City Council Study Session Agenda and Packet 2016 01 12

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C. EXECUTIVE SESSIONS 1. The OML provides for executive sessions during a regular or special meeting under certain specific circumstances, See C.R.S. Section 24 -6- 402. 2. However, executive sessions in Louisville are governed by the more restrictive provisions of the LCOE. LCOE 5 -1, as mentioned above, emphasizes that "the activities of City government should be conducted in public to the greatest extent feasible..." LCOE is more restrictive than state statute in several aspects: It expressly prohibits not only formal acition in executive session similar to the state statute, but it also bars informal or straw votes. More importantly, the LCOE provisions are more limited as to the reasons Council can go into executive session. For example, the state statute authorizes an executive session to address matters that are subject to negotiation and to obtain legal advice from the city attorney generally, not just on litigation matters or the purchase of property or water rights. As a result fewer matters may be considered in executive session under the LCOE than under the state statute. Only City Council ,not other public bodies within the City such as planning commission or advisory committees, is authorized under the Charter to conduct an executive session. D. E -MAILS THAT MAY BE SUBJECT TO REQUESTS UNDER THE OPEN RECORDS ACT 1. The Open Records Act states "All public records shall be open for inspection by any person at reasonable times, except as provided in this part 2 or as otherwise provided by law." C.R.S. § 24 -72 -203 (1)(a). The presumption in Colorado is that government meetings are open and that public records are accessible. See Cole v. State, 673 P.2d 345 (Colo. 1983); Sargent School Dist. v. Western Services, 751 P.2d 56 (Colo. 1988).The Open Records Act defines "Public Records" as including: [T]he correspondence of elected officials, except to the extent that such correspondence is: (A) Work product; Page 18 of 26