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

Tonight's coverage of Denver City Council starts now.

Join us for Denver City Council meeting.

Today is Monday, December 1st, 2025.

Tonight's meeting is being interpreted in Spanish.

Sam or Ruby, 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.

Joining you virtually through Zoom.

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

Please allow me a quick minute while I give 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, December 1st, 2025.

Council members, please join Councilmember Sawyer in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Councilmembers, please join Councilmember Sawyer 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 U Cheyenne and Arapaho 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.

Parity.

Torres?

Here.

Watson.

Here.

Madam President Sandoval.

Here.

Twelve members present.

There are 12 members present.

Council has a quorum.

Approval of the approval of the minutes.

Are there any corrections to the minutes of November 24th?

Seeing none, the minutes stand approved.

Council announcements.

Are there any council announcements this afternoon?

Councilmember Sawyer, start us off.

Thank you, Madam President.

Just wanted to remind residents of District 5 that it is annual survey time.

So if you live in District 5, please go to our social media and find the link and take our survey.

For those of you who are new to the neighborhood, you don't know this, but we actually use the information that we um that you provide us in the survey every year.

It's how we ski uh plan our annual work plan.

So it closes December 31st.

We have a little over a thousand responses so far.

We would love a few more.

Um so please go ahead and go to our social media and take our annual survey if you're a resident of district five.

Thanks.

Thank you, Councilmember Gonzalez Cutters.

Thank you, Madam President.

Last Wednesday on the evening of November 26th, uh State Senator Faith Winter lost her life in a five five vehicle crash on I-25.

Senator Winter served and represented Adams County Broomfield.

You might be wondering why are we talking about this in Denver?

But I will just say that I first met Faith.

She was a state representative at the time.

She also served on Westminster Westminster City Council from 2007 to 2014.

And prior to that, she's been a huge advocate for people in our state in her city.

And like so many other women, I had the fortune of having Faith be a part of training me to run for office back in 2017.

She helped so many of us, whether it was fighting for policies that directly impact women and families, or training and lifting us up to take the leap and run for office ourselves.

As women, as parents of young children, something that you wouldn't think is possible to do this job, to do any of these jobs.

It was an absolute honor to work alongside this powerhouse of a human in a tiny package.

Someone who led with passion, expertise, and persistence.

I thank you, Senator Winter, for everything that you taught us, for everything that you fought for.

You will not be forgotten.

And I'm sending thoughts of love and strength to your loved ones as they navigate this tragedy and loss.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you so much, Councilwoman.

Council Chairman Mirror Campbell.

Thank you, Madam President, and thank you, uh Councilwoman Gonzalez for honoring Senator Winters.

That's it's it's tragic, and so thank you for for taking the time.

Um I wanted to make an announcement about the senior luncheon.

It's happening in Southeast Denver on Friday, this Friday, um, December 5th, uh 11 30 at the Welshire uh event center connected to the Welsh golf course.

Uh if you haven't already had an opportunity to RSVP, we encourage the seniors in Southeast Denver to do so.

Just can't uh contact our council office.

There are a few spaces available, um, but we're pretty we're pretty packed.

So um excited to see you all there.

And we do know that we have uh we've confirmed the Colorado Symphony will be playing as well and serenading you while you have your luncheon.

So thank you.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilmember Albidares.

Thank you, Council President.

Um I just wanted to share that we have a lot of great things happening in District 7 at the moment.

Uh we our office has adopted a Christmas tree on South Pearl Street to decorate uh this year.

Um, the South Pearl Street merchants will be having their winter fest, December 5th and 6th to stroll through a festive winter market with local artisans, fresh Christmas trees and wreaths and hot chocolate.

There will even be a Santa and sleigh rides on Pearl Street this weekend.

Uh in addition, um a lot of people have heard, I know our call uh my colleagues have been emailed about Alameda Lane repurposing as well as some other traffic circles happening in Westwash Park.

So the Westwash Park Neighborhood Association is having their annual uh their monthly meeting tomorrow, and Dottie will be there to talk to them about these issues.

They're also hosting their holiday party this Saturday, December 6th from 4 to 6 p.m.

at Levin's Apply at 300 East Alameda, where they will be offering food and drinks and fun holiday outfits.

There is a $10 suggested donation, which will be going to community ministries.

Um, so come celebrate.

I know there's a lot of fun things happening downtown as well, but if you want to come celebrate in District 7, we'll be celebrating Christmas on South Pearl Street.

Thanks, Council President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Flynn.

Thank you, Madam President.

Uh, just wanted to remind folks as I mentioned last week during announcements that this Saturday is the annual Council District 2 toy drive for the benefit of Southwest Denver Coalition.

From 11 a.m.

until 2 p.m.

at my office on the east side of the Bear Valley shopping center at Dartmouth and Yates.

Some music, and there will be some other entertainment there.

Please bring a new unwrapped toy for a child of any age.

Boy, girl, doesn't matter.

Southwest Denver Coalition will take care of wrapping them for you.

We've maintained a list of recipient families.

And we just need you to turn out again this year, as you have every year for South West Denver.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Heinz.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um Councilmember Consolus Cotieras, thank you for your comments about uh Fifth Winter.

Um I had the opportunity to uh to work on our campaign uh years ago, and she has a name that's just purpose built for campaigning.

Um she would uh she had this big thing that you know you could uh it's like a photo frame and um uh she uh she had one that said I have faith, and another that said winter is coming.

And so uh thanks, Game of Thrones for um consulting with our senator or former senator for um uh for such a great phrase, but um uh Senator Winter, um, I have faith that you are just as much a force where you are now as when you were here on Earth.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilmember Heinz.

Um, and thank you, Councilmember Gonzalez Gutierrez, for such a nice tribute.

Um, faith will be Senator Winters will be um greatly missed.

So I recently read that if every U.S.

adult moved just one forty dollar gift from Amazon to a small business this holiday season, we'd redirect 10 billion dollars to support small local businesses.

And I don't know about you all, but I'm hearing from my small local businesses that they are suffering.

So in Northwest Denver, we're forgetting about the 12 days of Christmas, and Northwest Denver is doing it bigger with the 13.

This year we have 13 legacy businesses listed.

Berkeley untapped, Billy's Inn, Fire on the Mountain, Hops and Pie, Le Chuga's Italian Restaurant, Little Man Ice Cream, The Monkey Barrel, Raging Hog Barbecue, Root Down, St.

Killian's Cheese Shop, Sunny's, Tony Pease, and last but not least, West Side Books.

So during this time, let's keep these neighborhood treasures going strong.

One visit at a time, and one purchase and celebration at a time.

Councilwoman Lewis.

Uh, thank you.

Um, I just wanted to take the opportunity and to one, thank Councilwoman Gonzalez Gutierrez's um councilwoman Gonzalez Gutierrez knows that I was also trained by Senator Winter, and it's definitely a sad time as an elected official, but also as a mom to think about kiddos losing their mom before um a holiday or at all um to a car accident, and it's something that I've experienced myself, um, as I lost my fiancee to a tragic car accident, and so I definitely send my love to that family as well.

Um, I also wanted to talk briefly about the Hiawatha Davis, our 42nd annual um luncheon and a call for volunteers.

We have over 600 seniors that we um serve during the luncheon.

It's a great time.

They dress up, they have an amazing time, but it's not possible without volunteers.

We do have a lot of volunteers from the sheriff's office office who shows up as well as from DPD.

Um, but if you all are interested in serving your seniors um on December 13th, uh we would really appreciate your servitude.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I'd like to formally um welcome Councilmember Gilmore to the meeting.

There are no presentations.

There are no communications.

There are two proclamations being read this afternoon.

Councilmember Lewis, would you please read proclamation 2016?

Yes.

Proclamation 25 2016, honoring Chief Sonia Gillespie for over three decades of distinguished service to the Denver Sheriff Department.

Whereas Chief Sonia Gillespie has devoted over 30 years of exemplary service to the Denver Sheriff Department, reflecting a deep commitment to operational excellence and employee well-being.

And whereas Chief Gillespie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in technical management, a foundation that has strength in her ability to lead complex initiatives and drive innovation across the department.

And whereas Chief Galepsley is the first African-American woman to be appointed as a division chief in the history of the Denver Sheriff's Department.

As Chief of the Administration Division, she led the wellness teams, including the peer support team, ensuring staff and their families have access to resources that support physical, emotional, and mental health.

She also oversaw the technology management unit, training academy, professional standards, and the performance management and strategy teams, driving strategic initiatives and continuous improvement.

And whereas her passion for equity is evident in her leadership of the Sheriff Department Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Team, working in partnership with the Office of Social Equity and Innovation to foster a fair and supportive workplace.

She served as a dedicated liaison to the Safety Human Resources Team, helping employees navigate leave and recovery with compassion and clarity.

Whereas Chief Gillespie has long served as a bridge between the Sheriff's Department and national platforms, including a board member of the American Jail Association and American Correctional Association Bureau of Justice Assistants and Staff Wellness Advisory Committee.

Through these roles, she's advocated nationally for systemic improvements in staff wellness across the corrections profession.

And whereas Chief Gillespie has embodied a profound commitment to faith and family, recognizing these as foundational pillars that support her leadership and resilience.

She believes that strong family bonds and personal faith provide essential strength and guidance, enabling her to navigate the challenges of her demanding role while fostering a compassionate and supportive environment within the department.

Now, now therefore, be it proclaimed by the Denver City Council, Section 1, that the Denver City Council recognizes and honors Chief Sonia Gillespie for her extraordinary dedication, distinguished career of public service, and lasting contributions to the Denver Sheriff Department, the Denver community, and the future of public safety in the city and county of Denver and nationally.

Section two, that the clerk and recorder of the city and county of Denver shall affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and that a copy be transmitted to Sheriff Elias Diggins and Chief Sonia Gillespie.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Councilmember Lewis, your motion to adopt.

I move that proclamation number 25-2016 be adopted.

It has been moved and seconded.

Comments by members of council.

Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you.

I mean, I really don't have to say much.

It's all outlined here in this beautiful resume.

But I will say that I'm absolutely honored to be able to move this proclamation forward and honor the work that Sonia Chief Gillespie has done.

And so often do we not we do so often that we wait too late to give flowers to the folks in order for them to be able to smell them.

And so I hope this is an opportunity for us to uplift someone and their contributions to this city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Torres.

Thank you, Madam President.

