Employees of the City and County of Denver are expected to begin returning to the office on June 1 – over a year after most city employees began working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The return to in-person work will happen in phases to be announced in the coming weeks, officials said. In the meantime, residents should continue to follow current public health guidelines regarding access to city services.

This transition comes as rates of COVID-19 have experienced a relatively steady decline since the winter and everyone over the age of 12 is now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Colorado.

“As we have done from the beginning of the pandemic under the guidance of DDPHE, our COVID-related decisions will be driven by public health data,” said city spokesperson Theresa Marchetta, adding that the return will “minimize disruptions and ensure service delivery.”

Masks and social distancing will not be required in city offices as the requirements were lifted in Denver on Sunday; however, officials said the precautions are still “strongly encouraged” for people who are not vaccinated.

A survey of nearly 5,000 city employees found that 65.8% of respondents spend most or all of their workdays at home since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Of those employees, 98.4% said they want to continue working from home at least one day a week. The plurality of respondents – 32.6% – said they want to continue working from home five days a week.

Of employees from the City Council agency, 94.4% currently work from home most or all of the time and, of those, 100% want to continue working from home at least two days a week.

“While we all miss seeing each other and meeting constituents in person, we also realize there is benefit to the virtual world we’ve been living in,” said Stacy Simonet with the Denver City Council Legislative Services.

Simonet said each individual office will decide whether its employees will be able to continue partial remote work after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.

For the central staff of the City Council, in the summer employees will be required to work in the office at least two days per week, working the other days at home. Two or three central staff employees will be in the office each day.

City Council meetings are expected to return to in-person by June 14 or 21, Council President Stacie Gilmore said Wednesday. However, the council is currently considering a proposal to maintain remote options for the public to watch and participate in meetings.

To allow for this hybrid model, the council chambers are getting new equipment that will be tested in June. Once the additions are ready, council and committee meetings will be held in the chambers until the committee room can be updated.