Hey Denver, it's time for this bi-weekly meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of Denver City Council.

Join us for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee starting now.

Good afternoon, everyone.

It is Wednesday, October 1st, 2025.

Welcome to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

I'm Chris Hines.

I serve as vice chair of the committee.

So I am the lucky one or the uh the sucker who gets to chair the committee for today.

So the lucky one, I'll guess.

Um we have two briefings today, um, but before we get into them, uh let's uh uh let's go around the table with introductions.

Councilmember Flynn.

Um good afternoon, Kevin Flynn's Southwest Numbers District 2.

Lucky District 7.

And yeah, um, so uh since we have quorum, uh which is awesome, um uh we might as well uh go ahead with our um uh our first presentation.

Sure.

Well, thanks for having us.

I'm Cindy Patton.

I'm the chief operating officer for DOTI, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.

I brought a couple members of my team, Jesus Sierra, who runs um our meter shop, as well as Scott Burton, who runs our planning program within the curbside and planning team, or sorry, curbside and parking team.

So no one no one's a sucker when you get to start out the meeting talking about parking because it's one of everyone's favorite subjects.

So we really um have some great content for you to wake you up after lunch.

We were asked to come and talk a little bit about the extension requests that we have for the parking meter contract with IPS.

So I'm gonna go through that.

And I just want to uh clarification and apologize.

I said two briefings.

Um, there are there are two presentations, there are three action items.

So um, so there are two briefings, but these are uh votes.

So uh sometimes briefings mean there isn't a vote, but these are actually action items.

So, yes, we haven't we have an ask of you.

Um, so just to go through the agenda today, we're gonna talk about the contract amendment, what it is, um, and then just talk a little bit broader about what this unlocks for us and what we're planning in the parking management um programs here at Denver.

Um, this is one of my favorite pictures, so I always have to share it with you.

It is actually local.

You'll see the Brown Palace in the background.

And it is um, I I didn't know this, I looked it up today.

I've had this picture for years and years.

This is a patternoster, which is a mechanized parking garage.

I had never heard that team term before.

Um but uh you can see a bolt broke, which is why it has a crowd, and that car at the very top is uh precariously perched.

Um I don't know the outcome of this situation, but it is one of the great pictures of things that we tried in Denver to be creative.

That was on an off-street lot.

So this ask today is to approve a contract amendment with the IPS group, which adds um new capacity to that contract.

The IPS group provides our meter and pay station equipment, so the single space meters that you see on the street, predominantly downtown and in our commercial centers, as well as the pay stations.

Pay stations are multi-space meters.

They manage a number of different spaces.

You'll see those like in Cherry Creek, for example.

Um that contract also manages the the equipment maintenance.

So if we have repairs that are needed, we can send the that request over to IPS, and they will send new uh equipment for us to replace, and Jesus' team does that.

Um, and then it also offers us software system operations, which is really important because that's a lot of the analytic tools that we use to understand how many people are paying, and it's a proxy for what the occupancy and demand is at a particular location, what that utilization is.

It tells a story, what's happening at that curb.

So this will give us a couple new years for a new end date of 1031 2027.

And a little history, I'm not gonna go through this timeline.

I just think that it's uh an interesting story.

Um we first had parking meters all the way back in the late 30s, so this has been a long-standing way of managing parking here in Denver in certain areas that call for it.

We've always been very um interested in not having revenue drive this program, but having demand and the responsiveness to what is the best way to respond to activity uh and the land uses that are adjacent.

Because parking is all about opening up access at the curb, and that's quality of life.

Um, that's commercial success and business success.

It's it's not the revenue that's associated.

But you can see we went through some rate increases, some rate decreases and rating increases again.

Most recently in 2022.

And we did go from our old single space meters, which were Duncan meters that you had to manually program at the meter itself to smart meters in 2009.

And we did, we were able to replace a lot of those old meters that we were required to replace in 2021 because they were on 2G and 3G networks, and got a notice from our vendor that they were going to shut off, which was a huge risk, not just to the revenue, but obviously to the management at the curb.

So we did replace those meters in 2021.

And those meters have a 10-year lifespan.

So whether it's a pay station or a meter, they still have a lot of life left on them, and so we are not interested in completely taking those out and replacing them.

We don't have the capital to do that at this moment, which is why we're asking for an extension for this contract.

If we were to go with a new vendor, we'd have to start over.

The Curbside Action Plan is the broader strategic plan that really guides our steps in the parking management world.

So some of the things I've already talked about and using the tools that are available to us, time limits, being thoughtful about location, being responsive to what's happening in the land uses, those things are all outlined in the curbside action plan.

It's really our North Star.

And we accomplish a lot of that through both block modifications at kind of a scalpel level, and then more broadly through the curbside area management plan, we affectionately call camp, where we're looking at neighborhood-wide changes for neighborhoods that have changed and just need a new approach.

This aligns with a lot of the city goals that we already have to continue with using paid pricing, excuse me, paid parking in areas that merit it, encouraging more vibrancy, affordability.

We're all about offering products that are responsive, and these are some of the things that we want to continue to introduce.

We've really just had, you know, a two-hour product at paid parking meters for a long time, so we're exploring some new things that can be more responsive to what folks want and the patterns that they're already demonstrating.

A safe Denver that's creating that turnover at the curb and not a lot of circling that can create congestion and safety issues, and then great government.

You can see that we have introduced mobile parking payments, and we'd like to move towards a more infrastructure light scenario in the future.

So in areas that we're evaluating, we may not put space single space meters or even pay stations.

We may really fully lean on mobile payments in the future with fewer options to pay at the pay station, but still have those available in case folks prefer.

So in the future, we're moving towards expanding paid parking, but we want to use all of the tools that the meters right now and this contract with IPS afford to us through all of the great analytics that they provide and create a more demand-based pricing program.

This is very different than a dynamic pricing program.

They're often conflated.

Dynamic pricing is the idea that the meters are constantly talking to one another and adjusting in real time.

That is possible.

The technology is out there.

We have found it to be very expensive.

And oftentimes the vendors that would that are offering those services want a cut of that revenue.

