Denver City Council Weekly General Session – August 17, 2026
Denver City Council Weekly General Session – August 17, 2026
The Denver City Council met on Monday, August 17, 2026, for its weekly general session. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, a land acknowledgement, and announcements from council members. The council received a communication on the general fund financial status, adopted two proclamations, introduced four bills, and voted on two resolutions—one of which failed due to a procedural error.
Announcements from Council Members
- Councilmember Watson (District 9): Announced a bike facility at 1550 Wewatta housing 79 bikes near the Davita Building and Union Station, and an art installation at 1916 16th Street featuring eight cloud-shaped metal pieces.
- Councilmember Alvidres (District 7): Promoted a Constitution Book Club (Amendments 5–9) on Wednesday at the Habitat for Humanity headquarters, and Porch Fest on Saturday to benefit the Baker Urban Garden, followed by a celebration at Broadway Bark Dog Park.
- Councilmember Sawyer (District 5): Noted the 30th anniversary of Mayfair Park with a party on Saturday (5–8 p.m.), a fall community cleanup on September 27, and an annual community survey mailed after Labor Day to over 25,000 households.
- Councilmember Sandoval: Announced a free yoga event at Elitch’s Carousel on Wednesday (6–7 p.m., rain shelter available) and a movie night at Zuni Park on Friday, August 28. Also celebrated Tony Hawk’s visit to La Rasa Park, where he left a signed skateboard.
- Councilmember Torres (District 3): Recognized Museo de las Americas’ 35th anniversary and promoted Polar Planet’s cleanup at Dry Ling Park on Saturday at 8 a.m.
- Councilmember Watson: Announced a community advisory group meeting on multimodal options for the Wellington Street corridor (Tuesday, August 18, 4:30–6:30 p.m.) and Cleo Parker Robinson Dance’s “Dancing with the Stars” fundraiser on Saturday, August 22.
- Council President Romero Campbell: Invited the public to a childcare listening session at Eisenhower Park on Wednesday (5:30–7 p.m.) and announced a rescheduled concert in the park for September 19 with the Denver City Jazz Orchestra.
Communication
- Communication 26-1199 (General Fund Financial Status Report, Q2 2026): As of June 30, 2026, general fund revenue collected year-to-date was $766.6 million. Projected revenue for the remainder of the year is $897.8 million, and the projected year-end fund balance is $196.4 million. A report on on-call contract spending from 14 departments and agencies was also received and filed.
Proclamations
- Proclamation 26-1196 – 30th Anniversary of Mayfair Park: Recognized the decades-long effort to create the park, its connection to the Spears Free Clinic and Smoky Hill Trail, and its role as a community hub. Councilmember Sawyer sponsored the proclamation, which was adopted unanimously (11 ayes). Kelsey Gaino, president of Mayfair Neighbors Inc., accepted on behalf of the community.
- Proclamation 26-1197 – Honoring Robert Lyle Albin: Recognized Albin’s business career (co-founder of American Salesmasters, CEO of Western Union North America), his community leadership (Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, Mile High United Way, DIA design committee), and his legacy. Councilmember Flynn sponsored the proclamation, which passed 11 ayes. Mark Cordova (board chair) and JJ Ament (president/CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber) accepted, highlighting Albin’s integrity and advocacy for diversity.
Bills for Introduction
Four bills were introduced and ordered published, with no items called out for separate discussion:
- 26-1111: Zoning change for 3201 North Spear Boulevard in West Highland.
- 26-1125: Amendment to agreement with RTD for eligibility determination and services related to the RTD Live program.
- 26-1123: Intergovernmental agreement with Community College of Denver for operational partnership at the theater at Loreto Heights (District 2).
- 26-1124: Project funding agreement with the Colorado Symphony Association and exemption from naming procedures for Boettcher Concert Hall (District 10).
Resolutions
- Council Resolution 26-1128 (Secondary Amendatory Agreement with Jefferson County Public Health – Food Security): Councilmember Watson explained the item was erroneously submitted as a resolution instead of a bill. The council voted it down unanimously (11 nays) to allow refiling as a bill.
