Overview:
Scott Gilmore, who is married to Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore, describes the recent City of Denver layoffs as "an embarrassment."
On July 29, Mayor Mike Johnston’s office alerted Denver city employees of citywide layoffs expected the week of Aug. 18 in response to a shortfall within the general fund for 2025 and 2026. To make up a $250 million deficit, Johnston laid off 169 city employees and eliminated 665 open positions.
Since Mayor Johnston took office in Jan., Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore has been especially vocal against his administration, and when it came time to lay off city employees, her husband, Scott Gilmore, was quickly dismissed.
“I’ve had 20 plus years working with the Parks & Recreation Department, and I got dismissed with a two-minute phone call and told my stuff would be sent to me in boxes,” Scott said.
Scott volunteered for Denver’s Parks & Recreation Department for eight years before becoming the department’s executive deputy director for more than a decade.
“I grew up in this city, I’ve committed my life to this city, and how I was treated,” Scott said. “It’s an embarrassment.”
For 13 years as executive deputy director, Scott’s marriage to the councilwoman never impacted his career. As a wildlife biologist and Denver native passionate about Denver parks and wildlife, Scott managed more than nine groups and had over 600 people working under him.
“Prior to this administration, I was able to work with [Councilwoman Gilmore’s] office flawlessly and make sure parks in this community that we live in were built, designed and were equitable,” Scott said. “Then they told me that I should not be in meetings with her, that I ‘should not be here, I shouldn’t go there,’ and then they started actually adjusting my role in the city to minimize the groups that I managed.”
Both Councilwoman Gilmore and her husband have been vocal about demanding transparency from Johnston’s administration, particularly regarding the budget deficit and the real reasons behind the layoffs. The Gilmores are not alone; ten former city employees have since filed appeals, alleging discrimination in their layoffs.
Johnston has disputed the notion that the decisions were targeted as “irresponsible and factually false.” His office insists that the layoffs were necessary to help cover the city’s general fund deficit; however, Scott’s salary was not paid from the general fund. Scott was paid through the Denver Parks Legacy Fund, a special revenue fund that receives $40 to $50 million per year.
“How can you explain that I was laid off when my job did not help this budget crisis that we were in?” Scott said. “It helped it zero.”
Many senior employees with decades of work with the city under their belt were let go, along with Scott. City employees had short notice of the layoffs, and according to Denver’s AFSCME Local Union 158 President Michael Wallin, they also had little inclination of who would be at risk. Along with leading AFSCME Local Union 158, Wallin is also a senior engineering associate for the city’s Department of Transportation and Agriculture.
“The career services administration chose to put us through rather unpopular changes with regards to layoffs, specifically that they will not honor employee seniority,” Wallin said. “That was a real letdown for employees, particularly if you have been with the city for a while—that your loyalty does not mean much to the city.”
Wallin held a webinar shortly after the layoffs with another union organization in Denver, Teamsters Local 455, to guide laid-off employees through their next steps. Both Wallin’s union and the Teamsters have added members in recent months in response to layoffs; however, Wallin has been forced to lay off some Department of Transportation and Agriculture employees during this round of cuts.
“We are way shorthanded; not only did we have to lay off some of our top friends and colleagues, but there was also a hiring freeze,” Wallin said. “That help that you thought was going to come is not coming.”
Wounds from the layoffs are still fresh, but Wallin is holding out hope for Denver city employees to unite around the expansion of collective bargaining rights for over 7,000 employees. Effective in Jan. 2026, Denver city employees will be able to vote to form a union and have a union representative present during employee contract negotiations.
“The fight is not over. We are still plugging along,” Wallin said. “We got kind of a bloody nose over the last week, but the rule is we chop wood, carry water. Keep going, moving forward every day.”
Three weeks after that brief phone call, Scott said that he is carrying on with a similar sense of positivity and gratitude. He is proud of the decades of work he has done to create equitable parks throughout the city of Denver and wants to move forward in any prospective action against Johnston’s office with respect, dignity and compassion.
“Something I’ve learned from the Indigenous people I’ve worked with is that this work that we do, we are standing on the shoulders of seven generations before us, but we are also doing the work for the seven generations after us,” Scott said. “I just want to thank the amazing employees of the city that have had to deal with a lot of trauma through this process and just remind them to take care of themselves and take care of each other.”
