Audio By Carbonatix
Tuesday was the day former Glendale city manager Veggo Larsen was expecting a $100,000 check from his former employers. But instead of a nest egg, he got a goose egg.
That’s because Glendale’s city council voted last week to hold off on honoring the May 7 separation agreement (which also includes the keys to a city-owned 2000 Ford Explorer and benefits) until the enclave’s attorney can determine whether Larsen violated a confidentiality agreement by talking about the deal with Westword (“He’s Toast,” May 16).
Newly appointed city manager Cliff Dodge wants Glendale to have an answer by its next board meeting on June 4. “I never saw the settlement,” says Dodge, who adds that he would just like to “lower the tone of the rhetoric.”
That seems unlikely. Larsen, who served the city for three and a half years, vows to fight any delay. “I’m not surprised at this,” he says. “But there’s no legal basis for it. They’re trying to make a meaningless point [by being] mean and vindictive. There’s no telling how much city money” the ruling Tea Party will be “willing to waste trying to be punitive.”
The Tea Party was formed in 1998 to fight Mayor Joe Rice’s attempts to curb strip clubs. Larsen has clashed with Tea Party officials in the past over several issues.
Larsen is also considering launching a recall against Tea Party member and Councilman Mike Barrett, who was among those who originally recruited Larsen to the east Denver community. Earlier this month, Larsen said he and Barrett had shaken hands after the city manager left what Barrett felt was a threatening voice-mail message, but he now says the reconciliation was “all a ruse. He’s been bargaining in bad faith. This man has eaten dinner at my house. I want my lamb chop back.” Barrett couldn’t be reached for comment.
Larsen will let his attorney sort things out. And he still plans to travel to Mexico in an ambulance donated by Glendale to a Mexican fire department. “I can sue Mike Barrett and Glendale from anywhere,” he says.
