Tag: Adams County

• PDF packet – 88 pages
• Meeting replay – 3:03:27

Click on the agenda item in the menu to the right of the video to go to that part of the playback.

While the summary below is intended to be fair, it may contain errors and is ultimately one person’s interpretation. All interested parties are encouraged to view the relevant portions of the meeting recording to come to their own conclusions.

The summary is not comprehensive but notes highlights from the session.

Meeting Start

Council Members David Acunto and Karen Bigelow were running late at the start of the meeting. Council Member Unrein was absent.

Adams County’s Approach to Housing & Homelessness

Adams County staff, joined by some of the county commissioners, presented on the county’s approach to housing and homelessness.

The county reported growing numbers of people receiving services related to homelessness, reaching 3,739 in 2025 to date.

Of those 3,700+ individual, 32.78% identify as minors aged 17 or younger (12:16).

Inability to pay rent or mortgage is a growing factor in homelessness since 2023 (14:10).

The county presented an eviction filing heat map (page 15 in the packet). The highest eviction numbers were in the 80233 zip code.

The county reported that outreach staff across the region communicate, share data, and collaborate (23:40).

The county provided a table of different departments and their responsibilities for addressing encampments (page 18 of the packet and 27:30 in the replay).

The county has noted a reduction in encampments and campers, which does include people who lose contact with the outreach staff (28:16).

The county described the variety of services provided for economic mobility, poverty, and homelessness reduction.

One program moves people from closed encampments to housing (33:12). Other programs proactively intervene before housing is lost, such as assisting with asset building or mediation tenant-landlord disputes (37:53).

The county’s presentation poses the question “What is the political will to accept transitional/supportive/affordable housing?” (page 25 in the packet and 44:00 in the replay).

Council Member Sandgren asked if unhoused people were being pushed out of Adams County and into Thornton (45:45).

She suggested that the county was advertising the Thornton warming center but not paying any money for the services Thornton needs to run the warming center program and address related issues.

The county described successful programs that are lowering the homeless population.

Commission Steve O’Dorisio explained that his understanding of collaboration among the county and municipalities meant that unhoused people were not being shuffled around (56:54).

He also explained that encampment clean-up costs for the county went down when they were able to transition people out of encampments earlier, which did require inter-governmental agreements with state groups to authorize the county to act on affected properties, such as RTD land.

The county discussed the success of their safe parking program (1:28:00).

Council Member Russell recommended that future discussions provide for better communication to the public about what programs are in place and how they help address homelessness (1:36:07).

Organizational Review Update

While the city’s population has grown, the city’s organizational structure has not changed recently.

A consultant group, Blackline Consulting, is working with the city to review and propose changes to its organization (the departments and employees of the City of Thornton).

One finding is that more departments report directly to the city manager than the consultant would expect in a city Thornton’s size, raising concerns about sustainability (1:43:00).

The report noted “a disconnect between tactical execution and unified direction on big-picture goals” and “weak strategic collaboration towards shared goals” (page 38 in the packet).

The consultant reported duplicated efforts across teams (1:49:15).

The consultant proposes creating assistant deputy city managers to focus on specific areas and deputy city managers to focus on collaborative efforts across the city (1:53:15).

Alternative Solutions to Propose Utility Rate and Fee Increases

Staff followed up on a previous planning session where council objected to the proposed utility rate increases.

As discussed in that earlier meeting, Thornton’s utilities are self-funded through rates and fees. Water rate increases since 2018 have been between 0% and 7% to adjust for inflation. The proposed increase addresses inflation and the cost for PFAS mitigation.

Staff reported on scenarios for spreading out the water rate increase over time, each of which would result in a higher total percentage rate increase between 2026 and 2029 than the original 11% increase for 2025 and 2026 but with lower rates in the near-term years.

Staff also discussed potential reductions to the water capital plan, including reducing contingency budgeting for the Thornton Water Project, delaying a 10-million-gallon capacity upgrade to the Thornton Water Treatment Plant, terminating the Cooley East Resiliency Project (flood mitigation and reservoir reinforcement), shifting treatment sludge disposal from landfill to composting, and reducing lake management and algae control budget in future years.

Each of the options was described with pros and cons.

With those capital reductions, the original proposed increase would decrease from 11% to 7.3%.

Another option is to perform the capital reductions and terminate the solar installation at Thornton Water Treatment Plant. That plan would place the original decrease at 7.2%.

Council Member Martinez stated concern that the individual capital reductions may be low risk but that the combined risk would not be worth the savings.

Council Member Sandgren voiced support for the original 11% option. Council Member Russell voiced support for the original option. Council Member Ayala voiced support for the original option. Mayor Kulmann agreed with Martinez on the risks and supported the original option.

Preliminary 2026 Budget Recommendation

Staff presented on major investment areas for the budget, noting that the city continues to experience under performing revenue from sales tax and that growth and development are lagging (2:41:50).

Investment areas included reducing traffic congestion and enhancing safety, enhancing trails and open spaces, revitalizing priority areas of the city, fire & emergency medical response, enhancing code compliance, creating community and gathering spaces, water quality and availability, future planning, and current employee salary and benefits.

Council will be given a detailed budget review September 4 (2:00 pm to 9:00 pm) and September 9 (5:45 pm to 7:00 pm).

The budget will have its first reading and public hearing on September 23 and the second reading on October 14.

• PDF packet for the update session – 90 pages
• PDF packet for the full council meeting – 1,376 pages (including documentation for the Development Code changes)

• Update session replay – 39:24
• Council meeting replay – 3:19:19

Click on the agenda item in the menu to the right of the video to go to that part of the playback.

While the summary below is intended to be fair, it may contain errors and is ultimately one person’s interpretation. All interested parties are encouraged to view the relevant portions of the meeting recording to come to their own conclusions.

The summary is not comprehensive but notes highlights from the session.

Update Session

Mayor Pro Tem Bigelow was absent for the meeting; Council Member Martinez joined remotely.

Stormwater Code Revisions and Program Upgrades

Staff briefed council on changes to changes to Chapter 22 in the city code governing stormwater, which are being made in conjunction with the Chapter 18 development code updates.

New permits and fees will be required for developments with a planned disturbance of one or more acre or that are part of a larger common plan of development (8:00).

Surplus Property Declaration

As part of the permitting process with Larimer County for the Thornton Water Project, the city committed to divest all six city-owned farm properties in the county and contribute proceeds to the Poudre River Enhancement fund (13:15).

Environmental Sustainability Task Force & Master Plan Update

Staff reported on the timeline of the sustainability project, which is currently in a strategy development stage and collecting community input.

Some emerging themes include gaps in current energy management strategies and measurement and reporting of energy use, a mobility priority among community input, and need for alignment on city goals and inter-departmental coordination (18:50).

Staff reported that the community survey has about 130 responses so far.

Update on Proposed Changes to City Code Regarding Special Elections

Staff discussed proposed changes on the special election process applying lessons learned from the recent special city council election in Ward 1, which was the first special election the city has conducted in a long time.

Council Discussion

Staff alerted council to an inquiry about organizations using city facilities to host council candidate forums.

Staff indicated that in 2023, the procedure was for organizations to be granted free access to the facility but required to pay for staff time used to open and operate the facility.

Council Member Ayala emphasized that all groups should be treated equally. Staff indicated that groups might make different use of facility staff, resulting in different fee amounts. Mayor Kulmann proposed a minimum facility use fee.

Staff suggested that the council adopt a uniform administrative procedure. Kulmann asked if that could be in place by the end of August when candidate petitions are due.

Council Meeting

Mayor Pro Tem Bigelow and Council Member Sandgren were absent.

Council passed two resolutions: one commending Jacqueline Phillips for her service on the Thornton Local Licensing Authority and one conveying appreciation for city employee Scott Twombly on his retirement.

Public Hearing on Resolution Approving the 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan and 2025 Annual Action Plan and Associated Development Block Grant

These approvals were discussed in the 7/15/2025 planning session.

Proposed priority goals for the plan include rehabilitation of owner-occupied units, increase of obtainable housing, expansion of home ownership opportunities, and expanding or improving public facilities and infrastructure (25:39).

HUD has granted $811,711 for the 2025 program year (running 10/1/2025 until 9/30/2026).

Four applications are being recommended for funding from the grant for two City of Thornton programs (code compliance clean-up and fence repair cost assistance and the homeless outreach program) and two programs by Brother’s Redevelopment, Inc. (home repairs and exterior painting) (29:00).

One person had signed up for testimony.

Dariush ‘Dan’ Namazi used up the three minute testimony time as performative protest against the audience participation portion of the agenda being placed after the public hearings. Mayor Kulmann asked several times for him to speak on the topic of the public hearing.

The plan was approved unanimously.

Public Hearing on the Development Code and Zoning Map Updates

This hearing was part of the final stage of the two-year process to update the development code (40:25).

There is an affordable housing code review project getting under way in the city, but this is separate from the development code process (1:00:45).

Three people signed up to give testimony.

The first person spoke in opposition to the decrease in the proposed lot size standards and increase in building height standards (1:24:26).

She also objected to having only one hearing for proposed development projects and that hearing being scheduled for the same day that the decision would be made. She described the public input process used for the development code revisions as inadequate.

The second speaker spoke positively of development standards he had enjoyed as a city resident since 1999. He objected to the lot size standard changes.

He also objected to the community input process: “Apparently this whole process is to please our rich developers” (1:29:10). He encouraged the council to vote in the interests of current residents.

Both speakers won rounds of applause from people in the audience.

The third speaker was Namazi again doing a performative protest of the placement of the public hearing portion of the council agenda.

A fourth speaker supported the proposed changes, saying that the new variety of housing types and lot sizes could help with affordability. That speaker also got applause.

A fifth speaker also supported the changes, echoing the previous speaker on housing diversity.

Staff responded to the comments by saying that smaller lot sizes would enable greater housing density and availability in the future (1:40:00).

Council Member Ayala asked if staff could prepare a shorter precis of the changes, such as a 1-2 page document. Staff agreed that could be done but may take awhile; staff acknowledged that people do not have time to review the 800 pages of codes changes (1:45:40).

