Sentinel’s request for 2022 secret meeting recording headed to state supreme court

AURORA | Colorado’s Supreme Court confirmed Monday that it will weigh in on whether the City of Aurora must release the recording of a 2022 closed-door meeting in which City Council members voted to end the censure process pending against one of their own.

The court’s decision to grant the city’s request that it hear the case means justices will evaluate whether a Colorado Court of Appeals panel made the right call in December 2023, when the panel found that the council violated Colorado’s Open Meetings Law by casting their votes behind closed doors, necessitating the release of the recording to Sentinel Colorado.

Also at issue is a finding by the appellate court that the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which has agreed to represent the newspaper pro-bono in its efforts to obtain the recording, is not entitled to attorneys’ fees from the city, since the newspaper does not meet the definition of a “citizen” under state law and is thus not able to recoup fees, according to the panel.

The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case means a final order to release the March 2022 recording may not come until 2025, since the last briefs in the case may not be due until December.

In early 2022, then-Councilmember Juan Marcano initiated censure proceedings against Jurinsky after Jurinsky told a regional talk radio show host how she had encouraged then-police chief Vanessa Wilson to replace deputy chief, Darin Parker. Jurinsky also criticized Wilson’s leadership of the Aurora Police Department, referring to the chief as “trash.”

Marcano accused Jurinsky of violating a section of the City Charter that prohibits council members from meddling in the appointment of employees who fall under the authority of the city manager.

He also said Jurinsky’s statements about Wilson went against the language of the council’s rules of order and procedure, which require members to “conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times” when interacting with city staffers.

A supermajority vote of the council to censure Jurinsky would have been the first step before Jurinsky could be punished for her statements. However — during a closed-door meeting on March 14, 2022 — a majority of the council voted to halt the censure process and pay fees for an attorney hired by Jurinsky.

Council rules stipulated at the time that, while an executive session could be called to receive legal advice regarding the process of disciplining an elected official, “no action or decision may occur in the executive session.”

The Open Meetings Law also limits what city councils are allowed to do outside of the public eye and generally prohibits groups from adopting “any proposed policy, position, resolution, rule, regulation or formal action” in secret. If a court finds that a group took such action anyway, recordings of that meeting must be made available for public inspection.

Because the council’s actions appeared to violate the Open Meetings Law, and because the city also failed to announce the specific topic of the closed-door meeting ahead of time, which is required under state law, _Sentinel Colorado_ requested the electronic recording of this private meeting from the city.

The city refused, with City Clerk Kadee Rodriguez writing that the recording was “privileged attorney / client communication and is exempt from disclosure.”

Arapahoe County District Court judge Elizabeth Beebe Volz found in the city’s favor in September 2022, but in December of last year, the Colorado Court of Appeals overturned Volz’s ruling, saying she had made a “clear error” in her analysis of the law. The city petitioned the Colorado Supreme Court to hear the case earlier this year.

The city has spent tens of thousands of dollars fighting the Sentinel’s request for that recording as well as the recording of an October 2023 council committee meeting, which also took place behind closed doors and was not announced to the public ahead of time, despite the Open Meetings Law requiring the committee to do so.

The city released the 2023 recording in response to a judge’s order in May.