And most cities have found that demand-based pricing is actually a great tool that gets you most of the way there.

It looks at general patterns of demand and historical patterns and then makes those changes in a set way.

So we want to move more towards that way of programming how the curb tools are being applied, and we're testing some different softwares right now to make sure that we can do that in a really responsive way that makes us more nimble.

And you know, land uses are changing all the time.

Sometimes we drag behind them to make us more quick to respond to those things and make sure people can get to where they want to go.

So really we're pushing towards more user convenience, continue to be smart and efficient with real-time data monitoring.

A lot of these meters will currently tell Jesus and his team if something is not operating correctly, we'll know exactly what that is.

We'll know exactly how the meters themselves are operating and the revenue that they're producing, which is really again a proxy for how people are using it.

If it's a 30 minute meter and no one's using it, that means that no one finds it helpful, and we can go back and change it.

And they're really low maintenance right now.

They tell us what they need, and then we can deploy someone to fix it.

So we're really happy with this contract.

They have great uptime.

We know they still have a few years left.

So again, just asking for some extension to the existing contract for a new end date in 2027, so that we can continue on the path we're on, and then we will go back out to bed once we're at end of life.

I think that's it.

Are there any questions?

Great.

Well, I think I have a question slide.

There we go.

Yeah, I I wasn't able to ask any questions without the question slide.

Thank you for that.

Councilmember Alleges.

Thank you so much, committee chair.

Um I'm excited to hear about this program.

Uh one of the questions I have is what exactly is a smart meter and what can it detect or not detect?

Like, can it detect if a car parked and didn't pay?

Yep, that's a great question.

No, um, we did for those of you that have been around for a long time.

IPS back when we originally deployed these meters in 2009 had a puck product, and we embedded those in the asphalt, and that did have the available availability to tell you if a car was there read than metal, basically above you in the car chassis.

Um, and those were not popular at the time the decision was to test zeroing out the meter when a car left the space.

Um, and that was not a popular decision at the time.

They were also incredibly expensive, and we would mill them up when we repave streets.

There are a lot of additional technologies that are out there now that use cameras or infrared to determine those things.

So those are out there.

We do not have them.

So really we are basing some of the analytical decisions on paid occup paid parking, so people who actually pay the meter and using that again as a proxy for their utilization.

Okay, interesting.

Um I would love to hear how we're thinking about other technologies in the future.

Yes.

Um another question when you talk about demand parking.

What does that mean?

Like, when there's a game, the parking might be more expensive at in that general area.

It could.

That's so if you look at San Francisco, for example, they have an event rate around their stadium.

Um we could choose to do that or not do that.

Really, we're looking at just kind of bread and butter experience of every day, where if you have a high demand block, that rate, that next period of evaluation might go up 50 cents.

But if you have a low demand period, that rate might go down 50 cents or 25 cents.

So it could go either way and would be evaluated on a regular cadence.

So it's never static and it's responsive to that demand.

Because again, the land use changes and that drives the demand.

And we've seen that quite significantly in some areas where you have a it does it doesn't matter if it's a restaurant or it matters that it's that specific restaurant, and that will completely change the dynamics of a block.

Interesting, yeah.

I think I've definitely seen that throughout my district and throughout the city.

And when I think about it the ability to change that, it's exciting.

I think it's also exciting, and like maybe we have a free day to downtown if we're really trying to drive traffic.

Does that mean does it increase traffic and being able to play with that dynamic?

So excited for the future, and uh yeah, this sounds great.

Thank you, committee chair.

Uh thank you, Councilmember Ovidrez.

Um, you you mentioned you want to know more about other technologies.

Um, you're in luck because um working with Dottie on um uh a parking, uh, very narrow parking change.

Um, uh that will be coming through soon.

Uh Dottie's already created the presentation, I think is going through briefings.

Um then there's a larger uh conversation about private parking lots and cameras in the private industry is already working on technology that um that the city isn't using.

Um so we're gonna be diving into some of that as well because um uh we keep hearing in the news that there are people who uh park in a lot, uh leave the lot, and uh two or three weeks later get a hundred dollar ticket uh in the mail.

And um, so anyway, uh we'll be talking about that too.

Councilmember Flynn.

Mr.

Chairman, um Cindy, you probably heard me say this before, maybe recently, but his presentation is all about the parking.

Uh but in all the graphics on the slides, there's not a single automobile picture here, which is how 95% of the people in the city get around.

So I've been asking for uh, change that graphic and show a car.

Oh, the the template.

We're still using them, yeah.

Yep, and also the I mentioned this the other day in a presentation, but the uh the images of the people in there, they're all blue.

And I I know I I know we're a mile high and there's oxygen oxygen deprivation.

They need to take deeper breaths.

Is that why they're turning?

But seriously, what is um what is uh IPS doing for us now that uh that will that's going to be let me rephrase it.

IPS has a current contract.

What are they doing under that now?

And what is being what specifically is being added to this scope?

Yeah, it's just time and capacity.

So really all the things that we need from them, um they're offering today.

So if we go back to the beginning slide, meter and pay station installation, the maintenance that we need the software, nothing changes.

They're already doing that.

Okay, yeah.

What's the new scope is really?

It's just an extension.

Demand-based pricing.

Really, it's on our end.

So all the things that we need from them, they're offering right now.

It's more our uh our plans to start implementing them over time.

Um we want to stick with the same infrastructure because we understand its capabilities and we really can start working with it.

So there is no change on the contract side.

Um this was a combination of talking about the extension and also kind of a glimpse into what we're thinking about programmatically.

So there might be one thing that we're thinking about.

Um is downtown parking, is it beneficial to have a third hour at a higher cost?

The meters can do that currently, they just are not turned on to do that.

Can we offer longer products in some areas?

We've been talking with Councilman Avidres about different commercial embedded commercial areas and different products that we can offer them that are a little bit more creative than what we have out there.

But the the contract will allow for that today.

Does this contract, does the current contract expire October 31st?

What is the expiration date?

Is it October 31st of December?

Okay, so it is expiring.

We need to either renew it or not have a contract.

Yes, which would be bad.

Okay.

What would happen if we did not have a contract with them?

