After shelling out at least $185,000 defending a violation of the Colorado Open Meeting Law, the Douglas County School Board of Education now wants to haggle over how much it owes the plaintiff in attorney’s fees.

The lawsuit was brought last year by state Rep. Bob Marshall, D-Highlands Ranch.

Marshall’s legal fees tallied $95,419.54. 

In his settlement offer, Marshall asked for $90,000.

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The board was poised to consider a resolution Tuesday night that would have directed its counsel to negotiate the amount before going to court. Instead, the board tabled the resolution with a unanimous vote after meeting in executive session with their attorney for more than an hour.

“An alternative option could have been the posting of the settlement of fees document that was provided and we could have posted that publicly and voted on that tonight and been done with it, right?” said Director Susan Meek said.

“But we didn’t do that.”

Board President Mike Peterson said Wednesday that while settlement offers and counters are part of the process, it’s unfortunate that Marshall filed for the permanent injunction because every filing costs both sides.

Douglas County School District spent $186,000 in legal fees fighting open meeting violation

“The board, just by their (unanimous) vote, thought this was the best action,” Peterson said. 

Tabling the measure, Peterson added, doesn’t prevent the attorneys from negotiating.

On June 16, 18th Judicial District Court Judge Jeffrey Holmes found that the board’s conservative majority violated state statute when conducting a series of one-on-one conversations – designed to skirt Colorado Open Meeting Law – to privately discuss ousting former Superintendent Corey Wise. They then voted to remove him with very little discussion publicly. 

Colorado’s open meetings law requires a public meeting, with proper notice, when three or more members discuss public business.

Having lost the lawsuit, the district is on the hook for Marshall’s legal costs. The board members declined a previous offer from Marshall to settle before the judge’s final ruling. 

Steve Zansberg, Marshall’s attorney, said in an email to the board’s attorney that failure to take up or agree to the settlement agreement would result in requesting the court to enter a permanent injunction against the district.

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“Needless to say, the added costs and expenses that DCSD will bear for such continued litigation does not strike us as justifiable,” Zansberg wrote on June 19.

Zansberg is a First Amendment attorney in Denver and president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, which promotes press freedom and transparent access to government.

A permanent injunction will prohibit the board from making further violations of the Open Meeting Law.

“Refusing our latest settlement offer, however, shows a clear intent by the Board to not accept the court’s ruling,” Marshall said in a Tuesday email to the board.