[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6662095,"mediaKeyId","2399532-32849cab262b15a4e5de957c3cc9f9d6","parentId",2399532,"title","Chief warns proposed state sentencing and parole changes could weaken local tools as Pueblo records 107 shootings last year","audioSeconds",432,"startMs",2901000,"endMs",3333000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2399532-32849cab262b15a4e5de957c3cc9f9d6&start=2901&end=3333","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2399532-32849cab262b15a4e5de957c3cc9f9d6/thumbnail_2901000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6662095/Pueblo-City/Pueblo-County/Colorado/Chief-warns-proposed-state-sentencing-and-parole-changes-could-weaken-local-tools-as-Pueblo-records-107-shootings-last-year","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6662095-fa6908366debf1430b3b5dddbe002b87/orig.mp4?Expires=1771137109&Signature=Q-k6EbOYEeE9OdVOlEBXeTJ4O~gbFoHHv8OTcqH0nNvc6KMozWEwrun7eLc6Wogn5F-8zZeJ7ht3YlQ5br4PNg-eUYiuScGWqIl3kdGTBKbESYukjkNIgiCvGO~dvdyBJZusZi5RYEFCzxvfwHp5CdZYisbx1cZ4DLQVuIWfjTki-9dWslvBQRMIgfkFkIaXDyg1Msfvu~Z-c4Y~CBZQ-do1jEARi~qBCLx-K3wetQKD2YkemrBM4Pc-qjmCiz5uRJMCbpWPfhA3GqLPkzccMlO7f1fVN~dL-Domig9gt~JJc8qb9GvHPsKiniWIy3hdWPrmcAh8dn4YQh4yYhr-7g__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Pueblo City, CO","date","2025-02-26T00:00:00Z","article","Pueblo Police Chief addressed council at the work session to flag three state bills he said would limit the city’s ability to prosecute and sentence some violent offenders, and to ask councilors to consider contacting state legislators about the measures.

Chief Noller said one bill he was watching would reduce the felony class for shootings that do not cause death — discussed in the briefing as \"house bill 25 12 06\" (described in the meeting as affecting charges for acts of \"extreme indifference\"). He told council that under current law shootings into occupied structures or crowds are charged as attempted first-degree murder or with extreme indifference, and that the proposed change would lower the felony class for some of those cases when no one is injured.

The chief also identified a separate bill discussed in the briefing as \"house bill 12 14,\" described as focusing on the \"appropriate use of prison beds\" and creating procedural requirements that encourage alternatives to incarceration; he said the bill would also create a presumption of parole for some offenders. Finally, he cited a bill described as \"house bill 25 11 47\" that would align municipal-court sentences with state-court sentencing ranges and, in the chief’s view, would limit the city’s existing habitual-offender sentencing options.

Chief Noller said those changes would reduce prosecutors’ and judges’ sentencing tools and could lead to repeat offending: \"We're gonna end up repeatedly arresting these individuals,\" he told council. He said drive-by and shooting investigations are resource intensive and often involve linking multiple incidents and charges to a single suspect.

To illustrate local need, the chief said Pueblo recorded 107 shootings last year and 67 drive-by shootings. He urged councilors to reach out to their state senators and representatives to express concerns about those bills, and several council members volunteered to help or said they would support city testimony in Denver.

Council members asked for bill numbers and sponsorship information; Chief Noller provided the numbers as he had them in-session and named at least one sponsor for related failure-to-appear legislation. Council members also raised questions about ankle-monitor effectiveness and parole-agency data; the chief said parole statistics would need to come from the Colorado Department of Corrections and that the department does not track every ankle-monitor failure in its police reports.

Ending: Councilors expressed support for the chief’s concerns and offered to help contact legislators. The chief asked that council members be vocal about how these bills could affect public safety in Pueblo.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Pueblo City Council Work Session - February 24, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","Pueblo Police Chief told council that three pending state bills would limit prosecutors’ and judges’ sentencing options for shootings and other felonies, and urged council members to contact state lawmakers; the chief also reported the city recorded 107 shootings and 67 drive-by incidents in the previous year.","taxTitle","Pueblo City, Pueblo County, Colorado","taxId",4964,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6662100,"Interim civil service administrator walks council through hiring process, timelines and current recruitment tools",921,781000,1702000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2399532-32849cab262b15a4e5de957c3cc9f9d6&start=781&end=1702","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2399532-32849cab262b15a4e5de957c3cc9f9d6/thumbnail_781000.jpg","/articles/6662100/Pueblo-City/Pueblo-County/Colorado/Interim-civil-service-administrator-walks-council-through-hiring-process-timelines-and-current-recruitment-tools","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6662100-250ed0c784b4ca7606983e04cfa326ca/orig.mp4?Expires=1771137109&Signature=XKij61M8anB6M8m0V13AgZmc4CcmkuWca9L-gDjNKaaXUUgYm1nJ4K1vRlAByscwcicVffTbsRQDjJq00ZVbuqmdCqENbggbdLVsV6CTeG-4ash3j5dxSAcUa2SA31ZIkDlqROOc4owIjApKXIGNMWcgH73nRi9ReAFzvQjpvBXJFgjJlFu5iq44KXmzoyfkzCZ4GmwJuydwgkOmXRoTb7HryALeYZs7KZtn5GaAu1jN3cBhzc9V-EDELTbaBRFtsTJgzTStawsr-NopoD87fbCYVHnttp0Mbz-1wpGCmNcbawEKWx4mFeFUIJ1TRSBAZmfAXDjy1EiWPnBH7fhthA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Serena Knox, interim civil service administrator for Pueblo, presented a detailed overview of the city’s civil service process to the City Council during the work session, describing how positions are posted, screened, examined and certified for hire.

Knox said the Civil Service Commission is mandated by the city charter, protects employee rights, and oversees appeals related to hiring, promotions and discipline. She described the office’s responsibilities — job marketing, applicant sourcing, administering exams, preparing eligibility lists and sending certified lists to HR for interviews.

Knox explained how vacancies are managed and the role of the staffing ordinance: the city’s budget and staffing ordinance establishes authorized positions and pay classifications and must be consulted before filling a vacancy. She said job postings are distributed widely — to roughly 60 sites including military bases, workforce centers and college sites — and promoted on the city’s social media accounts.

On testing and vendors Knox said the city uses a mix of written and performance exams, has a new agreement that allows remote testing through TestGenius, and that applicants are screened for seniority or veterans’ preference after passing exams. She identified SimplyVerified as the city’s primary third-party background-check vendor for most positions and Pinnacle Investigations for police background investigations. Knox said public-safety background checks are more extensive and can lengthen hiring timelines.

Knox provided typical timeframes: promotional hires can take roughly 6–8 weeks from vacancy to start, publicly recruited non-safety positions often take about 8–10 weeks, and public-safety hires that require extensive background checks can take 16–18 weeks. She described steps that add time, including posting rules, appeal periods and union requirements.

Councilors and commissioners asked detailed questions about background-check disqualifiers and appeals. Knox said a felony conviction does not automatically disqualify an applicant from all city positions; automatic bars exist for some roles (for example certain convictions that preclude a commercial driver's license or police certification). Knox also said the civil service commissioners are an elected, independent body that hears appeals, which she and others described as a safeguard against conflicts of interest if HR and departments conducted all hiring and discipline functions.

Council members suggested potential process improvements, including more frequent Civil Service Commission meetings or shortening historic mail-based timing requirements; staff said some mayoral directives have already allowed faster cycles for police hiring. Knox also described new recruitment tools (an \"Attract\" sourcing system and QR-code outreach) and noted recruitment successes at CSU Pueblo, Fort Carson and veteran-focused events.

