Anatomy of a CORA Request
... Plus some news and a lot of gratitude.
Happy Thursday, readers! Today I want to talk about an incredibly interesting (to me) and important subject (for all of us): The Colorado Open Records Act (CORA).
If you follow City Council you’ve heard the term in meetings, likely with some disdain. Perhaps, like me, you have been subjected to a CORA request and had to review your communication with one or more of your representatives or City Staff to see if you have any “responsive documents.”
It is an important reminder to play by the rules.
As the Colorado Supreme Court stated in the 1983 ruling, Cole vs. State:
“A free self-governing people needs full information concerning the activities of its government not only to shape its views of policy and to vote intelligently in elections, but also to compel the state, the agent of the people, to act responsibly and account for its actions.”
If you have burning questions about the going ons of our local government. CORA is, or can be, a key to unlock all kinds of information, provided the process works as it should…
Know Your Rights to Information: The Basics
The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition put together this super handy and helpful guide for understanding what a CORA request is, what it isn’t, and offers excellent advice about how to submit your own request.
I do recommend checking out this resource before submitting a CORA request, as it will help you (maybe) get your request right the first time, and avoid excessive costs and possible delays. Once the request is received the government has three business days to respond to your request, or seven if there are extenuating circumstances. How’s that for efficiency?
However…
If, however, you make a request like I did this week, for, “any and all emails to and from Loveland City Manager Steve Adams from May 1, 2020 through February 2, 2024” (tomorrow), you may, as I was, be told to narrow your request.
If you’re thinking I probably should have taken my own advice and read the CFOIC guide before throwing this vast request into the public record (and CORA requests are public record), you would be right. I learn from my mistakes, and now so can you.
So, like any humble information hound, I revised my request. It now states:
“I am requesting all personal and private emails, including attachments from Steve Adams to Delynn Coldiron, Patti Garcia, former Chief Ticer, Mcwhinney employees xxx and xxx, Chad and Troy McWhinney, any and all representatives of Whole Foods, Moses Garcia, former Council persons Dave Clark, Don Overcash, John Fogle and Leah Johnson; current Council persons Dana Foley, Andrea Samson and Patrick McFall, and the current and former airport commissioners and directors at FNL.” (FNL is the Colorado Regional Airport).
This will likely be determined to be too broad as well… And if accepted, will likely come with a giant bill. But hey, I want to get my request into the public record before City Manager Adams leaves office.
CORA Stories
It turns out I’m not alone… At least one resident more experienced with CORA than myself shared her experience.
“I have done several CORA requests from Loveland City Hall and find them frustrating as hell. No matter how carefully I word them, they almost always bounce back with some explanation as to how I messed up and need to reword them, or get told point blank that my request cannot be filled for one reason or another.
After hashing it out back and forth, when I do finally get my CORA request filled, it’s either on a hard drive that I can’t seem to open or hundreds of pages printed out that are NOT correlated.
I have only done CORA requests with the City of Loveland, so I have no idea if this is the norm or just another layer of our Banana Republic.”
- Lynn Reynolds St. John, Loveland Resident
When a CORA Response Isn’t as Responsive as Expected
An excerpt from CFOIC:
If you are a journalist, consider doing a story or a social media post about why the records aren’t available for public inspection.
CORA for internal emails and other communications about your CORA request. You may gain insight into how to re-submit your request to make it more successful. If you’re a journalist, you may learn something about why your request was denied that you can include in a news story.
See? I do learn.
I will keep you updated about the process of my CORA request, and invite you to share with me the processes of your CORA requests. Did they deliver what you expected? What were the challenges? Please email jessica@thelovelandvoice.com and share your stories!
Website News
Our website has just received a giant upgrade. Look, holy cow. I am a journalist, a writer, editor, video producer, gardener, a mother… I am many things, but a website builder I am not. I did it, but it wasn’t very easy to navigate and frankly was a D+ job at best.
Two brilliant young women in Loveland approached me and volunteered to completely renovate the website in November, and we are about ready to launch! We will be relocating our domain from one host to another in the following few days, so The Loveland Voice may be offline for a beat, or a day… Maybe a few days. In the meantime, please keep an eye on Facebook or send an email to jessica@thelovelandvoice.com if you try to find us and cannot.
P.S. We Love You
Thank you all so much for subscribing to Behind the Voice, and for all of your financial support to our matching support challenge last week! Amazing. Your support literally keeps the light on for us. We always welcome financial support.
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