A pair of bills outlining a handful of city charter and code changes related to the Office of the Independent Monitor were given final approval by the City Council on Monday night.

Currently, a search committee is in the middle of finding candidates for the head of Denver’s law enforcement watchdog office, and the mayor has the authority to appoint them from among the candidates.

But Denver voters could change that in November, thanks to the approval of the two bills.

Among the series of changes, one bill gives appointment power of the monitor to Denver’s Citizen Oversight Board, which has day-to-day oversight and performance evaluation responsibilities for the monitor. The changes will go to a public vote on Nov. 2.

The Office of the Independent Monitor supervises discipline investigations of the Denver police and sheriff’s departments. The office can also make policy recommendations.

Last fall, the office released a high-profile report on the police department’s handling of the early days of Denver’s racial-justice protests last spring and summer.

Jamie Torres, who represents District 3, sponsored the bills. She has said the monitor’s office needs to exist in the city’s charter outside of any elected section, such as the City Council or the executive branch, to make it truly independent.

At Monday’s meeting, Torres thanked advocates, community organizations, her colleagues on the City Council and former council members “who have been working for many years to continue to strengthen the Office of the Independent Monitor.”

Currently, the mayor appoints a monitor – subject to the City Council’s approval – from among nominees chosen by a search committee headed by the chair of the Citizen Oversight Board.

Torres and at-large Councilmember Robin Kniech have made clear the monitor’s office is not “broken,” but having a body that is different than the person who appoints the city’s heads of law enforcement appoint their watchdog is crucial for public trust.

Under the new structure, the City Council would still have confirmation power for the chosen monitor candidate.

In a statement last week to The Denver Gazette, a spokesperson for Mayor Michael Hancock’s office said, “Mayor Hancock is not generally opposed to the proposal at this time.”

The bills would also allow the monitor to hire their own independent counsel instead of having to use the City Attorney’s Office, and make employees of the Office of the Independent Monitor employed under Career Service rather than employed at will.

Career Service employees get certain process guarantees for human resource matters such as hiring, firing, disciplinary and grievance issues.

Torres previously told The Denver Gazette that classifying employees of the monitor’s office as Career Service employees is important to insulate them from retaliation when they make controversial findings or express unpopular opinions.

City code changes outlined in one of the bills would require the Citizen Oversight Board to identify the monitor search committee within 60 days of the position becoming vacant. They also would increase the number of members on the committee from five to seven.

The Office of the Independent Monitor has not had a permanent head since January, when Nick Mitchell stepped down. An interim monitor has filled in since then.