News about Denver city officials’ decision to terminate a $1.8 billion airport contract two months ago got out before the public announcement, and a city investigation now is looking for the source of leaks to the media.
The city attorney’s office confirmed it has asked an unspecified number of city appointees and officials to sign releases allowing attorneys to obtain cell phone and text records for Aug. 12.
That night, Mayor Michael Hancock and Denver International Airport officials decided during a conference call to pull the plug on Great Hall Partners’ public-private partnership agreement, ending the contractors’ work just over a year into construction on a $650 million terminal renovation project that was part of the larger deal.
DIA CEO Kim Day announced the termination at a news conference late the next morning. But several media outlets, including The Denver Post, reported the decision in the hours before that event. CBS4 was first to report on the internal investigation into the leaks Thursday.
“This doesn’t really have anything to do with the media,” City Attorney Kristin Bronson told The Post. “This has to do with our charter obligation to ensure that the city’s systems are secure and don’t create any unnecessary or unwarranted legal risk.”
She was referring to legal requirements on the city to ensure that key information about the project and its contract with Great Hall Partners was disclosed to bondholders first. In this case, DIA filed a notice about the termination decision in a bondholder disclosure system within a short time of the initial news reports being published, so it’s not clear whether the city faced any actual risk.
Bronson declined to identify which appointees or employees had been asked to provide access to their cell phone records but said the request had not faced any resistance. CBS4, citing unnamed sources, reported the probe was focused on about a dozen Hancock “appointees and confidantes.” Those could include officials at DIA or in city offices.
The authorization form, a copy of which was provided to The Post, says the city could seek documents from mobile providers.
Last week, DIA announced the selection of a new lead design firm and a general contractor to finish Phase 1 of the terminal renovation.
