Hey Denver, it's time for the weekly general session of your Denver City Council.

Tonight's coverage of Denver City Council starts now.

Tonight's meeting is being interpreted into Spanish.

Sam or Liz, would you please introduce yourself and let our viewers know how to enable translation on their devices?

Yes, of course.

Thank you for having us.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Sam Guzman with the CLC.

And along with my colleague uh Liz, we will be interpreting today's meeting into Spanish.

Please allow me a quick second to give uh introduction instructions in Spanish on how to access interpretation.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Sam.

Welcome to the Denver City Council meeting of Monday, July first, 2025.

Council members, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge to the flag from the United States of America.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice.

Council members, please join Council Member Gonzalez Gutierrez as they lead us in the Denver City Council landing acknowledgement.

The Denver City Council honors and acknowledges that the land on which we reside is the traditional territory of the Ute, Cheyenne and Arapahoe peoples.

We also recognize the 48 contemporary tribal nations that are historically tied to the lands that make up the state of Colorado.

We honor elders' past, present and future, and those who have stewarded this land throughout generations.

We also recognize that government, academic, and cultural institutions were founded upon and continue to enact exclusions and erasures of indigenous peoples.

May this acknowledgement demonstrate a commitment to working to dismantle ongoing legacies of oppression and inequities and recognize the current and future contributions of indigenous communities in Denver.

Thank you, Madam Secretary.

Roll call.

Council members Lewis.

President.

Here.

Heinz?

Cashman.

Here.

Romero Campbell.

Here.

Sawyer?

Here.

Torres?

Here.

Watson.

Here.

Madam President Sandoval.

Here.

Thirteen present.

There are 13 members present.

Council has a quorum.

The first order of business is to elect a council president.

I will make my remarks after the closing of the voting.

The floor is open for nominations.

Are there any nominations?

Madam Pro Tem Romero Campbell, your nomination.

Thank you, Madam President.

I nominate.

I actually have a little something I wanted to say, and I was like, oh, it's not in here.

Um I want to make my nomination.

Okay, go ahead.

Okay, great.

Um basically, I would like to make a motion to nominate Amanda P.

Sandoval as president of the 2025-26 Denver City Council.

I think that over the past year our colleague, Sandball, has stepped up into leadership.

I'm sure no one truly knows this position until you are given the responsibility to lead your colleagues through the unknown of the coming year.

Amanda Sandoval's path has not been without its twists and turns to be ready for this role today.

We actually met for the first time when our kids were little entering preschool, and I knew her as a mom, as a waitress in her family restaurant, as someone with serious determination and an infectious laugh.