A resolution approving a proposed First Amendatory Agreement between the City and County of Denver and Summer Scholars for after school recreation programs and swim lessons, citywide. Amends a contract with Summer Scholars by adding $117,416 for a new total of $744,916 for after school recreation programs and swim lessons, citywide. No change to contract duration (201522227). The last regularly scheduled Council meeting within the 30-day review period is on 10-26-20. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 9-15-20.
All right. Thank you. Moving on. The next item up is resolution 925. Councilmember Hines, would you please put council resolution 925 on the floor for adoption? I move that council resolution 25 zero 925 be adopted. Thank you. It has been moved and seconded by Councilmember Herndon. Questions or comments by members of Council. Councilmember Herndon. Thank you, Madam President. This is the contract that Parks and Recreation has for the Summer Scholars. At the advice of the attorneys, there is a this bill needs to be refiled. So Parks and rec has asked that we will vote it down in a corrected resolution to me will be filed at a later date. Thank you, Madam President. All right. Thank you, Councilmember Herndon. And as a reminder, council members are asked to vote no. Madam Secretary, roll call. Herndon? No. HYNES No. Cashman No. Kimmich No. Ortega No. Sawyer? No. Torres. No. Black. No. CDEBACA No. Clark. No. Flynn may. Madam President? No. Madam Secretary. Closed the voting and announced results. 12 nays, 12 nays. Council Resolution 925 has failed. The next item up is Resolution 941. Councilmember CdeBaca, please go ahead with your questions on 941. Thank you, Madam President. This one I am curious about what asset collections were performing and how this tool is used. This is church spunk. You hear me? I can hear. All right. Sorry, I was received short notice, but I'm very happy to be here tonight. But I'm driving literally home from New Mexico, so I made a car. I apologize for this. And it's this. So I don't have the for me, the the the third take. Can you hear me? Not very well. I'm asking if I can get pull over. Can you hear me now? Yes. Okay, good. So I'm going. I know that our court executive is available as well, and she might be able to communicate better. I'm just going to touch on a few points and have her. So I apologize for my dress and for the fact that I'm crying from the car. So basically, this is when when fines and costs are imposed by the court. You know, people can work out a payment plan. For their fines and costs, but. People who fail to. Engage with the court or not do not work out a payment plan. There are a certain amount of cases get referred to collections. This company is doing. Collections for the court for I think like 20 years. They do the collections for all the state courts in the state of Colorado and actually work with the state, the state court administrator's office. And what they do is when people have failed and just to. Because we have a whole collections department in seventh place who works with people, sometimes they can work out payment plans for like $5 a month, but it's for people who completely walk away. And don't engage. The what they do is they first. Collect restitution. For victims, which is really important. They also collect. Victims comp fees. That go to support victim comp. Funds here in the city and county of Denver. All of our fines and costs are. Most of them really are state. Statutory mandated, and they're set by the. State. We don't refer anything under $300. To the collections. Department. It's important to know that anything that's collected, as I said, goes to victims. It goes to victims comp funds and it goes to the general fund for the city of Denver. The court does not. Collect any of the money that goes directly to the general fund to support other city programs throughout the city. I'm just trying to look at my notes here. We also. This this contract really isn't any different. Except for because of the budget crisis. We're trying to find places where we can the city can have access to more funds. So before there's a charge and before this, we would pay up front, which I think by court executive could expand a little bit better. And now this is just shifting the same costs. And the historically this integral has collected about $3 million a year, which is going to pay back to victims in the general fund. And Kristen, if you're on. Here and you could give me a hand, I'd really appreciate that. Hi. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Okay, so really, the amendment with this contract is just to change the process by which our collection efforts are done. So previously the practice in the city was to restrict third parties from holding on to city funds for any period of time. We thought a waiver from the Department of Finance that would allow Integra recovery recoveries to actually collect the fees and costs directly, hold them in a trust account and deposit them to the general fund on a biweekly basis. Doing this frees up approximately $650,000 at the beginning of a calendar year back to the general fund, rather than us using that money to pay integral their collection fee per month. Okay. And so are any of are we levying fees on people right now who cannot afford them? And do we have a waiver process for any kind of COVID relief related to fees that we're leaving against people right now? And if I could step in and Christian, feel free to jump. In as well. So are all of our judges who are in criminal criminal court, state court in general sessions on a regular basis waive fees and costs. And I just had short notice. I'm happy to try to share that information. So anybody represented who's indigent always has a right. To ask the court to waive fines and costs, or are most. Of our judges on a regular basis. Do waive fines and costs, or at