The Mayor's Mixtape-Episode 67

Mayor Graham gives a recap of the City Council meeting from Monday, July 13. Mayor Graham explains next steps for the Pueblo Memorial Airport Rules and Regulations, Minimum Standards and Fee Schedules. An open comment period will be held on Thursday, July 30 8-10am and Friday, July 31 from 10am-12pm in City Council Chambers. 

 Council accepted and approved the largest grant in the City's history of over $19 million for the fleet replacement program with Pueblo Transit. Plus what are next steps for economic development in the City of Pueblo? Also, Mayor Graham explains next steps for the Dittmer building and the employee health clinic. 

Transcript

Welcome And Where To Listen

Haley Sue Robinson 0:07

Welcome to the 67th episode of Mayor's Mixtape. I'm 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.

Brian McCain 0:16

Brian McCain, Chief of Staff.

Haley Sue Robinson 0:17

And I want to remind you, you can find us on Apple, YouTube, BuzzSprout, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch us on Local Channel 17. Please like, subscribe, share with your friends, and you can email us, mayor @pueblo.us, for questions or topic suggestions for the podcast. Mayor, last night we had a pretty long agenda. It was a little bit of a late night. There were 20 ordinances on final reading. One was tabled indefinitely, and we had three that were moved to a final reading in August. And I thought maybe we would start with those three that were moved to August because you opened the meeting with that in regard to the airport.

Airport Rules Paused For Feedback

Mayor, Heather Graham 1:05

Yep.

Haley Sue Robinson 1:05

So can you talk a little bit about that?

Mayor, Heather Graham 1:07

Yeah. So at our municipal airport, our fine are our fines, our fees, fines and fees, our fee structure, our rules and regulations, and our minimum standards have not been updated since the 1970s. So our aviation department and law department has been working on getting standards prepared and rules and regulations for city council approval. In doing so, we also need to make sure that we're including the stakeholders. So our tenants at the airport, whether that be uh general aviation or our commercial tenants that we have out at the airport, making sure that they um had a chance to review, submit comments, um, tell us things they liked, tell us things that they didn't like about our new proposed changes. Um and the reason for these changes is really um has to do with our new airport renovation, um, our AMT school um and our uh EAS Central Air Services that we have with Denver Denver Air Connection. So all of these entities require um that these uh standards, uh rules and regulations be uh more up to date than the last 50 years. So uh that's what we've been working on for quite some time. Um it's been brought to my attention that the tenants feel like they didn't have an opportune time to um review and provide commentary. So we pulled the agenda items until August 24th.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:40

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 2:40

We now have a specific email that comes straight to me um for them to produce comments. Uh so that opened yesterday, or Friday actually. Um so the comment period will be for the next month. Um we are also going to have two two-hour open sessions in city council chambers on July 30th and July 31st. Okay. From 8 to 10 and then 10 to 12, where tenants can come and uh provide feedback in person if they don't want to do it uh via email and if they want to have more of a one-on-one conversation. Um so I pulled those ordinances to allow for additional time for them to come in and speak.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:17

Great. And it seemed like uh we had quite a few folks who were in attendance last night um from the airport and uh it seemed like they were satisfied with that approach and

Mayor, Heather Graham 3:28

Well it's specifically what they uh what they requested. So um we're giving the extra time just to make sure everybody has the opportunity.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:37

Great. Okay. That sounds good. Um

Record Grant Brings New Bus Fleet

Haley Sue Robinson 3:41

additionally, one of our really exciting uh ordinances um that were passed last night uh regarding Pueblo transit um for the new uh bus upgrades, our largest, the city's largest grant award that we've ever received with the combination of the federal funds and the state funds of over $19 million. Um that was really impressive last night. You know, I I know we talked about this was it late December or early January?

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:12

No, it was last year.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:13

Okay. That we were notified of this award, but um now we're able to accept it. City council is able to accept it and appropriate it to move forward. Um and I also thought it was interesting just how our director of transit, Ben Valdez, talked about how we've been unsuccessful a few times with uh receiving grant awards for a building uh to fund that, and so they kind of flipped it on its head. Um but really exciting to finally move forward with that and what that looks like for Pueblo transit for the future.

Mayor, Heather Graham 4:51

Yeah, it's uh the largest grant that the city has ever received. I feel like it was really underplayed last night, and we should have had a big celebration um about an entire new fleet. I don't know if a city council realized that that's what that was. I know uh councilor Ruiz -Gomez came in last Friday and said, you know, before she even thought about running for city council and she was following uh things that the city was doing, that that was one of the things that she was most excited for was for the city to receive a new fleet.

Haley Sue Robinson 5:21

Yeah.

