“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who watches the watchers?)” ~ Juvenal, Satire VI
It must be that time of year again. Sunshine Week — the annual reminder of why open government matters — isn’t officially on the calendar until March, but sometimes the reminder needs to be made a wee bit early.
Last Wednesday, a citizen sent me a photo of three of the five Meeker Regional Library District board members talking together outside the library before the scheduled public meeting. Along with the photo came a simple question: “Sunshine Law violation?”
For some background, Colorado’s Open Meetings Law prohibits a quorum of a public board from discussing board business outside of a properly noticed public meeting. In this case, three members constitute a quorum. There’s no audio recording of the conversation, so we can’t say what they were discussing — it could have been board business, or it could have been the Broncos’ latest heartbreak. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t look good.
And appearances matter.
Serving on a taxpayer-funded governing board comes with responsibilities that go beyond just technically following the law. Board members also have an obligation to avoid situations that reasonably appear questionable to the public. When a quorum is seen having private conversations outside a public meeting, it raises eyebrows — fairly or not — and that alone should give pause.
Why does this matter? Because the whole point of open meetings laws is to ensure that public business is conducted in public. You don’t want decisions being shaped, positions hardened, or agreements reached before a vote and public discussion is held. The public deserves to hear the context, understand the disagreements, and know how decisions are made.
Colorado’s Sunshine Laws have been on the books since 1972 for a reason. Transparency isn’t an inconvenience — it’s a safeguard. It protects the public, and it protects the board members and the institutions they serve.
In most cases, situations like this are the result of carelessness, not bad intent. Still, when it comes to public trust, avoiding even the appearance of impropriety isn’t optional. It’s part of the job.