Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is losing his top aide for the second time in just over a year.
Cole Finegan, who has been a two-for- one appointee since adding chief-of- staff duties to his job as city attorney, is leaving both jobs Dec. 1.
He said Tuesday that he has no immediate plans for life after city hall.
Finegan took over the chief-of-staff job when Hickenlooper’s first top appointee, Michael Bennet, left to head Denver Public Schools in the summer of 2005.
Finegan leaves the posts after giving the city attorney’s office its first reorganization in nearly 20 years. Under Finegan, Denver settled the long-running legal dispute over the so-called spy files Denver police kept on activists engaged in legal activities.
He also was Hickenlooper’s front man in pushing for an overhaul of the city’s financial organization.
Voters will make the final decision on the financial overhaul, but when the City Council approved the measure last month, Councilwoman Kathleen Mackenzie called it the city’s most important charter change in 100 years.
Denver officials said a new city attorney will be named before December.
“I’m really grateful to everyone in the city attorney’s office and the mayor’s office for how hard they have worked,” Finegan said Tuesday. “It has been the best job I have ever had.”
Hickenlooper said staff members gave Finegan a long standing ovation when he announced he was stepping down.
“It was very humbling,” Finegan said. “I will never forget it.”
Deputy Chief of Staff Kelly Brough will become chief of staff when Finegan steps down. And Chief Operating Officer Katherine Archuleta will become senior adviser on policy and initiatives.
Hickenlooper’s administration has seen a few departures since entering the last year of his first term. Deputy City Attorney Michelle Lucero went back to the private sector in August, and neighborhood liaison Tamara Banks left after 13 months on staff. Lisa Flores, assistant to the mayor for human services, and Andrew Wallach, special assistant to the mayor, are also moving on.
Hickenlooper said in a release that it is “customary to have some staff departures toward the end of a term” but that he is “no less saddened by Cole Finegan’s upcoming departure.”
Hickenlooper faces re-election in May, but there is currently no announced opposition.
Hickenlooper said Finegan had planned since the outset to be with the administration for one term.
“It is hard to describe someone who made such a significant contribution,” Hickenlooper said. “His willingness to take a huge pay cut and work weekends and nights week after week without rest – that kind of dedication is very, very rare in this world.”
Finegan leaves the city with an extensive résumé, having worked on Capitol Hill as chief legislative assistant and chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Jim Jones of Oklahoma, chief legal counsel and director of policy and initiatives for Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, and partner in the local law firm Brownstein Hyatt & Farber.
“There aren’t many people that qualify as the best and the brightest,” City Councilman Charlie Brown said. “But that’s Cole. … He is the epitome of a great public servant – I mean, the guy worked two jobs.”
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 303-954-1657 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
This story has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error, it incorrectly stated the length of time Tamara Banks worked for Denver. She worked for the city for 13 months.
