City Council members inserted themselves into the statewide marijuana debate when they took up a resolution to oppose Amendment 64, which seeks to regulate pot like alcohol.

That got some people wondering: Have council members smoked pot? And if so, do they still smoke pot?

A few coughed up to trying weed.

Others said they’ve never touched it and never would.

A couple of councilmen were vague in their answers.

Here are their answers, all via email:

“In high school, I tried it with my four best friends in my home — yes mom was out of town,” Councilwoman Angela Dougan said.

“We had one joint. We all took a couple of puffs, and it was awful tasting. My thoughts were, ‘What a dumb thing and why would anyone do this?’  Never did it again,” she said.

“I have never used marijuana,” Councilman Merv Bennett said.

Bennett said the question posed to council was “very inappropriate.”

“The inappropriateness relates to asking a question that could lead to a criminal conviction.  It isn’t  a problem for me. I haven’t even smoked a cigarette,” Bennett said.

“As it relates to the debate, it is an Amendment to our State  Constitution that could have significant and serious implications to our City, the quality of life of our citizens, federal funding for roads and bridges, public safety, etc.  Something of that significance demands our attention,” Bennett added.

Like Bennett, Councilwoman Brandy Williams said she’s never smoked pot — or even a cigarette.

“I took D.A.R.E rather seriously,” she said, referring to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.

Councilman Val Snider took a page out of the Bill Clinton playbook.

“Does it count if you didn’t inhale?” Snider asked.

Councilman Tim Leigh was evasive in his answer.

“I saw your inquiry about council’s pot-smoking-propensity,” Leigh said in his first response.

“While I cannot state with absolute equivocation, it seems we’re all dipping in the medicine on about every other Tuesday afternoon, just after the lunch hour.  That will likely come to an abrupt and unfettered halt when the Mayor (with my full endorsement) creates a no-smoking zone in Acacia Park,” he said.

When pressed for an answer, Leigh continued to be evasive.

“Puff the Magic Dragon, lived by the sea, Frolicked in the autumn mist in a a land called Hana Leigh,” he wrote.

When asked if he was smoking pot when he came up with that response, Leigh, a fitness buff, offered this tidbit and hinted that he may be cover-boy material.

“I’m smoking, alright. I’m on the stair master at the club with Men’s Journal. Photo shoot. Something about my lung power and fitness!” he said.

Councilwoman Lisa Czelatdko is out of town and did not respond.

The three council members who served on council before answered the question a few years ago.

Councilman Bernie Herpin said the only marijuana he had ever seen was on TV.

“Until I visited a dispensary, I had never actually seen marijuana in the flesh,” Herpin said.

Council President Scott Hente said he “never” smoked marijuana.

“Look where I graduated from,” said Hente, a retired lieutenant colonel who graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1975.

Council President Pro Tem Jan Martin said she tried it once and only once.

“I was so paranoid and looking over my shoulder the entire time that I decided it just wasn’t worth it and never tried it again,” she said. “That’s a very honest answer from a politician.”

By the way, Martin cast the lone dissenting vote on the resolution opposing Amendment 64.

“I wasn’t afraid of medical marijuana dispensaries, and I’m not afraid of this bill for marijuana in our community,” Martin said Tuesday.

The vote to pass the resolution was 5-1. Leigh refused to vote, saying the council isn’t in the business of making pronouncements.

Czelatdko and Williams were absent, though Williams said she would have voted with the majority.

After canceling the last two regularly scheduled meetings, the City Council is back in full swing this week.

Among the items on Monday’s agenda:

Doug Price, president and CEO of the Colorado Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau, will present an update on the city’s branding strategy. That’s right, Colorado Springs, we’re still Living it Up!

The new human resources director, Mike Sullivan, will go over proposed changes to the Civilian and Sworn Personnel Policies and Procedures Manuals.

They include reducing workers’ compensation benefits for police and firefighters from 2,080 hours of injury leave at 100 percent to 1,220 hours at 85 percent. For civilian employees, the proposed change would reduce workers’ compensation benefits from 2,080 hours of injury leave at 100 percent to 960 hours at 85 percent.

The Transit Services Division will sum up the public comments that it received on a proposal to discontinue local funding for the FrontRange Express, or FREX, and raise the Metro Mobility ADA Paratransit fare from $3.00 to $3.50.