least give people a break? Also, they can work out a payment plan that is can be very, very minimal for a. Very long period of time. And they always talk, even if they're working with the. The collections department in our courts and it's not referred to collections. If something happens in their life that they. Want the court to reconsider, that they can always file a motion to reconsider. And certainly during COVID, the court has been very. Sensitive to code of we've done a number of things and added a number of orders to try to keep people safe and to try to understand that people. Are in dire. Financial situations. And so our judges are very tolerant of motions to reconsider. And Kristen, if you can have anything, I'd appreciate that. Now. I think you covered it really well. I will tell you, motions have been entertained to waive fees and costs, usually outstanding fees and costs due to COVID and some extenuating circumstances. We also ceased any new referrals during this COVID time and ceased active collections only until recently and as principal recoveries do any direct reporting to credit bureaus when there are delinquent payments. The court does not report to credit bureaus. No, ma'am. Awesome. Awesome. That's it for my questions, Madam President. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Councilwoman CdeBaca. And safe travels home, judge. Fun. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Next up is Resolution 976. Council members say to Barker, please go ahead with your questions on that one. Thank you, Madam President. I wanted just a list of what motels this covers. Under this contract. All right. And I believe we have Angela Nelson. Joining us to answer this question or if there's another agency individual. All right. Look in here for our other agency. Individual here. I'm not sure we have anybody on the line unless Skye Stewart might be able to answer this question. Sky, if you can hear. Hi. So sorry. This is Angie Nelson. Oh, good. It wasn't giving me an option to do anything but raise my hand. So I've got it now. So. 0976. Is that the one for us? Motels, Denver North? Yes. Okay. Yeah. So that is an amendment to add funds primarily for the Super eight motel. So us motels Denver North is the the operating name for that particular location in this amendment. Is that the 100% occupancy? Do we wrap all of their rooms or only a portion of them? We only run out of caution. So this has been a motel used first by Denver Human Services. And then when the motel program switched over to host for 2020, it was one that we continued operating with, but we just rent rooms on a per night basis with established rates in this contract. And is this one reserved for people who have COVID or are vulnerable, or who is this one for? Yeah. So this property is for families specifically. So it's it operated pre-COVID and May will operate post-COVID. It is not specific for any population other than families experiencing homelessness. It serves as a safety net shelter for families when other shelters are full. And how how are we defining family? The family is defined as a. An adult and a minor under the age of 18 in their custody. There's some more language in some of the oral information that helps to broaden that so that families can be defined. So just check in to see if I happened to have those notes pulled up. As far as the exact definition that the the motel voucher program uses, but most typically just an adult with a child in their custody. Do caregivers are caregivers if they're both over the age of 18, count under that family definition? So I would need to look into that. I know sometimes there have been some exceptions around that, but I think in general it is meant for families with minor children. That info would be helpful. And who is releasing these vouchers? Is it still the sheriff? No. So these are administered through a different partner contract with hosts of the Volunteers of America, runs a voucher rider position, and families are able to seek vouchers during the daytime or in the evening at three different community based locations so they can get them from the gathering place, from the VOA mission and from the Samaritan House. So those are the three current locations. While Denver Human Services remains largely closed to outside visitors. Got it. And I will just look forward to the rest of that definition by email if you have a chance. And that concludes my questions, Madam President. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Councilman. Next up, we have Councilwoman Torres. Thank you, Madam President. Angie probably. Same question or question line for you. Just knowing motels and hotels often have just a small number of ADA accessible rooms. How do how do we manage those needs? Do we hold some in case they're needed that are accessible? Has that come. Up as an issue or a barrier at all? So this motel with the Super eight this contract for us motels Denver north runs it sort of in tandem with a hotel that's owned and operated by the Volunteers of America called the Family Motel. If a family were to show up and have mobility needs, we would first seek to get them into the family motel. We have a lot more operational flexibility with Volunteers of America as our partner there to say, hey, you know, we've got a family with some accessibility needs. Can we try and get them into one of the certain rooms at that motel? And they're often able to help shift around occupancy to make those arrangements. I am not familiar with what all the operational assets would be with the Super eight. I know that they've been a a really responsive and flexible partner to us and I think would work to make those accommodations. But to my knowledge, we don't hold out any particular rooms, you know, set aside just for this. The amount of rooms we we use per night at Super eight can vary, you know, as little as five rooms a night up to