July 23, 2007 08:47 PM UTC

Jeffco: What Part of Illegal Don't You Understand?

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Canyon Courier reports:

Landmark Community Newspapers Inc., the parent company of the Columbine Courier, Canyon Courier and High Timber Times, filed paperwork Wednesday in Jefferson County District Court alleging the county commissioners violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law.

The lawsuit, which alleges the commissioners met July 5 with county workers to discuss the board’s future budget options without posting adequate prior notice, asks for a district judge to rule that the county did in fact violate the law by failing to post public notice of the event, as required by the Open Meetings Law…

Two of the three Jefferson County commissioners have since acknowledged that the policy-setting board violated the Open Meetings Law by failing to post public notice of the July 5 meeting.

Democratic Commissioner Kathy Hartman and Republican Jim Congrove each acknowledged after the meeting in question that the board should not have met without posting notice.

Republican Commissioner Kevin McCasky has vehemently denied that he, or the board, did anything wrong. He previously told the Courier it was “inappropriate for the press to be here.”

When asked how the public could be certain the commission is not making important decisions when it holds meetings but fails to notify the public, McCasky responded: “You can never know that.”

The trouble is, the law says differently. Unambiguously. To prevent exactly the kind of high-handed, illegal blowoff McCasky gave the Canyon Courier. McCasky has clarified once and for all which side of the law he’s on…