Ridgway school board’s adherence to open meetings law questioned
Calling for greater openness in the decision-making process, Ridgway citizen Brian Donivan cited misconduct by the Ridgway School Board in use of executive sessions, hiring protocol and open meetings law violations during the public input portion of the board's regular meeting on Mar. 27 ...
Bill calls for transparency of U.S. 36 toll lane expansion and public-private partnership
From 7NEWS (Denver): LAFAYETTE, Colo. - Toll roads and public-private partnerships. Two things that ignited a firestorm of criticism this spring. A new bill introduced Friday by state Sen. Matt Jones, D-Louisville, calls for more in-depth public review of any future expansion of Colorado highways. This bill comes after a public outcry about how the expansion of U.S. 36 was handled. Frustrations boiled over last month when the public caught wind of a 50-year contract between the Colorado Department of Transportation and an Australian-based company, Plenary Group, over the Boulder Turnpike toll-lane expansion project. Lawmakers said there was a lack ...
Judge closes Holmes hearing around specific questions
From the Aurora Sentinel: Another hearing in the James Holmes case — this one focused on the jury questionnaire — will be closed to the public, a judge ruled Wednesday. Judge Carlos Samour, Jr. said in an order issued Wednesday and unsealed Thursday that the public and the press will be allowed to attend the first part of the May 5 hearing, when the two sides are expected to discuss other issues surrounding jury selection. But when the two sides take up the specific questions jurors will be asked, Samour said the courtroom will be closed. The prosecution and defense ...
Colorado makes child abuse data website public
Colorado has created a website that provides the public with child-protection and child-abuse data for each county, making the state one of four in the nation to make such information accessible to the public ...
Bill limiting public records research fees headed for governor’s desk
From 7NEWS (Denver): A bill headed to Governor John Hickenlooper's desk will limit the fees for Colorado citizens seeking public records. House Bill 1193 limits the amount of money agencies can charge for research time to $30 per hour -- and the first hour is free. A year-long series of reports concerning government transparency in Colorado by the CALL7 Investigators found many agencies charging exorbitant fees -- which can deter citizens, including journalists, from obtaining the records. "Currently there is no standardization, and we have multiple public entities charging, in many cases, outrageous amounts of money for people to able ...
Carroll: No accountability in handout of Colorado Rockies tickets
From The Denver Post: By Vincent Carroll If you'd gone to the website of the Denver Metropolitan Baseball Stadium District as recently as a couple of weeks ago, you'd have found no minutes for any meeting during the past 12 months. But this lack of transparency — papered over in recent days by the hasty posting of bare-bones minutes — is only the tip of the iceberg. The district board is awash in valuable tickets — not only an executive suite but six prime seats between first base and home — and yet it doesn't seem to keep records of ...
Councilman says Pueblo council breaking law discussing half-cent tax behind closed doors
Pueblo City Councilman Chris Nicoll is accusing his colleagues of violating the state’s open meetings law by using executive sessions to plan a ballot question that would refigure how the city spends its half-cent tax for economic development ...
Ethics commission changing CORA policy to comply with state law
From The Complete Colorado: By Todd Shepherd On Monday, just after the Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) rendered its decision in the matter regarding Governor Hickenlooper, I was kicking around on the IEC’s website looking for some information. I noticed they had a downloadable version of their Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) policy. These always interest me because on the one hand, having a detailed policy can sometimes be helpful in streamlining the process of records requesting for citizens, but on the other hand, they sometimes include onerous provisions as well. When I went through the CORA policy for the IEC, ...
Editorial: Secret meeting ruling raises big concerns
The Colorado General Assembly has work to do to further protect residents from decisions by elected officials made secretly in meetings, because some judges are reaching strange conclusions when interpreting the Colorado Open Meetings Law ...
Editorial: Let public look at schools’ spending
After last fall's defeat of Amendment 66, the public schools tax hike, Democrats and Republicans alike pledged to resurrect various popular reforms linked to the measure that could be funded independently. And so they have, although the package could be in for stormy weather in the state Senate after passing the House by a comfortable margin ...