Chief Gillespie, it was an honor to serve with you on the gender equity uh committee and get to know your work, but also your reputation in the Sheriff's Department and to see and watch that you don't um and you didn't work just to improve your space, your condition, it was really about other deputies, uh, female deputies having the spaces that they needed, female inmates having the spaces that they needed that brought dignity to their time in our service.

And so thank you so much for the time and commitment you put into that work.

Um that was at the time when building 24 was being uh built out.

Um, and there were a lot of things to change and improve.

And so thank you for taking it on and uh really leading the way.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilmember Alvidares.

Thank you.

Um I also just want to take advantage of the moment to say thank you for your unwavering service to the city.

I'm so grateful for it and for your leadership.

I think one of the things that I've learned to respect and appreciate more than anything is how much people love our city and how they dedicate their lives to the betterment of our city, and especially in our sheriff's department, um, especially dealing with things like evictions is something that's been really on my heart and mind um lately, and the way you all are so gentle and thoughtful and um to Sheriff Dickens as well for your work there.

It's um an honor to see, and I think that also bringing a woman into a leadership role in that way helps us to be more compassionate to hold more than one thing at once.

And so um thank you so much for your love for the city that I know will continue, and your dedication and time that you gave to us.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Watson.

Uh Chief Gillespie, uh I just wanted to say uh your um leadership, uh the uh good works that you have done um in the sheriff's department and in the community uh uh at large um has not only enriched the folks that you work with, that you get to collaborate with collaborate with, uh the folks that you serve within the sheriff's office, but also our community.

Um it is uh such a joy to see you in action and such a joy to see the uh many generations sitting there holding your hand, knowing that you didn't get there on your own as chief.

Um you have a wonderful uh family uh that supports you, and a city that is honored um uh to have uh you in service and honored to collaborate with you.

So, congratulations.

Um, these are your flowers and looking forward to seeing your good works in your next journey.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Chief.

Thanks for serving in our city.

Um, oftentimes we don't have people who look like us in community serving, and it is a huge um responsibility to be in those shoes and to your family.

I know that you have a job that you take home things to your house, and how as a mom, as a caretaker, and as a friend, as a family member, do you um compartmentalize that?

I know it's hard sometimes, and I'm sure you've seen some things where you just want to go home and then all of a sudden you have all these other duties at home, like we all do.

Um, and so just want to say thank you to your family for sharing you for Denver for as long as you have, and thank you for being a role model for people of who can step into that role and look at what it looks like to be in a leadership role in Denver.

I know that it's not easy, and I'm sure you've had your fair share of issues, and you've persevered.

So thank you for showing us that leadership.

Madam Secretary, rule call, council members Flynn.

Hi, Gilmore, aye.

Parity, I.

Albitres.

Aye.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Aye, Heinz.

Hi.

Cashman.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Romero Campo.

Aye.

Sawyer.

I.

Torres.

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting, announce results.

Thirteen ayes.

13 ayes.

Proclamation 2016 has been adopted.

We now have time for the proclamation acceptance of speech.

Councilmember Lewis, who would you like to call up?

Hi, I'd like to call up um Sheriff Dickens and Chief Gillespie.

Well, go first.

This is a very hard moment because Chief Gillespie and I have worked together my entire career, so I wrote down my comments so that I could read them.

Thank you, Madam President, Councilwoman Lewis, and the rest of the body for honoring a now retired member of the Denver Sheriff's Department.

Chief Gillespie is a third generation member of our agency.

Her grandfather Elsie Owens served with us decades ago.

And her mother is the person that was that is sitting next to her, Sergeant, retired sergeant, Stephanie Gillespie, who served with us many many years ago and retired from our agency as well.

Her selfless acts in the name of helping others garnered her a reputation of genuine servant leadership.

And we appreciate her truly trill, blazing career spanning 33 years of service, which is absolutely phenomenal.

So we congratulate her and thank the body for recognizing her today.

Chief Gillespie.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you to God, first of all, for giving me the honor, the health, the state of mind to be here.

Thank you all for your time today and this incredible honor.

It has been such a blessing to serve the city and county of Denver growing up here, being born here, following in the footsteps of my grandfather LC Owens and my mother Stephanie Gillespie, having the support of my family and my extended family, the Sheriff Department, all the people that you see here that dedicate their lives to the city.

And Sheriff, I want to say that my brother over there, Derek Wynne, my brother, my DSD brother and I, we both could have retired.

We were both eligible.

At least I was a year ago.

I'm not sure when Derek was eligible, but it is a testament to our leadership to Sheriff Elias Dickens, that we wanted to continue to serve.

There was not even a question in our mind that we wanted to continue to be here to serve.

So thank you so much for your leadership, sir, and thank you to my family, and thank you to my DSD family for your love and support, all of you.

Thank you.

And thank you so much.

Thank you.

Council Protein Romero Campbell, would you please read proclamation 2014?

Yes, thank you, madam president.

Um proclamation 25-2014, a proclamation honoring Deputy Sheriff Major Derek Wynne for 26 years of distinguished service to the Denver Sheriff's Department.

Whereas Deputy Sheriff Major, Deputy Sheriff Major Derek Wynne has devoted 26 years of exemplary service to the Denver Sheriff Department, beginning his tenure on November 11th, 1999, following a successful early professional career in radio and finance.

Whereas in September 1991, Derek Wynne married Nancy Medina, beginning a lifelong partnership founded on love, devotion, and mutual support, and together they raised their daughter Andrea, who blessed them with five cherished grandchildren.

Mark, Brandon, Ethan, Blake, and Ashin.

Ashlyn, excuse me, who remain in the heart of Major Wynne's life and the greatest source of pride.

And whereas, throughout his distinguished career, starting from the training academy to his promotion to deputy sheriff major, Major Wynne has served the citizens of Denver and the individuals entrusted to the department's care with unwavering dignity, respect, pride, and professionalism, consistently upholding the highest standard of public service.

And whereas Major Wynne has long served as a bridge between the Sheriff's Department and the community, representing the Department on May on Mayor's Community Wide Engagement Committee, commanding both the Sheriff Mounted Unit and the Honor Guard, and chairing the Sheriff's Award Committee, where he annually serves as master of ceremonies to honor staff for heroic efforts and distinguished service, thereby reinforcing a culture of excellence, appreciation, and professionalism across the department, and whereas Major Wynne's career spans the administration's offering.

Whereas Major Wynne's career spans the administrations of five Denver mayors and ten executive directors of the Department of Safety, each contributing leadership that enriched his professional journey and broadened his impact on public safety in Denver.

And whereas his service has afforded him the opportunity to work alongside seven under sheriffs, directors of corrections, and sheriffs, whose guidance helped shape the mission and operations of the department throughout his career.

And whereas Major Wynne's 26 years of honorable service have been defined by leadership, mentorship, teamwork, and a steadfast dedication to the people of Denver, earning him the deep respect of colleagues, community partners, department leadership, and the citizens he has dutifully served.

Now the now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Denver City Council, Section One, the Denver City Council proudly recognizes and honors Deputy Sheriff Major Derek Wynne for his extraordinary dedication, distinguished career of public service, and lasting contributions to the Denver Sheriff Department and the Denver community and the future of public safety in the city and county of Denver.

Section two, the clerk and recorder shall affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and transmit copies to Sheriff Elias Dickens and Deputy Sheriff Major Derek Wynn.

Thank you.

Council Pro Temeral Campbell, your motion to adopt.

Hold, please.

Oh, I move the proclamation 25-2014 be adopted.

It has been moved and seconded.

Comments by members of council.

Council Pro Temeral Campbell and Councilmember Watson.

Thank you, Madam President.

I just really feel it's such an honor, sir, to have known you for a short time that I've been on City Council.

However, it feels as though it's been much longer than that.

I appreciate you beyond words.

And you do it so quietly and so gentle and so with so much grace.

And you just navigate it so well.

And that is really a testament, I think, of when you think about in here, we talk about your relationship to community, your ability to connect so quickly, your ability to be so kind in the position that you are in, and so reliable.

You give to yourself at work, you give to yourself at home, and you always go above and beyond.

So I just wanted to thank you for dedicating your career to the city.

And I think, again, as it was said before, it's like give you your flowers because they are so deserved.

Um, so thank you for all you've done to serve our city.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilmember Watson.

And Major Wynne, I'll I'll concur and thank you so much, Council President Pro Tem for elevating this proclamation.

Uh, I think the unique spot that the Denver Sheriff's Office is in, um, and the work that you have led, um, in public safety, um, folks are aware of what Denver police do on a daily basis.

They see them um in their neighborhoods in cars or on their bikes or on motorcycles.

Denver fire is clear as well to many folks.

They have an emergency firefighter climbs a tree and picks gets your cat for you.

There's clarity as to the value and the closeness of those relationships with community.

Oftentimes, uh the Denver Sheriff's Office doesn't isn't seen in that same light.

It's not seen as a direct contact or impact to our daily lives as citizens and residents of Denver.

And that's where your role comes in.

Elevate the value that not only that you as a servant leader provides, but what each of the members in this audience that I'm looking at that you do on a daily basis, often, without much acknowledgement, because you do it all so quietly, so humbly, and so professionally.

Uh so uh Major Wynne, thank you so much for your humble leadership.

Thank you so much for your love for this city.

It is demonstrated in your service.

Everywhere you see you, we see joy.

And that's what comes from a servant leader.

Uh I I know you're calling this retirement.

I am certain it's not, um, but for retirement for now, um, we will miss you within the city, and we are so grateful to you and your family for blessing us all these years, your stable leadership, your love of this city.

Um, thank you so much.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, and thank you to the both the um council members for bringing this forward, and thank you for all that you've done for the city and county of Denver.

We're better to have you.

Um, and I always say, please don't be too far.

When people leave, they leave with a lot of institutional knowledge.

And I hope that when you um move on that you'll take on maybe a mentor or you'll figure out another way to give back.

And I do hope you go have some fun.

Because I know that these jobs can be um a lot on your family, a lot on your personal life, and a lot on your soul, for lack of a better word.

And so I hope that you go, and I always talk about my coffee cup, and sometimes how my coffee cup at the end of the day feels a little depleted.

And so I hope you can go fill up your cup wherever you need to, and then you can give back in a different way because you sure will be missed.

Um Madam Secretary, roll call, council members Flynn.

Aye.

Gilmore, aye.

Parity.

Albitris.

Aye.

Gonzalez Cortier.

Aye.

Hein?

Hi.

Cashman.

