City Manager Adams: So Long, and Thanks for All The... ?

Part 1 in a Series About How I Learned to Love an Honest and Responsive Agenda

OPINION

By Jessica Schneider

January 20, 2024

City Manager Steve Adams will exit his role as the City’s chief administrative officer and highest paid executive in the City of Loveland on February 2. He will receive nine months of severance pay, 802 hours of accrued vacation and sick leave, and other bells and whistles. Ultimately, he will walk away from his role with nearly $300,000.00. Just last week, City Council also approved to settle a personal suit against Adams for $110,000.00.

Well played, Mr. Adams.

As a former member of the Trust Commission, a woman, a resident of Loveland, and a person who has experienced the negative impact of gaslighting and coercion in my own life, I have to admit some big feelings rise to the surface when I address the subject of City Manager Steve Adams, his now imminent departure, and that sweet golden parachute he managed to wrangle out of us taxpayers on his way out. I’ll get into that below. First, the meeting:

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The January 16th City Council meeting was painful to watch in real time. Here are some highlights:

• At 9:15 pm Council approved the purchase of the Loveland Resource Center (LRC), located at 137 S. Lincoln Ave. for 400,000 dollars. The building is in disrepair and will require additional funds to bring it up to code.

While I am glad the City is doing something in this area, this decision begs several questions: Why not utilize other structures in the area? The medical building owned by Barry Floyd, who passed away on Thursday comes to mind. What about the Pulliam?

• Then Council went into an executive session to discuss the Centerra South litigation from 10:15 p.m. until after 11:00 p.m.

And then we waited.

At this point it occurred to me that sleep deprivation is a technique of torture.

Loveland City Manager Steve Adams presents his “amicable separation agreement” to City Council on January 16th. The discussion starts at hour Start at 05:35:00 and lasts for a little over on hour, into the next day.

• Finally, at 11:30 p.m. Council reconvened to address item 8.7: Approval of a separation agreement for the city manager

Loveland City Manager Steve Adams presents his “amicable separation agreement” to City Council on January 16th. The discussion starts at 05:35:00 and lasts for a little over an hour into the early morning hours of January 17th.

That motion failed. Steve Adams called the offer “insulting,” and stated that he would “not support that motion.” I found this to be an odd response, as Adams isn’t an elected official or a voting member of Council.

Amidst quite a few points of order, and the item continued and ultimately resulted in the separation agreement described above.

Slow Clap

I have to hand it to City Manager Adams, who sets the agenda, for making his exit negotiations as bewildering and exhausting as possible, and I don’t mean just at the meeting I’m referencing...

I mean, the entire stream of scandals dating back to at least the assault of Karen Garner in 2020 by members of the Loveland Police Department (LPD) occurred under Adams’ watch. If that is disturbing to you, keep in mind that Adams remained in office, and continues, until February 2, 2024, to serve as the ultimate employment decision-maker for the LPD.

As you may also know, the criminal charge Steve Adams sustained for the harassment of investigative journalist Stacy Lynne in the Larimer County Courthouse was issued in June 2022, while Adams was on duty in his capacity as the City Manager for the City of Loveland.

All told, under his purview, the City has paid more than $4 million dollars in settlements in just the past three years.

Why was this incredibly important item placed last on the agenda, when most people are asleep? Shouldn’t the community be able to actively participate in their local government on the same day that a meeting is scheduled, as opposed to the next morning?

The Community Trust Commission: Background

In between the Garner incident, and the criminal harassment of Lynne, former Council Member Don Overcash proposed an Ad Hoc Community Trust Commission (CTC) in 2021, in the midst of what would be the first of two failed campaigns to serve as the Mayor of Loveland.

Many community members don’t know anything about the CTC. Some that do know what CTC was, consider it a joke. Some residents who keep an eye on politics in Loveland say that the CTC was merely a campaign ploy for Don Overcash, designed to ultimately fail and be discarded once the Commission’s use as a campaign prop for his mayoral campaign was no longer needed.

Full disclosure

I was in the third category. I was disgusted that these appalling incidents had not been dealt with by the people who we were supposed to trust, including City Manager Adams, then-Police Chief Ticer, and the previous City Council majority.

So, I decided to apply to serve as a Commissioner. If this was so upsetting to me, and a Commission was going to be created, I wanted a seat at the table. To my surprise, I was invited to interview with then-Councilor Don Overcash and Mayor Marsh. To my greater surprise, I was seated as a Commissioner along with 15 other applicants. This was after the Garner case became public, and before the incident at the Larimer County Courthouse involving Lynne.

Why This Matters

I have never been paid a dime by the City of Loveland. I have dedicated a lot of time to my community, and serving on the CTC was a large part of those efforts. You deserve to know my background and admittedly personal feelings about City Manager Adams’s behavior in this regard.