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:21

Um so I know it takes a while before things are passed through city council and um I I I just uh just kudos to to Ben and his team and uh Luann Martinez, our our only grant rider at the City of Pueblo who's um been very successful in getting us these large dollar amounts. At the city, really would uh we would never be able to pay for that. We would never be able to um redo an entire fleet of buses.

Haley Sue Robinson 5:50

You know, one or one or two buses here or there, maybe up to three buses, but um you know, sixteen buses, twelve buses, like that's pretty impressive.

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:58

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 5:59

The other thing that I I thought was interesting that was pointed out too, and and we hear this a lot at the city, is you know, expanding our bus hours and um expanding our routes. And so Councilor Ruiz -Gomez brought it up last night to uh Ben and said, you know, when can we expand our hours? And so he he kind of laid that groundwork and just said, first we have to bring on more buses, which brings on more operators that then expands our ability to serve the community um further. And so I think that's important for folks to understand too, is it's all part of a plan of how do we better serve Pueblo and and make that happen. Um and this this fleet transition plan is really the catalyst for it. This that's why it's so impressive that we received this funding.

Mayor, Heather Graham 6:45

Right. Yeah. Super exciting.

Haley Sue Robinson 6:47

We're very excited.

Mayor, Heather Graham 6:48

Now we just need a new bus station.

Haley Sue Robinson 6:50

Yes.

Mayor, Heather Graham 6:50

We'll work on that next.

Haley Sue Robinson 6:51

Yep, that's the next process. You know, and and we've had a couple of open houses and um some conversation with the community of what that looks like for a future site. So um we'll have more of that on the way.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:04

Great.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:06

Okay. Um

Economic Development Plan Vote Fails

Haley Sue Robinson 7:07

also, Mayor, we had a failed five to two vote for the 400,000 economic development strategic plan. Um so I thought maybe you would like to speak about that just a little bit.

Mayor, Heather Graham 7:19

Yeah, so I mean, we know that economic development has been a contentious talking point between the administration and city council um for several months, right? I mean last year City Council wanted to they passed a resolution to issue a new RFQ for new economic development partners um for using the existing partner if they had chosen to um to fulfill the application. Um in September I ended the contract um with PEDCO uh for different reasons. Um and con when January came uh we put out an RFQ for qualifications for uh new consultant, new partner, see what that would look like you know, to then put together an RFP. I think we've talked talked about that in depth and we talked about it again last night. Um but what's really transpired is we really don't have a plan moving forward on what that looks like, or do I feel like we really had a plan before? Um and so, you know, staff put together uh uh excellent proposal for city council to vote on last night using half cent sales tax funds to vote, uh to pay a consultant to design a strategic plan for economic development when it comes to the city and really combining all of our assets um to make sure that when we do find a partner, if we ever find a partner, um, that we have something to present to them. Uh it's the city, city owns it, um, for them to utilize as a tool to move forward to bring companies, uh, bring primary jobs, bring retail, um, and use our half cent sales tax fund uh uh period. Um, right, because the money's just sitting there right now and has been for quite some time. Um unfortunately city council did not agree that that was the path that they wanted to choose for to move forward. So really at this point, um it's I'm exhausted. City staff's exhausted um on what city council wants to do moving forward. So at this point the ball is in city council's um arena to to decide on what they want to do and what works best for them when it comes to economic development. Um but at this point we have done everything within our ability to try to appease them, um, bring a plan forward, create an RFQ. Um, you know, now they want to do an RFP. Well, that's just going to take city council actually working and putting that together of what they think that they want to see. Uh you know, five to two, that that vote was crazy to me for as much conversation as we have about economic development and moving uh the community forward. Five to two tells me that you're satisfied with how stagnant this community has been for the last 40 years. Um and it's gonna remain that way. If city council does not want to uh put a plan together themselves or support a plan that the administration it is putting together, that city council could then be part of that plan and part of that process. Um so at this point it's in city council's hands, which is scary, I know. Um but I think that they proved last night that they they want to do this, um they want to create something um that's just not in line with what the city wants to to create. So I look forward to seeing what types of proposals or what types of answers they have moving forward because they're going to um I'm going to direct all of that to to city council now and and and what they want to do moving forward.

Haley Sue Robinson 11:11

Okay. So can you also provide some clarification? There I I think there's a little bit of confusion about the conversation that took place last night. Um what what is the difference between the economic development plan that was proposed to be funded and the regional comprehensive plan that was discussed last night?

Comprehensive Plan Versus Growth Strategy

Mayor, Heather Graham 11:33

Yeah, well I don't know if anybody's looked at the regional comprehensive plan from

Haley Sue Robinson 11:37

Over 400 pages from my understanding

Mayor, Heather Graham 11:38

But I mean you can just really just pick any page and have a glance at it. It's about housing, zoning, um what growth could potentially look like and where it's going to expand in our community.

