Longmont City Council once again discussed what they might do with the nearly $1 million the city received from the sale of the Denver Broncos.
City staff has been directed to either work on or bring back for a vote on the three proposals presented earlier this month. When the Denver Broncos sold, Longmont received $980,481 that must be used toward “youth activity programs,” but the specifics are up to the discretion of the city council.
On Jan. 9, Longmont Latinx Voices and three city council members made their pitches for where those funds could be used.
Longmont Latinx Voices, a local nonprofit, asked for $100,000 to sponsor sports and other extracurricular scholarships for underprivileged children. In their proposal, $50,000 would go toward purchasing equipment, fees and scholarships, $25,000 for fundraising events and $25,000 as seed money for future investment to make this fund last in perpetuity.
On Tuesday, Mayor Joan Peck proposed awarding the money to the organization, but her fellow council members raised a number of concerns doing so that evening. Peck agreed to reduce the request to $50,000 for just the equipment, as some council members were uncomfortable with money going toward a nonprofit’s fundraising or into a bank account.
The mayor also agreed to delay a vote for that specific use of funds and bring the topic back to the next regular council meeting. At least one council member, Marcia Martin, indicated that she would not vote in favor of the use of funds as she disagreed with the fairness of the process.
“We need to have a fair and equitable process that everybody understands,” Martin said.
Also Tuesday, Councilmember Tim Waters asked for a resolution for use of $500,000 of the funds he initially proposed in early December to be brought back for a vote at the next regular council meeting. Waters wants to use the money along with $1.5 million from oil and gas revenue for improvements to the Longmont Museum.
To do so, the city would also require a change in financial policy related to the oil and gas funds. The council directed staff to work on this at Tuesday’s meeting as well.
Councilmembers Susie Hidalgo-Fahring and Shiquita Yarbrough brought up their proposal for a multipurpose dome, asking staff to spend some time evaluating the costs related to building, staffing and maintaining that type of facility. That motion passed 5-2 with Councilmembers Waters and Martin opposing.
The council members explained they were opposed, not to the need of a facility for youth, but to the specific proposal. Martin wanted to devote more time to ensure the proposal was best suited to meet that need, while Waters felt that there were issues with the existing backlog in the parks and recreation department.
Yarbrough felt that devoting staff time to see the practicality of the project made sense.
“We just need information to see what’s reasonable,” she said.
