Many full-time residents of Archuleta County moved here for the recreational opportunities, which — this time of year — include cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, snow shoeing, downhill skiing, snowboarding, and of course, taking the dog for a walk.
But for some of us, there’s more to life than recreation. Earning a living, for example. Staying healthy. Making sure our governments are properly transparent.
I was pleased to hear that the meetings of the Archuleta County Transitional Health Department Advisory Committee would be open to the public…
… and not conducted in secret, behind closed doors, like the Archuleta County Vacation Rental Task Force has been doing since September.
The State of Colorado adopted its ‘Sunshine Law’ in 1973, and the laws begins with this statement:
It is declared to be a matter of statewide concern and the policy of this state that the formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.
Colorado Revised Statutes, 24-6-401
Some of us have found it disturbing that the County’s Vacation Rental Task Force has been formulating public policy behind closed doors — with the blessing and approval of County Attorney Todd Weaver and County Manager Derek Woodman.
The State of Colorado also has laws requiring our state and local governments to make documents and other records — like emails and recordings — available to the public, upon request. Those laws are collected under CRS 24-72-201 et seq. and are collectively known as the Colorado Open Records Act or CORA.
It is declared to be the public policy of this state that all public records shall be open for inspection by any person at reasonable times, except as provided in this part 2 or as otherwise specifically provided by law.
CRS 24-72-201
During last Tuesday’s Archuleta Board of County Commissioners’ work session, County Manager Derek Woodman proposed that the County was not required to allow public inspection of the documents provided to the Transitional Health Department Advisory Committee, because — he said — they constituted “work product” as defined in CRS 24-72-202. As was mentioned yesterday, preliminary draft versions of documents created merely to inform the decision-making process can be considered “work products” and don’t need to be open to public inspection.
But they certainly can be provided to the public, if the leadership so chooses. And in some cases, must be made available.
County Manager Woodman, on February 14:
“And there is going to be so much information that is going to this committee, to either digest or to create, and half of it… well, I shouldn’t say ‘half’… but a large percentage, are going to be ideas. So they’re not set in stone… even when they go to the commissioners as a recommendation… so all of the documents that are going to be created are going to be identified as ‘work product’, so moving forward, it’s your decision whether you want the ‘work product’ released” to the public, in advance of it being an approved document…
“It does create some cumbersome issues, to say the least. For example, we had a quarterly timeline that we provided to the committee, and that’s going to change, probably more than anything else. As a matter of fact, we changed it yesterday when we were in our meeting… I mean, that’s going to be a living, evolving document, and there’s going to be a bunch of those.
“Obviously, a lot of the information that we’re gathering from our neighboring communities, from San Juan Basin Public Health — those aren’t our documents. So we can’t release those anyway. If they want those, they have to ask them for it.”
“They” being, the taxpayers. Or maybe, the media.
Having worked briefly with County Manager Woodman on the Vacation Rental Task Force, I understand that he prefers to keep meetings and documents secret whenever possible. And I understand that making decisions publicly opens a committee or an individual to potential criticism. Many people find criticism to be unpleasant.
But the formulation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret. In my humble opinion, people who prefer to work in secret should not apply for public jobs.
The final decision about whether to keep the Transitional Health Department documents hidden from the public is not made by the County Manager, however. Our three elected commissioners have the legal opinion of releasing “work products” to the public. One of those commissioners indicated, during the 2022 election campaign, that she cares deeply about government transparency.
“work to improve communication and transparency at the highest level.”
How did Ms. Medina react to the County Manager’s recommendation to keep potentially important Health Department documents hidden from the public?
“I agree. If the County Attorney says that the ‘work product’ should be held, then I think that’s the way we should go. A lot of this information that’s being provided… with a little research, I’m sure most people can find it anyway.
“I’m all for transparency and giving the information out, but to your point, Commissioner Maez, we definitely don’t want to confuse the public by releasing information and then having things change as we go. As you said, these are living documents. I definitely think the ‘work product’ should be kept.”
Commissioner Medina used the word, “kept”. I understood her to mean, “kept secret”.
Speaking as a political reporter, I can’t recall being “confused” by public documents that are stamped “draft”. I’ve reviewed scores — maybe hundreds — of such documents over the past 18 years, while writing for the Daily Post, and somehow managed to understand that the documents were merely “drafts”. But maybe Commissioner Medina knows more about the general public than I do, and that the public gets easily confused by informational documents that are provided to government boards that are developing public policy.
One thing that County Manager Woodman failed to mention, when urging the BOCC to keep dangerous draft documents out of the public eye. That would be, this portion of the Colorado Open Records Act:
“(c) “Work product” does not include:
…4. Any materials that would otherwise constitute work product if such materials are produced and distributed to the members of a public body for their use or consideration in a public meeting…
That would seem to include any documents that were “distributed to the members” of the Transitional Health Department Advisory Group for their use or consideration at their recent February 13 public meeting, or that will be distributed to them, for their use or consideration, at future public meetings.
As I suggested earlier, people who want to hide public documents from the public should not apply for jobs in the public sector.