Members of Denver’s Governance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee unanimously advanced recommended changes to the city code that would ensure council members have adequate time to review big-ticket contracts before voting on them.

The proposed legislation, presented last week, aims to clarify the city’s 30-day review period and amend the rules of procedure to require that contracts, grants, and intergovernmental agreements be filed at the same time as the bill or resolution approving the agreement.

Additionally, copies of such documents would be required to be available at committee meetings before advancement to the full council.

Resolutions are generally filed and placed on a 30-day review period, with the final regularly scheduled council meeting typically falling within this time frame.

However, Councilmember Kevin Flynn, who represents Denver’s District 2, told the committee on Tuesday that council members often don’t receive the actual contract documents until they are officially filed on Thursday for the City Council’s action on Monday, leaving them with four days for review. 

Not all City Council members sit on all committees, and may be seeing a contract for the first time on the Thursday prior to their required vote.

Under Rule 3.6, any council member may delay a vote to the next meeting if more time is needed.

“I can’t speak for other members, but I assume it’s the same. I spend most of my weekends not out having fun and recreating, but reading contracts and other things,” Flynn said. “And some weeks are tougher than others.”

Flynn recalled a particular week in December when the City Council had 27 contracts to review before its Monday meeting.

The rationale behind the measure is that City Council committees include only some members as voting members and cannot approve contracts.

Committees merely determine if an item is ready to be submitted or filed for full council consideration.

The City Council has put off voting on major city contracts over the past two years, citing a lack of time to review contracts or missing agreements.

Recent examples include delays around the city’s new National Women’s Soccer League stadium, where voting on a $70 million public funding package was delayed due to a lack of financial specificity and a finalized public benefits agreement.

In August 2015, the Denver City Council voted to shave 18 days off the approval process for major contracts by shifting to a system that uses resolutions rather than ordinances. 

Prior to 2015, council members took action on such items through bills that required two readings, giving voting members 11 days for review and questions.

As it stands now, contracts requiring City Council review – those over $500,000 – are considered as resolutions, not ordinances.

Resolutions, which are used to express policy or direct administrative actions as opposed to the laws or regulations created by ordinances, require only one City Council meeting for approval and don’t have to be published in a newspaper.

The new changes, if approved, would take effect 10 weeks after approval to allow agencies to adjust workflows.