Ready to Work: Workforce and housing program breaks ground in Englewood

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

By this time next year, an old roo ng company building on South Windermere Street in Englewood will be a vibrant home, workplace and resource center helping people nd their way out of homelessness. Elected o cials and community leaders from Englewood, Littleton, Sheridan and other areas of Arapahoe County gathered on June 2 for the groundbreaking ceremony of the third location of Ready to Work, a workforce training and housing program run by the organization

Bridge House.

With funding from many community partners, including Englewood, Littleton, Sheridan, Arapahoe County and donor foundationsthe new location will house about 48 individuals, Bridge House CEO Melissa Green said.

“ e most incredible part of opening up this house is we’re gonna have roughly 150 beds in the Ready to Work community,” she said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

When individuals enter Ready to Work, which currently operates out of Boulder and Aurora, they live in a private bedroom with shared dormitory-style bathrooms, Green said.

On their rst day, participants are employed by one of the program’s social enterprises, either landscaping or the culinary program, which o ers catering and other food services.

In addition, trainees receive personalized support services including recovery groups, job readiness classes, nancial management guidance, career mentoring and on-site medical and dental care.

Englewood City Council member Cheryl Wink is being brought to task for missing public meetings as part of a citizen-led recall e ort. e recall petition claims that, beginning Jan. 18, 2022, Wink, “missed excessive city council meetings, study sessions, executive sessions, and committee meetings as assigned.”

When asked about the recall, Wink pushed back in a June 2 phone call with the Englewood Herald, calling it “stupid” and saying, “ ese little citizens were angry about everything.”

Wink later tried to back away from the remarks to an Englewood Herald reporter, who had recorded them.

While a debate over housing density issues has been at the forefront of the recall e orts for four council members, only Wink’s recall is marked by the additional claims about attendance.

A look at the attendance numbers

Between Jan. 18, 2022, and June 2,

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2023, there have been 34 regular city council meetings. Wink was present for 23 of those 34 meetings — or 67.6% — as shown through recordings of the meetings published on the city’s website and YouTube channel.

However, of the 23 meetings for which Wink was counted as present, she attended 12 of them in person and 11 virtually. is means that out of the 34 regular city council meetings, Wink was physically present for about 35% of them.

Virtual attendance to city council meetings is allowed but in-person attendance is preferred, according to the City of Englewood City Council Policies manual.

It states, in part, “Electronic participation is intended to be an infrequent or occasional substitution for physical attendance by members of the city council.” e Englewood City Council is made up of seven members, four of whom are facing recall: Mayor Othoniel Sierra and Councilmembers Joe Anderson, Chelsea Nunnenkamp and Wink.

Englewood Director of Communications Chris Harguth said via email that there is no policy regarding how many regular city council meetings council members have to attend — virtually or in person — nor how many meetings members can miss in a given time period.

How does Wink’s attendance compare to others?

Of the 34 regular city council meetings that have occurred between Jan. 18, 2022, and June 2, 2023, Wink has the highest number of absences — 11 meetings — and virtual attendance — also 11 meetings.

No other member comes close to those totals for absences or virtual attendance.

Sierra has the second highest number of absences,as he missed three of the 34 regular council meetings. He attended one meeting virtually and attended the other 30 in person.

Out of the same 34 regular council meetings, Nunnenkamp was absent for one meeting and attended two meetings virtually. e other 31 meetings she attended in person. Anderson missed one meeting and attended one meeting virtually, and he attended the other 32 meetings in person.

Councilmember Rita Russell missed one of the 34 meetings but attended the rest in person.

Mayor Pro Tem Steven Ward did not miss any of the meetings and attended one meeting virtually. He was in person for the other 33 meetings.

Councilmember Jim Woodward had perfect attendance as well, and he attended all 34 meetings in person.

Wink: ‘I’m irritated about this stupid recall for these dumb reasons’ e Englewood City Council unanimously agreed to inde nitely end the conversation of potentially permitting two-to-four-unit residences in R-1 zone districts during an April 17 meeting.