Lewis.

Aye.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Aye.

Torres.

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results.

13 ayes.

13 ayes.

Proclamation 2014 has been adopted.

We now have time for the proclamation acceptance speech.

Council Chairman Mario Campbell, who would you be inviting up to accept the proclamation?

Um, I'd like to have Sheriff Dickens come forward, and Deputy Sheriff Major Derek Wynne.

Thank you, Madam President, Councilwoman Romero Campbell and the rest of the body for honoring another retired member of our department who exudes and exhibits the very best of public safety and provides an example of what it means to truly serve and protect Major Wynne's humble and selfless dedication to our department for 26 years helped elevate our community capital.

As he served as a beacon of hope to others with his infectious smile, laughter, and positive leadership.

We will miss him and pray the very best for him in retirement, and we congratulate him and thank him.

And I'm not gonna cry, so I'm gonna step back.

Thank you, Major.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm I'm so humbled.

Um I would like to thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because without him, this would not be possible.

Um, also uh to Chief Sonia Gillespie, who I've worked with for the last few years of my career and has always been a mentor and listened to me.

Um, my beautiful family, my beautiful wife that's here, and all my family, my twin brother Eric.

Believe me, that is my twin brother.

And his wife Heidi and my cousin Ken over there, who was with the Denver Police Department, and his wife Becky.

Um I once had someone tell me early in my career when I was in the academy that people don't care about what they don't see.

And I would like to personally thank Sheriff Elias Diggins for bringing the light of the Sheriff's Department to the public because without him and direction, um, and also the support of city council because you had to listen to him during meetings that he would have, budget meetings, and I watched those meetings and I watched the support that each and every one of you had for the Sheriff's Department, and that means a lot to me because, like I said, people don't care about what they don't see.

He brings that light forward, and I just thank him for his leadership and thank you so much.

I'm humbled.

Thank you.

Madam Secretary, please read the bills for introduction.

From the community planning and housing committee 25-1874, a bill for an ordinance approving and accepting the far southwest area plan, which plan shall become a part of comprehensive plan 2040 for the city and county of Denver pursuant to the provisions of section 12-61 of the Denver revised municipal code.

From the governance and intergovernmental relations committee, 25-1877, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed second amendatory agreement between the city and county of Denver and Denver Public Schools for the utilization of space dedicated for offices, training classes, and other educational access services.

25-1891, a bill for an ordinance making a rescission from general fund contingency and making appropriations to agency general fund budgets special revenue funds and authorizes a cash transfer.

25-1892, a bill for an ordinance making a supplemental appropriation in the Denver Arts and Venue Special Revenue Fund from the Health and Safety Committee, 25-1031, a bill for an ordinance approving an a proposed agreement between the city and county of Denver and Denver Public Schools to provide reliable healthy food access for Denver's children as funded by the Healthy Food for Denver's Kids Initiative, serving districts one, three, six, eight, nine, and ten, and twenty-five-1904, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed amendatory intergovernmental revenue agreement between the city and county of Denver and Colorado Department of Human Services for court ordered individuals needing competency services in custody at the Denver City Jail and the Denver County Jail Citywide.

Thank you.

Council members, this is your last opportunity to call out an item.

Councilmember Sawyer, will you please make the motions for us this evening?

Yes, madam president.

Yes, madam president.

Thank you.

Now I will do a recap.

Under resolutions, Council Resolution 11.

Sorry.

Under resolutions, council resolution 1881 and 1883 have been called out by Councilmember Flynn for a one-week per postponement, pursuant to rule 3.6.

Council resolution 1868 has been called out by Councilmember Lewis for questions.

Council resolution 1814 and 1815 have been called out by Councilmember Gonzalez Gutierrez for questions and comments in a block.

Council resolution 1651 has been called out for a vote by Council Pro Tem Romero Campbell and Council Resolutions 1384 through 1391 and 1643 43 through 1650 and 1652 through 1687 have been called out by Councilmember Hines for a vote in a block.

Under bills for final consideration, Council Bill 1891 has been called out by Councilmember Parity for questions and comments and by councilmember Lewis for questions and a vote.

Under bills for final consideration, no items have been called out.

Under pending, no items have been called out.

Madam Secretary, please put the first item on our screens.

Council resolution 1881, a resolution approving a proposed agreement between the city and county of Denver and Urban Alchemy to provide community ambassador services citywide.

Approves a contract with urban alchemy for 3,750,625 with an end date of 1231 to provide community ambassador services.

Councilmember Flynn, what would you like to do with council resolution 1881?

Thank you, Madam President.

I want to uh call these out for a one-week delay under Rule 3.6.

Uh, and I want to clarify because I had a couple media inquiries why I had called these out for a delay.

It's simply a matter of the fact that uh the team from Urban Alchemy is in town this week, and because of last week being Thanksgiving, uh we were not able to do briefings, but they were offering briefings this week.

So it's only appropriate that we hold for a week so that we can all get our briefings should we choose to uh to get them.

My briefings are tomorrow, for example.

So this would apply to the next item as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

No motion is required.

Council resolution 1881 has been postponed to next week.

Council next week's regular council meeting, madam secretary.

Please put the next item on our screens.

Council resolution eighteen eighty-three, a resolution of pro approving a proposed agreement between the city and county of Denver and Urban Alchemy to provide shelter operations and programmatic services at non congregate shelter.

Aspen in council district eight.

Councilmember Flynn, what would you like to do with council resolution 1883?

Yes, Madam President.

Same thing.

Rule 3.6 allows us to do a one-week postponement of any matter under certain provisions of the charter, and this is one of them.

Same reasoning as applies to the last one.

Uh we're getting our briefings this week, so we should vote on it next week instead of today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

No motion is required.

Council resolution 1883 has been postponed to the next regular council meeting.

Madam Secret uh Councilmember Lewis?

Yes.

I I wanted to speak to this one specifically because it's in my council district, and I appreciate that it was postponed, but I've actually had a really difficult time getting information as it pertains to this, and I inquired um with the administration about some concerns that had um been raised to me regarding um this contract in particular and the contracting process, and so I'm glad that we have some extra time to be able to uh work out some of those kinks because it's been difficult for me to be able to give information to my constituents because I've been in the dark with information um by way of the administration, and so thank you, Councilman uh Flynn for postponing postponing this.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

No motion is required.

Council resolution 1883 has been postponed to the next week regular council meeting.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens.

Council resolution 1868, a resolution approving a proposed agreement, a mandatory agreement between the city and county of Denver and Gartner Inc.

for membership to Gartner's executive IT leadership team and technical professional programs for 2026.

Councilmember Lewis, please go ahead with your questions on resolution 1868.

Thank you.

Yep, go ahead, Sean.

Great, great, thank you.

Apologize, it took it took a couple minutes to get and joined as panelists.

So this relationship covers some of the executives that we have within TS, and it also has a subscription for every technology person with NTS.

Gartner is an important partner, and I want to I want to clarify that this is not a professional membership.

This is something that we utilize to realize millions of dollars of savings every year by analyzing current software contracts, negotiating with software vendors, and making technology decisions.

As we enter into 2026, we all know that it's going to be an even more difficult year than we've had in the past.

We are going to utilize this to make up some of the gap in the resource capacity that we have, and also utilize it as a third-party um service to provide a opinion outside of the way we've always done things.

So I hope that answers your question.

I'm willing to answer any more that you have.

No, that actually does answer my question, and I appreciate you talking about the cost savings because it's not the benefit is not reflected in the file materials in the way in which you've been able to give that additional information.

And so thank you for that.

Just to lay on that, we we did that strategically.

If our vendors know how we're doing things, we will um sacrifice what we might be able to leverage.

So that's why that wasn't very clearly spelled out.

Okay.

Hopefully, I guess.

Thank you.

Is that it, Councilwoman?

Oh yeah, that's it.

Okay, thank you.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens.

Council resolution.

I'm gonna put two.

The next two resolutions on our screens.

1814, a resolution of approving a proposed contract between the city and county of Denver and Live Nation worldwide for commission payments for events using assorted venues for arts and venues located locations starting 2025 through the year end of 2029 in council districts 9, 10, and mountain parks.

Council resolution 1815, a resolution approving a proposed contract between the city and county of Denver and AEG presents Rocky Mountains LLC for commission payments for events using assorted venues for arts and venues locations starting 2025 through year end of year 2029 in council districts 9, 10 and mountain parks.

Councilmember Gonzalez Gutierrez, please go ahead with your questions and comments on council resolutions 1814 and 1815.

Thank you, Council President.

And yes, um, I just I call this out um for some questions that I've had a couple meetings with arts and venues.

I'm really appreciate um getting to learn uh a lot more about how this works with the commissions um and understanding that this is a special revenue fund.

However, I wanted to have some of these questions brought to forward um just for the public's knowledge to better understand how these uh these contracts work um because I've had constituents reach out to me, um, some you know local promoters and folks that are you know trying to utilize some of the spaces that we have and um especially those well sought after um spaces.

So I do have a couple of questions, and I see some of the folks here in the audience.

Thank you for coming.

Um so one uh first question is what's the total number of events, and this is specifically as it relates to Red Rocks.

Um, will Red Rocks have had in 2025?

Um, and from those, how many events are uh put on through AEG and how many by Live Nation?

Well, good afternoon.

I'm Tad Bowman, uh venue director for Red Rocks Amphitheater and the Denver Coliseum.

Uh before I start, I would like to say that I am an over 30 year resident of council district one, madam president.

I just had three pounds of brisket for our holiday uh dinner from Raging hog.

So we are supporting the local uh community as well.

Um before I answer that question real quick.

Uh, I will say that we've had uh incentive programs or commission programs uh since the day I started and before that at our uh used to be theaters and arenas, now arts and venues.

And just for clarification, that was September 1st of 1987.

So, yes, 38 years and three months of service with the city, uh helping to do this.

Um I will answer.

So the for this year in 2025, we had 209 concerts, five Film on the Rocks, nine graduations, 15 fitness events, that's yoga, snow shape, three miscellaneous events, which include Easter Sunrise service and so forth.

Uh that's about 238 events in the amphitheater.

And that doesn't mention uh all the weddings, corporate meetings, uh lunches in the visitor center, uh, and more than a million tourists that we get each year up at Red Rocks.

It's also interesting to note that in the late uh 90s and early 2000s.

Uh we were still doing about 35 to 40 shows a year during that time, uh, increased the number of shows over the over the time period.

