Commerce City Council Meeting of March 23, 2009

The council heard comments from citizens about Ordinance 1763 that considers making every Monday evening session a regular meeting starting in June 2009. This is being considered because of the increase in council business that needs to be addressed every week. This would make citizens communication available as well every Monday which would mean that citizens that need to bring an issue to council’s attention would not sometimes have to wait two weeks. It was also agreed to by a majority vote that audience members would also be introduced every Monday evening. Council does not meet if there is a fifth Monday of any month.

A proclamation was made that the City of Commerce City endorses efforts through Earth Hour to raise awareness concerning global climate change and energy efficiency and that March 29, 2009 be Earth Hour day in the City of Commerce City, Colorado. On March 29, at 8:30 pm, it was obvious that a lot of the residents in the city participated as entire blocks were dark for the entire hour. Thank you to Council Member Jason McEldowney who brought this idea forward to council.

The Commerce City Parks and Recreation Department informed everyone that they should check out their new website and that online registration will now be available. The website is http://www.ci.commerce-city.co.us/pages/recreation/index.html. Some changes to fees were also proposed to city council.

The good news of the evening was that the city’s finances ended the year 2008 in the black. A presentation was given by Director of Finance Roger Tinklenberg. According to the preliminary numbers, pre-final adjustments and audit, revenues exceeded expenditures by $2,946,810. The city’s revenues were $47,268,839.77 which was 101.5% of the budgeted amount. This was due to traffic tickets being up and interest rates dropping significantly. The city’s expenditures were $43,371,970.84 which was 94.1% of the budget. This good news was brought to you by your city manager, city council, and city staff through some very difficult work cutting expenditures and being diligent with your tax dollars.