That really matters to families.

I didn't know that this existed.

Every time I go here, I see a lot more kids than there was before.

Thanks for this park.

I think a lot of the children like it and keep building new stuff.

Kids actually just kind of come from all over to come to the SRAC Center.

It's nice to see that the improvements are going back into the communities.

They need us and we like serving them.

Through these bond programs, you have improved our transportation infrastructure.

Restort iconic institutions.

Modernize Denver Libraries.

Develop safe and stable havens for our most vulnerable residents.

Revitalize high quality parks and recreation spaces.

Built a new outpatient medical center at Denver Health.

Improved emergency service facilities for residents and our first responders.

Second chance help me out with a pre-apprentip program, which they got me into, knowing that I helped create this, I helped fix this, you know.

It means a lot to actually see the city thrive.

Without something like the Rise Initiative, we wouldn't be able to provide this level of care.

Not only do we think that we will change the lives of young people that walk through this door, but we deeply believe that it'll change the future of what our streets look like.

Blair Callwell is community.

We are a space where folks of all kinds come and gather.

I think that the renovation really kind of helped magnify that goal.

I can't thank the community enough just for input and for support for voting for this bond measure.

It really has had a tremendous impact.

Thank you, Denver.

Your investment in our communities continues to lift up every neighborhood every day.

Making a difference for all of us who live, learn, work, and play in the Marhai City.

Together, we're building a stronger, safer, and more vibrant city of the future, it's time for this bi-weekly meeting of the Finance and Business Committee of Denver City Council.

Join us for the Finance and Business Committee starting now.

Good morning.

It is Tuesday, July 28th, 2026.

You have tuned in to the Finance and Business Committee meeting.

I'm Chris Hines, and I uh as of today chair the meeting.

Uh Council President, I want to thank you for the honor and uh responsibility of being uh chair of this committee and uh Councilmember Cashman, thank you for joining me as vice chair in this journey.

Uh so we have one action item 26-1096 and two consent items that will move forward if uh no one pulls them off.

So uh before we go into a resolution amending the city council rules of procedure, uh let's start with uh introductions.

Um council president.

Hi, good morning.

Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver, District 4.

Hey everybody, Sedana Gonzalez Cucheras, one of your council members at large.

Paul Cash from South Denver District 6.

Uh good morning, Darren Watson.

Fine District 9.

And do we have anyone online?

No.

Okay, great.

Uh so um our uh our action item is 26-1096 uh resolution omitting the city council rules of procedure.

Council Briver Lewis, thank you for uh for bringing this forward.

Sure, thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you so much.

Um so good morning.

I'm actually really excited to talk to you all about a proposal to change the city council rules that would require us to read a labor acknowledgement in addition to the land acknowledgement and the pledge of allegiance, which we currently do.

Many of you are probably already familiar with this because um we brought this some time ago but had to really um have a conversation in terms of bandwidth within my staff to make sure that we can get this going.

Um so let's start with the land acknowledgement uh which you which is presented on this slide.

I won't read it since you all are very familiar with the language.

Um if council members are wondering, the land acknowledgement um or the labor acknowledgement is not changing as a result of the proposal.

Um and I would like to thank Councilwoman Torres for walking me through the process by which she landed on the land acknowledgement process and it was able to add it to the council rules.

Um and I really tried to model what to to the extent possible um this proposal with what I learned from Councilwoman Torres, and I will note that the land acknowledgement is three paragraphs and a 113 words.

Um of the early things I was advised to do was to look at the Office of Social Equity and Innovation labor acknowledgement as a starting point.

And so here it is for those that are not familiar with it.

Um for the proposed labor acknowledgement, I've incorporated both elements of this version while also adding some more detail to it.

Um and we'll see what that looks like in the next slide.

Thank you, Jesse.

So here's the proposed here's the proposed labor acknowledgement.

It is longer than the OSCI version, as you can see, and I would like to read the language in its entirety here so you all um are familiar with it.

