If there were any doubts that the 2023 municipal election was transformative for Loveland City Council, Tuesday’s regular meeting should have dispelled them. As the three recently elected members joined forces with Loveland Mayor Jacki Marsh, the newly constituted council signaled clearly that its priorities will be much different than that of its predecessor.
The loudest signal was Marsh’s successful bid to pull city support from the Centerra South urban renewal plan, a project she vehemently opposed.
Using procedural moves that raised objections from a couple of her fellow council members, Marsh convinced a majority to rescind the resolutions that established the plan and its finance agreement. But not before Councilor Dana Foley left chambers, in hopes of avoiding what he said later are legal concerns over potential action brought by Centerra South developer McWhinney Real Estate Services over breach-of-contract.
But signs of change were elsewhere on the agenda, notably in the new business items introduced by new Ward 3 representative Erin Black.
Calling public safety her top priority, Black called for several new policies or updates related to the Loveland Police Department, including full implementation of the recommendations in the Jensen Hughes report and those made by the Community Trust Commission.
She also proposed a committee to adjudicate ethics complaints, a co-responder committee and updates to the city’s Police Citizens Advisory Board, starting with more accessible meetings, but not ending there.
“That board historically has not understood its role and responsibility,” Black said. “… It’s time for some new blood on that board and for transparency.”
Black also proposed instituting a language justice policy for the city, something she said goes beyond just interpretation and translation.
“It’s a key practice using social justice movements in order to create shared power practice inclusion and dismantle traditional systems of oppression that have traditionally disenfranchised non-English speakers,” she explained.
The new councilor found support for her police-related items, with members voting to direct the city manager to return with actionable items on the Jensen Hughes and CTC recommendations, as well as an estimate for equipping the PCAB meetings with streaming technology.
But Black’s language justice initiative received gentle pushback from the city manager and other members as being overly broad and unfocused.
Councilor Troy Krenning, who was sworn in to start the meeting, won approval for an amendment to her motion that directed the city manager to hold a study session for City Council on the subject before implementing any official policies or programs.
There were also promises of more changes to come from Marsh and from new Ward 4 representative Laura Light-Kovacs. In discussing the agenda for next week’s special meeting, the mayor said she intends to propose a temporary motion on oil and gas development in Loveland, while the council member said she will propose a six-month moratorium on metro districts.
The new council is also taking a less urgent approach to the 2024 budget, despite millions in projected revenue losses from the elimination of sales tax on food for home consumption, a notion Krenning dismissed as “doom and gloom.” Led by Marsh, members signaled they will wait for actual revenue totals in the early months of 2023, rather than make decisions about potential cuts before year-end.
Predictably, Marsh’s Centerra South action drew the ire of the councilors who originally supported Centerra South, with Andrea Samson saying the mayor “bulldozed” the public and other members out of the discussion. Samson also vowed to bring the item back for reconsideration at a future meeting.
Taking a wait-and-see approach to the new council is McFall, who doesn’t often side with the mayor on votes, but maintains friendly relations with her. Though “disappointed” by the lack of discussion during the Centerra South items, he said he is open minded about many of the other items proposed by Black.
“I expected it,” McFall said of the council’s new priorities. “… If you notice, I am not the most emotional person. I try and think things through and look at it.”