Uh in 2025, AEG uh held 147 shows at Red Rocks, four of which were partnerships with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

We do work with the Symphony each year to have four dates for them to put on some shows up there.

Uh, they typically partner with uh somebody to do more of a pop type related show, not necessarily a classical symphony, but they do periodically do classical symphony shows.

Uh Live Nation had 42 uh shows this year.

Uh and percentage-wise for AG, that would have been 61% of the shows that we have at Red Rocks, and eight, or I'm sorry, Live Nation would have been 18% of the shows that we had or events and activities.

There were more than 1.68 million tickets sold for shows up at Red Rocks this year, and then 1.75 million total tickets issued because there's uh some of the shows do have comps and so forth.

So 1.75 million issued tickets.

Uh I want to go through some of the highlights of the shows because it really shows the diversity of the shows that we have up at Red Rocks.

Uh this year we had uh so just bear with me while I go through this list real quick.

Uh Remy Wolf, Wiz Khalifa, Sublime, Series Fest with Amy Schumer, uh Tina Faye and Amy Polar, Toby Mack, Lucy Dakis, Three Nights of Sting, Leon Bridges, Brad Paisley, The Black Keys, Lord Huron, Two Nights, Britt Floyd, Big Head Tom the Monsters, a local band that's been playing at Red Rocks for over 30 years.

They are an amazing artist.

They are from Australia, multi-instrumentalist.

Uh, does all of the all of the instruments themselves doing a looping effect?

It's an amazing show.

If you ever have a chance to see Tosh Sultana.

OAR, Weird Al.

Anybody weird Al fan.

Uh let's see where I leave off here.

Widespread Panic.

They did three shows.

That's their 75th uh show at Red Rock, sold out show.

Uh they're hoping to get to 100.

Uh, hopefully I can be there when they do the 100.

We'll see.

Uh Eric Church, three nights, Mumford and Sons, two nights, Melissa Etheridge and Indigo Girls, the Maria's, Susan Tedeski, Joe Bonamasa, Zach Bryan.

Interesting about Zach Bryan, played at Red Rocks this year, and later in the summer, he did a show at Michigan's football stadium.

That was 100,000 people.

And he did one night at Red Rocks with 9,000.

So pretty amazing that Zach Bryan would want to come back to Red Rocks.

Uh, Gracie Abrams, Danny Elfman, if you're familiar with Danny Elfman, he uh did all the music for Nightmare Before Christmas and uh Beetlejuice, so that was an amazing night as well.

Uh let's see, Hart, Alennium, Elenium uh as a local DJ that's had a chance to play at Red Rocks, but he's also sold out Allegiant Field in Las Vegas, so uh really a big star in terms of the electronic scene.

Teddy Swim, Sierra Farrell, Billy Idol, John Batiste, who's from New Orleans, he did all the music from the Pixar movie Soul, so a great artist, an amazing show.

Brandy Carlisle for three nights, Mana for two nights, Red Clay Strays, Girls Simpson for two nights, Tipper, who's an electronic artist that played his last shows ever, played at Red Rocks.

So kind of a fun night there.

Renee Rapp, Bonnie Ray, Zach Top, Megan Moroni, Leve, Lorde.

Quick story about Lord.

Uh, in 2014, when she came to town to play at the film or auditorium, the promoter brought her up to Red Rocks to show her around Red Rocks.

And I got to be there with her and show her Red Rocks.

And during her show this year, she talked about the time that she got to visit up there.

And I was like, yeah, I was there.

I got to hang out with her while she got to visit Red Rocks.

So she talked that about that story.

Martin Garricks, who's an electronic artist.

Fun little story here, Bono.

If you're familiar with Bono from U2, you too played at Red Rocks in 1983.

As far as we know, this was Bono's first visit back 42 years later to see anything at Red Rocks after performing at Red Rocks.

And T Payne for two shows.

Thank you, Tad.

So it's okay.

I guess what I'm more interested in, and you and I have talked about this and others from the office, are around the commissions that are received by these big vendors like AEG, like Live Nation.

And I've had the opportunity to sit down with AEG, the president, CEO, head of AG, and asked a lot of questions around the cost of putting on these events and what they receive back from the city, right?

And I know this all is funneled through the same SRF, so it's like circular, right?

But I still it just still leaves me with a lot of questions as far as how much are we paying each of these vendors and commissions for 2025?

How much should we pay in 2024?

So, like, maybe if there is a look back, and then part of that question is also, it is my understanding that this contract, um, and maybe this contract, maybe the one before, did change in the way in which how many qualified events are required in order to then earn that commission.

So, how much have they been paid out or will they get paid out for 2025 and 24?

And then what is that change in the requirement for qualified events?

Uh I'll start with the second question, if that's all right.

Um, this particular contract, the number of qualifying events uh is 10, and previously it was five.

So, a pretty nominal change relative to these particular promoters.

Um it's also important to note that this commission program really applies to only commercial uh concert events, not for any of our nonprofit organizations or uh others.

So those are help, those are dealt with in a separate way.

Um, and a qualifying event means that you have to sell at least 3,500 tickets in order to qualify for for the commission program.

So 10 events with a minimum of 3,500 tickets sold.

And as I mentioned again, this is really a non-exclusive program that's been in place, so others can participate if they have the ability the ability to do so.

Um, as far as the the what was paid out, I have a couple of notes real quick and I'll share the the numbers.

Uh, it's important to remember that this is a commission earned based on the work that these promoters do to bring the shows to our venues, including Red Rocks, uh, not unlike other commission-based deals.

You earn a commission based on the work that you perform.

Uh, no, it is based on the rent generated.

There's commercial concerts drive the ancillary revenues at Red Rocks and the economic impact for our agency, our city, and the region.

Uh we had a commission or a study done in 2023 from BBC that showed that the economic impact for the region is about 700 million dollars a year.

So, um, all of the shows that we have at Red Rocks, all the shows I mentioned earlier, really do help to drive that economic impact in the area.

Um, it's also uh important that this commission program changed slightly in that we made it so that when they earn the commission, it can't take our minimum rent below the $20,000 minimum rent number that we have.

So, no matter what show it is and what their commission is, it cannot take us below the $20,000 rent number.

It's also important to know this is a fairly standard best practice in a competitive industry, whether it's ball arena, mission ballroom, fillmore, Ford Amphitheater, and many other venues around this the area as well as the country.

And the promoters take really a lot of financial risk.

I think uh the AEG representative probably mentioned that to you, but when they put these shows on, there can be a lot of financial risk uh given what the artist uh fees are for the shows that they put on.

Uh, and also as a special revenue fund, you mentioned we're an SRF.

Um, as a special revenue fund uh within the city, we often function in an entrepreneurial way in order to generate the revenue to support our facilities in all of our programs.

So the numbers for 2025, Live Nation uh has earned a 1.26 million dollar commission that's based on 329,348 tickets sold.

That works out to about $3.84 a ticket.

And remember, each time we sell a beer, they're about $15 a piece.

Um in 2025 for AEG, they earned a commission of $4.18 million dollars on more than 1.186 million tickets sold.

That turns out to about $3.33 per ticket based on this new commission program.

In 2024, Live Nation earned almost about the same as this year.

That was 1.2 million on 43 events at $3.66 a ticket.

And in 2024, AEG earned 4.6 million dollars on 143 events.

So they actually had a little bit more, a few four more events in 2025 and 2024, but the commission went down slightly based on the revised commission structure that we had.

We used to have a tiered uh structure where it was 40%, 50%, 60%.

But what happened was if once somebody tilted that scale, that gave them a little more advantage over everybody else.

We wanted to even out that so that somebody didn't have the ability to tilt the scale on what show how many shows they had.

Thank you for that.

Um thank you for answering those questions.

I really appreciate it.

Um my last question uh that I'll just have, and it should hopefully be a simple answer is um when will we be able to have DPS uh high school graduations at Red Rocks again?

Because I I got to graduate at Red Rocks and it was beautiful, and I was from North High School.

So I know that that hasn't happened in a long time.

And um, since it is something that the city owns and we partner with DPS often, is that something that we can talk about for the future?

Yes, as a matter of fact, we made that opportunity available for this for 2026.

We did have Lincoln take us up on the offer, so Lincoln will graduate on May 20 something, whatever date that it was.

Uh I think that was the only school this year, but we'll have the opportunity for three schools in the future years as well.

Thank you so much, and thank you for your time.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Um, I was gonna read this whole thing to you guys, but thank you and appreciate offering to North High School.

I think I've been or to DPS, I've been asking that um since I've got into office.

That's not accurate.

I got I've been asking that since 2015 when my predecessors, so I've been asking that for 10 years to have DPS be able to use Red Rocks because I too graduated.

Um, Councilman Gonzalez Gutierrez at Red Rocks, and I know North High School is very interested in it.

So I will spread the word that North High School should look for 2027 as soon as possible because I agree that DPS should have an advantage when it comes to our city-owned resources.

And if I may, I first of all thank you so much for your interest in learning not just about our SM venues, but about the industry.

I think that's really important.

Um, and I just want to take a moment, if I may, uh, especially as we think about community access and the access to cultural organizations, how the role that Red Rocks plays in an ecosystem, right?

It is because of Red Rogs that all of our other venues are able to function.

Uh, such as Arts Complex, which we just launched, Art Complex creates, which provides access to our venue spaces to expand our audiences, to expand those that are have access to perform in our venues, and we're really excited about diversifying not just who is coming to our venues, but who is actually using our venues.

And then, of course, I would be, I cannot speak about access without speaking about the upcoming opening, reopening of the historic theater at Loreto Heights, which as its heart is cultural equity and cultural access.

And we are incredibly excited because this is meant to be a venue for the people, not just for neighbors, but for all residents, and it's gonna have 700 seats, which I think also will be easy to also easier to access in terms of the number of tickets and the size of shows.

It fills a gap within the cultural sector, especially so many cultural organizations and communities needs have this need for this size of venue, and at the heart of it, it will be access.

At the heart of it, it will be affordability and education.

So for us, it's not just making those venues accessible to those that attend, but those that will be on stage, but also those that will run those venues and those stages.

So we are also very excited about building the next generation of theater workers and theater goers and theater performers.

So I just wanted to mention that because it is because of the success of Red Rocks that we are able to invest in community and to invest in our other venues to provide that access.

So I hope that you will not only think about Red Rocks for graduations, but that you'll think about Loreto, because when we go back to community, you have no idea how many people remember graduating at Loreto.