We acknowledge that our country's economy, infrastructure, and resulting generational wealth would not exist as they do today without the stolen and forced labor of enslaved Africans and their descendants who suffered the horror of the transatlantic trafficking, shadow slavery, and later on the dehumanization through segregation and Jim Crow laws.

We acknowledge and remember those who did not survive the middle passage, as well as those who were beaten and lynched at the hands of white Americans.

We recognize the terror inflicted by the Ku Klex Klan, who historically counted among their members numerous government officials in Denver and others in positions of power.

We stand with those who are still suffering while fighting for freedom.

We acknowledge how these dehuman dehumanizing practices have social, legal, and economic legacies that continue to reverberate reverberate, excuse me, through the generations, and then so acknowledge and commit to truth, accountability, and repair.

I want to talk about a few pieces of this.

Um first, the middle section serves to name but uh a few of the ways that the legacy of slavery informs the present.

And then second, the reference to clansmen and historic positions of power was actually incorporated from a recommendation from Councilwoman Sawyer as a way for us grappling with Denver's own history here.

And then third, we have landed, we have added language that reflects not just an acknowledgement, but a commitment from this body that is recognizing these past harms, and that we will work to make these wrongs right moving forward.

Um this version was also informed by, which is this next slide.

Um there are groups that we have stakeholdered with uh on the proposal, which was suggested the first time we came to budget policy, and so we took this um to the African American Commission, the LGBTQIA plus commission, and solidify solicited feedback from those meetings.

We have actually we have also conducted outreach from a number of groups, including Mount Bellow 2020, the Black Arts Festival.

Um we haven't heard back from everyone, but the groups that we have heard back from have been supportive of this.

In fact, the um Justice for Black Coloradans were instrumental in us getting to the version that you that I just read to you all um today.

And so, in terms of timeline, um here's a timeline for the proposal.

We first floated this idea back in November of 2025 at the City Council ops meeting.

Um we have since then conducted outreach and are here in committee this week.

Um it is our intempt to skip mayor council and bring this before council next week for its sole reading.

Um if it passes, I intend to read a proclamation concerning the labor acknowledgement in the 530 block, and I can share that proclamation proclamation with you all.

Um, but essentially I would read the proposed language and fill in some history as well.

Um with that, I'm happy to take any questions on this item if you have them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

How efficient?

I'm trying.

Colleagues, I know everyone actually no one's in the queue.

Um, Council Brexit.

Okay.

I'm first in the queue.

Um thank you for um bringing this forward.

I was looking in and with some of the language that is there and thinking about labor.

There are other land acknowledgment acknowledgments that also do a broader swath of our community.

And I was just wondering, was there consideration put into adding additional labor from Colorado?

I'm not sure I understand the question.

You have to add that ask that more specifically.

You know me, Diana.

Well, that's Romero Campbell.

So I think about like my family's history.

And my dad was a migrant worker and grew up working in the fields.

And so I'm just, I see this and I also think of an experience of Colorado and of what like my family has experienced.

And I'm asking, was there consideration of expanding or broadening to be able to reflect that?

No, I think we thought about it in the same way that we did the land acknowledgement in terms of like foundational like the foundational experience within this country.

And so the labor being specific to those that were taken from Africa into the onto this continent and that land that labor be enforced labor is the context in which we were thinking about it, and all of the examples that we have seen, at least the one side out of study, and I'm more than open for you to provide me with an additional example really focused on that demographic and that history.

Yeah, I'm glad you asked.

Um so originally we started with, I mean, this is probably on version 15 at this point, but originally we had started with um having the language from the from OSEI uh be the foundation of that.

And then as we were stakeholdering, um, as well as feedback from you all as well, um, we took that input from what we were hearing from communities and organically like built out what the labor acknowledgement looked like.

Um and so even to the point where it talks about us moving away from like acknowledgement to commitment was just feedback that we had gotten from community that they were that we wanted to be intentional about not making this simply something that we read or simply some something that's symbolic, um, but to really have some teeth and teeth commitment in terms of our commitments moving forward.

