“The liberties of people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.” Patrick Henry

On Nov. 7, 1972, Colorado voters approved the Colorado Sunshine Law.  That law is clear: the “formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.”  How is this 50 year old law not clear to the Glenwood Springs City Council?

In August and September, I requested a recording of the illegally held meeting of August 10^th and I provided council and the City Attorney with the law.  I was met with silence, derision, and obstruction. I had no desire to bring legal action, but the Council, poorly advised by the city attorney gave me no choice. The city attorney insulted me and made fun of me and said that I had to go to court and that my dispute would need to be resolved by a judge.

Well, now a judge has found that our council absolutely and without any question violated Colorado’s open meeting law.  She ordered the tape released. This secrecy and a lack of understanding of the basic function of an open government is inexcusable. The actions of our council were wrong, costly, and illegal, and their secret dealings threaten our community and our government.

Every attorney is responsible to read the law, know and apply the law, and understand it. The city attorney failed us. The council, unclear on the law and poorly advised, now blames me, the Colorado Court of appeals, and in Jonathan Godes’ case, the law that makes government transparent. He actually said this transparency “thing” is going to hurt us. A councilman who cannot follow the law cannot be permitted to make the law and set policy.  

All of this could have been avoided.  It is unfortunate that some may be embarrassed because the city council broke the law, but it was their illegal act that caused this. It could have been done correctly, as governments all over our State do every day. The procedure is simple — properly notice the executive session and an open meeting and action item for after the executive session so constituents know what is being voted on from the agenda. That way the confidential sensitive matters in executive session do not have to be public – and no one is embarrassed or hurt.  Our council, with bad legal advice, chose not to do this.

Our founding fathers understood the importance of transparency and open government.  It is crucial for a people who mean to govern themselves, without a king, to have full information, to know how their money is spent, and be able to observe their representatives making decisions so that we know what they are doing; not just to shape our views of policy and to vote intelligently, but also to compel our elected officials to govern responsibly and account for their actions.  If they conduct their business illegally, in secret, our representative democracy fails.

An apology from our Mayor, who voted last Thursday to again keep this meeting from the people via redaction, is not enough.  Actions have consequences.  The Mayor, Mr. Godes, and the city attorney cannot blame new case law as the law was clear on August 10th as it was decades ago, that an executive session cannot include a vote. They can’t blame citizens who make legal CORA requests for information on how they govern and how our money is spent. If the mayor and others do not wish to conduct the people’s business in public, and then when caught not to remedy that problem, they should not be elected officials.  And a city attorney who doesn’t understand the law, doesn’t care to learn it, and then fails to properly apply it must be replaced. Then maybe we can begin to take out local government back. A government of, by and for the people.

Anthony Hershey is a former Glenwood Springs city councillor.