Montrose, CO — City Councilors met for their regular meeting Monday evening, April 4, to consider a purchase of the former Wells Fargo building on Main Street and a number of contracts for city projects. The meeting was held on Monday due to the General Municipal Election being held on Tuesday, April 5.
Councilors Barbara Bynum, Dave Frank, Doug Glaspell, Anthony Russo, and David Reed met in City Council Chambers along with city staff. Members of the public were invited to attend in-person or online via the Zoom platform.
The following is a summary of the primary topics discussed during the meeting.
Watch the meeting here.
PUBLIC COMMENT
No members of the public offered any comment.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the March 14 and March 23 special City Council meetings and the March 15 regular City Council meeting.
The city’s archive of past meeting minutes can be found on the new Public Meetings Portal and at CityofMontrose.org/ArchiveCenter.
HOTEL AND RESTAURANT LIQUOR LICENSE TRANSFER
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve a transfer of a hotel and restaurant liquor license at 1413 East Main Street from Jimmers LLC to Black Canyon Werks LLC, doing business as Jimmers, for consumption on the licensed premises.
The City Council is the local liquor license authority in the city limits. The council held a public hearing before voting to approve the transfer.
RESOLUTION 2022-07
City Council voted unanimously to approve Resolution 2022-07, authorizing the purchase of real property located at 400 East Main Street, the former Wells Fargo building, and 424 South Second Street, a parking lot, for $1.5 million. The primary purpose of the purchase is to move city administrative operations to Main Street for the public to have better access to customer service representatives in divisions such as Planning, Building, Finance, Utility Billing, City Clerk, and City Manager. The parking lot will provide additional public parking near the new Public Safety Complex and Colorado Mesa University campus.
The city’s Facilities Master Plan has called for major renovations at City Hall, which were to take place over the next couple of years and would have required displacement of all employee workspaces for at least 18‐24 months. Acquiring the Main Street building provides quality space for those employees and offers more time to plan for and address things like HVAC and roof replacement, structural integrity and security issues, and efficiency of operations at the current City Hall.
Possible future uses of the historic City Hall building include and are not limited to housing, CMU campus partnerships, and mixed‐use development. The historic City Hall building is an important landmark in downtown Montrose and will continue to be used as part of a vibrant downtown.
The council held a public hearing on the resolution before voting to approve it. The council received no public input prior to the vote.
RESOLUTION 2022-08
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve Resolution 2022-08 to apply for funds from U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper’s office in the amount of $2,090,970 as the city plans to complete Phase II and III of river restoration improvements on 4,900 linear feet of the Uncompahgre River (“Uncompahgre River Improvements Project”) and a 1,900 linear foot extension of the Uncompahgre Riverway Trail to complement the Montrose Urban Renewal Authority Development (MURA) and the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Connect Initiative Trail.
Community Program Manager Kendall Cramer said the proposed projects meet the eligibility requirements of Congressionally Directed Spending, a mechanism whereby members of Congress can request funding for specific projects in their home state that have been submitted for consideration by state and local government entities and nonprofits.
If the funding request is awarded, the City Council authorized the city manager to execute the grant contract and city staff to act on behalf of the grant agreement.
ORDINANCE 2586 - SECOND READING
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve Ordinance 2586 on second reading to amend the 2022 budget.
City Finance Director Shani Wittenberg said Ordinance 2586 states that the Health/Dental Management Fund would be combined into the Internal Service Fund along with Fleet Management, Information Services, and Facility Management. The Health/Dental Management Fund will need to remain separate to maintain the integrity of its checking account, according to Wittenberg.
The council held a public hearing before voting to approve the ordinance.
ORDINANCE 2587 - FIRST READING
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve Ordinance 2587 on first reading to amend the zoning designation of Tract 4 of the Rosemont Subdivision (Parcel #376727102008) from "MHR" Manufactured Housing Residential District to "B-2A" Regional Commercial District.
City Planner William Reis said the rezoning is for the expansion and associated conditional use permit of the Cedar Creek RV Park. The property consists of approximately 1.85 acres.
Applicant: Montrose Outdoors, LLC
NEW CITY HALL NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE PURCHASE
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve a proposal to upgrade network equipment inside the former Wells Fargo bank building on Main Street.