On June 2, Englewood Herald reporter Tayler Shaw called Wink to interview her about the recall petition’s claims that she has missed meetings excessively.

“I mean, I’m irritated about this stupid recall for these dumb reasons. I mean, obviously, they’re recalling us because they thought we were gonna vote against that, you know, the R — the zoning thing.

“And they peppered all of our recalls with some individual stu they made up,” Wink said.

Among the listed claims in the recall petitions is that the four members support zoning changes contemplated in the CodeNext project including permitting “multiplex housing” in R-1 zone districts, which are areas that have single-family homes.

CodeNext refers to an ongoing e ort to update Englewood’s development code, called the Uni ed Development Code. e city is still in the drafting phase of the project.

“I hope you’re not quoting all of this but I’m just so irritated that — at the super uous nature of this stu ,” Wink told the Englewood Herald.

“I don’t really have time for an interview. I said what I said in that meeting,” she added, referring to a May 15 city council meeting.

Wink continued to say a lot of citizens have told her they are happy to have her on council because of her professional accomplishments.

“ ey expect that I’m sitting here and I’m — my work isn’t busy and I’m not, you know, and it’s like they expect that I don’t have a career and a life,” she said. “ ese little citizens were angry about everything.”

When asked what her response is to the claim that she has missed meetings excessively, she said, “I haven’t missed meetings excessively.” coordinator shared by Englewood, Sheridan and Littleton—all of which has led to a reduction in crime in the city including a 5% drop in car theft.

“You know what my response is to it?” she added, explaining she would send an email to the Englewood Herald with a statement.

“We have invested in $18.4 million to address ooding, have tripled our investment in streets starting this year, and have committed $200 million to improve the resilience and quality of our water system. In short, we have listened to our neighbors and are working everyday to improve the community we love.”

In response to being asked about her being physically present for 35% of the 34 meetings, Wink asked if the Englewood Herald knew what the requirement is for her to attend meetings in person.

When the Englewood Herald said Harguth said there is no attendance policy, Wink said, “Exactly. So then, don’t hammer me about something if there’s no policy. en, I’m not doing anything wrong, right?

“Why are you prosecuting me about, ‘Why didn’t you show up in person’ if you’re not required to show up in person?” she said.

Following the end of the phone call interview, Wink called the Englewood Herald shortly after to con rm the newspaper got the email with the statement.

“ at’s what I’d like you to put in the Herald. And I’m calling you to ascertain that no detail of what I said to you on the phone, you’re going to put in that paper,” Wink said.

When the Englewood Herald explained there was never an agreement about being o -the-record during the previous conversation and that the Englewood Herald had called to interview Wink, she responded, “You’re joking right now.”

“You’re going to write down standard conversational stu now that I’ve had with you on the phone, as my interview?” Wink asked. “You’ve got to be joking. I have to call my attorney.”

Wink said she told the Englewood Herald she would send responses to the questions asked via email. It was then explained that the email was an addition to the phone call conversation.

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SimpleStepsBetterAir.org e emailed statement from Wink was a copy of her statement of defense, which is part of the petition to recall her. It reads:

“ is recall petition is promoted by a small group of people who believe I should not serve as your Council member because the Englewood City Council EXPLORED housing ideas to address our region’s a ordable housing crisis.

“Should City Council be punished for DISCUSSING how to address our most pressing issues? Council heard our constituent concerns about density in neighborhoods and decided not to pursue multifamily units in all residential areas.

“Further, during my time on Council I have advocated for and funded four new police o cers, two Co-Responders, and a homelessness

“Nothing I said to you, that outside of that email, was an o cial interview response,” Wink said. “I’ve never interviewed anybody like that. I mean, I’m not an idiot.” e Englewood Herald o ered to go through the questions again but said the original conversation was on-the-record and for things to be o -the-record, there has to be a discussion and agreement beforehand, which did not happen during the June 2 conversation.

Wink did not respond and appeared to have hung up the phone.

Later that same day, Wink sent an email to the Englewood Herald stating, “When we spoke today I was operating under the assumption that my comments to you on the phone were o record and as I said to you several times, that my formal interview response comments would be

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