HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 12/01/2015 - RESOLUTION 2015-105, ESTABLISHING A PROCESS FOR THAgenda Item 12
Item # 12 Page 1
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY December 1, 2015
City Council
STAFF
Josh Birks, Economic Health Director
SUBJECT
Resolution 2015-105, Establishing a Process for the City Council to Appoint an Additional Commissioner to the
Fort Collins Urban Renewal Authority Board when Required by Law.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this item is to provide a resolution for City Council consideration that describes and adopts the
approach to be used by the Mayor and City Council to appoint an additional commissioner to the Urban
Renewal Authority Board (the “URA Board”), if needed, as a result of the passage of House Bill 2015-1348. In
addition, the Resolution instructs staff to send certified letters to all eligible taxing entities informing them of
their future ability to participate in a process for their appointment of commissioners to the URA Board.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends adoption of the Resolution.
BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION
In May 2015, the Colorado General Assembly passed House Bill 2015-1348 (the “URA Reform Bill”). The URA
Reform Bill will affect the City’s Urban Renewal Authority (the “URA”) in several significant ways. One of the
effects of the URA Reform Bill is the potential appointment of up to four new commissioners to the URA Board.
The URA Reform Bill provides that whenever on or after January 1, 2016, the City Council approves a new
urban renewal plan or modifies an existing plan, this will trigger the applicability of the URA Reform Bill to the
City’s URA and allow Larimer County and the school districts and the special districts levying a property tax
within the URA’s boundaries to appoint new commissioners to the URA Board. The County Commissioners
can appoint one commissioner and the school districts and the special districts can each collectively appoint
one commissioner. If any or all three of these appointments occur and the result is an even number of
commissioners on the URA Board, the URA Reform Bill requires the Mayor to appoint an additional
commissioner to restore the membership on the URA Board to an odd number.
Overview of Current URA Board
Upon creation of the URA, the City Council elected to designate itself to act as the URA Board (Resolution
1982-010). Therefore, the current URA Board consists of seven members. Thus, if three new commissioners
are appointed to the URA Board by the County, the school districts and the special districts, the URA Board
will consist of an even number of commissioners and trigger the need for the Mayor to appoint an eleventh
commissioner.
Overview of the Appointment Process for an Eleventh Member
The URA Reform Bill requires the Mayor to make the necessary appointment to return the URA Board to an
odd number of commissioners. However, after consultation with the Mayor and the Leadership Planning Team,
staff recommends using the following process (modeled after the City’s existing Boards and Commission
appointment process) to make the appointment instead of an appointment solely by the Mayor:
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1. Advertising and Recruitment: The City Clerk will advertise the vacant position on the URA Board
consistent with the procedures used to advertise vacant City Board and Commission positions. The
advertisement will specify a due date for applications to serve on the URA Board.
2. Tracking Applications: The City Clerk will collect all applications submitted by the deadline and verify
applicants meet requirements to serve. All applications will be distributed to the entire City Council.
3. Interviews: The Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem will determine an interview team to meet with applicants
consisting of the Mayor and one other City Councilmember (the “Council Interview Team”). The City
Clerk will work with appropriate City Manager’s office staff to schedule interviews of applicants for the
Council Interview Team. The Team will identify a candidate to appoint to the URA Board from the
applicant pool.
4. Appointment: The City Clerk will prepare, in consultation with the City Attorney’s Office, a resolution
for City Council consideration making the appointment of the recommended candidate.
5. On-Boarding: The URA staff will prepare materials to orient and on-board the new commission
member. Staff will provide these materials to the new commissioner along with an anticipated
schedule of meetings. All materials will be available to new, current commissioners, and the general
public.
Proposed Schedule
City staff proposed the following schedule, in anticipation of the first meeting of the newly constituted URA
Board on March 29, 2016 (first fifth Tuesday of 2016):
Advertising: December
Interviews: January
Appointment: February
On-Boarding: March
Process for Coordinating Appointments by Other Districts
PLEASE NOTE: The information below is meant as background information only. The URA
Reform Bill does not require the City to develop or manage the appointment process on behalf
of the other districts. In fact, staff prefers to remain a resource and consultant to the County
and the districts to avoid the perception of undue influence on the appointment of new
commissioners.
This Resolution directs staff to send certified letters to the County, school districts, and the special districts
informing them of the changes made by the URA Reform Bill and to inform them of their potential new role in
appointing up to three new URA Board commissioners. This letter will include a number of items:
1. An overview of changes made by the URA Reform Bill;
2. Information regarding the appointment of new commissioners;
3. An invitation to an information session to be held by staff regarding the URA Reform Bill; and
4. A request to send the name of each group’s new commissioner by a given date.
The URA Reform Bill does not provide direction on how commissioners are to be selected by the County, the
school districts, and the special districts. However, it is clear in the URA Reform Bill that each of the three new
commission positions remains vacant until filled by the applicable entities.
Eligibility Criteria:
The URA Reform Bill spells out the following criteria for eligibility of new commissioners:
County – The board of the County Commissioners may appoint anyone to be the URA commissioner.
No additional criteria are provided by the URA Reform Bill.
