A Denver City Council member on Monday called for an independent investigation into Mayor Michael Hancock’s brewing sexual harassment scandal, saying a probe would provide “a full and accurate accounting” to the public.

In a letter to the mayor that was obtained by The Denver Post, Councilman Rafael Espinoza questions whether the council was given complete information during a 2016 legal briefing about a $200,000 settlement paid to a former mayoral aide. That aide, Wayne McDonald, challenged his firing in 2012 over sexual harassment allegations lodged by a member of Hancock’s security detail.

Last month, more information came to light: namely that the police officer who accused the aide of sexual harassment in 2012 also received several suggestive text messages from Hancock around the same time.

Denver police detective Leslie Branch-Wise, who received a $75,000 settlement from the city for the McDonald matter in 2013, made the texts public in a Feb. 27 interview with Denver7. A chastened Hancock quickly apologized — characterizing the text messages as inappropriate, but not as sexual harassment, as others (including Espinoza) have charged.

“To remove the cloud forming over your administration, it is in the best interests of the citizens of Denver that you direct the current city attorney to commission an independent investigation by an outside party, selected by council, to delve into this matter and provide a full accounting,” Espinoza wrote. “This should be done with all due speed to ensure that voters have clarity (of) the conduct of the person occupying the most powerful office in Denver, before they are asked to consider (in the May 2019 election) whom should occupy that seat.”

Mayoral spokeswoman Amber Miller said Hancock “has been open, honest and transparent and has taken full responsibility for his actions. The councilman’s letter is full of inaccuracies and accusations, and we encourage him to take time with the city attorney to acquaint himself with the facts.”

Espinoza’s letter carries no official force, but he is the first council member to call for an outside investigation, as some Hancock critics also have done. No council members have called for Hancock to step down over the new revelation involving Branch-Wise.

Contrary to his letter’s assertion, the council did not vote on the McDonald settlement agreement, since it was not paid out of the city’s liability claims fund. But the council received a briefing on the agreement at the time, another member confirmed.

Espinoza questioned whether the McDonald settlement was meant to obscure Hancock’s “own harassing behavior,” and the councilman also refers generally to other rumors that have circulated. Hancock, for his part, has said he wasn’t aware his texts had offended Branch-Wise until her recent interview.

Hancock’s administration has offered the council a closed-door briefing by City Attorney Kristin Bronson about the events surrounding Branch-Wise’s treatment and the settlements, Espinoza wrote in the letter. But in an email to Hancock that accompanied his letter, Espinoza wrote that he wanted a probe that would result in a public report.

“The citizens of Denver deserve no less than answers to these questions and a full and complete accounting of your behavior and the true context of the settlement agreements in relation to your actions,” he wrote.

Here is Councilman Espinoza’s letter to Hancock: