BOULDER — The city of Boulder is refusing to release copies of criminal background checks that it ran on people applying for medical-marijuana business licenses — including businesses that the city briefly shut down after principal investors or managers were flagged by the checks.
The Camera recently requested copies of application records that would shed light on why the city rejected business licenses for High Grade Alternatives, 8th Street Care Center, Southwest Alternative Care, Timberline Herbal Clinic, Mountain Medicine Group and Fresh Baked Dispensary.
The six companies were shut down by the city earlier this month. One business had a zoning issue, and others had problems with background checks. The city said last week that the companies with background issues could stay open pending appeals.
City ordinance says that anyone with at least a 10 percent stake in a marijuana business must submit to a background check. Anyone convicted of a felony in the past five years cannot run a medical-marijuana business.
The city application asks for information about felony convictions in the prior 10 years, DUI convictions and any misdemeanors related to abuse of alcohol or illegal drugs.
In an e-mail to the Camera on Thursday, city officials wrote that the “criminal background checks will not be provided for review.” They wrote that the city is not the “custodian” of the checks it performed on applicants, that the checks are “not public records of the city” and that they’re considered criminal justice records and therefore aren’t subject to the Colorado Open Records Act.
Ashley Kissinger, who represents the Camera and is an expert on open records and open meetings laws, said the city has no grounds to legally withhold the background checks.
“We don’t agree with the city’s denial because the records are subject to public disclosure,” she said.
Kissinger rejected the city’s claim that it can withhold the background checks because it is not the records custodian. While the city may not have generated the background reports, she said, it has possession of them and has included the documents as part of a business licensing process.
She also dismissed the idea that the background checks can be withheld as protected criminal justice records.
“Records of adult arrests and convictions are always open to the public, and the city does not have discretion to withhold them,” Kissinger said.
Sarah Huntley, a city spokeswoman, defended the city’s position.
She said the city received the background reports from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation “for an express and limited governmental purpose,” and it would be “a violation of law for the city to release them any more broadly than is required for that purpose.”
She said the city would release parts of the license application, including the names of the people involved in the background checks. But the price of that information is set at $405, according to the city’s records manager, to cover nine hours of staff time needed to produce the records.
