“I think in this case, I would honestly say—my hand on the Bible—nothing sneaky went down,” said Brian Tseng, vice president of the Estes Valley Fire Protection District board at its first public meeting of 2025.
“That’s my opinion, not a lawyer,” said Tseng after the EVFPD board came out of an executive session on Jan. 2 where they discussed both District Judge Juan G. Villaseñor’s Dec. 30 “Sunshine Law” ruling siding with the Estes Valley Voice in its Colorado Open Meeting action and legal advice on what their next steps could be.
The ruling requires EVFPD to publicly release the recording of the Oct. 9 executive session by the end of business on Jan. 3 allowing for “certain redactions.”
Under the Colorado Open Records Act, taxing entities are required to conduct the public’s business in an open forum and after several requests for details of the meeting were refused, including a formal CORA request followed by a letter of intent to file suit if the CORA request was not honored, the EVV filed suit with Larimer County Court.
On Nov. 12, the EVFPD’s legal counsel, attornies with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP — former United States attorney and Colorado deputy attorney general Jason Dunn, and Joshua Weiss — asked if the matter could be settled outside of court.
Steve Zansberg, the lawyer for the EVV and president of the Colorado Open Records Coalition, provided terms for settling the case, including the release of the entire recording of the executive session in which the EVFPD board discussed the three candidates and chose Paul Capo, all attorney’s fees and costs, and admission of liability. The EVFPD counsel rejected the offer.
Board president Ryan Bross said the ruling will be complied with, that there was “little appetite” for an appeal.
“We’ve got to stop the bleeding,” said board member Chris Buser, referring to legal fees incurred by the fire district’s board in fighting the state’s open meeting law action.
The partially redacted recording of the Oct. 9 meeting will be released, along with a statement from the board, by the end of day tomorrow, Bross said.
“We were trying to protect the sanctity of the executive session,” he said. “I feel like we have upheld our end by saying, ‘No, we’re not just going to hand this over because you’re being a bully,’ right? If the court wants to say you have to, then that’s different.”
“At this current time, I don’t think there’s any idea to appeal,” said Tseng. “But I think in terms of the goodwill arching effort, what we did, we got to the result we wanted. And I think that the law is there for a very important purpose, making sure public transparency (is maintained)… to make sure nothing sneaky is going down.”
The EVV brought suit to ask the court for an in camera review of the executive session recording in order to determine if the meeting breached the state’s open meeting laws. Oral arguments were heard on Dec. 20.
In response to the court’s ruling, the Estes Valley Voice is working to coordinate a workshop in cooperation with the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition in early February on the Colorado Open Records Act for all special district elected and appointed board members, individuals interested in running for or being appointed to a seat on a public board, custodians of public records, and interested members of the public. Details about the workshop should be available next week.
Where is the recording? Cannot find it anywhere.
It is on the Estes Valley Fire Oritection District’s website, under “meetings,” and on the Oct. 9 meeting date. This is very hidden.