City staff announces volunteer week activities, drug take-back and local open houses; staff summarizes state legislative activity

Brian McCain, chief of staff, opened the city update on April 21 with reminders of National Volunteer Week and several community events. He said the Pueblo Police Department’s Volunteers Assisting Pueblo Police (VAPP) provide administrative and supportive services including handicap parking enforcement, community events and training scenarios. The Pueblo Police Department and the city will host a DEA prescription drug take-back day on Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Pueblo Municipal Justice Center parking lot at 200 South Main Street. McCain advised residents to check the Pueblo Police Department Facebook page for a list of items that cannot be accepted.

McCain and staff also noted two open houses: Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will hold an open house April 24 at Pueblo Academy of Arts (29 Lehigh Avenue) on proposed safety improvements to Colorado Highway 45 (Pueblo Boulevard) between Palmer Avenue and Avis Avenue and from Vinewood Lane to Goodnight Avenue; and the city and U.S. EPA will host a Brownfields multipurpose grant open house April 29 at Rawlings Library (Brett Kelly Room B) focused on revitalization in the Bessemer and Eastside neighborhoods. City staff provided a contact for the Brownfields item (Wade Broadhead, senior planner) and directed attendees to city project pages for more information.

A city staff member who presented the legislative report briefed council on the final weeks of the Colorado legislative session. The presenter reported that, with 16 days remaining in the session, the House had introduced 332 bills and the Senate 299, with a total under consideration of 631. He said the state budget — described in the presentation as approximately $43,900,000,000 — had been sent to the governor, and that K–12 education funding and higher education increases were included in this year’s package. He reviewed several bills of particular interest to the city: one municipal-court-related bill (identified in the presentation as “Sembil 602”) was noted to be on the governor’s desk and potentially vetoed; an open-records bill had been vetoed by the governor and legislative leaders indicated they might override; Senate Bill 276 (described in the presentation as relating to protection of civil rights for immigration status) and another measure affecting clerks’ processes (referred to as “Senate Bill 1” in the presentation) were under close watch. The presenter said the Colorado Municipal League and municipal clerks had been involved in crafting or opposing language in some measures and that staff would continue to follow and lobby on specific bills mentioned.

Why this matters: the update covered community-facing events that affect residents’ immediate options for safe drug disposal and local planning input, and it alerted council to state legislative work that could affect municipal operations and legal requirements.

City staff provided contact details and web resources for each event. The legislative briefing closed with a pledge by staff to continue following the named bills and to keep council informed of any changes that could affect city operations or municipal compliance.