2007, and he worked on Meek-er school drawings while his li-cense was invalid, state offi-cials said.

Boian said Neenan had al-ready been looking at Howell’sjob status because of the Meek-er project and decided to firehim after learning from ThePost about the state investiga-tion and his period with alapsed license.

Boian said the company is in-vestigating how Howell washired without a valid licenseand is taking steps to improveits quality control in hiring andin general.

Howell said in an e-mail Mon-day night that he had signed aconfidentiality agreement withNeenan because of his termina-tion and could not comment.

The Post on Sunday pub-lished a story detailing prob-lems at the school, which wasshuttered last summer by theschool board after an indepen-dent structural review found itwas built to the wrong safetycodes and susceptible to col-lapse in extreme weather.

Neenan has acknowledgedmistakes and pledged to payfor repairs. A state plan review-er also missed an error in thedesign that his superiors saidshould have been caught.

An outside structural engi-neer hired by the school dis-trict urged a review of the en-tire building after a gym wallmoved a few inches in October2010. But Howell pushed backhard against that idea and con-tinued to insist the school wasstable and safe.

About 350 students had at-tended classes for an entire year

before the district ordered thereview that led to the closure.

Kinnaird Linn, program di-rector for DORA’s businessand technical section, said thereport “was enough informa-tion for us to be concernedthere was the possibility of sub-standard engineering.”

She said she acted after get-ting input from members of theState Board of Licensure for Ar-chitects, Professional Engineersand Professional Land Survey-ors, which falls under DORA.

Howell has 30 days to re-spond. The board eventuallycould reprimand Howell, finehim or revoke his license,among other possibilities, Kin-naird Linn said.

The board has jurisdictionover individual license-hold-ers, not companies, she said.

In 2001, the board gave How-ell a letter of admonition afterfinding the engineer “more like-ly than not” had produced an“insufficient structural design”of a deck and failed to ensurethat his direction and correc-tions were carried through onthe project’s final drawings.

More details were not imme-

diately available because therecords are in state archives,Kinnaird Linn said.

Howell received another rep-rimand April 6, 2009, for fail-ing to renew his license, whichis required every two years.

In response, Howell ex-plained that he had moved anddid not receive notice of the re-newal or lapse, state recordsshow. “Have to plead ‘un-aware,’ ” he wrote.

Kinnaird Linn said it is notunusual for such licenses to ex-pire because individuals forgetto renew.

She said the board did notconsider Howell’s first repri-mand in handing out the secondletter because the behavior ineach case was not comparable.

Howell’s license was expiredfrom Oct. 31, 2007, to Feb. 25,2009, the state says. He ac-knowledged he had been prac-ticing as an engineer in Colo-rado during that time.

The State Division of FireSafety, which oversees schoolconstruction plan reviews andinspections, has records ofHowell drawings on the Meek-er school dated January 2009,

spokesman Lance Clem said.The division is reviewing oth-

er Neenan school projects as aresult of the Meeker problems.At the request of the ColoradoDepartment of Education,Neenan has also agreed to anoutside review of projects ithas built in eight districts with$150 million in state money.

Kinnaird Linn said that, fornow, DORA is looking solely atHowell’s work on the Neenanproject.

Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971,egorski@denverpost.comor twitter.com/egorski

«FROM 1A

motivatedmuggingsalongthe mall andnear-by in 2009.

Police investigators suspect that at leastone individual has been involved in sever-al of the most recent cases. The violent at-tacks have been carried out by groups ofup to eight people.

Denver police said they welcomethe addi-tional assistance from the Guardian Angels.“We’re pleased to have any citizen or citi-zen group help us, to be an extra set of eyesand ears,” said spokesman John White.

He said police have worked with the An-gels in the past with good results.

“They’ve been a good partner,” Whitesaid.

Jeremy Harold, who manages the Sports-fan store on the mall near Champa Street,also welcomes the peacekeeping group.

“Any extra presence, police or otherwise,down here will be beneficial to the overallsafety of people who frequent the mall,”Harold said. “The more security presencewe can get down here the better.”

The Guardian Angels, in their familiarred berets, patrol East Colfax Avenue andthe 16th Street Mall regularly on week-ends, but volunteers are now out on week-nights as well.

“It’s important for people to feel safe,”Metz said. “Hopefully, we’ll be a friendlyface when there is a need.”

There are about 30 Guardian Angels inDenver, Metz said, and members’ back-grounds run the gamut from homemakersto Army veterans and schoolteachers totruck drivers. Most members are in their30s and 40s, but the group would like to re-cruit a few more members in their 20s.

“In part, to help give some younger peo-ple some direction,” Metz said.

Guardian Angels do not carry weapons.They do take classes in self-defense andconflict resolution.

The new weeknight patrols, started inthe past couple of weeks, haven’t directly

stopped an attack or aided police in captur-ing a suspect, but a potential volunteermember has come forward after encoun-tering the Angels on the mall.

“We’ve had a great deal of feedback aboutit,” Metz said. “The message we want tosend is: It’s still a safe place. You can counton Denverites coming to your aid.”

Staff writer Sara Burnett contributed to thisreport.

Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822or knicholson@denverpost.com

«FROM 1A

SCHOOL: Howell insisted building was safe

Read more. Find The Post’s coverage of theMeeker school design. »denverpost.com/extras

ANGELS: Groupsays city “stilla safe place”

On his first day as a Guardian Angel, Chris Wyong, center, walks the 16th StreetMall with Joe Hoschouer on Monday. John Leyba, The Denver Post

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6 the denver post B denverpost.com B tuesday, november 22, 2011 NEWS «9A