School Districts – Any school district levying property taxes within the URA’s boundaries is eligible to
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engage in the appointment process. The commissioner must be an elected member of the board of
education from one of the eligible school districts. Therefore, the Poudre School District and the
Thompson School District will need to agree on who their appointed commissioner will be.
Special Districts – Any special district levying property taxes within the boundaries of the URA is
eligible to engage in the appointment process. The commissioner must be an elected member of one
of the eligible district boards. Therefore, the special districts will also need to agree on who their
appointed commissioner will be. Staff has requested a list of the affected special districts from Larimer
County. If available, it will be provided as a read before item.
RESOLUTION 2015-105
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
ESTABLISHING A PROCESS FOR THE COUNCIL TO APPOINT AN ADDITIONAL
COMMISSIONER TO THE FORT COLLINS URBAN RENEWAL AUTHORITY BOARD
WHEN REQUIRED BY LAW
WHEREAS, on January 5, 1982, City Council adopted Resolution 82-10 establishing
with the City of Fort Collins, Colorado (the “City”) the Fort Collins Urban Renewal Authority
(the “Authority”) and designating the Council to serve as the Authority’s Board of
Commissioners (the “URA Board”); and
WHEREAS, in May 2015, the Colorado General Assembly adopted House Bill 2015-
1348 (“HB-1348”) which amended in several respects the Colorado Urban Renewal Law,
C.R.S. Sections 31-25-101 , et seq. (the “ Act”); and
WHEREAS, one of HB-1348’s amendments to the Act will allow for the appointment of
up to four new commissioners to the URA Board whenever on or after January 1, 2016, the
Council approves any new urban renewal plan or modifies one of its two existing urban renewal
plans, the North College Avenue Renewal Plan or the Midtown Urban Renewal Plan; and
WHEREAS, when the Council takes either of these actions, HB-1348 provides that
Larimer County (the “County”) will be entitled to appoint one new commissioner to the URA
Board, the City’s two school districts, the Poudre and Thompson School Districts, (jointly, the
“School Districts”) will together be entitled to appoint one new commissioner to the URA Board,
and all of the special districts levying property taxes within the Authority’s boundaries (the
“Special Districts”) will together be entitled to appoint one new commissioner to the URA
Board; and
WHEREAS, while HB-1348 does not require the County, the School Districts or the
Special Districts to appoint a commissioner, if their appointments result in an even number of
commissioners on the URA Board, HB-1348 will require the City’s Mayor to appoint another
new commissioner to the URA Board to restore the Board’s membership to an odd number; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and the Leadership Planning Team have discussed this
appointment process and directed City staff to bring forward this Resolution to establish for
Council a process for the Mayor’s appointment of a commissioner to the URA Board as required
by HB-1348 that is modeled after the current process the Council follows in appointing members
to the City’s boards and commissions; and
WHEREAS, City staff has also recommended that this Resolution address the process the
City is to follow to coordinate with the County, the School Districts and the Special Districts
regarding their potential future appointments of commissioners to the URA Board.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF FORT COLLINS as follows:
Section 1. That when the Mayor is required by the Act, as amended by HB-1348, to
appoint a new commissioner to the URA Board to restore the membership on the URA Board to
an odd number, the following process for that appointment shall be used:
A. Advertising and Recruitment: The City Clerk shall advertise the vacant position
on the URA Board consistent with the procedures used to advertise vacant City board and
commission positions. The advertisement shall specify a due date for applications to
serve on the URA Board.
B. Tracking Applications: The City Clerk shall collect all applications submitted by
the deadline and verify that the applicants meet the established requirements generally
required for City board and commission appointments. All applications will be
distributed to the entire Council.
C. Interviews: The Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem will determine an interview team to
meet with applicants consisting of the Mayor and one other City Councilmember (the
“Council Interview Team”). The City Clerk shall work with appropriate staff in the City
Manager’s Office to schedule interviews of the applicants for the Council Interview
Team. The Council Interview Team is to identify from those interviews a candidate that
the Team is recommending be appointed as the new commissioner to the URA Board.
D. Appointment: The City Clerk shall prepare, in consultation with the City
Attorney’s Office, a resolution for Council’s consideration to make the appointment of
the recommended candidate.
E. On-Boarding: The URA staff shall prepare materials to orient and on-board the
new commission member. Staff shall provide these materials to the new commissioner
along with an anticipated schedule of meetings. All materials will be made available to
new, current commissioners, and the general public.
Section 2. That in anticipation that the County, the School Districts and the Special
Districts will likely be appointing in the future new commissioners to the URA Board, staff is
directed to send certified letters to the County, both of the School Districts, and each of the
Special Districts to inform them of their potential new role in appointing new URA Board
commissioners. This letter is to include an overview of the changes made by to the Act by HB-
1348, other relevant information regarding the appointment of new commissioners, an invitation
to an information session to be held by City staff regarding this appointment process, and a
request for the name of each group’s appointed commissioner by a given date.
Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the Council of the City of Fort Collins on
this 1st day of December A.D. 201 5.
________________________________
Mayor
ATTEST:
___________________________
City Clerk