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Record of Proceedings

Denver Health and Safety Committee Meeting: November 19, 2025 - Mass Care Contract and Axon Technology Briefing

Council Committees — Wednesday, November 19, 2025
BodyDenver, Colorado
SessionCouncil Committees
DateWednesday, November 19, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:37:47
Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Back to this weekly meeting of the Health and Safety Committee with Denver City Council.

0:08

Coverage of the Health and Safety Committee starts now.

0:16

Good morning, and welcome to the Health and Safety Committee meeting for our November 19th.

0:20

My name is Darrell Watson.

0:21

I'm honored to serve all of the residents of the fine district nine and to be the committee chair for the Health and Safety Committee.

0:27

We have one action item today from Mimi Sherman and DHS, as well as a briefing from the Department of Safety.

0:34

And before we roll into our presentations, why don't we start with introductions around the table and we'll begin on my right?

0:42

Thank you, uh, Kevin Flynn, Southwest Members District 2.

0:45

Good morning, Amanda Sawyer, District 5.

0:47

Good morning.

0:47

Savannah Gonzalo Speaker is one of the council members at large.

0:50

Good morning, Amanda Sandbaum, Northwest Denver District One.

0:53

Let me just check to see if there's anyone that's virtual this morning.

0:59

Seeing none.

1:02

Just make sure.

1:03

No one's virtual.

1:06

Nope.

1:06

Okay.

1:07

All right.

1:07

So Mimi and team, I'll turn it over to you for introductions.

1:10

If you don't mind introducing yourself and your team, and the floor is yours.

1:14

Sure.

1:14

My name is Mimi Sherman.

1:16

I'm the chief program officer at Denver Human Services.

1:19

David.

1:20

I'm David Powell.

1:20

I'm the deputy director with the Office of Emergency Management.

1:24

Hello, I'm Clint Woodruff.

1:25

I'm the chief financial officer with Denver Human Services.

1:29

All right.

1:30

Thank you very much.

1:31

We will get presenting, and we have a team of people to answer any questions you may have.

1:34

And if we don't, we will obviously circle back with you all.

1:37

We're here to introduce an on-call contract, which I think most of you know is we don't necessarily.

1:55

Maybe a black screen, Mimi.

1:56

We have a presentation up.

1:59

Unplugged and put it back out.

2:01

We probably wouldn't hit a button up there.

2:02

We're back.

2:06

Let's try.

2:07

Yeah, let's do that.

2:12

There.

2:12

Great.

2:13

Here we are.

2:14

All right.

2:15

Okay.

2:15

So we I don't know if you all know the history of us attempting to get a mass care on-call contract, but we have tried a few times given that DHS is the um sole.

2:26

Well, we are the agency responsible for mass care, but we also partner with host.

2:30

Given the population who may need emergency services based on housing needs or displacement for any reason.

2:38

Um as you know, the last couple emergencies that we have had, uh, the migrant response as well as COVID, DHS staff have been called upon, as well as many, many other city staff, to staff this, make sure we're having the resources and things like that.

2:53

And that is normally acceptable for an emergency that you know typically lasts two weeks, maybe.

2:58

These have lasted months and years.

3:01

So we are hoping that a contract like this, should our resources be tapped in certain ways, and then we're the other services the city provides are in jeopardy, that we can call in a contract like this to help support us.

3:16

So I kind of went over all of this, but the IEM is the agency that we are looking toward the contract to.

3:25

They are currently under contract with the state and have stepped in in numerous occasions for us, including cold weather sheltering when we've needed support, uh, the migrant crisis.

3:35

They have been amazing partners.

3:37

They've done a great work.

3:38

Obviously, that was not what we were looking at only for when we were viewing the RFPs.

3:43

We had about four agencies applied, three that met criteria.

3:47

Um, host has most recently used them to support cold weather shelter this past year.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Safety█████████████████████████████████████████41%
Technology and Innovation████████████████████████████28%
Homelessness████████████████16%
Fiscal Sustainability████████8%
Legislative Affairs████4%
Procedural██2%
Community Engagement█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Denver Health and Safety Committee Meeting: November 19, 2025

The Health and Safety Committee of the Denver City Council, chaired by Councilmember Darrell Watson, met on November 19, 2025, to consider one action item and receive a briefing. The action item approved an on-call mass care contract with Innovative Emergency Management (IEM) valued at $8 million over three years. The briefing covered two proposed amendments to the existing Axon Enterprises contract and a new five-year contract for police, sheriff, and fire department technology, including body cameras, tasers, and digital evidence management. Councilmembers raised numerous questions about costs, oversight, and technology partnerships, and requested contract documents well in advance of the scheduled December 3, 2025 vote.

