A proclamation celebrating and thanking David Broadwell for eighteen years of outstanding legal service to the City and County of Denver upon his retirement.
Thank you so much for being here. And thank you to the delegation. You know, a good deputy mayor, by the way. He dresses you. You look sharp, sir. Nice three piece. Okay, we are going on to our second proclamation. Proclamation 1060. Councilwoman, can you please read this? And before you read this. David Bravo. Can you please come up here? Thank you, sir. Okay. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. President. I am proud to read on behalf of the entire Council Proclamation 17 Dash 1060 celebrating and thanking David Broadwell for 18 years of outstanding legal service to the city and county of Denver upon his retirement. Whereas David Broadwell has been a loyal public servant in the state of Colorado for more than 35 years, including making history as the then youngest city attorney in the state when he was appointed in Glenwood Springs at the age of 28. Brief service in the city of Arvada and seven years of service at the Colorado Municipal League. But whereas, he also always remained a proud Tarheel after being raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and cutting his teeth as a first time municipal attorney in Kabul, North Carolina, where his distinguished legacy began with a wheelchair ramp and an ordinance for the preservation of trees. Whereas David is most known for his workhorse approach to the job of assistant city attorney over his 18 year career with the city and county of Denver. Taking pride in his work, but sitting quietly in the back of most rooms while appointees or elected officials took center stage. Yet he stepped up and shined when called upon taking the mic. When asked by council members defending the city as a trial attorney and once taking the reins as acting city attorney. And. Whereas, David is beloved for his 14 years of service as our City Council liaison, which, when multiplied by the 30 council members he served, counts as closer to 420 years of actual service, which he handled with grace and unparalleled integrity. Serving as a loyal adviser and legislative drafter for each individual council member. Even when we disagreed and he had to represent us at the same time, while at the same time maintaining the highest standards of adherence to the city, charter and law , and always with an eye to the protection of the city and the city council as an institution. And. Whereas, David is a scholar and one of the foremost masters of the fundamentals of Colorado municipal law, including his passionate and effective defense of home rule powers and the nuances of navigating innovative public finance under TABOR. And. Whereas, Denver has also benefited from his penchant for creativity and innovation, as evidenced by a legacy of drafting ordinances of first impression and many that have become models nationally, including the first and several subsequent regulatory schemes to govern legal marijuana. A razor sharp local approach to the construction defect issue. A one of a kind, duly funded, dedicated housing fund, the pending tourism improvement district. And a bill to disentangle Denver from immigration enforcement. And. Whereas, David is an excellent writer and oral communicator who has also mastered a complex form of non-verbal communication through exquisite facial expressions that would preclude his success in a game of poker, but which often serve to save us from ourselves by alerting attentive council members when we've gone off the deep end or when it's time to stop talking and let him chime in. And whereas, David is an incredible athlete who often combined his multimodal tension with his love of the city as he drove, biked or ran through various parts of the city while contemplating the implications of the policy debate of the day on different neighborhoods. And. Whereas, David is a good man, a great friend, and a mentor whose encyclopedic knowledge, brilliance, memory and analytical skills, patience and kindness have helped council to understand the city, its laws and our rules. And. Whereas, David is also a dedicated and loved father and husband who often sacrificed time with his family to meet the high demands of public service, but did so in a way that never left his wife, Carol, of 26 years in doubt, in her words, that he was always most committed to them. And whereas, we are forever indebted to indebted to David for his personal and professional talents and contributions, and are only comforted in our sadness over his departure by the knowledge that once he crosses the Rubicon to retirement, he deeply deserves the break to travel, run, pedal, enjoy craft beers and to have total control over the future sharing of his talents. Should he, as we suspect, not remain fully retired now, therefore be proclaimed by the Council of the City and County of Denver. That Section one the Council hereby recognizes and thanks David Broadwell for his 18 years of service to the city and his 14 years of service specifically to the City Council and wishes him a wonderful retirement. Section two that the clerk of the city and county of Denver shall attest in a the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and that a copy be delivered to David Broadwell. Thank you. Councilwoman Kenneth, your motion to adopt. I move that proclamation 1060 be adopted. Second. All right. It has been moved and seconded comments by members of the Council. Councilwoman Canete. Thank you, Mr. President. The proclamation said most of it. But I will just add these two things that as an attorney, one of the first David had worked with in many years. I have an especial appreciation for what I've learned from you, David. It was both in the realm of the law, but also as I came to understand and respect your advice and counsel just about this institution and about policy as well. And each and every one of the big policy milestones I've had in this Council were made possible only through my partnership with you, along with the rest of my colleagues on this body. And so I will forever think of you and remember that and appreciate all of the efforts and all of that I take with me in the rest of my career that came from my work with you. So thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Canete. Councilman Lopez. Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to just publicly thank you, Mr. Broadwell. David has been absolutely critical for our council. I came in brand new, not even understanding a I mean, my understanding was probably a centimeter deep, a mile wide of the city. And I couldn't have asked for anybody better as a guy than David Broadwell, somebody who would always remind us that our Constitution is supreme. And mostly everything that I've ever worked on has really embodied that. And I always would know what I wanted to do in my heart, and it was very hard to actually do it. It was very hard to articulate and it was very hard to turn into any kind of legal arguments. But David did that. Mr. Broadwell does that. He knows what's inside. He knows your intent. And he says, Let me think about that. I'll get back to you. Right. And within a week you have an ordinance that is kind of it reflects exactly what you wanted to see. Right. And for me, that's happened so many times. And I could tell you what I've since. Whether it was over there on that chair or in this one. I've always seen David Broadwell wanting to clarify something or doing this number right here. Or. Or looking over going and doing that. But I could just I could just say this, David. You may not realize just how many fingerprints you have throughout our city. I mean, I can speak for the councilman in District three in West Denver that so many of your fingerprints are all throughout our district. There are throughout this city. And for that, we are absolutely grateful. For some of us, we've this has been our home since. I mean, our only home. And to see it improve and to see it become a just city and become a city that just respects everybody, but also respects everybody's due process and and respects their rights under that under this Constitution, I, I couldn't ask for anything better. And for that, I wanted to thank you, David. I've been thinking about this since you've made your your your announcement. And now what do I say to this man? There's just so much gratitude and was just there's been a few moments that I've looked over at you, David, sitting right there where I'm just my heart is just full of love and things. And one of those happened very recently when we had a room full of grateful people whose rights are being questioned, whose existence is is questions, this question, whose humanity is, is questioned. And to see them cry tears of joy. And to see them breathe like a breath of liberty. A small victory in such a large struggle. I looked over at David Bravo and David, I'm going to look over at you again and tell you thank you. There are those moments that sometimes you feel you're born to do and born to be at. And that was one of those moments. And you made that moment possible. So for all the headaches that we have caused you, David, I feel so guilty because I think I've been a part of a lot of his decision to retire . Sometimes I feel really guilty and I've done that without offering you a drink. So I'm glad the renegade brew is being brought up. This should make it up. And so David was there. I think that's legal for everybody who's. Not open yet. As long it is not open. Okay. Um, our friends from France have had it. Okay. Hey, you guys. Thank you. I thought it was the beer and not the wine. Yeah. Okay. Councilman Flynn, you're up. Thank you, Mr. President. David, I don't have any beer for you, unfortunately, but I do have a message to. To thank you. One of the. One of the things I looked forward to a lot when I ran for this office and was seated was to work with you. And I'm glad that I got to work with you for only two short years. I wish it could have been longer because of the high regard that I always held you in when when I was on the other side and knew of your work. I want to thank you for your for the debates and the challenges that and the poking back and forth we would do on Saturday and Sunday and emails as. As I tried to get a comfort level with with a lot of what we were trying to do. And and I just I just want to say that as a defender of the city and county of Denver and its home rule status in this state, I don't think anybody could have done a finer job than you did. And we will miss you for that. I know that other folks will step up and do as equally fine a job. But I wanted to make a special note of your defense of our home rule status on so many occasions against a lot of assaults and challenges from outside. That really means a lot to the people of the city and county. So thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Councilman Flynn, Councilwoman Gilmore. Thank you, President Brooks. David, I don't even know where to start. When we first came in about two and a half years ago. The seven of us, you know, I. Think we all had our idea about what public service was going to look like. And your honesty and always being available and even your quiet presence really helped to mold and shape and guide. Us as an entire city council body. And not that we're not going to represent our constituents, but you have the experience and the the where for all to really be able to communicate with others. Maybe not verbally. But when you looked at us a certain way, it was. Sort of like that light bulb of, well, wait, where am I going with this? What direction are we headed in? And I appreciate that. And we've had the opportunity to work together. Sometimes I wanted to have to work with you. Sometimes I didn't. But through that entire process, you have always