Ending: Knox closed by reiterating the civil service office’s role as a workforce safeguard and committing to assist councilors who want further briefings on specific hiring timelines or appeals procedures.","Serena Knox described the city’s civil service role, job-posting channels, testing vendors, timelines for public-safety hires and tools to recruit and retain employees, and commissioners and councilors asked about background checks, appeals and potential process modernization.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6662105,"City staff briefs council on key state bills, voting-rights and childcare measures unlikely to force Spanish ballots in Pueblo",577,283000,860000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2399532-32849cab262b15a4e5de957c3cc9f9d6&start=283&end=860","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2399532-32849cab262b15a4e5de957c3cc9f9d6/thumbnail_283000.jpg","/articles/6662105/Pueblo-City/Pueblo-County/Colorado/City-staff-briefs-council-on-key-state-bills-voting-rights-and-childcare-measures-unlikely-to-force-Spanish-ballots-in-Pueblo","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6662105-4bda36ae85e2fc59af11e0868fb0e98e/orig.mp4?Expires=1771137109&Signature=HP~TjxfrASyJNxxZNdVN3Sbgkv6B4-WjAzyRk7sLsExyywsKGU43DPnvXrMhXb4zm~69V~wX7vBWvHC1bx979zqv8DmsTg4u750H0KXX5i7ZnRkf2il8aW66g6rD0BexglK6RJctQ7BlfzqOzbUZwPetneth-O3cTHqkFMZKRfeXp~lmT0ygVXrh9W66ZBB1Bu5kseZ3W2ADEeg3kSsCx5M6AGcj6c3RCK85AIYPGvwJC-ZjxgqCs-hE74B0hhLmQ-2JgnxgVOjxnQ33iMlODHB0FShQ5I~icozHwmApEEDlxas01Gyb7ipkMcOiJk4clShxcNCYDw9XenjUZU4r1w__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","City staff delivered a legislative update at the Pueblo City Council work session, summarizing bills the city is watching in the current Colorado legislative session and flagging a resolution on the council agenda opposing changes to municipal court procedures.

The update summarized why the items matter to Pueblo: amendments to the Colorado Voting Rights Act, child-care fee regulations, proposed changes to failure-to-appear charges and municipal-court sentencing, and a bill to classify nuclear energy as a clean resource for utility regulation.

The staff member giving the briefing told council that the 2025 session had produced hundreds of bills so far — \"282 bills have been introduced in the house, 78 in the senate\" — and that the city’s lobbyists are tracking items that could affect Pueblo.

One high-priority item identified was the Colorado Voting Rights Act (referred to in the briefing as SB25-001). Staff said amendments narrowed the multilingual-ballot requirement so it now applies only to municipalities in the 20 counties that meet a threshold for non-English-speaking electors; Pueblo was not included among those counties. The staff member said the narrowed language removes an immediate requirement for the city to print Spanish-language municipal ballots and would therefore avoid the printing costs if the bill’s amended language remains in final form.

Staff also described SB25-004, a change to state rules on child-care program fees. Under the amendments described to council, the legislation shifted from a flat $25 cap on wait-list fees to a refundable wait-list fee structure: families on a wait list for more than six months could obtain a refund if they withdraw, and providers could withhold a reasonable administrative fee. The update said deposit rules were relaxed so centers could apply deposits at any point rather than only to the first month’s tuition, and new transparency requirements would require providers to give families a current fee schedule at registration.

On municipal-court law and related bills, staff identified SB25-062 (failure-to-appear charges, discussed as having passed the Senate with amendments) and a House companion cited as HB25-1276. Staff said the city has been active on this topic and will bring a resolution opposing a separate measure on fairness and transparency in municipal court to the council agenda; staff and the mayor planned to testify in Denver.

Staff also flagged HB25-1040, a bill to define nuclear energy as a clean energy resource in Colorado’s utility regulations, which had advanced through early committee stages.

City staff emphasized that some bills remain in flux and that further amendments are likely. Council members were encouraged to review the lobbying group’s emailed legislative update and to contact staff with specific questions or requests to relay positions to the city’s lobbyists.

Ending: Staff said the city will continue monitoring the measures and that mayoral and staff testimony was planned on at least one municipal-court measure. Councilors were invited to review the written update distributed by the lobbyist group and to request briefings if they wanted more detail.","City staff reviewed multiple bills at the Colorado legislature that could affect municipal authority, multilingual ballots, child-care fees and nuclear energy classification, and told council that Pueblo is currently not subject to a multilingual-ballot requirement in the amended Colorado Voting Rights Act language.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Chief warns proposed state sentencing and parole changes could weaken local tools as Pueblo records 107 shootings last year

Interim civil service administrator walks council through hiring process, timelines and current recruitment tools

City staff briefs council on key state bills, voting-rights and childcare measures unlikely to force Spanish ballots in Pueblo