DENVER — Even before he went from mayor-elect to Denver mayor, Mike Johnston put out a giant suggestion box.
His Vibrant Denver transition team received input from city employees and residents on what to do within every city department. Suggestions ranged from buying the Park Hill Golf Course to overhauling the backed-up permitting department.
And then there was a topic that showed up in multiple transition memos: work from home.
The memo from the “Employee Voice” transition team stated that hybrid/remote work was the number one issue.
“It was often positioned as an equity and economic issue. Many employees have parents, children, siblings or partners that require care and shared that hybrid schedules relieve the burden of the cost of that care. They noted that other counties (e.g. Jeffco) have instituted a 4-day work-from-home schedule,” the memo said.
The Denver Economic Development and Opportunity transition memo suggested city employees need to return to their offices. Under the section of “Enhance downtown vibrancy,” it states: “Have city workers work from the office, encourage state workers to work from downtown offices as well.”
And the City Attorney’s Office transition memo said that one of the proposed 100-day action plan items for Johnston should be to “resolve uncertainty around work from home before school year begins.”
Johnston’s 100th day in office would be October 25.
Want to read the transition memos? Here is the link to all 27 of them.
"We know the economic value of having people back in the office, in our center city,” said Vibrant Denver Transition co-chair Kourtny Garrett. "We also know, we need to recognize the psychological trends and incorporate that kind of flexibility so that we can solve for equity and fairness issues."
Garrett, who is also the president of the Downtown Denver Partnership, said there is no decision yet on employee in-person or work from home roles.
Though, in all the job postings for Johnston’s administration heads, the listing states:
Please note, all City and County of Denver Appointee positions will be in-person roles. We believe we can listen better, learn more, and act faster when we are able to build strong relationships in the same physical space. With this in mind, we do our work together in person. We value in-person interactions. Our office is not remote.
Working from home was only one topic. The transition memo for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure talked about “de-centering cars and building out transit, bicycle and pedestrian networks…”
One example was making Wynkoop Street from 17th to 18th streets, in front of Union Station, open to pedestrians only.
Other suggestions included more photo radar cameras, banning turns on red and adding speed tables to streets.
Another suggestion in the City Attorney’s Office transition memo listed work that the mayor should work to achieve but is not strictly critical to the administration’s success. One of those items included a decision on Park Hill Golf Course.
“Determine whether the city will enforce the agreement we have or try to acquire the property, and if acquiring it, finding the money necessary to do so,” the memo said.
That memo also said the city attorney should evaluate ranked choice voting for city elections “in order to save millions of dollars.”
Ranked choice voting would eliminate a run-off election for the Denver mayor’s race and city council races.
The transition memo for Arts & Venues suggested an optional “Night Mayor” job.
"It's more than just thinking about safety of bars and restaurants, it's thinking about providing services -- childcare services for hospitality workers. Where do these people park in safe areas? What things that apply to the traditional 8 [a.m.] to 5 [p.m.] business world are also true and we need to key in on the late night and evening hours?” Garrett said.
The transition memo on Denver International Airport (DIA) recommended that current CEO Phil Washington be reappointed. The memo suggested DIA working with the Regional Transportation District to increase the “frequency of trains and buses and expanding times that they run as well.”
Just because the memos were written by a team of volunteers picked when Johnston was still mayor-elect, the website has a disclaimer that the work of his team is not his work.
“These memos are in no way directives from or on behalf of the Mayor’s office,” the website states.
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