Haley Sue Robinson 11:52

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 11:53

But it does not tell us, hey, these are assets that you should be out there selling to uh prospects and projects. Things have changed tremendously in the last four years. We have new development going on all over our community. We have new infrastructure being put in all of our community that is going to change the way uh the growth is is platted from 2024 to we're halfway through 2026. I mean, that plan is about to be five years old at this at this point, but it's a it's a comprehensive plan. It's not an economic development study or plan or something tangible that um a partner is going to come in and say, what are your assets? What kind of water do you have? What are your resources? What kind of cash incentives do you have? What kind of TAF fees do you have? What's your workforce look like? Who's providing your workforce? Um what's your education system like?

Haley Sue Robinson 12:46

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 12:47

That's that's not in there. A regional comprehension plan is is not that. Um it it has to do with zoning and

Brian McCain 12:56

Excuse me. Um it basically lays out how what the vision of Pueblo is to grow and expand, and not just Pueblo City, but Pueblo County. So if you want to go back to the four years and what's not relevant now, part of like a big piece of this was agriculture, investing in agriculture and as we know now, living in a drought and with different regulations and restrictions coming down from the state, like expanding agriculture is a lot more difficult now than it was four years ago.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:26

It's a lot more costly now.

Brian McCain 13:28

It is. And it's it it can always be used as a supplemental to anything coming in. If somebody came in and were to develop an economic development strategy or plan, they're obviously going to look at that and take that in consideration as they build that. But it's not the same thing.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:43

Okay. And then um, can you also provide clarification on whether the half-cent sales tax fund um can be used and allocated for this $400,000 proposal from last

Half Cent Tax Funds Explained

Haley Sue Robinson 13:58

night?

Mayor, Heather Graham 13:58

Of course it can. Um it's it's uh talked about in the criteria. Um I think President Aliff made an excellent point last night saying that um it uh let us not forget that we've been paying PEDCO uh $350,000 a year to do um exactly this, right? Um create a plan, create a create a uh a frame, uh an outline of what our community has to offer. That's that's part of the marketing and the advertising for our community. Um so as he said last night, whether we're paying somebody additional funds, um, whether that be PEDCO or a new partner coming in to put this together, um, we're still paying them that same money is being used to pay whoever is going to put this plan together. Um the city is just going to write a check for the plan and the city will own that plan moving forward.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:57

Okay. I just it it was a long conversation and so I felt like we needed to break it down into a couple of sections.

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:05

Yeah, I think what the confusion was last night is the investment interest earnings that come off of the half cent sales tax account, right? So um sixty-eight million dollars, that gains a lot of interest a year. Um per the ordinance, the criteria, that money can then be transferred to the capital improvement account via city council. Um, and that money can then be used for capital improvements within the city. It does not have to have anything to do with primary jobs. It is very um it is very specific that that money can be transferred to the capital improvement plan projects. Some of those projects, um, I think that that was what Councilor Hernandez was talking about when we allocate those funds yearly to do capital in the city. I think he was asking is there additional funds that are left over.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:54

Oh, sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:55

Well, that money is I mean, when f the finance department tells me this is how much money you have to use in capital, it is the only capital we're doing within the city. So um we spend every dollar of that uh of that account to to continue capital improvement projects throughout the city. So he was, I believe what he was asking was can we use that capital interest account to pay for this plan?

Haley Sue Robinson 16:23

Right.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:23

Um and I believe that the answer is no, because it is not a capital improvement. It is not um it's a professional service, right? So that needs to be paid specifically out of the half-cent sales tax fund, period.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:36

So not mixing those two funds. Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:39

Two different funds. Um

Haley Sue Robinson 16:41

for two different objectives.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:43

Yes.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:43

Got it. Okay. Anything else that we need to know? I think that helped clarify a little bit.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:49

Yeah, I mean it's it's pretty complex with all of the different uses of the fund. Um but you can you can find all of that um information. I think it's in uh title fourteen of the code where it lays out all of the uh different information about the half-cent sales tax, criteria or uh ordinance, the changes that were made, specifically how the money can be used as it relates to professional services, um land, um placemaking, uh economic catalyst, um, and economic leakage, the newest changes that we've made. It's it's all very black and white.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:32

Okay. Great.

Dittmer Building Repairs For Clinic

Haley Sue Robinson 17:35

Uh additionally, another hot topic from last night was the Dittmer building, and that was uh bone of contention for approval. It was approved uh 6 to 1 after council was able to get some questions answered. It was proposed at one point to delay that vote until August. Um I do believe that the healthcare clinic in the Dittmer building is set to open August 3rd for employees. Um and so that proposal to delay it to August uh failed 6 to 1, and then ultimately uh the vote was passed 5 to 2. Um did you want to talk a little bit more about this project and what that looks like?

Mayor, Heather Graham 18:15

Yeah, I mean essentially the Dittmer building has 16 air conditioner units, eight of them are bad. Um so the building isn't cooling, it's not gonna heat properly.