Um and so it was an organic um process of creation with uh those that were able to apply on the uh foundational version.

Um I have other questions.

I'm gonna go back in the queue.

Are there other others in the queue?

Um I have questions, but uh I don't I don't have anyone else in the queue, so I perhaps I can ask people.

If you want to ask your question, I'll come back to the queue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um so not seeing any any other questions, please do feel free to get in the queue if you have questions.

Um is there a major city that has a labor acknowledgement?

Um so lots of organizations um read labor acknowledgments um at conferences, they read labor acknowledgement at universities.

Um so yes, do you want me to provide you with some examples?

I'm happy to.

No, the uh the the nature of the question is um uh Denver's okay with being first.

Um but uh you know, like with cannabis, psilocybin, um, but I think I'd have to check if we were first, but I'd be down with that too.

But in my research, I could not find another major city that had a labor acknowledgement of any shape.

Uh you know, so I I mean I think that's uh I I think that's important to name just as we're uh you know the idea here is to name uh you know uh systems uh that uh uh that we should commemorate.

Thank you for that.

So um, but uh just because uh I mean I just because I I haven't found it in my research, doesn't mean it doesn't exist, and I would say that my research wasn't exhaustive.

So uh is there uh do you know of another uh city that names a perpetrator group?

Um so like the the phrase at the hind at at the heinz at the hands of white Americans.

Um I know that there are a bunch of uh uh labor acknowledgments that talk about systems like white settler colonialism um but it doesn't talk about um uh groups um it really historically you know the the the family of uh labor acknowledgments tend to talk more about um systems instead of groups.

Yeah, so um again these the language came from ex examples from all across the country that we had kind of put together.

Um I would imagine that is probably uncomfortable, but in the conversations that we had had, no one had pulled that out specifically to say, hey, can we look at this language and do something differently?

If there's an ask, I think we'd be open to I'd take it back to the advocates that we've been working with to see if they'd be open to that.

I don't want to make that decision unilaterally.

And my thought is um is that the we certainly want to commemorate and we want to um imagine not imagine.

We want to um name where we came from and uh and to your point about ownership.

Our um African uh uh people who came over on the boat were there was this idea of ownership as opposed to um you know uh uh people working in the um working the laboring in the farms, and uh and I see that as a as a pretty stark difference, and it's not uh not to um uh not to belittle uh you know your father, madam president, um, but he wasn't owned.

There wasn't that system of ownership.

But um, but I I want to make sure that it's um that for there should be some challenge here, right?

Which should be somewhat uncomfortable.

Um otherwise, why why do it?

Uh but I can imagine that it might be more divert uh divisive uh than commemorative.

So I'm I'm just um you know just asking the question.

Yeah, I I appreciate it.

It's lynch at the hands of white Americans.

Correct.

Yeah.

I mean it's our history, but we can definitely go back and have a conversation about it.

I mean it's an uncomfortable history, but it wasn't black Americans lynching black Americans, you know what I'm saying?

Um but let's definitely have a convert, like I'm happy to take it back to the coalition of folks and see how they feel about it.

And then is there um another city that names specific organizations like the Klan?

And I mean, I think I think you're the the phrasing is is true.

I mean, you know, like we uh it was pretty clear that the Klan ran uh both Denver and Colorado.

Um I I just want to make sure that we know what we're um you know what we're signing up for or what we were what we're adopting.

Is that one came that suggestion actually came directly from council member Sawyer to name the Klan and the history of the Klan in this land acknowledgement because it the first version I don't believe it actually had that language, did it?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

I I will just add um council chair that the um introduce yourself.

Sorry, uh Jesse Carey, senior counsel a councilwoman uh lewis.

I will say that the land acknowledgement itself um has a line to the effect of um we acknowledge that um sort of the the systems of of government are are perpetuating this this sort of um this this ongoing injustice against uh Native American and American Indian tribes.

