Post Independent (Glenwood Springs): After facing mounting pressure from the public and two filed open-records requests, the Glenwood Springs City Council unanimously approved releasing the bid estimates associated with the 7th Street Beautification Project Thursday night.

Earlier, the council had voted 4-3 to keep those pre-bid engineering estimates secret, in an effort to try to gain more competitive bids.

At that contentious June 7 City Council meeting, a motion made by Councilor Shelley Kaup requested, “full, transparent disclosure on scope of the project, phasing of the project, estimated cost and possible funding sources.” The motion was ultimately rejected by Councilors Steve Davis, Jim Ingraham, Todd Leahy and Mayor Michael Gamba in a 4-3 vote. Councilors Jonathon Godes and Rick Voorhees sided with Kaup.

It wasn’t such a lengthy, nor contentious discussion this time around when council at its regular Thursday meeting considered a proposed estimates policy, which had two components.

The first being whether or not council should approve, “a policy not to release or discuss in open session estimates for construction projects past 50 percent design estimates.”

The second aspect involved whether or not to release the previously withheld bid estimates for the Seventh Street Beautification Project.

For its part, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent filed a Colorado Open Records (CORA) request on Monday asking for any and all correspondence between city staff or the Downtown Development Authority and City Council at public work sessions or regular meetings related to the Seventh Street plans.

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