Haley Sue Robinson 18:27

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 18:27

Um we need to replace those if we're going to be having a health clinic in there. We already have city employees working in the second and the third floor. Um so sometimes these issues come up at the very end. I think Mr. Hayes did a good job of explaining the the coil situation um in their units. Um

Haley Sue Robinson 18:47

and why this wasn't caught in the inspection process.

Mayor, Heather Graham 18:51

Yeah, and how that how that inspection process um works. Um we went through the whole the whole time frame of the money, where the money came from, how the money was allocated, how it's been used um for the last two years. Um and so I think you know, explaining it to council helped um helped and we were able to get that passed so our clinics can open on time. I mean I I know that uh speaking as somebody who was on city council, I know that it can be frustrating when you come to vote and you're like, well, you know, they said that this project wasn't gonna cost anymore or this.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:36

Right.

Mayor, Heather Graham 19:36

Um and so I I I get when when they're cautious. Um but you know, there's also an open line of communication every day of the week. Um if there are additional questions you want to go out and look at something. Um, you know, previously I had had one-on-one meetings with city councilors um and monthly meetings where we would do agenda reviews and sit down and go over each agenda item. Um if there was questions, we would provide documentations. Um all but two of the councilors now have withdrawn from those meetings. So the only ones I meet with are Councilor Boston and Council or Ruiz -Gomez to go over um the agenda items. And so I think that it's really important as city councilors um to have that line of communication and uh continue to meet with the mayor when I was on city council. Um I met with the chief of staff every single week. I'm sure you you remember coming, you remember me coming here every week and I would sit with chief of staff Solano and we would go over every single agenda item so that I understood it to the fullest so that when we got to the city council meetings um my questions were answered. And that's that's what I've offered uh to the city council is to be able to do that. And so I just encourage them if they have questions or concerns, like reach out and have the conversation before so that you don't feel like it just snuck up on you.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:03

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:03

Um and you you didn't have the time to get your uh because we're we're over providers on information. Um weekly, when I think that city council might have a question on something coming forward, I gather all of the information. I highlight it, I send it to them and you know say if you have any additional questions, please reach out. I know this is complex. Um be happy to take you out, be happy to show you documentation, whatever, whatever you need to make you feel um good about the vote you're gonna take. So uh the offer still stands. Um we'll just continue to work through that process.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:39

Okay. Great. Um anything else you want to talk about from last night? I felt like those were the the big pieces.

Mayor, Heather Graham 21:48

Yeah, it was uh I think it was a a good city council meeting. We had a lot of stuff on the agenda. We did. And three executive sessions after we were here till midnight.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:57

Yeah. Yep, it was late.

Bus Wrap Ideas And Team Rivalries

Brian McCain 22:00

I have a question before we go.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:01

All right, ask.

Brian McCain 22:02

This goes back to the buses. Oh, sure. So are we gonna get any cool like wraps on the buses, like a central wildcat bus or a Broncos bus or something like that?

Haley Sue Robinson 22:13

Yeah, we have uh we have a central and we have a centennial, so now we're working on an east and a south. I heard rumor that we're maybe working on a Broncos, a Nuggets, and uh Avalanche.

Mayor, Heather Graham 22:24

What about the Raiders as well?

Haley Sue Robinson 22:27

Uh excuse me, Mayor?

Mayor, Heather Graham 22:30

Just saying.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:31

Did you just say the Raiders?

Mayor, Heather Graham 22:32

Yeah, that's my team.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:34

We live in Pueblo, Colorado, Mayor, and I don't think we need a Raiders bus.

Mayor, Heather Graham 22:41

You know there's a lot of Raiders fans in Pueblo, Colorado so

Haley Sue Robinson 22:41

I know I understand.

Brian McCain 22:44

Yep. I lived on a street and I think there were four Raiders uh mailboxes just next to my house.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:50

It is actually pretty surprising how many Raiders fans we have in Pueblo.

Mayor, Heather Graham 22:53

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:55

I would personally not ride that bus.

Mayor, Heather Graham 22:57

Okay.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:57

Just so you know. I'd wait for the next one.

Mayor, Heather Graham 23:00

Okay.

Haley Sue Robinson 23:01

There's no plans for a Raiders bus. But yes, there are plans for some pretty cool wraps. So I reached out to District 60 to get some color matching and mascots. So we're excited about that. It'll be great. It'll be really good. I'm glad you asked that question. Um anything else, Mayor? Brian?

Mayor, Heather Graham 23:22

I think we covered it.

Haley Sue Robinson 23:24

Okay, great.

Final Reminders And Sign Off

Haley Sue Robinson 23:25

Um well, I just want to remind you that you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, BuzzSprout, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also email us, mayor @pueblo.us, and we will see you next week.