Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper on Tuesday said a compromise he forged on worker retention for city service contract employees will allow the community to unite for other, more pressing challenges.
Denver Councilman Chris Nevitt agreed Monday to pull an ordinance that would require winning bidders on city service contracts to keep a previous firm’s employees for 90 days when a contract changes hands.
In exchange, Hickenlooper agreed to issue an executive order that will do essentially the same thing but also assures that the mayor will have more leeway in the implementation.
Nevitt and Hickenlooper said the mayor’s director of legislative services, R.D. Sewald, had helped bridge the differences.
“R.D. has that relentlessness, that tenacity that I probably could use a little more of,” the mayor quipped with a smile.
The executive order includes a process that allows city departments to opt out if they believe it is in the best interest of the city or the department.
The employees of a contractor also would be prevented from suing the city if they lost their jobs for any reason. Hickenlooper said he had never thought the measure was a critical need but believed the compromise would prevent a divisive struggle that could have harmed other initiatives.
“I thought from the beginning it was a tempest in a teapot, as my grandfather used to say,” Hickenlooper said. “But once that tempest gets out of the teapot, it’s up to all of us to get it back in the teapot and get it calmed down so we can have our cup of tea.
“Ultimately we need to focus on important things,” he said. “How are we going to fix FasTracks? How are we going to get our economy going? And how do we continue our campaign to end homelessness in difficult economic times?”
Nevitt’s original proposal had drawn objections from business leaders and praise from labor leaders. Hickenlooper said the final result left neither side entirely pleased or displeased.
“My understanding is the labor organizations aren’t very happy and the business organizations aren’t very happy, so it’s about perfect,” the mayor said during his weekly meeting with the City Council.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
