Littleton City Council Members Elect Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem

LITTLETON, CO — The Littleton City Council has selected District II Council Member Jerry Valdes to serve as mayor of the 2019-2021 city council. Littleton At Large Council Member Scott Melin was selected as mayor pro tem.

The vote was held at the Nov. 19 city council meeting and the terms are for two years.

“I appreciate the confidence of the voters and the council,” Valdes said in a statement. “I will dedicate as much time as necessary to make sure Littleton is represented and has a seat at the table.”

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The selection of the council leadership followed the swearing-in ceremony of the four council members elected by voters in the Nov. 5 municipal election.

Valdes won a four-year term in District II and Kelly Milliman won a four-year term in District IV. In the at-large race, Pam Grove was elected to a four-year term and Melin was elected to a two-year term.

The swearing in ceremony was conducted by Littleton Municipal Judge Ethan Feldman.

A reception was held at the meeting to recognize the contributions of departing council members Debbie Brinkman, Peggy Cole and Kyle Schlachter.

One of the biggest tasks Valdes will face as mayor is solving funding shortfalls. Littleton's fiscally constrained 5-Year Capital Projects Fund shows little money for large transportation investments, fleet and information technology replacement; and investment in public buildings. Deferred maintenance will lead to much higher replacement costs, the city said. The city council is looking for revenue sources to fund infrastructure needs.

Valdes said he advocates for increased impact fees to help fund Littleton's shortfalls. Impact fees are charges on new development to help pay for some or all of the costs of providing public services for the population growth the development brings to the area.

"As you may know, Littleton has the lowest impact fees in the Front Range," Valdes said. "I have been a leading advocate for increasing development fees to cover city costs. I'm not in favor of moving forward with the tax increase until impact fees increase and priority-based budgeting is fully implemented and an increase is clearly justified or not necessary."

The Littleton City Council unanimously approved the Envision Littleton Comprehensive Plan and Transportation Master Plan in October. The council considered 18 policy questions, which include: funding a major update of the city code, creating an Economic Strategic Plan and continuing Envision Littleton efforts. Other projects include: the addition of four new employees, increased employee compensation, increased cyber security, improved disaster recovery and risk management; and expansion of the police co-responder program to help people who need mental health and substance abuse services.

More than $1.4 million was approved for extensive park investments, with almost $500,000 reimbursed from Open Space grants.