CORA’s deliberative process privilege might be the most frustrating category under which public records can be kept confidential in Colorado. When invoked, the government is claiming the records you requested contain material “so candid or personal that public disclosure is likely to stifle honest and frank discussion” among officials.
A follow-up to a fault-finding May 2020 report from Denver City Auditor Tim O’Brien on the city’s process for complying with open-records requests says eight of 14 recommendations have been fully or partially implemented.
A judge ordered Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s office to publicly disclose all but four pages of withheld emails about an advisory group formed to examine single-family housing rules.
COVID-19 touched nearly every aspect of our lives in 2020 so of course it affected government transparency and public access to courts in Colorado.
A Denver resident is suing Mayor Michael Hancock and the city over the withholding of records about an advisory group formed to examine single-family housing rules.
An audit finds fault with the city of Denver’s process for complying with open records requests, calling it “not as accessible or transparent as other Colorado governments.”
Aurora has agreed to revise its policies on the disclosure of police internal affairs records as part of a lawsuit settlement, but a new court case alleges the city wrongly withheld body-worn camera footage related to a traffic accident involving Denver Police Chief Robert White.
The city says the Denver Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Exploratory Committee, formed by Mayor Michael Hancock, is not bound by the Colorado Open Meetings Law and, therefore, it can meet however it sees fit. But there is a solid legal argument that the state’s open meetings law indeed does apply to the Winter Olympics exploratory committee. And if that’s the case, the public should be notified of all meetings and the committee should bar the public from attending only under the limited circumstances allowed by the law.
The Denver Department of Public Safety, which includes the police and sheriff’s departments, should publish written guidelines for releasing video of critical incidents such as the 2015 death of jail inmate Michael Marshall, the city’s police monitor recommended this week.
