FYI .... Hearing begins in lawsuit over Loveland council’s Centerra South vote - Reporter-Herald
Thomas Clayton
Resident Bill Jensen claims members violated Colorado open meetings law in the weeks before the deciding vote on the urban renewal plan
A Loveland resident who sued the City Council in 2023 over the approval of the Centerra South urban renewal plan finally got his day in court on Tuesday, when 8th Judicial District Judge Michelle Brinegar heard testimony about alleged violations of Colorado’s open meetings law.
In the 3.5-hour hearing, local barbershop owner Bill Jensen and two other witnesses took the stand to testify that, in April 2023, up to seven City Council members conducted a closed meeting about the controversial development when they signed and sent letters in support of it to Gov. Jared Polis and state legislators, who were deliberating an amendment to urban renewal law that would have impacted the project.
As a result, the vote to approve Centerra South held a few weeks later was invalid, Jensen argued. He is asking the court to overturn City Council Resolution No. R-50-2023, which was passed by a 7 to 2 vote on May 2, 2023.
“In my mind, it was staged,” Jensen testified about the May 2 vote. “I think it was a fake hearing. Because all of these matters were pre-decided.”
The hearing is the latest development in a long-running legal battle between Jensen and the city over the development deal with McWhinney Real Estate Services. He first filed suit alleging improprieties in the decision in June 2023, but that suit was dismissed a few weeks later after Jensen missed a filing deadline.
In a second suit, filed in December 2023, Jensen focused on the letters, which were composed by City Council member Steve Olson and then circulated on City Council letterhead to other members in one-on-one meetings for signing. The first letter, signed by six members, was sent to Gov. Polis on April 19, while the second, signed by seven members, was sent to members of the Colorado General Assembly on April 27.
Brinegar dismissed the second suit in early 2024 on the grounds that the claims had already been litigated and decided. But Jensen challenged her decision and, in January, it was reversed by the Colorado Court of Appeals.
With the case now back in Brinegar’s courtroom, Jensen testified on Tuesday that the letters, coupled with the outcome of the May 2 meeting, suggest the council had already made up its mind behind closed doors.
“The City Council is operating a secret government to the tune of $155 million to one organization,” he said, referring to the tax increment financing deal tied to the development.
But under cross-examination, the city’s attorney, Nick Poppe, got Jensen to confirm that members of the public were able to hear council’s discussion and express their opinions on Centerra South during the May 2 meeting.
Poppe argued that even if there had been a technical violation, it was cured by the full, public deliberation that occurred.
“That’s all that the open meetings law requires for a cure,” the attorney said.
Jensen’s suit is also seeking an end to the City Council’s new practice of holding brief “huddles” prior to taking the dais on Tuesday. Proposed by Councilor Laura Light-Kovacs in March, the informal gatherings are aimed at boosting camaraderie among members prior to official meetings. Jensen’s attorney, Eric Maxfield, argued that the huddles provide another opportunity for members to deliberate out of the public eye.
“The huddles are to be held in a very small room off the back of the City Council chambers, not in the usual place where meetings are held, and not recorded,” Maxfield said. “This is a consistent, pervasive pattern of secrecy.”
However, during cross-examination, Poppe got Jensen to admit that he has no direct evidence that public business was ever discussed during a huddle.
Jensen was joined on the stand on Tuesday by criminal defense and family law attorney Christopher Gregory, who was hired by the City Council in April 2024 to investigate whether the actions alleged in Jensen’s suit also constituted a criminal violation of the Loveland city charter. Gregory determined they did, but a special prosecutor later retained by the council to bring charges against the letter-signers did not find enough probable cause in the case.
However, Poppe was able to have Gregory disqualified from offering expert testimony on open meetings law.
Also taking the stand on Tuesday was Loveland resident Gail Randall, who talked about her concern over the Centerra South letters and the huddles, which she said were “bad optics.”
“There’s a lot of churn going on in this town,” Randall said. “There’s a lot of distrust, and they ought to be taking measures that win more trust.”
Like he did with Jensen, Poppe got Randall to acknowledge that the public was able to witness and participate in the Centerra South deliberations during the May 2, 2023 meeting. She also conceded under Poppe’s questioning that she had no direct evidence of city business being discussed during the pre-meeting huddles
The hearing ended on Tuesday with few witnesses still left to testify and will continue on Aug. 7.
 | Tom Clayton Communication and Media Specialist, Public Affairs |
| Commissioners' Office 200 W Oak St, Fort Collins, 80522 | 2nd Floor W: (970) 498-7005 tcla...@larimer.org | www.larimer.org |