Colorado’s Director of Emergency Management Demonstrates “Pattern of Inappropriate Behavior,” Discipline Memorandum States

The head of Colorado’s Office of Emergency Management received a three-day suspension without pay, has been stripped of work-related travel, and stress-management after a state investigation into allegations of bullying two female employees during meetings this spring. You have to go through the program. ,

Mike Willis, who has led the department since 2017, must serve his suspension before June 15, according to a disciplinary memo obtained Wednesday by The Denver Post via a public records request.

“This example and others demonstrate a pattern of inappropriate behavior that must be corrected immediately,” Kevin Klein, director of Colorado’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division, wrote in the memo Friday.

In the memo, Klein said, “I consider this to be the last time that sanctions other than termination will be enforced for any misconduct by you.”

Willis could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday. He declined to comment when reached over the phone last month and asked about the investigation.

Willis was placed on administrative leave for two weeks in late March when an unidentified employee told state investigators that the director angrily threw an object during a meeting, looked down at it and shouted, “What should I do? ?” An inquiry report received by the post.

A second woman said that Willis, in a separate meeting two days later, “slammed” the table and screamed after receiving what she had was conflicting information.

Both women told investigators that her actions were intimidating and unprofessional. Willis returned to work on April 11.