DECEMBER 15, 2017, COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW E-NEWSLETTER
The Delta County Citizen Report, which bills itself as “an apolitical, nonprofit media organization” in the western part of Colorado near Grand Junction, says it has filed a lawsuit against the Delta County Board of County Commissioners “alleging violations of state statutes designed to promote transparency in government.”
From the site:
On behalf of DCCR, attorney Michael King with Gunnison Law and Mediation filed a complaint and motion for permanent injunction in District 7 Court today citing routine practices of the Board of County Commissioners that violate Sunshine Law and the Local Government Budget Law of Colorado.
You can read the complaint here. The group has also launched a fundraising campaign for its legal expenses. This was the first I’d heard of what looks like a small operation, which says it has, for a little over a year, “blogged on County Commissioner public meetings, county projects, county development plans, county policies, and county budget and finance.” The goal, the site says, “is to help ensure that county government is properly serving all Delta County residents and its objective is to promote a transparent, responsive and engaged county government.”
A preview of group’s lawsuit got a write-up in The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, which reported the county government said the site “misread, misinterpreted, and misapplied state open-meeting laws and state budget requirements,” when the county responded to a formal budget complaint against the county last month.
Columbia Journalism Review is published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.