The Edgewater City Council met Tuesday, October 11th, a session originally scheduled for October 4th. Although the dais of the Civic Center was sparsely populated, a quorum was present, with most Council members joining the meeting virtually.
The meeting kicked off with communications from our city staff. Community Services Director Kit Lammers provided a brief update regarding water back flow compliance in Edgewater, informing the council and attendees that although Edgewater had missed some key dates in our back flow compliance, he expected we would be there soon and reiterated that our water is perfectly safe to use. City Manager, Dan Maples, gave an update on Edgewater’s exploration of a local minimum wage. Mr. Maples stated so far the jurisdictional meetings on a local minimum wage had not been well attended, so if you are a local business owner, stakeholder, or community member with thoughts make sure your voice is heard before City Council moves forward with any changes.
Kit Lammers, our Community Services Director since February 2020, was then recognized for being awarded the Public Works Employee of the Year by the Colorado Chapter of the American Public Works Association. Congratulations Kit!
Short presentations were then given by the Principals of Edgewater’s 3 Jeffco Public Schools, Jefferson Junior/High School, Edgewater Elementary, and Lumberg Elementary as well as Joel Newton of the Edgewater Collective (and Chief Editor of the Edgewater Echo). The Principals spoke of promising enrollment numbers, quickly shifting demographics, and gave insights as to what the learning environments in our schools currently look like. Mr. Newton spoke of the upcoming building consolidations in Jeffco Public Schools, which will see students currently in buildings outside Edgewater coming into Edgewater’s buildings. He said that along with the City Manager, Jefferson County School District, and the City of Edgewater the Edgewater Collective will be putting together an RFP (request for proposal) with recommendations regarding these building changes by March 2023.
Public comment on non-agenda items was then opened, with only one comment, also praising Community Services Director Lammers and expressing disappointment that the dais was empty, though it should be noted that all council members were in attendance by the end of the meeting, albeit all but 2 were attending virtually.
Council then moved on to discuss adopting the 2022 Multimodal Sheridan Corridor Plan, which was passed unanimously.
The next item on the agenda was the first reading of an ordinance pertaining to unmanned aircraft, better known as drones. The City Attorneys gave a brief rundown of what this ordinance entails, including a licensing scheme as well as rules for operating a drone weighing more than 0.55 pounds in Edgewater. During public comment citizens raised concerns that this ordinance had not been workshopped but instead went to the first reading. Concerns were also expressed about the ability to enforce any such ordinance. The City Attorney explained that since there are only federal regulations in place regarding drone operation, this would give the city to a mechanism to address any drone related concerns, since it’s unlikely the federal government would be involved. The Council also heard from a citizen who had experiencing problems with a drone in the neighborhood. He had concerns about his deaf father not being able to hear them, his pets, and simply didn’t want a machine with an onboard camera looking onto his property. There was a lively discussion from council members, but ultimately the motion was tabled in favor of workshopping it first, so expect to hear more on Edgewater’s drone regulations.
The business portion of the meeting finished with the unanimous passing of an ordinance to rezone a property on the 2400 block of Fenton from and R1 (single family residence) to an R2 (two family residence).
The night wrapped up with comments from the City Council. There were many congratulations given to Community Services Director Lammers, as well as many thanks given to Edgewater’s principals for taking the time to come in and share what is happening in our schools. There were also many comments on the success of our recent local city events including the Community Festival, the Fall Festival at the Orum House, and the Community Garage Sale.
Find the meeting Agenda here:
Watch a recording of the meeting here:
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