City Manager Andrews told the Westminster City Council on Dec. 15 that Xcel Energy had sent advance notices that proactive power shutoffs to reduce wildfire risk could begin as early as noon Wednesday, depending on wind forecasts.

"Xcel Energy is pushing out advance notices to our community that they are contemplating and preparing for proactive power shut offs, starting as early as noon this Wednesday," Andrews said, adding that the utility was tracking winds and would make final decisions closer to the event. He directed residents to Xcel’s outage-safety web page and phone number for updates and said city staff — including the fire chief — were coordinating with the utility.

Andrews also announced that the state awarded Westminster more than $540,000 in a sustainability grant to fund an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) pilot program and to support development of a complete-streets policy. "This state grant will primarily fund an accessory dwelling unit pilot program to create technical planning documents to save residents time, money, and to make housing more affordable," Andrews said.

The city will also launch a utility-bill roundup program in February, allowing Westie Water customers to round up monthly bills and donate the change to a hardship and monthly bill credit program, Andrews said. He said 100% of donations would go to support residents who need help offsetting utility costs.

Andrews added there is an information-only report in the packet about the Lao Hmong National Memorial at Westminster City Park; staff will continue outreach after setbacks (including a damaged plane element and the passing of a community leader) and seek ways to return a proposal to council.

The council asked staff to continue community engagement and to return with options and recognition ideas; no formal votes were taken on these informational items at the meeting.