Greeley City Council will change process after Tribune raises transparency concerns

The Greeley Tribune: The Greeley City Council’s years-long policy of secretly providing raises to key city staff will come to an end after The Tribune raised questions about potential violations of Colorado open meetings rules.

The Tribune this past week learned that the city council for at least the past nine years has approved raises for top employees during executive sessions, portions of meetings that are closed to the public.

“The whole process is in executive session,” Greeley Mayor John Gates said.

That’s no longer the case.

After The Tribune questioned the process, city leaders have decided to change it, with Human Resources Director Sharon McCabe saying via email the city council will vote on raises in public meetings from now on.

Jeff Roberts, Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition executive director, said public bodies — like the Greeley City Council — are prohibited from making decisions in private.

“They can deliberate about the city manager in an executive session, as a personnel matter,” Roberts said. “As far as making a decision in an executive session to give him a raise, that’s a decision or discussion that should be done in public.”

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