Issues

During my tenure, we secured the headquarters for a futuristic, 3D construction company called Alquist. In addition, we facilitated a partnership between Alquist and Aims Community College where a new 3D construction program has been created.

We helped with the expansion of Colorado Premium Foods, one of the city’s largest employers.

The city provided gap funding for UNC’s Osteopathic School of Medicine and are actively participating in the infrastructure improvements that this new school requires.

In collaboration with the Weld County Commissioners, we are planning to expand the capacity of the Greeley/Weld County Airport.

To further our commitment to local entrepreneurs, we created the local Gbeta Incubator project, where promising entrepreneurs are teamed with successful entrepreneurs for guidance on how to jump start their businesses and realize their dreams.

Finally, we are writing our first ever Economic Development Strategic Plan, which lays out our support for existing businesses and strategy for recruiting new businesses to our community.

I am a member of the Downtown Development Authority board for three and a half years and am proud to participate in the strategic planning efforts to expand local entrepreneurship, special events and quality experiences downtown.  I helped secure funding for the much-anticipated renovation of 16th Street between 7th and 10th Avenues. This project will create a neighborhood hub befitting a vibrant college town.

I am focused on the opportunity to create a civic center in partnership with Weld County and School District 6 administrative offices in our downtown. This will reduce the footprint of public facilities, eliminate redundancies in services and expand opportunities for private development. I am fully committed to securing funding for the downtown civic campus while balancing the public investment for the West Greeley Cascadia project.

I am working to increase residents’ trust in city government. When I started on Council our meetings were available on Zoom and YouTube but lacked Spanish translation and closed- caption. Now, we can do both simultaneously and we have translation services available for other languages through our City Clerk’s office. Further, we are providing all City materials in Spanish in a steady expansion.

Additionally, we are creating strategic plans in city departments with action items to increase efficiency, manage costs and improve customer service.  I believe in fiscal restraint and prudence, but government services do cost money.

An important aspect of a high performance government is that employees want to work for the city.  We want employees to feel valued and be highly engaged in their duties. We want employees to have the confidence and the tools they need to provide the best customer service. 

Late summer we are launching the GreeleyCO.gov website https://greeleygov.com/about-new-website because the community asked for a better, more accessible website. So, whether you're a resident paying a bill, a newcomer finding city services or a student looking for local events, the site is built so you can easily find what you need.

When I joined City Council, I learned the city had already approved dozens of metro districts and thousands of housing units – 15,000 units. As these developments came before the council for further review, I advocated for infill development, walkable neighborhoods with services, increase in green space and trail connectivity, more density, and less sprawl. We need to be smart, strategic and creative on how our community grows with a variety of housing options.

During my tenure, I advocated for a variety of housing.  New housing developments Copper Flats, Hope Springs, and StarRise have broken ground, and these will provide a variety of affordable housing for young families and supportive housing for our most vulnerable. In addition, the Westgate and Union Colony subdivisions have begun constructing new single-family homes, filling a critical housing sector need.

I have been a lifelong advocate for people who are poor and vulnerable to homelessness. I am a member of the Mayor’s Homeless Taskforce and its executive committee where we are focused on forming partnerships to fund a year around shelter, provide evidence-based strategies to help people recover and develop more housing in the community.

I believe everyone should have access to nature and feel safe in their environment. I advocated to purchase almost 1,000 recreational acres next to the Poudre River Trail which serves as an open space buffer between Greeley and Windsor while preserving valuable wildlife refuge – Arroyos del Sol.

I supported the creation of two recreation districts in east Greeley which promises increased access to the Poudre River and much needed recreational activities in blighted and industrial parts of town.

I continue to advocate for a park in the Arlington neighborhood east of 8th Avenue and for access to the South Platte River for the Riverview neighborhood.

I was delighted to participate in the funding strategy and restoration of Delta Park under the guidance of the residents who live in the community.

Finally, I worked with the City Attorney and Police Chief to strengthen our code to deal with chronic neighborhood nuisance issues. And, I have supported Public Works’ “Clean, Safe and Beautiful” program which is focused on the aesthetics of the community.

We increased funding for our police, fire and emergency management departments which resulted in more personnel and acquisition of state of the art tools to help during emergencies and fight crime.

We opened the Real Time Crime Center which can help police during active crime events, instituted photo radar to slow traffic through neighborhoods, increased staffing and training for our police and firefighters, and created an office of emergency management.

We conducted successful negotiations with both the fire and police unions for five-year contracts.

Because of my background and passion, I was selected to participate in the Mayor’s Homeless Taskforce and executive committee where we are focused on a wholistic approach to solving homelessness community.  Some examples include diverting emergency medical or police responses to a more strategic response utilizing outreach workers, social workers, and mental health professionals. Moreover, we are focused on meeting the needs of folks experiencing a brief economic crisis or experiencing a lifetime of mental health and substance disorder which can cause chronic homelessness. The Mayor’s Taskforce is using evidence-based solutions to help people who are homeless while reducing calls for service from our police, fire and emergency service.

As a graduate of the CSU Water Center’s Water Literate Leader class, I am in awe of the enduring leadership in water and sewer management of the City of Greeley. Thus, I closely follow the City’s water rights acquisition, expanded storage capacity with Chimney Hollow/Windy Gap & Terry Ranch, increase in transmission pipes, expanding our non-potable water systems, and investment in our water treatment facility. In neighborhoods, the water meter installations and lead line replacement are two critical projects to further our excellent water management legacy.

I continue to advocate for attention in east Greeley including road and sidewalk repair, and improvements to the pedestrian tunnel under Highway 34.

I endorsed Public Works’ efforts to reduce traffic injury/fatalities by adopting Vision Zero strategies (slowing vehicles down). I support the use of the food tax to pay back a federal loan to finally construct effective interchanges on Highway 34 at 35th and 47th Avenues.

I continue to push for “microtransit” which can serve residents using smaller vans and strategic routes to work, doctor appointments and to grocery stores. I follow oil and gas activity within the city limits and am in direct communication with county and state departments that monitor air and land quality.