Here are the 4 most interesting things that happened at Fort Collins City Council this week

Few people have time to attend a Fort Collins City Council meeting, and not many fire up their FCTV app to stream it.

But as the Coloradoan's city government accountability reporter, I'm paying attention every week to tell you what council is discussing and deciding.

I hope you'll skim and skip around below to get the highlights from Tuesday's meeting that interest you.

If you want a little bit more detail, check out my live blogging of the meeting on X.com. I try to do this for each meeting and work session so people who don't have time to watch an entire meeting can still be informed about what happens there.

Here's what to get caught up on from Tuesday's meeting:

Council adopted a plan focused on the city's economic health, and it turned into a conversation on growth

Fort Collins' Economic Health Strategic Plan sets out to support the city's economic health, but it's also tied to social and environmental goals because of the city's "triple bottom line" approach, said SeonAh Kendall, economic health director.

The plan seeks to support the different types of businesses in the city: main street businesses, which are locally owned, need primary employers to bring more dollars into the community. Primary employers, who generate more revenue outside the city, need main street businesses for their local consumer goods and services and the culture of community they create.

It also aims to:

• Support historically underserved businesses in the community, like BIPOC, women, low-income, and veteran-owned businesses.

• Aim for more diverse job opportunities for the community.

• Apply lessons on racial equity to economic resilience.

• Attract and elevate industries like climate technology and life sciences.

There are four goals it aims to achieve, as well:

1. Increase business owner representation to match the population demographics of Fort Collins.

2. Increase overall business survivability longer than five years from 45% to 50%.

3. Add 1,800 new jobs in certain sectors, like life science and climate technology.

4. Increase representation in employment within those sectors.

One council member voted against the plan. Kelly Ohlson said he believes the plan "buys into the perpetual growth imperative" and "doubles down on growth obsession and addiction."

He pointed to a statement in the plan that says, "We will NOT achieve racial and social equity or climate action goals without economic inclusion and growth."

Ohlson said the city can't grow its way to solving the climate crisis and this plan perpetuates "the myths of growth" that he thought the city had laid to rest 10 to 20 years ago.

Mayor pro-tem Emily Francis said she interpreted the use of the word "growth" in the plan to refer to economic growth, saying "we will not achieve social equity without economic growth in those populations that experience lower wages."

Kendall said the plan is meant to strategically and intentionally manage growth that is forecast to happen, rather than letting growth "happen to us."

Council member Julie Pignataro said even though the city has not sought out growth in recent years, it continues to happen. She said nobody is looking to attract growth, but it's going to happen anyway.

During public comment, resident and consultant Joe Rowan said the city identified some concerns of business owners, like housing affordability, finding workforce talent and the cost of doing business, but he said those aren't addressed in the four goals.

"Economic health seems to take a second fiddle position behind environmental and social objectives," he said. "And we've pushed hard on climate goals, on social equity and inclusion, but it doesn't always take into account ... what does that do to the cost of doing business, the ability to start and maintain the business."

He said economic health considerations should be equal partners to social and environmental objectives and goals should be aligned with the challenges that have been identified.

Public commenters came out with concerns about PRPA's plans for gas turbines

More than a dozen people urged Mayor Jeni Arndt and City Council to direct Platte River Power Authority to seek bids for technology that provides power through wind, solar, batteries and other sources besides gas turbines.

PRPA provides electricity to Fort Collins Utilities, and Arndt and Utilities Director Kendall Minor serve on its board of directors.

At its Dec. 7 board meeting, advocates plan to ask PRPA to give greater consideration to these alternatives, over the aeroderivative gas turbines that the power provider got board approval to pursue in October.

In a blog post shared with the Coloradoan, the Fort Collins Sustainability Group wrote that "there are likely less expensive, more climate-friendly approaches to providing firm, dispatchable power to the four cities served by PRPA than building a new fracked gas plant. We are urging the PRPA to issue an 'All-source (request for bids)' for firm, dispatchable capacity that would allow bids for wind, solar, batteries, and other combinations of resources that might better meet our needs."

