LovelandPolitics.com Blog

COIN may become the new term for ACE. Here is the link to our story

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced the Colorado Innovation Network (COIN) earlier this week as an initiative to
transfer technologies in government paid labs over to industry while creating new jobs in manufacturing. It appears very similar to ACE except the participants are more from academia than NASA and it is open to many more varieties of commercial products and technologies than ACE.

We understand that only Loveland City Manager Bill Cahill and Economic Director Betsey Hale are communicating with C&W and the Governor’s office about this issue and an announcement may be forthcoming. We tried to get access to those communications and emails today but were unsuccessful.

In the meantime, we have looked into CAMT and found what one insider described as a “virtual” organization since they only have some 5-6 highly paid senior staff and everyone else “working” there are hired only as “independent contractors.” It seems ironic for an organization funded by the federal government to create more jobs painfully avoids hiring people. Are they trying to avoid payroll taxes?

If CAMT refuses a minor role (again) they risk losing everything and seeing the entire project migrating over to COIN. We spoke with a number of people in and outside the relative organizations we reported on and feel very confident about the veracity of the information provided. Perhaps the most memorable quote about CAMT was that they sure are great at spending other people’s money!

As always, your comments are welcome.

Ft. Collins real estate broker Clayton Roberts forwarded us an email he sent a State of Colorado investigator threatening to sue the publisher of LovelandPolitics along with other parties over a state inquiry into his participation in a lease with option to buy real estate transaction we reported on last June. see our latest story and his letter

Without getting into all the nitty-gritty details he is not the first person to threaten a lawsuit and will likely not be the last. We were, quite frankly, shocked by both the tone and language of the email he sent to a state investigator looking into a complaint about his license. Our story wasn’t about Roberts but instead another former car dealer now in real estate named Marty Hutcheson. Roberts was only mentioned once as the person the tenants claimed signed their lease agreement.

If you want to read the original story here is the link. We would have been happy to publish his side of the story at the time but since he didn’t return phone calls that was a little hard to do.

Feel free to comment but please refrain from any defamatory language like calling someone a “liar” the way Roberts did in his email to us.

Thanks

Below is the link to an audio on YouTube of Loveland’s City Council asking State Legislators to oppose any legislation clarifying or strengthening Colorado’s Open Meetings Law (COML).

Some background facts you must know before listening to the tape:

A judge found Loveland’s council violated the law NOT because they met in clossed session to discuss the selection process of the next City Manager but because each councilor VOTED in closed session for the candidate they wanted for that job (a vote that should have been made in public).

The council WAS NOT using closed sessions to protect the privacy of the candidates but instead to hide from the media the fact they didn’t have enough votes for any one candidate. Mayor Cecil Gutierrez pretends that advocates of open government want personnel issues in the open which is false. Gutierrez argues on the tape that the definition of personnel is “very, very vague” but opposes any legislation clarifying the term?

Just like with the Mayor Pro Tem vote, the Mayor wants the public only to see a prepared show and not the true give and take between councilors that took place when he attempted to make Joan Shaffer Mayor Pro Tem during private negotiations but couldn’t get a unanimous vote.

Only Councilman Daryle Klassen spoke up during the November 15, discussion to explain to those who didn’t know that the council violated the law when VOTING in private not discussing the hiring process or candidates. When asked what reasons newspapers or the Colorado Press Association have for trying to make personnel matters public, City Manager Bill Cahill answered, “Good Press” to which everyone laughed.

The bottom line is Loveland’s Mayor is speaking from both sides of his mouth on this issue. He abused the personnel exemption in the Colorado Open Meetings Law to hide from the media a disagreement between councilors of who they supported for City Manager. They did take a “public” vote but that was after the dust settled in private and they could show a unanimous front to the public just like Mayor Pro Tem.

During a working breakfast with state legislators in Loveland last Tuesday, Mayor Gutierrez lobbied state lawmakers to crack down on open government legislation and help put a stop to the Colorado Press Association agenda of transparency.see story

Normally cautious about what he says in public, Gutierrez was apparently unaware that an open microphone in the room was recording even though no members of the public or press were present. Gutierrez was joined by Councilwoman Joan Shaffer who agreed and also Loveland’s City Manager, Bill Cahill, who outlined “the city’s concern.”

It is particularly ironic that Loveland’s council never took a public stance on the issue. Apparently, the $25,000 attorney fees and judge’s decision that Loveland’s council broke the law has had little to no impact relative to the Mayor’s view of whether he was in error.

Historically, Loveland’s City Council votes on the legislative agenda each year and hashes out the city’s official position before anything is presented to members of the legislature who represent Loveland.

It is doubtful many citizens of Loveland oppose the Loveland Reporter-Herald’s view or that of the Colorado Press Association. We found it especially ironic that Gutierrez’s conversion on the issue hasn’t been the topic of any citizen meetings or comments during meetings he knew were being recorded.

We received an unusual request by “Ax” to publish a commentary regarding Loveland, HP’s departure and employment practices regarding protected minorities. read commentary by Ax

The request stated,

“The RH printed a ridiculous letter today in its open forum. I’d like to respond to it, but 350 words isn’t enough, and they wouldn’t print it anyway. You interested in posting it under my pseudonym?”

For the record, Ax clarified he never offered it for publication (in a later email) since it didn’t fit the RH guidelines anyway. We found the commentary to be an honest view from an outsider regarding his experience in Loveland with some valuable history on the law relative to employment practices. While we don’t necessarily agree with the conclusions we found it an interesting read and believe it worth sharing.