been available and your advice is top notch. And I'm going to sincerely miss you. And even the conversations I didn't want to have, you pushed me to a different level and a different place of what I needed to do. And I appreciate that. And so I hope you have a wonderful time on your retirement, but a very, very sincere. Thank you, sir. All right. Thank you, Councilwoman Gilmore. Councilwoman Sussman. Thank you, Mr. President. David, it's such been such a pleasure to work with you, especially when I was president in the first year of my first term and really didn't know what I was doing. And you were so helpful. I had to get used to the facial expressions. And I do want to play poker with you some time because I got them down now. And I but I do appreciate everything you taught me. It's been a wonderful experience. Six years of having your help and support has meant an awful lot to me. So I hope to see you around here again. I know you'll be back, so thanks very much. And congratulations for all that you did for us. Thank you, Dr. Sussman. Councilman Herndon, I. Think it was president. And David, I echo my colleague's comments. There's really nothing that I could say that will adequately articulate the impact that you have meant to me personally. My two years as council president, we spend a lot of time communicating. And I will just like to say, you are a rare combination of brilliance and humility because you are all about lifting up the law, the council, and you don't need to lift up yourself. And that is something that is sorely needed in politics today and very rare. And so I think it's important to say thank you for the man that you are, the friend that you are, and Godspeed and well done. Thank you, Mr. President. All right. Thank you, Councilman. Hurting Councilman Cashman. Thank you, Mr. President. One, one. Advantage I have in David's retirement is I'm honored to have David as a constituent of South Denver Council District six, the heart the heart of South Denver. And I'm just my main emotions. I am thoroughly bummed that you're retiring from me sitting with David Broadwell. Very honestly, it's like sitting with the best professor I've ever known. It really was, for me, a true education. And, you know, I can be very stubborn and I never once ever thought that I was right and he was wrong. You know, the the just the presentation, the manner it comes across, how, how thoroughly wed to his, his legal principles. Uh, Attorney Broadwell has been. So I'll just me to thank you for what you've done in my short two years here. And the two things that I do remember specifically were in the first day of council camp that we had, uh, when seven of us came on board. I remember the first words are this. This is what I remember out of David's mouth were, No, you cannot fix anyone's parking tickets. That was the first thing he advised council. And then there were several times in the middle of whether it was a committee meeting or on the dais, we'd be launching off into our council Olympic wisdom. And David would just literally get up waving his hands. No, you need to stop that right now, because we'd be wandering into areas of legal jeopardy. And thank you for keeping me out of jail. I appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Cashman. Everyone wants to know what is council camp? Okay, let's do Councilman Clark. Thank you, Mr. President. David, I just. Wanted to add my. Thank you. I feel so lucky to have had two years. And my first two years with. A guide. Someone who I could always talk to and. Always come bug you in your office about random little things or big things. Or I'm thinking about this. And just have so much respect for you. I'm sad for me. That I only got two years but feel very lucky to have gotten. Those two years. I think the world of you. Absolutely made my night last week when I walked into Platte Park Brewing and saw you sitting there. And I you know, I think. That the truest sign of the respect that everyone here has for. You is. There are very few. Things, if anything, that can. Get the freight train. That is. A City Council person on a mission on their path to stop almost nothing. Some council councilmembers, more than others, once they get. Going, can't be stopped. And all it ever took from you was this. And I've. Seen people who who haven't stopped for much of anything, freeze in their. Tracks and say, oh, would you like to weigh in? And I think that that is the ultimate sign of how much respect all of us have for you and your knowledge and your expertize and your fairness. And you're just an incredible asset. And thank you for all of your service. And I hope to run into you again at Platte Park Brewing soon. Thank you, Councilman Clark. A lot of breweries in District nine. You're welcome to sir. Okay, Councilman. New, you are up. Like all of us. David, I appreciate so much your advice and your your guidance over the last two years and two and a half years and especially. It was always interesting to me when I saw one of those emails from you come out on the weekend or whatever, it automatically said, I better read this closely. Get us out of trouble so many times and God give us guys is almost like a professor helping us learn the legal issues that we were facing each day. So he'll be sorely missed. And we hope you won't leave us, the city council. You'll be back here sometimes to visit and help us in the future. And and I just want to say that you've just done a wonderful job. You're so articulate and so sound in your judgment. And we couldn't have had a better guidance from you. Thank you. And good luck on your retirement. Thank you, Councilman. New Council Black. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to say thank you. And my comments are reflected in the paragraph that starts. David is a good man, although I did include the incredible athlete in that, but it was moved to a different paragraph. Isaiah around the neighborhood. Thank you, Councilwoman Black, Councilman Espinosa. Hi, David. I have a different completely different take than everybody else. I got one of the facial expressions to when I first met you. I think it was when we were talking in our first private meeting in your office. That's when I, I think I think I noticed the planning degree on your wall. And to find out, I mean, that sort of helped explain how it is that you could pair every bit of knowledge that you had and had such a grasp of of land use issues as well. And I was, you know, it's such a treat. I was really looking forward. And then it was very shortly, I think, after the headaches that I started bringing from District one, that it was very. Clear the writing was on the wall. You were. You were you were leaving. But back then I was sort of plotting. I wanted I was like, I want to figure out how to convince this guy to come work for me after after he's gone. And then I talked to Kristen Brunson and she said, no, the charter prevents attorney from working for an for council member without special permission. And she didn't know. But I was I was having a tantrum that said I don't know what the rules are, but you could hear them. And if anybody can figure it out, you're the guy that can figure it out. You know, you drop your license, you don't become an attorney anymore. And you can sort of just be a community advocate and after activist in District one welcomes your full skill set, but not in a legal capacity. So that option is out there. District one really needs that firepower. And so and that is testament to your incredible skills that you brought from that you demonstrated in your your anecdote about North Carolina had no idea about that, but you brought it here. And I think everybody that spoke prior illustrated that. So just thank you for all those years of service there and here and looking forward to sort of working with you in whatever capacity that it is. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Espinosa. I won't say anything. Good. Okay. Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. David, you really are going to be missed. I had the benefit and pleasure of working with you on my first round of serving on the council. And first, I want to say thank you for your 35 years to public service and your 14 years with the city of Denver. You know, when people can choose to go work for the private sector and make lots of money and they choose to devote their life to public service, that tells you a lot about the individual. And David, you have always approach the way you deal with all of us with as I think Councilman Herndon said it, with humility . But your your demeanor and how you, you know, worked with us was was. You were you were very humble, even though we thought we knew the answers to a lot of different problems. And you would help be very thoughtful but yet firm about what we could and couldn't do, even though we we thought we had the answers . But your knowledge of the city's code is is is unparalleled. I mean, it's almost like you've got that book in front of you and you could cite sections of the code and help, you know, point us to something that would make it clear, yes, we could or could not do certain things we were trying to do. So I just want to say God bless you and your family and your retirement. I hope you won't go too far. And, you know, thank you again for all your. Years of service. All right. Thank you, Councilwoman Ortega. That everybody. David, you had. 13. I'm about to speak favorably. 13 council members speak favorably towards you and. You know, they think the world of you. And on this council, that is a big victory. So you go. Well, I just want to say thank you for always just being a good friend. You you embody everything that I never could do. I'll never be a marathon runner. I could never stay in this office till midnight. Memorizing the entire code. Every. You will never lose a debate. I'll lose many. But the best deal in that whole piece that was written about you is this is just such a good man. And that's why this is so hard to let you go. It's because you're a good man. So we at the city, we wanted to name some things after David. Some people talked about this room. Some people talked about downstairs, 391, the committee room. And just, you know, we decided, you know, all those things are very controversial. So we decided to name his own brew after him. And it's brought worlds brew and it's one of his his famous terms. Make yourself useful. Make yourself useful. And and I can't take any credit for this guy, Stuart over there. Who knows, all things gave me some of these words, but we we name this after we gave him a case of IPAs, some of his favorite beers and, and said, you know what? This is from all of us here on city council. We love you, enjoy this. And I think he liked it a lot more than he would like, come in here and having his name on a building. And so we love yeah, we thank you for your sacrifice. And I know some of us pushed you out. No, I'm just joking. Actually, I'm telling the truth. But only one. But. But we you you are such you're such an incredible servant. And we hope that we could have the the mind, the heart in the will that you have for public service. It is unmatched. So with that, Madam Secretary Brokaw. Can each. I because I knew. Ortega I. Sassaman I. Black I. Clark, I. Espinosa, I. Flynn hi. Gilmore I. Herndon, I. Cashman we. Mr. President. I. This was running as a result. 3939 Proclamation 1060 has been adopted. Now, Councilman Kennedy, is there anybody you'd like to. I would like to invite David Broadwell, Esquire, to the microphone, please. I. Okay. Thanks. Who said I was articulate? I was listening carefully to the proclamation to see if it was going to honor me for how many other proclamations I've sat through. 