Aug.

13, 2015
To city attorney Tony Lettunich and members of the Steamboat Springs City Council:
I am writing to respectfully inform you of our view that certain portions of a recent
meeting were in violation of the Colorado Open Meetings Law. This opinion is supported
by attorney Christopher Beall, who specializes in First Amendment law and represents
members of the Colorado Press Association, including the Steamboat Pilot & Today.
In posting and announcing the executive session held Aug. 4, one of the matters to be
discussed behind closed doors was listed only as personnel matter. We understand,
however, that the closed discussion concerned the work performance of City Manager
Deb Hinksvark. There was no public notice or announcement of any kind that her work
performance was the particular matter to be discussed.
Colorado Open Meetings Law requires the City Council to not only cite the statutory
basis for holding an executive session, in this case personnel matters C.R.S. 24-6402(4)(f)(I)), but also the particular matter to be discussed in as much detail as possible
without undermining the purpose for which the executive session is authorized. The
notice should have identified the city manager as the matter to be discussed under
personnel issues.
It appears the same omission has been made in your posting for the Aug. 14 executive
session. We know the purpose of that meeting is to discuss a possible separation
agreement with the city manager. We believe the law requires that this fact should be
stated clearly in the public notice. The failure to make such an announcement prior to
adjourning to the executive session would, we believe, amount to a violation of the law.
In addition to the improper procedure for convening the Aug. 4 executive session
meeting, it is our opinion that the council may have violated the statute otherwise during
that session by taking action behind closed doors. Unless the city attorney acted on his
own to begin negotiating a separation agreement with the city manager, it appears he
received direction from the council during the closed session. Even if the councils action
did not take the form of a formal vote, any adoption by the city council of a proposed
policy or position to direct the city attorney to begin negotiating with the city manager the
day after the closed session would have been a violation of the statute because such
action was taken behind closed doors.

Under COML, no adoption of a proposed policy or position may be taken by a council

in an executive session. To do so is a violation of the Colorado Open Meetings Law.
I will remind you of this newspapers record when it comes to litigating open meetings
violations of this very nature. In 2007, the Steamboat Pilot & Today sued the Steamboat
Springs School District over insufficient information provided in an executive session
posting for a Jan. 8, 2007, meeting.
The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that the school board violated the states Open
Meetings Law by not properly announcing the purpose of its executive session. The
ruling noted that the School Boards notice was deficient in failing to state that the
executive session would concern the release of survey results. In addition, the notice
was deficient in not identifying that the personnel matter was specifically the
performance of the superintendent. As a result of the ruling and the subsequent
settlement, the district paid $50,000 of the newspapers attorney fees and also released
the transcripts from the illegal meeting. Here is a link to an article concerning this lawsuit

http://www.steamboattoday.com/news/2009/may/19/school_board_formally_settles_new
spaper_lawsuit/
In closing, the purpose of the letter is to inform you of this newspapers position on the
councils recent actions related to posting executive sessions and the timely release of
information about actions taken in those meetings. We do not tolerate public business
being conducted secretly, and as this communitys newspaper, we will continue to fight
for openness and transparency to ensure the Colorado Open Meetings Law is upheld by
our elected officials. We respectfully ask you to begin posting and conducting executive
sessions in accordance with state law.
Respectfully,

Lisa Schlichtman
Editor, Steamboat Pilot & Today
cc.

Suzanne Schlicht, Publisher of the Steamboat Pilot & Today

Christopher P. Beall, attorney at law