Mike Johnston struggled to get into the City and County Building when he showed up to work on his first day, he told a group of reporters. He had to call Councilmember Paul Kashmann for help.
When he came into his new office, Mayor Michael Hancock had cleared out his belongings. Johnston's office looked like an "empty dorm room," he said. He knows he has to start moving his own things in, even as people are clamoring for a meeting inside to try to put their problems on the top of his list.
Shortly after, on Monday morning, donors, concerned residents, club owners, the city's past mayors, the governor and the city's business and political elite packed the Ellie Caulkins Opera House for the swearing-in of Johnston, the 13 members of City Council, the auditor and the clerk and recorder.
All these officials inherit a city struggling its way out of the pandemic. Many have made grand promises about fixing things. To do so, they have a lot to learn about how the city functions and plenty of work to do.
On the stage, under the lights, the room was joyful -- optimistic.
City Council President Jamie Torres hosted the inauguration ceremony, listing some of the incoming City Council's notable milestones. This will be the first Council with six Latinas and the first two out Black LGBTQ councilmembers. Women will make up a supermajority on Council, holding nine of the 13 seats.
"This, coincidentally, is the number needed to override a mayoral veto," Torres said.
"Everyone on this stage is here today because as community members we felt compelled to serve, to solve problems and to find solidarity for improvement somewhere in the city," Torres said. "And I know we can, because we have, and because it's the only way that we have moved forward on some of the most dire issues and for our often overlooked and underserved communities"
The new Council includes Amanda Sandoval of District 1, Kevin Flynn of District 2, Jamie Torres of District 3, Diana Romero Campbell of District 4, Amanda Sawyer of District 5, Kashmann of District 6, Flor Alvidrez of District 7, Shontel Lewis of District 8, Darrell Watson of District 9, Chris Hinds of District 10, Stacie Gilmore of District 11 and at-large councilmembers Sarah Parady and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez.
Paul Lopez has returned as Clerk and Recorder, and Tim O'Brien is still the auditor.
Environmental activist and former mayoral candidate Ean Thomas Tafoya read a statement acknowledging Denver was built on the traditional territory of the Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho people.
"We've made progress in recent memory: the removal of the statutes to educate the people of the horrors of the Doctrine of Discovery and manifest destiny," Tafoya said. "We're renaming spaces and places and sharing our bison herd to heal the land and our relationships. It is through indigenous knowledge that we have the best opportunity to mitigate and prepare for climate change. We acknowledge there is more to do, and we reaffirm our efforts here today."
Rick Williams, who is Lakota and Cheyenne, offered a prayer and reminded the audience that his great, great grandfathers spent many winters camped along Cherry Creek.
"Our new leader has a difficult road ahead," Williams prayed. "Please help him."
Hancock -- who opened his remarks by asking, "Are we done yet?" -- celebrated the peaceful and orderly transfer of power. He told Johnston, "Go out there and do great things."
After all the candidates were sworn in, Poet Laureate Bobby LeFebre read a poem grilling Johnston.
"Are you comfortable unlearning? Are you willing to unravel indoctrination? Can we dissolve the status quo? What do you know of collectivism? Do you believe in more than yourself?" LeFebre asked. "Can you commit to common cause? Can you be unbound by what is? The master's tools still will not dismantle the master's house. We need new tools. To analyze is to take things apart. To imagine is to put them together. What if? Why not open the door to possibility, leave no one behind, let us build the best city in the world. One fist, one idea, one person, one action, one need, one day at a time."
Then Johnston addressed the crowd, describing the city's struggles, his dreams for Denver and the work ahead.
"Our dream of Denver is when you land at your lowest, without a job or a place to stay, shackled by addiction or struggling with mental illness, we will not judge you or abandon you, and we will not give up on you," Johnston said. "We will get you a home. We will get you help. We will get you healed."
Johnston said he's dedicated to "two essential American ideas: Every problem we face is solvable, and we are the ones to solve them."
He also pushed the people of Denver to get involved.
"Those of us on this stage swore an oath today, but for us to succeed, every Denverite must take their own oath, an oath to dream, serve, and deliver," he said. "To dream a Denver bold enough to include all of us, to serve our city above ourselves, to march on, shoulder to shoulder, undeterred by failure, until we deliver results. That is our oath."
He concluded the speech with an instruction: "Now, lets get to work!"
So what's next?
In the immediate sense, City Councilmembers had to prepare for a scheduled meeting, and Johnston had to meet with city workers and eventually get ready Denver Vibes Festival, the official inauguration party at Union Station.
In the coming days and weeks, Johnston will have to make use of the resident feedback and information collected by his 28 transition committees to help him pick the heads of city departments.
Did all the feedback from the 500-plus committee members and hundreds of other residents lead to any changes in policy? Not yet.
"They all turned in their proposals to us just yesterday, so they're on my stack of things to read today and tomorrow," Johnston said. "I think most of the things that we've heard resonated with things that we've heard before. I think we found them in different power than maybe we anticipated. The voices got clearer and louder when people came to hearings. And it turns out, pickleball is still a very big issue."
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated this is the first City Council in which women had a supermajority. That's incorrect. We regret the error.
