A proclamation designating May 21 through May 27 as “Public Works Week in Denver” and Congratulating the Denver Public Works Department’s Ten Employees of the Year for 2016.
Thank you. All right. We have another proclamation this evening. Councilwoman Sussman, will you please read Proclamation 605? Thank you, Mr. President. I have another wonderful organization to give a proclamation to. Whereas in celebrating the American Public Works Association 2017 theme of Public Works connects us. We recognize that Denver Public works through its 1300 employees, consistently delivers safe, high quality, cost effective services to the citizens of Denver. And. Whereas, as our city grows, Denver Public Works connects more people with a strategic vision focusing on smart growth and making Denver more sustainable, multimodal, attractive, resilient and transparent. And. Whereas, Denver Public Works employees are integral to our residents everyday lives delivering services that include street sweeping, recycling and refuse collection, pothole repairs, street paving and the mobility program supported by top notch vehicle and equipment technicians. And. Whereas, Denver Public Works enhances the quality of life in our city by managing and maintaining public infrastructure, including streets, alleys, drainage ways, sewers, bridges, traffic signals, street markings, signage, and on street parking and contracting and procurement and car sharing and perm and permitting programs. Yes meat to meet the needs of the public. And. Whereas, Denver Public Works Works continues to make significant contributions to our city's built environment managing the planning, design and construction of public infrastructure and new transportation options that help people get around town with greater ease. And. Whereas, public works would like to honor. The loss of Steve Hersey. Director of Traffic Operations and city traffic engineer since 2013. Who's out of the box thinking and level headed approach will make him honorary employee of the Year posthumously. His bright light will shine forever in our hearts. And. WHEREAS, the Council specifically recognizes and congratulates the Denver Public Works Employees of the Year for 2016 for their achievements, David Shore of Capital Projects Management. Amber Zollo, Finance and Administration. Robert Jergens. Fleet Management. Joe Purvis. Right of way. Enforcement permitting. Bill Gordon right of way services. Heather Burk. Office of the Executive Director. Kyle Smith. Solid Waste. Waste Management. Tim. Bone Street. Maintenance. Brant Thomas. Transportation and Mobility. Tara Nguyen Wastewater Management. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Council of the City and County of Denver, Section one, that the Council designates the week of May 21st through May 27th, 2017, as Public Works Week in Denver and congratulates the Denver Public Works 2016 Employees of the Year for their outstanding contributions to the Department and city. And Section two that the clerk of the city and county of Denver shall attest and affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation. And they copies hereof be forwarded to Denver Public Works and the ten public works employees listed above. Thank you, Councilwoman Sussman. Your motion to adopt. Thank you. I move that proclamation. 605 be adopted. It's been moved. And second, it comes by members of Council Councilwoman Sussman. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd first like to acknowledge that Steve, Hershey's wife, Becky, and children Daniel and Liz are in the chambers this evening. Thank you for coming. Thank you for letting us have Steve Hersey for a while. And let's give a hand for all the work that Steve Hersi did for us. I remember him so well and there was so many times that he helped me with constituents and constituent needs and he will be greatly missed. Each of us depends upon public works so much because it is the agency that we council members call the most often. There are several of you on my speed dial and I know you feel that like, Oh my gosh, is this where she calling me again? But the fact and the list of the things they do. Are exactly what we get. Most of our constituent calls about public works, of course, is the historical agency of cities. It is what the people think when they think of a city. It's people who plow the streets and pave the streets and pick up the trash and and take care of the infrastructure. It's the thing that city citizens. Think about. Worry about and care about. A lot. So I'm so glad to be able to make a proclamation to make this public works week. It should be public works year. Our public works department is so responsive and I couldn't be more grateful to them for the service that they give to the citizens of Denver and to the council members. Thank you, Councilwoman Sussman. Councilman Espinosa. So I would think just dealing with me would sort of merit getting into the chart, the list of employees of the year. But that said, very, very few of the people that I have sort of day to day contact with or not day to day, but routine contact with in northwest Denver made that list. And so all I want to say is I know how outstanding they are and how much of a joy it is actually to work with the people who come out time and time again, look at our situations, come up with solutions, address those situations. Sometimes the timetable isn't what I'd like it to be, but the everything is mindful, thoughtful and and comprehensive. And so since I don't see those names on here, I'm going to give the people that are here the benefit of the doubt, because if you're better than they are, you guys are awesome. So thank you all for your work. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Espinosa. Councilman. Thank you. It was so much so interesting Saturday that we hear the mayor's cabinet, the community and all the departments are there. And everybody who came up to represent the communities, they may say, where's public works? Where's parking? Where's traffic? I want to talk to these folks. They were the most revered department. There wasn't. And is just. So, so helpful to me and to all of us on the that the public works is so supportive and helping us with the issues is the day to day issues we have in the city. So I'm just so proud that this proclamation is coming forward and and also we're going to miss diversity to her. Steve is so such a cool guy. And and he went out with me several times and would talk to residents and say, let's fix this problem. It wasn't just wait next year, let's fix the problem. So he was a real action oriented guy and we're really all going to miss him. So congratulations to all the employees are being honored tonight and to George Delaney and being interim director. And I know George do a great job. And so thank you again for all you do for us. Thank you, Councilman. New Councilwoman Gilmore. Thank you, President Brooks. Thank you, Councilwoman Sussman, for bringing forward this very important proclamation. And in my short time in working with public works employees, I have always found them to be professional, dedicated and above all, caring. They care about our public safety. They will tell you straight up if something will work or won't work. And let's move on to the next item on the list, and I appreciate that, because then that enables me to educate and communicate with my constituents around why something won't work. And I've found that above and beyond anything most Denver residents love to be weekend and evening traffic planners. They they see an intersection. They I've even gotten Google Maps that they have kind of redrawn what public works employees have suggested. And you know I appreciate that give and take with public works employees and with our residents. And I have to definitely you know, I share Councilman Espinosa, you know, there's a few folks that that I work with very closely, and I don't see them on the list. And so I've got to commend the ten that are on that list, because you all have got to be rock stars. And and congratulations for this honor. And on a very personal note, you know, Steve has impacted my time on city council, one, by being so diligent and careful in his thoughtful recommendations for 56th Avenue. And the accident counts. And and just really wanting to make sure that whatever solution gets implemented is a responsible and intentional solution. And so I really appreciate Steve's thoughtfulness on that. And then secondly, I will never forget Steve coming out to a community meeting at a local school and we had a small group of residents and, you know, Steve walks in the door and I think, oh, geez, okay, he's here for this meeting. And, you know, he stayed the entire time. And we did small breakout sessions. And once again, you know, public works employees and just Steve's dedication and love for his job and his love of public safety will never be forgotten because the things that he has implemented throughout this city, his legacy lives on through our traffic signals, through our intersections that are safer. I mean, he definitely touched all of Denver and the residents who will never know his name or never know what he did. But we know that he dedicated his life to making sure that our citizens in Denver are safer. So thank you very much. Thank you, President. Thank you, Councilwoman Gilmore. Councilman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilwoman Sussman for bringing this forward. David, Amber, Robert Jo, Bill, Heather Kyle, Tim Brant and Tara. You all represent the many, many employees of public works that make us all proud of the great city that we live in. For the quality of the work that you do in making it a beautiful city, a city that everybody now desires to want to live here. Right, because they're coming here in droves. But we all owe you a debt of gratitude for the work that you do day in and day out that make each of us look good . Yeah, we're. We're knocking on your doors and calling you and sending you lots of emails to take care of the different problems that constituents bring to us. But you all help us make those things happen. And, you know, just keep this as a city that that everybody desires to be in. I know that many of us have folks on a first name basis. You know, our constituents have to dial three, one, one. Some of us are told to go to the city council's 311 number, but most of us go directly to the folks in the field that we know on a first name basis, because we know you all are the ones that make things happen. And I just want to say thank you for the work that you all do. And to Steve, Hershey's family, thank you for being here. We know that when anybody serves the public, no matter what role, capacity you serve in, your family sometimes takes I wouldn't say a backseat, but, you know, they they also sort of are in it with with you. And so to his family, his wife and his daughter. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having shared him with us. We appreciate the work that he did as well. And I just want to acknowledge that we now have the new traffic engineer, Justin Schmitz, in the audience with us. And I'm looking forward to following up with you on a problem that we're working together. But again, thank you for the work that you all do day in and day out in the way you represent all of the rest of the public works employees. Thank you, Councilwoman Ortega. I want to say to all public works, you're going to hear from all the council because they're trying to get their project going right now, but. Guzman-Lopez So for the record, I mean every street in West Denver in my district was paved in the last ten years and alleys are on the way. And so I'm not trying to get. I'm just saying thank you. And and I remember this moment and there was a moment. Now, everybody does this because it's cool. But a long time ago, we saw a crew and we brought then-Mayor John Hickenlooper to the district and to a 34 South Main Street right in front of where I grew up and. The streets are. There were terrible men. There were the worst street I had ever seen. And I went through these streets and I and did a tour of the district and him and R.D. and a lot of folks that were part of the administration. And they drove by and John Hickenlooper brings his convertible. I don't know why he brought a convertible to the most rugged part. It was like a four by four, you know, territory. We stop at this address and I said, hey, by the way, Mr. Hagan. Mr. Mayor and I was brand new on council. And I said, These streets haven't been done in about 27 years. Nobody has touched a street in 27 years. And he said, Oh, come on, you got to be kidding me. And I said, No, no, no, no. Open the door. I stopped here for a reason. He looks out. I see seals initials. Those are mine. I did that when I was five years old. I said, Believe me when I say that nobody's came out here since then. He looked at me and our public works director was Bill Vidal, and he said, We got to we got to do something about this. We went out there. Two years later, that street was paved. And the best thing about it, colleagues, is that it was somebody from my neighborhood paving that street who grew up on that block . And those of you who know what it's like to pave streets, it's 200 degree weather because they had to do it in the summer so that it gets together. But it's also there's the heat of the asphalt. It's the machinery. It's it's it's an art and a science, just like earlier. And my hat's off to you all. Because you people don't realize that that's what makes neighborhoods. That's what turns them around. That's what we the one that's a such a big quality of life issue. And it's not just that. It's the striving. It's everything that embodies the public works department. Everything that you do touches the lives of folks in such a great way. It is the essence of our city. And and let me just say this. Yesterday, I spoke to my daughter's class and they talked about civics, and they're a bunch of fourth graders. And one of them asked, well, why is it important, you know, why? We were talking about the importance of respecting people in uniform. They were talking about the firefighters and the police. And I said, Yeah, but they're still mourning. Oh, yeah. The EMT. Yeah, yeah. But the men and women who throw your trash. The men and women who go out there and fix the potholes. Also also the uniforms that you have to respect because they are also public servants. And so when we say that I want to get back to that day in our society, we respect everybody in a uniform. But it's easy to respect and I want to make sure that we do that. I mean, we are doing that tonight. But but just on behalf of our district. Thank you. Our streets are done because of you. Thank you, Councilman Lopez. Councilman Cashman. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to echo congratulations to the ten employees of the year for 2016. And I'm sitting here wondering how the heck you pick out ten out of the Department of Public Works. You know, I've said numerous times that my friends ask me, what's the big surprise I have since taken this job? And I always tell them that the biggest surprise to me is how competent and hard working our city employees are. Because when I when I was just another taxpayer out there in the neighborhoods, I'm thinking, these people don't know what they're doing. They're overpaid. They're lazy. And you get in a little bit behind the curtain and you realize they're not lazy, they're hardworking. The department's understaffed. They're they're underpaid compared to what they could probably be making out in the private sector. And so thank you all very much for the work that you do on a daily basis. There's no department in the city that touches just about every family in the city and county of Denver several times a month like Public Works does. And it really is that day to day thing that that is our quality of life. I mean, we talk about big events and dramatic buildings as important to making Denver a great city. And what makes Denver a great place to live is that, yeah, we're getting our roads paved and the trash gets picked up regularly. And if there's a problem, you know, you have the ability to access your government. And I'll, I