The Durango Circus is calling foul, alleging misconduct by a city of Durango employee and prompting an investigation by the city.
The Durango Circus, formally known as Durango Aerial Arts and Acrobatics, says a DAAA employee who also works for the city drew from the DAAA curriculum and clientele list to start a cheaper circus program, potentially with the city.
The employee, Cynthia Johnson, disputed many of DAAA’s claims but confirmed her intentions to open a more affordable program.
For its part, the city of Durango has no current or future plans to start its own circus program, said Cathy Metz, Durango Parks and Recreation director.
“I don’t want to take these people to court, that’s not the goal. It’d probably ruin their lives,” said Elle Carpenter-Hockett, founder of DAAA. “I just want to be able to keep doing my livelihood.”
The misconduct complaint centers around an April 11 email, Carpenter-Hockett said. She declined to identify the employees involved in the complaint or to share the email, which was obtained by The Durango Herald through a records request.
The email, which Johnson sent from a personal account, emphasized her rates would be lower, highlighted a GoFundMe fundraising effort for new equipment and encouraged all current and past clients to join.
“I’m grateful for DAAA, but now it’s time for me to turn this program into what it should be: inclusive, affordable and drama-free,” Johnson said in the email, sent on her last day working for DAAA. Johnson still works as a part-time gymnastics coach for the city.
Carpenter-Hockett said her former employee was using DAAA’s intellectual property and accessed personally identifiable information without permission.
Johnson’s actions were defamatory and “no doubt” broke the city’s ethics code, Carpenter-Hockett said in a Change.org petition signed by almost 500 people as of Friday.
“What happened with this whole case, this whole situation, is that my business dropped in value big time,” she said.
Since mid-April, DAAA has halted plans to expand outside Durango, lost potential business partners and closed temporarily. At the moment, Carpenter-Hockett plans to keep the program open, but its future is unknown, she said.
Both Carpenter-Hockett and Johnson said the other was spreading misinformation about the dispute.
Johnson said she already had relationships with clients, built over multiple years working with DAAA and did not need to depend on the business’ email list.
Carpenter-Hockett taught her the basics of circus practices, but Johnson created the rest of the lesson curriculum, she said.
Carpenter-Hockett owed her money (which Carpenter-Hockett has said will be included in a May 1 paycheck). She taught all of the classes and the students preferred to work with her rather than Carpenter-Hockett, Johnson said.
“That’s why I’m doing this because I love the kids and I care about the kids,” Johnson said. “I wanted the kids to know that they would hopefully have another option to work with me when I figure out a way to do that.”
Johnson, a former competitive gymnast with USA gymnastics, has not started another program but had raised more than $2,100 for equipment and hoped to start a nonprofit with more affordable classes.
The city learned of the issue between DAAA and the employee April 13, and the Human Resources Department is investigating the matter, Metz said.
“Since this is an active investigation, no additional information is available at this time,” Metz said. The city hopes to reach “a positive outcome for DAAA and the city of Durango.”
smullane@durangoherald.com