Any comment?

In a less than gracious gesture, Councilwoman Carol Johnson sent a letter to the Loveland Reporter Herald as her farewell blaming outsiders for her loss in Tuesday’s election.

Getting only 35% of the vote in Ward 2, she represented during the past 4 years, Johnson was defeated by newcomer Phil Farley who received 43%. Mike Shoonover came in third place at 20%.

In two of the 4 Wards the winner received less than 50% while the other two candidates, sharing similar political views, nearly split the difference. In Ward 4 Ralph Trenary took the seat with just 36% of the votes cast while the other two candidates nearly evenly split the remaining votes.

Johnson apparently alludes to complaints about the rising tide of Ft. Collins’ Democrats having greater influence in Loveland politics.

We will post a complete story on the election along with our own analysis of the results. In the meantime, feel free to comment here on Johnson’s allegations and any other comments on the election.

You can see the latest “final unofficial results” on the county website by clicking here.

Loveland architect Roger Kenney was reported to have been involved in a complete remodel of his 1915 historic building at 209 4th Street earlier this year without obtaining the proper building permits from the city. see our complete story

While Kenney had submitted at least one permit application for a new stair case, it was still in plan check and not approved when Loveland Chief Building inspector, Tom Hawkinson, and Loveland code enforcer Mary Shann received an email alleging code violations by Kenney who had apparently started construction without any permits.

Incredibly, emails released by the City of Loveland reveal the “investigation” was stopped as soon as it began when Shann sent an email to Hawkinson stating,

“Kenney (Roger) suggested I speak with you how to proceed….I have not inspected the property as yet so don’t know if the complaint holds any credence…”

Instead of making the 2 minute drive from city hall to Kenney’s 4th street building to easily confirm or deny the allegation, city staff appears to have taken a different approach. Shann asked the complainer, “Robert Phillipps” for a business name and phone number apparently on behalf of Kenney. When Phillipps refused to identify his employer, Hawkinson and Shann turned the matter over to Sunita Sharma, Loveland Asst. City Attorney, to respond to any further emails from “Phillipps” as if he had done something wrong not Kenney.

In subsequent emails between Hawkinson and his friend Kenney, Kenney asks, “PS still waiting to find out who our stool pigeon is” while in another he again asks Hawkinson whether the City of Loveland has yet identified the “whistle blower” and even refers to the staff in his office taking a “pool” about who it might be.

Ironically, it was likely one of Kenney’s own employees who were reluctantly involved in the pool as a cover because a family member decided to turn Kenney into the city when they believed his illegal building activities were putting people in danger. As the remodel project proceeded the employees on the first floor, we are informed, were concerned for their safety as supports for the second were removed yet the building remained occupied and even open to the public for business. Loveland’s Chief Building Inspector, Hawkinson, and Mary Shann from code enforcement were apparently too busy to make any site visit while the project was without building permits.

A detailed complaint by a contractor who was prosecuted for building without permits back in 2008 now rests on the desk of Loveland’s new city manager Bill Cahill. In that complaint (linked from the final paragraph in our story) are the emails, a detailed chronology of events and the August 22, letter to Bill Cahill asking for action. So far, it appears as though the complaint was forgotten. Hopefully, we are wrong.

Starting again, the City of Loveland has released another RFP on the ACE Project. See a copy of the RFP plus our analysis of the changes.

Perhaps the most absurd is the city’s intent to increase the price of the property commensurate with the city’s costs associated with owning the property. We are being told from inside city hall that requirement will drop after the election. It is apparently meant to give cover for those running for reelection to claim the city hasn’t lost any money YET on the deal because those losses will be recovered in the sales price.

Other Topics
In other news, we have a ton of candidate background, more URA shenanigans, building without a permit, Centerra looking for $20 million more in bond debt plus more inside scoops on the school mill levy increase. Finding the time to research, verify and prepare the articles is challenging so we apologize for our delay in getting these published to those waiting for a specific story. Please check back regularly as we start uploading all these different stories soon.

In the meantime, feel free to take a guess on which candidate now on the ballot appears on our home page in his high school senior year picture.

Also, we want to say thanks to the unrelated Benjamins, Harry, Neil and Carol for your thoughtful, informative and always interesting commentaries on ACE and other topics. We publish this website to host exactly that type of commentary that seems lacking from other local media sources and aspire to provide the platform (not always content) where such discourse can take place. Regarding the Trenary/Clark race blog comments, we want to discourage the insulting demagogue by people who bomb the blog with incendiary comments just to anger people over something a candidate may or may not have said or done.

A number of sources both inside and outside city hall read this website regularly and disseminate reports on its content so please post wisely since we don’t allow later edits to postings.

Thanks

Due to emails from Councilors Klassen, Shaffer and McKean before tonight’s close session council meeting questioning the need for a closed meeting, the council instead met in an open session to discuss next steps on ACE.

We will post a complete story on tonight’s meeting tomorrow but encourage anyone interested to watch the discussion on the city’s website that will make a video available in case you missed it.

The council directed staff to open up bidding to new companies and release an RFP (request for proposal) in conjunction with CAMT to find a new developer for the Lovelad ACE project.

A point of contention between CAMT and the council came when they discussed who will choose the developer to purchase the property. CAMT is still looking to control the process while some on council want the ability to seek alternative development ideas while soliciting new proposals on ACE.