City Information Systems Director Greg Story said the recent decision to move forward with the purchase and remodel of the Wells Fargo building for use as city administrative offices prompted the IS team to reach out for quotes on the required networking equipment.
The model of network switch the IS team typically uses has a lead time of 12-plus months. A vendor was able to find Cisco switches with a much shorter lead time (168 days as of the time of the quote).
The total cost of four Cisco 9300 48 port PoE switches, along with required parts and licensing, is $51,677. Delivery is expected in mid to late September with the ability to cancel the order outright until early August. This expense is not included in the 2022 budget, requiring the use of Undesignated General Fund balance to fund the purchase.
GOLF COURSE DRIVING RANGE NETTING CONTRACT AWARD
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve a contract with West Coast Netting in the amount of $87,890 for the installation of a new driving range net at the Black Canyon Golf Course. The contract amount includes a 10% contingency fee.
Public Works Manager Jim Scheid said the city’s 2022 budget includes the addition of netting on the west side of the driving range. Currently, the driving range has netting on the east and south sides. Adding netting to the west side will make the course safer for other golfers outside of the driving range.
The new netting will match the existing netting in size and style, but will use wood posts rather than steel due to pricing and availability.
The amount budgeted for this project is $95,000. The contract with West Coast Netting of $79,900, plus a 10% contingency, brings the total contract amount to $87,890, which is $7,110 under budget.
CRACK SEAL MATERIAL PURCHASE AND SOLE SOURCE RECOMMENDATION
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve the purchase of crack seal material from Dissco (Denver Industrial) in the amount of $55,561.
Public Works Manager Jim Scheid said the City of Montrose Streets Division is preparing for the upcoming crack seal operations that will be self-performed. This includes 35.8 lane miles of streets to be crack sealed in 2022 in accordance with the city’s eight-year plan.
The material is formulated for the temperature range that it will likely be exposed to in our area. The city has utilized Low Tack Type 1 from Dissco for the last several years with good performance. To ensure compatibility with existing equipment, staff requested a sole-source waiver for the purchase of this material. The pricing provided is comparable to that of other crack seal materials that the city has purchased in the past.
The 2022 budget includes $60,000 for crack seal out of the total of $182,000. This purchase of $55,561 will leave a balance of $126,439 in the asphalt fund for the remaining work to be done in 2022.
PARKS MOWING CONTRACT AWARD
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve a contract with Green and Bear It LLC. of Montrose in the amount of $126,400 for landscaping in 12 city parks.
Public Works Manager Jim Scheid said the City of Montrose Parks Division has relied upon Green and Bear It LLC. to assist with turf care operations in city parks over the past several years.
The proposed award would allow the city to continue with contracted maintenance for Riverbottom, 9-12, Rotary, Archmont, American, Altrusa, Rainbow Meadows, Homestead, Colorado West, McInnis, Sunshine Peaks, and Fox Parks and the Fox Meadows HOA.
Contracted services include weekly mowing, trimming, edging of walks and curbs, clean-up of trash and debris as needed, and final clean-up of all sidewalks, roadways, picnic areas, and walkways within these parks. Irrigation checks will also occur during every other mowing.
The city reached out to several contractors in the area to invite them to bid on this contract. The city received a single bid from Green and Bear LLC. of Montrose.
The bid amount is comparable to previous years. City staff have had very positive experiences working with Green and Bear It in the past and are confident in their ability to perform the work and maintain their high level of service.
STAFF REPORTS
Youth City Councilor Gunnison Clamp said the council is accepting clothing donations, particularly for children and young adults. Drop-off sites are located at City Hall, Montrose Recreation Center, Celebration Church, and Montrose High School. Next week the council will hold its annual river clean-up along the Uncompahgre River.
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All City Council meetings are recorded and made available online via the city’s website and cable channels 191 for Charter subscribers and 970 for Elevate subscribers. Replays of council meetings are also broadcast at 6 p.m. on the same channels on days that the council is not in session.
In addition, each regular meeting is archived on the City of Montrose’s YouTube channel.
Residents can watch all regular City Council meetings and work sessions live or on-demand through the city’s Public Meetings Portal.
For more city news visit CityOfMontrose.org.