So um I think it does say it, it just doesn't specifically name the Klan.

Um but in in the specific case of Denver, there are you know there is this history of of Stapleton and and other um members of of Denver's government, and so the the specificity felt um we honor acknowledge honor and acknowledge that the land on which we reside is the traditional territory of the U Cheyenne and Arapo peoples.

Yeah, and but it's specifically the the systems of injustice are are still so um we also recognize that government academic and cultural institutions were founded upon and continue to enact exclusions and erasures of indigenous peoples.

So it's the same, it's the same sentiment, it's just a little bit less specific in in the organization that it names, but it's it's there for the same reason, which is to say it's ongoing, these are structural things.

Um ask just like I asked the the first question about uh major city with the labor acknowledgement, it's really uh more to like this is this is what we're um what we have, what we're uh proposing and uh and what we're adopting.

So I'm not saying that I have a uh concern about that necessarily.

I just want to like highlight the the impact of uh of the acknowledgement.

So sorry.

No, I'm listening to you.

I was saying, yeah, like I was agreeing.

So um I do have uh a couple other questions, but council uh council Pro Tem González Gutierrez.

I'm happy to let you finish if you'd like.

That's fine.

Okay.

Um no, I just I I know that this is something that you've been working on for some time, um, councilwoman, and appreciate um getting to see this this version of it.

Um and I think it is it's it is like one of those things that you have to sit uncomfortably with in a way, right?

By calling out the truths.

Um, and I think for far too long, we have very um strategically have omitted some of these things in because of the discomfort that it causes.

And and I think it is important to name these things.

It is historical, it's a fact.

And and so like I I appreciate that these things are um being mentioned.

I mean, even with like our land acknowledgement and a lot of even land acknowledgements in general have become a a um words on paper, you know, and and hollow in a lot of ways.

And so, um, and some of the you know, it's like pairing it with action is important and not just saying the words, um, and then how you then move forward with policy, how you move forward with changes in these systems, um, and so I appreciate like that piece being being paired here because even in our land acknowledgement acknowledgement, it doesn't actually acknowledge the broken treaties and stolen land, right?

Which are also like things that are historically true and factual.

Um, and so I appreciate how this is being called out.

I don't have any questions, but I just am very um grateful that you've like put this together.

Um, and I'm just curious to see how it goes going forward with with our colleagues.

Thank you so much.

Can I just say one thing to that?

That's all right.

Um, because I didn't ground us in this.

When we first started having the conversation about the labor acknowledgement, we want it to be intentional that we weren't just having words on paper as you said, and that we were working with the different commissions to figure out what were the policies that we might be able to move forward um that are actually going to improve the lives of folks within our city.

And so I really appreciate you saying that's the intent.

So this is just like the foundation, but the intent is really to think about like what's the pain that exists in our communities and how can we turn that pain into policy that lifts them out of that suffering.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's it.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Uh Madam President.

Um thank you.

Uh so I do have a question about um I didn't get a chance to have a briefing, I think, from late last week when this came out and be able to kind of go back and forth and and have a briefing.

Have you had a chance to brief other council members?

We've offered briefings, correct?

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, you know how it works.

People take take them with enough time.

I mean, because this is this is a no, we offer briefings is what I said.

I said, and people take them or leave them.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um, and again, I didn't have my briefing because it just came at the end of last week, and we just haven't had time to do that.

So I would like to follow up more with a briefing.

Uh I think the and and the reason why is because I would like to have something that does go a little bit further for recognizing um labor and as we've had it.

I know that uh labor and and how its impact has been.

I think that um the impact and the same systems of colonization have impacted multiple um communities.

And so uh when I think about you know uh the work of migrant workers, I think of the Japanese, you know, exclusion act, I think of the you know, there are multiple things that could be captured if we're gonna do this.

I'd like to be really thorough about it and think about it so that it is reflective um of a broader um, I would say Denver and Colorado experience.

So that would be my ask is to be able to um add to.

