Denver Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Meeting - April 15, 2026
Denver Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Meeting - April 15, 2026
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee met on April 15, 2026, at 1:30 PM in the City & County Building, chaired by Shontel Lewis (District 8). The committee voted unanimously to approve a three-year license agreement with Veo for Denver's Shared Bike and Scooter Program and to approve a package of 37 amendments to vertical facility on-call contracts for professional and construction services. The meeting lasted approximately two hours.
Consent Calendar
- Approved a contract with Evergreen Industrial, Ltd. for $1,150,000 to design-build a temporary three-story burn structure for Denver Fire Department training at 5440 Roslyn (District 8).
- Approved an amendment with FlashParking, Inc. for digital parking services at Denver International Airport (no change to contract amount or duration).
- Approved a purchase order with M-B Co Inc for $3,972,253.02 for four MB3 Front Mount Broom Vehicles and two driving simulators for DEN fleet operations.
- Approved a contract with Northwest Cascade, Inc. for $1,186,200.84 over five years for portable restroom rentals and sanitation pump-out services at DEN.
- Approved a Master Purchase Order with Oshkosh Aerotech LLC for $58,000,000 over two years with three one-year options to extend for passenger loading bridges at DEN.
Discussion Items
Veo Shared Bike and Scooter License Agreement (26-0326) Alaina McWhorter (DOTI Legislative Affairs), Justin Begley (DOTI Planning Supervisor), and Alex Keating (Veo VP of Policy & Partnerships) presented the three-year citywide license. Key points included:
- Pre-enrollment for the Access Program (low-income riders) had over 13,350 individuals enrolled as of that morning. An "instant access" feature allows self-certification on day one, with 60 minutes of free daily ride time for Access users.
- Veo is hiring a W-2 workforce; over 100 individuals already hired, with 200 interviews scheduled. The contract does not explicitly require 100% W-2 labor, but the city stated that the operational staff (deployment, rebalancing, maintenance) will be W-2 employees, while some outreach roles may use independent contractors.
- Fleet of up to 9,000 vehicles, with 70% seated (Cosmo seated scooter and Apollo e-bike) and 30% standing scooters (Astro). The fleet mix can be adjusted with DOTI approval.
- Sidewalk riding detection uses GPS, radar, and LIDAR, plus audible warnings. Parking enforcement includes mandatory geo-fenced corrals in downtown and Five Points, with a minimum of 150 new physical corrals citywide. Riders cannot end trips outside designated corrals in mandatory zones.
- Service level agreements: reported misparked vehicles addressed within two hours; idle vehicles monitored and rebalanced.
- The city retains the right to bring in an additional operator if Veo fails to meet service level agreements (section 16E of the contract).
- Council members asked about sidewalk riding, parking in neighborhoods (e.g., Baker, District 9), accessibility (trikes and wheelchair attachment devices), and enforcement against double-riding.
Vertical Facility On-Call Contract Amendments (26-0254 through 26-0291) Cara Sequino and Gabrielle Schuler (DOTI Interagency Division) presented amendments to 37 existing contracts for vertical professional and construction services. These contracts support citywide deferred maintenance and capital improvements for libraries, fire stations, rec centers, etc. Key details:
- The contracts were originally approved in 2023 for three years; amendments add two years (through July 13, 2028) and varying capacity increases based on utilization.
- Professional services categories: architectural design, structural engineering, geotechnical services. Construction categories: large vertical construction and SBE (Small Business Enterprise) construction.
- The architectural category has 15 firms with restored capacity to $5 million each (total capacity $75 million originally, about one-third used). Geotechnical firms get $500,000 each; structural engineering firms get only time extension (no additional capacity).
- Construction contracts: four SBE firms each receive $3 million additional; 10 large construction firms receive restored capacity (e.g., Gerald H. Phipps, Inc. gets $9.97 million addition for new total $34.97 million).
- The division manages about 150 active projects; only 30% of work flows through on-call contracts (the rest is publicly bid). The contracts cover 277 unique firms, 128 of which are MWBE/SBE certified.