There is people still use the parking meters?

Yes.

They would probably give us like a minor extension, but once we do go with them again, they would raise their prices.

But we rely on IPS to connect us to the banks to get that revenue, so we the meters would not.

IPS is a necessary component of operating the parking.

Yeah, it is proprietary.

Got it 100%.

Great, great, or maybe not so great, because we're we're captive to them.

They've been a fantastic partner.

We've been with them for um more than 10 years now, and they've evolved.

They're um they're one of the most known parking vendors across the country.

Um that said, when we're at end of life, we will uh Mr.

Britton, I want to thank you.

Obviously, District 10 uh being uh home to many of the densest neighborhoods in the city.

I want to thank you for continuing to engage with the people of district 10 uh who are you know, they uh have some concerns about the changes in parking in the city.

Um we continue to have people move to the city of Denver, and um, you know, so we have to we have continued parking challenges.

So we have to adapt to change.

Um and uh I think some people have you know right rightful concerns um and uh so I want to thank you for your continued engagement in those conversations.

Sure, thank you.

Uh so we I don't see anyone else in the queue.

Uh this is an action item.

Um I have someone move this.

I'll move.

Okay.

Second.

Alright, move by council member of Idris, seconded by council president Sandoval.

Um any need for a vote?

Any abstentions or opposition?

Great.

All right, that we'll move forward.

Uh thank you so much.

We'll have a um short pause while we switch uh to the next presentation from our airport.

Okay.

Alright, Den.

Our next uh conversation is about 25 14 15 regarding a revenue contract with E D R E Bird, LLC for 10 years to build, operate, and maintain electro vehicle chargers at Denver International Airport and Council District 11.

Uh Director Washington, do you want to um maybe do introductions and then if you have any comments and then go into the presentation?

Yes, Phil Washington, CEO of Denver International Airport.

Jim Starling, Chief Construction and Infrastructure Officer.

Janet Keeler, the environmental director for Denn and the Sustainability Division.

David Friedland, sustainability manager at Den.

Great.

And this year, we'll just dive right in.

That's okay.

Go for it.

Great.

So I just wanted to provide a little context, and really we're here to celebrate this contract as really an opportunity to significantly move forward in the space of one of our sustainability initiatives at Dent.

So to meet Denn's sustainability commitments, we periodically review our activities and services in the context of community and stakeholder expectations to make sure we're prioritizing the right things.

Through this planning process, air quality and climate consistently ranks at the top as an area where we need to continue to take action and work towards meeting Denver's goal of net zero by 2040.

So when we look at sources of emissions, particularly at Den, vehicles consistently emerge as a source that sort of stand out in uh the regions as an impediment to the region's ability to improve air quality.

And at the same time, vehicles emerge as an area of tremendous opportunity because we're seeing significant transition from combustion vehicles to electric.

So we're excited to be here today to discuss this contract.

Again, we think this contract's an enabler to help Den significantly increase the number of chargers that we can make available to customers and employees and help again progress our action towards meeting the city's air quality and climate goals.

Just pause for one second.

Um producer, do we have crosstalk?

Um, yeah, maybe someone online is not muted.

Yeah, okay.

It just sounds it sounded as if there was another conversation coming in through the speakers.

All right, please uh continue.

So with that, I was gonna turn it over to David Friedland and he'll walk us through this PowerPoint.

Yeah, thank you so much.

Um first of all, thanks so much for the time uh and consideration on this.

We're really excited about this uh prospect.

Um so this contract is um designed as a revenue contract, um, and we really think that a longer term is is helpful here to really allow them to come in and then be a partner to us and invest um and support us in expanding our EV charging, primarily for the public and for employees as well.

Um, and not just city of Denver employees, not just Den employees, but all of the employees that come and work at the airport will have access to some of the projects we're gonna be working on.

Go to the next slide.

So, you know, as we were doing this, we were really looking for a partner, um, not just uh a vendor to come in and put some chargers on the ground.

Um, so they're gonna help us with strategy, help us with design, obviously the build and the install, and then also operate the chargers, maintain the chargers.

Um, and we really feel like this is gonna support the ongoing uh adoption of electric vehicles, not just now where we're at today, but also looking ahead at least 10 years in the future, if not longer, and all at a zero cost or even positive revenue for the airport, which is really uh exciting for us.

I think you're hopefully really familiar with um our vision 100 pillars, um, but we we feel like this is helping us in a few really key ways.

Um, so it it grows the infrastructure, it's going to replace outdated chargers that we have now.

Um, we're then gonna have this group maintain those chargers, which has been a bit of a gap for us um so far.

So that's gonna be a nice addition to what we do, maintaining those chargers, um, and then really supporting our people, supporting our employees.

Um, you know, those that have EVs now, but also might think about purchasing EVs uh in the future.

Um, it's really gonna support them in the in that that that choice.

So we did a lot of taking flight events, which is our community outreach event, um, talked to a lot of different folks.

Um, you know, we had a lot of different um companies that we discussed the ideas with, and and a lot of them we saw in the proposals.

They had, you know, combined together, put together teams.

We had seven bids, it was quite competitive.

Um, and I think we got to a really good outcome.

Um, we have a 15% um MWBE goal.

Um, that was actually uh advocated for and supported by our vendor.

Um so we're really excited about that that they were willing to not just meet us where we were, but also go above and beyond there and advocate for that.

So we landed on everged, um, they're a really great company.

They work with manufacturers uh in the US.

Um, they have a really good product, and they also have one of the differentiators for them was their creativity.

Um, you know, not only are they gonna bring us a really good charger, but also they're gonna talk to us about how do we put batteries, how do we put solar canopies, how do we design this for the future so we truly have a best in-class system at a best of class airport?

Um so they're they're they're they're gonna be great to work with.

We're very excited about them.

So, really, you know, to start to wrap it up here, right?

We know more EVs are gonna be coming.

We know that EVs are coming to the airport now, and you know, this is gonna be a positive for our region in terms of air quality, a positive for our region in terms of climate goals, uh, positive for the airport in terms of both of those things as well.

Um also it's gonna be revenue generation, so that's a win-win there.

Um, and really it's gonna be a better customer experience.

