FORMER CITY OFFICIAL FILES ETHICS CHARGE AGAINST PAST PLANNING BOARD CHAIR

Former Councilwoman and first female Council president, Cathy Donohue, claims former Planning Board Chairman Brad Buchanan violates ethics rules in the redevelopment of the old St. Anthony’s Hospital site in west Denver.

Donohue, who served 19 years on Denver City Council and was Deputy Manager of Public Works under Mayor Wellington Webb, has filed an ethics violation charge against Buchanan, an architect and former, long-time Denver Planning Board Chair.  

Donohue's formal complaint with the Denver Board of Ethics over Buchanan and his firm RNL involves the Denver Planning Board's approval of a development plan for the St. Anthony's Hospital site along West Colfax. 

According to the complaint, Buchanan only left the Planning Board in July but was even promoting the high density, high rise development plan developed by RNL at a public meeting in June.

Under the Denver Code of Ethics, former employees and board members are required to wait six months after they leave their position before doing business with the city agencies with which they served.    

Donohue says, “There is a perception that developers can get anything they want these days.  All they have to do is hire former City employees who know who and how to make it happen.”

The development plan is scheduled to go before Buchanan's former Board colleagues on Wednesday, November 20. Donohue has asked the Board of Ethics, which normally meets only once a month, to expedite a decision to require the Planning Board to postpone the hearing until February when the “cooling off period” has expired.