HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 9/1/2020 - Memorandum From Marcy Yoder And Jenn Rieskamp Re: Large Social Gatherings
Planning, Development & Transportation
Community Development & Neighborhood Services
281 N. College Ave.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.416.2350
970.224.6134 FAX
www.fcgov.com
MEMORANDUM
DATE: August 19, 2020
TO: Mayor Troxell and City Council Members
THRU: Darin Atteberry, City Manager
Kelly DiMartino, Deputy City Manager
Caryn Champine, PDT Director
Paul Sizemore, Interim CDNS Director
FROM: Marcy Yoder, Neighborhood Services Manager
Jenn Rieskamp, CSU Community Liaison Specialist
CC: Lieutenant Jerry Schiager
Assistant Chief Tim Doran
Police Chief Jeff Swoboda
RE: Large Social Gatherings
Purpose: This memo is to share information on City and Colorado State University
(CSU) plans to educate students on public health guidelines and best practices for
social gatherings.
Bottom Line: Campus West Connections (CWC) partners will continue to work
collaboratively to address student and neighbor relationships around campus. Over the
years CWC partners have utilized a variety of tools, created collaborative strategies,
and leveraged relationships to achieve positive outcomes. In response to COVID 19
and the current public health guidelines, current strategies and tools are being adapted
and new ones are being created.
CWC partners will continue utilizing outreach and education to strive for voluntary
compliance. Several of the tools below have been successful in the past. (Party
Registration and education, “knock and talks”, Police referrals directly to Student
Conduct Services, social media campaigns)
Strategies and tools:
A proposal to bring Party Registration back online has been submitted to the
CSU Pandemic Preparedness Team. It was suspended last Spring during the
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Stay at Home order. The program will emphasize the current restrictions on
group sizes.
A Social Gathering Guide has also been submitted for review. It will be used in
Party Registration and other Off-Campus Life communication to reinforce the
importance of current public health guidelines and promote safety tips for small
gatherings.
Additional social media and digital ad space is being explored to target students
and provide messaging around social gatherings and safety.
The CSU Social Norms campaign is targeting several weeks to emphasize the
social gathering components, i.e. Labor Day and Halloween.
Staff are developing two letters that could be sent to addresses where we receive
complaints of large gatherings. One for the resident and a second for property
management/owners.
Off-Campus Life has been in communication with Student Focused Housing
property managers, including large apartment complexes, regarding their plans,
processes, and procedures.
o Off-Campus Life is planning a follow-up within the first month of school.
o Off-Campus Life has already dropped off Community Welcome bro chures
to the Student Focused Housing providers. COVID information is
referenced and websites are identified for people to access the most up to
date information.
o The same Community Welcome brochures will be distributed in the
surrounding neighborhoods beginning August 24th.
Student Conduct Services at the Student Resolution Center is planning for an
incremental education process for students that are referred for both on-campus
and off-campus behaviors that do not align with public health guidelines, which
would constitute a violation of the Student Conduct Code. While the aim of the
student conduct process through education will be to change behavior to align
with current public health guidelines, students will be subject to the full weight of
the Student Conduct Code.
o Student Conduct Services is committed to making contacts prior to the
next weekend.
Conflict Resolution Services at the Student Resolution Center is prep ared to
facilitate virtual restorative justice circles, virtual neighbor mediations, and the
neighborhood impact panel to address any negative impact that students may
have in the community.
Police are planning Party Patrol beginning August 21st through Ha lloween. CSU
staff from Off-Campus Life and the Student Resolution Center are also planning
time to be in neighborhoods the first couple weekends of school.
Police and Student Conduct Services are working collaboratively to identify
specific information that will be helpful in any referrals around social gatherings,
i.e.. approximate number of people at the gathering.
CSU Liaison and NET officers will continue utilizing ‘knock and talks” as a tool in
responding to neighborhood concerns for undesirable stud ent behaviors which
includes large gatherings.
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Campus West Management team will increase meetings to every week to allow
for a debrief of the weekend activities and discussion of actions steps or
adjustments needed to current plans.
Background: Campus West Connection management team is comprised of Off-
Campus Life Director, Student Resolution Center Director, Neighborhood Services
Manager, Special Operations Police Lieutenant, and CSU Community Liaison
Specialist.
Here are details on how Party Registration functions:
Party Registration is a harm reduction/educational program that benefits students,
neighbors, and police.
CSU hosts the registration software
Most parties are registered by students, but other Fort Collins neighbors can also
register parties.
o Off-Campus Life and Neighborhood Services staff are trained to do both
the party registration and training.
o Virtual options are being designed to mitigate risk of in person
registrations while ensuring the training components are covered and
questions can be addressed during the registration.
Party Registration includes the address and contact information of the person
hosting, a second contact is also requested.
Off-Campus Life/Neighborhood Services staff provide proactive education to help
the registrant host a safe gathering that does not become a nuisance to the
neighborhood.
Off-Campus Life generates and sends a list of registered parties to Fort Collins
PD (dispatch) weekly on Friday.
If dispatch receives a noise compliant for a registered party, the host is contacted
and told they have 20 minutes to shut down the gathering.
o This saves the registrant a potential ticket
o Gets the noise shut down quickly so that neighbors a re satisfied
o Keeps Police from being dispatched allowing capacity for highe r level
response calls.
To date the program has been highly successful.
The program only collects information for 2 hosts. It is not designed to capture
information for the people that attend the gathering.
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