NOREEN: City hall keeping more secrets
Colorado Springs officials don’t want you to know very much about the process for selecting 11 members of an advisory board that will make recommendations about whether to sell Memorial Hospital.
On Tuesday, the city denied an open records request from The Gazette, which wanted to have the lists, each with 10 names, of people who were being recommended for the panel by each of the nine members of the City Council. The Gazette wanted the lists because they would reflect the agendas of the council members when it comes to the hospital.
Having the lists would show whether members of the council might have been coordinating their efforts so they could stack the panel with appointees favoring a “sell” or “don’t sell” position. It’s the sort of back-room maneuvering politicians never want you to see.
Usually you don’t hear about it until years later, when someone writes a memoir. Because publishing houses don’t pay for a city council member’s recollections, don’t hold your breath waiting for the tell-all book.
Vice Mayor Larry Small, who has served two stints on the council over the years, on Thursday defended the city’s policy of keeping the panel members’ names secret until they are formally approved next week.
“Our practice is that we don’t divulge the names until the Monday meeting and then we vote on them on Tuesday,” Small said. “I can guarantee this is the way we always do it.”
Interviews with applicants for the panel were held publicly Thursday after the council received some blow-back after saying they might be secret.
The city has about 40 non-paid panels that make recommendations to the council. Who gets appointed is rarely interesting enough to become controversial.
It’s a mouthful: The Citizens’ Commission on Ownership and Governance of Memorial Health System.
And it’s unprecedented: Small couldn’t remember a time when the city had 60 applicants for an advisory panel, and there’s never been an ad hoc committee formed to decide whether to sell of a major city asset.
Councilman Sean Paige opposed having secret interviews for the applicants but didn’t take a position on whether the ‘top 10’ lists should be made public. Neither did Councilman Bernie Herpin. Mayor Lionel Rivera and Councilman Scott Hente didn’t return calls.
When the council met with the hospital’s board in January, some said it wasn’t that important who sits on the commission because any citizen could have input at the meetings. The secrecy surrounding the selection of the members suggests that actually, the council deems it very important who gets on the panel.
City Hall, turn on the lights.
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