It is again Tuesday, #Boulder. A city council study session tonight, not a full meeting. And yet, I fear it will still be a long one.
V low energy today.
Hopefully these delicious mashed potatoes I'm eating will help.
Anyway, two things on the agenda: Discussing a library district (as a means of securing more stable funding for the library) and muni wrap-up/Xcel partnership next steps.
Pre-meeting chatter: Councilman Wallach describing the confusion and logistics involved in getting vaccinated for COVID. (He just got his first shot)
He went to Aurora. "I would have driven to Oklahoma," he jokes.
Swetlik breaks in with his own funny: "I'm shocked that our system has trouble managing our health," he says. "Just shocked."
Oh, these jokesters.
Anyway, our pre-meeting Sigh-O-Meter is already at 3.25. Heavy topic.
Councilwoman Friend is leading this study session.
I did read a @9NEWS story (and include it in this weekend's Beat) about a Colorado man who apparently DID build a website to centralize all available appointments. In case you're interested. 9news.com/article/news/l…
Haven't tested it, as I'm not eligible for a vaccine yet. But have at it.
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You can learn more about the finalists — Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde from Austin, TX and Kevin Jackson from Long Beach, Calif. — in this story. I'm also going to share a bit more of what I know about both cities in this thread b4 the meeting starts.
First of all, they're both WAY bigger than Boulder, which is interesting. Some stats:
Last chance to apply for the resident advisory panel to assist Xcel and Boulder's energy work. Also in this thread: Details on plans for burying power lines and changing streetlights to LED. threadreaderapp.com/thread/1364419…
Applications for this panel close Friday.
Also, no thread, but we'll have a new city attorney by June.
Looks like we'll have a new one by June, which should overlap nicely with Carr's retirement.
Some discussion among council about sticking with the current recruitment firm for the city attorney as for the city manager since, as Wallach says, it's slightly different.
That went by fast. Anyway, the muni ended with November vote to re-enter an Xcel franchise after 10 years. But you know what they (OK, me) say: It's not over until the general fund is repaid.
Anyway, the library. As you might remember, the formation of a library district (a separate gov't entity with a dedicated tax) has been a topic for many a year.
The reason is that the library has been chronically underfunded, proponents of a district say. I've done quite a bit of coverage on this, but not in awhile. Council last visited the topic in Feb. 2020. boulderbeat.news/2020/02/15/cou…
The Library Master Plan, adopted in 2018, ID’d that the library needs more money and a more stable source of funding to meet its goals for continued and expanded service (like branches in Gunbarrel, etc.)