Um, so we think for a lot of reasons this has positive impacts and benefits to our airport and to our to our city.

So finally, um, we would love your support for this and really appreciate your time and thoughtful consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Councilman River Flint.

Mr.

Chair, can you explain how the revenue flows?

Is this sort of like as you were describing it?

It struck me similar to a concession contract out on the concourse where we go we get a percentage of their revenue over and above a guaranteed annual minimum.

There's not a guaranteed annual minimum.

Um, there is basically right their total revenue minus costs, and then we share a percentage of that revenue.

What's the share?

Five percent default.

Um, if we have projects where we take more of the cost burden, we can negotiate a higher percentage.

Negotiate what's the what are the what's the basis?

What are the what's the protocol for the negotiation if we put in more or are we automatically entitled to a higher percentage, or how does that work?

So we have it written as five percent is just default, and then we come and we discuss what a higher percentage is.

We don't have necessarily if we do X, Y, and Z, we get 10.

If we do X, Y, Z, ABC, we get 15.

So it's not as because the projects are really different in terms of those negotiations.

So, for example, we have a new parking lot that's coming in.

Um, we're doing a lot of the work on that parking lot, right?

All they're gonna have to do is come in and plop charges down.

So we're gonna go in there, we're gonna look at costs, and we're gonna say what did you assume in terms of cost?

What did we assume in the project?

We would like to negotiate 8%, 9%, 10%.

So it it'll be uh it'll be a conversation depending on the specific project.

Most of the projects are gonna hit that default 5%.

Okay.

Um how will sites and locations be selected?

So we identified I think it was eight to ten priority sites that we know.

Yeah, and where are they say it say that again?

Where others are they?

So um anywhere the public is, anywhere employees park.

So there are a lot of different factors that came into deciding those sites.

Um I mean, the garages are an obvious one to say what can we do here?

How do we strategize there?

Because that's a challenging one to figure out exactly what we do in the garages.

Economy lots, air side employee lots, Pikes Peak parking lot, um, and then we also have some future cell phone, you know, the West approach, cell phone idea that's coming.

What do we do there?

And so we have some priorities that we're gonna try to hit the ground running with, but again, the 10 years is gonna really allow for strategy development with eBirds in tow.

So we just looked at to see what are the priorities, what do we know we need chargers now, and then what are the ones we could work on in the future?

Do they does uh each EV, sorry, everged.

Everged.

Yeah.

Uh do they bear the cost of running the higher capacity power lines, or is that something that if we provided that could lead to a higher percentage of the revenue, or how does that work?

So I'm not an electrical engineer, but there is basically a um a differentiator between the utility and what they assume, and then on the other side of the what we do.

And so each project is gonna be within everge, and they're gonna be um coordinating with us, you know, as well with the utility to decide what does Excel do, what does everge do?

Now, for these, that's the default for these ones where we can negotiate more.

If we come in and build a new parking lot and we do all that hard work and they just come in, then we can then we're doing most of the work.

So, but typically, yes, when they're having to do additional install, they're gonna be running a new service, which means they're gonna be have having to pay for that service, except for what Excel does for everybody.

Right, okay.

Yeah.

I guess last question is, and I don't drive an electric vehicle, so I don't understand how the charging works.

I've seen ads on TV for quick chargers and whatnot.

Yep.

But if a person uh parks in Pike's Peak lot, which is long-term, yeah, and they start and they plug in the charger and they're gone for two weeks.

Yeah, how does that work?

Does that do these things shut off?

Like when I fill up at a gas station, it shuts off and everything is okay.

Does it keep charging?

Does it overload?

I'm so glad that you asked that question because it's one of the reasons why we went with this approach.

Was we we have a very unique kind of use case at the airport, right?

You don't just come and plug for an hour when you're shopping.

Exactly.

My exactly exactly your question.

And so one of the things we echoed to all of the bidders, and we've been talking, you know, as through the contract negotiations with everged, we need to get this as low as possible because if somebody's there for two weeks, they don't need the full capability that you can give them.

So let's trickle charge them, let's lower them down.

So there's a number of different things that they can do to get to that, including the software will, you know, keep the the software smart enough to know, hey, you're leaving in seven days, I'm gonna make sure you're good in seven days, but I'm not gonna give you the max output for day one and two.

I'm gonna over time.

So the software's really great.

It does shut off to your directly to your question.

It does shut off once it's done.

So it's not gonna be continuously charging the battery.

Okay.

Yeah.

Very good.

Well, thank you.

I think that's all, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

I don't see anyone else in the queue.

Um, I'll ask a few questions.

Um, are these all uh getting installed into existing lots, or sounds like you're considering uh then for the new lots, maybe Conrac.

I don't know.

So yes, um the reason why it's 10 years is we want this group to help us not just build a best in class system today, but a system that will be best in class for 20 years.

And so if there's future lots where this makes sense, um we will work with this group to supplement those projects to do that install.

Now, this is specifically focused on den owned and operated lots that serve employees and the public, right?

So it's not our fleet, which we have another you know, process that we do to install chargers, and it's not tenant spaces necessarily.

So the conrac is a great project.

It's gonna, you know, need a lot of charging.

And so within that project, they're gonna figure out how to do that.

Everged as a contract that we have could certainly be a part of that if that project wanted it to be, but we're we don't have the intention that this group will, you know, uh has to support that project because it really is a more of a tenant focused project.

So I feel like this really helps us, but also keeps us with the flexibility for those specific projects as they come.

Yeah, yeah.

Um council president.

How many EV chargers do you expect to put in?

I don't think I saw that on the PowerPoint.

Yeah, it's a really good question.

And one of the reasons why you didn't see those specifics is we because we're trying to evolve the strategy based on new data, right?

And so I think we know in the next couple years we just need to build more chargers.

We just don't have enough.

But as we get to year five, seven, eight, nine, it could be that we build even more and we keep going faster based on EV adoption, or we could be slowing down based on EV adoption.

We want to make sure that we're building based on the real world and what's going on.

What do you expect to start at?

So the first phase phase of projects will probably be um we're aiming for about two percent of parking spaces in each of those lots.

