Montrose, CO — City Councilors met for their regular meeting Tuesday evening, September 19, to recognize Constitution Week in the City of Montrose as well as consider a number of ordinances and review sales tax figures from the month of July.
Mayor Barbara Bynum and councilors Dave Frank, Doug Glaspell, David Reed, and Ed Ulibarri met in the City Council Chambers at the Elks Civic Building along with city staff.
The following is a summary of the primary topics discussed during the meeting.
Watch the meeting here.
CULTURE FEST CELEBRATION PROCLAMATION
Mayor Barbara Bynum read and signed a proclamation recognizing the upcoming Culture Fest on Saturday, September 23, at the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose.
"The City of Montrose acknowledges that the original people of the Uncompahgre Valley are the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation and the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes. We also recognize that people from around the globe now call Montrose home and contribute to creating a more diverse and resilient community,” Bynum said.
Bynum said Montrose is a community that welcomes and celebrates people of all races, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds.
“The City of Montrose cherishes our cultural diversity and believes it enhances the quality of life in our community. Montrose challenges itself to ensure that the human rights and dignity of all residents are protected and commits itself to fostering inclusion and acceptance,” Bynum said.
CONSTITUTION WEEK PROCLAMATION
Mayor Barbara Bynum read and signed a proclamation naming the week of September 17-23 as Constitution Week in the City of Montrose.
September 17, 2023, marks the 236th anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention.
“It is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to this magnificent document and its memorable anniversary and to the patriotic celebrations which will commemorate the occasion,” Bynum said.
Public Law 915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America designating September 17 through 23 as Constitution Week.
CONSENT AGENDA
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the September 5 special City Council meeting and the September 5 regular meeting. In approving the consent agenda, the council also rescheduled of the November 21 City Council meeting to November 14 and canceled the December 19 meeting due to the Christmas holiday.
The city’s archive of past meeting minutes can be found on the new Public Meetings Portal and at CityofMontrose.org/ArchiveCenter.
RESOLUTION 2023-17
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve an intergovernmental agreement, IGA, with the State of Colorado Department of Transportation, CDOT, to adopt the U.S. Highway 50 and 550 - North Montrose County Access Control Plan.
City Engineer Scott Murphy said CDOT has partnered with the City of Montrose to create comprehensive access control plans for the highway corridors throughout the city. To date, this has included the creation of the San Juan Access Control Plan (2010) and two South Townsend Access Control Plans south of Niagara Road (2009 and updated in 2019).
As a continuation of this effort, CDOT has been working on an access control plan for North Townsend Avenue/Highway 50 & 550 extending north from North 9th Street to the Montrose County line. This project is being performed by CDOT in partnership with the City of Montrose, the Town of Olathe, and Montrose County.
Access control plans are long-term planning tools that document access types, locations, and frontage road connections that are ultimately desired along a corridor. The plans aim to maximize the efficiency, contiguity, and safety of a corridor and to meet the requirements of the state highway access code. Typically, the plans are used to guide development/re-development and large highway projects as they occur, typically for corridors likely to see continued development or redevelopment.
The project team first discussed the access control plan in public meetings with elected officials for the City of Montrose, the Town of Olathe, and Montrose County in late 2022. Following these initial presentations, the team then held public open houses and one-on-one meetings with adjacent property owners in early 2023. The team then worked to incorporate feedback received through the outreach process and to finalize the project’s planning documents.
The final step in the access control plan process is to enter into an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with CDOT and formally adopt the access control plan. Each stakeholder (City of Montrose, Town of Olathe, and Montrose County) will enter into independent IGA agreements with CDOT, which helps to simplify the plan revision process should any changes need to be made in the future.
Additional details on the access control plan, the Access Study Report and all of its supporting appendices are available online at: https://tinyurl.com/NorthTownsendACP
TOWNSEND AVENUE MISSING LINK SIDEWALK EXPENSE AUTHORIZATION
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve an expenditure of $70,000 to fill in a missing link of the sidewalk on the western side of Townsend Avenue between Odelle and Ogden Roads.
City Engineer Scott Murphy said city staff recommended authorizing $70,000 in expenditures to construct this project using on-call concrete contracts. These contracts were bid in the spring of 2023 and established unit rates for various typical concrete elements used on city projects. Work is awarded through these contracts to the lowest-cost contractor within the on-call contractor pool that is available to perform the work.
Project design and CDOT permitting for the project were completed in-house by the city’s Engineering Department.
Project Closures and Schedule
Once work begins on this sidewalk, it will take approximately three to four weeks to complete. All work will take place along the shoulder of Townsend Avenue and no lane closures are anticipated. The project is scheduled for completion by mid-November.
Project Financials
The 2023 budget included $75k in the Capital Improvement Fund for completion of this project.
ORDINANCE 2639 - SECOND READING
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve Ordinance 2639, on second reading, to extend the temporary moratorium prohibiting the relocation or establishment of new adult gaming arcades within the City of Montrose.
Assistant City Attorney Matthew Magliaro said the current moratorium would expire on September 22, 2023, and would be extended for 18 months under the ordinance.
In March 2021, City Councilors first approved an emergency ordinance following disturbances at a number of arcades that had opened in the city. In September 2021, the City Council passed the emergency ordinance in response to numerous concerns voiced by business owners, local residents, and police officers that adult gaming arcades had secondary, negative impacts on neighboring businesses.
According to Montrose police officers at that time, increased crime had been reported in the areas surrounding these businesses, including illegal drug use and distribution, public intoxication, violent crime, and increased calls for service from the Montrose Police Department.
The ordinance extends the moratorium to March 2025.
ORDINANCE 2640 - SECOND READING
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve Ordinance 2640, on second reading, to amend the zoning district of Lot 1 of the Parks & Wheeler Subdivision from “R-2” Low Density District to “R-3” Medium High Density District.
STAFF REPORTS
Finance Director Shani Wittenberg delivered the sales, use, and excise tax report for July 2023.
https://www.cityofmontrose.org/DocumentCenter/View/50091/Sales-and-Use-Tax-Report---2023
Read all finance reports in their entirety here: www.cityofmontrose.org/259/Finance
City Engineer Scott Murphy said Miami Road is ready to open following repairs and many other roadway improvements are nearing completion. Follow the City of Montrose on Facebook and Instagram for any and all roadway work updates.
CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS
Mayor Pro Tem David Reed said he was impressed with the recent decision from Colorado Mesa University that any high school student whose family makes under $65,000 per year is eligible to attend CMU tuition-free. This applies to students within the 22-county region known as the Western Slope.
Reed said the Montrose Police Department graduated another class of the Western Colorado Law Enforcement Academy, WCLEA.
Mayor Barbara Bynum said the Forum on Wednesday, September 20, will focus on the WCLEA efforts.
Councilor Doug Glaspell said the Motorcycle Cannonball that stopped in Montrose on Monday featured a wide variety of vintage motorcycles. Glaspell said it was nice to have a nationwide event stop in Montrose.
Councilor Ed Ulibarri said he was honored to speak and present a proclamation at the Black Canyon swing dance recently.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
City Councilors voted unanimously to enter into executive session for the purpose of receiving legal advice on a matter that is the subject of negotiations. After concluding the executive session, the councilors then voted to end the regular meeting.
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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 on-demand through the city’s Public Meetings Portal.
For more city news visit CityOfMontrose.org