July 15 was a busy day for Cripple Creek City Council. At 2 p.m. they had a work session on COVID-19 impacts and operational issues. The council meeting was later that evening.

Don Angell, manager of the Teller County Office of Emergency Management, thanked the City of Cripple Creek for its support of the Teller Combined Team and gave each council member a team coin.

“COVID is coming back for Round 2,” he said. “We have to make sure we have the supplies we need two to six months in advance.”

City Finance Director/Interim City Administrator Paul Harris warned that the county is seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases. “On July 3 the county had 41 cases but today we had 65,” he said.

Cripple Creek, Victor and the county will be working together to make sure businesses and residents impacted by the virus will receive reimbursements for COVID-19-related costs through the federally funded and state administered Coronavirus Relief Fund — part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The Community of Caring Foundation will receive a $518,000 Community Development Block Grant for housing rehabilitation.

Before the funding can be made available from the Department of Local Affairs, city council had to approve and sign a number of documents, including:

• assurances and certification that the grant request was authorized and that the grant will benefit low-income city residents;

• the Excessive Force Policy, which is available from the police department; and,

• Residential Anti-displacement and Relocation documents designed to minimize and mitigate the displacement of residents during construction.

Housing was also the subject of an information item presented by Bill Gray, Planning and Community Development Director, and Scott Jacobs, a resident of Golden who is looking at property in Cripple Creek.

The idea is to create hybrid recreational vehicle pavilions that will look like a single-family residence on the outside but with an RV or travel trailer parked on the inside. The RV or trailer would be connected to city utilities and look like and function as a home.

“This might be a potential market for second homes, vacation homes or affordable housing,” Gray said. “These could even be converted into a ‘real home’ over time.”

He added that the City would have to amend its building and zoning codes to make these hybrid structures possible.

Council member Meghan Rozell said it looked like an interesting concept and asked if there was a market for these kinds of structures.

Jacobs said he would research the concept’s marketability and get back to council.

In other business, the city’s legislative liaison, Sol Malick, of Peak Government Affairs, presented a legislative update. He said there was very little politics involved in this year’s legislative process.

“This was a very active session,” he said, adding that with COVID-19 shutdowns, the process was intermittent and there wasn’t time for people to argue about ideology. “There were no committees. These are strange times.”

There is a potential for several ballot issues on the Nov. 3 ballot that could affect Cripple Creek. One would allow counties where gaming is legal to set their own stakes, as opposed to the limited stakes that exist currently.

Another would amend the Gallagher Amendment, which sets a constant ratio between residential and commercial property taxes; 45% of property tax revenues come from residential properties while 55% comes from commercial properties.

According to the Colorado Department of Education brief, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Gallagher Amendment,” the ratio of property values of residential versus commercial properties in 1982 was 45/55 but, while the ratio of values is now closer to 75/25, the tax ratio has not changed, leaving the biggest tax burden on commercial property owners.

The last two items on deck for the evening were related to the county’s Nov. 3 Coordinated Election. The first was a resolution for the city to take part in the election with a few ballot questions and the second was an ordinance on initial posting to follow the provisions of the Uniform Election Code. Both were approved unanimously.