Ritter about-face on emergency management chief

Former Englewood official out 3 weeks after appointment

Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 24, 2007 at midnight

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Gov. Bill Ritter has dropped Chris Olson, Englewood's former director of emergency services, as director of the state's Division of Emergency Management, just three weeks after appointing him to the post.

The governor's spokesman would not say what prompted the move, but Olson was the subject of a 2005 lawsuit and had come under other criticism in Englewood.

When the governor named Olson July 3 to coordinate the state's responses to disasters, he praised him as an experienced firefighter and paramedic and former president of the Denver Civil Service Commission.

"Chris Olson's commitment to emergency management, his longtime experience in public safety and service to the community, make him an excellent choice for leading the Division of Emergency Management," Ritter said.

Olson was expected to take over as director next Monday.

But Evan Dreyer, Ritter's spokesman, said Monday that Olson was out of the picture and that the search was on for a new director.

"The governor has decided to go in a different direction, and Chris Olson will not be taking the job as director," Dreyer said. "We're looking at all of our options and trying to determine how we can go about filling the position as quickly as possible."

Dreyer refused to disclose why or when Ritter decided to go in a different direction, saying that those were "confidential personnel issues."

Olson could not be reached for comment Monday.

Last week, the city of Englewood bid farewell to Olson after he served 10 years as the city's director of the Department of Safety Services.

According to 9News, Olson had come under criticism there for understaffing and for underequipping officers.

And in 2005, a former Englewood policewoman sued Olson, claiming that he fired her in violation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act in retaliation for filing a civil rights complaint against him and other supervisors. In the complaint, Diedre Linville said she was discriminated against because she is a woman.

Linville had suffered a major panic attack after experiencing two traumatic incidents in 2003 involving two other officers. One officer was wounded by a shotgun blast and the other suffered serious injuries in a hit-and-run incident on his motorcycle.

According to federal court papers, doctors found that Linville suffered from a severe panic attack related to the post-traumatic stress. Linville said her supervisors harassed her by charging her with dereliction of duty and "untruthfulness" and by launching an internal affairs investigation.

The city settled the case out of court last year. A source familiar with the case said the settlement was "substantial."

Linville said Monday she was not pleased that Ritter had appointed Olson to the job and would not be surprised if her lawsuit had played a role in the governor's decision to rescind the selection.

Correspondent Marilyn Robinson contributed to this report.

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