City and County of Denver Flag (described below).

Combined City and County

Authority for local control in Denver was established in 1902 when the Home Rule Amendment, proposed by the Colorado General Assembly, was approved by the voters. This amendment to the State Constitution, Article XX, gave limited home rule powers to incorporated Colorado cities of 2,000 residents or more.

Most important for Denver’s purposes, however, is the fact the Article XX created the City and County of Denver. Prior to that time, Denver was part of Arapahoe County. (The old Arapahoe County Courthouse stood on 16th Street and Court Place, downtown.) In 1904, Denver residents approved a City Charter. It established a mayor-council form of government and spelled out the basic functions and structure of Denver City government.

Denver is a consolidated city/county. In operation, Denver is primarily a city. But certain officers are also county officials. When Denver performs county functions such as services provided by the County Clerk and by Social Services, those functions are more under the control of the State.

Mayor's Office

In 1913, voters decided to amend the charter to try a commission form of government. Reformers, including Judge Ben Lindsey who established one of the nation's first juvenile courts, felt that Mayor Speer and other city officials were too aligned with “The Beast" - large exploitative industries and companies - and that they were too lax about the dozens of gambling houses, 500 saloons and 2,000 prostitutes thriving in the community. In 1916, they approved another charter amendment giving complete executive power back to the mayor. The Speer Amendment, named for Mayor Robert A. Speer, made Denver's mayor one of the most powerful city officials in the United States.

Over the years, there have been quite a number of separate amendments added to the charter, and a Charter Revisions Committee of City Council meets regularly to look at potential changes and additions. Many of them have slowly diminished the power of the mayor.

The Denver City Charter provides for a strong mayor/council form of government. The mayor is elected to a four-year term and limited by a 1994 amendment to the Colorado Constitution to two terms. The mayor heads the executive branch of government and cannot have any other employment while mayor. Denver's mayor is one of the more powerful in the country because of the power to appoint, and because of the power to draft the City budget.

The Ten Departments

Especially significant is the mayor's power to appoint people to various city positions. Department heads and 50 administrative personnel are in what are called "exempt" positions. Each mayor gets to choose his or her own top management team That is, regarding selection and hiring, these appointees don't fall under Career Service rules. Within the category of the exempt positions, among the most significant appointments of the mayor are the managers of the ten main departments as defined in the City Charter. These departments carry out the major function of Denver city government.

The departments are as follows:

Aviation (DIA)
Community Planning and Development
Environmental Health
General Services
Human Services
Department of Law (City Attorney)
Parks and Recreation
Public Works
Revenue
Safety

The heads of these ten departments comprise the mayor's cabinet. Also, within the exempt category are appointees of the mayor who head various city agencies.

Until January 1997, the Department of Health and Hospitals (which included Denver General Hospital) was a department under the mayor, and its manager was a member of the mayor's cabinet. During this time, the Department of Health and Hospitals was abolished to become Denver Health Medical Center , a public authority. A board appointed by the mayor governs this public authority. The new structure gives Denver Health its own governance, personnel, legal, and purchasing systems.

The official flag for the City and County of Denver (shown above) was adopted in 1926; it was designed by Margaret Overbeck, a North High School student at the time. A yellow circle in the center symbolizes gold in Colorado's hills as well as the sun. The circle's position indicates Denver's central location within the state. The blue field represents our community's matchless skies; the white jagged line is representative both of the mountains which form Denver's background, and is also symbolic of the state's Native American heritage. The red foreground beneath the mountains stands for the red earth from which Colorado gained its name.