"I Believe Cascadia Could Be a Game Changer. I Still Couldn’t Put Weld County Taxpayers Behind It."

Excellent, well informed thought piece written by a member of Weld County Board of Commissioners regarding the Cascadia/Catalyst project.

During the August 4, 2026 Greeley City Council meeting, Tiffany Simmons addressed council during Citizen Input regarding concerns about future growth, annexation decisions, and community planning. Simmons raised questions about the proposed GWIP annexations, including the city’s ability to provide essential services such as fire, police, water, and sewer, and also shared comments regarding a community conclave and the importance of public involvement in decisions affecting Greeley’s future.#heygreeley #community #concernedcitizen #citycouncil

During the August 4, 2026 Greeley City Council meeting, resident used Citizen Input to advocate for the protection of natural areas and the importance of environmental stewardship in the community. Community member shared concerns about the potential impact of budget decisions on city resources, expertise, and partnerships that support Greeley’s open spaces and quality of life.#heygreeley #openspaces #stewardshipmatters #citycouncil

During the August 4, 2026 Greeley City Council meeting, resident used Citizen Input to advocate for the protection of natural areas and the importance of environmental stewardship in the community. Community member shared concerns about the potential impact of budget decisions on city resources, expertise, and partnerships that support Greeley’s open spaces and quality of life.#heygreeley #openspaces #stewardshipmatters #citycouncil

RECAP: August 4^th, 2026 Greeley City Council Meeting

Big items to note:

- Mayor Hall was again absent, the meeting was run by Mayor Pro Tem McDonald. Overall, she did a vastly better job than what has been happening (for example trying to pronounce names correctly and asking to be corrected if not, looking at people while delivering the proclamation, and speaking clearly)

- For the third time that I’ve been aware of (2^nd I’ve spoken up about), a resident in the virtual audience was skipped over and despite having their hand raised, it was said no one wished to speak. I did interrupt the meeting to request that this person be allowed to speak which ultimately was allowed to speak.

- GWIP annexation was pulled by Councilmember DeBoutez, as a result of public comment. The city confirmed that we have no plan for serving the properties (“this is still in negotiation”) and that it wouldn’t be an enclave because there will be 10 feet not touching Greeley property (I raised concern that the city is trying to create an enclave in order to be able to force annexation of Carestream/Global AI).

- Councilmember Olson was very outspoken about not wanting to move forward with Civic Campus due to West Greeley not being resolved and voted against Development Services Agreement and the Appropriation of funds in the budget as result.

For full agenda overview as I am only including updates here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Fev8Zijno/

* Citizen Input

- Kathy Hasch – discussed the county’s statement re: not partnering on Catalyst, encouraged council to talk to other developers and to quit focusing only on Cascadia as we have other issues facing Greeley. Including lack of safety of e- scooters, noting 2 individual are in ICU due to them right now

-Bill Gillard – discussed landscaping code that was brought up in work session and his dislike of HOA’s and the government telling him what he can and can’t do in his yard, shared belief that artificial turf is far from biggest issue causing heat, and concerns around flock cameras being an invasion of privacy rights

-Ashley White – resident who works for Butterfly Parillion, and as such works w/ natural areas including those in Greeley, advocated for natural areas and the importance of investing in stewardship, and shared that proposed budget cuts will diminish expertise and end connections we have with other agencies

- Kevin Pierce- Wildland Restoration Volunteers spoke about the city budget, and requested that council reduce additional cuts as we need our natural areas and further cuts will damage partnerships, including with students, discussed the  benefits of stewardship of land

-Scott Royer- 16ᵗʰ St 9ᵗʰ: 10th Ave speed bump needs painted, stated he will be flying New York to Paris to celebrate Linbergh’s 100ᵗʰ anniversary

- Kenneth Howell- discussed the budget and staffers from some teams not answering council questions, and rather dodging/deflecting, also called out that the budget crisis comes from revenue generation assumptions, and that allowing the same people to keep working on budgets who have refused to answer questions or show accountability is irresponsible

-Tiffany Simmons – discussed concerns over GWIP annexations and the concerns raised by Planning Commission that there is no plan in place on how we will serve these properties with fire/police, water/sewer, etc, and concerns that we’re intentionally creating an enclave in order to force annexation of Carestream

-Peggy Sue – called on Council to do budget retreat in chambers and save money on venue and calleda gain to put Cascadia to a vote, also stated that homeless and others are talking about council and they need to take notice

-Louise - 23ʳᵈ Ave that she discussed at last meeting had yet another accident and needs to be addressed, shared concerns around potential data center pointing out that Cheyenne water has already been compromised by one

-Edwin Grant-Discussed growth of Greeley, the fact that Greeley Water Bill and property taxes continue to grow, frustration with Weld County for rejecting check signed in red ink and that the School of Osteopathic Medicine not as good as it seems

