Denver — At a weekly joint meeting of the mayor and Denver City Council, Councilmember Daryl Watson called for cooperation with the Clerk and Recorder’s Office after recent bond votes and related public statements, and Mayor (unnamed in the transcript) urged city leaders to deliver services within current fiscal constraints.

Why it matters: Funding and public statements about the office that oversees local elections can affect public confidence in voting administration and shape future budget priorities for the city.

Councilmember Daryl Watson said recent votes and comments had raised concerns about the relationship between the council and the Clerk and Recorder’s Office and urged officials to stop public statements that widen that perceived gap. “There have been, from my perspective, Adhan and him, statements, intimating that there may be some level of space between where the clerk and recorder’s office is at and where Denver City Council is at as far as our respect and support for fair, transparent elections,” Watson said. “Whatever the vote was on, including, funding for the office in the bond, that does not reduce our shared commitment and that it has been to make sure that Denver voters have a safe and transparent voting process.”

Watson said the council president is willing to work directly with the Clerk and Recorder’s Office and urged officials to “get to the table and find ways to really increase funding, spending, and support jointly.” He framed that cooperation as the role of leaders in difficult moments: “So my encouragement is for, the statements to stop and for us to get to the table and find ways to really increase funding, spending, and support jointly. That's what leaders do. We come together and we seek solutions in tough times.”

The mayor, speaking in the same session, put the remarks in the context of current fiscal constraints facing the city and said departments are being asked to maintain service levels without new investments. “In moments like these where the City is facing the fiscal conditions that we're facing we all find ways to deliver the same high quality services without new investments and that's also part of serving the public well and it's possible to deliver high quality services and do it within the resources we have,” the mayor said.

Discussion versus action: The meeting record shows statements of intent and offers to work together but contains no formal motions or votes on funding for the Clerk and Recorder’s Office during this short general session. Watson referenced bond votes that occurred the previous evening; he did not state a specific change in city policy or a new appropriation at this meeting.

Context and next steps: Watson said he spoke with the clerk over the weekend and expressed respect for the office; he said the council president is prepared to meet with the clerk’s office. The transcript records the council adjourning to a closed session after brief general-session remarks; no additional public actions on Clerk and Recorder funding were recorded in the public portion of this meeting.

Less-critical details: The agenda also included brief announcements and community-event notices; those items did not change the substance of the council’s remarks about elections administration and budgeting.