- Council Resolution 26-1122 (Second Amendatory Agreement with Zuora, Inc. for Billing Platform): Councilmember Alvidres questioned whether customers would still need to send payments out of state. Joe Saperita and Jules Jupil (Technology Services) confirmed that payments would continue to be processed by Chase Payment Tech (out of state) because the amendment only addressed the billing system, not the payment processor. No other questions were raised. The resolution was included in the consent block and passed 11 ayes.
Key Outcomes
- Block Vote (Resolutions and Bills on Final Consideration): The council voted 11 ayes to adopt a block of resolutions and bills, including CR 26-1122 and bills 26-1112, 26-1113, 26-1115, 26-1117, 26-1118, 26-1119, 26-1120, 26-1121, 26-1145, 26-1126, 26-1129, 26-1130, 26-1131, 26-1066, 26-1132, 26-1133, 26-1134, 26-1135, 26-1036, 26-1085, 26-1087, and 26-1088.
- Public Hearing Scheduled: A public hearing on Council Bill 26-1111 (zoning change at 3201 North Spear Boulevard) will be held on Monday, September 14, 2026. Protests must be filed by noon on Tuesday, September 8, 2026.
- Proclamation Postponed: Proclamation 26-1200, originally on the agenda for the 5:30 p.m. session, will be read on August 31, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Hey Denver, it's time for the weekly general session of your Denver City Council. Tonight's coverage of Denver City Council starts now. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for the Denver City Council meeting. Today is Monday, August 17th, 2026. Tonight's meeting is being interpreted into Spanish. Sam or Jasmine, would you please introduce yourselves and let our viewers know how to enable translation on their devices? Yes, thank you. Hello, everyone. My name is Sam Guzman. Joining you virtually through Zoom, and along with my colleague Jasmine, 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. Muchas gracias, and thank you very much. Thank you very much. Welcome to the Denver City Council meeting of Monday, August 17th, 2026. Council members, please join Council Member Watson in the Pledge of Allegiance. Council members, please join Council Member Watson as they lead us in the Denver City Council land acknowledgement. The Denver City Council honors and acknowledges the land on which we reside is a traditional territory of the huge Cheyenne and Arapo 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 of an erasures of indigenous peoples. Here. Um also uh there is a bike building going in at 1550 Wawada. Uh I think this is uh pretty awesome too. Uh as um uh many people know I joined the disability community uh in August or on August 26, 2008. So we're getting very close to my uh anniversary. And um I was on a bike, got hit by a car. I really care about multimodal uh trans uh transportation, and so having a uh uh bike facility that'll house 79 bikes um right by the right near the Davida building and union station. I think that'll be great for our those uh getting to that area of town wanting to work in some of those high-rise buildings uh but not wanting to take a car. And then uh third, uh there is also there's an art installation going in at 19. Sorry, this this the uh 1916th Street. This is the one by the Davita building. Apologies. Um there will be eight clouds um with stamped pieces of metal uh at 1916 street, and I'm really excited that we're getting more art downtown, just as we're getting more access to uh multimodal transit and uh even more culture with 120 million dollar betcher renovation. Uh all of that in District 10, um, all on consent. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you. Uh Councilmember Alvidres. Thank you so much, Council President. Um please join us in District 7. We have another Constitution Book Club. We're getting all the way through the Constitution. Uh, we're going through amendments five through nine. We meet at the Habitat for Humanity headquarters at 4 30 South Zune. We'll be there Wednesday at 5 p.m. Another fun community event we have coming on Saturday. The great organizers of Porch Fest have decided to do a free uh concert to benefit the Baker Urban Garden. There's a Denver Urban Garden in Baker that they are at risk of losing. So help us with the fundraiser for that garden by pitching in and joining us this Saturday at Porch Fest, and we'll have our second lineup job for all the exciting local groups that we'll be playing on porches across District 7 for some live music. This garden has been there for 30 years. Um, and it's just so important for the food access for the neighbors.
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