CFOIC looks back: Transparency highlights and lowlights in 2015
The private emails flap was one of many transparency-related stories we highlighted in 2015 or broke ourselves.
The private emails flap was one of many transparency-related stories we highlighted in 2015 or broke ourselves.
Russell Weisfield and the city of Arvada have settled a lawsuit over Arvada’s use of secret ballots to eliminate candidates for a vacant city council seat.
The Colorado Supreme Court let stand an appellate court ruling that reinstated a citizen’s lawsuit against Arvada for violating the Colorado Sunshine Law.
A Kiowa resident alleges in a lawsuit that the Elbert County Commission violated Colorado’s Open Meetings Law last spring when it considered resolutions to indemnify commissioners in legal cases involving two of them and a former commissioner.
A state advisory committee that helps award grants for addressing the impact of local gaming in Colorado has disregarded the Sunshine Law by failing to document its meetings and activities, a new state audit says.
Can I do it myself? The CFOIC is sometimes asked this question by folks who want to challenge a denial of public records or a closed-door meeting they believe was held improperly. The CFOIC is building an online repository of pleadings that have been filed in previous lawsuits under CORA and the Sunshine Law. And we have some tips on filing pro se from reporter Todd Shepherd.
A new edition of the “Sunshine Laws” guide, revised for 2015, is now available for download as a pdf. Produced by the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and the Colorado Press Association, this 18-page reference booklet is an essential overview of Colorado’s open meetings and open records laws.
Despite a 2012 Sunshine Law amendment that bans the use of secret ballots to make most decisions, some municipal governments in Colorado have continued to fill city council vacancies by voting anonymously.
An Arvada resident who sued his city for using secret ballots to fill a council vacancy can indeed show that he was injured by the closed-door process, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday in overturning a district judge’s decision to dismiss the case.
How is it OK for Jeffco school district and union negotiators to meet privately? Didn’t 70 percent of Colorado voters last Election Day approve Proposition 104, requiring open collective bargaining negotiations in Colorado school districts?