From The Gazette: In deciding to unanimously cite Councilwoman Helen Collins with three ethics violations last week, the City Council itself broke state law, attorney Steven D. Zansberg said Friday.

The council had planned to go into executive session Monday to consult its legal counsel, as allowed under the state Open Meetings Law.

Collins would not recuse herself, so the council voted to meet with its attorney two by two.

Council President Merv Bennett was at each council member’s meeting with lawyer Suzanne Dugan, however.

Call it a daisy chain, a walking quorum or a meeting tree, said Zansberg, president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and an attorney for The Gazette.

By whatever name, “They’re all labels the court has applied to improper efforts to evade the quorum requirements of the Open Meetings Law.”

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