Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has rejected the City Council’s request to add one of its members to a top-level panel overseeing the sheriff’s department’s reform efforts.
“I believe that the City Council has a vested interest in these outcomes and shouldn’t be a bystander in this process,” president Chris Herndon told The Denver Post, confirming that a chief aide to Hancock denied his request. “I will just say I was disappointed.”
The administration’s reluctance to add a council member to its executive steering committee comes as others outside city government question the transparency of various reform efforts. And a judge and a former city safety director have called for a federal investigation of the Denver Sheriff Department because of allegations by inmates of abuse by jail deputies.
Mayoral spokeswoman Amber Miller on Thursday said the executive committee’s members were “chosen for their expertise in designing and implementing departmental reform.”
Coordinated by chief performance officer David Edinger, the 10 other members include chief of staff Janice Sinden, safety director Stephanie O’Malley, city attorney Scott Martinez, deputy chief of staff Evan Dreyer, interim Sheriff Elias Diggins and Police Chief Robert White.
But the administration declined to give the council, which has the power to approve or reject large settlements over jail abuse, a direct representative in the discussions.
Herndon — who now occupies Hancock’s old seat on the council, representing northeast Denver — said he made the verbal request last week to Sinden.
The denial didn’t sit well with some other members.
“Denver citizens must be represented at the table if true change is to occur,” said Paul Lopez, chairman of the council’s Safety & Well-being Committee. “City Council is the legislative branch of the city and the front line of representative democracy.”
“We’re the checks and balances,” added Judy Montero, the council’s president pro tem.
But Miller said the mayor’s office has committed to keeping council members in the loop through existing channels, including the public Mayor-Council meeting each Tuesday.
The executive committee is charged with searching nationally for a new sheriff and hiring an outside firm to perform a review of the sheriff’s department. Safety consultant Jim Davis, a former FBI agent and state official, will advise the committee.
The panel also is responsible for pulling together recommendations from several task forces and other reviews that are underway — and to do so quickly. That way, as soon as the committee selects the outside review firm later this year, it can begin its work, taking the administration’s findings into account.
But earlier this week, the Colorado Latino Forum pulled its members from the task forces, suggesting they “have largely served as political window dressing.” The mayor’s office disputes the claim.
The administration this week added independent monitor Nick Mitchell to the executive committee, bumping him up after previously placing him on two subcommittees focused on certain issues.
Some community leaders have said Mitchell would be better suited, from a public perception standpoint, to oversee outside reviews that are resulting from a recent $3.25 million settlement with a former inmate who was abused by other inmates and a deputy in separate jail incidents. Mitchell’s office investigates problems in Denver’s safety agencies.
“To effect change now, we must continue on the path we have set out, and considerable time, attention and handling of confidential personnel information is required to get this done,” Miller wrote in an e-mail to The Post.
She said the mayor’s office is putting together a plan “to gain additional community input,” with details to be announced soon.
After Herndon’s request was denied, Montero said she followed up with Hancock directly.
“I expressed my concerns to him that I thought it was a mistake, and I asked him to reconsider,” she said. “He expressed concern that with the council’s schedule,” a typically overbooked council member might not be able to attend all meetings.
“Well, give us that chance,” Montero told The Post.
The executive committee is set to meet with the sheriff’s department’s four task forces Thursday. They are reviewing the discipline handbook, training, staffing, policies, procedures and programs.
Jon Murray: 303-954-1405, jmurray@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JonMurray