So I just wanted to mention that because you're absolutely right.

These are city-owned venues, and our work is to serve our residents as well as the cultural sector.

So thank you so much for your questions.

Really appreciate your interest in the remote.

And title.

Tadiana Navas Nieves, Deputy Executive Director for Denver Arts and Venues.

Thank you.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens.

Council resolution 1651, a resolution approving a proposed contract between the city and county of Denver and HDR Engineering Inc.

to conduct category on call professional services citywide.

Councilmember Sawyer, will you please put council resolution 1651 on the floor for adoption?

I move that council resolution 25-1651 be adopted.

It has been moved and I second it.

Seconded.

Comment questions and comments by members of council.

Council Pro Temer Merrill Campbell.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, I'm just gonna have to abstain on this vote tonight.

I have a family member that works for HDR.

Thank you, Madam Secretary.

Roll call on council resolution 1651.

Council members Flynn.

Aye.

Gilmore.

Aye.

Parity.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Aye.

Heinz.

Cashman.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Romero Campbell.

Abstain.

Sawyer.

Aye.

Torres?

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting, announce the results.

I'm sorry.

And Councilmember Albitrez.

Aye.

10 ayes.

10 ayes.

Council resolution 1651 has been adopted.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screen, Council Resolution 1384.

A resolution approving a proposed agreement between the city and county of Denver and AMES construction for 2025 large civil construction services on call.

Large Civil Construction Services on Call through Council Resolution 1391, a resolution approving a proposed agreement between the city and county of Denver.

And council resolution 1643, a resolution approving a proposed contract between the city and county of Denver and Lamb Star Engineering LLC to conduct category on call professional services citywide through Council Resolution 1651, a resolution approving a proposed contract between the city and county of Denver and Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.

to conduct a category on call professional services citywide and council resolution 1652, a resolution approving a proposed contract between the city and county of Denver, Harris Crocher Engineering Group Inc.

to conduct category on call professional services citywide through council resolution 1687, a resolution approving a proposed contract between the city and county of Denver AE COM Technical Services Inc.

to conduct category on call professional services citywide.

These resolutions are all contracts to conduct category on call professional services citywide as a reminder, council resolution 1651, which is one of the one on call contracts was just voted on separately from this block of items.

Are there any objections from members of council on considering council resolutions 1384 through 1391 and 1643 through 1687 in a block?

Seeing no objections, Councilmember Sawyer, will you please put council resolutions 1384 through 1391 and 1643 through 1650 and 1652 through 1687 on the floor for adoption in a block?

I move that council resolution.

Okay, it's on.

I move that council resolutions 25-1384 through 1391 and 25-1643 through 1650 and 25-1652 through 1687 be adopted.

It has been moved and seconded.

Comment questions and comments by members of council?

Councilmember Heinz.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um this probably to the public seems like a very strange and large set of contracts.

Um all of these contracts put together equal about 600 million dollars that the Department of Transportation Infrastructure is asking to um uh to basically for us to give an in advance uh green light so that they don't have to come back to us to uh to vote on it.

So um this was discussed in uh in committee twice, um, so it shouldn't be surprised for our Department of Transport Transportation Infrastructure as in Dottie.

Uh this conversation started a few years ago in November 2021 when the people of Denver voted yes on a transportation funding bill that provided funding for the first fully realized segment of the 5280 trail.

Um, despite a cadence of uh my reaching out about monthly uh to Doddy to get clarity on the project, nothing happened uh about that bond item until 18 months uh later I sent out an email and received a reply um that uh that in fact the the um out of um a need for speed they had issued the entire contract to an on-call vendor.

So I just to put it on the record, I don't have issues with certain on-call uh vendors.

We need snow plowing, yet we don't know how many times it snows each year.

We need pothole filling, even though we don't know how many potholes we're gonna have.

We need street paving and asphalt so asphalt sourcing, and in my opinion at least, those are great uses of on-call contracts.

Um anything that's operational in nature is in it needs to be done, uh, and the way it happens is subtle to uh you know, we do it the same way every each time, every time, because that's the best way to get it done.

So I also don't have issues with I don't know, the 10 million dollars a year we set aside to install 88 curb ramps uh while selecting each which ramp gets installed first, might be worthy conversation.

Um, eventually uh they will all get installed and um and you know eventually it'll happen.

Um, but then there are some strategic transformative projects like the 5280 trail, a 5.28 mile pedestrian cyclist priority route around the center city.

It's unlike anything Denver has seen before, and it should have had a competitive bidding process where anyone can apply to uh to bid on the project, whether they are in Denver's on Denver's preferred list or not.

After all, we want the best potential project, and that includes allowing those who decide design the Indianapolis Cultural Trail or the one in Austin or Atlanta or New York City or Dallas the opportunity to bid.

But instead, Dottie awarded this to an on-call vendor.

Doesn't matter which vendor is selected.

I'm not uh I'm not trying to complain about a particular vendor.

Um, it's the arbitrary elimination of all external vendors, that's my issue.

We shouldn't limit these transformative projects to vendors that are on Denver's preferred list.

Um, but there are also additional vendors or additional, excuse me, additional issues.

Um these on-call contracts amount to $600 million dollars over the next five years, and that would mean that our city council purview of voting on anything, any contract that's over $500,000 would be negated for $600 million over the next five years.

Sure, we have the opportunity to allocate budget dollars to agencies.

And potentially that means we could try to eliminate certain on-call projects, but that's not how our oversight works.

We give funding to the agency, and the executive director of that agency can spend those funds however they want.

Sure, we can also put reliance on certain individuals too who may know our particular interests as in the different council members' interests.

But three years ago, there were quite a few different players in Dotti's leadership team, and who knows who will be where in the next three or five years at Dotti.

And again, these are three-year contracts with uh extensions up to five years that council is pre-voting uh pre-authorizing.

So again, this is $600 million of budget to avoid city council vote for the next five years.

Uh I'm not just for what it's worth, I'm not an obstructionist that just says no.

I wanted to provide Dotti with tangible options to consider, provided suggestions like perhaps Dotti could give the opportunity to green light projects that are operational in nature and flag contracts that should go through the full RFP process.

Maybe that's a quarterly list that accompanies the existing on-call spreadsheet of previously green lit projects.

Um the response from Dotti was no.

But here we are, and we've been asked to vote on for eliminating oversight of $600 million in contracts over the next five years.

And given the lack of transparency, I've heard from several of my colleagues mentioned in these last weeks.

So I'll be voting no.

Thank you, madam president.

Thank you, Councilmember Sawyer.

Thank you, Madam President.

I really appreciate um councilmember Heinz's position and am supportive of him in that.

I know that the 5280 trail conversation has been a long one with a lot going on.

I just also wanted to remind council members how incredibly important it is for us to have on-call contracts in our city.

Um I voted no on every on-call contract that came through for two and a half years until the new administration came into office and then finally um required reporting to city council on a quarterly basis for every on-call contract that we have in every city agency.

Um, I think it is incredibly important for us to have that transparency because we are tasked with oversight of the budget by the charter, um, and it is true that we are pre-approving up to a potentially $600 million in over the next, you know, five years in these on-call contracts.

Um, when I was a new council member in 2019 when these first came through, they had to walk me through this for hours and hours and hours until I finally was able to wrap my mind around it, because on-call contracts are um confusing and uh and they are very open-ended.

So I want to just acknowledge every city agency and the mayor's office, they um ensure that we do as council members get quarterly reporting on the usage of these on-call contracts, which is incredibly important for oversight, um, but they are also incredibly important to functioning for our city.

We have to have on-call contracts in order to be able to do the business of the city and county of Denver.

And so I fully support council member Hines.

I understand where he's coming from, but I will be a yes tonight, and I would urge my fellow council members to be a yes as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Albitheres.

Thank you, Council President.

Um, I really do appreciate Councilman Hines calling this out and his comments on this, and I just wanted to express that.

I also had a lot of concerns on these contracts.

Particularly my concerns are really focused on the small business utilization on these contracts, which is extremely low, and I have come to find out that there's just a flaw in the basics of how these goals are set.

We're comparing a small amount of contractors that are in our program to any contractor that could possibly want to do this and determining a goal based on that.

And so I am deeply concerned about the division of small business and watering down the utilization of our local women and minority and disadvantaged owned businesses.

Um, but uh my concerns I will address through the legislative process, along with Councilman Heinz through best value contracting through the new disparity study that will be coming out soon, and really diving into that data and diving into the ordinance.

I also learned that no general contractor has ever been sanctioned for not meeting their goal.

And so there's not a lot of teeth to these contracts and those goals that we're setting for these businesses to use our small local businesses.

And it's very hard for a small local contractor to work on these projects.

And another concern I have is that this is for several years.

And so only the contractors that are selected can do the work for the city for the next few years, and maybe there's new contractors, maybe there's contractors ready to step up to the next level.

So I do have a lot of concerns, but I will be addressing them through the legislative process.

Um thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you.

Um, and I really appreciate my colleagues um and their perspective and what they've been able to offer to this conversation.

And the only thing that I wanted to offer um to just be responsive to Councilman Heinz as well as the other members on the transportation and infrastructure committee is one of the ideas that we had passed around as committee members was the opportunity to have Dotti come back and give us regular updates as it pertains to the on-call contracts, whether that be for um vibrant bond or something other.

And so we are working closely with DATI to figure out how we bring those regular updates to be able to address some of the concerns that are coming by way of council members.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Secretary, we'll call on council resolutions 1384 through 1391 and 1643 through 1650 and 1652 through 1687.

Council members Flynn.

Gilmore.

Aye.

Aye.

Albidres.

Aye.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Aye.

Heinz.

Cashman.

Lewis.

Aye.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Sawyer.

Aye.

Torres.

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close vote and announce the results.

Eleven ayes.

Eleven ayes.

Council resolutions 1384 through 1391 and 1643 through 1650 and 1652 through 1687 have been adopted.

Madam Secretary, please put the new standard on our screens.

Council Bill 1891, a bill for an ordinance making a recession from the general fund contingency and making appropriations to agency general fund budgets, special revenue funds, and authorizes a cash transfer.

Councilmember Sawyer, would you please put Council Bill 1891 on the floor for publication?

I move that council bill 25-1891 be ordered published.

It has been moved and seconded.

Councilmember Parity, please go ahead with your questions and comments on Council Bill 1891.

Yeah, thank you, Madam President.

Am I can you hear me okay?

