A proclamation designating May 17 through May 23 as “Public Works Week in Denver” and congratulating the Denver Public Works Department’s ten employees of the year for 2014.
quality, cost effective services to the citizens of Denver. And. WHEREAS, Denver Public Works Services are an integral part of our residents everyday lives. With programs that include street sweeping, recycling, refuse collection, pothole repair and street paving. And. Whereas, Denver Public Works enhances the quality of life in our city by managing and maintaining public infrastructure, including city rights of way streets, alleys on street parking, drainage ways, sewers, bridges, traffic signals, street markings and signage, as well as contracting, procurement, cash sharing, and permitting programs that meet the needs of the public. And. Whereas, Denver Public Works continues to make significant contributions to our built environment managing the planning, design and construction of public infrastructure and new transportation options, including installing Denver's first protected bikeway and permitting the city's first on street public bike corrals. And. Whereas, as our city grows, Denver Public Works will focus. We'll work to accommodate more people with a strategic plan that focuses on smart growth. Smart being an acronym and making Denver more. And this is what it stands for sustainable, multimodal, attractive, resilient and transparent. And. Whereas, the Council specifically recognizes and congratulates the Denver Public Works Employees of the Year for 2014 for their achievements. Michael Lopez Capital Projects Management. Rudy Close with Finance and Administration. Dwain Fields and Fleet Management. Rachel Race Oh, we've got a popular one out there. Rachel Reyes Walsh with right of way enforcement and permitting Stephen for Vili Right of way services. Sarah Anderson with policy planning and Sustainability. Rosalia Vila Lobos Solid Waste Management. Larry Lovato with Street Maintenance. Rachel Bronson and Transportation. And Danny Lopez with 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 17 through May 23rd, 2015. As public works weaken Denver and congratulate the 2015 Public Works Employees of the Year and their outstanding contributions to the Department and the city. Section two that the Clerk of the city and county of Denver shall a test and a fix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and that copies hereof before added to Denver Public Works and the ten public works employees listed above. Thank you, Councilwoman Sheppard. Your motion to adopt. I move that we adopt proclamation number 320 series of 2015. The moved and seconded comments from members of Council Councilwoman Shepard. Thank you, Mr. President. It's such a pleasure to be able to read this proclamation again this year. I am Chair of the Infrastructure and Culture Committee and Transportation Planning and all the work. The good work that we do in public works is really a specialty interest of mine, and a lot of people don't know this, but Public Works is the second biggest part of our city budget on an annual basis, just after the Public Safety Department and when it's working well, we don't hear much from the public, but we do hear when they're upset about things. But the great news is, is that every time that your trash is picked up or that your sewer works the way it's supposed to, or that you arrive on time and safely at work or at school or any other parts of your destination during the day. The reason that you got there or the reason that those things were achieved is because of the hard work of our second largest department in the city and county of Denver. I, I just can't speak highly enough for this department, and I think you guys are kind of the unsung heroes. So I'm really glad we're taking this time today to recognize all of the really hard and valuable work that you do to make this city work. And I travel a lot. I travel in the United States a lot, but I also travel, you know, in a fair number of developing countries. And I'm always really struck, by the way, if I. A contrast between the way our infrastructure works so well here in the United States and in Colorado specifically, as compared to some of the other cities and countries around the world that I have visited, which also have nice features as well. But perhaps things working on time correctly, safely and efficiently may not be some of those strengths in other areas of the world. So I'm very thankful for the work that you all do, and I'm especially proud of the growth that we have made in the last few years in terms of really promoting an agenda that helps promote safety for pedestrians and cyclists. In the work that we have made to push the boundaries in this area in Denver in the last few years is really great. And it's also been a big focus of many members of this council, as evidenced by our budget retreats in the last few years. So thank you all so much for all your work. And I'm sure that some of my colleagues might have some comments as well to make, but it's great to see you in chambers tonight. Thank you, Councilwoman Shepherd. Any other comments? Proclamation 320. Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to also weigh in and first of all, thank Councilwoman Shepherd for bringing this forward once again. I think it's vitally important to be able to recognize our city employees for the incredible work that is done day in and day out that keeps the city looking clean and great. I know the issue of filling those potholes continues to be a challenge, especially as we continue to have rain. But the work that's done of all of the different public works divisions, if you will, is is such an important part of the basic services that our public, our constituents come to expect. They believe that their taxpayer dollars pay for those services. And if it were not for all of you sitting in the audience today and your colleagues who make this work happen and ensuring that everything works the way it's supposed to, you know, when people's toilets flush, when they turn on the water, you know, our drainage systems throughout the city, through our tributaries, all of that is part of the work that our city employees do for us. And I just want to say a big thank you. Congratulations to the honorees. But congratulations to all of you for the work that you do every day. Thank you, Mr. President. Councilman Ortega. Councilman Devitt. Thank you, Mr. President. I will echo, but not repeat what my colleagues have said very eloquently. I just ask that whoever comes up to speak to the proclamation, I assume it'll be Manager Cornejo that he'll introduce these awardees individually. So we get a chance to thank them directly. Thank you, Councilman Nevitt. Councilwoman Montero. Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to extend my congratulations to all of you for the for the general public. There are so many divisions that are within public works, for example, solid waste. I'm so happy that we have roll out barrels now and Globeville, O'Leary, Swansea and Nell on the Lincoln wants them. So that's something that Councilman Lopez will work on and wastewater and traffic management. And I'm sure that there's other divisions that I'm forgetting. But I just want to say that, as was mentioned earlier, many times, to keep things running smoothly, you don't hear from people and you don't hear them call and say, gee, you really did a good job today. I like the way my street sign looks or something. But the minute that someone hits a pothole or even the timing on the traffic lights, which I've called George Delaney on plenty of times. So it's one of it's so it's one of those divisions where, you know, we just hear from people when things are not when the trains aren't running on time. So I just want to say that I appreciate with all my heart all of the work that manager Carlo and the whole staff do every day, and that I am always thankful when everything is running smoothly and people are happy. So when people are happy, we won't hear from them. And so this is one night where we're able to celebrate and be able to just tell you thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Montero. Councilman Lopez. Thank you. I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you who are being honored. But also I think it's just a reflection of the department to reflection and leadership. When you look at basic city services and what our constituency is, city services, you are that face and you know that department accounts for so much of our budget, and rightfully so, especially in in a state where it snows one day, then it rains the hour later and then it's sunny. Right. It wreaks havoc on our infrastructure and it wreak havoc wreaks havoc on our budget as well to wreak havoc in offices. There's always a phone call that comes in from council offices to public works saying, can you fix this pothole that Paul? Can you get people out here? It doesn't just happen in a vacuum. These are hard working people. A lot of them who I know call Council District three home and it's their city. And there's nothing more gratifying than when you go out there and you see folks, for example, with street movements that are out there putting in new asphalt, blistering summer days, it's over 200 degrees with the asphalt, what they see coming out and to see them being able to work on streets that they grew up in really says something and it says something about the quality of work that's being done, the dedication of our employees to our city. So I you know, I wish I wish we can pass out. I don't know. How many employees do we have? A manager called Nine Public Works. We should name all of them one day on a proclamation and not necessarily read it, but list it. I'd be. It'd be interesting, but they all deserve it. Thank you very much. Those of you who are being honored. Thank you, Councilman Lopez. Councilmember. Thank you, Mr. President. I just can't let this resolution go by noting that it honors two people from right away. Services, which is probably the part of public works in my office, calls most frequently whether it has to do with street occupancy permits in construction zones or closed sidewalks or parking. We talk to right away services almost on a daily basis, so I wanted to call it that division. All of you are very deserving. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilwoman Robb, in the comments. 3 to 0 c none. Madam Secretary, roll call. Shepherd I Susman. Brooks. I thought. I Lehman. Hi. Lopez. Montero. Hi, Nevitt. Ortega. Hi, Rob. Hi, Mr. President. Hi. Madam Secretary, please close the voting announced results. 1111. Eyes proclamation 320 has been adopted. Councilman Sheperd, is there someone you'd like to invite to the podium to receive the proclamation? Absolutely. I would like to invite Director Jose Cornejo and please be sure to introduce all of the the employees tonight as well. Thank you very much. Thank you for a proclamation. But more important for the relationship that the members of the council have developed with public works, I think this is very, very important that we have this type of relationship in order to not only maintain the city, but continuing building the city the way we were doing. Yes, I wish that all 1100 employees could be here today because each one of them really deserve a buy on the back for what they do. But we have our Spotlight employees. We have the ten employees that has been nominated as employee of the year. And I'd like to talk a little bit about each one of them, because I think sometimes we get lost a little bit on when we have 1100 employees not talking about each one of them in what they they do on a day to day basis. So I'd like to start with Rudy Sloth from finance and administration. Rudy always goes above and beyond his duty. He engages in new training and new development opportunities. He was selected to participate in the Emerging Leaders Program and willingly accepted more responsibilities and challenges within the agency Dwayne feels from the free management. Duane is one of fleet's exceptional supervisors who is passionate about his employees. His customers need in agency priorities Sierra and his and assume from policy planning and sustainability. Sierra has exemplified leadership in the area of water quality planning and innovation by moving plans and projects forward even when policy barriers were present. Danny Lopez from Waste Water Operation. Danny has consistently been the highest production earner in his section. His experience in grading the condition of the city's sewer provides, as in every everybody. Everybody's making decisions with the right and exact information for future planning design solutions. Larry Lovato from Street Maintenance. I say my driver, Larry, plays a large role in helping St Monans achieve its annual goals, including paving an additional 75 lane miles each year with mining from the two way initiative. Rosalie Villalobos from Solid Waste Management. Rosalia serves as the backbone of Solid Waste Management. He coordinates and manages traffic control, which at times can be a challenging and difficult task that he handles with efficiency. Michael Lopez from Capital Project Management. Mike has been a key member of the capital project management team, specifically working with the Bridge Group. He has been instrumental in developing a new bridge maintenance program, using inspection findings to tackle necessary maintenance and repair work. Steven For Vili, right from right of way services, Steve is always trying to find ways to make Denver a better city. As a senior engineer, he contributes his wealth of experience in water quality surveying and transportation engineering to improve the quality of capital projects. And last but not least is Rachel. Rachel Brownson from Transportation. Rachel Passion for Transportation Weekly to here from intern to planner, Denver Public Works here. The indications stems from the impact transportation has on people every day life. Rachel strives to improve the quality of life in Denver. She builds thousands of miles each year on her own bike. So thank you very much for everything. One more. Rachel I'm sorry. Rachel. Ray Yes. Well, yes. And there is one more. Rachel Race watch from right away. Enforcement permits. Rachel has provided years of critical administrative support within right of way enforcement and permit applications here. Eight years. With the CD, clear areas of responsibilities have grown to include the electronic parking permits program, acting as a liaison from the parking magistrates to help with quality control for parking citations and supplying the staff with uniform and operational items. Thank you very much. And if you all wouldn't mind standing. Get your people to stand up, man. And there we go. Thank you all. Congratulations. All right, one more proclamation. 359. Councilman Lopez, will you please read proclamation 359.