Fountain City Council interviews and appoints new police chief within 24 hours
FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KRDO)-- 13 Investigates is learning more about former Fountain Police Chief Chris Heberer's abrupt retirement.
The City of Fountain tells KRDO that Heberer informed them of his retirement on Tuesday. Fountain's eight-year police chief said he's retiring to focus on family.
Heberer served as the city's public safety director overseeing both Fountain police and fire departments while also performing the duties of police chief.
"Which made this decision harder, but ultimately the right decision for me and my family to focus on my family," said Heberer.
Fountain Mayor Sharon Thompson told 13 Investigates that in March he told the city he wanted to move to public safety director full-time and promote a new police chief. The city said it posted the police chief position internally last month.
In a statement, Mayor Thompson said in part, "While we’re sad to lose him and the incredible leadership he’s provided to the City for over 8 years, we’re also happy for him as he makes this life change."
13 Investigates asked if Heberer's retirement announcement was planned last night, the city says "Yes and No," originally they thought they'd make the announcement May 23, but Heberer will be on vacation.
Tuesday night, the city swore in Mark Cristiani as the new police chief. The council was able to interview him a few weeks ago. He's been with the department since 2015, and a commander since January 2022.
Even though Cristiani is now officially the chief, Heberer's last day is June 30th. He'll help with the transition until then.
Once Heberer leaves, the city says it will not fill the public safety director position at this time.
Here's Mayor Sharon Thompson's full statement:
As you may or not be aware, Chris Heberer is the City’s Public Safety Director, overseeing both Police and Fire. In that role, he also performs the duties of Police Chief. In March, he requested that the City consider transitioning him full-time to the Public Safety Director position and promoting a Police Chief who could fulfill those duties without having to balance both roles. Ultimately, the City started the process to make that transition and posted internally for the Police Chief position last month.
Since those discussions, Chris decided that it was time for a life change and he wanted to take some time away from Law Enforcement and evaluate the future with his family. He made the decision to retire and we have elected to not fill the role of the Public Safety Director at this time. The Council was able to interview Mark Cristiani, a Commander with the Fountain Police Department, and were comfortable with him being promoted as our next Police Chief. However, since Chris was headed out of town on vacation and will miss the next Council meeting, we elected to swear Mark in last night so that Chris would be able to be there for the event and to pin his badge on him. To help with the transition, Chris will be with the City through the end of June.
While we’re sad to lose him and the incredible leadership he’s provided to the City for over 8 years, we’re also happy for him as he makes this life change. We will be holding a welcome reception for Chief Cristiani on May 23rd, so stay tuned for details.
Mayor Sharon Thompson