Um, and so that's gonna be we can follow up.

Yeah, we can get an answer.

There's it's it's in the hundreds, certainly.

That'd be great to just understand like we should have that phase two code, like phase one.

I'd be more interested in like phase one, phase two.

Um beyond that, I think that's years out, but I would love to understand have some clarity around.

So if I got asked what the um how many um charges we get with his 10-year request, I would just want to be able to be clearly delineate.

Okay, in year one, maybe we're gonna roll out 150, and then look at how they're using then maybe phase two roll out a little bit more, um, so that I could clearly say that when I approve that contract.

Does that make sense?

It does, absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Council President.

Um, does anyone else in the queue?

So I'm gonna keep asking some questions.

Thank you, Council President.

That was actually one of my questions.

Um, the uh do you know where these spaces will be placed?

Will it be near the front or near the near the terminal or near the the back of the lot or so each of the lots will be a little bit different, and um you know it's it's reliant on where does where does the power come into?

So what's the simplest sort of place to put them in terms of where the power comes in?

Um so it really depends on on the lot.

Okay, um, uh unlike Council Member Flynn, I made the decision and just last December to now I have a fully electric vehicle before I had a plug-in hybrid um that hardly had any range, so I didn't really get to experience a full electric vehicle.

Um, do you know if these are level two charging, level three?

We'll be doing both depending on the lot and the use.

So generally it's gonna be level two, D-rated level two.

So, you know, to to deal with that long uh dwell time in the lots, but they're also you know, are is a great opportunity for level threes somewhere in the system at the airport, and so we're looking at where should we be putting those level threes to support folks coming in and out really quickly.

They just need 10 minutes, you know, get another 10, 15, 20 percent.

Yeah, and uh for people who don't have electric vehicles, maybe council member flannel a level two charging station might take a day or so to um charge from 10% to full, and a level three might take 20 to 30 minutes.

Um, so just the the uh speed of charging is pretty dramatically different, um, level two versus level three, and the level one is just a standard home outlet.

I think that takes millennia.

I don't know.

I haven't tried to.

Uh, yeah.

Um, the uh idle fee.

So um, you know, most of the level three chargers have idle fees.

I'm imagining that you won't.

Um, uh, I I wonder what your thought is.

I'm assuming, because you kind of alluded that if someone's gone for a week, it will kind of slowly charge based on that time.

But will there be idle fees?

At this point, I think we're not sure.

It depends on the lot, it depends on the use.

I mean, those those uh outlying lots like Pike's Peak, when they get full, they get really full.

And we wouldn't want to penalize somebody um in a peak time like that, especially.

So I think in terms of you know, the strategize part of this contract is important.

And so I think this group is gonna help us think through those things, and we're gonna have conversations with the different stakeholders involved.

Uh parking being a huge one, um, you know, of how do we structure this to be uh additive and helpful to the parkers and not necessarily penalizing them?

Um are these uh so Colorado has a new uh state law that requires uh you know, there'll be if there's a logo on the ground, kind of like a the blue wheelchair logo, but specifically for electric vehicle electric vehicles, will these be badged as electric vehicle only?

They will be badged as electric vehicle.

I go again back to the only, you know, the idle fees and all that.

Uh, I think we're gonna try to not be super restrictive.

So um, you know, I think if there's not spaces available, we're not gonna penalize people for using the spaces even if they're not in an EV.

Um, but again, the strategy is really important.

Um, and so having those conversations to figure out exactly how to do this without conflict is gonna be part of what we'll have to discuss.

Yeah, I I just to check with your local regulator on um compliance with the statute.

Council member Flynn.

Uh thank Mr.

Chair.

I should have asked this question in the beginning.

Uh, do we have an estimate?

Doctor, it's not in the resolution request for what the uh uh revenue might be from year to year, say year one.

I guess we can definitely look at the numbers and get you a better answer in terms of the the end of the beginning, few years, but because this is looking out to 10 years, we don't have for the life of the contract a really good because it might evolve as we go.

Okay, I'm trying to get a grip on what is the range, the potential revenue year one, year 10 is hard to predict based on your answer to council present.

We don't know what the adoption rate will be, it could be high, it could be lower.

Uh, but it'd be nice to know in the near term if we vote on this in two weeks.

Uh well, this will mean revenue of you know 100 bucks or it'll mean revenue of 100,000 bucks.

It'll be nice to have a grip on that.

Thanks.

Yeah.

Thank you, Councilmember Flynn.

Uh, sure.

I mean, every non-airline revenue source that we have helps with uh keeping those uh fees down for the airlines.

That's right.

Um, one last question for me, um, just checking to make sure no one online has uh has any questions.

Um City Council a few years ago um passed a change um regarding universal design around uh electrophil charging stations.

Um that is for new lots, so that's part of that's why I asked about existing lots.

So there are no requirements uh per se.

Um you know uh believe there aren't any state requirements either.

I don't know.

I'm I'm a local yokel, not a uh state or federal legislator, but I wonder if you will have any um you know consideration for people with disabilities.

I would say I have now officially been parked in.

Um, you know, when I went to a level three charger, um there are only two available and they were right next to each other.

I started charging.

Someone came in right after me, and so I had to wait until they were done charging and shopping, uh, because they went they went into the local uh retailer.

So I I wonder if you have any thoughts or consideration about that.

We're going into this contract with the assumption and the intention to meet the city requirement of five percent universal design.

So um with all existing lots, new lots, five percent.

Um so that will be additional spaces, I believe, based on our minimum, and then adding these, you know, changing them to EV spaces and making five percent of those um accessible.

Or universal design, universal design.

Oh, um correct.

Yeah, because uh the and just for what it's worth, the difference between accessible and universal design accessible is the flu wheelchair logo that says only people with a valid plate or placard can use that space universal design.

It's just designed the space a little bit wider, and there's an access little hashed area next to it that allows um anyone to park in it.

There's no uh legal restriction for people with disabilities, but any wheelchair accessible van or mini cooper or anywhere in between can use that space.

Thank you for that clarification.

Yeah, thank you.

Um I don't have any other questions, I don't see any questions.

Uh this is an action item.

Um, I have a motion moved by council member Flynn.

I'll second.

Second by council member.

Um any abstentions or opposition.

Great.

This too.

We'll move to the full body.

Um, you have one more.

Presentation.

I apologize.

I was thinking that they were related, um, but I don't think that they are.

So, thank you.

So much.

So while we're doing a very minor switcheroo, um, 2514-16 approving a contract with scraps for 720,000 dollars uh through uh December 31, 2026 for a zero waste valet program to support recycling and composting for airport concessions at Den.

Yes, hello, I'm Alexa Rosenstein.

I'm a specialist on the sustainability team.

Uh thank you for we give just a little context and intro.

Thank you, Alexa.

Um, so again, just for context, we're waste diversion is another area that consistently rises to the top for continued focus and action at DEN.

So we've actually been compiling waste diversion numbers for over two decades at DEN.

Um, and in that time we've implemented a number of initiatives that have improved waste diversion.

However, the changes and outcomes that we've seen have been pretty small relative to the ambitious waste diversion goals that have been set by the city and really the expectations of our traveling public and our community.

So for some time now, we've thought that a valet program like the one Alexa's gonna describe to you today, would be instrumental in moving Den from an average performer in waste diversion to a regional and national leader.

So again, we're really excited about this LA program that's been piloted, and we're thrilled to be here today to ask for your support in a contract to really move the needle in waste diversion.

So thank you.

Go ahead, Alexa.

All right, so I'm excited to tell you about this program.

As Janet mentioned, this is a pilot.

So to get us to this point now, we were fortunate to receive grant funding from CDPHE, um, the front range waste diversion grant.

If you're familiar, it's now called the C3 Grant, Enterprise, rather.

Uh, and so that grant allowed us to test this concept that we've kind of been tossing around, thinking about for a long time.

Um, and so in this contract that we have before you today, we're really asking to continue that project while we work on a longer term solution, which I will touch on in a little bit.

Um, next slide, please.

So I kind of want to paint the picture because the waste side of the airport is not something that the traveling public is very familiar with.

So the reason that this pilot program is really important to us and has been so impactful is because managing waste at the airport is fairly complex.

Um we have security to keep at the forefront, which results in some access restrictions for employees that are managing waste.

Um, and our waste generators, the ones that we're focused on with this particular project are our concessions.

So food and beverage, retail, mostly the restaurant and um food and beverage side for this particular project.

Um they generate uh a lot of waste, and they have a lot of employees uh going to a limited number of locations to dispose of that waste.

Um a lot of those employees, again, because of those security considerations, do not have access to some of the areas where we collect specifically compost and recycling.

Uh, and so our thought was to get an outside team who has a broader range of access, who can visit our concessions, those back of house spaces, kitchens, prep areas, collect the recyclables and the compost that they generate, and make sure that those are transported to the correct disposal points.

In doing that, they also are looking at that waste as they're managing it and making sure that it's not contaminated with stuff that we don't want in compost or recycling, and they're able to provide that feedback to the concessions to help their employees continually learn and get better at that waste separation.

And so we as an airport looked at our waste a couple years ago and tried to see the composition of what we're throwing away and what potential we have to improve our waste diversion rate.

What we found is in our trash stream, about 60% of what we're throwing away is either compostable, so organic waste, food waste, or recyclable.

That's a lot of potential.

We also took a look at our recycling stream and found that about 30% of what's going in there is not recyclable.

And that 30% is what we call a contamination rate, and we want that to be as close to zero as possible.

So this team tackles both of those, with again one of our primary waste generating groups, which is our concessions.

Specifically, the Zero Waste Valet team not only handles that transportation component that I mentioned, but that training piece, giving that feedback continually to those concession employees, they offer in-person trainings, they provide educational materials, and they also conduct audits of the waste periodically to have more thorough checkpoints about once a month, and they report that back to the concessions.

We've also gotten a lot of positive feedback from concessions on that feedback and visibility into their waste.

Because usually with most people, once you throw something away, it's out of sight, out of mind.

All right.

As David mentioned, I'm sure you all are familiar with Vision 100.

For us, this project is very much in support of the strategic principle of sustainability and resiliency, hopefully for obvious reasons, but we do want to do our best as an airport to reduce the amount of waste we're generating and to maximize that waste diversion rate through recycling and composting as much as possible.

We also see this as an opportunity to empower our people.

This is a team, more employees that we can hire, also giving people hopefully a little more visibility and ownership over the waste they generate, tying them more closely to a daily action and their sustainability, their role in our sustainability goals.

As I mentioned at the top, this particular contract we see as an opportunity to continue the service as it is now.

We are coming up soon on the end of our grant funding, and so this contract will allow us to position ourselves for a competitive procurement process and a contract that we're hoping to have in place by 2027.

And so we need this next year to go through that process, publicize the next opportunity, evaluate vendors, all of that.

And so this will allow us to maintain the status quo, continue to kind of refine the program and better position it for this larger scale contract, which will be coming up in 2027.

The contractor that we have been working with for the pilot and that we plan to continue to work with, is called Scraps.

They are a local compost collection company.

They have about 10 years of experience.

They're one of the original micro haulers, is what they're referred to as in the Denver area, and they have been a great partner with us so far, gotten great feedback from the concessions, people really love working with them, and they really are experts in the space.

Waste diversion is much different than just taking out the trash.

It requires that knowledge base and also that passion for sustainability and wanting to educate people.

And so they've been they've been a really great partner in that so far.

All right, this is my favorite slide, I think.

So as for the impact of the program, um, we were the Zero Waste Valley team in particular, has collected over 400 tons of material and has diverted that away from the landfill since this project began in May of 2024.

We project for the year of 2026 that they will be able to collect another 550 to 600 tons of material, which is the equivalent of taking 131 cars off the road for a year.

Something else that's really interesting is that our concession partners, without the Zero Waste Valet, we estimate that they divert on their own somewhere between 15 to 25% of the waste they generate.

With the Zero Waste Valet service, they are generating or sorry, diverting an average of 75% of the waste they generate.

So this is really helping us cut into that 60% divertible material in the trash.