Now we can.

Yeah, go ahead.

Okay, good.

Sorry, I was getting the feedback that I was hard to hear.

Um so this is a um large transfer for um basically unbudgeted expenses throughout the year, um, and it's a number of different items.

But the one that I've had a lot of questions and concerns about DPD overtime.

Um, and we got some answers to questions that we asked throughout the committee process in an email last Wednesday, which I appreciate, um, but there's still quite a bit outstanding.

Um so I just wanted to raise a few of those things up.

First of all, um, we got a list from DPD of large events that they had to staff, although some of them, a lot of them were really only like a couple dozen people.

Um, but what we didn't get was the actual overtime hours attributable to those events.

Um, and we also, I also still have a lot of questions about overtime expenses that are attributable to downtown, um, particularly because there was considerable reporting uh earlier in the year that the downtown Dumber partnership was going to cover the cost of increased patrols downtown.

So I'm curious why we're seeing that expense um coming from the city.

Part of the reason I'm concerned about DPD overtime, just to explain this a little bit better, is one of the charts that we got last Wednesday, and I want to emphasize how new this information is.

I've never seen information this detailed about police overtime in the time that I've been here, despite asking often.

Um it looks like our overtime hours for DPD have gone up by like a third between 2021 and 2024.

They've gone up every single year.

And that's despite major crime going down, 911 calls going down, 911 call response times not improving.

Um, and we are in the high 90s as far as our staffing goes.

We're not anything like you know, we see overtime in the sheriff's department because they're like 60% staffed.

Um DPD is in the 90s for its staffing levels, and so I don't understand these overtime numbers.

Um, I'm troubled by them.

Um, we're predicting to be 98% staffed in the next by this month, this year, by December, next month.

So I don't understand why our overtime would have gone up by a third compared to 2021, given that major crime and 911 calls are falling, and I have a lot of concern about that.

Um I will continue asking for more answers to this via email.

I don't think it's something that um probably anyone's gonna stand up on their feet in the room and be able to answer effectively.

Um, but I really need to understand why we're seeing these costs for downtown um and why we are seeing overall overtime increases that are so high.

And then in addition, in our past year's budgets, we used to be better at predicting the cost of overtime.

So there's far more of a mismatch, even for 2025, 2024 than there used to be in like 2020, 2021.

And so that's also concerning to me that our our budgets have been more off base as time has gone by.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you.

Um, I I appreciate council member parity raising this because I had a similar concern um regarding the overtime and the debt being attached to at least in the filed materials, um, overtime in response to protests and other events, and I was curious as to what we had budgeted um for 2025 for overtime response for protests and other events and what we um yeah, what we had actually budgeted for overtime for uh DPD.

Good afternoon, Councilmember Shine Cummings Chief Financial Officer for Department of Public Safety.

Um, Councilmember Lewis, when we budget overtime, we budget the overall dollar amount, so it's a consolidated or congregated amount for all overtime costs in the department.

So we don't have a specific amount that is budgeted for protest activity or other events.

We look at everything collectively.

So when you look at previous years, if we said the budget was around $8 million or $7 million, we try to put um analysis on that that ties to the collective bargaining salaries.

So there's an increase of 4%.

Our goal is that we will just utilize that same overtime budget with just a little minimal increase that ties to the salary increases that's affected by collective bargaining agreement.

So as Justin might have mentioned during the um when we did our one-on-one briefings and also through uh the committee hearings, that when we um have budget for things like protests and unplanned events, that's what we utilize uh the contingency or supplemental funding for because they're unplanned.

Got it.

So, so you just in terms of how you all think about your budget and overtime in general, you plan for the year, so for 2025 or 2026, a whole amount, um, which is not just for police, but it's just your department overall for Denver Department, um, the Denver Police Department overall, and then you um ask for the supplemental based on what has already been used um in terms of overtime.

So this 11 million that's being requested is overtime that has the Denver Police Department has already used, or that you all are anticipating you'll need to conclude the 2025 budget year.

So we have already spent okay um approximately 75 to 80 percent of that.

When you think about just during the month of December, that would be the amount that's remaining to take us through the remainder of the year.

And I do want to provide just one clarifying fact.

The 11 million dollars is a combination of both leaf payouts, which is 3.5 million, um, as a and then the overtime budget, which is about 7.5 million.

So there is 11 million is the total that we're asking for the supplemental, but the overtime piece is only 7.5 million.

And then the remainder of that, sorry, my brain just is the separation payouts when um officers leave the department or leave the city.

Okay, thank you so much.

Those are my only questions.

Yep.

Thank you.

Councilmember Alvidares.

Thank you, Council President.

My question's actually for the Department of Finance.

Um, I've been expecting to see money taken out of the general fund contingency, but what I don't see listed on here is the CIP payments for the Denver post building purchase.

So I'm curious, how are we making that payment if we're not taking from contingency and we're not getting rent right now?

So my understanding, Councilmember uh Justin Sykes, budget management office director, is that those payments are included in the appropriation uh for the 2025 budget for the 2026 budget.

Uh so it's not that there's a shortage of approval from council to spend the money.

I think that's a situation where the revenues that we had anticipated are at present uh not materializing like we expect them to.

Um that's similar to, for example, sales and use tax.

So sales and use tax for 2025, we had to revise down uh as we got new data, as tariffs were imposed, and so I think in that case there's no uh need for additional appropriation from city council because the payments are appropriated.

Okay, so um that revenue should be adjusted down then as well, correct?

So uh so I think what where we're at right now is we're uh one more month to go here in the year, and we we are constantly looking at revenue, but in terms of formal revenue projections, we only really do those at three points in the year.

So we we do so for the proposed budget.

Uh we do so when we release the budget for the next year and revise the prior year's budget, and then at the start of every budget process, we will come out with our best estimate based on available data of what we believe revenues will be.

And so it's not as if every month we are assessing we think it's going to be 1.652 billion versus 1.653 billion.

Uh we're we're looking at it kind of in more measured time frames.

Um, but but were those revenues not to materialize, uh, that is a possibility that there would be less revenue in 2025 than we had projected.

Um, but there might be sales uh or uh uh excuse me revenue sources that outperform.

So so I think what's hard with 300 different revenue sources is to know um where all of them are going to trend.

Okay, thank you.

Um I'll get back in the queue, council president.

I know we probably gotta go.

So yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

Um we're gonna put this on pause.

So if you have anyone needs to get back in the queue, please go ahead.

Tonight council will hold a required public hearing on council bill 1704, approving and accepting the park building plan for the maintenance and operations facility, equipment building, and storage building all located in city of Carnavalca Park, pursuant to the provisions of section 39-210 and 39-21 of the Denver Revised Municipal Code.

If there are no objections from members of council, we will recess until 5 30 p.m.

People are convening at the regular meeting.

City council will provide a script.

That concludes our general public comment session.

If we did not get to you today, please join us or submit your comments in writing.

The next session will be held on Monday, December 8th.

Sign up begins at 5 p.m.

on Thursday, December 4th.

We look forward to hearing from you again, and thank you for attending.

Council will now reconvene from our earlier session.

We will continue with consideration of Council Bill 1891 making a recession from the general fund contingency and making appropriations to agency general fund budget, special revenue funds, and authorizes account a cash transfer.

First up, we have councilmember Flynn.

Thank you, uh Madam President.

I want to point out something that uh we should not be overlooking here, and that is that uh the seven and a half million dollars supplemental for overtime payment is a direct result of the administration's uh reducing the uh salaries budget by about 9.7 million dollars earlier this year uh to meet uh the budget cutbacks that all agencies were required to meet, were it not for uh Department of Finance calling back 9.7 million dollars.

Uh the overtime could have been met within that uh allotment.

Um, and the other thing I wanted to point out is the overtime hours I was given, uh we are actually uh fewer uh overtime hours this year uh to date than 2023 and 2024.

Um, and uh those are the figures that were given to me by uh uh Department of Safety uh Chief Finance Officer, 146,000 hours, and um uh these are hours that were worked and we're obliged to pay the officers who work them.

So I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Parity.

Yes, sorry about that.

Um can you hear me okay?

Yes, we thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, I just council member Flynn, you're absolutely right that the 2025 to date is lower than 2024 and 2023.

I was going through the last complete year that we had, which was 24, um, and it wasn't clear to me when it said to date what that cutoff date was, so I couldn't project that through to the end of 25.

So I just want to say we're looking at the same numbers on that.

Um I had a different question though, which is why I got back in the queue, um, which is that another another um item that's covered uh by this supplemental it includes some uh separation payouts to employees who were laid off.

Um, and so I just wanted to raise that um we got this information again in an email on Wednesday.

It was sent to all of council.

Um, and it says that the city has paid 1.8 million dollars of severance, 1.7 million dollars of separation payouts to employees who are laid off, um, and is projecting to pay um about 1.4 million in unemployment claims in 2025.

Um, and so I just I'm a little staggered by those numbers because um we were told so many times that layoffs were necessary to save 10 million dollars in 2025.

Um, but that's all adding up to about a five million dollar offset of those 10 million dollars.

Um, and so I I'm gonna be needing more information on those things as well, particularly um what amounts we think will still be paying out into 2026, if any, um, in you know, separations, severances, unemployment, and um any litigation costs.

The other thing is that apparently that so far this year we haven't had outside council in any litigation, um, and we've just had a small amount uh that we've had to pay for mediation.

Um, but I'm curious if we're expecting that to be the case in 2026 as well, because I know that there is some litigation pending.

So those are also questions that I'm gonna be following up on before next week.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Parity, did you want any answers to your questions right now?

I see Justin in front of me.

Um, yeah.

If Justin wants to say something, he can.

I mostly I'm looking for 2026 figures on those things.

Um, so if those are available, that's fine.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Justin Sykes Budget Management Office Director.

So uh the severance, the session payouts, uh, those are not payments that will recur.

Those are all one-time payments.

Uh, and then the unemployment is something that we believe the most we would need to pay out between uh now and the end of the year uh would be about 1.4 million.

That is something that we increase the budget for in 2026.

Um I do want to just clarify that we we did not uh as the Department of Finance offer layoffs as a 2025 savings measure.

We identified three 2025 savings measures, uh the hiring freeze, furloughs, and then the preservation of as much general fund contingency as we could.

The costs associated with the layoffs are just slightly less from the savings, and and that was by design where we wanted to maximize the amount of severance that could be paid to those employees based off of how much we would have to pay in unemployment in separation payouts, and then with that severance amount being the amount that we tried to maximize uh not to create savings.

