The Denver City Council voted to overhaul the city’s contract review rules Monday, requiring draft agreements to be shared with the council before being heard at committee meetings.

The move aims to amend City Council rules of procedure to require that, when an item, such as a contract or intergovernmental agreement, is presented to a City Council committee, it be accompanied by the signed document.

If the document is not signed, a draft would be a suitable substitute.

Bill co-sponsor Councilmember Kevin Flynn described the measure as the culmination of many “fits and starts” to improve the council’s charter responsibility to review and vote on contracts, a charge that has been in place for more than 40 years.

“We will give a shout-out to agencies for doing, almost always, a very good job of explaining what the contract will say when we get it, but that’s not enough,” Flynn said. “That doesn’t substitute for having the actual document in hand.”

Specifically, the new procedure states that at least a draft of the contract must be filed by Thursday for the next week’s committee series.

This way, when the full City Council is ready to vote on the matter during its regular Monday meeting, about a week later, final documents will be in hand.

“I just want to highlight how much of our job actually is review of contracts,” At-large Councilmember Sarah Parady said. “You know, it is by far, just by volume, the biggest type of thing that we are asked to look at, and where our money goes.”

Last week, a proposed contract to replace the city’s e-bike and scooter vendors stalled for the second time when a City Council committee declined to advance it without further review and a “redlined” version of the agreement.

Prior to that, in mid-March, Tim Hoffman, policy director for Mayor Mike Johnston’s office, asked members of the City Council’s Health and Safety Committee to postpone its vote on a proposed 12-month, $150,000 contract with Arizona-based camera maker Axon by one week.

The delay offered the administration additional time to finalize the contract before presenting it to councilmembers for review as promised.

“We are getting pretty close to having that (contract) prepared for you, but it was not ready in a timely manner to present to you all in advance, to give you the time to review,” Hoffman said.

“So I think this (new rules of procedure) will strike a very good balance,” Parody said. “And probably no coincidence that it’s, you know, the editor in Councilmember Flynn, and the lawyer and me, really want more time to read those.”