Officials in tiny Timnath on Monday put to rest two tricky legal matters by accepting the resignation of the town manager and settling with a contractor linked to the destruction of a church in 2009.
Suspended Town Manager Becky Davidson announced her resignation and received a payment of $140,000 from the town.
Timnath also said it will pay Gerrard Excavating $500,000 to settle the company’s claims against the town and Davidson.
Town officials declined to say why they entered into the settlements. But the town did release a statement Monday saying that Davidson had been unfairly portrayed in the media as being dishonest.
Davidson and her firm, IB Engineering, worked for Timnath over five years as the contract town manager and engineer. Last year, Davidson was converted to an employee of the town when IB Engineering no longer performed work for Timnath.
However, Davidson was suspended with pay last summer after Town Council members received an audit of Timnath’s finances. Members only said at the time that there was a need to “review invoicing, lack of documentation, fair treatment in the bidding process, town contracts and other processes.”
Council members thanked Davidson for her work and tried to clarify misconceptions about her.
“Some of the press coverage has created the impression that Ms. Davidson was accused of misappropriation of funds,” said Councilman Marty Chiaramonte. “That never was the case, and there is no evidence of any intentional wrongdoing on her part.”
A company auditing IB’s billing on town contracts found the firm billed the town $550,000 less than Timnath had approved, said Councilman Bryan Voronin.
Gerrard Excavating sued the town in late 2009 after Davidson told the company to stop work on a $3 million project to make infrastructure improvements to Timnath’s Old Town area. The stop-work order was issued after workers severed a gas line and caused the Timnath Presbyterian Church to blow up.
Gerrard’s suit prompted the town to countersue the contractor.
Work on the Old Town area will continue in the spring. A search for a replacement for Davidson will resume soon, town spokesman Kyle Boyd said.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
This story has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporter’s error, Councilman Marty Chiaramonte’s name was misspelled.
