CMC asks to allow some board decisions via email

From the Post Independent (Glenwood Springs):  Colorado Mountain College’s governing board would be allowed to make decisions on certain “routine” matters via email under a bill that’s been introduced in the Colorado House of Representatives.

HB 16-1259, sponsored by Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, D-Steamboat Springs, would permit the elected trustees of the Glenwood Springs-based community college district to take action using email, fax “or other form of wire or wireless communication,” if proper notice is given beforehand.

The bill would prohibit electronic meetings if any one of the seven CMC board members objects, or if a member of the public requests that the proposed action be discussed during a regular or special meeting, Matt Gianneschi, chief operating officer and chief of staff for CMC, explained.

Colorado’s Open Meetings law, or sunshine law, bars email discussions of public business among three or more elected members of a local government body.

CMC operates as a special district, one of only two special community college districts in the state. Originally, Aims Community College in Greeley was included in the bill, but has since opted out.

“We serve a geographic region the size of Maryland, with 11 mountain passes and some areas with no cell service,” Gianneschi said, adding it’s sometimes difficult to get board members together for a special meeting on a single action item.

Telephone conference meetings are permitted under the law, and can be opened up to citizens or the press. Even then, it can still be difficult for all seven members to be available at exactly the same time to take action on short notice, Gianneschi said.

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