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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Read Before Packet - 11/17/2020 - Memorandum From Delynn Coldiron Re: Leadership Planning Team Minutes -November 16, 2020 City Clerk 300 LaPorte Avenue PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6515 970.221-6295 - fax fcgov.com/cityclerk MEMORANDUM DATE: November 16, 2020 TO: Mayor and Councilmembers FROM: Delynn Coldiron, City Clerk RE: Leadership Planning Team (LPT) Meeting Mayor Wade Troxell, Mayor Pro Tem Kristin Stephens, City Manager Darin Atteberry, Deputy City Manager Kelly DiMartino, City Attorney Carrie Daggett, and City Clerk Delynn Coldiron (all by video-conference call) met on Monday, November 16, and the following summarizes the discussions that began at 7:36 a.m. November 17 Regular Meeting: Agenda items for November 17 were reviewed. • There was discussion about meeting logistics. Due to the rising numbers related to COVID, current mandates from the Larimer County Health Department, and the desire to model what is being asked of community members with regard to limiting interactions with other parties, it was suggested that all remaining Council meetings for 2020 be remote. For tomorrow night’s meeting, public participation will be available in three ways: by phone, online through Zoom and by email. • Hughes Stadium Petition – Council will consider a motion to enter executive session to discuss legal items related to the Petition. After the executive session, Council will consider two options: o Adopting the Citizen-Initiated Ordinance as-is; or o Considering a Resolution submitting the Citizen-Initiated Ordinance to the electors of the City at the next regular municipal election on April 6, 2021. • 2021 Budget – Feedback has been relatively quiet related to this item. No issues are expected. • Electric and Water Rates, Fees and Charges – The Water Board has now had a chance to review and provide feedback on this item. Staff has done a great job laying out the rationale for the increases, etc. • Timberline Church Rezoning – This is a quasi-judicial item so Council will need to take action, in accordance with Ordinance 079, 2020, to proceed remotely. If Councilmembers do not object to a change in Agenda order, consideration of a motion to do this will occur towards the beginning of tomorrow night’s agenda so interested parties do not have to wait until late in the meeting to find out if this item will move forward. Staff will reach out to the applicant to ensure they have no concerns in proceeding this way. There was discussion about how people have had to adapt to remote processes and about how much more comfortable people are doing so. People have come to realize that this is a safer way to do business. Leadership Planning Team Meeting November 16, 2020 Page 2 of 5 • Other Business – Council will consider a motion to conduct the 724 & 726 College Avenue appeal scheduled for December 1, 2020 remotely. Staff will reach out to confirm that the appellant and/or applicant have no issues with this. • The meeting will be adjourned to November 24, 2020 for consideration of additional matters that may come before Council. 6-Month Calendar: • November 24 o An adjourned meeting is expected to be added to the calendar starting at 4:30 p.m. • December 1 o Report from Larimer County Commissioner Kefalas was added to the calendar. The report will cover the Larimer County Community Report and Survey. • December 15 o Plastics Pollution was added to the calendar. Council will consider whether it wants to pursue a plastic pollution ballot measure and, if so, will provide related direction to staff. o A Work Session has been added after the regular meeting to discuss potential changes related to the Ethics Review process. Possible Charter and Code changes will be explored. • January 12 o Plastic Pollution Ballot Measure was added to the calendar. Council will discuss and provide feedback on the proposed content of a plastic pollution ballot measure. City Clerk Coldiron: • Noted that her staff met today with a representative from ASCSU regarding a potential citizen initiative related to occupancy restrictions. They plan to seek approval of their petition as early as Friday. There was discussion about occupancy being addressed as part of the Ad Hoc Housing Committee and that ASCSU may be able to advance it’s concerns by getting involved in that dialogue, which might be a consideration for them in moving forward with a petition at this time. Difficulty getting signatures in light of current COVID restrictions was noted as a possible impediment to being successful in the initiative, especially since Colorado State University has moved entirely to remote schooling. Deputy City Manager DiMartino: • Noted the Light Up the Night free bike light giveaway that is currently underway. FC Moves is giving away free light sets (white front light and red rear light) on the following days: o November 16, 2020 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. on West Swallow Road near Rocky Mountain High School. o December 3, 2020 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Conejos Road near Redtail Ponds. Leadership Planning Team Meeting November 16, 2020 Page 3 of 5 Lights were also given away on November 5, 2020 at the Poudre River Whitewater Park. People can stop by anytime during the event to obtain lights. They will be given out as long as supplies last. • Noted the Twin Silos Park has recently received two awards. The first is an Honor Award for the park’s