The Oil and Gas Committee, which included Councilman Val Snider, the chairman, and Councilwomen Angela Dougan and Brandy Williams, will bring the rest of council up to speed on its work. The committee was formed to provide recommendations to council for oil and gas exploration and operations.

Finally, the council plans to meet behind closed doors to discuss the $1.15 million separation agreement for former Memorial Health System CEO Dr. Larry McEvoy. According to the agenda, the council will receive “advice and negotiation consultation with the City Attorney regarding Memorial Health System” and “advice and consultation with the City Attorney regarding potential litigation matters that are subject to negotiations, developing strategy for negotiations and instructing negotiators.

The City Council issued the following press release Thursday:

The city will host a public meeting on Thursday, May 24 from 6-8 p.m. at the City Administration Building (30 S. Nevada Ave.), suite 102 to get public input on proposed options for local oil and gas regulations.

City staff, elected officials, and Oil and Gas Committee members will be available to answer questions and record feedback on proposed levels of regulation for oil and gas exploration and development within city limits. The input will be considered by the voting members of the Oil and Gas Committee, who will deliver recommendations to City Council on June 12 for formal Council direction.  The City Attorney’s Office will draft the regulations, which will then be presented to Council for approval later this summer.

The Oil and Gas Committee was appointed by City Council in January and met over the course of 14 weeks to learn about oil and gas exploration and production, as well as review state and local regulations. Three councilmembers – Val Snider, Brandy Williams and Angela Dougan – served on the committee as voting members with the responsibility to bring forward recommendations on areas and levels of local regulation. The areas identified for regulation are: adherence to the pre-application/site plan process; impact fees; water quality compliance; land use setbacks; operational conflict avoidance language; zoning districts for oil and gas; high density/low density considerations; and conditions of Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) operator approvals for city government.

Handouts will be available following the meeting on the City’s Oil and Gas Committee webpage at www.springsgov.com. Public comment can also be submitted through the webpage or via email at OilandGasCommittee@springsgov.com.

Time flies.

“One year ago today six new members were sworn into the City Council for the City of Colorado Springs, Merv Bennett, Lisa Czelatdko, Angela Dougan, Tim Leigh, Val Snider and myself. We took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Colorado and the Charter of the City of Colorado Springs. While this position has not always been easy, I am honored, as I know my colleagues are, to serve the Citizens of Colorado Springs to the best of my ability. Thank you for your support!” Councilwoman Brandy Williams wrote today on Facebook.

A motion by Councilman Val Snider on Tuesday to postpone a proposal for surveillance cameras downtown died on a 3-5 vote.

Only Snider and Council President Scott Hente and President Pro Tem Jan Martin voted in favor of the motion.

Councilwoman Lisa Czelatdko is absent.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Councilman Val Snider wants to postpone a vote on a proposal to buy and install surveillance cameras in downtown Colorado Springs.

Snider said the council will be getting a 2012 budget update that will show, among other things, whether the city is meeting its revenue projections.

“I thought that we would want to see what the picture is … before we decide to spend any more money on special projects,” he said.

The council is scheduled to vote on the proposal Tuesday.

The 10 cameras proposed for downtown would cost more than $160,000 to install and set up and $25,000 annually to maintain.

Councilman Tim Leigh said there are conversations about the Downtown Business Improvement District possibly picking up the annual maintenance cost.

“It’s a robust conversation,” he said.

Leigh, who supports the surveillance cameras, said he believes downtown is safe but that others may perceive it to be unsafe.

“This is a step in the right direction,” Leigh said. “Is it perfect? No. But it’s a step in the right direction.”

In addition to installing surveillance cameras, the city wants to pitch in $23,275 to help buy a sidewalk sweeper and increase police overtime by $25,000 in 2012.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thirty-seven people applied to serve on the city’s new Oil and Gas Committee.

Council members Angela Dougan, Val Snider and Brandy Williams, who will serve on the committee, reviewed all the résumés and are recommending the selection of the following seven people:

Randy Case

Jan Handke

Stephen Harris

Chris Mendrop

John Maynard

Michael Martin

Ed McCord

The nominations have to be confirmed by the full City Council.

