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November 11, 2021
ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
Northglenn-ThorntonSentinel.com
VOLUME 58 | ISSUE 14
Westminster picks new mayor, City Council BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
On Nov. 8, Westminster’s City Council will look different. The new members who won their elections on Nov. 2 will be sworn in and they say they are bringing in more diverse views than the previous council. David DeMott was the only incumbent to win reelection. The freshman councilors include Obi Ezeadi, Bruce Baker and Sarah Nurmela. Baker The four of them will sit next to Lindsey Smith and Rich Seymour for the next two years, presided over by new mayor Nancy McNally. McNally edged out Anita Seitz, who previously spent five years on the council. A primary issue facing the community is how to price water, and not all the councilors agree on the best plan DeMott of action. The previous council voted against the city’s recommendation to increase water rates 5-1. This council’s leaning is not so clear. Baker, whose campaign focused mostly on the cost of water, thinks the price should be no more than six dollars per thousand gallons. “If we look around to the other Ezeadi cities in the region, Fort Collins pays $5.75, Broomfield $3.36, Pueblo $2.98 and they have a weaker water system than us. Even Denver pays $5.74,” Baker said. For DeMott, the issue is much more complex than a dollar amount. He believes that a balance between maintaining infrastructure and McNally affordability must be struck. To manage the cost of water and the cost of living, he thinks looking to models in other cities could be an option. “There are other models in other cities, one (model) is to assess individual properties and look at what is overuse and what is needed use. Nurmela There are a lot of different options,
Mountain Range sophomore Madeline Domenico performs her floor exercise during the state 5A gymnastics finals at Thornton High School Nov. 4. She finished 24th in the all-round, including a score of 8.85 in this event. Mountain
Range finished third overall, behind Broomfield and Lakewood. See more photos, page 20.
and I don’t know which one we will land on,” he said. Obi Ezeadi also looks to other parts of the country, and thinks the council is asking the entirely wrong question. Instead of how to reduce the price of water, he asks how to reduce the cost of building infrastructure? In South Dakota, they did that by forming a state bank. “We need to fix water (infrastructure,) that is not a debate,” he said. “We must fix the infrastructure, with different ways of funding it. Why
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 20
PHOTO BY STEFAN BRODSKY
are we paying millions of dollars to Wall Street banks for the bonds for investment?” he said. A state bank to pay for infrastructure will both reduce the cost of interest from bonds and it will keep money within the local economy, Ezeadi said. “It will reduce that interest cost, and it is also socially and environmentally responsible. It keeps the money flowing throughout the city. SEE ELECTION, P5
ACCESS COLORADO
How all abilities can hit the trails and recreate in the state P14