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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 03/31/2020 - RESOLUTION 2020-033 ESTABLISHING CITY COUNCIL'S INAgenda Item 15 Item # 15 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY March 31, 2020 City Council STAFF Tyler Marr, Deputy Director, Information & Employee Services Carrie M. Daggett, Legal SUBJECT Resolution 2020-033 Establishing City Council's Intent that Appropriate Members of Congress and the Colorado General Assembly be Advised of the City's Interests in Pending and Prospective COVID-19 Related Legislation. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has resulted in the federal government packaging massive pieces of legislation together in short periods of time to try and provide resources to assist in dealing with the crisis and in helping with recovery. After introduction, these bills have been voted upon within a few days, sometimes that same day. Many of the City’s federal partners, such as the National League of Cities, Colorado Municipal League, or the International City/County Management Association have alerted the City to issues within these bills that either leave cities out of funding pots, result in unfunded mandates to the City, or in some cases, restrict our ability to access funding because of our population size. The 2020 Legislative Policy Agenda, while covering topics such as resiliency, local control, and unfunded mandates, does not specifically address the bills, funding sources, or emergency management nature of this problem. Therefore, staff is requesting approval of this resolution, which will allow staff to quickly alert Colorado’s Congressional delegation to issues that have economic consequences to Fort Collins related to COVID-19. While the third economic package, expected to pass the same week as of this writing, is currently being communicated as the last, this resolution would still allow staff to quickly chime into processes that affect any additional packages that may be introduced, cleanup legislation, budget discussions related to this, or regulatory processes. Staff anticipates that when the state legislature reconvenes, they too may take up legislation related to COVID-19. The resolution is also written to include advocacy at the state level for similar topics. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Resolution. -1- RESOLUTION 2020-033 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS ESTABLISHING CITY COUNCIL’S INTENT THAT APPROPRIATE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND THE COLORADO GENERAL ASSEMBLY BE ADVISED OF THE CITY’S INTERESTS IN PENDING AND PROSPECTIVE COVID-19 RELATED LEGISLATION WHEREAS, on December 3, 2019, the City Council adopted Resolution 2019-109, approving the City’s 2020 Legislative Policy Agenda; and WHEREAS, the 2020 Legislative Policy Agenda is intended to set out the City’s policy positions regarding anticipated legislative matters expected to arise before the Colorado General Assembly and the United States Congress during the coming legislative sessions and to form the basis for lobbying and legislative contacts on behalf of the City; and WHEREAS, where legislative matters of interest and concern to the City arise after the adoption of the Legislative Policy Agenda, Council may on a case-by-case basis adopt policy positions to guide communications with legislators on behalf of the City; and WHEREAS, the City of Fort Collins is threatened with serious injury and damage, consisting of widespread human and economic impact caused by the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), resulting in a series of declarations of emergency including a proclamation of local emergency by Fort Collins City Manager Darin Atteberry on March 13, 2020, extended indefinitely by the City Council with the adoption of Resolution 2020-030 on March 20, 2020; and WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has resulted in the federal government packaging massive pieces of legislation together in short periods of time to try and provide resources to assist in dealing with the crisis and also in helping with recovery; and WHEREAS, after introduction, these bills have been voted upon within a few days, sometimes that same day; and WHEREAS, many of the City’s local government partners, such as the National League of Cities, Colorado Municipal League, or the International City/County Management Association have alerted the City to issues within these bills that either leave cities out of funding pots, result in unfunded mandates to the City, or in some cases restrict our ability to access funding because of our population size; and WHEREAS, the 2020 Legislative Policy Agenda, while covering topics such as resiliency, local control and unfunded mandates, does not specifically address the bills, funding sources, or emergency management nature of the COVID-19 problem; and -2- WHEREAS, in light of the foregoing, staff has requested that Council adopt this Resolution, so as to allow staff to quickly alert Colorado’s Congressional delegation to issues that have economic consequences to Fort Collins related to COVID-19; and WHEREAS, while Congress is expected to pass this week its third economic package to address COVID-19, and there may be no further actions of this sort proposed, this Resolution would still allow staff to quickly offer input on the City’s behalf regarding any additional legislative proposals that may be introduced at the federal or state level, including cleanup legislation, budget discussions related to this, or regulatory processes. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes any and all determinations and findings contained in the recitals set forth above. Section 2. That the City Council finds that it is in the best interest of the residents of the City for staff to provide information to members of the Colorado Congressional delegation (and other members of Congress as appropriate) regarding the impacts to the City of proposed legislation related to COVID-19 impacts, response, and impact mitigation, and in particular of unfunded mandates, regulatory requirements and burdens associated with potential or proposed Congressional legislation. Section 3. That the City Council finds that it is in the best interest of the residents of the City for staff to provide information to members of the Colorado General Assembly regarding the impacts to the City of proposed legislation related to COVID-19 impacts, response, and impact mitigation, and in particular of unfunded mandates, regulatory requirements and burdens associated with potential or proposed legislation by the Colorado General Assembly. Section 4. That City representatives, including the City Manager and City Attorney (and their respective staffs, as appropriate), are authorized to identify legislation of interest or concern related to COVID-19 and provide feedback to legislators as described above, consistent with the findings set forth in this Resolution. Passed and adopted at an adjourned meeting of the Council of the City of Fort Collins this 31st day of March, A.D. 2020. _________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _____________________________ City Clerk