Hi neighbors! In Monday night’s Town Board Meeting, we held a working session with the Planning Commission; heard updates on the Marshall Fire impacts and remediation; conducted an interview for the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee; approved an IGA with Boulder County and the City of Louisville for assistance for debris removal; and discussed a Memorandum of Understanding with Superior Rising. Ready to find out more on what happened? As usual, you may read this post in written form, subscribe to the Laura for Superior podcast, or scroll to the bottom for a video recap.

Disclaimer: While I do my best to represent an honest and accurate portrayal of meetings and events, the following should be considered an editorial that represents one person’s interpretation. At the request of my fellow Board members, I am not attributing any points to them. For the most unbiased and complete information, I encourage residents to watch the meeting video and draw their own conclusions – visit the town website at SuperiorColorado.gov for the official meeting video and meeting minutes.

Working Session with Planning Commission

Prior to the formal Board Meeting start, we held a working session with the Planning Commission. There was no set agenda for the work session, but the majority of our time focused on desired changes and improvements to how we are approaching the post-fire rebuilding process. A member of the Planning Commission talked about the desire for neighborhood meetings that are more interactive rather than informational, which I totally agree with. We discussed the requirement for homes to have sprinkler systems, and a member of the Board suggested gathering learnings from Denver, who in 2012 removed sprinklers from the fire codes. We also discussed how we can better mitigate against future fires by working with Boulder County Parks & Open Space and also potentially changing home landscaping.

Item 2D – Marshall Fire Update and Discussion

On Friday, we learned that there is discussion of increasing the FEMA contribution from 75% to 95%, which reduces the match from the Town of Superior to 5%. The state has also submitted a letter to the President of the United States requesting 100% reimbursement from FEMA – this would tremendously help our budget with the rebuild.

We have 15 demo permits that are ready for final inspection before a rebuild.

Jewish Family Services is offering free drop-in EMDR therapy sessions in-person at the Superior Community Center on Fridays and Saturdays through the end of April. You can find more details on these sessions here, and see the Town’s recent e-blast with other mental health resources here.

Water updates – we have started to draw down the reservoir, and will continue to do so as we activate irrigation. We believe the carbon filter system will help resolve the problem, which we hope to get in place at the end of April, with a permanent solution about six months out. Right now, we believe the carbon filtration system will suffice and we will not need to dredge the reservoir. We have also been working to remove the ash from the banks of the reservoir, which is about a third of the way done. I asked us to consider offering some sort of rebates to residents who are looking to install home filtration systems, as I know many residents have become frustrated with the water issues and have installed filtration systems on their own as a last resort. I also asked our Director of Public Works, Alex Ariniello, to update our smoky water webpage with test results and the mitigation plan so residents can go to this central source for more details.

Item 2E – Board Reports

During Board reports, a member of the Board reminded everyone with standing homes that if your grill was outside (which is most of us), it probably isn’t safe to cook on and you should get a replacement.

Item 3 – Advisory Committee Interviews

We conducted an interview with Robert Stephens to potentially fill a vacancy on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee (PARC).

Item 4 – Consent Agenda

Next, our Board unanimously passed the consent agenda – including meeting minutes, a proclamation in appreciation for Sheryl Buchman’s heroic lifesaving acts during the Marshall Fire; an intergovernmental agreement with Boulder County for the Boulder County 2022 Youth Corps Program Services; an agreement with Level Engineering for Marshall Fire Infrastructure Assessment Services with a max value of $451K; and an amendment to our lease agreement with Edward Heyman & Co for office space in Superior Plaza.

Item 4E, a $109K agreement with Earth Green Fence Products for fence painting, staining and repair was pulled for discussion. The Town’s annual maintenance plan calls for painting and staining fencing throughout the community on a four-year rotation. Rotation 3 for 2022 includes 33K linear feet of fence, though fence replacements that are less than one year old will be deducted from this amount and will not be re-painted until the next section 3 cycle scheduled for 2026. The agreement passed 4-3, with Trustees Tim Howard, Ken Lish, and Neal Shah as the dissenting votes.

Item 5 – IGA with Boulder County and the City of Louisville for Assistance for Debris Removal

The Town of Superior needs to sign an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Boulder County and the City of Louisville to provide funding for debris removal. The current total estimate for debris removal is $52.6M, the proposed IGA sets the total liability for Superior at no more than $3.5M. However, Town Attorney Kendra Carberry cautioned the Board that while this IGA is not yet finalized, she believes the remaining changes will be negligible, and that the Board could go ahead and approve the agreement unless there are substantive changes.

As negotiations with FEMA are not yet complete, and there is a lawsuit pending, Attorney Carberry noted that FEMA funding may change, and opined that she believes our liability could be less than $3.5M (e.g., if FEMA agrees to cover foundation removal). However, if FEMA changes their mind and claws back any funding, Boulder County, Louisville, and Superior could need to pay more than is noted in this agreement. This IGA does not change that risk, as it is an agreement only with Boulder County and Louisville, but it is still worth noting.

The proposed IGA passed unanimously, with a caveat that we would like to see the final changes before it is signed.

Item 6 – Proposed Memorandum of Understanding with Superior Rising

Finally, we considered a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Superior Rising, a grassroots neighborhood organization that has been organizing events at the Superior Community Center and working to support residents and share knowledge. The MOU does not contribute any funding to the group, but the MOU would allow us to treat Superior Rising as a special group (different from other community groups) that would work with Town Staff to better communicate and understand the issues faced by residents.

I am a huge champion of the work Superior Rising has been doing, and would encourage everyone to attend their events or at least join their email list (use the form at the bottom of their website). I’m thrilled that the MOU will allow us to more formally communicate Superior Rising’s events and resources and support their work.

Wrap Up

Thank you so much for taking the time to read / listen to this recap – I hope it is helpful! Our Board is always open to hearing your comments, questions, and concerns – you may always email your feedback to townboard@superiorcolorado.gov, or to me specifically at lauras@superiorcolorado.gov. As a reminder, any messages sent to a government email are part of the public record and will have your name attached; if you feel the need to write in anonymously, you may always comment at the bottom of my blog post recaps.