The Denver city council will soon consider proposals that would begin contracting out migrant sheltering services to a private company, something the Department of Human Services has handled to date.

The proposal advanced on Wednesday from the Safety, Housing Education and Homelessness Committee meeting, in which city staff told councilmembers the recent surges of migrants have stressed multiple city departments, staffing levels and is draining budget resources.

Jay Morein, executive director of Denver Human Services, said there have been a number of challenges in finding sites to shelter migrants as well as with intake at those sites.

The volatility in the number of migrants being served amid surges and then “quick disbursement” of migrants who arrived in Denver made staffing difficult too, he said. The Emergency Operations Center and Mass Care Department Operation Center drew staff away from their typical responsibilities as well, Morein said.

“The city doesn’t really have the experience or expertise in being able to serve the migrants,” he said.

A proposed contract with GardaWorld Federal Services would initially last through March 2024, with the option for two one-year renewals. The contract would not exceed $40 million in total and no more than $20 million this calendar year.

Services would include providing congregate shelter for up to 1,000 people, co-locating that shelter with reception and intake services, providing a 1:30 staff-guest ratio, and overflow capacity at city motels. GardaWorld was still vetting three different locations as of Wednesday.

The city chose GardaWorld Federal Services after a competitive process that garnered five respondents, Morein said. GardaWorld was largely chosen because the staff believe it will be able to adapt quickly to changing needs in the city and because it has experience with emergency sheltering services.

GardaWorld Federal Services Vice President Scott Elliott said the Virginia-based subsidiary that would be handing the contract is solely focused on support services for governments, providing response logistics, medical services, security services and canine services.

GardaWorld operates direct care and medical services to South American migrants on behalf of the Health and Human Services department in El Paso, Texas, which sees similar surges to Denver, Elliott said. GardaWorld provided similar programming in San Antonio. They can mobilize turnkey emergency shelters in 96 hours, he said, particularly in hurricane prone areas.

Councilmember Paul Kashmann voiced concerns about reports he read scrutinizing the corporation’s activity and performance and stressed his desire that the council receive assurances GardaWorld would deliver on its promise to respect migrants’ human dignity.

Senior Vice President David Watson said they do not share information about the migrants they serve with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Watson read a statement from President Pete Dordal in response to concerns raised about the company by the city, he said. The statement said GardaWorld is nonpartisan and disputed reports that GardaWorld aided Florida with relocating migrants across state lines.

Contracts linked GardaWorld to a program led by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that transported migrants to Democrat-led cities, the Denver Gazette’s news partner 9News reported. The company told 9News it would not be involved in flying migrants out of state if Denver awards it the contract.

The company does contract with Florida’s Division of Emergency Management for disaster response, historically for hurricane disaster response, employees said Wednesday.

The city has spent nearly $18 million responding to the unfolding crisis. Mayor Michael B. Hancock has warned — almost since Denver first got involved in sheltering immigrants in early December — that the cost had put a strain on the city’s finances.

To date, the city has been reimbursed roughly $13 million from the state of Colorado and the federal government.

Over the past six months, Denver has sheltered nearly 12, 000 immigrants. The fleeing immigrants from Central and South America — particularly Venezuela — is illustrative of the U.S. border crisis with Mexico.

The immigration dilemma has spilled over into other cities — including Denver — which is more than 600 miles from the Mexican border in El Paso, Texas.

While migration is always taking place, it was the arrival of 90 immigrants at Union Station downtown that put the issue on the radar of city officials in December.

Stephanie Adams, acting deputy chief financial officer for the Denver Department of Finance, said Wednesday that funding the contract was a high priority to minimize the city’s cost burden.

“This is an emergency,” Adams said.

Reporter Nico Brambila contributed to this story.