Greeley City Council Needs to Pause, Reset, and Demonstrate Transparency
November 26, 2025
By Brandon Wark and Rhonda Solis, Proponents, Greeley Demands Better
Congratulations to the new Greeley City Council members. You now have a fresh perspective and an opportunity to restore trust with the voters, especially with respect to the $1 billion Cascadia/Catalyst project. Please take the time to pause, re-examine the plans, and cultivate a fiscally and economically responsible solution for Greeley residents.
You’ve heard our residents on the Cascadia/Catalyst project, and now it is imperative you do two things during your council meeting on December 2nd: (1) please stop the spend of the Certificates of Participation (COP), and (2) repeal the ordinance altogether. Residents have spoken and want you to re-evaluate the project.
Once those two decisions are made, you will secure yourselves the necessary time to review the financials that informed the original decisions. When the plan for the new ice rink and event center was ushered through without a vote of the residents - taxpayers, who bear all the risk under the financing plan - were enraged. So much so, in fact, that two petitions to arrest the project garnered an astounding 17,000 signatures.
Also, please commit to complete transparency. Greeley citizens deserve an open hearing on procurement with impartial analyses and impact reports, open records, and commitment to the rule of law to restore trust in the City Council and prevent bigger mistakes. A short timeout costs less than a bad build that haunts budgets for decades.
This type of transparency and citizen partnership is vital in helping to shape a responsible and sustainable path toward Greeley’s future.
It’s time to bring our city back together around a fiscally sound plan that protects our taxpayers - and provides Greeley with a sustainable vision we can all be proud of. Trust grows quickly when our local government leaders share the facts and let voters decide.
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Brandon Wark is a long-time Greeley resident, founder of FreeStateColorado.com, and co-chair of the grassroots citizen initiative, Greeley Demands Better.
Rhonda Solis is a former Colorado's 8th Congressional District Board of Education member, Greeley-Evans school board member, long-time Greeley resident, and co-chair of the grassroots citizen initiative, Greeley Demands Better.