A proclamation designating May 15 through May 21 as “Public Works Week in Denver” and congratulating the Denver Public Works Department’s twelve employees of the year for 2016.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I have proclamation number 16 0380 designating May 15th through May 21st as public works week in Denver and congratulating the Denver Public Works Department's 12 Employees of the Year for 2016. Whereas, in celebrating the American Public Works Association's 2016 theme of public works always there, we recognize that public work Denver Public works through its 1100 employees, consistently delivers safe, high quality, cost effective services to the citizens of Denver. 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 mobility programs 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, as well as contracting procurement, capturing and permitting programs that meet the needs of the public. And. Whereas, Denver Public Works continues to make a significant 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, as our city grows, Denver Public Works will work to accommodate more people with a strategic plan that focuses on smart growth and making Denver more sustainable, multimodal, attractive, resilient and transparent. And. Whereas, the Council specifically recognizes and congratulates the Denver Public Works Employees of the Year for 2015 for their entitlements. And they are. Stephanie Reed Capital Projects Management. Irma Montour Finance and Administration. Desi Apodaca Fleet Management. Nathan Nguyen Fleet Management. Thomas Aveda Right of way enforcement permitting. Ryan Crum Right of Way Services. Brandon Lawrence Policy Planning and Sustainability. Rodney Frescas Solid Waste Management. Robert Page Street. David Hermosillo. Transportation and Mobility. Alex Snaith. Wastewater Management Admin. And Daniel Pacheco Wastewater Wastewater Management APS. 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 15th through May 21st, 2016, as Public Works Week in Denver and congratulates the Denver Public Works 2015 Employees of the Year for their outstanding contributions to the Department and City. Section two that the Clerk of the city and County of Denver shall attack a test and affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and the copies hereof before added to Denver Public Works and the 12 Public Works employees listed above. Thank you. Councilman. Clerk, your motion to adopt. Thank you, Mr. President. I move the proclamation. 380 be adopted. Then move in second. Comments, Councilman Clark. Thank you, Mr. President. Public Works is an amazing department within the city because of the breadth and depth of everything that they do that affects all of our citizens on an everyday basis. I mean, as we're reading through this and we're talking about everything from potholes to trash collection to mobility and transportation, and they do such an amazing job, so much so that that, you know, we don't even notice most of it. And that's that's the hard part is they're out there working really hard. And when they do a really good job, nobody notices that anything's wrong. And we have a great program, even with potholes when they're reported. I was just talking to people recently about, you know, when you report a pothole, our crews get out there and and repair it very quickly. So this is just a fantastic department that we have that does a phenomenal job in our city, especially with all the freeze thaw cycles that we have and and the cost of beating up of our infrastructure. So I just want you guys to know how much we appreciate what you do and especially to our All-Stars. Who are the employees of the year? That's a big, big department with 1100 employees. And so to rise to the top of that, to be employees of the year is no small accomplishment. So I just want to say congratulations, and I hope that all my colleagues will join me in supporting this proclamation tonight. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Clark. Councilwoman Black. Thank you, Mr. President. Just a very brief thank you. Public works keeps our city safe, clean and livable. And I think mostly they respond to complaints and not very many people probably say thank you. So I'm here to say thank you for all you do. Thank you, Councilwoman Black. Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. I would like to thank Councilman Clark for bringing this forward and congratulate the 12 honorees, the 12 employees of the year. And I know that you all are reflective of the work that is done by your colleagues day in and day out, and you make us all very proud. So thank you for the work that you do every day. Thank you, Councilwoman Ortega. Councilwoman Gilmore. Thank you, President Herndon. I also wanted to convey my thanks to public. Works and. Public works employees. You know, as a city council person, you get calls from constituents, from from different stakeholders. And I've always very aware that city employees get calls from everyone. They it's not one wheelhouse that they work with in the field, calls from all of the council offices, from constituents, from different stakeholders. And then you also have, you know, the different agencies within the city that you need to work with and partner. And so. Just wanted to say a very. Sincere thank you and that public works staff have actually come out and driven around the district with me to actually see firsthand. Some troublesome. Spots. And they get it addressed as quickly as they can. And so. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilwoman Gilmore. Councilman Lopez. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to join the waterfall. And thank you for our public works department. You do so much in responding to. I think what I would say is the majority of our calls. And they do it with pride. I have the honor to have actually been with a lot of our crews in the paving ops division going out there, some of the hottest days that are out there. They're out there doing it. They're out there working and they do the purposefully in the in July. So imagine a 100 degree day or high 90 degree day and pouring asphalt that's over 200 degrees. And you know, combine that and that makes for a hard that makes for a really hard day and everybody in this city wants their street paved and they want it now. And so that's that's the you know, that's the kind of work that our public servants do. And these are true public servants, and we honor them that way. And I'm glad we called them out in the in the proclamation. I'm glad we do this proclamation every year doing this. But it's more like public works. 24 seven. Right. So if there was a proclamation to do that every single day, I bet you Jolan would be reading it every single day if that's what it took. So. Thank you. Thank you, John, for that. Thank you. Councilman Lopez, Councilman Brooks. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Clarke. You know, the public works department really takes care of the bones of our city, and they do not get any credit at all. And and just to piggyback off of what Councilman Lopez was saying, they redid York two years ago and York I don't know when's the last time York had been redone, but a lot of people kept emailing our office and we just said, you know, it's going to get redone, it's going to get redone, you know, whatever year was. And we would ask that you bring these folks who are out here slaving in this hot sun, a nice cold drink, and just say thank you . And we had. It was amazing. We had about 40, 50, 60 folks come in, you know, bring in drinks and say and just thank you. And the crew said, you know, we never no one ever says thank you. So we don't even know what to do here. And so it's just more to encourage us as we see any kind of public works individual out in our streets serving just to say thank you for for what they do and how they serve this city, because they're the ones that make it beautiful and make it great. So thank you. Thank you, Councilman Brooks. Councilman Espinosa. Yeah, I'm I'm new here. So I get to see a different side than I had for the last 30 some years that I've been here. And so I just wanted to thank I don't see her in the audience. And Cassius, if you're here, District one constituent, thank you for being the liaison, because I know I've challenged public works many times since I've been here. And you've handled it well. Very well. It's a public works. Again, thank you for the work that you're doing. But I'm going to push. I would love to see us do more arterials, so I'd love to see you out there doing even more work than you already are. So I want to have a bigger thank you next year for all the arterial work. So, Mr. Mayor, let's get that in the budget because our arterials definitely need the attention. So thanks public works for the work you're doing because your reach is vast in your your staff is huge. But for the most part, we live in a very, very safe city thanks to the work that you guys are doing. Thanks. Thank you. Councilman Espinosa. Councilman new. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to just congratulate the department as well and two things that that have come up recently. You know, the cost of construction has gone skyrocketing here in Denver. And you look at public works and they are affected more than any other department, just about because of all the building materials they have to to purchase and to pave our streets and whatever. So for them to do the job they're doing and doing a good job with limited resource or reduced resources from a budget standpoint is phenomenal. So we need to recognize they're also we're looking to the future with transit and Kristi Fagan. Joe and her staff are doing a great job and we're looking forward to seeing that first transit installation implementation on Colfax and the bus rapid transit and and seeing transit develop in the city. So congratulations to the department and everyone in it. And great job. Thank you, Councilman. New Councilwoman Sussman. Thank you, Mr. President. I just didn't want the opportunity to go by to thank the members of the public works. Y'all are the best partners that I've ever had. And constituent services. And you've saved my bacon more than once, I'll tell you. And your responsiveness has been so great. And a lot of times I get to take the credit for. But I try always to say no. That's the men and women of the Public Works Department who got out there and got out there right away when people were having issues that public works can help with. And I can't thank you enough for all you've done in the five years that I've been here. Thank you, Councilwoman Sussman. Any other comments? 380. Say non, ma'am. Secretarial call. Clerk Espinosa. Hi, Flynn. Hi, Gilmore. Hi. LOPEZ All right. New, huh? Ortega Susman. Brooks, Black Eye. Mr. President, hi. Councilman Nu. I'm sorry. Thank you, Madam Secretary, please. Those have only announced results. 11 Ice. Ice three has been adopted. Excuse me, Councilman Clark, is there someone you'd like to invite to the podium to receive the proclamation? Yes, Mr. President, I'd like to invite up George Delaney and Nancy Cunard. Good evening, members of council. I'm George Delaney, chief operating officer for Denver Public Works and Deputy Manager. I want to thank you for the proclamation. And probably more importantly, I want to thank you for your expressions of appreciation for our staff. And they do work very hard. They work very hard every day. And for them to know that you appreciate the work that they do is very meaningful. We're dealing public works, like most departments in the city are dealing with a very rapidly growing city and the demands that that puts upon our people. We have high expectations of ourselves and we know the citizens and you all have high expectations of us. One of the things I wanted to point out to you, I don't know how many of you are familiar with this, but this is a plan that we put out every year. It's called the Smart Plan, and this is our work plan that says here's what we're going to try to accomplish in the coming 12 months. And it's a document that we. Use to guide our work, but it's also a document that we can hold ourselves accountable to. And you can hold us accountable, too, because we do a report card on this every year. At the end of the year so that we can show how we're measuring up. So that's that's one of the ways that we are trying to adapt, trying to change, and trying to take on the challenges that we face in our department. We've also been working very hard with our employees on employee engagement, trying to the more and more pressure that's on you, the more hard work that you have to do . The employees, their effectiveness, their efficiencies, it becomes very demanding. And we want our employees to be engaged to enjoy what they do and to come to a safe and hazard free workplace. So those that employee engagement initiative we've embarked upon is very critical to both manager Josie and the rest of us. So, you know, Councilman Clark listed there are 12 employees of the end of the year. It's important to note that these employees of the year are selected by their peers. And so they are typically an employee who is an employee of the quarter and then were selected of the Final Four to be employees of the year by their peers. And I think that makes it even more relevant and more appreciated by our employees. So if I could have we have. A couple two here tonight. We have Stephanie Reid's here and Nate when but we also. Have a lot of other public works employees. Would you please stand to be recognized? You're the ones who do all the work. Todd. Thank you very much. For this honor. Thank you for the proclamation. And we will we plan to continue to serve you and meet your needs, as well as the citizens of. Denver in the years to come. Thanks. You. Thank you, Councilman Clark, for bringing that forward. All right. We've got one more proclamation. 381 sponsored by Councilman Lopez. Will you please read proclamation 381? Thank you, Mr. President. Proclamation Council Proclamation 381 series of 2016 recognizing May 19th as World Hepatitis Mean Hepatitis D Hepatitis Testing Day in July 28th as World Hepatitis Day. Whereas May 19th is National Hepatitis Testing Day in July 28th is World Hepatitis Day. Hepatitis C is recognized as the most common blood borne viral infection in the United States. And. Whereas, Hepatitis C has infected an estimated 70,000 Coloradans, as many as 3.5 million American residents, nearly one in every 50 persons and more than 130 people worldwide. And it is the leading cause of cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver transplants in the United States. And. Whereas, as many as 1700 hepatitis C related deaths occur annually in the United States, these rates are expected to peak between the years 2030 and 2035 at 36,000 deaths per year, making hepatitis C one of the top preventable causes of