Estes Park Trail-Gazette: Citizens of Estes Park, your right to know is once again being challenged. The Town of Estes Park leadership is considering asking the voters to eliminate the full text of ordinances passed by the Town Board and the publication of bills and statements of concern related to contracts ad rebates to be published only on the Towns website. Estes Park, this is a serious infringement on your rights to hold your government accountable and a huge transparency issue!

This is a perfect example of the “fox guarding the henhouse”!

Access is a key issue, even if broadband penetration is high. Not only do citizens need to ensure that no one is left out, but that access needs to be reliable. Newsprint plus a statewide resource (publicnoticecolorado.com, maintained by CPA) that aggregates notices and guarantees their availability in perpetuity is very valuable. Do we really trust a patchwork of local governments to not only be timely and clear but to also maintain and archive these notices reliably? Transparency requires a centralized, archived source from trusted 3rd-parties. It’s a system that works across all 50 states and has for many decades.

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