Wellington E. Webb was elected the twenty-first Denver City Auditor in May of 1987. He served as City Auditor from July 1, 1987 until July 1, 1991, when he was sworn in as Mayor of Denver.
Mayor Webb's public service career began in 1972 when he was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives, representing his boyhood neighborhood of northeast Denver. In 1977, he was selected by President Jimmy Carter to serve as Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare. In 1981, Colorado Governor Richard Lamm appointed Webb to his cabinet as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.
During his term as Denver City Auditor, Mr. Webb proposed the city's prompt payment ordinance to ensure people doing business with the city promptly receive the money they are owed. He instituted the internal audit program to provide regular reviews of city agencies' financial transactions to ensure city funds are used properly. He also initiated the first program audits of city agencies to evaluate whether or not they were achieving the purpose intended by City Council. Mayor Webb has continued such reviews through the former Management Review Oversight Committee and other assessment efforts. As Auditor, he worked with the Mayor and City Council to establish the city's first fiscal rules governing agency financial activities. Finally, he was the only elected official to testify before City Council in support of the city's anti-discrimination ordinance providing equal protection based upon sexual orientation.
While serving his third Mayoral term, Mayor Wellington Webb led Denver through a decade that has been characterized as a time of great energy, progress, and economic transformation for Denver. As Mayor, Mr. Webb focused on the four issues he believed supported a successful U.S. city: parks and open space. public safety, economic development, and children.
During Mayor Webb's tenure in office, many construction and redevelopment projects were implemented, completed, or initiated, including the opening of Denver International Airport in 1995, the development of a new city office building to consolidate a large number of city agencies and services, the redevelopment of the Stapleton International Airport and Lowry Air Force Base sites, the construction of Coors Field and Invesco Field at Mile High, the private development of the Pepsi Center sports facility, the 1998 Neighborhood Bond Project, proposed expansions of the Denver Zoo and Denver Art Museum, a 50% increase in the amount of open space and parks, and the completion of the Denver Public Library.
Also during Mayor Webb's time in office, Denver played host to host several high-profile events including the 1993 World Youth Day and Papal visit, the 1997 Denver Summit of the Eight, the 1998 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and the 2001 National Hockey League All-Star Game.
Mayor Webb was honored for his efforts by numerous organizations including The Americans for the Arts 2001 Government Leadership in the Arts award for his dedication and support of the Arts in Denver, The National Wildlife Federation's 1999 Achievement Award, the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (Chevalier of the Legion of Honor), the highest and most prestigious honor bestowed upon a civilian by the country of France, and the 1998 Partners for Livable Communities' "Bridge Builders" Award. He was repeatedly named by Ebony magazine as one of the one hundred most influential African Americans in the nation, and Black Enterprise named Denver as the top Business Mecca for African-Americans. In 1996, Newsweek selected Mayor Webb as One of the Top 25 Mayors in the Nation.
Mayor Wellington Webb was awarded a BA in Sociology from the Colorado State College at Greeley in 1964 and an MA in Sociology from the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley in 1971. He also holds honorary Doctorates from the University of Colorado at Denver and from Metropolitan State College. Mayor Webb frequently lectures on city government issues. Mayor Webb and Denver's First Lady Wilma J. Webb, a former six-term Colorado State Representative who previously served as the United States Secretary of Labors' Representative for Region Eight, have four grown children and live in Denver's City Park West neighborhood.