I know that you are talking about you know, um specific to you know, enslavement, and I think that there are systems that still have impacted labor that that is um that we see today.

Yeah, um so I just I think I might go ahead.

Oh, I was just gonna say, are you open to that and having that you know discussion and and um because I know that there are other labor acknowledgments that also include um other groups, or at least mention those groups in their labor acknowledgement.

Like what are those specific groups that you have in mind because this was grounded specifically in back to Councilman Hines' point around the ownership, like this is about Africans that were taken that were stolen from their lands and forced into slavery and their labor building this country and often not acknowledge and the conditions that existed for those folks that were enslaved.

It's a very specific demographic and target that I'm that we were thinking about, and so I would love to better understand like in terms of expansiveness.

Who are you who are you thinking about?

So I'm thinking about other systems or other system, the same system.

Let me let me go up there.

The same system of colonization has impacts on other, you know, people of color of other groups.

So um Chinese exclusion, um the Japanese internment camps, the um the labor of migrant workers, um, the so that that's what I'm getting at is like being able to have something that also includes the labor, or is this just for forced labor?

And if that's the case, then do we include you know, Native Americans that also had forced labor here?

So I'm just saying I the that process of again, I wasn't part of the the working group or or the process that you had, so that's where a lot of my questions are coming from.

Just are they have they been considered, and are you open to having that be considered in this labor acknowledgement?

So again, I I'd have to take that back to the group.

It feels very much like a conversation that's um I'd have to take I'd have to take it back to the folks that we've we've um been in communication with because the intent was not to it was the intent is not about labor specifically, it's about it's about people being stolen from land and the conditions that they had to survive in in order to build this country, and so it's a very specific demographic of folks and a very specific labor that was unpaid, that had brutal conditions, um, and which folks were experiencing lynchings and being set on fire and all the other atrocities that folks that were stolen from their land had to endure in order for us to build this country, and so it's very specific to that ownership and the lack of I mean uh lack of many things.

But yeah, I'm I'm happy to take that back for feedback.

I know the group well enough that I don't know if they'd be open to how expansive I think you've described it, because it gets away at what the intent is.

And those same systems of colonization, the impact that it's had on I will go back to my family of experiences of not being able to um apply for jobs, being called dogs, not being able to um to uh access many avenues within our within our society um has that same impact as has occurred.

So, right, it's it's had that uh wave and effect within our system, and so that's where I feel like um, and if you could take it back to your to your group and to the committee um to be able to think about um how we can reflect.

I I would appreciate being able to reflect if it's something that we as a council are going to read every Monday or have in our labor acknowledgement, um I would appreciate that opportunity to have um not only um to have have a broader history be seen and that and that narrative to also reflect who we are here in Colorado or who we are here in Denver.

I appreciate that was I have anything else.

Um I don't know if I had anything else about about that, but that's that's what I would ask is that we could have that time to um go back.

It sounded like in the um timeline that you had, this is gonna go very quickly, and I would just appreciate being able to have the conversation and have it go back to committee um and have a briefing and all of that other.

I mean we did send out an invitation for anyone to receive a briefing.

And so if you all would like a briefing, just get those scheduled with my staff, we're happy to do that.

Yeah, we're gonna get to the floor.

That's what I would appreciate.

I mean, that's based on your schedule.

I'm happy to make myself available.

Yeah.

Um one of the things that I I will say is it sounds like it's what's happening in this moment is the the term labor specifically, and so one of the things that we might have also explore is maybe not calling a labor acknowledgement so that we can get so that it stays specific to the intent that we um desired, and we can come back to you specifically, President, um, with what we might be able to offer as an alternative.

Okay.

Um if I may, Madam President, um I just uh uh shared with the committee um solid ground in Seattle has a labor acknowledgement, and it starts by talking about uh the um 13th amendment and uh and then moves into um other exploited workers.

