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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Arvada City Owns Houses and rents to Employees with your Money


ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4)- The City of Arvada is renting sprawling, city-owned homes for well below market value. A CBS4 Investigation found the deeply discounted rental homes are only available to city employees, not the general public.
“Being a city employee they have an obligation to the city and I think they feel that they work for the city, they want to do the right thing by the city,” said Arvada’s Deputy City Manager Maria Vanderkolk, explaining the employee-only arrangement.
Vanderkolk acknowledged the city could make much more money off its rentals by putting them on the open market, but she said that wouldn’t really work.
“We don’t have the staff to be property managers so this makes it easier for us to have that contractual relationship with our own employees,” said Vanderkolk.
One of the homes the city rents out is a 5,000 square foot, three bedroom, six bathroom home with a three car attached garage. The home on west 71st Avenue, boasts expansive views of Arvada’s Majestic View Park.

Kirk Nagle, a supervisor with Arvada’s building inspection department, has been living there since at least 1999, paying $1,000 a month for the last twelve years.
“I would say you think it’s a good deal until you do all the work,” said Nagle. “Its not easy.”
Nagle said he is expected to water the yard, maintain the landscaping and sprinkler system and do minor upkeep and repairs in exchange for the low rent. Nagle said he has painted the garage doors, cleaned gutters and replaced a dishwasher at his own expense.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a good deal or a bad deal,” said Nagle. “It’s not up to me.”
Nagle, and other city employees renting city homes, are also expected to act as the cities “eyes and ears” and report vandalism or suspicious activity around the rental homes and in Majestic View Park.
“Those are all obligations we ask our employees to take on,” said Vanderkolk. “It still remains profitable for us.”
Not far from Nagle’s home is a 4,000 square foot, four bedroom, two bathroom, two story home on Garrison Street in the Huntington Heights neighborhood.
City records show it has been rented to Joel Raker, an employee of Arvada’s Parks Department since 2004 for $1,000 per month. When asked what his friends say when he tells them he rents the home for $1,000 a month and the rent hasn’t increased in seven years, Raker said, “They say ‘That’s a great deal.’ I mean it’s lower than the market value,” said Raker.
In exchange for the cheap rent, the city asks him to keep an eye out for trouble, maintain the landscaping and open and close a nearby park gate whenever he is asked.
The City rents another single family home to one of its employees for $800 a month. Yet another house near Majestic View Park is leased to a city worker for $300 a month.
The Deputy City Manager said years ago, the city rented its homes to members of the public but had bad experiences, so decided to only rent to city workers.
“It’s definitely a benefit for us,” said Vanderkolk. “We’ve seen it that way for a long time.”

Brian Mass CBS 4

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Craig Kocian - City Manager Retires


Craig Kocian, long time Arvada City Manager anounced today that he would be retiring later this year. Following is the letter he sent staff anouncing his decision to retire in September:

 "Sent: Feb 7, 2011 9:21 PM
Subject: Really?

Folks,

After years of whining and complaining (mine), rumors and speculation
(everybody else), I've actually decided to do something about it. Tonight, I
informed the council by letter that I intend to retire, effective September
30 (that would be this year!).

This public service and city manager business have been a great run for 44
years, more than 25 of which will have been with the City of Arvada by the
time September rolls around. Arvada has been a wonderful place (Maria and
Michele H)) to live, work and play. We started our family here and -
obviously - lived here for 25 years. It has been my privilege during this
time to work with some of the best employees in the world ---  public or
private ---  the Arvada city employees(!). And I (and we) have enjoyed the
support of a succession of energetic, thoughtful,  and dedicated city
councils. Its members have included some of the finest elected officials for
which any of us could hope to work.

You need to know from me that I am especially grateful for the work that you
have done on my behalf and for this community. You bring honor and dignity
to yourselves and to your positions everyday. The most difficult aspect of
leaving will be giving up the time that I have with you and your staffs
working to strategize, problem-solve, firefight, crisis manage, and add
value to our citizens lives. There will still be plenty of time for
nostalgia, but I want to say thank you to each of you for making me look
like a reasonable representation of a city manager.

Craig"


Thanks for all the hard work you have done for the city over the years Craig.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Fire Chief Overpaid

The voters in Arvada recently gave Mr. Greer a raise. Well not literally. But in November of 2010 many voters did vote on ballot issue 5A which was a mill levy increase for the Arvada Fire Protection District. The race was very close with roughly  (56%) “YES” votes and (44%) “NO” votes

This was a special election and so had its own ballot which cost the district an extra $106,000. Of note is the fact that the financially struggling Fire Department could spend this much just to get a separate ballot. The initiative passed. So the Arvada Fire Protection District had an increase in funding. Most people probably knew this. The interesting part is how it happened and what it means
.
Many people may not be aware of the money that was spent and the relationships that were formed to help this mill levy pass. Lots of money was spent by both the Fire Department and other organizations (i.e the Arvada Chamber of Commerce) to make this happen, while practically no money was spent to stop the measure. The current mill levy for the Arvada Fire Protection District is 14.71 mills by contrast it was 9.55 mills. What does that translate to in dollars? Well in 2010 the tax revenue for the Arvada Fire Protection District was $12,132,442. If there were 500 fires in Arvada, which is a huge number considering there were less than 500 fires in the entire state of Colorado in 2008; but if there were 500 fires in Arvada in one year the fire department would have $24,264.88 per fire to spend. That is over twelve million dollars! People are starting to think it might be a bit much. The blatant threats of closing fire departments is the only reason most people voted for this tax hike in the first place. Well played for now. The trouble is there is growing competition for the Arvada Fire Protection District that not even a special ballot can win them.

