{"id":13773,"date":"2026-01-27T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/documented-pattern-of-harassment-detailed-in-ethics-report-to-durango-city-council\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:41:09","slug":"documented-pattern-of-harassment-detailed-in-ethics-report-to-durango-city-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/documented-pattern-of-harassment-detailed-in-ethics-report-to-durango-city-council\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Documented pattern of harassment\u2019 detailed in ethics report to Durango City Council"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Talk
Talk of a \u201cvacancy tax\u201d on property owners of second homes, vacation rentals and otherwise empty homes has grown in recent weeks. The Colorado Association of Ski Towns, which hosted a meeting at the Strater Hotel in Durango in August, is proposing legislation that would give towns and cities the ability to choose for themselves whether to tax second homeowners. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

At least 50 \u201cmeritless\u201d allegations. More than 3,000 emails to the city of Durango. And more than $177,000 in legal fees. These are the metrics by which city officials measured its prolonged dealings with a former advisory board member \u2013 which included litigation and an ethics investigation.<\/p>\n

The 2024 ethics complaint concerned the activities of former Infrastructure Advisory Board member John Simpson during his time on the board, which was dissolved in July 2023.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Durango Board of Ethics found Simpson violated three provisions of the city\u2019s ethics and conduct code.<\/p>\n

Former Mayor Melissa Youssef filed a complaint against Simpson in January 2024 after The Durango Herald<\/em> published a report about Simpson\u2019s back-and-forth emails with former Councilor Olivier Bosmans.<\/p>\n

The emails revealed conversations between the two city officials about public business, possible opposition from other councilors to stances held by Simpson and Bosmans, and Simpson\u2019s attempts to shield his emails from the public by marking them with variations of the phrase, \u201cnot subject to CORA (Colorado Open Records Act) requests.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Attorney Mark Morgan summarized the Board of Ethics\u2019 conclusion, reached after two-plus years of deliberations, which was in three parts:<\/p>\n

Simpson\u2019s marking of emails about public business to a councilor who he had a prior relationship as \u201cnot subject to CORA\u201d was improper.Simpson\u2019s emails about public business to one single councilor was \u201cspecial consideration and treatment\u201d to that councilor over other councilors.Simpson\u2019s conduct \u201cthreatened public confidence and integrity in government.\u201d<\/div>\n

Morgan said the city has paid an estimated $177,379.81 in legal fees so far, and that amount will rise because Simpson has pursued an appeal of a declaratory judgment in the city\u2019s favor handed down by a district court judge.<\/p>\n

He described a pattern by Simpson to stall the ethics complaint proceedings and attempts to have an investigative report about the complaint and the complaint itself thrown out.<\/p>\n

\"Simpson\"
Simpson<\/span>John Simpson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He said Simpson filed numerous motions to get ethics board members and special counsels to the ethics board to recuse themselves. He demanded a public hearing despite the ethics board choosing to investigate the complaint and giving himself and Youssef opportunities to submit written statements for the report.<\/p>\n

Simpson also threatened to sue the Board of Ethics and individual ethics board members, Morgan said, and to ask the 6th Judicial District Court for a ruling about whether the ethics board has jurisdiction to oversee cases involving questions about CORA.<\/p>\n

Morgan said the city took him up on the CORA issue, and received a declaratory judgment Simpson violated CORA when he withheld emails sought by the Herald<\/em>, and he violated the spirit of open records law when he claimed his public emails were immune from records requests.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticularly offensive was that in that last round of motions, he (Simpson) attempted to discredit and then remove the investigative report because Michael Goldman had died and wasn\u2019t around to defend it,\u201d Morgan said.<\/p>\n

Morgan referenced a public comment submitted by Simpson to City Council in writing on Wednesday, saying the statement was \u201ccomplete with every tactic that he\u2019s used, which includes the false narrative, the deflection, the victimization that he claims, and the vilification of your public officials.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the statement, Simpson said he did not file the ethics complaint, pursue litigation or \u201cseek conflict\u201d \u2012 he \u201creached out to mediate, but that olive branch was denied.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he served on the Infrastructure Advisory Board to help the city.<\/p>\n

The ethics board\u2019s process was unstable, its findings were \u201cvague\u201d and based on \u201cunworkable standards,\u201d and it has left him with \u201cstructural concerns about neutrality,\u201d he said in five subheadings in the written statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family and I have endured years of public accusations and financial strain from my volunteer service nearly three years ago,\u201d he said. \u201cI ask the Council to treat this as an opportunity to reset.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said acknowledging the ethics board\u2019s findings are erroneous, City Council can \u201crestore confidence in the process and encourage public service without fear of retribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Gilda Yazzie said Simpson\u2019s behavior was \u201cunacceptable\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilor Jessika Loyer described the case as a \u201chigh-profile, high-pressure investigation\u201d and the Board of Ethics delivered a \u201cfair and balanced ruling that holds our city to the highest standards our residents deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said ethics board members \u2012 volunteer community members \u2012 \u201cwere forced to navigate a documented pattern of harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple ethics board members resigned midway through the investigative process, Loyer and Morgan observed. Morgan said in exit interviews, each board member told him they would not be bullied by Simpson, but they were exhausted with the sheer number of his filings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey performed their duties while a single individual inundated our city with over 3,000 emails in a single year and filed more than 50 meritless allegations,\u201d Loyer said. \u201cOur legal department had to dedicate 30% of its resources just to investigate and respond to these false claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added ethics board members endured legal threats and \u201cpointed media scrutiny,\u201d and said it\u2019s \u201csobering\u201d that the state of politics is public officials and volunteers are being targeted.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic service should be defined as a shared love for Durango \u2012 not by an individual\u2019s ability to endure harassment disguised as legitimate communication,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Morgan said it is up to City Council what to do with the information presented on Wednesday. Council can do nothing, or:<\/p>\n

Issue a written reprimand.Issue a public reprimand.Issue a public censure, to include a letter of apology and\/or a written resolution of City Council of apology, to be sent to affected persons.<\/div>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

advisory board member inundated city with over 3,000 emails, 50 \u2018meritless\u2019 allegations, government officials say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1020,507,1228,28,869,994],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-city-council","tag-durango-city-officials","tag-ethics","tag-headlines","tag-public-officials","tag-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13773"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77088,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13773\/revisions\/77088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13773"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}