Justin, are you not remembering though, like I am, that um I mean I certainly as a council member was told that we were that part of the purpose of the layoffs was a ten million dollar twenty twenty-five savings.

I know I didn't make that number up.

So are you just saying the Department of Finance wasn't justifying in that way, and maybe that came from the mayor's office?

I mean, if you've heard that number too, right?

Uh, with all due respect, I have not.

So so what we've presented multiple times was saving ten million dollars from furloughs, so so you are correct that there was a ten million dollar number, um, but that was not from layoffs, that was from furloughs, uh, which we believe we are tracking to meet.

Okay, and I my recollection is that it was 10 million was furloughs and ten million was layoffs for a total of 20 this year, but perhaps that came from the mayor's office.

Thank you, Justin.

That's all I had, Madam President.

Thank you.

I see no other speakers in the queue.

Madam Secretary, um roll call on Council Bill 1891.

Council members Flynn, aye.

Gilmore.

Nay.

Parity.

Nay.

Albitres.

Aye.

Gonzalez Gutierrez?

Nay.

Heinz.

Aye.

Cashman.

Lewis.

Nay.

Romara Campbell.

Aye.

Sawyer.

Aye.

Torres.

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting, announce the results.

Nine ayes.

Nine ayes.

Council bill eighteen ninety-one has been ordered published.

I need to um take a moment of personal privilege.

Correction to the record.

Due to the technical and auditory difficulties, the vote was misrecorded for the adoption of council resolution 1651.

The final vote count is 11 ayes, one nay, one abstention abstention.

The vote was also misrecorded for the adoption of council resolutions 1384 through 1391, 1643 through 1650, and 1652 through 1687, and in block.

The final vote count is 12 A's, one nay.

This concludes the items to be called out.

All bills for for introduction are ordered published.

Council members remember that this is a consent or block vote, and you will need to vote aye.

Otherwise, this is your last chance to call out an item for a separate vote.

Councilmember Sawyer, will you please put the resolutions for adoption and the bills on final consideration for final passage on the floor?

I move that the resolutions be adopted and bills on final consideration be placed upon final consideration, and do pass in a block for the following items.

1886, 1868, 1865, 1866, 1903, 1814, 1815, 1862, 1863, 1568, 1856, 1858, 1860, 1867, 1869, 1875, 1876, 1890, 1894, 1895, I'm only halfway through the list, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1843, 1753, 1727, 1728, 1730, 1732, 1722, 1723, 1724, 1725, 1726, 1729, 1731, 1733, 1833, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded.

Madam Secretary, we'll call.

Council members Flynn.

I accept the partridge.

Gilmore.

Aye.

Aye.

Alpidres.

Aye.

Gonzalez Cutieres.

Aye.

Hines?

Hi.

Cashman.

Lewis.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Sawyer?

Aye.

Torres?

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval?

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results.

13 ayes.

13 ayes.

The resolutions have been adopted and the bills have been placed upon final consideration in DuPass.

There is one proclamation being read this evening.

Councilmember Heinz, would you please read proclamation 2015?

Uh yes, Madam President.

Whereas, I'm sorry, proclamation number 25, 2015, honoring the life and legacy of Michael Henry.

Whereas Michael Henry, a beloved Denver City Civic leader, passed away in 2025, leaving behind a profound legacy of public service and community leadership.

And whereas he served nearly two decades, 2001 through 2019, as executive director of the Denver Board of Ethics, guiding city officials and employees on ethical conduct and integrity in government.

And whereas, Michael Henry played a pivotal role in empowering Denver's neighborhoods by co-founding the Denver Interneighborhood Cooperation INC and helping draft the 1979 Neighborhood Resident Registration and Notification Ordinance that established the registered neighborhood organization system, giving neighborhood groups an official voice in city planning.

And whereas prior to his ethics roles, he faithfully served the city and county of Denver in other capacities, including as temporary executive director of the Denver Civil Service Commission, and as a magistrate of the Denver County Court, and earlier as chief investigative attorney for the Colorado Supreme Court's Attorney Discipline Office.

And whereas he was appointed by Governor Richard Dick Lamb to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission Control Commission, on which he served with distinction, including three years as as its chair, helping to shape policies for cleaner air in Colorado, and whereas.

It's a lot here because he had a very full life.

And whereas he continued the his this advocacy as a board member and uh historic preservation committee chair of neighbors for Greater Capitol Hill, working to preserve the character and vitality of his community.

And whereas Michael Henry lent his expertise to numerous city initiatives, including 10 years of service on the Mayor's commission on Homelessness, five years on the Denver Zoning Code Task Force, which overhauled the city zoning code, and membership on the group living advisory committee to improve housing option for Denver's residents.

And whereas, he was also a champion of transparent elections and civic engagement, partnering in the Denver Desides program to organize fair candidate debates and help Denver voters stay informed about local issues, a commitment that left a lasting mark on the integrity of Denver's elections.

Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the city uh Denver City Council, Section One, that the Denver City Council hereby honors the life and legacy of Michael Henry and recognizes the immeasurable positive impact of his leadership on the city of Denver and County.

Section two, that the clerk and recorders of the city and county of Denver shall affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation, and that a copy be transmitted to his family.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember, um your motion to adopt.

I move to adopt proclamation number 25-2015.

It has been moved and seconded.

Comments by members of council.

Councilmember Heinz.

Uh thank you, Madam President.

Um, I first met um Mr.

Henry call me Michael.

Uh he's such a force in our city that um I I grew up in you know very conservative rural East Texas, where you call people by sir and ma'am, and that's just a matter of course.

And so I would call him Mr.

Henry, and he would say, Please call me Michael.

And so our compromise was that I would always say, Mr.

Henry, call me Michael.

Um I I just because he has uh created so much for our city, I wanted to I wanted to give him that that deference.

Um, but he was a very approachable individual, um, despite his leadership in so many ways for our city.

Um but I met him uh through Capitol Hill United Neighbors.

I learned how to make a good neighbor agreement um because of uh uh uh or through uh Mr.

Henry call call him Michael and um uh you know in our center city in uh Capitol Hill, we have a lot of business or in Congress Park or all over uh district 10.

We have a lot of businesses that are immediately adjacent to residents, and um and it's very important for us to make sure that we have businesses that operate in the way the neighbors want, or at least there's that there's this conversation and compromise.

And uh he knew not just how to write a good neighbor agreement, but how to approach it with respect, empathy, and a deep understanding of what it means to live side by side in a shared community.

So um he didn't just talk about civic engagement, he lived it.

Uh and for many of us, he modeled what thought thoughtful ethical public service looks like.

So I hope we carry his example uh with us in the work we do going forward, and uh in many ways, we already are carrying uh that work forward because of so much groundwork that he has laid.

So um one other thing that I'll uh I'll mention because I think my last opportunity is um there are um a number of community members that are interested in uh getting a bench um uh in Chiefman Park with his name on it.

And so um uh the Denver Parks Trust is uh is accepting donations on behalf of uh of this fund, and um, if you have any interest in uh in donating to that fund, uh please reach out to the Denver Parks Trust.

If you don't know how to do that, please feel free to reach out to my office and uh and we'll get you on your way.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Cashman.

Yeah, thank you, Madam President.

This is a hard one.

Um I've been looking at uh Denver's neighborhoods for where are we, 47, 48 years, uh for a long time as a journalist and past uh 10, 10 and a half years on city council, and there was uh never a time I looked at Denver's neighborhoods that I didn't see Michael Henry's face.

And uh, um I think this is certainly a bright guy, he was obviously very, very committed to his community, but Michael was um kind of a rare bird, and that he wasn't hip and groovy, and didn't try to be nor want to be.

He was just a square dude.

He was an honest guy that would tell you exactly what he was feeling, whether he thought it was gonna make you happy or make you sad.

Uh his commitment to Capitol Hill itself is just legendary.

I mean, there ought to be a statue of Michael on every street corner in the neighborhood.

Uh, two particular things, you know.

I mean, he like I said, he was always there from you know the uh the beginnings of the formalized neighborhood movement in Denver.

But uh, you know, in recent years, there's been a discussion in Denver and across the country uh uh that uh neighborhood groups need to be more representative, that uh every city that I talked to by and large realized that uh whether it was district councils in LA or uh RNOs in Denver, that they were very frequently the dominion of uh somewhat wealthier white property owners.

And uh while some of my best friends are wealthier white property owners, um the idea is how how do we do a better job of fully representing our communities.

And um I got a call from Michael uh uh three, four years ago, and he said, Look, I had made a mention of this in one of my newsletters, and he said, Look, we get it, we agree with you, but we don't really know how to do that.

And that coming from Michael just really uh made an impression on me.

He was a guy who knew so much about so many things, had so many.

I mean, you heard Councilman uh Heinz's proclamation, and thank you for bringing that forward, council member.

Uh, what a wonderful resume.

And for him to say, don't know how to do that.

Can you help us do that?

Um, really, um, like I said, uh it just hit a chord with me.

And then uh been working in in the past five years, really looking at how to how do we strengthen our RNOs and uh help them do a better job of representing their communities, and so about five years ago we did a survey of RNO leadership, and uh, and I remember uh few months after, and then we had a report on the topic come from a professor at uh uh uh CU Denver, and I got a call from Michael.

It's like, what are you doing about neighborhoods?

What's this I hear?

What are you doing about RNOs?

And so, you know, I went over to his apartment, we just sat down and chatted, and uh he really didn't have any particular suggestions other than to be sure it was a wide open discussion that the neighborhoods participated in.

So I'm sorry to ramble on, but Michael was uh Michael deserves a little extra time.

He was a hell of a guy, and uh uh to say he will be missed uh is an understatement.

I see some dear longtime friends also who have made tremendous contribution uh to the neighborhood movement, and they will carry on his legacy and and I appreciate that and uh yeah thank you again, councilman, for bringing it forward.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Toy.

Thank you so much.

Um really grateful for the opportunity for this body to recognize uh Michael Henry and all of the lives that he touched.

Um I interacted with him first as uh our uh ethics commission leadership before I even knew how deep his roots ran with our neighborhood uh work and policies and the development of INC, um, and so many of the ways that he helped spread um insight and experience and opinion uh for the betterment of our neighborhoods.

Um I was in human rights and community partnerships and responsible for onboarding commissioners uh for 10 of our commissions in that agency for orientation, and I worked with Michael Henry on um bringing in the ethics uh language and training into each of those.

