Jeffco commissioners dismiss County Administrator
JEFFERSON COUNTY – The Board of County Commissioners earlier this week fired County Administrator Jim Moore, but did not disclose the reason for Moore’s ouster.
The lack of comment on the firing carries a bit of irony: Moore lobbied for complete and total transparency of county government and is in large part responsible for the development of Transparent Jeffco web site, which links all the county’s on-line open records, meetings and financial transactions in an easily accessible and searchable data-base.
“His contract was terminated Wednesday. I cannot comment further,” said County spokeswoman Kathryn Heider.
And other county officials had no comment on Moore’s dismissal.
Moore’s firing came shortly after he testified in U.S. District Court in connection with a lawsuit filed by Mike Zinna, a frequent critic of county government. Zinna’s lawsuit claimed former County Commissioner Jim Congrove, former County Attorney’s Office lawyer Duncan Bradley and Lakewood resident Robert Cook conspired to stifle Zinna’s First Amendment rights.
In his testimony in that trial, Moore said the county’s catch-phrase about Zinna was: “Shut him up and shut him down,” according to a courtroom observer.
Moore was one of a number of county officials originally named as defendants in Zinna’s lawsuit. Federal Judge Richard Matsch dropped Moore and others from the lawsuit.
A U.S. District Court jury in Denver this week decided the case in Zinna’s favor and awarded him $1,791, an amount that reflects the year the First Amendment was adopted, 1791, as a symbolic statement. Zinna also could be entitled recover to attorney’s fees after the jury verdict, fees Zinna said could amount to more than $500,000.
The county also has footed the bill for Congrove’s lawyer, but county officials repeatedly have said they will try to recover the cost of Congrove’s legal fees from the former commissioner, who left office earlier this year after a single term marked by his disagreements and discord with the commissioners Kevin McCasky and Kathy Hartman.
And the county earlier this year paid more than $750,000 to settle an age and sex discrimination lawsuit two former employees filed against Moore.
Moore served just less than four years as County Administrator, taking the job after the departure of former administrator Patrick Thompson, who resigned to take a similar job in Ohio.
Moore, a Texas native, was director of Support Services and Human Resources for the county before taking over as administrator.
His four years were marked with turbulence following the elections of Congrove and controversial former County Treasurer Mark Paschall and a shifting relationship between Congrove and Paschall and Zinna that went from alliance to intrigue. Along the way, the operation of county government often was overshadowed by the intrigues that shift involved.
Moore also was at the helm during a grand jury investigation of Congrove, a trial in which Paschall was acquitted of theft and profiting from his former political position and the fall-out as the discrimination lawsuit against Moore unfolded
Moore was fired after a pair of closed-door meetings late Wednesday. After the second meeting, at which Moore was present, commissioner voted to fire him during a public session.
County Open Space director Ralph Schell will serve as interim County Administrator, Heider said.
An agenda posted Friday in advance of Tuesday’s County Commissioners meeting includes an item on the hiring of a new administrator and another regarding discussion of the County Administrator’s contract.