Pridemark Paramedic is a private ambulance service contracted by the City of Arvada to handle the city's 911 calls. They are a private company and they recently sold to a company called Rural Metro. Surprisingly, Rural Metro is also one of the largest providers of private fire departments in the state of Colorado. It would be safe to say that they have their eyes on Arvada for fire as well as paramedic services. If a private company can perform the same services at a lower price then perhaps we should consider firing Chief Greer

How about the election process for Fire Board Members, truth is they don't have them. They just reappoint themselves every year. 

If any of this others or upsets you please contact
 Fire Chief Jon Greer
303-424-3012

They would love to hear your feedback.

Chocolate Affair this Weekend

The 10th annual Chocolate Affair is this weekend Feb. 5th from 11:00am to 3:00pm in Olde Town Arvada. The event is put together by the Arvada Festivals Commission and Downtown Arvada Partnership (HOTA).

This is a great event and it is a lot of fun for the whole family before Valentine's Day. Take your significant other and try some chocolate. Samples for the "Taste of Chocolate" cost $5.00 and for that you get 6 samples. There will be many other activities for children and families from face-painting, horse carriage rides, and heart shaped expressions of love on light posts throughout Olde Town.


The Chocolate Treasure Hunt is actually kind of fun for families. There are clue hidden throughout the shoppes of Olde Town and you have to find Chocolate clues. Teams can compete or individuals to find all of the clues and win some great prizes.
There is a Chocolate Cookie contest which is also quite interesting. There are two categories for the cookies; creatively decorated or chocolate chip cookies.



All proceeds from the event go to the Ralston House which  is dedicated to helping children and teens heal from the trauma of sexual, physical and/or emotional abuse.  It is the only child advocacy center in Jefferson County, Colorado and is a lifeline for some of Colorado's most vulnerable citizens . . . innocent children and adolescents who have been abused.


For more information contact Downtown Arvada Partnership at (303)-420-7869


Hope to see you there!

Arvada Election Results 2011

2011 ELECTION RESULTS


2011 Election Endorsements

After carefully researching each candidate and where they stand on the issues relevant to their race such as:
The size and scope of city government
The budget surplus
The second amendment
Fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets
Sustainability
Public transportation
The accountability of elected and paid officials
Transparency

we’ve decided to release the following endorsements.
Mayor: Either Dan Bidstrup or Dave Chandler. Anybody is better than Marc Williams. I see his signs in my sleep.
City Council:
                At Large: Ed Tomlinson
                Ward 2: Cody McNutt
                Ward 4: Humpty Dumpty (you’ll have to write this one in…)
School Board:
                District 3: Preston Branaugh
                District 4: Jim Powers

Proposition 103: Not just no. Hell no.
Charter Amendments:
2A: Yes. For heaven’s sake clean up that charter text.
2B: No. Do we really want pipelines of information running between us and other cities in Jefferson county?
2C: No. Just the words “Emergency Ordinance” throw me into a tailspin. I want as many people as possible to agree that there is a need for an “Emergency Ordinance” before it is adopted.
2D: No. To manage the city you should actually live in the city and that’s potentially a year’s worth of travel expenses paid for by the Arvada taxpayer while the new city manager travels between Arvada and his home town of Sidney, Australia. Exaggeration, but still.
2E: Yes. It took a team of lawyers to understand exactly the purpose of this one, but we’ve all concluded that there must be some city employee who’s driven the council crazy and they want the ability to tell the city manager so. Maybe it’s sustainability coordinator. Yeah, that’s it.
Things are shaping up nicely for 2011. It looks like Williams won't be alone in his race by a long shot. Perhaps we will finally get to see some new faces on council after this election. Out with the old and in with the new.


Here is a list of who's up this year and respectively what they will most likely run for to the best of our knowledge at this point:
* RECOMMENDED BY ARVADA REPORT
 - DON'T VOTE FOR THIS ONE

Bob Dyer- UNOPPOSED
- He isn't to bad; at least he may actually do something about Arvada's unconstitutional  paid membership to ICLEI

Cody McNutt VS Mark McGoff

It is great to see a three way race - DON"T VOTE WILLIAMS the other two are fine

Ed Tomlinson VS Bob Fifer



NON-PARTISAN (WE DON'T THINK SO)

 CANDIDATE
PARTY AFFILIATION


Bob Dyer
Republican

Bob Fifer
Democrat

Ed Tomlinson
Unaffiliated

Cody McNutt
Republican

Mark McGoff
Unaffiliated

Marc Williams
Republican

David Chandler
Unaffiliated

Dan Bidstrup
Republican





Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Transportation Orientated Robbery (TOR) Goldline

As many of you know RTD is going to be putting FAStracks through Arvada along the current railroad line that runs along Grandview. Here is what FAStracks has to say about this line;


 "The Gold Line is an 11.2-mile electric commuter rail corridor that will run from Denver Union Station to Wheat Ridge, passing through northwest Denver, Adams County and Arvada along the way. The line will have seven stations, located at 41st Avenue, Pecos, Federal, Sheridan, Olde Town, Arvada Ridge and Ward Road. As part of the voter-approved FasTracks program, the Gold Line will provide high-quality, reliable transit service for the area while improving travel times and enhancing access to jobs, recreation and entertainment.

The Gold Line was issued a Record of Decision (ROD) by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on November 2, 2009, marking the end of the project'sEnvironmental Impact Statement (EIS) process. The Gold Line is scheduled to open to the public by 2016."  -- http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/gl_1