Walsenburg hires Harriman as water/sewer consultant; His first revelation: a lost cache of legacy information
by Mark Craddock
WALSENBURG — Somewhere in the bowels of City Hall is a key ring.
On this key ring are eight computer zip drives, color coded by subject.
City staff is leaving no desk drawer unopened, no box unexamined, no dusty office corner unexplored, in its quest for this artifact — which, before last week, they didn’t even know existed, let alone was lost.
It stands as an unlikely testament to the tumult and turnover, occasional ill-will and out-and-out chaos that has helped foment disasters big and small within Walsenburg water infrastructure over the past years.
Let us explain:
The Walsenburg City Council convened a special meeting last Friday to consider contracting with former public works director David Harriman as a consultant to, among other things, draft a series of standard operations procedures (SOPs) and to train public-works employees in those procedures.
The contract was approved unanimously, but during the pre-vote discussion, council members Don Martinez and Veronica Maes raised questions about Harriman’s 2020 departure from the city, and whether he adequately passed on his admittedly vast knowledge of the city’s infrastructure before he left.
“Dave has worked for us before. He was a good employee,” Martinez said. “The only problem I have with this is, somebody should have known what to do. Now, I don’t know if nobody was trained, I don’t know if there were no records. I don’t know what the problem was, but when Dave left, nobody knew what to do.
“Since he’s been gone, we’ve been struggling to find procedures, to find valves, to find manholes. We had to have the raw water people come and look for all the manholes for us. I talked to former employees who said that there were maps here at one time that showed all the manholes, all the valves, showed where the sewer ran, everything. What happened to all this stuff? Nobody knows.”
“I know this is going to pass tonight, and I know this is probably the only way were going to figure out where everything is and get our employees trained,” he said. “But I have a real problem with paying again to have our employees trained when they should have been trained in the first place. The information should have been here in the first place.
“I don’t have any problem with Mr. Harriman. He did a fine job when he was here. I just have a problem with spending the citizens’ money again to do what should have been done in the first place.”
Maes largely echoed Martinez’s sentiment, and alluded to some of Harriman’s performance evaluations over the years, that said he “needs to work on directing employees…”
Harriman’s subsequent address to the board was part rebuttal, part history lesson, part dissertation on the city’s water priorities as he sees them — and part mystery.
There exists, he said, eight zip drives on a key ring that contain all the SOPs, the maps, the detailed information he compiled over a long career at the helm of the public works department.
“I don’t know where all this stuff went. They were with (former administrator) Greg Sund when he left,” Harriman said. “If we can find the zip drives. There are eight of them, all color coded. All the information will be on the zip drives. When I exited I turned everything in to Mr. Sund. They were on a key ring and there were eight zip drives.”
Human Resources Technician Sharon Miranda confirmed the story, saying she remembered seeing the drives in City Hall around that time. And she said she might know where to find them.
The game was afoot. The hunt was on.
But when asked about it yesterday morning, Deputy City Clerk and Temporary City Administrator Rick Colander admitted, “We’re still looking.”
Harriman’s History Lesson
“In the last eight years of employment here, I went through six administrators,” Harriman told the board. “So every time somebody would come in, they had a new policy.”
Harriman listed three employees still on the payroll when he left, all of whom were fully trained on water and sewer matters.
One, he said, left “over differences with some people, and better pay from the county.” A second left a short time later “for a better job,” and a third left “due to being treated badly by his supervisor.”
“I don’t know what evaluations you looked at,” Harriman said regarding his performance evaluations. “I never assumed that I was not teaching employees. Tell me which administrator that was so I can research it.”
“I know we had a training program for everyone,” he said. “I know we had standard operational procedures for every event that could happen. Every event. They were always posted in the hallway. We had an operation manual for every vehicle. We had an operation manual if there’s a water leak, compared to a water break. A water leak definition. A water break definition. So, where did that stuff go? I’ve been told by other employees. I know where it went. It went by the wayside.”
“Previous employees have told me that Mr. (Monty) Morgan had destroyed all of my records,” Harriman said. “He didn’t want anything to do with them. Two employees told me that. So, where the mapping is, I have no idea. When I left, the maps were in the map room. I don’t even know if we have a map on the wall. But I know that I’m very strict on standard operations. I’ve seen more insurance claims for the city than anybody.”
Morgan was Walsenburg’s public works chief after Harriman’s departure. He resigned in late 2022.
“We had safety officers. We had pre-work checklists. That’s not going on today. And I don’t know where they’re at either. Couldn’t tell ya. But I know that Mr. Morgan and (former administrator Gaye) Davis didn’t want anything to do with what I had my name on. But I guarantee the previous employees that I did train… could come in here today and shut those valves on and off.”
“I don’t know where all this stuff went,” Harriman said. “They were with Greg Sund when he left. One administrator doesn’t always pass on to the next administrator. Mr. Sund probably didn’t pass on information to Mr. Stambaugh. Mr. Stambaugh didn’t pass on any information. Miss Davis didn’t pass on any information.”
“So it’s like starting at ground zero,” Harriman concluded, “which is probably the best way to do it because there isn’t an employee here I’ve ever worked with. None.”
The Contract Terms
According to the contract approved Friday, Harriman will receive $32.50 per hour for up to 40 hours a week in billable hours over the course of 120 days. Subsequent maximum hours will be negotiated beyond that.
In addition to his remit to prepare SOPs and train water and sewer personnel, the contract calls for Harriman to:
• “Maintain the city’s ditches and recording devices in accordance with the Colorado Division of Water Resources;”
• “Communicate/consult with mayor, city administrator, water engineers, and water attorney regarding past, current and present matters;”
• “Make recommendations to mayor and city administrator;”
• “Provide verbal weekly reports to city council at city council meetings;”
• “Establish a daily/weekly/monthly work schedule and establish check-lists of items that need to be completed daily, weekly, monthly, annually, etc.”
