The Edgewater City Council met Tuesday, April 2nd for the first of two scheduled business meetings this month. All members were present for the meeting. Unfortunately, from the start of the meeting through the public comment portion, all microphones were muted, meaning that there was no sound for all virtual attendees.
The sound was turned on around the time communications from city staff started. Chief Sonstegard started, using his time to congratulate Edgewater Police Officer Sandi Santti on completing her field training, after being sidelined several months with health issues, and on her upcoming first solo shift.
City Manager Maples spoke next. He informed the council that Community Services Director Kit Lammers, was currently in Minnesota completing certification to become an ADA inspector. Mr. Maples also sought Council Members to help on the upcoming city survey. Finally, Mr. Maples noted the lack of reports in the council’s most recent packet from the city, saying he was seeking feedback from the council on what reports were helpful, and which were not, in hopes of streamlining the packet a bit.
There were no updates from Boards and Commissions, but Mayor Conklin had multiple updates from membership organizations including DRCOG, Metro Mayors, and CC4CA. Mayor Conklin also referred to a DRCOG email regarding program funding for Colorado Seniors.
Next came a presentation about the Housing Homelessness Navigator from Kory Solar and Maddy Horgan.
Next on the agenda was the first reading of Ordinance 2024-03, the purchase of 2447 Benton Street. Mayor Conklin asked City Manager Maples to offer a brief overview of “how we got here.” Mr. Maples gave a brief summary of the timeline, starting with the property owner approaching the city to see if there was interest, which was then taken to an executive session, after which an appraisal was approved during a regular meeting. Resident Karen Hing took the podium to ask exactly why the city was purchasing the property. The long and short of the answers was that this property came to them, there are no plans for it yet, but the opportunity to acquire a parcel connected to the recently purchased 5540 W. 25th Avenue was too good to pass up. Several members of the Council spoke up to voice their agreement with the purchase with some reasons given that it was low risk and a sound investment, should the city decide in the future not to keep it. With that, a vote was taken and the first reading passed unanimously. There will be a 2nd reading of this ordinance before the property is purchased.
There were no more public comments so the meeting moved to Mayor and Council comments. There were thanks to the presenters for the Homelessness Navigator update, Happy Easter and Trans Visibility Day well wishes, thanks to public commenters regarding grocery prices (the portion of the virtual meeting that was muted) and many general statements about how nice it was to see Councilperson Berg back.
After a brief discussion about upcoming agenda items, the business meeting was adjourned. City Council will next meet on 4/16/24. Meetings are at 6:30 p.m. and can be attended in person at the Civic Center or virtually through the city website
I made a public comment requesting the City Council investigate the feasibility of eliminating the sales tax on groceries.
Karen Lipfert
Edgewater Resident
I would like to thank Karen for her comment to City Council and championing for an affordable community, and I look forward to hearing back from City Staff after they research eliminating sales tax on groceries.
I would also like to note that a large part of my Council comment, not mentioned in this article, pertained to public transport including that I signed the CML letter for “partnership not preemption” after reading the various proposed land-use house bills. I also related my recent positive experiences using the bus system, the potential for public transportation to be another way to support affordability in our community, and the issue with the lack of frequency of our bus lines.