Delta County commissioners reverse FOIA denial, seek outside review of exempt emails and set follow-up meeting

Delta County commissioners voted Thursday to reverse the denial of a public-records appeal and to pursue external review for a narrow set of exempted emails, then scheduled an additional meeting to finish a related appeal.

The board acted during a Feb. 13 special meeting called by County Clerk Nancy Prezrocki and held at the Delta County Service Center. Commissioners took three formal steps: they reversed the denial for a records appeal that the board said involves documents currently held by outside counsel; they authorized seeking an opinion from an MMRMA FOIA expert on a subset of exempted emails (after first asking the county prosecuting attorney to review for any conflict); and they added a follow-up meeting on Feb. 18 to complete work on a separate appeal with an impending deadline.

Why it matters: The actions respond to time-limited requirements under Colorado public-records procedure for appeals and aim to resolve whether attorney-client or other exemptions apply to specific email records. Commissioners said failing to identify nonexempt material before a judicial review could expose the county to attorney-fee or other costs.

What the board decided - Reverse denial of FOIA appeal number 2506: The board determined the earlier denial was premised on county staff not possessing requested records, but the records appear to exist with outside counsel (Attorney…