The Edgewater City Council met for their regular bi-monthly business meeting Tuesday, November 14th. A quorum was present, with just Councilman Berg not in attendance.
First on the docket was communications from city staff. Police Chief Sonstegard spoke briefly in praise of the recent Naloxone (NARCAN) training offered by the city. 14 Edgewater citizens attended, and were issued Naloxone upon completion of the training. Chief Sonstegard also specifically praised Councilwoman Gay-Keao as the ‘driving force’ behind the training
Community Director Mills also spoke briefly about upcoming resource guides that will be available to several Venezuelan migrants residing in Edgewater that will help connect them with resources
Up next came public comment on non-agenda items. Edgewater resident Larry Welshon took the podium to express his concern that the new Edgewater landscaping code was pushed through hastily, and assertion that Mayor Beltrone pushed back against stating it had been in the works for quite some time. Wheat Ridge City Councilperson Val Nosler-Beck also spoke virtually informing the council she was attending the meeting in solidarity after the Wheat Ridge City Council meeting the night before had been disrupted by anti-semitic hate speech from virtual commenters.
Up next was the adoption of the Edgewater Mental Health plan. It was adopted with a unanimous vote. Another unanimous vote followed to set the compensation for the audit of the city’s 2021 finances, as dictated by the town charter. The next item was a public hearing required when updating city code, in this case new landscaping requirements for new builds and certain renovations/additions on existing properties. There were no comments from the public and the new code was adopted unanimously by the council
Next came general business. First was a report from the auditor on the city’s 2020 financials. The audit is required under Colorado statute. The goal of the audit is to ‘provide assurance that city’s financials are fairly stated’. The auditor found that city financials were fairly stated with the ‘highest level of assurance’. There was a motion to approve, which passed unanimously. The next general business item concerned the vacancy on the council created with the departure of Councilman Donovan. Under the city charter, the candidate receiving the 5th largest amount of votes is deemed to have been elected, so all 5 candidates from the recent city council election will be seated on the new council. The next order of business was approval of a contract to remodel the police station to accommodate the PD’s growing staff, as current conditions and space are insufficient. This too passed unanimously. The final general business item was the approval of a $3000 grant request by Raw Tools for a Jefferson County Guns to Gardens event where residents can safely surrender any unwanted firearms. The grant was approved unanimously.
Finally were council and mayor comments, after which the business meeting was adjourned.
Mr. Jones, you refer to me as a “resident” of the City of Edgewater. I am actually a citizen. Your characterization of my public comments is, once again, simply a defense of your master. The critical point which you failed to hear is this: two Councilmen wanted to postpone the first reading of the ordinance imposing landscape standards to a future meeting because there were unresolved questions. What I objected to was the fact that the other councilors didn’t bother to deliberate on the motion to postpone which might have made a better ordinance for the City. Out of political loyalty to the outgoing mayor John Beltrone, they voted in lock-step against a reasoned argument to postpone without question.
While on the topic of public comment, I note that you failed to describe my objection to the Raw Tools grant of $3000. This grant will eventually be added to other municipality’s funds to “buy back” guns. The impact? They hope to raise $15,000 for all of Jefferson County to buy back, wait for it, 150 guns. This will have negligible impact. What would have had impact would be for a grant to feed hungry children at the local schools.
The Edgewater Echo has become an agent of the City. Mr. Jones, please either do your “reporting” without bias or state right up front that your organization is the propaganda arm of the City.