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Back to EpisodesJudge rules in favor of Estes Valley Voice in open meeting lawsuit
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Story by Hank Lacey
A Larimer County judge ruled Monday that the Estes Valley Fire Protection District violated the state’s open meetings law when it hired chief Paul Capo during an October executive session.
The decision is a win for the Estes Valley Voice and its editor, Patti Brown, in a lawsuit filed to challenge EVFPD’s secretive process for hiring its new day-to-day leader.
“[W]hile they avoided taking a formal vote or ranking all the candidates, it’s clear that after discussing each of the candidates and weighing their strengths and weaknesses, the board members agreed that the Fire District should offer the fire chief position to Mr. Capo” during executive session, wrote District Judge Juan Villaseñor.
The EVFPD governing board violated Colorado’s Sunshine Law, he said, “because it adopted a position or took formal action during that executive session.”
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