Residents in one Colorado city want transparency, answers after police and fire chiefs were fired
Four days after the Federal Heights police and fire chiefs were seemingly terminated from their positions, community members are speaking out against what they say has been a long history of retaliation against first responders in the community.
"No one is sharing anything, and then with them both being terminated, by an email, without knowledge, is just not okay in any shape or form," said Renee Lund, a Federal Heights resident and volunteer victims advocate for the city.
Multiple residents spoke before city council leaders Monday night, expressing their frustrations with what they felt has been a lack of transparency and accountability from the council and City Manager Jacqueline Halburnt, who they say was responsible for both Chiefs Robert Grado and Marc Mahoney being ousted from their roles.
"You're letting an unelected bureaucrat make decisions on public safety," one resident said before city council leaders. "What's wrong with you?"
"To me and many in this community, they are heroes," said Lund. "For them to be treated this way is not only disappointing but unacceptable."
Police and fire department personnel attended Tuesday night's meeting. CBS News Colorado spoke with a member of the police department anonymously, who says many are too afraid to speak out publicly for fear of retaliation from city leaders.
"We've seen good people leave for bad reasons, and we just want to see change," one police officer said. "We want to be the department that we want to be. We want to have our own city administration believe in us and work for us instead of against us."
It's been over two months since unions for both fire and police departments in the city issued a vote of "no confidence" in the city manager after years of trying to get more funding for their departments. They say Halburnt prevented both departments from working with city council members to address their concerns.
Many say these chiefs were doing exceptional work in the community to improve public safety, and believe their firings are a result of speaking out against the city manager.
"I don't know what's going on," said Ken Murphy, husband of Federal Heights Mayor Linda Montoya and a former council member. "I don't have a bone to pick with Jackie, I just want to know what's going on."
Now the community is issuing a plea for the council to hear their concerns and support their first responders moving forward.
"The people who serve those departments deserve clarity, they deserve respect, they deserve to know that their leadership and the structure above them is steady, and not unsure," said one resident. "Because when leadership is unclear, morale takes a hit."
Back in January, the council agreed to conduct an independent investigation following concerns about the city manager and first responders' vote of "no confidence." Residents say they want to see the results of that investigation.
"The city manager should be under investigation if they're going to investigate the police and fire department. That's all, just transparency," Lund said.
CBS Colorado requested an interview with city council members and Halburnt about the recent terminations. Halburnt responded to that request, saying they are "not available for an interview and can only provide a statement that it is a personnel issue and we are unable to discuss it."
She also said the internal investigation has not been completed, but as of Tuesday, she has still not clarified who was involved in this investigation and who was contracted to perform it.