Discussion Items

  • On-Call Mass Care Contract (Action Item): Mimi Sherman (Chief Program Officer, Denver Human Services) and David Powell (Deputy Director, Office of Emergency Management) presented a request to award a contract to IEM for on-call staffing and resources to support mass care during emergencies such as sheltering, feeding, and transportation. The contract is intended to be used only when city resources are exhausted. The contract has a maximum spend of $8 million over three years, with funding from DHS contingency funds. Councilmembers expressed support, citing lessons learned from COVID-19 and the migrant crisis. Questions focused on staffing sources (local vs. flown-in), funding sources, and insurance/indemnification. Councilmember Watson requested documentation on insurance coverage. The committee voted unanimously to approve the contract.

  • Axon Technology Contracts (Briefing): Emily Locke (Legislation and Policy Director, Department of Public Safety) presented two items: (1) an amendment to the current Axon contract to increase maximum spend by $450,000 (to ~$22.5 million) to cover outstanding invoices through the contract end in December 2025, and (2) a new five-year contract (2026-2030) with a maximum spend of ~$27 million for body cameras, tasers, docking stations, interview room technology, and unlimited digital evidence storage. Key points included: the new contract uses a national cooperative purchasing process (NASPO) rather than a Denver-specific RFP; costs increased due to additional cameras for police and sheriff, tasers for sheriff, and single-bay docking stations; and the contract includes unlimited third-party evidence storage to align with District Attorney requirements. Councilmembers raised numerous questions and concerns:

    • Councilmember Flynn requested historical cost data from 2015 onward and details on DIA contributions.
    • Councilmember Parady challenged the need for one single-bay docking station per officer, asking about alternatives to reduce cost and overtime.
    • Councilmember Sawyer clarified that the DA's reliance on evidence.com makes the contract non-optional.
    • Councilmember Gonzalez-Gutierrez asked about AI-generated reports (not included), data sharing with other jurisdictions, and requested the full contract text before the vote.
    • Council President Sandoval insisted that draft contracts be provided as deliberative work product by the end of the week to allow adequate review.
    • Councilmember Parady expressed concerns about Ring camera integration and facial recognition, asking for transparency.
    • Several councilmembers requested detailed cost breakdowns, including administrative fees.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved Action Item: The on-call mass care contract with IEM was approved unanimously by voice vote (motion by Sawyer, second by Gonzalez-Gutierrez).
  • Axon Briefing Next Steps: The committee will take action on the two Axon contract items on December 3, 2025. The Department of Public Safety was directed to provide the full contract (as deliberative work product) to council attorneys by the close of business on Friday, November 21, 2025, to allow councilmembers to read it over the Thanksgiving break. Councilmembers also requested supplementary data (historical costs, AI policy, Ring integration details, docking station alternatives, and overtime impact analysis) be shared with all members before the vote.
  • Future Oversight: Council President Sandoval stated that for all future technology contracts, draft contracts will be requested early to enable thorough committee review.

Meeting Transcript

Back to this weekly meeting of the Health and Safety Committee with Denver City Council. Coverage of the Health and Safety Committee starts now. Good morning, and welcome to the Health and Safety Committee meeting for our November 19th. My name is Darrell Watson. I'm honored to serve all of the residents of the fine district nine and to be the committee chair for the Health and Safety Committee. We have one action item today from Mimi Sherman and DHS, as well as a briefing from the Department of Safety. And before we roll into our presentations, why don't we start with introductions around the table and we'll begin on my right? Thank you, uh, Kevin Flynn, Southwest Members District 2. Good morning, Amanda Sawyer, District 5. Good morning. Savannah Gonzalo Speaker is one of the council members at large. Good morning, Amanda Sandbaum, Northwest Denver District One. Let me just check to see if there's anyone that's virtual this morning. Seeing none. Just make sure. No one's virtual. Nope. Okay. All right. So Mimi and team, I'll turn it over to you for introductions. If you don't mind introducing yourself and your team, and the floor is yours. Sure. My name is Mimi Sherman. I'm the chief program officer at Denver Human Services. David. I'm David Powell. I'm the deputy director with the Office of Emergency Management. Hello, I'm Clint Woodruff. I'm the chief financial officer with Denver Human Services. All right. Thank you very much. We will get presenting, and we have a team of people to answer any questions you may have. And if we don't, we will obviously circle back with you all. We're here to introduce an on-call contract, which I think most of you know is we don't necessarily. Maybe a black screen, Mimi. We have a presentation up. Unplugged and put it back out. We probably wouldn't hit a button up there. We're back. Let's try. Yeah, let's do that. There. Great. Here we are. All right. Okay. So we I don't know if you all know the history of us attempting to get a mass care on-call contract, but we have tried a few times given that DHS is the um sole. Well, we are the agency responsible for mass care, but we also partner with host. Given the population who may need emergency services based on housing needs or displacement for any reason. Um as you know, the last couple emergencies that we have had, uh, the migrant response as well as COVID, DHS staff have been called upon, as well as many, many other city staff, to staff this, make sure we're having the resources and things like that.

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