Perry VanDeventer, the city manager of Commerce City, resigned his post last week at the request of the City Council.
VanDeventer, 59, who helped oversee a civic revival of Commerce City, submitted his resignation Thursday morning after a Wednesday night meeting with the council.
“We invited him to talk about some of the issues we were having,” said council member Paul Natale. “There have been some items that have been big concerns of the council for a number of months.”
Natale and other council members refused to say specifically what led them to ask for VanDeventer’s resignation.
VanDeventer couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.
The city and VanDeventer have come under criticism for their spending. The city revamped its travel policies for City Council members after The Denver Post reported that the city spent on average about $52,750 a year on travel for council members, highest in the metro area.
VanDeventer also was the only city manager among 15 cities in the metro area who had a city-owned vehicle. He also was criticized when it was reported that he used city money to purchase $300 pens. He eventually reimbursed the city for the items.
VanDeventer, who earned $140,000 a year, was city manager for five years after being hired as finance director in July 2000.
He is credited with helping clean up Commerce City’s image as an industrial town. The city of 37,000 residents is home to Colorado’s only oil refineries, a ConAgra flour mill and a large railyard.
Commerce City also sits next to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, where chemical weapons and pesticides were manufactured before the area was named a federal Superfund cleanup site.
But now the arsenal is a new wildlife refuge. The federal government has sold part of the site back to the city, where the Prairie Gateway development is underway, a project that will include shops, parks, a Colorado Rapids soccer stadium and a new city hall.
Commerce City also is one of the fastest-growing cities in the metro area. The city saw its population jump nearly 15 percent from 2003 to 2004, according to U.S. census figures.
The city is adding about 1,800 new homes a year. And this summer, the 2006 Parade of Homes was held in Commerce City.
Deputy City Manager Gregg Clements has been named acting city manager. Clements – a city employee for 30 years – also was director of public works, said city spokeswoman Heather Grady.
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
