It was a night of numbers when the Fort Lupton City Council convened Aug. 18.
Council unanimously approved a spot on the November ballot for the extension of a sales and use tax for street improvements. Voters originally approved the tax increase in 1991 and agreed to extend it in November 2000 and in 2011 for a period of 10 years. If approved, the extension would begin in January 2022.
The city’s public works department provided a list of accomplished work since the 2011 extension. It includes street overlay work at state Highway 52 and Weld County Road 8, work on Hoover Avenue between Sixth and Ninth streets and on Seventh Street between McKinley and Hoover avenues. In all, $7.5 million of the $10.5 million in costs came from tax use.
The city also presented a list of proposed projects should voters approve the extension. That includes work on Ninth Street between Northrup Avenue and WCR 31, along 14th Street between U.S. Highway 85 and the bridge and along McKinley Avenue between First and Reynolds streets. Total cost of the potential 10 years’ worth of projects is about $18 million.
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In other business, council unanimously approved the process to start allocating $385,000 worth of funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
Fifteen percent of that, or about $57,000, goes to Weld County Business Relief Fund, which Upstate Colorado Economic Development will administer.
The second phase — about $27,000 — goes to the city for reimbursement of health expenses, such as communication, enforcement and acquisition of personal protective equipment.
The balance creates a city COVID-19 grant relief fund for directly affected citizens with such needs as rent, mortgage payments, unforeseen financial costs and other emergency individual needs, according to staff notes.
Staff proposed a three-part process for this money. The first piece was due to begin Aug. 18 on a first-come, first-served arrangement. Six hundred VISA cards worth $250 each will be available in the first phase. An evaluation will determine whether a second phase is necessary. If there is a second phase, it could start as soon as the first week in October.
“Each applicant will need to submit a signed application stating that they have been impacted by loss of income due to the Covid-19 public health emergency and provide proof of residency,” staff notes said. “Verification of residency will be determined using the Weld County Assessor/Treasurer’s office on-line information portal.”
Once the money runs out or there are no more applicants by Nov. 30, the relief fund program comes to an end. Excess money goes to the county business relief fund.
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Council also unanimously approved a contract with JBS Pipeline Constructors for the Kahil Storm Drainage Project. The project’s cost can’t be higher than $826,327.70, which includes a 10 percent contingency fee. THe payment comes from the city’s storm water drainage facility fund.
Public Works Director Roy Vestal said JBS submitted the lowest of 11 bids for the project. The city contracted with JBS in 2019 for other pipe projects.
Work could start as soon as this fall. The city hopes it will be done in time for a spring paving project on Kahil Road.
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And the meeting required 15 minutes.