LOCAL TOP DENVER MANAGERS OUT
Workers in April came forward with complaints about manager mistreating them, wasting money
Two high-ranking employees at Denver’s Department of Public Works are out. One of them was fired for allegedly wasting money and had a “reputation for yelling and bullying.”
Two high-ranking managers are out at Denver Public Works — one of them fired after employees alleged that he mistreated them and wasted money buying impractical equipment.
Kelly Duffy and Doug Legg are “no longer employed” by the city as of Monday, according to an email to department staff from DPW director Eulois Cleckley. The message did not give an explicit reason, but Duffy resigned prior to potential discipline and Legg was dismissed, according to city officials.
Late in April, 13 employees came forward with complaints about Legg, according to his dismissal letter, obtained by The Denver Post through an open records request Monday. He was a manager under Duffy, who was the director of street maintenance.
The employees told investigators that Legg had a “reputation for yelling and bullying, and rude, hateful, and intimidating conduct towards them and lower level employees,” according to the dismissal letter.
One employee said it felt “like an abused wife situation where you get little hits, like verbal intimidation, so often that you stop even noticing them.”
An operations supervisor reported overhearing Legg belittling city employees for speaking Spanish. “We’re in America now, and we speak English,” he allegedly said.
Employees described Legg as “toxic and not serious about safety issues,” saying both he and Duffy made “negative statements” about safety specialists.
In a disciplinary hearing, Legg said the complaint contained inaccuracies, but he didn’t identify them, according to his dismissal letter.
He said there was a misunderstanding about his behavior and he “had no intent” for it “to be perceived as it was.”
Both Legg and Duffy were placed on leave in early May pending an investigation for unspecified reasons.
Later, it came to light that equipment vendors paid for Legg’s and Duffy’s 2018 trip to Europe — a potential violation of city ethics policies.
The dismissal letter notes an apparent violation of ethics rules for the trip, which included stops in both Germany and Italy.
Legg didn’t tell department leaders that he and Duffy would be traveling to Italy during the trip, according to the letter.
And the funding for the trip — which came from two manufacturers and a vendor, HardLine — created a conflict of interest, the letter concludes: “Allowing HardLine to pay for your international travel gave you a financial interest in the City’s purchase of the sweeper from HardLine.”
A representative for HardLine didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week, The Denver Post reported on complaints about DPW’s handling of the process for purchasing nearly $5 million of street sweepers from Dulevo, one of the manufacturers. A competitor said that the process favored Dulevo. Legg allegedly recommended the purchase without consulting the manager of street sweeping, according to the dismissal letter.
Employees told investigators that he and Duffy kept “buying brand new products that are not widely used, while getting rid of older equipment that still works fine” while purchasing “every upgrade available, to the point that the manufacturer’s trainers have never seen anyone order so many upgrades.”
For instance, Legg was accused of ordering “giant snowplows that sit high off the ground and can’t be used for anything less than about 10 feet of snow.”
In his email to employees, Cleckley said employees should feel able to call out bad behavior.
“It is critical to the success of our organization that we ensure a culture in which employees are respected and feel they have the ability and the support to report when something looks or feels wrong at work,” he wrote.
Legg and Duffy have not responded to requests for comments.