design from the American Society of Landscape Architects, Colorado Chapter. FCTV created a brief video for the award ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqxLibQ6spo&feature=youtu.be. The second is the Columbine Award for Best New Park Design from the Colorado Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA). CPRA awards are focused on outstanding community benefits, unique community outreach strategies and innovation. The virtual award ceremony is planned for December 17. • Noted that the collective event for Council and the Executive Lead Team (ELT) at the Mind Matters exhibit has been canceled due to COVID concerns. Council and ELT members are encouraged to attend the exhibit individually. Museum staff has offered to provide additional times outside of normal business hours to accommodate this if desired. City Manager Atteberry: • Noted he is narrowing in on his selection for the Deputy City Manager position and expects to make an announcement soon. He thanked Council and all others who have been a part of the process. • Noted staff may have an issue responding to a recent Bloomberg survey related to landlords because the City does not have a good source of data to pull from. It was suggested that Off Campus Life at Colorado State University might have some data that could help. Staff will follow up. • Noted Larimer County is doing everything possible to avoid getting moved to orange status as it relates to COVID. The City, Poudre School District (PSD), and Larimer County are doing what they can to leverage communication and other efforts to increase messaging to help manage the COVID spikes that are occurring. City Manager Atteberry reiterated that, according to the Larimer County Health Department, COVID spread is occurring most within the 30-60 year-old age group and local ICUs are at or near capacity. • Noted that the Town of Wellington named a new Town Manager, Patti Garcia. Patti is the former City Clerk from the City of Loveland and, previous to that, the City of Windsor and Town of Winter Park. Mayor Pro Tem Stephens: • Participated in a meeting with the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization (NFRMPO) where boundaries were discussed. At the meeting, several options were evaluated. The remaining options will be shared with staff to get feedback. None of the options are expected to impact Fort Collins, although staff is asked to confirm this. There was also discussion about the $1.25M that remains unpaid to the Colorado Department of Transportation with no formal agreement on the breakdown of the amount amongst the participating Leadership Planning Team Meeting November 16, 2020 Page 4 of 5 municipalities. The NFRMPO staff will be asked to put in writing what is being requested or expected of Fort Collins and where the commitment information came from if there is any. This should also include a timeline for payment. • Noted that the National League of Cities conference is occurring this week. She encouraged all those who registered to attend available sessions and mentioned there are several related to housing. She also noted that committee applications are due by December 1st and that existing committee members are required to reapply. • Noted that Small Business Saturday visits went really well. She thanked staff who organized the event. Mayor Troxell: • Asked about whether a final inspection had been done at the 392 interchange. He was concerned that the stone and landscape work appeared not to have been completed and wanted to make sure there was follow up on this. The City Manager confirmed that the work has not yet been finalized and that staff will follow up on his request. • Participated in a Bloomberg Harvard Leading Social and Economic Recovery virtual session last Thursday. The session covered Critical Public Health Information and Vaccinations for COVID-19 and Tools for Dignity and the Equitable Economy. Here are some associated links: o Critical Public Health Information and Vaccinations for COVID-19: Access the slides presented by Dr. Josh Sharfstein and Dr. Ruth Karron of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. o Tools for Dignity and the Equitable Economy: Download a handout and access the slides presented by Rawi Abdelal from Harvard Business School. o Additional resources on COVID-19 vaccines recommended by Dr. Ruth Karron:  The New York Times Coronavirus Tracker  CDC COVID-19, Vaccines  U.S. FDA, COVID-19 Vaccine Information  Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Vaccines  The Art of Medicine article (attached) o Information on Jon Meacham, presidential historian and author, who spoke with Mike Bloomberg at the event along with various resources: https://www.bloomberg.org/press/releases/presidential-historian-and-author-jon-meacham- and-mike-bloomberg-speak-with-more-than-270-city-leaders-at-sixth-virtual-convening-to-aid- covid-19-social-and-economic-recovery/ • Participated in a Northern Colorado Regional Airport meeting last week. Good progress is being made. Leadership Planning Team Meeting November 16, 2020 Page 5 of 5 • Participated in the Red Kettle Kickoff at the Foothills Mall. It was a nice event. Many people were shopping at the mall; this was good to see. Meeting adjourned at 9:53 a.m. Perspectives www.thelancet.com Vol 396 November 7, 2020 1481 I turned off the ignition and sat still. Up until that moment, I’d been excited about this day. But now that it was here, I felt this strange mixture of angst and ambivalence. A sudden urge welled up in me to grab my phone, call