A Denver city councilwoman will unveil a proposal on Monday to change the city charter so that the sheriff is elected – not appointed – to the post. 

Candi CdeBaca will submit a draft of amendments at a 3 p.m. “special issues” meeting on the charter on Monday at Denver City Hall, her chief of staff, Lisa Calderón, said in an email on Thursday afternoon.

If CdeBaca gets support for the proposal from fellow council members, it could make it onto the ballot for the November 2020 election, according to the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office. 

The council may choose to refer the proposal to voters, whose approval is required to change the charter.

In Denver, the mayor picks the sheriff. It’s one of two Colorado counties, alongside Broomfield, where the sheriff is not elected. 

Calderón said earlier this month that CdeBaca planned to propose the change in the wake of the city’s announcement that Sheriff Patrick Firman was stepping down. 

Troy Riggs, executive director of the Denver Department of Public Safety, has said that Firman weighed resigning for a few months and finally decided to do it. 

“It is now time for me to take a step back, focus on my family and consider the next chapter,” Firman told Mayor Michael Hancock in a Sept. 9 resignation letter, provided to Colorado Politics by the Mayor’s Office. 

The abrupt end of Firman’s tenure comes amid questions of whether he’s kept the confidence of his employees during a turbulent four years at the helm of Denver jails. 

Hancock has credited him with a slew of reforms, including improvements in employee training, better policies, procedures for use-of-force and a new citizen advisory board.

But Firman has also come under fire as legal troubles have continued over conditions at the jail, employees have wracked up millions of dollars in overtime costs, delays in bond processing have kept people behind bars, and the Denver Auditor’s Office has reported shortfalls in correctional management.

Firman is to step down on Oct. 14. The department’s professional standards director, Fran Gomez, will then take over as interim sheriff as city officials begin a search for a long-term replacement. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the earliest election in which the City Council could refer the proposed charter change to voters. The article has been changed to correct the mistake.