Posted on Aug 11, 2021
Last week on August 11th, we heard the State of the City Address from Fort Collins Mayor Jeni Arndt and Fort Collins City Manager, Darin Atteberry.  Jeni introduced the program with her bio - she was born in Boulder but raised in Fort Collins. She taught in high school and college.  After working internationally she returned to the city and served 3 terms as a representative in the Colorado State Legislature. She was elected mayor in April.

Darin continued.  As most of us know, after 8 productive years as city manager Darin has decided to pursue other interests. He has a wife (40 year relationship) and 2 children. He emphasized that he is not leaving because of the change in personal at city council or the mayor’s office. He will miss many aspects of his job. Darin reported he was a Rotary member for 9-10 years and recognized that Rotarians are part of the “co-creaters” of this excellent city and he praised the contributions of the private sector. We hope he will return to Rotary  (RCFC to be exact).

The financial state of the city is extremely good. Savings are good and spending will be good and appropriate. The city council will meet soon to discuss the proposed $700 million  annual budget for 2021-2022.The Moody rating of Fort Collins is AAA (97 percentile for city government). With COVID-19 the original projections were dire. Indeed, some establishments went out of business, but others grew stronger. The new government will watch the new Delta variant closely as they make decisions.

 

We have an exemplary police department. There was no defunding.  Attention is on how to render effective mental services on the street. Our new police chief may be among the best in the country. The same can be said about our new fire chief.  The police department is well trained and provides high quality service.  Why not aspire to be the safest city in the country!

 

Three proposals went to the voters for city-run broadband and all passed with overwhelming public support. This massive Connexion buildout is one year ahead of projections. Water is the most important entity in the American West. Our new mayor is a water expert. Providing consistent quality has been challenging because of the muddy runoff much of the state is experiencing. Fort Collins water remains among the best anywhere.

Another priority of the new council is affordable housing and social equity. We can be proud that our city dealt with these inflammatory issues with civil discourse-reflecting our brand-good people who care for one another.

Finally, there is a lot of change in city government. All will be good  because of a great foundation and framework as well as the good people who will lead.

The state of Fort Collins is good! (I think we all knew that).