*Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect the accurate court proceedings.*

Friday testimony by Glenwood Springs Mayor Ingrid Wussow and former City Manager Dr. Beverli Marshall further indicated the city decided to terminate Marshall behind closed doors without properly notifying the public.

Ninth Judicial District Court Judge Elise Myer determined it was reasonable to believe the city council violated Colorado open meetings law, which rules no action can be taken in executive session. Myer also ordered the city of Glenwood Springs to submit to the courts an in-camera review of the Aug. 10 executive session detailing exactly what was discussed by Glenwood Springs council members.

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“Less than 13 hours after the executive session ended, Dr. Marshall was placed on leave,” Myer said on Friday. Myer then added, “The timeline suggests that the decision was made in executive session.”

Former Glenwood City Council member and current 9th Judicial District Attorney Tony Hershey, who submitted an open records request on Sept. 1, originally filed a lawsuit alleging the city of Glenwood Springs had not cooperated in releasing details over the Aug. 10 executive session it conducted during the special meeting. Hershey also argued that city leaders in fact took action during the executive session, which was called to address the city manager’s contract.

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According to Wussow’s Friday testimony, Glenwood Springs City Council members agreed during the executive session to direct Mayor Pro Tem Marco Dehm and Wussow to give Marshall a letter of resignation. The letter, drawn up by City Attorney Karl Hanlon, was presented to Marshall the following morning on Aug. 11.

“We were going to give her options on moving forward,” Wussow said of Marshall’s resignation letter.

Though no official vote occurred during the Aug. 10 executive session, Wussow said the city council mutually agreed to present two options in the letter of resignation to Marshall: either discreetly resign or have the details of Marshall’s imminent resignation discussed openly in a public forum. No options of Marshall possibly keeping her employment with the city were presented in the resignation letter, according to testimonials.

“It was discussed in the executive session,” Wussow said, adding that Marshall was given time to review her resignation letter.

The city did not formally and publicly vote on Marshall’s resignation until it was unanimously approved during an Aug. 17 council meeting.

On the morning of Aug. 11, Wussow and Dehm met with Marshall in her office. After denying an offer by Marshall to pour them coffee, Marshall said they told her council met the previous night when they “decided to let me go” and that she was “not a good fit for this council.”

Marshall, who was immediately placed on paid administrative leave that day, said she was then told to leave her work computer and keys to city hall. Marshall was then escorted out of the building twice by Dehm and Wussow while removing her personal items from her office.

“They told me they’d find a box for me,” Marshall said. “They offered to help me carry things out.”

According to Marshall’s employment contract, approved by Glenwood City Council earlier this year, she would receive four months of severance pay if she were to be terminated. Instead, according to Marshall, Hanlon amended her resignation letter to include five months of severance pay to persuade her to sign it immediately, thus waiving a legally allotted 21-day wait period to sign the letter. 

Marshall, who spoke with Hanlon and signed the letter on Aug. 16, received a severance pay of more than $85,000.

Attorney Shoshana Rosenthal of Karp Neu Hanlon, P.C., representing the city, consistently argued throughout the case that the details over Marshall’s contract in the executive session were protected by attorney-client privilege and therefore should not be released to the public.

“The plaintiff has not provided any evidence that discussion strayed away from the notice,” Rosenthal said.

Meanwhile, Rosenthal argued the proceedings over Marshall’s termination were legal because a formal decision was in fact made by Glenwood Springs City Council to accept her resignation on Aug. 17.

“Marshall was allowed time to make a decision while on paid administrative leave,” Rosenthal said.

A day before the Aug. 10 executive session, Wussow said she notified Marshall that council was to discuss her contract. Marshall, relocating from out of state to assume the city manager role, said she had incurred double the amount of moving expenses and that she assumed the executive session would address reconstructing her contract to cover those extra expenses.

“Dr. Marshall responded that she preferred this meeting to occur in executive session,” Rosenthal said.

Kathy Goudy, Hershey’s attorney, argued in her closing statement on Friday that council’s mutual agreement over drawing up Marshall’s resignation letter and directing Dehm and Wussow as negotiators during the executive session eliminated attorney-client privilege, saying, “Privilege doesn’t occur when you’re giving bad advice to your council.”

“This was not an executive session,” Goudy said. “This was a secret meeting that should have been public.”

The city of Glenwood Springs has until 5 p.m. Dec. 7 to submit the Aug. 10 executive session in-camera recording to the judge to review. Myer said it will be determined by Dec. 13 whether the open meetings law was in fact violated and then whether the recording should be made public after further arguments over injury to public interest can be made.