And lastly, we have been able to see the impact of this program on dens overall waste diversion numbers.

Something I neglected to mention in the beginning is that this pilot is taking place on just one of our concourses.

So it's the B concourse.

We selected that one because it's the largest, it's the busiest, and we figured if we could make this happen on the B concourse, we could do it across the whole airport.

And so from just those concessions alone, and we're not even fully working with all of the concessions yet.

We still have about six left to bring onto the program.

We've already increased dens overall waste diversion rate by 3%.

That may not sound like a lot, but as Janet mentioned at the top, that is the biggest increase we've ever seen in this time period, a year about, in our history as an airport.

So it's really significant.

And we predict that with the 2026 contract that we have before you, we're going to increase the airport's diversion rate another 2%.

And well, I won't project, but if uh we are able to expand this to the full airport, we expect a 10% increase in our overall diversion rate once we're able to expand it to the other two concourses and the terminal.

In conclusion, we would really appreciate your support.

We feel like this contract and this service, the Zero Waste Valley program, is one of the most impactful ways that we can really improve our waste diversion rate, reduce the amount of waste we are sending to the landfill, and ultimately be a better steward of the environment, as we strive to be all the time.

And it will also prevent a disruption in service for the 32 concessions that have been benefiting from this service for over a year now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Vidres.

Thank you so much.

This was a very exciting program.

I appreciate the briefing, and I'm very proud of the leadership that you all are taking when it comes to sustainability.

When we hear that these things are so incredibly hard and impossible, you're making it happen.

And that's very meaningful.

I did have a question on the services they're supplying.

It sounds like they are composting waste hauler.

Are they also a recycling hauler?

That's a great question.

So scraps, the company is a compost hauler themselves.

They are not hauling for den.

So they're providing that kind of in between service, getting the waste from the generator to the disposal point.

And then we then have a separate contract with the waste hauler, and they're collecting our compost recycling and trash.

And they have been for correct time.

Yes.

And so even though you were already providing those services, all of this waste was still going into the trash instead of being diverted.

Okay, that makes sense.

And who are the haulers that you're working for for compost and recycling?

So our waste hauler for all of those is Republic Services.

Yes.

And we are just started a new contract with them as well.

So they have been our hauler through this pilot phase, and they will continue to be our hauler through this next phase and the next five years, I think.

Great.

And I guess my hope over time would be to see more stuff be compostable and recyclable because I think our experience, because they do our trash as and composting as well as the city, is that is learning that we have they have cut back on what is being accepted for compost and recycling.

And so is that what you all anticipate, as well as being able to accept more composting materials, for example, I don't believe that they necessarily take all the forks and plates and things that are compostable.

Yes.

So the some commercially compostable products, forks, utensils, plates, stuff like that, cups often, um, are right now for this program because it's more back of house focused.

We are really focused on the food scraps.

Um, we do see certainly a lot of potential for that front of house component, so post-consumer products, like you mentioned.

Um, and that when that time comes, we do plan to have a lot of conversations with our hauler if it is still Republic Services by that time.

Um, but frankly, we have a lot of work to do in this back of house, and we also generate a lot more food waste and this sort of waste than we do right now of that front of house post-consumer compostable products.

Um, but that's certainly something that we're looking at in the future, and something that I hope that we can partner with our concessions on to provide more of those types of products to our passengers.

So that is on our minds, not specifically a part of this project in particular.

Okay, that makes sense.

And with the dollar amount, it does seem kind of small to take care of all of the waste.

Um, and so for the front of the house, the regular trash cans that you have out for customers of the airport, those are just recycling and trash right now, or is it just trash?

Recycling and trash.

Yes.

Great, awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you, committee chair.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Um, just wanted to say thank you for being the leader in this space, even though it's three percent, it's three percent of our biggest employer in the state of Colorado.

So that makes a difference to um a lot of employees and a lot of people going through then, and just I happen to go through then on Sunday, mid-midday, and just want to say thank you.

Um, I saw the acronym, I can't remember the clean bathroom acronym that I kept coming in so that I kept commenting on, and the airport just looks really great.

Um, things are feeling much different.

I was um with a whole cohort of 35 um UC Denver students, and on my professors, we had just come back from um Argentina, and it was I I got tons of compliments going down into um we had a layover in Houston, and so Houston, I hadn't been in Houston in a long time.

It's massive.

I had I I was like, I I couldn't remember how big it had been.

Um, and I would just was sitting talking to my cohort, we had a five-hour layover going there, and everyone just kept commenting on how clean the airport feels, how you can get off and how efficient things are running.

And um, so I started talking to them about your dashboard.

I I um in one of our technology classes, I actually did a screenshot and I shared from committee back dashboard for um like technology and innovation.

And so then when we were sitting down, we were talking, they were like, Well, what other kind of innovation um has happened at the airport?

So I just started talking about all the different programs, and now I can talk to them about this program.

So just want you to know that it's making a difference, and these are people from all over that one flies in from New Mexico, want the some flying from Colorado Springs, and one flies.

He's a pilot, he used to be a pilot for United in the US Army.

He was a pilot, and now he does for FedEx, so he's at DIA all the time.

Um, so just want to say, just wanted to pass that along of my experience because all of the questions always get directed to me, good or bad, and for a while it was trudging along where it was it felt.

We were, I was like, just wait, just you just give us a couple more years, and I feel like we're at that point right now.

So thank you for being a leader in with what uh city council just placed past two weeks ago waste no more.

So this is actually like falling in alignment with what we're doing in the city, so just appreciate that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Council President.

Um scraps was being a waste of more scraps is one of the uh waste and more um committee participants, so our committee members.

Uh so it's uh it's good to see their their name again.

Thank you, Scraps.

Um, also, Director Washington.

Uh you know, you um uh our class had the opportunity to um to interview you and uh when you were uh being considered for executive director, and I asked uh, would you plug the um the oil wells that were um you know unattended and not producing?

Um and yeah, at that time you said that you want that you you would do that, which you did, um, but you wanted to be a sustainable uh airport.

You've had uh a couple months in the job at this point, um quite a bit, you know, and uh and so you have said multiple times that you want Den to be the most uh environmentally sustainable airport in the world, and as we continue to see uh employees, you're you're paying people to to live that value and uh and to you know do uh this this sort of work.

