Denver Fire Department comp time fallout; "They should have known better" says former Independent Monitor

A former Independent Monitor who oversaw Denver's public safety agencies for nearly a decade said Wednesday he expects Denver Fire Department Command staff to face discipline after an independent investigation found them misusing their comp time and vacation time.

"Based on my experience," said Nicholas Mitchell, "I probably would be pretty surprised if there was no discipline flowing from this. I think they probably should have known better."

Mitchell's comments to CBS News Colorado came after the Tuesday release of an independent investigation into how Denver's Fire Chief and his command staff misused compensatory time for years, which Mayor Michael Johnston called "A troubling and systemic misuse of Flex time."

Denver's Manager of Safety, Armando Saldate, said he is deciding whether to pursue discipline against the top fire department officials, but no decision has been made yet.

Mitchell served as Denver's Independent Monitor from 2012 until 2021, providing oversight of Denver's public safety agencies and participating in thousands of investigations. He is now a public safety consultant. After reviewing the 26 page report, Mitchell said Denver's fire chief and his colleagues "Probably should have known better," that what they were doing with comp time and vacation time was questionable.

 "We're talking about violations of municipal law, so these are not minor issues," said Mitchell.

The city investigation reviewed by Mitchell began after CBS News Colorado revealed in April that Fire Chief Desmond Fulton and his command staff had been regularly awarding themselves comp time for attending routine events like retirement parties, community events and firefighter memorials. They would then use the accrued comp time for their vacations, which allowed them to cash out unused vacation time at the end of the year, pocketing thousands of dollars. The report verified what CBS had reported earlier -- fire department command staff are not allowed to be compensated for overtime or extra hours worked, and if they are, it's a violation of Denver's municipal code. While fire department commanders were pocketing vacation payouts, they refused to allow rank and file firefighters to do the same, issuing a directive that line firefighters had to use up all their vacation time each year. The report called that directive a "double standard" that "appeared hypocritical."

While the question of discipline is up in the air, Mitchell said, "If line firefighters who engage in similar conduct would be disciplined for it then yes, discipline would certainly be appropriate for the executive leadership of that agency. There cannot be a double standard based on whether you have brass on your lapel or not."

Fulton did not respond to requests for an interview, but released a written statement Tuesday saying," I take full responsibility for continuing a problematic timekeeping practice that violated city policy."

While Mitchell felt discipline was likely in this case, he cautioned that politics may end up being a factor.

"There are often internal pressures to shield the mayor's appointee from accountability for this kind of conduct," said Mitchell.

Fulton was appointed fire chief by former Mayor Michael Hancock, but Johnston, Hancock's successor, reappointed Fulton earlier this year.

While the city-commissioned report on the DFD comp time placed some blame on Fulton, saying "Regardless, the buck must stop with the top executive within a department," the investigators noted the faulty comp time practice had been going on for 13 years. The report authors said years ago, fire department command staff members were encouraged to keep track of extra hours they worked to show how diligent they were in their jobs.

"It then began to drift," according to the report, "without oversight or clear guidance, tracking extra hours turned into banking extra hours and using them instead of vacation leave."

The report said "DFD command officers came to believe what they were doing was allowed and they passed the practice down to their successors in a siloed, on-the-job training culture."