13 Investigates: Why did Florence’s current Interim City Manager resign in 2009?

FLORENCE, Colo. (KRDO) -- Florence's current Interim City Manager, Tom Piltingsrud, previously worked for the City of Florence and resigned in 2009, but little is known publicly about why he resigned.

When asked by 13 Investigates about his 2009 resignation as Florence City Manager, he provided a vague answer.

"Uh, it was time to go. Uh, time to uh, move on," Piltingsrud said last week to 13 Investigates.

He answered the phone on Monday afternoon, told 13 Investigates "no comment" regarding his 2009 resignation, and hung up.

About 45 minutes later, Piltingsrud emailed us and said: "The reasons for my 2009 resignation remain personal. My resignation was not at all connected to the former Florence employee arrested on child molestation charges."

Piltingsrud's 2009 resignation came a little more than a month after Florence Police Lt. Mike Ingle sent him an internal review of a child molestation case involving a former Florence employee.

The September 2009 complaint review said KRDO NewsChannel 13 "thoroughly investigated" and "produced several discrediting allegations against Florence Police Department."

Specifically, those stories surrounded child sex assault claims accusing now-former Florence public works employee Barry Burrous and how Florence police failed to investigate those claims properly.

Burrous was arrested on child sexual assault charges five years after records show the Florence Police Department first received a report about child sexual assault allegations against Burrous.

According to the Canon City Daily Record, he served time in prison, but a 2010 conviction of sexual assault was overturned on appeal.

At the time, then Fremont County District Attorney Thom DeLoux told the Daily Record, "the court of appeals determined that the judge inappropriately allowed the jury to have unrestricted access to some of the exhibits that were admitted.”

LeDoux also told the Daily Record at the time that the case has been pending for five years, but the original victims were assaulted in 2004, and they “have been dealing with it for 10 years now.” He mentioned that the case is one of the “most horrific sex offenses” that he had seen in his career.

The Florence Police Department investigation revealed that the former Florence Police Chief Tim Bell admitted he "probably dropped the ball here" about the child sex assault cases.

Piltingsrud told KRDO at the time that Burrous did not receive preferential treatment because of his position with the city.

Piltingsrud did demote the former Florence Police Chief Tim Bell in February 2009 for separate reasons, including low morale.

Then, after receiving the internal review on the child sex assault cases, he wrote a letter of concern and placed it in Bell's file.

Evaluation records obtained by 13 Investigates show the majority city council members during his seven-year tenure with the City of Florence were largely supportive of Piltingsrud as city manager, giving him outstanding reviews.

Former Florence Councilman Kevin Bradley wrote "I can not believe that anyone is better" when describing Piltingsrud's "superior" performance.

However, other council members at the time did note that they were concerned about Piltingsrud's management style as it related to his military career, adding that the perception was "demanding" and "authoritarian."

Piltingsrud responded to those city council evaluation concerns years ago.

You can read Piltingsrud's previous employment with the City of Florence here.