The Glenwood Springs City Council on Tuesday released the recording of their Aug. 10 executive session. 

The video’s release was ordered by Ninth Judicial District Court Judge Elise Myer, who ruled that, upon in-camera review of the executive session recording, the city had violated the state’s open meetings law by deciding to terminate former City Manager Beverli Marshall’s employment in a meeting closed to the public. 

The city had until Dec. 19 to release the video to the public. During a Dec. 15 special meeting, Council voted not to seek any redactions prior to its release, with Mayor Ingrid Wussow voting against.

The recording’s content centered around a conversation of former City Manager Beverli Marshall’s employment, with City Attorney Karl Hanlon present to provide legal advice. Council members took turns discussing particular instances in which they believed Marshall had failed to fulfill the responsibilities of her position. Council discussed feedback they received both from city staff and members of the public about Marshall’s performance as city manager.

Wussow had the final say in the conversation, formally citing “management style, communication style” as reasons for considering the termination of her employment. 

Council then, without a motion, decided their course of action would be to have Wussow and Mayor Pro Tem Marco Dehm meet with Marshall the next morning to let her know about their discussion, and that she would have 21 days of administrative leave to decide whether she wanted to resign. If she chose not to, Wussow said they would have voted on termination of her contract during the next regular meeting. 

“My request at this point in time is that we be a little more formal on saying, ‘Yes, we are comfortable moving forward with all of this with the language that I proposed,'” Wussow said.  

Council members then took turns going around stating, “I’m comfortable with the decision that was made.” 

“The problem was the process of government decision-making, it’s not on the substance of the decision themselves,” Former Glenwood City Council member and 9th Judicial District Attorney Tony Hershey said. “I agree that maybe they should have fired her if she was saying all this stuff, but that doesn’t matter. It’s not what they said. It’s how they decided their process.” 

Hershey filed the original lawsuit alleging the city of Glenwood Springs had not cooperated in releasing details over an executive session it conducted during an Aug. 10 special session, and claimed that city leaders took action during the executive session. 

He emphasized that the topic of the conversation didn’t matter, that it was possible for them to still have conversations about her performance in private while holding onto any action until they were back in front of the public. 

“It’s more about the process than the substance of what’s on that tape,” he said. 

Despite putting his financial situation on the line, Hershey said he felt confident in what the case outcome would be. 

“I’m always nervous when I have a jury out, when I have a judge deciding, because the judge can decide what she wants or he wants, but I thought this was a slam dunk,” he said. “It was clear that at some point they made a decision to put her on administrative leave … They never came out of that meeting to vote.” 

Hershey said he knows there are people who speculate he hadn’t approached the case with the best of intentions. However, he had a message for his critics: “If you don’t like the law, go to the legislature and change it.” 

“I’m sorry that that’s going to cost the people of Glenwood Springs money, but that was their (the city council’s) choice, not my choice,” he said. “I didn’t make the law. They took an oath to follow the law. They didn’t follow the law. And this is and this is where they found themselves.” 

Hershey cited a recent court decision in Aurora, which further cemented the ruling that a later vote at a public meeting would not “cure” the decision made during an executive session. 

“That’s like if I robbed a bank, and I brought the money back a week later,” Hershey said. “Oh, I’m sorry.” 

Despite the possibility that the judge would rule against him or that the city would look down on the lawsuit, Hershey said that holding his city government accountable was worth the risk. 

“Hopefully they learned their lesson, but I’m not optimistic,” he said. “I hope that I’ve held them accountable.”