HomeMy WebLinkAbout106 - 08/20/2024 - APPROPRIATING PRIOR YEAR RESERVES IN THE GENERAL FUND FOR A CIVIC ASSEMBLY PROCESS IN RELATION TO TH (2)ORDINANCE NO.106,2024
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
APPROPRIATING PRIOR YEAR RESERVES IN THE GENERAL
FUND FOR A CIVIC ASSEMBLY PROCESS IN RELATION TO
THE HUGHES STADIUM SITE
A.In 2021,a citizen-initiated ballot initiative passed,requiring the City to
purchase the Hughes Stadium Site (the “Site”),rezone the 164.56 acre Site to Public
Open Lands District (POL)and use the Site for “parks,recreation,and open lands,natural
areas,and wildlife rescue and restoration.”The City and the Board of Governors of the
CSU System signed a contract on March 2,2023,regarding the sale of the Site to the
City.The total cost of the purchase,including closing costs,was $12,700,000.
B.City Council has expressed a desire to engage the public about the use of
the Site in a manner that ensures all voices are heard.Civic assemblies are a method
that utilizes both random selection,demographic representation,and compensation to
engage diverse residents in learning about a topic,hearing ideas from a variety of interest
groups,and ultimately producing well-informed recommendations to City Council on the
topic through deliberations.City staff have proposed that the Council priority of developing
a use plan for the Site be a topic for consideration by a civic assembly.
C.Healthy Democracy Fund is a unique nonpartisan,nonprofit organization in
the United States that works with local governments to design,coordinate and implement
civic assemblies through a lottery selected panel.Their processes are topic-agnostic and
moderators only ask non-content questions to help guide the process,not the outcome.
Healthy Democracy Fund has a track record of convening civic assemblies on local
government land use issues.
D.Healthy Democracy Fund has created a proposal to engage a civic
assembly to advise the City Council on the future uses of the Site.The proposal would
cost $150,000 to implement,with the potential to provide more public engagement,
outreach efforts and inclusion support for an additional $100,000.This ordinance
appropriates $150,000 in prior year reserves and if grant funds are secured,City staff
would bring an additional appropriation ordinance to appropriate those grant funds.
E.This appropriation benefits the public health,safety,and welfare of the
residents of Fort Collins and serves the public purpose of contracting for a public
engagement process relating to the use of public property.
F.Article V,Section 9 of the City Charter permits the City Council,upon the
recommendation of the City Manager,to make supplemental appropriations by ordinance
at any time during the fiscal year from such revenues and funds for expenditure as may
be available from reserves accumulated in prior years,notwithstanding that such reserves
were not previously appropriated.
G.The City Manager has recommended the appropriation described herein
and determined that this appropriation is available and previously unappropriated from
—1—
the General Fund and will not cause the total amount appropriated in the General Fund
to exceed the current estimate of actual and anticipated revenues and all other funds to
be received in this Fund during this fiscal year.
In light of the foregoing recitals,which the Council hereby makes and adopts as
determinations and findings,BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
FORT COLLINS that there is hereby appropriated from Prior Year Reserves in the
General Fund the sum of ONE HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($150,000)to
be expended in the General Fund for a Civic Assembly Process in Relation to the Hughes
Stadium Site.
Introduced,considered favorably on first reading on July 16,2024,and approved
on second reading for final passage on August 20,2024.
—p
Mayor Pro Tem
ATTEST:
ity /rk
Effective Date:August 30,2024
Approving Attorney:Carrie Daggett