Two Denver City Council members say they may want to bring the body into compliance with the state’s open-meetings laws.
The two say they’re not sure they’re comfortable with the city’s municipal code, which differs substantially from Colorado law.
The municipal code says a meeting of council members becomes public only when a majority of the council is present. State law says only three council members need to be present and discussing the public’s business to constitute a public meeting.
Councilwomen Jeanne Robb and Jeanne Faatz have talked informally on the issue and agree that state law clearly states that Denver should comply with the state rules.
As a state representative in 1991, Faatz sponsored the overhaul of the state’s legislation on open-meeting regulations for municipalities.
She said she has no doubt that she and other sponsors intended for the legislation to include Denver.
“This was an attempt for us to say there needs to be some ground rules here, for the public officials and also for the press and the public,” Faatz said. “We wanted uniformity statewide.”
Faatz and Robb talked briefly about the issue after Monday’s City Council meeting and agreed a fuller discussion is needed.
“My perception is that the state legislation clearly was intended to apply to municipalities,” Robb said in an interview.
“And since the public says we should follow state law, then we should take a look at it.”
Robb said she plans to bring the issue up formally with other council members.
The issue arose when three council members — Chris Nevitt, Paul Lopez and Doug Linkhart — recently held a closed-door meeting to discuss a controversial contract for parking at Denver International Airport. A contractor and labor leaders also attended the meeting.
The council members have said they thought they could hold the meeting because the city’s municipal ordinance permits it and because it was in keeping with the advice from the city attorney’s office.
The city attorney’s office has advised the council that under home rule, the municipal ordinance should control what constitutes a public meeting, not state laws.
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper also spoke up on the issue in a recent interview.
He said that while he’s not a lawyer and can’t give technical legal advice, his office strives to comply with the state’s interpretation.
“Certainly, everyone makes their own decisions, but within this office, to my knowledge, we work really hard to make sure that if there are more than one or two council members, we make a decision to post it publicly,” he said.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