the centre, and cancel. I told myself, “You don’t have to do this.” I reassured myself, “I know.” I stepped out of the parking garage and made my way towards the building. Once I reached the ramp leading to the entrance, I froze. My feet felt glued to the asphalt and a few tears slid down my cheeks. Why was I crying? I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes and took a big drag of air. It was exactly 2 minutes past the start time of my appointment. I told myself, “You really don’t have to do this.” I reassured myself, “I know.” My phone buzzed and startled me. It was the vaccine trial coordinator reaching out to see if I would still be coming. I paused before answering. “Yes. I’m walking in now.” They were pleasant when I stepped inside. Even behind the mask, I could see from the twinkle in their eyes that they were smiling. They took my temperature, asked a few questions about my health status, and then escorted me to an elevator that, for safety reasons, I’d ride up alone. My inner voice began speaking again. “You can still leave, you know.” And I told myself, “I know.” My hands were wringing in my lap. The coordinator sat directly across from me with a clipboard and began the process of informed consent. I felt my pulse quickening. Each breath I took behind my mask pushed plumes of condensation onto my glasses. I removed them, wiped them off, and pinched the nose on my face cover before placing them back on my face. The coordinator asked, “Is everything okay?” “Yes”, I replied. “I just need to be able to see.” They nodded and continued the process. With every statement on that long list, I listened intently. I asked them to repeat or reword the parts that weren’t clear to me or that I perceived as unnecessarily complex. My responses were slow and measured. Then, after the final question, they handed me a stack of papers with stickies on the areas for me to sign, telling me to ask if I had more questions. That’s when it happened. Without warning, a cacophony of sounds clattered inside of my head. Throaty voices cried out in protest. There was the tinkling of metal instruments punctuated by shrieks of pain and conciliatory murmurs. Then came scuffling sounds along with the clink of handcuffs. Someone wept in rhythmic tics and then, just for a few moments, there was silence. Next, there was the sound of a brass band playing. Then came the laughter. Soft at first, but quickly becoming louder, blended with applause and sounds of celebration. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, hoping I could drown it all out. I could not. The coordinator spoke my name and shook me from my inner thoughts. They offered a smile and asked how I was. I said, “Um, sorry, yes, I’m fine.” The coordinator checked again, “Do you have any questions?” I sifted through my brain for more, hoping to cover not only my own queries but all of those important things that those before me had not been afforded the chance to explore. I asked and asked and asked until I ran out of questions and breath. I wish it felt like enough. It did not. I am a 50-year-old Black American woman physician who is a descendant of slaves. My parents are from Alabama and, in the 1940s, my maternal grandparents were students at the Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University. All four of their children, including my mother, were born and raised in Macon County, AL—in the very hospital that conducted the now infamous Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. And on this day, I initiated my participation in a phase 3 clinical trial for a vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The narrative of Tuskegee being synonymous with that horrific study came as a surprise to me. As a fourth- generation graduate of Tuskegee University, I’d always associated the word Tuskegee with Black excellence, uplift, and family connection. Just hearing those three syllables would bring to mind the sprawling campus with dormitories named for slavery abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and filled with majestic brick buildings built by students post Reconstruction. Although I’d heard about the syphilis study from my parents growing up, it wasn’t until I entered residency at a predominantly white The art of medicine More than medical mistrust Jason Meyer/Alamy Stock PhotoThe grounds and buildings of Tuskegee University Perspectives 1482 www.thelancet.com Vol 396 November 7, 2020 academic institution that I’d learn of how the medical community and beyond had rewritten the name of my alma mater as synonymous with Black people and medical mistrust in the USA. “Tuskegee” would be the explanation given when a Black person declined a medication, a vaccine, or enrolment in a clinical trial. It was both hurtful and infuriating. Perhaps it was because, as a student at historically Black institutions like Tuskegee University and Meharry Medical College, I’d learned about the medical atrocities and experimenta tion that long preceded and followed the untreated syphilis study. Additionally, I didn’t like the way the awful and unethical study seemed to microinvalidate the extraordinary legacy of Tuskegee University to such a large number of people. Moreover, such reference to the Tuskegee study and medical mistrust oversimplifies something far more complicated. There are trust issues when it comes to African Americans and the US health-care system. There is also a justified fear that our human lives might be dispensable in exchange for scientific discovery benefiting those with