Dacono council members could face censure after CBI report details additional open meetings violation

The four Dacono city council members who voted to remove their city manager in February could face a formal censure, according to a legal memo shared with Yellow Scene Magazine. 

The memo, dated April 12, was drafted by Kathleen Kelly, Dacono’s former city attorney. It includes allegations of an additional open meeting law violation by council members Kathryn Wittman and Jim Turini that has not previously been made public. 

YS reached out to Wittman and Turini for comment about the memo but did not immediately receive a reply.

Both Kelly and the Colorado Bureau of Investigations began investigating the events that led up to city manager A.J. Euckert’s termination in late February. Kelly said the evidence she collected “strongly suggests” that council members Wittman, Turini, Danny Long, and Jackie Thomas violated Colorado’s open meeting law by seemingly agreeing to fire Euckert outside of a public forum. 

“It appeared from their course of action at the February 13 City Council meeting that a prior decision of these four Councilmembers was only formalized at the February 13 meeting,” Kelly wrote. “…the fact that no discussion on the motion to terminate the City Manager was permitted at the February 13th meeting is additional evidence of Wittman, Turini, Long, and Thomas’s commitment to their course of action.” 

Meanwhile, the CBI investigation uncovered a “factual basis” of an additional open meeting law violation by Wittman and Turini.

None of the accused can vote on their resolution to censure because it concerns their official conduct, the memo states. Mayor Morehead, Crespo, and council member Kevin Plain would be the only members of the body who are eligible to vote on it. 

The memo also recommended that Dacono hire a special counsel to represent it for the case since Kelly is no longer in office. 

During the city council meeting on April 24 ended abruptly after Morehead refused to allow Thomas and Turini to vote on a resolution to hire a special counsel. Council members Turini, Thomas, and Wittman all walked out of the meeting shortly thereafter.

Read the full memorandum here.