The Pagosa Springs SUN: A proposed bill regarding the Colorado Open Meetings Law (COML) is under consideration by the Colorado General Assembly. Under the COML, it is “the policy of this state that the formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.”

We realize that many people may not care about the COML, but you should care, because elected officials should not be conducting the public’s business behind closed doors in executive session unless it is allowable by law and that executive session notice properly informs the public about what will be discussed. 

While we believe local public bodies should not be afraid to discuss public issues in public, there are some good reasons for going into executive session and those reasons are clearly defined by law. There are simple guidelines for announcing those sessions and for making motions to enter into executive session. It really isn’t hard to give the public some detail as to why a board is entering into an executive session.

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