Council Member Martinez expressed appreciation for the work that has gone into the code revision process through the past two years and looked forward to more housing availability in the future with the changes.

Council Member Ayala encouraged people to look at campaign finance disclosures if they are concerned about undue influence of developers but that the city has to make policy to increase housing inventory (1:52:00).

Mayor Kulmann acknowledged the concerns of the residents who spoke, suggesting that their concern was driven by a specific development project and stating the the code revision process is intended to serve the city as a whole (1:53:00).

The code revision resolution (first reading) passed unanimously.

Audience Participation

The first speaker continued his long-running objection to the land acknowledgment.

The second speaker from Ward 1 expressed appreciation for the Thornton Fire Department’s assistance to the search and recovery work in the recent Texas floods. She requested that the city should invest in an outdoor warning system for disasters.

The third speaker was Namazi, in his guise as right-wing caricatures Danny Kulmann, expressed sarcastic gratitude that Mayor Kulmann follows homophobic public personalities like Ben Shapiro on Twitter.

He amplified claims by Trump and his allies that the Epstein sex trafficking criminal enterprise was not about deal. He displayed a slide show showing Trump and Epstein together at various events with Trump’s infamous interview audio about his ability to sexually assault women without punishment.

Note: As reported by Ward 3 candidate Sam Nizam on Nextdoor, during Namazi’s comments, Council Members Unrein and Acunto turned their chairs so that they were facing away from the speaker’s podium and the audience.

The video replay shows only the camera on the audience participation podium, so the recording does not archive the council members who turned their back.

A fifth speaker addressed the council in Spanish. A companion translated that the speaker was very upset about inconsistent enforcement of laws applying to mobile home community property owners.

The companion expressed concern that there was no action until they took part in audience participation, and she feared that there would be no actual action. They voiced concern that racial bias was behind the inconsistent enforcement (2:07:10).

The city manager noted that because code enforcement is largely complaint-based, it takes time for the process to complete between initial complaint, a warning, and then any potential enforcement action. She indicated that due process was applied evenly in all cases.

Council Member Martinez asked if staff and the council could address what he sees as a growing issue in terms of the city’s code enforcement department being able to keep up with complaints (2:10:50).

The resident stated that she had tried to set up an appointment with the mayor and had been denied. The mayor offered her direct contact information to set up an appointment.

Council Member Salazar stated that the delay in addressing the resident’s concern was unacceptable. Mayor Kulmann countered that they need time to collect all the information about the situation (2:12:48).

The sixth speaker noted how council protocol used to allow response by council to audience participation and felt that the council should return to that process. She asked why council did not have a Spanish translator for the city’s large Spanish-speaking population (2:14:45).

The mayor stated that Roberts Rules of Order doesn’t allow for dialogue.

The seventh speaker was Eliza Namazi who expressed appreciation for the city staff who work late hours during public meetings. She stated that she believed council turning their backs on speakers should not be allowed.

The eighth speaker called out Council Member Acunto for turning his back and demanded that the council find him in violation of the code of conduct.

Council Comments

Council Member Ayala spoke about the owners of the Pines Lakes Ranch mobile home park, which was the subject of the earlier audience comment, has a history of stating that its duties are actually the responsibility of the city, leading to extended back-and-forths.

Ayala remarked on the mural painted by an unknown community member at the Grand View Ponds underpass. She displayed images of the mural and expressed appreciation for the artist’s work.

She reported on her trip to the Local Progress conference.

Council Member Salazar stated she was “disgusted and ashamed” with how the council members had acted earlier (2:31:22), and she apologized for the council not having a translator available.

Council Member Martinez reminded about the mobile home legal clinic program hosted by the city, but he acknowledged that the program was not as well-attended as it could be due to residents’ fear of retaliation.

He asked if the city could calculate how many residents would be affected by the coming Medicaid and SNAP budget cuts.

Action Items

Council passed 6-1 the second reading of the ordinance to move audience participation before public hearings on the council meeting agenda with Mayor Kulmann being the sole no vote.

Staff presented on an intergovernmental agreement of area municipalities and Adams County on a transportation program for residents age 60+. The resolution passed unanimously.

Council unanimously passed the first reading of amendments to stormwater and floodplain regulations discussed during the update session earlier in the evening.

Council voted on several first readings of proposed city charter amendments to be placed on the November 2025 election ballot.

Council unanimously passed an ordinance to place on the ballot a charter amendment to provide that a partial term of office of less than two years served by a council member or mayor does not count as a term in office for purposes of term limits.

Council unanimously passed an ordinance to place on the ballot a charter amendment to fill mayoral vacancies by special election when more than one year of the term remains.

Council unanimously passed an ordinance to place on the ballot a charter amendment to increase timeframes to gather signatures on initiative and referendum petitions.

Council unanimously passed an ordinance to place on the ballot a charter amendment to eliminate superfluous, obsolete, outdated, and ambiguous language; clarify the applicability of anti-nepotism provisions; clarify authority related to intergovernmental agreements and revocable permits; clarify provisions related to budget procedures and control; correct grammar and citations; conform to changes in the law; and make other non-substantive revisions.