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Overwhelming majority of Florence City Council resigns amid alleged corruption

By HUGH JOHNSON 03/23/2022 | updated 3 years ago

Six of seven members Florence City Council resigned Tuesday after months of dealing with corruption, a pair of former council members said. 

The remaining councilmember is the city’s mayor, Paul Villagrana. 

The development is another blow to the city, which saw its former city manager, Mike Patterson, arrested in November on suspicion of two counts of felony stalking, among other crimes stemming from allegations of sexual harassment. Council terminated Patterson on Aug. 31.

The city manager position is one of three positions the council oversees, alongside the city attorney and judge. 

The alleged corruption in Florence doesn’t end with Patterson’s alleged sexual misconduct, however. 

Former Florence city manager sexually harassed women, affidavit says

Former council member Mike Vendetti said the council felt “stymied” in their efforts to investigate and uproot allegations of corruption in the city. 

He cited a 2019 lawsuit in which a different individual alleged that she had been sexually harassed by Patterson and former Police Chief Mike DeLaurentis.

Vendetti said that the council was unsatisfied with efforts made by chief of police Shane Prickett after they had asked him to investigate another scandal, surrounding Patterson’s alleged misuse of roughly $90,000 of city money for personal, no-interest loans for certain people. 

“We couldn’t really get a satisfactory answer on that,” he said, 

Vendetti said he hopes, at this point, that the state will step in and be able to address some of the alleged corruption he’s seen in the city.

Ultimately, for Vendetti, there was no path forward with the city once he saw councilmembers Melissa Hardy, Brian Allen and Kristal Wood resign. 

According to Hardy, the resignations weren’t coordinated. “The stress I have endured in the last six months has begun to take a toll on my health and my ability to be the kind of wife and mother my family deserves,” Hardy said in a statement. “I believe that I have worked diligently to find the truth and pursue every avenue I could towards fixing what has gone so terribly wrong in the City of Florence.

“At this point, under the scope of my authority, I do not believe I am able to be of further assistance to the citizens. The council can only give so much direction and if it goes unfulfilled there is little recourse. We can try to set the example and expectation of the change we are seeking but that too can be rejected. We are also subject to making decisions with the information that we are provided, whether it is accurate and complete or not. I hold out hope that things will continue to improve and wish everyone that continues to move toward that goal the best. I was so proud to be elected for this job last fall and it has been an honor serving as a representative for the community. I am truly sorry to anyone that feels I have let them down by this choice but I can no longer serve on the Florence City council.”

Contact the writer: hugh.johnson@gazette.com

Florence, Colorado. 
Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette
HUGH JOHNSON

Reporter

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