So it starts with um uh the slavery and the idea of ownership and um and so we I I could it is less common um but there are uh labor acknowledgements that could also talk about I I think in uh the Sea Seattle's version it talks about uh indigenous forced labor, uh Chinese uh exclusion era railroad and mining labor, Japanese American incarceration, Mexican, Latino uh agricultural and guest worker labor, um trafficked labor, undocumented labor, prison labor.

Um and so um just uh uh offering that as a uh as a potential, I mean we have Latino labor as uh as council president has mentioned, we also have Japanese American labor, although we had a governor who is more um understanding uh than uh than many other governors, uh Colorado governor was that doesn't mean that we didn't have Japanese American uh internship.

We obviously we had the Chinese labor, we had Chinatown in uh in Lodo and District 10, and uh clearly indigenous labor as well.

So um uh Madam President Pro Tem.

Thank you, uh Mr.

Chair.

I think Councilman Lucy, I think you're stri trying to strike that balance and hearing um council president's kind of requests, um I think your thought where you were kind of going along as far as like maybe it's it's not a labor acknowledgement, maybe it is something that is more specific to what you're intentionally calling out in this um in this statement, right?

And I think that that for sure, like I can appreciate um you know all of the experiences that have happened in our state, obviously, um and in our country, um, and you know how our country was founded, what it was founded upon.

Um but I think the intention of this statement is very specific, and I want to honor that.

And I think to honor that, then um I would be glad to like partner with you on that as well.

Like if there was if you know you had some other thoughts or your group had some other thoughts on, you know, maybe it is it is I don't know what I don't even want to um give any thoughts on like what it could be called, but I will leave that to the group to decide.

Yeah, uncomfortable.

I mean a lot comfortable.

Yeah, right.

Let me absolutely the slave, yeah, slavery acknowledgement.

And and and I think you know, that's for you is you have a coalition, you have a group of folks who've been working on this, I want to respect their work.

Um, but maybe that is the avenue to go in order to make sure that this is intentional and the purpose that it was set out to be.

Sure.

So for your feedback.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh if we do uh move in that direction, then I think Madam President's uh comment, we we might want to consider if there are other uh organizations or or um communities that might want something similar to and what does that look like our um uh Latino communities who um uh they weren't owned, but uh but they worked for pennies on the dollar.

I don't I don't know, I hadn't really seriously considered that.

Um but I don't want to uh if I certainly want to I feel uncomfortable and I and I think I should feel uncomfortable.

Honestly, yeah, I think I should feel uncomfortable, but uh uh but at any rate, I just uh I just thought I'd name that.

So uh council president, um what do you have a um well uh and I and I thank you, I do.

Um so to be able to have those conversations, what is the timeline that it would take for for you to be able to go back and talk with the committee and I'm calling it a committee, I don't know, the the group that you worked with.

Um and people to come back and so they're in the room.

But I'm saying what is the timeline to be able to have those conversations so that we're not pushing something through without having time to be able to have the to be able to continue the conversation and let them come back with the conversation, etc.

So I mean, so we can stick to the same timeline, and I would just reach out to folks that have those conversations with them.

Can you remind me what it was because I think it was pretty fast?

Yeah, August 3rd.

So that's next week, it's Monday.

I'm I'm in contact with my coalition.

Okay, I don't know if that's uh that seems very fast for me to be able to get a briefing and have the conversation and be able to make sure that you have that conveyed to your group.

I'm just I'm saying I think that seems very fast.

I would just like a little extra time.

Um to doing that so that we can just have the be able to consider the conversation.

I just didn't get, I just don't feel like I've had enough time to sit with it, and it sounds like what I'm sharing uh and my thoughts around um including additional labor, which may not be the labor or may fit into something else or not in this.

I don't know if August 3rd coming to the floor is enough time to give it the the time and the dedication that it needs.

Uh it council member Lewis, is there a uh a sense of urgency or um uh I I certainly understand that you've offered briefings, um, but I I just wonder if there's uh something that happens August 4th or or afterwards.

There's something that happens August 5th that's important to me, yes.

Councilman Catchman?

