Colorado’s top human services official resigned Tuesday after years of tumult within the state agency, including an outside investigation of workplace conditions, millions of dollars in settlements with departing staff, and recent revelations that leaders of a youth detention center sent racist, demeaning text messages about young people at the facility.
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Gov. Jared Polis announced the resignation of Colorado Department of Human Services Executive Director Michelle Barnes in a news release Tuesday. Neither Polis nor Barnes gave a reason for her departure in statements accompanying the announcement, and state officials either declined to elaborate or couldn’t be reached.
Polis thanked Barnes for her years of service and work to support Coloradans “in all stages of life,” including those dealing with substance use disorders, young people needing safe homes and people with disabilities.
“I am grateful for Michelle’s compassion and service to our state and her commitment to some of our most vulnerable Coloradans,” Polis said.
Barnes was hired as executive director of the Department of Human Services in 2019 and has faced considerable scrutiny in recent years, including through an outside investigation launched after employee complaints about toxic work culture and abusive leadership.
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Department of Human Services officials fired the head of the state-run Lookout Mountain youth detention center in Golden in September after records obtained by The Denver Post showed Superintendent Lindsey Miller was in a romantic relationship with a subordinate, facility program manager Justin Tomsick, and that the pair made racist and derogatory comments about the young people in their care.
The director of Colorado’s Division of Youth Services, which oversees Lookout Mountain as part of the Department of Human Services, resigned Friday after just shy of a year on the job.
Discord within the Department of Human Services drew enough attention to prompt state officials to hire an outside firm, Flynn Investigations Group, to investigate the department earlier this year.
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Colorado officials have previously declined to release the results of that investigation, which cost the state $25,000, after multiple requests by The Post under the Colorado Open Records Act.
But other public records, along with interviews with current and former Department of Human Services employees, detailed a workplace that staffers said ranged from uncomfortable to hostile and discriminatory.
At the center of many of those allegations was Katy Morrison, deputy executive director for operations and strategy. Morrison was not named in Polis’ announcement about Barnes’ resignation. Department of Human Services spokesperson Haysel Hernandez said on Tuesday that Morrison is currently on leave.
The ongoing problems have resulted in Colorado paying department employees nearly $2.8 million since 2019 to settle claims against the agency, including alleged pay, age, gender and disability discrimination, as well as whistleblower protection violations and retaliatory firings.
In a statement Tuesday, Barnes said she is leaving with “tremendous confidence” in the department’s leadership team.
“I have been honored to work alongside so many dedicated and talented public servants, and I am deeply grateful for all they do every day on behalf of Coloradans,” she said.
The department’s deputy executive director for community partnerships, Minna Castillo, will take over leading the department of human services “on a short-term basis,” according to the news release.
Denver Post staff writer Robert Tann contributed to this report.
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