- Council members questioned performance data, MWBE goal attainment, and the decision to extend rather than re-bid. City staff explained that most projects are not yet complete, so official Dispo data lags; they use leading indicators. Staff noted that rebidding this large package would take 6–8 months and risk a gap in services.
Key Outcomes
- Veo License Agreement (26-0326): Approved unanimously by roll call vote. The contract moves to full City Council for final approval on April 27, 2026, with deployment planned for May 1, 2026. Current operator licenses expire May 16, 2026, allowing a two-week transition.
- Vertical Facility On-Call Contract Amendments (26-0254 through 26-0291): Approved unanimously by roll call vote. All 37 contract amendments will proceed to full council. Turner Construction declined to participate; all other firms accepted.
No public comment was offered during the meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Join us for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee starting now. All right, we're on air, folks. I think we're going to say good afternoon. It's good to see everyone. Welcome to the Transportation Infrastructure Committee. My name is Chantel Lewis. I chair this committee and I am in District 8. We'll start with a round of introductions. Councilman Flynn, would you like to start? Thank you. Chris Hines, Denver's perfect 10. Rod Vibras Lucky District 7. Uh Paul Cashman, South Denver District 6. Daryl Watson, fine, district 9. I'm Amanda Sandoval, Northwest Denver District 1. Thank you. And we might have folks joining us virtually, and once they do, I will acknowledge those council members. So we do have two action items. It's the scooter bike share contract with Bio. And so we you all can give a round of introductions and jump in. Thank you, Council Chair Lewis. My name is Elena McWarter. I am Dottie's legislative affairs manager, and I'll let my team introduce themselves before we dive right in. Madam Chair Nick Williams, Deputy Manager Dottie. Hello, uh Justin Begley, Planning Supervisor with Dottie. Alex Keating, Vice President of Policy and Partnership to the VO. All right. This may be the quickest presentation of this committee, and I hope you prefer it that way, but certainly want to dive straight into questions that you may still have. Before we do, we're just going to provide a quick update on some slides you've already seen. So reminder, we're actively doing pre-enrollment into the access program as of this morning. Over 13 and 1,350 individuals are enrolled for a pre-access. They can get pre-enrolled today at Voride.com backslash Denver, and they can screenshot if their current access program enrollees with Lyme or Bird, they can screenshot their enrollment and use that to get started with their enrollment with VO in their access program. If on day one you walk out and VO is in the streets and you've not enrolled yet, we have what we're calling instant access, where you can self-certify that you are eligible for our access program and you can start riding free of charge on day one. We're also in the process of building out an access program coalition group, and we've got a letter of signatories that I'll let Alex discuss. And then just real quick job hiring. We are actively hiring and continue to hire the W 2 labor force that's going to support this program. So right now there are over a hundred individuals already hired, many of them already working out of Vio's warehouse. They had over 200 interviews also scheduled last week that they are actively making offers on so that they are ready to deploy on day one when this contract is signed. Also, just a quick reminder in the last presentation, we gave you an entire calendar of the next few months of community events from big events to small events, district uh specific events, citywide events, any opportunity where we can get in front of your constituents and program users to let them know of this pro new program and how to get enrolled and uh start riding. Last slide is just a quick transition slide that with your approval today that puts us on track for full council approval on April 27th. The deployment was planned for May 1st, so again, upon signature of this contract, we'll be getting out in the field as quickly as possible. And then our current operator licenses expire on May 16th. So we still want to be able to maximize that two-week transition overlap between vendors. Just one thing. If we could go back to the instant access one, one thing I want to um really accentuate that I think folks have told us we maybe haven't been explaining as clearly as we could have. Every single person that walks out and scans, whether it's me, whether it's a previous access writer, I've made the joke, whether it's Elon Musk, will be asked, are you an access writer? I will say no. I can't speak for Elon Musk, but even if Elon Musk did say yes, I'm an access writer, he would receive that access. And that really is so every single person to try to absolutely minimize uh the chance of anyone slipping through the cracks. So anyone who walks out there will be asked, and if they say yes, they instantly have their access benefits.
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