at its peak this summer, we saw 60 rooms per night being used. So it was really, you know, has a lot to do with demand and capacity. Thank you. And thank you, Madam President. All right. Thank you, Councilman. All right. Looks like we got the questions answered on that one. The next item up is resolution 1980. Councilmember Canete, please go ahead with your comments on Resolution 1980. Thank you. Madam President, we get asked a lot like how are you making an impact and what is our city doing on certain challenges? And it is always difficult to get good news out and make sure that people are aware. So this resolution is a contract and it's a contract with a fund that provides assistance to workers who are left behind from other sources of assistance, unemployment funds. They were not receiving the CARES Act checks given by the federal government. These are folks who can prove they were working, prove that they are out of work due to the crisis that we're experiencing in our country. And they were left without any safety net to help them or their families. So our council came together with the mayor's office and the Office of Immigrant Affairs and invested in a Left Behind Worker fund. And we are now going to be continuing that investment with these dollars. But I just want to share for anyone who just didn't catch some of the outcomes what these funds have done. These funds, the first funds that we released and the private funds that matched them helped more than 2200 workers in our city from every single council district, including reaching those districts with more immigrants and more folks who are left behind. Secondly, those workers supported more than 3000 children. So the funds directly went to help households with very vulnerable kids. These funds were primarily used to support housing expenses. We have a really robust rental assistance program, but we know it doesn't work for everyone. Some people rent a room from someone else or don't have a written lease. They have a hard time using those formal programs. The first and foremost use was to keep families housed. Second, most common use was for food, and the third was for bills. I keep reminding folks there's no assistance program for cell phones and you can't get a call back to work without a cell phone. You can't get a COVID test result in some cases without a cell phone. You can't stay in touch with your elderly relatives who are vulnerable without a cell phone. And these are lifelines. And so helping folks pay those bills. So the workers that were helped came from the very essential worker forces that were affected in the hospitality industry, restaurant workers, janitorial workers who used to clean those downtown buildings that were empty for so long. And hotel workers were among the biggest groups. But you saw landscapers and others affected by this pandemic. These are the folks who keep our city running and it's good times. And I am just so proud that these funds were there to help them in these tough times. And so I know this is on our consent agenda, and I know our colleagues have been very united in supporting it. But I just wanted to share some of the impacts we don't get to see sometimes, especially when we're isolated right now some of the impacts of our work here on the council. But these dollars have made a difference. I want to thank the folks at Impact Charitable and the folks at all of the sponsoring organizations who have been helping to get the word out and vet these these dollars and these families and bring them together. And so thank you to the community partners and thank you to our community for really being willing to partner with the city on this initiative. Thank you. Well, thank you, Councilwoman Canete, and for your leadership on this topic. And I believe the last report that we got, District 11 residents had taken advantage of this greatly. They were ranked second for this fund. And so it is so important. So thank you and thank you to our colleagues for supporting this on the consent agenda tonight. The last item we have called out is resolution 921, and I have called it out only for a comment. And my comment will be very brief. I would like to just remind Roth Property Maintenance and the other contractors who are working on janitorial services in our city that on Friday I had a call with some employees of this and other janitorial services. And I think there needs to be a lot better communication and a lot better, I think just education for our folks who are working in the janitorial services because they're worried about their health, they're worried about having access to enough PPE, enough gloves, enough time during their day to actually wash their hands and follow all those protocols that we know are so important right now in the middle of a pandemic. And so I don't have a specific question on this one, but I think as we look at establishing a new end date, especially on this one, it's two 2821 and we'll be coming back around. Those are some of the questions that myself, personally and I know others on council are wanting to have answered how you're supporting our essential workers and those who are really at most risk as well, because they are immigrants and they are people of color. And we know that communities of color have been disproportionately affected and that people of color, especially Latino folks and black folks, are affected negatively much more than other groups due to COVID 19. And so that that wraps up my comment on that one. And that concludes the items to be called out. And so any bills for introduction are ordered published. Council members remember this is a consent or block vote and you will need to vote I. Otherwise, this is your last chance to call out an item for a separate vote. Councilmember Hines, would you please put the proclamations and resolutions for adoption and bills on final consideration for passage on the floor?