The city did not include the résumés of those seven individuals. A request for their résumés was referred to Dougan, who is apparently in charge of committee communications. Dougan did not immediately return a call for comment.

The committee, previously called a task force, was commissioned by council President Scott Hente in response to plans by Texas-based Ultra Resources to drill on Banning Lewis Ranch in east Colorado Springs.

Hente gave the committee until May to issue a report. That’s because the council issued a six-month moratorium on oil and gas exploration Nov. 29 to determine whether the city has the right regulations in place.

The committee will meet every Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. starting Jan. 26. Committee members are expected to attend the weekly meetings on a regular basis, perform research assignments as needed and go on possible field trips, the city said.

Only Dougan, Williams and Snider, who will chair the committee, will have a vote on the final report to council.

Here’s a list of everyone who applied:

Jim Adcox

Val Barrutia

Russell J. “Jeff” Cahill

Randy Case

Gary Casimir

John Crandall

John E. Donovan

Jack Flobeck

Charles Guy

Jan L. Handke

Stephen D. Harris

Scott Harvey

Walter H. Heckelmann

Stephen Hench

Rob Henderson

Bruce Hughes

Michael Humberd

Stacy S. Jensen

Robert Jones

Robert W. Kettle

Liz Klein

R.Terry Krai

Randy Kraeger

Jonathan Macomber

Michael Martin

Mark Masters

John Maynard

Ed McCord

Chris G. Mendrop

Brian Penn

Dick Standaert

Cris Stoddard

John Stokes

Mary J. Talbott

Grady Vaughn

Michael S. Welsh

Lynn Wilkinson

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has approved the city’s request to give citizens more time to comment on Ultra Resources’ applications to drill on Banning Lewis Ranch.

The deadline to submit comments is now Jan. 17.

City Attorney Chris Melcher requested the time extension, city spokesman John Leavitt said Friday.

“It was just a matter of trying to give folks a sufficient amount of time to look at everything, consider whether they had any concerns or not, and if they did, they could go ahead and register those comments,” Leavitt said.

“Hopefully that gives them a sufficient amount of time to do it,” he said.

Citizens can leave comments and review Ultra’s applications on the commission’s website www.cogcc.state.co.us by clicking on “permits” and then by searching “pending applications” in El Paso County, the city said.

The City Council, which enacted a six-month moratorium on oil and gas exploration on Nov. 29, has asked the commission to wait to make a decision on Ultra’s two applications until local regulations are in place.

The city recently formed an Oil and Gas Committee to look at regulations for oil and gas exploration in Colorado Springs. The committee is expected to issue a report before the end of the six-month moratorium.

Thursday was the deadline to submit applications to serve on the committee.

Council members Val Snider, who will chair the committee, and Angela Dougan and Brandy Williams will be the only voting members of the committee.

Committee meetings, scheduled every Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., are slated to begin Jan. 26.

City Councilwoman Angela Dougan says she’s tired of her colleagues leaving her out of the decision-making process.

The latest example is what’s happening on the new Oil and Gas Committee.

Dougan said City Councilman Val Snider, committee chairman, is making all sorts of decisions unilaterally.

“This idea of Val being the king of the task force and that he can do or say whatever he wants and make up any rules without talking to anybody is bahooey because we’re all elected officials with the exact same weight of a vote.”

The city’s new Oil and Gas Committee is going to have to drill right into its task when the City Council announces who will serve on the committee during the Jan. 24 council meeting.

The committee, previously called a task force, has only until May to submit a report with recommendations to council.

Even though the task force … er … committee was formed a month ago, it wasn’t until today that the city issued a press release asking for volunteers.

“It is not moving slow because we’re having our consultant work on a lot of stuff while we’re going through the logistics of the task force. At our first meeting on the 26^th we’re going to already have the gun loaded. We’re probably going to splatter the task force with several live buckshot,” said City Councilman Val Snider, who is the committee chairman.

Wait, did Snider just call the committee a task force?

Snider couldn’t explain why the task force is now being called a committee. He said City Attorney Chris Melcher was involved in the decision, but he couldn’t remember who suggested the change.

“We just thought it would be better to call it a ‘committee’ than a ‘task force,’” he said.

Why?

“I’d have to get back” to you, Snider said.