Boulder County, DIGS outline arguments in debris lawsuit

Senior Judge Howard heard oral arguments Friday in the case of Demanding Integrity in Public Spending versus Boulder County regarding the Marshall fire recovery Private Property Debris Removal program.

The judge indicated he would issue a written order prior to the next hearing date on the case, which was set for 11 a.m. March 30.

According to a press release from Boulder County, Howard denied the plaintiff’s previous request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent the county from signing a contract with the awarded bidder, DRC Emergency Services, to perform the private property debris removal. This ruling was expected after the plaintiff announced on Tuesday that DIGS was no longer seeking to block the contract award.

With this denial, the Board of County Commissioners will move forward with a meeting to sign the contract with DRC and to take other administrative actions to begin the program at a business meeting scheduled at noon Tuesday, the county said.

The judge also heard oral arguments on two remaining issues including whether Boulder County violated open meetings law, and whether DIGS has standing to file this lawsuit.

On the first issue, County Attorney David Hughes argued that the county followed all requirements under the Colorado open meetings law to properly notice and hold executive sessions related to Marshall fire debris management legal issues, the county said in the release.

Hughes also argued that the bid evaluation team, which consisted of administrative staff from the county, Louisville and Superior, was not a local public body subject to open meetings law requirements. On the second issue, Hughes argued that the DIGS complaint does not show any injury in fact to the plaintiff, and so there is no standing to proceed with the lawsuit, the county said.

Both parties agreed that it is in the best interests of the community for the lawsuit to move forward as quickly as possible.

“The hearing today went as expected, and the county is hopeful the judge will enter judgment in favor of the County when he rules on the merits,” Hughes said in the release.

Additional information on the coordinated debris removal program will continue to be released as new information is known. Information will also be posted on the program webpage at www.BoCo.org/Marshall-Debris-Cleanup.