Frank Jaeger has managed the Parker Water and Sanitation District since 1981. 9Wants to Know recently revealed that he and other managers were using government credit cards to pay for vehicle upgrades, numerous lunch meetings, and trips for conferences in places like Las Vegas and Florida. These expenses came as the district raised water rates for Parker residents.
Thursday night, Jaeger announced his retirement, but the new board members still proposed to terminate his contract, effective on Friday.
There will be a special meeting within the next five days to discuss Jaeger's employment.
He was making $175,000 a year as the manager.
9Wants to Know found he and other managers had expenses like:
• $892 spent on new rims for the District Manager's Yukon Denali
• Among dozens of car washes, sometimes several in a week, $560 was spent on a detail job for the District Manager's Yukon Denali
• $6,000 spent on 127 lunch meetings attended by water managers, consultants and lawmakers at places like the Brown Palace Hotel.
• $20,000 spent on trips to Las Vegas, Florida and Washington D.C. for conferences
• $1,925 paid to marketing consultants to write board member bios
Jaeger defended those expenses as the cost of doing business and keeping up a clean image for the water utility.
A handful of Jaeger's supporters were in the audience and were vocal at Thursday night's meeting.
Jaeger declined to comment about the board's plan to fire him. Several of Jaeger's supporters voiced disappointment at 9NEWS for the coverage on the expenses during Thursday's meeting.
"We just need to move forward as a board and do that, and we want to do what's right for the people of the district," Darcy Beard, a board member, said.
In his 31 years with the district, he's credited for establishing a new $160-million reservoir in Parker.
Many of his critics blame the financial management of that reservoir for putting rate-payers into debt.
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)