privilege and who are white. The historical basis for this, which began long before the untreated syphilis study in Macon County, underscores a larger, ongoing issue—the value of Black lives. In the Antebellum period, it was the millions tortured through chattel slavery as property. Post Reconstruction, there was state-sanctioned convict leasing followed by Jim Crow laws and domestic terrorism. The uncovering of the disturbing events in the Tuskegee study was no more than another chapter over centuries in US history. It is a story that continues with the deaths of unarmed Black Americans, mass incarceration, the achievement gap, and the astounding health disparities seen every day and now amplified by COVID-19. All of it is intertwined. For Black Americans, the fellowship derived from our shared suffering has always been a place of connection and, out of necessity, support. Just as our ancestors clung to each other in the bowels of slave ships, risked their lives for freedom, and collectively put themselves in harm’s way for civil rights, this solidarity has saved our lives for generations. As a result, this allegiance to all who came before us remains. The emotional turmoil I felt when signing that enrolment form wasn’t as simple as medical mistrust. It felt like disloyalty. Conversely, I work in health care as an academic physician at a safety net hospital. I have seen health disparities with my own eyes and have been on the receiving end of desperate phone calls from Black patients, family, and friends. Like many, I’ve read the research, lamented the paucity of Black enrollees in clinical trials, and wrestled with the applicability of the results to my predominantly minority patient population. Then COVID-19 came crashing in. As the pandemic disproportionately impacted Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people, the urgency to find solutions that might benefit us rose. With every hospital admission, personal text message, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, it became more evident than ever that alongside a strong public health and epidemiological response and wide-ranging strategies to mitigate and address health disparities, a vaccine would be crucial. And therein lies my internal tug of war as a Black physician. While I know that a historical reluctance to assist scientific discovery is warranted, I also recognise the importance of research that can potentially save lives. Prospects of COVID-19 vaccines becoming available look promising. But early surveys suggest that some people from historically disenfranchised and marginalised groups might feel hesitant. Some of it could be mistrust and fear— but we should also consider the rightful anger against the establishment that dehumanised Black people over and over again. Also, beyond resigning every minority to groupthink, recognition is needed that informed consent and refusal are individual choices—and rights. Acknowledging every aspect of the multigenerational barriers for Black Americans to enrolment in clinical trials is critical to moving forward. We are not simply untrusting—we remember. And there is still far too much evidence of Black lives not mattering in our society. This evolution of trust will call for more than scientists with excellent communication skills. We need a seismic shift in our relationships with Black lives as demonstrated through government and societal actions, policies, investments, and outcomes. Medical mistrust is just the tip of a 400-year-old iceberg that has to be chipped away from every direction. When I rolled up the sleeve on my non-dominant arm, I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself. A syringe with either a new COVID-19 vaccine or placebo would soon plunge into my muscle. I didn’t hear any sounds but even behind closed eyelids and foggy glasses, I could see. This time it was faces I saw—some crying, some protesting, others unsuspecting and trusting. Some were lifeless, splashed with shovelled dirt from unmarked graves or worse, unearthed and taken for dissection in medical schools. But then came the smiling faces waving at me from clinic waiting rooms. The security officer giving me a fist bump through my car window at Grady Memorial Hospital, my sons lost in hugs with my ageing parents, and the exuberant alumni crowd dancing with the marching band at a Tuskegee University homecoming game. As the scent of the alcohol swab wafted into my nose and the needle drew closer, I told myself a final time, “You don’t have to do this.” And because I know that I don’t, I did. It is as much my right to consent as it is to refuse. On this day, I said yes. Kimberly D Manning Division of General Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA kdmanni@emory.edu Further reading Washington HA. Medical apartheid: the dark history of medical experimentation on Black Americans from colonial times to the present. New York: Doubleday, 2006 Benjamin R. Informed refusal: toward a justice-based bioethics. Sci Technol Human Values 2016; 41: 967–90 Silverman E. STAT-Harris Poll: the share of Americans interested in getting COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible is dropping. STAT, Oct 19. https://www.statnews.com/ pharmalot/2020/10/19/ covid19-coronavirus-pandemic- vaccine-racial-disparities/ (accessed Oct 26, 2020) O’Neal L. Half of Black adults say they won’t take a coronavirus vaccine. The Undefeated, 2020. https://theundefeated.com/ features/half-of-black-adults-say- they-wont-take-a-coronavirus- vaccine/ (accessed Oct 26, 2020)