Yeah, I wouldn't change a word of of what you've written.

Um I am thinking that it is important that we do recognize the entirety of the mistreatment of the married communities that have uh unfolded since our founding uh as a nation and and as a state.

I don't I don't know the best way to do that, whether it's the existing land acknowledgement, the labor acknowledgement as we titled it now, and then a third one or maybe a fourth one addressing the various other communities, you know, the thought that that pops in my mind is it might be a good idea to form a uh uh a council working group look at that, how how we want to really know the I thought the land acknowledgement was a great first step.

I think this is a great second step.

Um but how we I think we'd all agree there are these other communities that deserve acknowledgement as well, but how that's best done.

Uh you know, I don't have that answer, but that just thought I'd throw my two cents in.

But as far as what you've written, uh I would be the last person to want to change a word of it.

Really thinking I would be open to having that conversation or to having some sort of work group or that council really helps and digs in and thinks about um how we reflect that.

Yeah.

As we um Councilmember Cashman said, we if we have a third or fourth I I don't want to um minimize the impact uh by having um a string of acknowledgments that we have if we do adopt a Chicano acknowledgement and a disability acknowledgement or um you know whatever the what um uh Japanese and uh Chinese American acknowledgement.

So I um yeah, and and I just want to clarify that wasn't um separately, that wasn't what I was suggesting.

I think that what you're bringing forward is of value and um wanting to really dedicate and be thoughtful about like what do we put forward and how how can we do this um in a way that we are reflective and and thoughtful and um and have that voice, I think as well from council and council members, and I know you mentioned a few that you um have spoken to, but you know, I think bringing this forward is of high value.

Um I also want to be able to be as thoughtful as we can because this is something that'll be within you know what we do and what you say and and every you know, I'm saying Mondays, but we say in other times too.

But that we have uh that we have the uncomfortable conversations, that we go through this and that we bring it forward as um as a council, you know, and I appreciate you really being the tip of the spear on that one to be able to move that conversation forward.

I just would ask for a little bit more time to be able to have the conversation with you for me, August 3rd, next Monday seems very fast to be able to have a deeper, more robust conversation.

Can you chair?

Um council president, are you asking for a delay of this for this to either stay in committee or for a date certain?

Uh I'm trying to understand that if you're saying that this is too fast, are you because this is an action item before us today?

Are we requesting a delay of this um to a date certain?

Um and if we are, I mean, I'm not calling the question, I'm just I'm just trying to get to where we're at in this dialogue.

I mean, I think it's a good question procedurally, and I would look towards hello resolution.

So yeah, so what would that look like?

Because I again I because it would bypass mayor council, it would go to the floor for a vote on Monday.

And so would we do would I don't exactly know procedurally what would need to have a question?

So my question would be clear since I've If there is a delay, is this a resolution?

The process for delay is just a basic um a request for uh another date certain for this to come back to committee, or is there a different process for a resolution?

And that's kind of my question, and I know council president may have a different question, but my question is is there a different process?

Because there's a lot of discussion of things that people are talking through.

I just need to understand if if we're asking for a delay, what's that step?

Sure.

Luke Paul Bassano, senior legislative policy analyst.

It would be a delay, it would be a postponement in committee delay to a date certain and uh Mr.

Balmasano if that were to um be what council president wants, what um when is the next available date?

Just to see what the check is I guess the question is if there would be an interest in more discussion or if it would just come back for action.

Uh, because we could certainly we could certainly put it on the next committee, which would be August 11th.

If we're looking for more discussion, that's a trickier question in terms of some of the other items we have coming up.

Um I know it looks like we do have a couple busy meetings in August.

There's uh potentially time at the end of September.

Um, but but FinBiz is is particularly busy.

So there's also the option of starting early or going late to accommodate additional discussion if we if we needed to go that route as well.

Thank you.

Uh Madam President Pro Tim.

Just because I want to make sure we I'm thinking about this correctly.

