[BoulderCouncilHotline] Anticipated absence & thoughts on this week's meeting

[Friend, Rachel]

Dear Hotline readers,

I am sorry that I will be missing the Boulder City Council meeting on Thursday November 17, 2022, but I wanted to share a few thoughts in advance, in case they may be of use:


  *   Call to Order & Roll Call, Items 1A-1C: As both Council Member Wallach and I will be absent this week, I support the processes and motions needed to move the Mayor Pro Tem election to December 1, 2022. Rescheduling this vote would be in keeping with the Council’s ordinary practice of moving votes pursuant to requests when Council members anticipate an absence. I am happy to continue to serve as Mayor Pro Tem for an extra two weeks (only one of which is a council work week, due to Thanksgiving recess) to facilitate this extension. In any event, I appreciate my colleagues’ consideration of the request to reschedule the vote so we can all be there to participate!



  *   Consent Agenda, Item 3D: This is a motion to approve the summary of our October 27, 2022 study session on middle income housing. The memo indicates that next steps on this topic include community engagement beginning next month (December 2022). The memo also states that staff will “Explore the concept of homeownership in the engagement process to help answer the question, ‘do we want more affordable homeownership units or affordable rental units?’” However, I am not sure that we indicated majority support for adding that engagement inquiry. We already have such a dearth of for-purchase affordable and middle income housing units, so I am loathe to slow down creation of these units while we consider why people might prefer purchasing versus renting. Given that the last few study sessions have stressed how thin-stretched we are on staffing levels (which in turn challenge our ability to move our work plan forward), I would ask that Council consider whether the articulated engagement is something that council intended to bump ahead of other engagement / P&DS-related items on our work list. I would welcome a community partner (such as CU-Boulder) to undertake the inquiry of the pros and cons of affordable and middle income housing stock as owned versus rented. Or perhaps the City could delve into the question when staffing burdens are not hampering our work plan efforts; but it is not something I would include as part of our community engagement at this time due to predictable ripple effects (inevitably, delay to something else).



  *   Consent Agenda, Item 3I: This is a motion to approve performance evaluations and salary adjustments for the three staff members who report directly to City Council: City Manager, City Attorney and Municipal Judge. I just want to extend my sincerest gratitude to City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde, City Attorney Teresa Tate, and Municipal Judge Linda Cooke, for the outstanding work they do day after day on behalf of our community. I support the recommended salary increases for each.


  *   Consent Agenda, Item 3K: This is a motion to approve the summary of our October 27, 2022 study session on Boards & Commissions processes. The 4th question staff asked was: “Does council support a pilot program through November 2023 in which one council member serves as a liaison to a board or commission, with a goal of bringing back lessons learned before the 2024 retreat?” The summary of the answer we gave to this question was: “Unanimous support to explore liaison program models and bringing models to council for consideration and approval.” I have just a slight concern that the summary does not capture that council rejected the staff recommendation for any sort of “continued pilot” prior to Council revisiting this issue. I think it would be helpful to clarify that aspect in order to avoid any confusion.


  *   Public Hearing, Item 5B: Regarding disposable bag fee ordinance amendments, where we state that “Retail food establishment does not include … Hunting camps and other outdoor recreation locations where food is prepared in the field rather than at a fixed base of operation” – do we have locations within the city of Boulder where this applies? If not, I would recommend striking that portion. Other than that small change, I support staff’s recommended motion and ordinance changes.


  *   Additional Materials, Information Item A: This is an information packet regarding a Day Service Center which the City of Boulder is endeavoring to stand up. The staff memo states that “The goal of the Day Service Center is to end the homelessness for the people who engage with the services the center. This will involve drawing unsheltered adults out of unlawful camping by creating a welcoming and inclusive space within which to engage with service providers.…” I sure hope that many people who use the day service center will move along the path towards attaining permanent housing! But I also envisioned the space we are creating as a safe place where people who lack shelter can perhaps sometimes simply … be ... during the day. If the stated primary goal for this new space will be exits out of homelessness, I worry about whether we might need to attach strings relating to that goal, to achieve outcomes. For example, might we require some version of coordinated entry participation (which in turn might limit the number of times a person could visit the space? Or curb interest in visiting the space at all?)? I do not recall whether we articulated a primary goal of this space at our retreat, so apologies if we did and this is settled. But in case it’s not settled, I am hoping we can check in to confirm whether the stated goal in the memo syncs up with Council’s vision/goals. I think this isn’t the right time and place for me to set forth goals or outcomes metrics I might choose; rather I am just flagging the issue before we proceed further down the path. With this being an IP, perhaps it would warrant CAC scheduling some time for Council to discuss this at a subsequent meeting. I would be delighted if Council could check in under Matters or the debrief portion of the 11/17/22 meeting to weigh in on whether you all would like to schedule this for further discussion / clarification.

Finally, if anyone is interested in updates or information from the conference I am attending, I’ve been trying to post as I go<https://mstdn.social/@RachelFriend/109346982944496420>.

Warmly,
Rachel Friend (she)
(720) 601-0163

[Text  Description automatically generated with low confidence]

Office Hours<https://calendly.com/bouldercitycouncil/officehours>
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“Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country.  This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.” ~Thurgood Marshall

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