January 03, 2011 06:04 PM UTC

What Lies Beneath in Garfield County?

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• by: gerry

The concept of government transparency is simple.

Citizens have the right to know what their government is doing in their name.

Colorado passed the Colorado Open Records Act CORA) to shed light on decisions by local and state governments.

The intent and spirit of the law was to hold government accountable to the people. It’s supposed to be easy and affordable for anybody to request and examine documents.

Unfortunately, some of our elected officials would prefer that you and I don’t know what goes on behind the closed doors at the county building. My recent experience with a CORA request of outgoing Garfield County Commissioner Tresi Houpt can only be described as frustrating, time consuming, and expensive.    

I filed a CORA with Garfield County and then Commissioner Houpt on October 18. I was investigating whether a push poll paid for by an environmental group was in any way being used to exploit public health fears or shape the outcome of an upcoming COGCC hearing.

I didn’t file these requests with the intent of creating more work for already overworked officials and staff; and in the interests of full and complete disclosure, I am an unapologetic  supporter of responsible energy development .  

I requested additional information because I believe in the public’s right to full and complete disclosure from their elected officials and their government.

CORA requires that requested documents be made available for inspection within three to ten days of the request.  However, what unfolded for me was a full month of delays that began with a response letter from Houpt, which read, in part, that she would have to consult with the IT department to “determine whether or not the information requested can be obtained, how long it will take to achieve production, if at all, and how much it will cost to comply.”

That cost was estimated to be over $2500.  I was aghast. Twenty-five hundred dollars to pull the “sent” items folder from Houpt’s county computer?

Finally, a full month after I filed the request,  I received the information. Lots of it; and in a form that doesn’t make it easy to sort the wheat from the chaff and accompanied by a letter about the redaction file from Garfield County Attorney Don DeFord that baldly states that if I want to know the details of the redaction file I can meet Garfield County in court.    

What’s so time consuming, top secret, and expensive about a county official’s interaction with a short list of individuals in a snapshot of time regarding a single issue?      

When information is withheld and only given out under threat of legal action, and to those with the funds to get it, people naturally think you have something to hide.

I intend to pursue the answers to these and other questions, and I hope by doing so the residents of communities like Garfield County will have a better understanding of those who are deserving of  the public trust and those who are not.    

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