The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction): Once again, Mesa County officials make a mockery of the concept of open and transparent government.

But the problem is bigger than the arrogance they’ve shown by failing to keep the public informed of their decisions. They seem to have no qualms about letting taxpayers clean up a mess they created in the dark.

After going to great lengths to conceal layoffs within the county’s information technology department in 2016, county officials are now defending the moves as necessary to balance the budget and insisting that age discrimination played no role.

But they’ve lost any credibility on that claim after reaching settlements with two former county IT workers last year over discrimination claims. The county paid $62,500 per settlement to workers who filed complaints with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

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