How a Colorado woman used AI to save Marshall Fire survivors up to $2 million
More than three years later, the Marshall Fire continues to be a topic at city council meetings, and Tuesday was no different. But now, as the city voted on what money they could get back if there's ever a possible settlement, some residents are working to get back some of their own from the city.
Tawnya Somauroo lost her home to the Marshall Fire and spent the time and money to rebuild, but doesn't have time for every city council meeting.
"It's really hard to participate, like what happens in local government can be really important; its hard when you know you have a family, and a job, and meetings happen at dinner time for your kids," Somauroo said.
But she wanted to get more involved, and she remembered that at some point in time in the last three years, the city council may have made a promise to pay back extra rebuilding permit fees to survivors. Those extra fees are now estimated to total between $800,000 and close to $2 million.
"I saw the staff had told them that, you know, 'No, we never made this promise,'" Somauroo said, "I was like, that's not correct. So it's like me against, you know, a million videos."
To prove she wasn't making it up, Somauroo put hundreds of hours of meetings into an AI program to check for anything the council ever said about these permit rebates.
Somaruroo asked the AI program, "Did the council promise to return Marshall Fire permit profits to fire survivors?" adding, "I had to find this needle in the haystack."
And as a result, the exact days, times, and related quotes all came up.
On July 19, 2022, Deputy City Manager Megan Davis said in part, "City council has given staff direction to determine if the fees that we're collecting are in, you know, excess of the programs and services that are necessary to respond to the Marshall fire and the rebuilds associated with that and and if we find that there's, you know, any inconsistency there, then we can determine a way to rebate or pass on, you know, any discrepancy."
Then again in that meeting, Ashley Stolzmann who was the mayor at the time says in part, "...make it clear that the we have given direction that we want the building fee program to cover the cost of building inspection and plan review, and that if there are savings, because so many people are going through this at the same time, we. Hope there are savings like that could be a silver lining in a terrible situation, that we will rebate those savings."
In another meeting on Aug. 16, 2022, councilmember Maxine Most said, "I think there's a general consensus that if we find out that we get way more in permitting fees than we expected, I think there's consensus among the council that we're happy to give that money back."
This June, Somauroo emailed all of this information to the city council, and last month they voted to look into back into the issue. Still, some council members like Mayor Pro Tem Caleb Dickinson want some limits on funds the city was already counting on, especially as 90% of homes are already in the rebuilding process.
"It is a tough time to be thinking about giving a million dollars back when we're making budget cuts to some of our core services. So it's a tough moment, but we want to hold to that, that idea that these permits are meant to pay for service," Dickinson said.
When divided amongst survivors, the rebates could give each family a few thousand dollars.
When CBS Colorado Your Boulder County Reporter Sarah Horbacewicz asked Dickinson if he thought this topic would ever come back up without Somauroo's detailed AI report, he said, "No, honestly, I don't think so. I think we felt pretty whole. I think we felt like we made a really good choice about what we did, rebate, didn't rebate, and I think it felt it felt good to me personally, but it didn't feel good to others," also adding, "For us to hear that voice, that that's really important. We've heard both sides."
And Somauroo hopes other residents will hear more from their city council, even if they don't have the time for their next meeting.
"I hope people who aren't engaged and want an answer, you can go and ask questions," Somauroo said.
The city says it plans to look into the rebate options over the next few months as it hopes to find a balance between keeping a promise and balancing next year's budget.
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