Thread by @shayshinecastle

Facilitator Heather Bergman is here, which is always delightful. Everyone loves Heather.

I aspire to be the kind of person who brings joy just by showing up. I doubt that will happen so long as I'm a journalist in Boulder, but a girl can dream...

First: A few announcements.
- Get vaccinated
- Sign up for health care (open enrollment lasts through Jan. 15)
- Apply for a city board/commission (thru Feb. 21)

Links are all in here: documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…

Bergman taking over. We're gonna look at what work is already in progress, including leftovers from *last* council, and then the capacity and priorities for each dept, and all the priorities from CC members.

It's very plan-y and kinda hard to tweet, but also important bc... this is what council/staff will be doing for the next 2 yrs.

It's not "official" until next week's retreat (Jan. 21-22) so, again, no need to follow along if you, you know, have a life.

You can find all that info (or most of that info) here: documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…

Oh, you know what else we're talking about? Board/commission feedback. It was dif this year — just one or two suggested priorities for each board.

Past years have been... intense.

We've started with feedback from Boulder's cultural brokers (actually called community connectors).
Lots of concerns about housing and income, particularly high-interest loans in mobile home parks; health care access; access to the gov't and resources.

Particularly during COVID — lots of concern over lack of access to vax, tests.

Community connectors serve as kind of a link to the city gov't and traditionally under-represented groups. They had pages and pages of notes — so many needs, as you would expect when this many systems are THIS broken.

"It is clear that the city has a lot of possibilities," says Adriana Paolo, through an interpreter, "but there are a lot of needs."

"Together we can build more dignified communities," Paola finishes. (Correct spelling there; misspelled it in the last tweet. My apologies.)

Joseph asks for a clarification on one of Paola's comments: That POC feel left out of services like childcare.

Paola clarifies: Sometimes, for community meetings, etc. there is childcare provided. But POC don't feel welcomed. They feel discriminated against; they don't want to bring their kids there.

Services weren't specified.

What's the process for that if someone feels discriminated against at a business? Joseph asks

NRV: Some cities have offices of human rights with an official process. Boulder doesn't. That's something to think about in the future.

I *do* think there is a system for complaints... I vaguely recall something from the Human Relations Commission, but it's been years since that conversation / story happened.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Ah, yes, here: The city has human rights ordinance that bans discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation. There's a complaint form on this site.
bouldercolorado.gov/services/human…

Moving on: 2022 workplan
Of Council's 14 priorities for last term, 11 were completed; 3 are ongoing. That's a 79% completion rate; 21% carrying over to the next term

MUCH better than the council before that. (I don't have exact numbers for you to definitively say that, but I *know* they did not get that many of their priorities completed.)

NRV reminding council that there is so much city work that goes on; what council wants represents just a sliver of everything that staff does.

"Every department is feeling the strain of lack of staff capacity," NRV says.

True. The feedback from EVERY dept included the difficulty of recruiting and retaining employees.

That's not unique to Boulder, of course, or even municipal gov't. Longmont and Lafayette are also seeing higher turnover than usual. As is, like, the whole U.S.

Not sure exactly how/what to share with you. So much data!

But the bottom line is: Whatever this council WANTS to do, there may be very little staff can actually handle.

"As we hire more people, and our able to expand our currently constrained capacity," we'll be able to complete existing work and do some new stuff, NRV says. So it's bad, but it won't stay that way.

Maybe we'll start with a check-in on ongoing work? (And when things are coming back to council next year)

There are 2022 work 38 items, 16 of which are continuing from the last council's priorities.
(* = leftover)

*Encampment removals
- Q2 update to council, Q3 budgeting

Obviously the city doesn't refer to this as encampment removals, but that's what they are. This is separate from homeless services, its own workplan item.

*Police master plan; 40% complete
- Q1 update to council, Q4 public hearing, adoption

Advanced Life Support services; 25% complete
- Q3 recommendations to/from council

*COVID
- Monthly updates

Joint CU / Boulder police training academy
- Progress and update TBD

Building home program (supports for unhoused ppl who have been housed, to increase retention)
- Q1 update (ARPA funding), Q2 study session (annual homelessness update)

*Factory to build manufactured housing; 30% complete (partnership with Habitat, BVSD)*
- Q1 update

*CIRT (mental health co-response with police) - evaluation for potential expansion; 0% complete
- Q2 funding request of council

Parks & Rec master plan; 75% complete
- Q2 public hearing, adoption

*East Boulder subcommunity plan; 90% complete*
- Q2 public hearing, adoption

*Use tables (what can go where in terms of homes, biz, etc); 50% complete
- Progress, update TBD (project suspended due to staffing shortages)