1999. And often when I'm listening to proclamations, I think about all the folks who are here for the other business of the council. So I'm going to be respectful of that tonight. But I do want to say a few things. You've got to you got to say a few things. And I want to as well. Gratitude. Absolutely. Is is the watchword in terms of aware where I am at this point in my life. Without naming a whole lot of names, I do want to mention some of my most important working relationships that I've appreciated and enjoyed all through the years. First, all of your aides and all of council staff, you know, all the good work your aides do. And I didn't enjoy anything more than helping them deal with some wacky constituent question or whatever and being able to immediately get back and serve the people that you all serve. So kudos to the aides, the central staff. I learned so much from John Boehner when I came here originally and all the all the all the folks who worked on the central staff through the years. It's been a wonderful working relationship with them during that time, too. Now, down on the third floor, I want to honor Skye Stewart and all of her predecessors. People don't realize the phenomenal work the mayor's legislative staff does to try to get us all moving in the same direction. We can't always do that, but there's an amazing amount of blood, sweat and tears that goes into that job with Skye and her staff and all the wonderful people who've been in that position through the years as well. I want to honor all my friends in the city attorney's office. Somebody made the point about being a mile wide than an inch deep. Councilman Lopez I'm a generalist, which means I'm kind of like a relic of the 20th century or so. So I depend upon the expertize of all the other wonderful attorneys in my office. When you guys would give me a particularly difficult question, you may not have always realized it, but I was leaning on them a lot to help out to to help out and get your answers for you. Finally, at the risk of insulting anybody else, I want to recognize one particular department of the city, your CPD staff, who are the ones who usually sit here from the Community Planning and Development Department on the whole legal and interface with the zoning code. And tonight, the landmark code. Those guys do an incredible job. There's been a huge trend toward professionalism, expertize and credibility in the staff that stands before you every Monday night. So I want to salute them as as Raphael or as Councilman Espinosa noted, my other love is planning land use and so forth. So I really respect the work those guys do. And finally, the group that I want to recognize is journalist. I love journalist because I might have been one of those too. But people like John Murray, how he cranks out all the content he does, I don't know. The new folks at Denver Writer do an incredible job. The journalists are one of the pillars of democracy. We need them now more than ever. You did a proclamation a few weeks ago to honor the work that journalists do. That was a great working relationship for me all through the years, was helping them to get their stories straight and helping their editorial writers to get their stories, their their opinions straight. A wonderful opportunity to work directly with those folks through the years. Now I'm going to come to you all. Okay. In terms of the honor that has been working for you. I, I, my work here in the chambers on Monday night is not nearly as interactive as it was in my small town days where I would interact a lot with the council. A lot of times I don't have a thing to do on a monday night, so what am I doing when I'm sitting over there? What do you all think I'm doing when I'm sitting there looking at you, giving these facial expressions that you all accuse me of giving? Actually, usually I'm playing a game in my head where I'm thinking, What would I say if I were one of you? And I engage in my own head? The debate, particularly the great policy debates you all have sometimes with when you all are at your best. I love it when you're having a civil discussion over one of the big issues of the day. But I'm over there thinking in my own head what I would say. All good city attorneys subordinate, subordinate their own ego and don't get a vote and don't really get the talk and make points. But I love it when one of you says what I would want to say if I were one of you and how many of you have. It's cathartic. Many of you have had that experience. I will come up to you after a meeting and say thank you for saying that, because at bingo, that's precisely what I would have said at that moment. So it really is cathartic because I've had to repress my own desire to debate all through the years, and maybe I can be a little bit more free. But in closing, I'll never be one of you because I don't have the guts. It takes incredible guts to run for public office and it takes. Councilman Cashman made a point about this last week, guts to sit here as you're going to have to do again tonight and cast decisive votes where you're going to make somebody unhappy, you can't make everybody happy. And when people come newly to the council, that sinks in pretty quick. It's a really hard job. I argue for it. I will just say to all the cynics out there, they don't know what they're talking about. This is really hard work done by people with great integrity. And that's been a pleasure my whole life as working for good councils, for good elected officials whose heart and minds is in the right place. Now you differ on your opinions, but. But in terms of the good of the people and serving your constituents, you do a phenomenal job. Keep at it and I will not be a stranger. Thank you very much. David one more thing before you leave. David Yeah. I just. I just wanted to see you sit here for just a second and accept that. APPLAUSE Well done. We miss you. We love you. Thank you so much. All right. We. We do have another proclamation. Yes. Councilwoman Ortega, will you please read Proclamation 1061?