And once you get to talk to him, you realize you're in the presence of somebody who knows quite a lot and has experienced quite a lot, and he was just so kind and generous and deliberate.

So somebody greatly missed, um, but wow, what an impression he made on so many people.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Flynn.

Thank you, Madam President.

It's hard to follow all of those remarks, and I thank you to my colleagues uh for raising them.

I I concur.

Um Michael was a very kind, moral and ethical person.

And uh he is uh sort of a through line through so much that's happened in Denver from the late 70s onward.

Uh I first uh encountered him in 1984, uh, when he was involved with the uh city doing a downtown plan, which we just adopted an update to the downtown plan, and Michael was involved in developing the first master plan for downtown in the uh in the early 80s in the Federico Penny administration, and he was part of INC's arguing for more neighborhood seats on the steering committee for that plan, which was being jointly funded by the downtown Denver Partnership at the time and uh and the city, similar to what uh the process that we just went through.

And it runs all the way through uh my service here on this body where Michael was the director of of the Board of Ethics, and I worked with him uh to do some amendments to the ethics code uh that this body adopted in my first term, the 2015 class.

And it's it's rare to meet an individual who embodies such intelligence morality and ethics as Michael Henry, and this city is lucky to have had him.

So thank you, uh Councilman Heinz for bringing this forward.

I'm happy to support it.

Thank you, Councilmember Heinz.

Thank you, Madam President.

I didn't mean I didn't mean to come back um uh again, I I did.

Um there's just so much to talk about.

Uh Mr.

Henry, call me Michael.

And so that's um normally the proclamations are on letter.

This one happens to be on a legal uh page, and I still had to cut stuff.

Um and council member Cashman's point about um, you know, how he says square.

Um I heard uh there was a quote.

Uh people call him a quiet superhero.

I think that's uh maybe the same uh phrasing, just kind of a different spin on it.

Um and uh and it just to, I mean, he has a degree in government from Harvard.

He um I there's a gentleman who said, Michael, quote, always treats all people the same.

That's what civil rights is all about.

That person who gave that quote, Mayor Wellington Webb.

Um, one last thing I want to read, um, you know, over the decades, uh Michael Henry's extraordinary contributions earned him numerous honors, including Life on Capitol Hills Man of the Year in 1985, Greater Capital Hall Neighborhood News, Man of the Year in 1992, the Dale Tooley Community Service Award in 1996, the City Club of Denver's James Grafton Rogers Award in 2004, the Tom Norr Award for Community Service in 2008, the Anne Love Award from Historic Denver in 2009, and a Denver INC Special Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.

Couldn't even fit that in the proclamation.

All of that is also quite impressive.

So thank you so much for uh for giving me the honor to the family who will um have up here in a minute for giving me the honor of uh of sponsoring this proclamation.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Um I think when I I think the first time I met Michael Henry was I was working for Councilwoman Montero.

I got hired in 2012, and we were having an issue um in Globalry in Swansea, and she asked me to call Michael Henry and get some advice from him.

And so I gave him a call and we sat down, and he was a plethora of information.

And then when I was working for my predecessor, Councilmember Espinosa, we met with Michael Henry a lot.

He took up the ethics and he started looking into we were approving contracts for at that time he was approving contracts for our airport.

And was it ethical for the airport to give us give them at the time?

250 jackets, 300 jackets, and all of this swag that council members got.

And I'll never forget my predecessor showed up at an ethics board hearing in every piece of swag that DIA gave him.

And it was from head to toe.

And I was like, oh my God, what are you doing?

Like this is your council aid.

I'm sitting there in the back.

I'm like, this is crazy.

And Michael Henry called us after and said that was quite the display, Councilmember Espinosa.

I have been around in a long time and I have never seen that.

And I told Raphael, I said, Well, that's memorable to have Michael Henry say that because he's seen a lot of things.

So when I heard of his passing, I thought of all the institutional knowledge that he had, all of the memories that he had.

And for those who have worked as hard and steadfast as Michael Henry and to his family, he just will be somebody who's greatly missed.

I will miss knowing that I can just call Michael Henry and he could give me some background information.

I remember one time I was looking on these remnants along Spear Boulevard, and I could not figure out information, and I called Michael Henry and I said, Hey, where do I look for this information?

And right off the bat, he showed me.

And I figured out some of the information that I could not find.

And I will greatly miss that when we have somebody who you can just call up or send an email to, and they respond in such a timely manner and so respectfully and so thoughtfully, and always working for the good of the people of Denver.

So he was truly be missed, and thank you, Councilmember Heinz, for bringing this important proclamation.

Madam Secretary, roll call.

Council members Flynn.

Gilmore.

Aye.

Parity.

Aye.

I'll be there.

Aye.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Aye.

Heinz.

Hi.

Cashman.

Aye.

Lewis.

Hi.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Sawyer?

Aye.

Torres?

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Madam Secretary.

Close the voting, announce the results.

13 eyes.

Proclamation 21 2015 has been adopted.

We now have time for the proclamation acceptance.

Councilmember Hines, who will you be inviting up to accept the proclamation?

I'd first like to invite Laurie Weiser, the current head and of the Denver Ethics Commission and successor to uh to Mr.

Henry call me Michael.

And then I'd also like to bring the uh the family, Michael Henry's um siblings.

Thank you, Councilman Hines, Madam President, members of council, for this opportunity to speak.

I am Lori Weiser and I'm humbly trying to step in the shoes of Michael.

He was a mentor to me.

Um and he told me when I first started that he had the best job in the city.

He loved his job.

Those of you knew him knew he didn't want to leave his job.

Um as he tutored me.

We drove around for a month.

We had a layover of the same time working together in a month in his little red car all over the city to meet everybody that was important to the city in his mind.

Um and that included complainants.

That included people who wanted advisory opinions.

Once he drove me to an apartment to a grandmother's home where he sat on the only chair and I sat on a bucket, and we listened to her complaint.

And you'll know that's because those of you know Michael know that's because he liked to look people in the eye.

It was a piece of integrity.

He wanted to meet them, he wanted to know what they were about, and give them that respect.

Um, you don't see that a lot of times or that often anymore.

Not often enough, I will say.

And those we were lucky enough to look into Michael's eyes, like some of you had.

No, no, he had that kind of impish glimmer.

So as you say, he may have been a bit square.

I think those were your words, Councilman Cashman.

Um, he had a sense of humor, and in his mind, there was just that spark in his eyes that kept going all the time.

And as you've acknowledged, he did so much for the city for the Board of Ethics in his 19 years as the only other executive director and in his neighborhood work.

Um he personified this truth that what we do and say and show really matters.

He's missed as a member, a mentor, a friend, and as a community lever.

So thank you very much.

I think Jane Feldman, who is the current chair of the Denver Board of Ethics would like a minute.

All right.

Yeah, thank you.

Um I first met Michael Henry when I was selected as the executive director of the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission in 2008, and I reached out to Michael for advice.

And we um met on a pretty regular basis for lunch or dinner or coffee to commiserate about issues being the sole employee of an ethics commission and about the issues of executive of executive directors face.

He was always very helpful to me.

He was always very kind to me.

And I'm not a native Denverite, although I have now lived here more than half my life.

But Michael used to tell me that I was really a New Yorker and he had to tell me about Denver.

And I loved hearing his stories about Denver in the 50s and 60s, and one of his favorite stories that he told me more than once was how his father had invited then Senator Kennedy running for the for president over for breakfast one morning without telling Michael's mother.

Um but she apparently was very gracious about it, and um President Kennedy, whenever he saw Michael's father would always say, and thank your wife for the eggs.

Um Michael, as the other people have said, was deeply involved in this community, and one time I told him I had been elected president of a ethics or of an international ethics organization, and he said to me, You need to learn how to say no.

And I said, Michael, this is coming from you.

Like you are involved in so many different organizations in so many different areas that um I don't really think that you're taking your own advice.

I will miss him as a friend, and I think the city will miss him as an advocate and a civic leader.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Mary Henry Williams, and I just want to thank all of you for this honor.

It's just um very meaningful to us as a family.

Um, my big brother was very special man, as you all know.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm Kelly, Michael's younger brother.

Thank you, Councilman Hines, for uh this honor for my brother and all of you.

Sorry.

I didn't realize that he was such a superhero.

Excuse me, until after he passed.

But I've heard from some of you.

Did my own research, articles, emails from people, and uh he really was a quiet superhero, so he was very unique, one of a kind.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

We have one required public hearing tonight.

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Councilmember Lewis, will you please put Council Bill 14 1704 a bill for an ordinance approving and accepting the park building for plan for maintenance and operations facility, equipment building, and storage building all located in City of Carnivalca, pursuant to the provisions of sections 39 2010 210 and 339 to 11 of the revised municipal code?

You say councilwoman Lewis?

Councilmember Sawyer.

Madam President, um.

Says Councilwoman Torres is motioning to postpone.

Yeah, but you have to put the bill on final consideration.

Here I'll I'll put it in the chat for you.

I just updated my script and it's not in there.

Hold on.

I'll there you go.

If it's in teams for you.

There we go.

Thank you.

I move that council bill 25-1704 be placed upon final consideration and due pass.

It has been moved.

It has been moved and seconded.

We have a motion being offered.

Councilmember Torres, your motion to postpone.

Thank you, Madam President.

I move that council bill 25-1704 and its associated public hearing be postponed until a date certain being Monday, January 12th, 2025.

It has been moved.

Questions and comments by members of council.

Councilmember Torres.

Thank you.

Um, this hearing needs to be delayed so that it can be properly noticed.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Madam Secretary, roll call on the postponement of Council Bill 1704.

Council members Flynn.

Gilmore.

Aye.

Parity.

Aye.

Albitris.

Aye.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Aye.

Heinz.

Cashman.

Lewis.

Aye.

Parity.

Sorry.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Sawyer.

Aye.

Torres.

Aye.

Watson.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Adam Secretary.

Close the voting and answer results.

10 ayes.

10 ayes.

Council Bill 1704 has been postponed to a date certain.

On Monday, December 8, 2025, Council will hold a courtesy public hearing on Council Bill 1874, approving and accepting the far southwest area plan, which plan shall become part of the comprehensive plan 2040 for the city and county of Denver pursuant to provisions of section 12 through 61 of the Denver Revised Municipal Code.

There being no further business before this body meet this meeting is adjourned.