Edgewater Chief of Police Eric Sonstegard will step down on Dec. 6 as the city’s top cop and return to Oxnard, California, as its new assistant city manager.

Sonstegard, who retired from the Oxnard Police Department as assistant police chief, served 26 years with the force before he was appointed Edgewater Chief of Police on May 22, 2022.

During his brief tenure, Sonstegard led the implementation of body-worn cameras, new professional standards software, and a comprehensive audit of the department’s property and evidence unit, according to a statement from the city.

However, just over a year after Sonstegard’s arrival, the city and the department became embroiled in a federal lawsuit filed by McKinzie Rees, a former Edgewater police officer who alleged claims of sex-based discrimination and a hostile work environment, beginning as far back as 2019.

In April, Nathan Geerdes, 42, a former police officer who worked in Edgewater and Black Hawk, was sentenced after pleading guilty in January to forgery, unlawful sexual contact and official misconduct in multiple crimes between 2019 and 2021. 

Rees was one of Geerdes’ victims, according to court documents.

The City of Edgewater settled with Rees in June, paying her $575,000.

In a statement, the City said the settlement resolved the parties’ disagreement and hoped it would provide closure.

“In agreeing to the settlement, none of the defendants admitted wrongdoing nor any of the factual allegations in the lawsuit,” the statement read. “The decision to settle the matter was reached in tandem with the City’s self-insurance pool to stop future expenses from being incurred, eliminate the distraction caused by the litigation, end the diversion of City resources towards the litigation instead of City operations and conclude a dispute that, regardless of what actually occurred, has cast a negative pall upon the Edgewater Police Department.” 

Reflecting on his time in Edgewater, Sonstegard said he would miss the community and is “most proud of the employee wellness program we implemented here to better take care of our men and women in uniform who take care of us.”

City Manager Dan Maples told The Denver Gazette that Sonstegard’s departure has nothing to with the City’s previous troubles with the lawsuit and that the lawsuit stemmed from incidents that happened before his arrival.

“Chief Sonstegard was offered and accepted a position with the City of Oxnard, California as deputy city managers,” Maples said in an email. “This is a great position to branch deeper into the leadership ranks of municipal government.”  

“I’ve always said that Oxnard runs through my veins,” Sonstegard was quoted in a press release by the Oxnard Police Department. “This city holds a special place in my heart, and I’m truly humbled to have the chance to live and work here once again.” 

As assistant city manager, Sonstegard will oversee the City’s finance, human resources and information technology departments beginning Jan. 6, 2025.

The City of Edgewater will launch a nationwide search for his replacement beginning in early October.

“We are grateful to have had such a great chief of police, even for a very short time,” said Maples. “He will be greatly missed by the Edgewater community and our organization. We wish Chief Sonstegard the best and know he will continue to do great things.”