Colorado Springs Utility CEO accused of “leading by fear” was previously put on leave by California utility
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- 13 Investigates has learned more about the Colorado Springs Utilities Chief Executive Officer Aram Benyamin who is currently leading the publicly-owned utility with high employee turnover and allegations of leading a workplace culture of fear.
Since our report Thursday, the 13 Investigates team has received dozens of emails and calls from current and former Colorado Springs Utilities employees with additional specific allegations. Our team is continuing to evaluate the legitimacy of those concerns, while also pressing the leader of the publicly owned utility for answers and a sit-down interview on various topics. So far, he has declined our requests for the last two days.
CEO Benyamin was appointed by Colorado Springs City Council in 2018 to lead the public utility with a salary of $480,000. He was first hired at Colorado Springs Utilities in 2015 as the General Manager of Energy Supply.
Benyamin worked at the Los Angeles Power and Water Department as a Senior Assistant General Manager before coming to Colorado Springs. According to the Los Angeles Times, Benyamin, who had worked at the utility for 33 years, was placed on administrative leave in 2014 amid controversy related to spending issues and customer services at LA Power and Water.
At the time, Benyamin said he was not provided an answer on why he was put on leave. The LA Times reporting highlighted Benyamin's relationship with a union leader at the California utility.
That union representative fought a subpoena seeking financial records showing how two LA utility-funded nonprofit trusts spent more than $40 million in ratepayer money, months before Benyamin was put on leave.
Benyamin was one of 18 people who stayed at a Nevada lodge owned by his California-based utility between 2010 to 2015. That property costs Los Angeles ratepayers more than $150,000 a year to run, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. The California utility said it rarely used the Nevada lodge for its employees but instead for houses workers at nearby hotels and reserves the lodge for "high-level meetings", despite owning an office building minutes away from the lodge. Benyamin told the LA Times he took his family there at least twice.
"It was a completely different situation. There is no correlation between what happened there and his role here at Colorado Springs Utilities," Colorado Springs Utilities spokesperson Steve Berry said.
The Colorado Springs Utilities spokesperson says the public utility has been facing numerous changes in the last few years with several projects. Berry also said that the last thing Colorado Springs customers would want to hear is that utility employees were comfortable in their jobs following large rate hikes last November. Utility rates in Colorado did decrease within the last month.
The Colorado Springs Utility Board, which is led by Councilman Wayne Williams, will review Benyamin's performance next Wednesday in an executive session.
All of the Colorado Springs council members we've spoken with have expressed concerns with the allegations, after admitting they have received as many as four to five dozen "anonymous emails" from people identifying as utility employees.
City Council President Tom Strand says those emails allege employees are afraid, uncomfortable, and unheard by Colorado Springs Utility leadership. In the last year, as many as ten executives at the utility have left their jobs, according to Strand.
13 Investigates will also continue pressing for answers from government officials and Colorado Springs Utilities in our ongoing investigation.
If you have a tip or lead about concerns at Colorado Springs Utilities, email our team at 13Investigates@krdo.com.
