DEL NORTE — The Del Norte Town Board voted 4-3 to appeal the decision made by the Colorado Court of Appeals in the case of former Trustee Laura Anzalone vs. The Town of Del Norte to the Colorado State Supreme Court during a special meeting on March 6.
This is the result of a two-year battle between the Town of Del Norte and former Trustee Anzalone, who was censured by the board in 2021. The state court of appeals sided with Anzalone and invalidated the censure, concluding that the town board violated Colorado Open Meetings Law. The Colorado Open Meetings Law ensures that government bodies conduct the public’s business in public, with only a few exceptions.
Anzalone filed an open-meetings lawsuit against the Town of Del Norte in 2022 after being censured by the board during a closed executive session in October of 2021. The Del Norte Town Board passed the censure of Anzalone alleging misconduct related to her involvement in the enforcement of town codes.
According to Anzalone, she proposed to begin a request for proposal to seek new staff members and was questioning how the town follows ordinances such as performance evaluation requirements and public speaking during discussion periods.
Anzalone’s lawsuit in 2022 was initially dismissed by Rio Grande County District Court Judge Crista Newmyer-Olsen, who concluded that the board’s opinion of her “performance as a trustee, which took the form of a censure,” is not subject to the law because a censure does not concern the “formation of public policy.”
Anzalone appealed to the Colorado Court of Appeals which ruled in her favor in late February. The three-judge panel said that Newmyer-Olsen “failed to recognize that the censure was a formal action and therefore … involved the Town’s policy-making powers.”
The ruling by the second-highest court in the state reversed the judge’s decision, invalidated the censure, and prompted Wednesday’s special meeting by the Del Norte Town Board.
The Del Norte Town could accept the ruling or seek to have it go before the state’s highest court.
Del Norte Mayor Chris Trujillo opened the special meeting stating that he would allow only a few members of the public to speak on the topic and then open it to discussion by the board.
The first person to speak was resident Martha Williamson, who talked about an email that she sent to the board that morning.
“Following last week’s executive session where you allowed members of the public to speak, there was a discussion about considering the costs associated with this case to date and then any potential financial impacts the town may have moving forward,” said Williamson.
Williamson said that from that conversation she understood that the town would use insurance to cover the cost of the lawsuit. Williamson then submitted a CORA request for the financial document that showed the expenses for the case up to date and found that the insurance capped at $25,000 and an additional $6,296.05 had been spent beyond the insurance coverage.
Williamson addressed the board and asked them to consider the financial implications this may have on the town.
“My request is the same this week as it was last week. Would the town board please consider and communicate to the public the financial tradeoffs for pursuing this case to the Colorado Supreme Court. What is the financial impacts going to be when you consider things like the town’s infrastructure which the town so desperately needs,” she said.
Other issues raised by the public included the concern for the financial repercussions and whether pursuing this case to the Colorado Supreme Court was in the best interest of the community.
Local homeowner Karie Lichtenfeld said, “Moving forward with this, the question is at what cost to our town? We need to move forward.”
The last person to speak was resident Pat Thompson who said, “I have lived in this town for 35-plus years. My question, and I don’t know all of the details, but I look at the infrastructure of the town and my question is, as a taxpayer, do we really want to spend money on something that is not improving our streets or our water or our sewer? How will this benefit us? And if it doesn’t? Then why are we doing it?”
After the public comments, Mayor Trujillo said, “We have been working on projects that are in the works. COVID caused a pause in some of the things we are doing but we are getting them done. No one knows the full story. No one knows what was happening here at town hall or that there was harassment of town staff.”
Trujillo then opened the discussion up to the board.
Trustee Marty Asplin said, “Not moving forward doesn’t stop the money from already being gone. The money has been spent. That ship sailed in the first lawsuit. The second one allowed the ship to sail even further. It’s not like we get money back by stopping here. Basically, what we are doing if we stop is leaving other municipalities throughout the state as well as us in a position to have to go through this again and again and again.”
Asplin said he felt it was the duty of the board to move it forward.
Trujillo called for a roll call vote and the motion to move the case to the Colorado Supreme Court was passed 4-3. Trustees Brenton Williams, Asplin, Bob Muncy and Mayor Trujillo voted for the motion. Trustees Shelly Burnett, Louie Velasquez and Leigh Anne Lobato voted against.
Lobato, Velasquez, Muncy and Trujillo were also board members when the censure occurred. After the ruling by Newmyer-Olsen, Anzalone decided not to run again once her term had expired.
