Broomfield Enterprise: The City and County of Broomfield, along with council members Elizabeth Law-Evans and Sam Taylor, are facing a lawsuit that encompasses a broad range of topics that take root in oil and gas.

David Milender, a local attorney who represents the five residents and a community group called The Broomfield Way, filed the suit in 17th Judicial Court last week.

The group cites a conflict of interest for Law-Evans and Taylor, potential open meetings violations, issues with record-retention on council member’s private email accounts and phones, and they allege an open records request violation.

On Oct. 4, The Broomfield Way requested emails and texts sent among council members for certain hours and on specific dates in September that coincided with public meetings or study sessions. They also asked for emails and texts — sent or received — between council and people associated with the Front Range Energy Alliance, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, Extraction Oil and Gas, Inc., 8 North, LLC, Tom Cave, Sue Saad, Karen Nelson and Brian Cain. Cain works for Extraction. Those requests include messages sent between Sept. 1 through Oct. 5 and include messages on personal devices.

An emergency injunction was filed Tuesday so the matter could be heard before the city council meeting where council voted to accept an operator agreement with Extraction Oil and Gas. However, no judge was available for the emergency hearing.

Residents who filed the suit believed that Law-Evans and Taylor should have recused themselves from the vote. However, City and County William Tuthill advised the two that he saw no conflict of interest and the vote went through, passing six-to-four, with both council members voting yes.

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