Planned Unit Development project; 10% complete
- Progress, update TBD

*Regional affordable housing goal
- Q3 update, feedback

*Alpine Balsam: Hospital deconstruction; 50% complete
- Q2 info packet
*Alpine Balsam: infrastructure planning; 20% complete
- Q3 update to council
*Alpine Balsam: BHP agreement
- Q4 study session

CCS tax - nonprofit guidance; 10% complete
- Q1 recommendations to/from council
CCS tax: scope potential capital maintenance projects; 10% complete
- Q2 recommendations to/from council
CCS tax implementation: Recommendations list of projects (arts and capital)
- Q2 budgeting

*Nuisance abatement / Uni Hill quality of life; 20% complete*
- Q3 council public hearing, adoption

Zoning changes to support housing; 0% complete
- Progress, time TBD; staff tradeoffs will be needed

Micromobility; 50% complete
- TBD on council deciding whether to continue scooter pilot

*Vision Zero infrastructure
- TBD on update, progress

Curbside management
- TBD on update, progress

*Emissions reduction; 30% complete
- Q1 study session on extending CAP tax

*Xcel partnership; 15% complete
- Possible Q2 study session to consider streetlight acquisition, other updates

Climate justice / community resilience; 2% complete
- Q3 update to council to inform long-term strategies

Air quality; 30% complete
- Q2 and Q3 study session; potential landscaping equipment ordinance and adopt updating building codes

Single-use plastics (2023 state bag fee, 2024 styrofoam ban); 20% complete
- Q3 study session on Boulder’s bag fee, other policy options

*Racial equity plan implementation; 30% complete
- Q3 update to council, feedback on board/commissions

Tribal relations; 10% complete (2022 plan)
- Ongoing updates, training, consultations

*Library district; 30% complete
- Q1 study session

Smart Cities (internet access, access to city data); 20% complete
- Study session TBD to approve strategy

Fiber buildout phase 2; 10% complete
- Study session TBD to approve strategy

*Facilities master plan; 20% complete
- Q4 study session

Economic sustainability strategy (last updated in 2013); 5% complete
- Q4 study session

ARPA funds; 30% complete
- Q1 update
- Q3 budget briefing
- Q4 budget approval

And lastly... Outdoor dining pilot (3 yrs post-pandemic); 50% complete
- Q1 update
- Q2 budget consideration

Dang, that was a lot. I'm sorry; I should have sifted through that and broken it out by topic (like housing, homelesness, climate, transportation, budget, etc.)

Just finished *taking* those notes during this meeting. Will organize them better for a story.

The city broken them down into seven "values" categories (which is less than helpful for you, or me)
- Liveable
- Safe
- Economically vital
- Accessible & connected
- Environmentally sustainable
- Responsibly governed
- Healthy and socially thriving

Friend q: We're listing CU South and racial equity as complete, but I don't think they are. They're continuing, right?

NRV: Yes, they're ongoing, but council had particular action priorities, like adopting a racial equity plan and passing the CU South annexation.

Both those larger work items continue, tho.

Benjamin: The completion % aren't that helpful, bc even if we're 90% complete, will that last 10% take 2 months or 2 years? Maybe we should have expected completion dates.

I also could dump a crap load of feedback from individual departments — what they're working on and what they have capacity for — but I won't

What you *do* need to know is that ~a half dozen dept have NO or extremely little capacity for anything new, including Housing and Human Services, Planning, Transportation, Police, Library, HR and the city court.

Yates: Council's 2022 priorities don't include things that we know are ongoing. We're only suggesting NEW work items.

Brockett: Are there any things the planning dept is already working on to allow more housing, other than that one item about zoning code changes? (Which staff hasn't started and has no capacity for)

David Gehr, who has returned as interim planning director: Use tables, of course. And we'll make a list for the retreat. "Planners always have a list" of things they'd like "to make more efficient regulation."

V happy to have the extremely nice and knowledgeable Gehr back. But also v sad bc Boulder needs to let this man live his life!!!

Speer: Something I'm thinking about as we look at this list is where the $$ is going to come from. How much are we getting / do we have left from ARPA funds?

NRV: We've allocated $4M, so we have $16M left. We're coming back to you in February with more info.

NRV: And there might be more $$ coming down from the feds, via the infrastructure bill or other grants.

Feb. 8, specifically, is when that update is scheduled

And the later-year update will be in July

Wallach: "As a member of council in 2021, I knew we had done quite a bit. But it wasn't really until I read the staff memo that I got the full flavor of what had been achieved during COVID. I think it was a remarkable performance under the most difficult circumstances imagineable

*Imaginable

"I'd like to congratulate staff for all they did," Wallach says. "This is remarkable."

NRV: "Staff has done so much. But they're tired. And they're overworked." Her priority for 2022 is hiring more people! (And keeping the ones they have.)

Forgot that one of the things I love about Bergman is that she lets us take breaks.

See you back at 7:30, where we'll discover what each council member's priorities for 2022 are.

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