Ouray County Plaindealer: The appointed and elected volunteer boards here in Ouray County serve vital, underappreciated roles. They approve budgets and decide how to spend taxpayer dollars. In most cases, it’s a lot of responsibility for little or no pay.

Perhaps the most crucial decision these boards will ever make is to hire someone to lead their local government or district — the equivalent of a chief executive officer. The choice is so important, state law requires local governments to allow the public to be involved in the process well before a hire is made. It is, after all, the public’s money that’s being spent.

That’s why we were dismayed to learn the Ridgway Public Library Board of Trustees hired a new director earlier this summer without opening up the process to the requisite public scrutiny, a violation of Colorado’s Open Records Act.

Visit Ouray County Plaindealer for more.