The Denver City Council returns on Monday afternoon for its weekly meeting, approaching a full agenda that reflects several ongoing city priorities: homeless shelter operations, housing, infrastructure and police overtime.

The agenda this week spans roughly 35 pages and includes two proclamations to be delivered during the 3:30 p.m. session, one in the 5:30 p.m. session.

The first proclamation will honor Chief Sonya Gillespie for her more than 30 years of dedicated service to the Denver Sheriff’s Department. The second honors Major Deric Wynn, also from the Denver Sheriff’s Department.

During the 5:30 p.m. session, the council will issue a proclamation honoring Michael Henry.

There will also be a required public hearing on 25-1704, a bill for an ordinance approving the park building plan for three new buildings to be constructed in City of Cuernavaca Park to serve as a hub for Denver Park Rangers, Parks Maintenance and Operations staff. The most prominent building, at 11,000 square feet, will serve as office space for operations staff who maintain parks in the northwest and downtown operation districts. Two additional buildings, each at 3,000 square feet, will be used for staff equipment and storage. 

Here are some of the highlights from the Dec. 1 agenda:

Housing, shelters and micro-communities

Among this week’s big-ticket items are a cluster of resolutions centered on the city’s efforts to house the homeless, including a proposed three-year, $30.4 million contract with Urban Alchemy, ending Dec. 31, 2028, for shelter operations and programming at The Aspen, a former DoubleTree Hotel converted into one of the city’s largest non-congreate homeless shelters.

Next is a one-year, $1.8 million contract with Bayaud Works LLC for programming and operations at the Stay-In Micro-community, a 54-unit site for adult single men and women located at 12033 E. 38th St. in Council District 8. 

The council will also consider a proposed amendment to an existing Volunteers of America Colorado contract, adding $1.1 million, for a new total of $3.64 million to increase the number of households the organization serves to 82, focusing on housing navigation, benefits and rental assistance.

Large civil construction on-call services

Elsewhere on the agenda are resolutions for eight separate contracts, each $50 million and for a three-year term, to provide on-call services for a variety of improvements to the City and County of Denver’s infrastructure. 

The eight contractors under consideration by the council include: AMES, Concrete Express, Flatiron Dragados, Graham, Hamon, Iron Woman, Kraemer, and SEMA.

The contracts, totalling $400 million in potential citywide construction capacity, offer the city’s  Department of Transportation and Infrastructure the flexibility to quickly deliver road, bridge and other civil infrastructure projects.

Citywide appropriations and cash transfers

An interesting new appropriation bill will be introduced on Monday.

Council Bill 25-1891 seeks to rescind $13.9 million from the city’s general fund contingency to address “unbudgeted needs.”

Among those needs is an $11 million cash drop to pick up the tab for unplanned and unfunded overtime tied to numerous protests and officer-involved shootings this year.

For 2025, DPD expects needing approximately $15 million in overtime pay and $5.3 million in separation payouts, the two primary areas where the department exceeded its available funding, according to city officials.

Part of that request would also cover shortfalls in DPD separation payouts.

The financial challenge for DPD stems from the fact that, historically, the department has covered overtime expenses by drawing on vacancy savings within its staff.

However, vacancy savings were removed from every agency budget to remedy the city’s $50 million shortfall this year. 

Other appropriation requests in the bill include a $1.2 million transfer from the general fund contingency to the Liability Claims Fund, which, according to city finance officials, has a balance of approximately $56,000.

The Denver City Council will hold its regular meeting Monday at 3:30 p.m., with the general public comment session scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.