The Cherry Creek School District paid $114,000 to hire outside counsel to provide the Board of Education with legal advice as it navigated the allegations that were swirling around the former superintendent.

Fisher Phillips invoices obtained through a Colorado Open Records Act request show the district paid $114,191.50 from March through June.

Roughly a third of the cost — or $40,000 — was paid to Steve Welchert.

Welchert is a Democratic political consultant who specializes in strategic planning, political lobbying and crisis management.

Following the Jan. 27 executive session to discuss former Superintendent Chris Smith’s mid-year evaluation in which he abruptly resigned, the board hired Jane Waterman-Joyce, a Fisher Phillips attorney, two days later.

The engagement letter does not describe why she was retained beyond stating the firm would provide “legal advice.”

Welchert has said Board President Anne Egan invited him to the executive session to learn what he might be able to do to help the district with their messaging.

An open meeting expert and a First Amendment attorney have raised questions about the legality of the closed-door meeting.

Both said that the state statute does not permit communication strategy to be discussed out of public view.

Steve Zansberg, a First Amendment attorney who represents The Denver Gazette and several other media organizations, has said that communication strategy “is not a topic authorized for discussion in executive session.”

“For an attorney’s agent to attend an executive session prior to the attorney being retained by the public body does raise questions about any claim of privilege with respect to that conversation,” Zansberg has said.

Colorado’s Open Meetings Law requires public business and the creation of public policy to be conducted in open, publicly noticed meetings.

Executive sessions are for discussions and deliberations on authorized topics, not for decision-making.

The statute does have a carve-out for specific topics such as property transactions, security arrangements or investigations, specific legal questions or personnel matters.

The board hired Waterman-Joyce as it was confronting allegations that involved district contracts, travel spending and potential conflicts of interest involving Smith and his wife, former Chief Human Resources Officer Brenda Smith, who was later fired.

A $65,000 investigation by Kaplan and Earnest into the former superintendent and his wife concluded the Smiths likely violated district policies by charging the district for travel that was not entirely related to district business and by encouraging subordinates to do the same.

Chris Smith’s resignation in January after reports he had created a “toxic” work environment with his wife set off a chain of events that has left the school board scrambling to respond.

In addition to the Smiths, Assistant Superintendent Tony Poole retired after being placed on leave and former Board Director Terry Bates resigned amid allegations he had made “racialized remarks.”

To address transparency concerns, the district has implemented a number of reforms that include tighter procurement and spending rules, mandatory legal review of contracts, new travel guidelines and a temporary freeze on certain travel and contracts.

Cherry Creek, the fourth-largest school district in the state with nearly 52,000 students, has consistently ranked among the best in Colorado, state data shows.