Springsteen Brings Open Meetings Lawsuit Against Lakewood

From Anita Springsteen, Esq.

Attorney and former Lakewood City Councilor Anita Springsteen, Esq. filed three lawsuits against the City of Lakewood this week regarding its violation of the Colorado Open Meetings Law (COML) during three Executive Sessions in a row on August 26th, September 9th, and September 19th.

The cases are all filed in Jefferson County District Court.

The first lawsuit (24CV31555) is on behalf of a citizen, Lenore Herskovitz. The City did not give proper notice or record the August 26th Executive Session, stating only that is was with regard to “legal advice” for an appeal the City won against Colorado Christian University an entire year prior to the meeting. As Ms. Herskovitz was an intervenor in that case (City of Lakewood v. CCU, 22CA1202 and 2021CV30629) – she had a right to know the purpose of the Executive Session and why there would be “legal advice” for a case the City won.

The other two lawsuits (24CV31588 and 24CV31574) on behalf of Ms. Springsteen, pro se, are with regard to Executive Sessions held on September 9th and 19th, only referencing “negotiations” to buy undisclosed property. No specific topic was given in violation of COML. However, citizens suspect the meetings involved the purchase of Jeffco school property – a controversial topic of great public interest. Citizens feel that concealing the topic was both in bad faith, and illegal.

(Note: These meetings are not archived online. They were executive sessions which are not available for the public. An example agenda is provided below.)

Ms. Springsteen spent four years on Council from 2019 to 2023 objecting to what she believed to be constant efforts on the part of Lakewood City Council and staff to conceal information from the public. The City has now become so bold in its lack of transparency that three illegal closed meetings were held without a second thought.

Hopefully the Jefferson County Court will remind the City of Lakewood that the citizens are in charge, and that government transparency is critical and required by law.

A former elected official should not have to sue her own City to force officials to follow the law.