DENVER – Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday joined the head of the Colorado Department of Human Services in defending the department against allegations of incompetence.
Hickenlooper spoke publicly with Executive Director Reggie Bicha for the first time since Colorado lawmakers issued a bipartisan no-confidence letter on May 4.
Eighty-four lawmakers signed the letter, leaving all but 16 legislators calling for a change in department leadership.
“Reggie’s team ... has clearly objectively demonstrated that they are among the best in the United States,” Hickenlooper said. “It doesn’t mean they’re perfect. ... Running Human Services is the single most difficult job in state government.”
The letter stated that over the last 18 months, there have been “numerous accounts of disturbing issues.”
One bullet point includes allegations of physical, verbal and sexual abuse at the Pueblo Regional Center.
But the letter also goes on to point to a lack of oversight by the state over county-delivered human services, which is “encroaching on the safety of children,” according to lawmakers. The letter references incidents with Denver Human Services in which children died without the state taking action against the county, highlighting more systemic issues.
Earlier state audits also pointed to deficiencies with investigations conducted by the state, with many of those concerns playing out during hearings this year in the Colorado Legislature.
One lawmaker who signed the letter said the purpose of it was to put the department on record for deep-rooted problems that they feel are plaguing the entire system.
“Every year there’s a new set of issues, and I think it is systematic of an overall larger problem ...” said Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, who supported the letter and investigated many of the issues as chairman of the Joint Budget Committee. “When you’re not making progress on some of these specific issues, that’s an example of the fact that this is systemic.
“If they’re saying, ‘Well, the Legislature doesn’t understand,’ that sounds pretty patronizing to me,’” Lambert continued.
Lawmakers who drafted the letter described the department as being a “pervasive hostile work environment; being a driven-from-the-top culture of fear, retaliation, secrecy and self-protectionism.”
A letter issued just days earlier from mental-health clinics in Colorado also raised concerns over a lack of transparency and responsiveness by the department.
Bicha and Hickenlooper spoke of the controversy on Tuesday just after accepting a national award at the Colorado Capitol for “inspiring leadership on behalf of children in Colorado foster care.”
“I’m absolutely confident ...” Bicha said. “There’s been a hiccup in the relationship with the Legislature, a pretty significant hiccup, but what we’re going to do is sit down with them, hear from them, and put a plan together.”
Hickenlooper and Bicha pointed to programs already underway within the department, including a statewide abuse hotline and efforts to add caseworkers to reduce burdens. Funding for the department – including additional caseworkers – must be approved by the Legislature.
“I wasn’t aware that the discomfort, or the frustration, was that deep that the legislators, so many, would join in writing a letter,” Hickenlooper said. “But it just magnifies that we’ve got to work harder.”
Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont, a former caseworker in Boulder County who signed the letter, said he wants to apply pressure.
“Hopefully this letter sparks that conversation in a way that will change the way this administration and previous administrations have looked at that issue,” he said.
pmarcus@durangoherald.com