Three Denver city employees have turned to the Board of Ethics this year for advice about going to work for organizations that benefited financially from decisions they made while on the city payroll.

Two were advised to wait six months to do business with the city to avoid the "actuality or appearance" of a conflict.

But the third, a high-profile appointee of Mayor John Hickenlooper, got a free pass.

Peter Chapman was granted a waiver that enabled him to leave his city job and without delay go to work heading a community development program he played a key role in creating while at City Hall, according to a review of city documents.

The cases involved different circumstances, said Michael Henry, the ethics board's staff director. For example, he said, Chapman wanted to work for a nonprofit while the other employees wanted to work for businesses.

"The board tries to consider the whole situation," he said.

Chapman's case came under scrutiny last week when Auditor Dennis Gallagher initially refused to sign a $3 million contract awarded to the Denver branch of Seedco Financial Services Inc., of which Chapman is executive director.

The contract, which the auditor reluctantly signed later in the week, calls for Chapman to receive $56,250 for six months of work. Chapman earned $86,580 a year as an economic development policy adviser at the city. Denver's Code of Ethics requires a six-month waiting period before an employee can take "direct advantage" of a job with an outside entity with which he or she took official action while employed by the city.

The intent is to avoid the "actuality or appearance" that employers who hire former city workers may get special treatment.

Chapman resigned May 30. The $3 million contract hit the auditor's desk just over two months later.

Asked if the mayor's appointee received preferential treatment, Henry said: "In my opinion, absolutely not."

The two other employees - a Technology Services Division manager and a Public Works assistant director - requested an "advisory opinion" from the board because they were considering jobs with companies that received city contracts they helped negotiate.

Chapman requested an advisory opinion, too. But unlike the other two workers, Chapman also asked for a waiver if the board determined his actions would violate the ethics code.

Gallagher expressed concern over that request because it "gives the impression to the public that the insiders, the special people, will get special treatment," Gallagher said Friday. "That's what bothers me."

Henry said a waiver wasn't an issue in the other two cases. "They both volunteered not to do business with the city for six months. In which case, there would be no violation. Therefore, a waiver was not an option," he said. "A waiver is only possible if the proposed action would violate the Code of Ethics."

Chapman told the board he was involved in "facilitating the creation" of Seedco Denver to do community development.

But Gallagher said Chapman "was primarily responsible for the creation of the (community development) program and was its most significant advocate before City Council."

The board granted Chapman a waiver to work for the nonprofit because its mission and goals are "very similar" to the city's. The board also determined it would be in the "best interests of the city" if Seedco didn't spend a lot of time training an executive director unfamiliar with Denver and its underserved neighborhoods.