think, congratulate Justin on taking over some new responsibilities. But I have Justin was in the office last week for a just a kind of a catch up on things. And so we had our board where, as you all know, traffic is is one of the biggest problems in the city. And Justin and his people are getting deluged with pleas for help. And so we have a whiteboard. And I think we listed about 15 or so, you know, situations that we had thrown on Justin's list. And I turn turn to my aide, Brant. And I said, you do realize that Justin has at least 11 of these lists for every district, so thank you for what you do. We understand the challenges of the job and its demands. And as far as I'll add, my respect and celebration for the life of Steve Hersey. And I never got to know him well enough. And I say that my impression of him was he was a very gentle man. When I had questions for him, he was always available and responsive. But as I said, I never got to know him well enough. Talking to someone about his memorial, I find that we shared a common fondness for the music of the Grateful Dead, and that one of the songs played at his memorial was one of my favorites , Broke Down Palace. So I did took a few minutes this weekend and put that song on the box and thought of Steve. So thank you for loaning Steve to us. His service was important and appreciated and will be remembered for a long time. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Cashman. Councilman Flynn. Thank you, Mr. President. What makes this city work is public works at the foundation at the core, everything from mobility streets, trash and essential sanitation, which is a public health issue. Wastewater. What makes the city work is public works. And I want to thank I just want to join everybody else in thanking the public works crew that for all the work that they do so efficiently and for being so responsive to our constituents needs and requests. There I want to echo or I want to corroborate what Councilman Cashin just said about Steve. I got to know Steve when he was working at DOT for I think about 20 years, a little over 20 years at sea, Don. He was the region six and then Region one traffic engineer. And when I was covering transportation, I would have plenty of opportunity to talk to him. And I can tell you, Councilman Cashman, he was a he in my in my estimation, was just a not only a competent engineer, but a stellar engineer and a wonderful man to work with and to get to know. And he will be missed a lot. And just in the just an already has my record I didn't request a project I requested, not a project. Keep those flashing yellow arrows out of my district. Thank you. Someone one knows how to drive them. Public works. You see what I mean? It's just getting going. Councilman Clark. Thank you, Mr. President. You know, I. Want to echo so much of what my colleagues have already said, and as as they were going. Through and talking, you know, I. Realized when. Councilwoman Gilmore was talking about constituents coming up with Google Maps, that. Solved kind of problems because of their traffic engineering degrees that they don't have. Realized. It's not just constituents who do. That, because I'm pretty sure that either my natural resource degree. Or my degree in nonprofit. Management must also qualify me because I have provided Google Maps to plenty of public works staffers saying, Can't we just solve it like this? And Councilman Espinosa might think that he's the biggest handful to handle up. Here, but I'm sure that every single one of us have been a handful for. Someone. At some. Point, as we muddle our. Way through things that we we don't have degrees and training. In. And and everyone. That I have worked with in public works is so understanding and so patient with me and I'm sure with all of my colleagues. As you walk us through how these things work and the parts of it that we don't understand. And work for our. Constituents to come up with solutions that really do work. And I'm so thankful for that. I was even remembering just a couple of weeks ago when I was out looking at a street with Justin and with Andrew. And as we were talking through this problem and potential solutions, and then I was like, You know what? We could do this thing and I don't even know what it's called, but I've seen it around. It's like the stripey thing. And they very patiently nodded their heads and oh, what a great idea. And then handed me the printouts that already had that stripey thing on it in that place that they had already decided was the solution. And so for, you know, just for. All of the hard work. And for for dealing and putting up with us and it was such grace, I just wanted. To say thank you and. Congratulations. To to our. Public works employees of the year to rise to the top of a tremendous. Group of individuals is really outstanding. And to Steve. Who was an all star among that. Group and will be sorely, sorely missed. Thank you for everything that all of you do. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Clark. Councilwoman Black. Thank you. I wasn't going to say anything, but I didn't want to be the only person who didn't acknowledge you. Public works. And I hope everyone I work with I say thank you to every time I talk to you because I appreciate you all very, very much. So I hope you know that. And to the Hersey family, I was working on a big project with Steve and and we are devastated. And you have all of my sympathies. And I do have a little memento for you that I will mail to your house. Thank you. All right. I wish I could be a fly on the wall when your phone hangs up in the public works office from a city councilperson and things that are said. We just appreciate you all and the the issues you have to deal with coming from council and the mayor's office and all those other things. You guys just do a great job. And I got a chance to attend Steve Harris's memorial, and I didn't get a chance to say this, but Steve actually has had a big impact on me, and it was because he put a light up right next to the Kohl Middle School that not a lot of people know about on MLK and a group of Spanish speaking moms organized to get this going. And, you know, public works studied it and studied it and finally decided to implement it. And Steve said, I want to I want to go to Cole to talk about this light. And I was like, Steve, you don't really need to in this African-American, Latino community, it could be, you know, engineers don't, you know. And he came and won the whole crowd over just his gentleness, just his way to explain what was going on. And it was just one of those powerful moments where you just say, this is more than just an engineer. This is a good man. And so I am forever grateful. And for him and Miss Becky, thank you for lending him to us. And and Liz, I lost a father last year, and so I'm with you. But he was a great man. And you should be very proud. And thank you all. Public works for all the hard work that you guys do. All right. Madam Secretary, Raquel Susman. Hi, black clerk. Hi, Espinosa. Hi, Flynn. Hi, Gilmore. I heard in. Cashman can reach Lopez. New Ortega. Hi, Mr. President. I. Please close voting, announce the results. 1212 1112 ICE Council Bill 605 has passed. Madam Secretary, I see 11 ice up here. Did we miss something? Do you? Oh, I do. Okay. Oh, you miss me? Okay, great. Uh, six or five has been adopted. Councilwoman Sussman, is there anyone you want to bring up? You bet. Mr. President, I'd like to invite a long time friend and colleague and our new interim director of public works, George Delaney. Okay. Thank you, Councilwoman Sussman, and thank you to you all for this proclamation tonight. And let me assure you first that we love getting your phone calls. Oh, sure. We love the challenges and the opportunities that you present us with. And we we smile about them and gladly go on about trying to fix those issues for you on a regular basis. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about the 1300 men and women who make up your Department of Public Works, their commitment to making the quality of life in Denver, what it is, and to improve it every day. You know, we're experiencing unprecedented growth in Denver. The demand for those services by our folks in public works increases almost daily. And these men and women rise to that occasion. They rise to the challenge and I believe are successful in meeting those those challenges. We have several things we can go on and on about the things that public works does. But for instance, the voter approved measure to way we're now paving more streets than we ever have in the past. We are building out our bicycle network every day. We are improving, working to improve pedestrian safety. And with you and the mayors support, we have money now to start filling in gaps in sidewalks so pedestrians have more connectivity along city property to either get to their destination or to transit or what have you. We strive for continuous improvement in public works and I'm several of you. I think you were provided a copy of this week. We produce a plan called Our Smart Plan every year, and the Smart Plan is basically our work plan. It tells you and any citizen what we plan to do on a on an annual basis. But we take it one step further in public works. We actually publish a report card and says, this is what we told you we would do and this is telling you what we did. And if we didn't do everything we told you we would do, we have a reason for that. So that's the kind of accountability that we strive for in public works on a routine basis. Sitting behind me are some of the outstanding employees, managers and directors of public works led by city engineer and Deputy Director Leslie Thomas. I'd like them to stand and be acknowledged for and for and appreciate what they do for us every day. Lastly, I would like to thank you for acknowledging our colleague Steve Hersey in your proclamation tonight. We lost a cherished colleague unexpectedly and his absence cannot go unnoticed. In his role as a city traffic engineer. Steve was a very important part of public works. He is part of our public works family and he will be greatly missed. Clearly, he was a very respected, professional, respected within the ranks of public works, but also respected by you all. And that was very gracious to hear from each one of you regarding Steve. So I want to thank Steve's family for being here tonight. His wife Becky, his daughter Liz, and glad that they were able to hear from each of you, since they've already heard from all of us how much we appreciate it, Steve. So thank you very much. And so with that council, thank you for the proclamation. We appreciate your support. We are always happy and willing to help and recognition of our employees for what they do every day is very, very important to us. So, again, thank you for the proclamation.