The long-awaited meeting between the Woodland Park City Council and the Woodland Park School District Board to discuss the intergovernmental agreement between the two has finally been set.

The two entities will meet on Feb. 29 at 5 p.m. at city council chambers. The meeting is open to the public but no public comment will be heard.

The impending meeting didn’t stop city council from approving ordinance No. 1471, Series 2024 on initial posting. The ordinance proposes to eliminate the 1.09% sales tax that goes to the school district. With the initial passage, a public hearing will be conducted at the March 6 city council meeting.

Councilmember Robert Zuluaga made a motion to table the ordinance until after the meeting with the school board. That motion was defeated.

Zuluaga cautioned against such an aggressive move before talks had commenced.

“To take this approach is disrespectful to the school board because council’s leading with a threat,” Zuluaga said. “That’s not signaling that we’re willing to work together in my opinion. To put it out there as a sword before we even meet is foolishness.”

Councilmember Carrol Harvey had expressed frustration at previous meetings with what seemed to be foot dragging on the part of the school board to come to the table concerning the IGA.

Harvey pointed out that at the Feb. 7 meeting, a discussion about ending the sales tax happened at 8:08 p.m. The city attorney received and email only nine minutes later from the school district attorney expressing a desire to meet with the council.

“I think what forced that to happen, and I’m so glad that it did, was the fact that we were discussing that without transparency and accountability, it was very possible that this body could repeal the sales tax,” Harvey said.

“I don’t want to lose that as our leverage for our community,” Harvey continued. “And for that reason, I’m grateful that we’re going to have that in place. It may be that after we have the IGA work session that all of us will agree to pull that ordinance off.”

Harvey and Mayor pro-tem Kellie Case both expressed a desire to hear public comment on the sales tax, which will not be heard at the March 29 work session.

“I, too, want to have that public discussion,” Harvey said in agreement with Case. “We will not have public comment during the work session (with the school district).”

In its newsletter, the district expressed concern over the ordinance and what the lost revenue would mean to schools.

“Terminating this funding would be a devastating blow to operations, necessitating significant staff reductions, teacher pay cuts, and likely further school consolidation,” the district said.

Despite the disagreements over the tabling of the ordinance and the frustration over getting the sides together, there was general optimism among councilmembers that the work session will be productive.

“I’m very optimistic that we’re going to come to an agreement on what that IGA represents and the updates that need to be made to it,” Harvey said.

During public comment, former Woodland Park School District Superintendent John Pacheco talked about how the sales tax originally came into being. Pacheco chaired to committee that originally put the sales tax initiative on the ballot.

“What I want to focus on is the partnership that the district had with the city when we did this,” Pacheco said. “Our two entities worked well together and they supported each other. As a result, our students and our residents enjoyed the benefits of that partnership.

“I really hope that this partnership continues.”

There was agreement among councilmembers that a healthy partnership would be the ideal outcome of the work session. Zuluaga, Harvey and Case each referenced Pacheco’s comments.

“I’m looking forward to having the conversation with the school board because I think a lot of things are going to come to light and that the council will get where they’d like to be and I think we’ll open up those lines of communication again,” Case said.

In other business

The city council reviewed proposed amendments to Title 5 of the Woodland park Municipal Code. The amendments were made necessary by the recent passage of the citizen’s initiative concerning short-term rentals.

Among the topics were enforcement, penalties, definitions and redundancies. The updated code will be presented for first reading at an upcoming city council meeting.

The long-awaited meeting between the Woodland Park City Council and the Woodland Park School District Board to discuss the intergovernmental agreement between the two has finally been set.

The two entities will meet on Feb. 29 at 5 p.m. at city council chambers. The meeting is open to the public but no public comment will be heard.

The impending meeting didn’t stop city council from approving ordinance No. 1471, Series 2024 on initial posting. The ordinance proposes to eliminate the 1.09% sales tax that goes to the school district. With the initial passage, a public hearing will be conducted at the March 6 city council meeting.

Councilmember Robert Zuluaga made a motion to table the ordinance until after the meeting with the school board. That motion was defeated.

Zuluaga cautioned against such an aggressive move before talks had commenced.

“To take this approach is disrespectful to the school board because council’s leading with a threat,” Zuluaga said. “That’s not signaling that we’re willing to work together in my opinion. To put it out there as a sword before we even meet is foolishness.”

Councilmember Carrol Harvey had expressed frustration at previous meetings with what seemed to be foot dragging on the part of the school board to come to the table concerning the IGA.

Harvey pointed out that at the Feb. 7 meeting, a discussion about ending the sales tax happened at 8:08 p.m. The city attorney received and email only nine minutes later from the school district attorney expressing a desire to meet with the council.

“I think what forced that to happen, and I’m so glad that it did, was the fact that we were discussing that without transparency and accountability, it was very possible that this body could repeal the sales tax,” Harvey said.

“I don’t want to lose that as our leverage for our community,” Harvey continued. “And for that reason, I’m grateful that we’re going to have that in place. It may be that after we have the IGA work session that all of us will agree to pull that ordinance off.”

Harvey and Mayor pro-tem Kellie Case both expressed a desire to hear public comment on the sales tax, which will not be heard at the March 29 work session.

“I, too, want to have that public discussion,” Harvey said in agreement with Case. “We will not have public comment during the work session (with the school district).”

In its newsletter, the district expressed concern over the ordinance and what the lost revenue would mean to schools.

“Terminating this funding would be a devastating blow to operations, necessitating significant staff reductions, teacher pay cuts, and likely further school consolidation,” the district said.

Despite the disagreements over the tabling of the ordinance and the frustration over getting the sides together, there was general optimism among councilmembers that the work session will be productive.

“I’m very optimistic that we’re going to come to an agreement on what that IGA represents and the updates that need to be made to it,” Harvey said.

During public comment, former Woodland Park School District Superintendent John Pacheco talked about how the sales tax originally came into being. Pacheco chaired to committee that originally put the sales tax initiative on the ballot.

“What I want to focus on is the partnership that the district had with the city when we did this,” Pacheco said. “Our two entities worked well together and they supported each other. As a result, our students and our residents enjoyed the benefits of that partnership.

“I really hope that this partnership continues.”

There was agreement among councilmembers that a healthy partnership would be the ideal outcome of the work session. Zuluaga, Harvey and Case each referenced Pacheco’s comments.

“I’m looking forward to having the conversation with the school board because I think a lot of things are going to come to light and that the council will get where they’d like to be and I think we’ll open up those lines of communication again,” Case said.

In other business

The city council reviewed proposed amendments to Title 5 of the Woodland park Municipal Code. The amendments were made necessary by the recent passage of the citizen’s initiative concerning short-term rentals.

Among the topics were enforcement, penalties, definitions and redundancies. The updated code will be presented for first reading at an upcoming city council meeting.