Denver's Top Parking Official 'Fixed' His Own Tickets

An investigation found that Denver's top parking enforcer ordered all of his own citations to be canceled, according to CBS 4.

Reporters say Jonathan Featherston, the city's Director of Right of Way Enforcement, got 21 parking citations on his personal vehicle between 2020 and 2021. He then had all of these citations "fixed," prompting an anonymous employee to file a complaint with the city's Board of Ethics in September.

The news station obtained a copy of the complaint, which called Featherston's actions "unethical conduct by a higher ranking DOTI (Department of Transportation and Infrastructure) official. The type of conduct found has resulted in disciplinary action and/or termination with past employees."

When confronted about these accusations, Featherston claimed he was engaging in a "mystery shop" campaign when he received the tickets. The director told the ethics board the campaign was meant to test how well parking agents were issuing tickets.

He added that another person in the agency was aware of this program: Todd Richardson, the Chief Operating Officer for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. Richardson did note, however, that 15 of the parking tickets were issued "close proximity to Featherston’s office."

Ultimately, the Board of Ethics ruled 4-0 last week that Featherston did not violate the ethics code. While they found that the director was trying to "improve compliance levels within ROWE," using his own car during the program, among other actions, resulted in "an erosion of trust in leadership within the Agency.”

CBS 4 says city officials suspended the program pending a new policy.