On Tuesday, Minor addressed the comments, saying PRPA is already pursuing renewables as part of its plan for dispatchable capacity, which is what helps provide power when renewable sources like wind and solar aren't producing.

He said the overall plan is still under consideration, including for the gas turbine, as research on the availability of renewables continues. The plan, known as an integrated resource plan, or IRP, will be updated in 2024.

"We're all in favor of going to a zero-percent carbon neutral future by 2030," Minor said. "That is still the goal. We're not trying to move away from that."

But Ohlson said it sounded like Minor wasn't hearing what commenters were asking for, which was to not pursue a gas facility that would cost $240 million or more.

"We will make sure we explore all options," Minor said.

You can read more about PRPA's plans and the concerns around them in this story published last month.

Council set some pay raises

Council sets the salaries for three top city employees, and two of them received raises Tuesday.

The chief judge, Jill Hueser, received an 8.1% increase in pay, from $185,000 annually to $200,130. Council members cited improvements in the court space and her work with establishing diversion programs and collaborating with police to bring crime rates down.

The city attorney, Carrie Daggett, received an 8.3% raise, from $222,244 to $240,702. In their comments, council members cited Daggett's work on addressing staffing challenges in her office and continually working with council. Arndt congratulated her on the result of the city's lawsuit against Open International last month.

City Council also sets the salary for the city manager, Kelly DiMartino, but that wasn't decided Tuesday.

A 2.5% increase for the pay ranges included in the city' pay plan was approved. The budgeted increase for classified employees' merit raises is 4.5%, city Human Resources Director Teresa Roche told the Coloradoan.

There are also 13 jobs that use a step-increase system, and pay ranges for that were increased between 2.5% and 8%.

Pay raises for collective bargaining unit positions, like in Fort Collins Police Services, will be set in early 2024.

Council got an update on land use code petition effort

City Clerk Anissa Hollingshead told council that the petition effort to block the land use code has enough valid signatures: 5,776. A minimum of 4,228 signatures were required. More than 6,700 people signed.

There's still an opportunity for any voter to protest the petition gathering effort, so it isn't a done deal just yet. That period ends at 5 p.m. Friday, and if there are no protests, council will likely take it up at their next regular meeting, which is Dec. 19.

Read more about the timeline and council's responsibilities here.

Here's what passed without discussion Tuesday

Here are some highlights from the consent agenda, which are items that aren't pulled for individual discussion. It was a long one this week, with 30 items.

These are just a few of the most notable or interesting items:

• The city is moving more than $2 million from prior year reserves to cover snow removal costs that have exceeded the 2023 budget. The city had a snow removal budget of $1.9 million but has already spent $2.5 million. Anticipated storm activity in November and December would increase costs even more, so council approved the appropriations from prior year funds. "Overspend in the snow budget is driven by severe snowstorms that present cold temperatures, ice, and higher volumes of snow," according to city documents. Any money not used will return to the funds.

• The city received grant money and is contributing some of its own money to replace downtown bike racks. "FC Moves is replacing 20 aging and corroded bike racks in downtown Fort Collins," city documents say. A grant of $15,050 comes from the CDOT Revitalizing Main Streets grant program. That grant requires local matching funds from the city, which amounts to $1,672.

• Council gave final approval to the East Mulberry Plan, which lays out how annexation of that area will be handled. I wrote about that plan earlier, prior to council's initial approval.

• Council passed an item to address mobile home park "management and livability." This includes protections for those who want to use clotheslines and window air conditioning units. It also clarifies who can do inspections and adds transparency requirements around water utility billing.

• A housekeeping item amends municipal code to add that a half-cent sales tax is taking effect in January after voters approved it in November.

Editor's note: This story has corrections. Chief Judge Jill Hueser's last name was misspelled in a previous version of this story. Also, City Council approved a 2.5% increase for classified employee pay ranges in the city's pay plan. The budgeted increase for classified employees' merit raises is 4.5%.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins City Council talks economic health, PRPA plans, salaries