Denver’s District 7 Councilmember Flor Alvidrez disputed a complaint claim that prompted an ethics board investigation whether taxpayer dollars she spent were legally sanctioned purchases.

The Denver Gazette, via a Colorado Open Records Act request, received a complaint claim by the Denver Ethics Board sent to them by Alvidrez’s former aide, Leya Hartman.

The claim states Alvidrez allegedly completed purchases with a city-issued credit card, both during personal occasions and on trips, with little regard to city policy over use of taxpayer dollars.

Alvidrez won the southwest Denver District 7 seat in the 2023 election after incumbent Jolon Clark decided not to seek re-election. The Denver native, who grew up in Athmar Park and expressed pride she was the first District 7 council member from the west side of I-25, took office in July. 

Hartman served the new councilwoman as a part-time senior aide responsible for budget management and constituent services, according to a written response from the councilwoman disputing many of Hartman’s claims.

“Councilwoman Alvidrez continued to make purchases that were not allowable under fiscal rules even though she completed the credit card training and signed her name so that she understood the rules,” according to Hartman’s complaint.

Hartman’s last day working for Alvidrez was Dec. 8, she wrote in the complaint, and added Alvidrez “to my knowledge, had still not reimbursed the city for many of her personal purchases.”

Hartman filed the claim on Dec. 18. Alvidrez responded to the claim on Dec. 27.

City credit card purchases are reviewed by City Council central staff to verify if they benefit the taxpayer.

Here are some notables in Hartman’s claims:

Trip to Chile

A report from Hartman on Oct. 3 shows Alvidrez did not want to engage in a “fiscal rules” discussion regarding an upcoming South America trip to Chile, which the councilwoman allegedly said: “I don’t want my business out there in front of the team” and “this trip to Chile is personal to me,” Hartman quoted Alvidrez in a conversation they had that day.

“I found it confusing that she expressed concern about maintaining privacy around how she spent our district budget consisting of taxpayer dollars because as a council office, we are obligated to standards around transparency, especially in spending,” Hartman’s claim said.

She claims the councilwoman spent $366 in taxpayer dollars for upgrades for her United Airlines flight to Chile and became upset when she was told she would have to reimburse the city. 

Additional purchases by city-issued credit cards must be reimbursed, according to the city’s travel card rules, Hartman said, citing concern Alvidrez had not read the rules she was given.

One month later, it was revealed that three city-issued credit card receipts from the Chile trip were not itemized, suggesting Avidrez had allegedly made purchases not allowed under city ruling.

Alvidrez allegedly spent an additional $200 for an oversized bag coming back home. The councilwoman, in her dispute letter, said the airline lost her luggage on the way to Chile and needed to buy extra clothes.

“Receipts I made for purchases abroad were provided to my staff,” Alvidrez said in her response. “In Chile they do not itemize receipts the same way they do in the United States and there is nothing I could do to force them to provide this type of receipt.”

One too many parade floats

Alvidrez unnecessarily spent $4,234 in taxpayer dollars for an extra Halloween parade float, Hartman claims.

The original float Alvidrez agreed to pay for was $10,000, resulting in almost $15,000 total spent on parade floats.

The purchase occurred after Alvidrez allegedly forgot she agreed with another person to order a second parade float for the parade, according to Hartman’s claim. Alvidrez said the parade was “very important to me to continue and support my predecessor’s legacy event: the Broadway Halloween parade. I had asked my staff to help me with this, but they could not find anyone to build a float for the parade.” 

Alvidrez paid the $4,234 to her ex-husband, Cesar Duran, for the extra float, Hartman’s claim added.

Alvidrez also used her city-issued credit card to buy candy to throw out, Hartman said. She was said to additionally purchase a bag of chips and a cookie.

Buying city-taxed items is prohibited with a city-issued credit card, Hartman said.

“She said that she ‘did hand those out at the parade’ which I found strange because I’ve never seen someone hand out chips and one cookie at a parade,” Hartman said in the claim.

“Cesar agreed to build one float for me for the cost of supplies and labor and Youth on Record solicited a sponsorship so that I could walk with them in the parade,” Alvidrez said in response to the claims. “Both had spent time and energy so I did not feel like it was right to cancel either one … I did not privately benefit from either transaction and Cesar is no longer related to me.”

Meal/alcohol reimbursement request

It was a Margherita pizza, a “That 70s Pie,” chickpeas and two sangrias Alvidrez purchased at Joy Hill restaurant on Oct. 17, according to a receipt Hartman gave to the ethics board.

The purchase happened to be a $94.10 birthday meal Alvidrez had with an aide, according to Hartman.

Alvidrez asked if her meal could be reimbursed, Hartman said.

“I found this extremely concerning that (Alvidrez) was asking the city to reimburse her for alcohol and tax when she had explicitly been told this was not an allowable use of taxpayer dollars,” her claim said.

“I am aware that City fiscal rules prohibit me from purchasing alcohol on my city credit card and I did not do so,” Alvidrez said in response to the claim. “I was not sure that a one on one meeting with a staff member was an allowable expense.”

School community outreach funds

Hartman received three invoices of $3,000 each citing the project “School Community Outreach” on Sept. 29, according to her claim. They came from Alejandro Fuentes Mena,  a former dean of culture and climate at Compass Academy and sixth grade math teacher at KIPP Northeast Middle School. 

The payments in Alvidrez’s name were meant for the project’s outreach plan, data analysis and the outreach itself, according to the former aide.

“I have still never seen any data, services rendered, or deliverables from this project,” Hartman said in the claim.

But Alvidrez countered: “He is in no way related to me nor is he a business associate … It is because of his expertise in education and my lack of experience in education that I hired him for this project.”

For $75 an hour, Mena was to “help me map out every school in my district and identify how I can best support them.” 

Heated moment

Hartman visited Alvidrez’s office on Nov. 7.

The interaction between them was described by Hartman as a “very abrupt escalation.”

Hartman asked Alvidrez that day about transactions she received after being gone for a week, Hartman said.

Hartman questioned her on a purchase for museum tickets and missing itemized receipts which are needed to determine whether a purchase benefits the taxpayer.

Alvidrez allegedly responded by yelling at Hartman telling her that was an “unproductive” conversation.

“I was shocked at how she yelled at me,” Hartman said in the claim. “I wondered if she may try to fire me because the more I brought up the topic of fiscal rules, the more defensive she became.”

Alvidrez said she has a different “characterization” of the interaction.

“I have worked, or plan to work, with City Council Central Staff to ensure that my credit card transactions are verified or reimbursements are made to the city,” Alvidrez wrote in her response.

A breaking point

“I was so overwhelmed by the number of purchase rules (Alvidrez) was disregarding and I called a member of City Council’s central staff to let them know I was overwhelmed,” Hartman said in her claim.

City Council central staff allegedly told Hartman: “their recommendation Councilwoman Alvidrez not use a per diem and soon after they called me and let me know that the District 7 office is taking so much of their time during the week that it is taking away from their ability to equitably serve all offices. They told me they felt that Councilwoman Alvidrez ‘does not feel the rules should apply to her’.”

“They noted that as long as I did my job in expressing concerns I had with her purchases, I was covered ethically and legally and that was how they were treating their interactions with our office,” she added.

The claims are now under investigation by the Denver Ethics Board.

“I struggled to successfully coach (Hartman) to schedule check-in times like other aides on my team so that we would have time to discuss outstanding items relating to budget or constituent services in-depth,” Alvidrez said in her response letter to the ethics board. “I did not privately gain from any of the identified transactions.”