The police chief in Commerce City, CO, Clint Nichols, was allowed to work remotely from Las Vegas and drove a city vehicle back and forth in a practice that is now receiving scrutiny following a CBS4 investigation.
“Going forward, I would not like to see provisions like this in future contracts,” said Mayor Ben Huseman.
Huseman told CBS4,”I would hope that going forward, that if we have a contract executed with a key employee like this, that we would have provisions in place that would ensure our duties are executed here locally instead of from a remote location like that.”
But Commerce City Manager Roger Tinklenberg, who signed off on the chief working remotely from 755 miles away, called the issue “A nothing-burger” in an email to city council members, and refused to speak to CBS4 saying “Being interviewed would be a waste of my time.”
Nichols has been Chief in Commerce City since 2017. He came to the department from Las Vegas where he worked for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for 23 years. At times during 2021, Tinklenberg told Nichols it would be fine to work remotely from Las Vegas, so he did.
Tinklenberg said he allowed the chief to work from Vegas twice in the last year, each time for about a week “Since all of us office-bound employees were working remotely.”
Nichols also drove his city-issued Chevy Tahoe the 755 miles each way from Commerce City to Las Vegas as it is allowed under the terms of his employment contract. That’s too much of a road trip for Huseman, who said “I don’t think our city vehicles should be going on extended trips like that.”
Commerce City has a population of 62,000, according to Wikipedia. Nichols receives a base salary of $155,000.