Um so I we want we want uh city employees who have a system of values and live those values, and um, and I want to thank you for uh for being upfront about the values that you want with the airport by demonstrating that by uh bringing forward contracts like this and um and hiring uh a team of folks that will uh that will make it happen.

So um a thousand tons of diversion in a pilot program just for B concourse, um so I and just for back of the house concessionaires, yes, so 400 tons thus far.

And another five to six hundred tons next year.

Yeah.

So um you mentioned uh maybe a 10% uh bump.

Uh if this were rolled out.

Is that do you mean everywhere in the airport?

Do you mean concessionaires everywhere, front and back of the house?

Are you talking about full airport um 10% change or?

Yeah.

Great question.

So right now we get data each month from our waste hauler, and we that waste data comes from everywhere around the airport.

So on the concourses and the terminal, some of our outlying buildings as well, and we calculate from there how much did we divert from the landfill.

So compost recycling, a couple other streams that we um either reuse or recirculate in some way, um, and then divide that by the total waste we generate, and that's our diversion rate for a little uh context of maybe this is too in the weeds, but maybe find it interesting.

Um last year we ended our year around a 22% diversion rate on average for the airport.

So the 10% that I was referring to is the impact of this program.

If we're able to expand it to all the concourses in the terminal, will increase that 22% by 10%, so 32%.

Again, it we will still only be managing map back of house concessions generated waste, but that alone will bump the airport wide waste diversion rate by 10%.

Let me know if any.

I mean, I just want to add a little more context that waste diversion rates in Colorado are very low, as I'm sure you're well aware.

So when Den started um tracking this about 20 years ago, I think our diversion rates were around 15%.

And then again, great people, good programs.

We moved to 16, 17, 18, finally got to 20%, but like that's a long time for pretty small change.

And the statewide diversion rates have hovered around 20% for at least a decade.

They're not moving significantly.

So in Colorado, through one valet program, to be able to go from 22% to 32 or 35 moves you from an average struggling performer with slow incremental progress to like a leader.

So we're super excited about not just this program and how happy it makes people and the training and FaceTime opportunity, but it really waste has been so hard.

And to go from a concession down through the concourse to a ramp and out to a receptacle is really hard when you're super super busy.

So this program just like breaks down those barriers and can move down to a real leadership position in waste.

Yeah, um, one of the conversations that I was also on the waste and More Task force, um, one of the conversations we had was the um the impact of waste diversion, um the the the actual transportation of waste.

Um and uh and so I I wonder, you know, the airport has some areas that um you're not using right now.

Um if scraps were to haul this out to scraps compost facility, that obviously would be a greater distance than if there was a place somewhere on the second largest airport in the world's property for us to do some composting.

I wonder if uh if you've considered that.

We haven't come to a conclusion on where that could be, but it's definitely a continuing conversation.

Yeah, I I would imagine a composting um probably has an odor, uh so you wouldn't want to put it right next to the West End.

Um but uh but that's the advantage of um the just the when your airport is measured in square miles, or hectares, I guess, if uh uh but yeah, we're in America.

So um uh you might have a spot that maybe could work that um would kind of shorten the the transportation of uh of the waste.

Sure.

So yeah, love love for you to continue to consider that.

One other thing, so part of I your explanation I think did make sense um to me.

Um I have in the past talked about the green janitorial program, and I think that that is something that would be complementary if I understand your description correctly, uh, because that would be more kind of front of house um uh additional diversion.

And um, and so uh you were talking about scraps would help make sure that they're um the streams aren't contaminated as in uh just for because we're on television, uh there isn't some composting in the recycling bin or recycling in the composting bin, and that's actually part of the challenge is why scraps has kind of scrapped their original program um and uh uh and limited some of the diversion that they accept.

But um uh I I haven't I haven't been the chair of uh the committee that oversees the airport in a little while, so I haven't had the opportunity to ask.

Well, I guess I could ask it any time, but um the I think the green janitorial program might be a good compliment um front of house um and uh and and good news the the uh the folks um out at the airport um are the ones that have been um creating and curating that training program.

I think it started in California.

There's several buildings downtown that um that have janitors that have been trained in the green janitorial program.

The idea is um that janitors are trained to understand how to um appropriately put trash and trash and recycling and recycling, and if the uh if it is possible to uncontaminate a stream, uh then they do that before um before submitting it to Republic or Scraps or whatever.

So, um definitely willing to uh to look in and into that um and if we can incorporate that uh we will.

Okay, yeah, I'm happy to um put whoever you designate in contact with the green janet up, uh, we might have a taker.

Yep, go for it.

Yeah, Scott Morris, the senior expresident for sustainability at the airport.

Um I think that Alexa and Janet and David, who is the manager of the waste were being a little bit too humble.

Um, even outside, totally appreciate your point of like formal programs around green janitorial opportunities, but even independent of that, um uh David and Alexa and Nick, who is on our team, they work so closely with our um operational contract staff as well as our janitorial staff.

I believe you have monthly meetings with them to be able to have these conversations just to make sure that we're providing that kind of education very similar to what we do on the scrap side, just maybe not quite as intensive as you saw with this program.

And so uh it's a great point that you make, uh, Councilmember Hines, but um, even in the context of our existing programs, very committed to doing that because that um relationship with the janitorial is not just important to the scraps relationships, it's important to everything that we do with waste aversion.

Yeah, and um to do a PSA for a second, um, you know, building owners and uh and operators um if they have a lead certified building, they have to maintain that lead certification and um uh having a green janitorial program actually helps it contributes to the um to the maintenance of a lead certification.

So yeah, thank you.

Uh I so I don't see anyone else here.

No one online.

This is an action item.

Um, I have a motion.

Councilmember Ravidras motions, Councilmember Plen seconds.

Any abstentions or opposition?

Great.

This also will go uh forward and uh we'll see you on the floor.

I'm seeing uh there are five consent items.

Did I get that right?

Five consent items.

Uh no one has called this off, so those will also go forward.

Uh we have no further business, so we're adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.