So um so if this were to go forward, I I will just be clear like I'm fine with this moving forward.

Um so if we have to take a vote on whether or not it delays, that's one question.

I think the second part of that is um if it were to go to the floor, I mean there is opportunity there.

We have our abilities to um you know request a postponement if if wanted or desired.

So this wouldn't necessarily be the like, you know, if there if there if not if councilwoman lewis is not able to then go back, have the conversation and then circle back with folks in that time, there are still other levers at that stage that it doesn't necessarily mean it has to go forward at that moment in time.

So like if the concern is you know, making sure there's adequate amount of time to have the conversations, I think that's still built in the process that we wouldn't necessarily it's not necessary.

I would say to leave it here because I think substantially, like it sounds like there's more of a question around the name of the acknowledgement of itself that would then if the if the intention is to have it be what it is and not to incorporate the other components, and that maybe is a separate thing as councilman cashman was talking about is like does that mean there's like looking at a separate kind of um acknowledgement that would incorporate other groups and this is on its own, um you know, and this could move forward as it's as its own, but then we still have um processes that can go into play if necessary if the information is not gathered in it in the time um before next week.

So I think of all that um so part of it I'm thinking, you know, do the work in committee.

If it goes to the floor on the third, to me, that doesn't give enough time because then you have to have everything um done and said by Thursday, which is two days.

I know that it won't be enough time to be able to get a briefing in the next two days just looking at my calendar right now.

Um and then uh it might be separate.

What I had um proposed was do we expand it to have the other um groups incorporated, which it sounds like you were gonna go back to committee to have uh go back to your working group for consideration and for that discussion.

Uh and it may turn out no, but I just want to be able to give enough time to be able to do the work in committee as opposed to having it wait and do the work on the floor.

So I would prefer to have to just I don't think delaying or I don't know if it would be called a delay, but um to be able to consider this for a date certain for I don't know next week was the 11th or no the week after next if that gives us two weeks, um, which I think is reasonable um to be able to connect and kind of determine you know, is it something separate?

Do we do another you know separate committee to think about a broader expanse?

Um also probably gives other council members time for their briefings as well.

Uh procedurally, if um if it was postponed to the next available committee date, August 11th, and there was still discussions taking place, a motion at the beginning of the committee could could move it to another date certain.

Um and then to also answer some of the other questioning.

If it does pass out of committee today, I know councilmember Lewis has asked that it's get Mayor Council and be filed, but there's no requirement that it be filed next week or the following week.

We could hold it from filing while discussions are had after committee and when it's deemed ready for the floor, we could we could file it at that point as well.

So what you're asking is what's the kind of next step.

So we could if again I would suggest to um the right terminology postpone to a date certain of a meeting on August 11th to bring back to committee, which gives us just a few weeks to um be able to circle back and and do some of that work in communication.

Is that your motion?

Yes, oops sorry, okay.

Um making a motion.

So uh council president moves to delay uh this until a date certain August 11th.

Is there a second?

I'll second it.

Um that is a proper motion with the second.

Can we have a roll call?

Yeah, if I can find it.

All right.

Council members Gonzalez Cutieras?

No.

Oh sorry.

Cashman.

Aye.

Rivera Campbell.

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Mr.

Chair.

Aye.

So sorry, thank you.

Close the voting and uh yeah, this is the four eyes, the ayes have it.

Um so this is delayed until August 11th.

Um thank you, Councilmember Lewis, for the conversation.

I look forward to um uh to the conversation about it I I think it's more than just the title, I think it's um where um where it where it stops, where it either um it stops here or it is more inclusive, and I think that's a reasonable conversation.

So I appreciate that.

Uh we have two consent items.

Uh neither have been pulled off, so they will move forward to the full body uh with no other further business.

We are adjourned.

Maybe and maybe I'm just getting old and my generation was a lot louder, but I feel that the more time you spend on the screen, the more time you spend talking to yourself.

Right?

And if you the more time you're spending talking to yourself, you're not really speaking out.