Votes at a glance: Northglenn council approves campaign-finance change, lobbyist contract, schedules trash-fee hearing and backs EPA finding

The Northglenn City Council took several formal actions at its Sept. 8 meeting. Key outcomes:

CB 20-29 — Campaign finance complaints (ordinance, second reading) The council approved on second reading an ordinance amending Article 4 of Chapter 13 of the Northglenn Municipal Code to allow the city clerk to refer campaign-finance complaints to the Colorado Secretary of State when the clerk or staff have a conflict of interest, as permitted by House Bill 24-1283. City Clerk Joanna Small summarized the change and said referred complaints must use the Secretary of State’s form and that the city will cooperate with the state’s investigations; the city will not receive any of the fines collected by the Secretary of State for those investigations. The ordinance passed unanimously.

C R 85 — Personal services agreement for legislative/lobbying services Council authorized a personal services agreement with Foster, Graham, Milstein & Kalisher LLP (FGMC) for lobbyist and legislative services with a not-to-exceed amount of $50,000 for calendar year 2026. Staff said funding exists in the 2026 budget and the legislative committee recommended the firm following an RFP and interview process. The resolution passed unanimously.

C R 86 — Set public hearing on proposed trash fee increase (as amended) Council voted to set a public hearing on a proposed residential trash-fee increase and, after discussion about outreach timing, amended the date to Oct. 27, 2025. Deputy City Manager Jason Loveland summarized the proposed changes in staff materials: the monthly “basic service fee” would move from $16 to $20 (proposed), the charge for major-appliance collection would be standardized at $65 per appliance and the cost of a 96-gallon polycart would be set at the city’s cost (approximately $67). Council members asked staff to expand outreach (social media, utility-bill inserts, text alerts) before the hearing; the amended resolution to set the Oct. 27 hearing passed unanimously.

C R 87 — EPA endangerment finding (resolution) Council adopted a resolution supporting the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 endangerment finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare and directed the mayor to send a comment letter to the EPA. The council approved the resolution with one no vote by Council Member Walker.

Consent agenda The consent agenda passed unanimously (no roll-call objections were recorded).