HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance No. 196, 2025- 1 -
ORDINANCE NO. 196, 2025
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
MAKING A SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION OF
UNANTICIPATED REVENUE FOR PAYMENT OF
CONTINGENCY FEES
A. The Larimer County Solid Waste Facility at 5887 S. Taft Hill Road (“Landfill”)
is a regional solid waste processing and disposal site operated and maintained by Larimer
County (“County”).
B. Since 1967, the Landfill site has been and is currently owned in the following
undivided interests: 50% Fort Collins, 25% Larimer County and 25% City of Loveland.
C. Fort Collins operated the Landfill from 1963 until January 1, 1975, after
which the County operated the Landfill pursuant to an agreement among the City, the City
of Loveland and the County (collectively the “Parties”) dated November 21, 1974 . The
County remains the current operator.
D. The Parties have collaborated since 2018 to assess and propose corrective
measures for environmental contamination of groundwater detected at the Landfill, in
cooperation with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (“CDPHE”)
and entered into an intergovernmental agreement (“IGA”) to take remediation measures
and to allocate costs therefor.
E. In 2021, the City retained outside legal counsel on contingency fee basis to
research and determine if the City had any insurance policy or coverage that would
respond to a claim for groundwater contamination at the Landfill, given that pollution
exclusions became standard provisions in commercial or general liability policies in the
1980s.
F. In its research, outside counsel located an insurance policy in place with
coverage at the Landfill prior to the pollution exclusion, made a claim on behalf of the
City, and facilitated a settlement agreement in 2025 between the insurer and the City.
G. The City received unanticipated revenues from this settlement in 2025 in
the form of an insurance recovery payment in the amount of $550,000. This Ordinance
appropriates funds to make a contingency fee payment to outside counsel. This
appropriation benefits the public health, safety, and welfare of the residents of Fort Collins
and serves the public purpose of supporting programs or capital expenses throughout the
City, including making available revenues for remediation in future fiscal years.
H. Article V, Section 9 of the City Charter permits the City Council, upon
recommendation of the City Manager, to make a supplemental appropriation by ordinance
at any time during the fiscal year, provided that the total amount of such supplemental
appropriation, in combination with all previous appropriations for that fiscal year, do not
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exceed the current estimate of actual and anticipated revenues and all other funds to be
received during the fiscal year.
I. The City Manager has recommended the appropriation described herein
and determined that the funds to be appropriated are available and previously
unappropriated from the General Fund and that this appropriation 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 CIT Y OF
FORT COLLINS that there is hereby appropriated from new revenue or other funds in the
General Fund the sum of ONE HUNDRED NINETY-TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED
DOLLARS ($192,500) to be expended in the General Fund for payment of the
contingency fee.
Introduced, considered favorably on first reading on December 2, 2025, and
approved on second reading for final passage on December 16, 2025.
______________________________
Mayor
ATTEST:
______________________________
City Clerk
Effective Date: December 26, 2025
Approving Attorney: Dianne Criswell
Exhibit: None