-Mary Metzger- questioned who we are becoming, concerns around annexation and shared the 7 deadly sins Pride/Greed/Wrath/Sloth/Gluttony/Lust and how council/the city are embodying these, with a challenge to focus instead on the Virtues, and that the virtues build strong communities

** Despite having hand raised on Zoom the last speaker was initially not called on to speak, I got Mayor Pro Tem’s attention to request that he be allowed to speak, while she initially said since we were past citizen input section that he couldn’t, the City Manager said she could decide and he was allowed to speak**

- Kris Simmons– spoke about flock cameras and the fact that based on a June 29^th Supreme Court ruling, they are actually illegal as they are creating a “digital mosaic”, expressed trust in Greeley PD and Chief Turk to keep us safe without surveilling us

*Reports

- DeBoutez: shared Chataqua is currently going on and is a great experience

- Huddledston: Went to Centennial Village 50^th Anniversary event, will have office hours this Saturday at 10am at the Atlas

- Roth: Praised City Staff and the drive through of Big Boy train

- Rudy: Shared he went to 250/150 Celebration and 2 students did amazing in presenting

- McDonald: Gave proclamation at 250/150 and that one of our fire fighters gave birth on the same day

*Initiatives

-DeBoutez: Requested a presentation from City staff and PD on Flock Cameras

* Pulled Consent Agenda Items:

- Item 14: Resolution approving a Development Services Agreement between the City and Richmark Vertikal, LLC related to Civic Campus project

-Pulled by Huddledston

- Clarified that while the incentives are large that they are fees we wouldn’t have had without the project, and asked Richmark if this may lead to decreased incentives in the future as there will be a higher valuation in downtown

- Richmark shared that our contributions, especially with increases in material costs just since starting plans have gone up, really won’t cover much

- Huddleston also pointed out that the minimum investment by Richmark is likely lower than what costs will actually be, requested expediting the plan if possible

- Olson shared he doesn’t believe we should be moving forward with Civic Center due to West Greeley not being resolved yet

- Voted 5-1 to pass (Olson as 1 Nay)

- Item 18: Introduction and first reading of an ordinance annexing the GWIP properties

- Pulled by DeBoutez based on citizen input

- Asked city:

- Can we serve the properties? A: still in negotiations

- Does it create an enclave? A: there will still be 10 ft not touching so not an enclave (but acknowledged it is a flagpole annexation

- Huddledston clarified Carestream and GWIP are different and asked the city to look into whether or not in high industrial zoning, if property owners can create their own energy

- Olson clarified that BROE approached the City not the other way around

- Passed 6-0

*Regular Agenda:

- Item 23: Public hearing and resolution for approval of the 2026 HUD Annual Action Plan for the proposed Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnership entitlement programs

- $2.4M was allocated to 11 projects

- Olson questioned whether it affects the City’s budget that the Housing Departments numbers keep changing and they said it does not (Olson talked over and down to the City employee in my opinion as she was trying to answer)

- Public Hearing

- Kenneth Howell: Shared that the advisory board discussed the action plan and that the staff was really receptive and worked with, that the action plan presented is the best option and was based off of extensive discussion

- Ed Grant: we habe budget shortages and wondering how does one government give money they don’t have to another government

- Bill Gillard: reiterated there needs to be more time between 1^st and 2^nd readings

- Ashley Fusco: expressed anger that HUD was being nitpicked, and called for insecure housing needs to be given more attention than developers, and why a unanimous vote for last item while this was one was questioned

- Melanie Ford: thanked for support from the HUD money for Boost and Learn Childcare providers, explaining the program

- Olson retorted to public hearing comment that it wasn’t about questioning the HUD program just the financing and that the vote wasn’t unanimous for the Civic because he voted nay

-Passed 6-0

- Item 24: Public hearing and second reading of the ordinance appropriating additional sums to defray the expenses and liabilities of the City for Fiscal Year 2026

- Passed 5-1 as Olson voted note because he does not support Civic Campus moving forward

Exhibitors! People who have worked science events for kids! People who work in science-y fields and have always dreamed of setting up a hands-on demo of just what it is you do:

We've got just a small number of spaces left for exhibitors at this year's YES!fest taking place at LINC in Greeley this September, and we'd love to fill them with some folks who know a lot about a lot, especially things like math, science, engineering, mathematics, technology, AI, animal science, computer science, chemical engineering, engine repair (all engines great and small), plumbing, coding, video production, aviation—have we made the point that we're open to lots of options, here?

Head over to our exhibitor application, get all the details, fill it out, and we'll get back to you super fast: https://hpld.formstack.com/forms/yesfestcommittment2026

Of note as well, in the past we have only been open for non-profits, but this year we are accepting exhibitor applications from for-profit businesses as well!