A proclamation celebrating and thanking Kelly Velez for 33 years of outstanding service to the City and County of Denver upon her retirement.
Then the new Madame Secretary. Thank you, Councilwoman Black. See no other announcements. We're going to move on. There are no presentations and there are no communications. We do have two proclamations this evening and we're going to do it a little bit different. We're going to do these two proclamations in a block because they're brought forward. They're internal and very close to home for us with a couple of our longtime staff members who have given so much to this body and to the city. And so we're going to bring them forward as a body. And Councilwoman Sussman is going to be the voice of the body to bring this forward. And we're going to vote on them in a block instead of separately. So, Councilwoman Sussman, could you read Proclamation 1090 and 1091? It is my pleasure, Mr. President. Thank you. The first one is celebrating and thanking Kelly Velez for 33 years of outstanding service to the city and county of Denver. Whereas Kelly has announced her retirement from city and county of Denver after 18 years with city council and 33 years total of loyal and dedicated service. And. Whereas, Kelly began her distinguished career with Denver City Council in 2000 as Council Secretary, organizing and overseeing procedures in council meetings, correcting and assisting council members with motions, tallying and verifying votes, and often staying late in the night as council members in the public debated legislation in over 800 council meetings, Kelly is well known across the city for her quick speaking skills, reading all the bill titles into the record. And. Whereas, Kelly is known for her professional and institutional knowledge of city government training new council presidents every year or every other year incoming council members, central staff, executive directors and aides. And. Whereas, Kelly was the go to person for the Sayers system. And now and then GRANICUS, which are the technology systems that manage council and committee meetings. And. Whereas, Kelly is famous for her creativity best exhibited exhibited in diverse training, she designs for council members and staff making council members comfortable performing from the dies during council meetings through prizes, noisemakers and jokes, softening the mood and relaxing everyone so they don't take themselves too seriously. And. Whereas, Kelly is black belt trained and certified in lean business processes and had contributed many innovations to the Denver City Council, making the body's operations more efficient, she was instrumental in revamping the legislative workflow process and consent calendar. And. WHEREAS, Kelly makes every person and every issue the most important when brought to her attention, dropping everything she is doing to listen to a request from a council member, staff member, or a member of the public in person or over the phone and immediately addresses it. If she doesn't know the answers, she researches it and provides it through information, anticipating the next question and answering it without even being asked. And. Whereas, Kelly coordinated the Denver Employees Charitable Campaign for City Council, inspiring employees to donate part of their salary to charities and worthy causes. And due to Kelly's organization, Advertising and Engagement Efforts, City Council exhibits one of the highest percentages participation in the campaign and raises the most money and has inspired other coordinators and other departments to replicate Kelly's best practices on how to make campaigns more effective. And. Whereas, Kelly proudly shares the talents of her grandsons, Isaac and Jessie, who excel in soccer and music, Kelly taught Jesse to play the fiddle, and he has become a national success. Winning small fry competitions at the National Western Stock Show and the National Old Time Fiddlers Contest and Festival in 2016, one of the top fiddler competitions in the world. And. Whereas, Kelly takes pride in her work and is committed to providing high quality and all that she does, Kelly's work ethic, commitment, organization and energy for her job are unparalleled and unmatched by anyone when training employees to cover for her during council meeting, Kelly advises, If you mess up or the system doesn't work , just smile. And. Whereas, Kelly was a willing mentor to new staff, a repository of council, history records and institutional knowledge for colleagues, and an inspiration to others to be kind solely by example. Kelly was is a true joy to work with as a colleague or in any interaction, and now therefore be a proclaimed by the council, the city and county of Denver. That Section one the Council hereby recognizes and thanks, Kelly Velez, for her 33 years of service to the city and wishes her a wonderful retirement in Section two that the clerk of the city and county of Denver shall attest. And a fix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation. And that a copy be delivered to Kelly Velez. And in addition to losing Kelly to retirement, we are also losing longtime colleague Shelley Smith.