it wasn't necessarily about the Mayor's

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:09

Mayor's information.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:10

Yeah, the mayor's

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:12

You know, I thought uh Counselor Boston's questions were on point though about what happens if they don't raise the money.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:18

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:19

And the second that they spend one dollar of that grant, if they receive it, um, that puts a historical landmark on that property for twenty-five years.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:28

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:28

And the city will have to go in and use city dollars um to then fix the property. So I thought that was I thought that was that was a good question. I was, you know, surprised um that that hasn't been thought through um by the rest of city council about what happens, you know, if they don't

Haley Sue Robinson 13:51

If the funding's not secured.

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:52

raise the funding and it's not secured, is the city how is the city going to go in and make those restrooms operational again? So, but hopefully we don't get to that point and hopefully uh Friends of City Park um are able to restore it and um we have working bathrooms next summer. I think he said it would be done.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:13

Yeah. Um hopefully in time for uh the state tennis tournament. Um I think we normally host that in May.

Mayor, Heather Graham 14:21

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:21

Um so yeah, that would be great. Um okay. We also uh had an ordinance approving the um Morningstar Creations uh Vinewood Park skateboard park. Um and that uh came through a a grant funded with Colorado Health Foundation. Um I know this is something that folks have been looking forward to, and um it's more in a in a neighborhood park rather than uh say at City Park or even at El Centro where we see um other skateboard park amenities, so um that's exciting for the community as well.

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:00

Yeah, Brian, I think Brian in the back, and yeah, he's been working hard to get this project done, so kudos.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:06

Yeah. And great to see um him secure a grant to do the funding for this as well. So well it it was kind of short and sweet otherwise um for city council last night. Was there anything else you wanted to add, Mayor?

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:23

Um no, I think we covered all that.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:26

We kinda covered it. Yeah.

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:28

Short meeting.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:29

Yeah.

Funding The Fallen Officer Memorial

Haley Sue Robinson 15:31

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:31

Oh when you had the first reading of the fallen officer.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:35

Oh yes, yeah, we had that last week.

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:37

Yeah, memorial. So um I went to that um celebration memorial on the fifteenth of May. And uh, you know, decided that it was time to try to help them get that paid for. So

Haley Sue Robinson 15:53

Yeah, that's been something that has been in the works for

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:55

five years.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:56

Yeah, over five years.

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:58

They've raised a hundred and twenty thousand. Um so I've asked city council to fund the the large portion of unfunded um with salary savings from the police department.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:11

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:12

ARPA interest. Um I've asked the county commissioners to fund forty thousand dollars of the project and the renewal authority have to fund twenty-five um out of their downtown reserve. So um hopefully we're gonna see that project uh fully funded after the next regular meeting in June. So um I think it's I think it's great uh for the community.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:36

And uh nice to see some collaboration with multiple entities putting in the funding.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:42

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:42

Cool. That'll be great.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:43

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:44

Okay.

Budget Town Halls And Closing

Haley Sue Robinson 16:45

Um we also have town halls starting tonight. Um we'll be at the George Williams Banquet Hall, which is at City Park. Um, all of your town halls start at 5 30. So we'll start this evening. Um, and then we have one next Tuesday at the Rawlings Library in uh Brett Kelly A Room. Then we have one the following Tuesday on June 9th at Lucero Library, and then we wrap up on Thursday, June 11th at the YMCA. So four different town halls uh talking about budget. Uh folks can come ask you budget questions maybe about 2026, where we are now and then um looking forward to 2027 and what does that look like and um you know potential ideas or concerns or whatever that may look like.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:36

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:36

Okay, great.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:37

It's gonna be more of a networking, working.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:42

Yeah. I well, and I I think uh it'll give an opportunity for folks to get some clarification.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:47

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:47

Maybe ask some very specific questions that they have about their neighborhood or something that um is important to them.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:55

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:55

And so they'll be able to ask those questions. Great. Um anything else you want to add, Mayor?

Mayor, Heather Graham 18:01

That's it.

Haley Sue Robinson 18:02

Okay, that sounds good. Uh, want to remind you, you can find us on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Buzz Sprout, wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us on local channel 17. If you have questions, topics, suggestions, you can email us, mayor @pueblo.us, and we'll see you next week.