Minority members of Loveland council hire attorney

LOVELAND — The four Loveland City Council members who face sanction or potentially criminal charges over open meeting law violations have hired First Amendment attorney John Zakhem to defend them. He’ll appear at today’s special City Council meeting at which the council majority will decide whether to hire a special prosecutor.

The council engaged a special counsel March 19 to review what occurred when members of the prior council sent letters to the legislature and governor in opposition to legislation moving forward at the time. No publicly announced meetings were used to draft the letters but a lawsuit alleged that their creation was the result of a “serial” meeting in which one person speaks with others, one person at a time. The attorney said probable cause exists that a violation of the open meeting law and the city charter occurred.

The council decided to meet again today to determine next steps.

Zakhem, of the Denver firm Campbell Killin Brittan & Ray LLC, has been involved in open government cases representing elected officials, candidates and public figures.

“Mr. Zakhem will appear before the Loveland City Council at 2 p.m. today to address the council and defend his clients against its vindictive legal maneuvering. If the council majority does not cease all efforts to criminally sanction the minority for exercising their First Amendment privileges, further legal action will cost Loveland taxpayers significant civil rights damages and legal fees and inflict further damage upon the city’s public image,” a press statement sent from Zakhem’s office said.

“Without interviewing any of the accused council members or providing his report to any council members ahead of the meeting, (Christopher) Gregory summarized his investigative report during the March 26 Loveland City Council meeting. As a result of Gregory’s ill-conceived insistence that criminal charges may be warranted, the council minority found themselves defenseless as the council majority rushed to bring punitive measures before the one-year statute of limitations expires this month,” Zakhem said.

“In all of my years of First Amendment and political work in Colorado, I have never seen a majority attempt this level of retaliatory censorship. Loveland City Council seeks to become a Kangaroo Court.”

Meanwhile, council member Troy Krenning, whose motion resulted in the hiring of the special counsel, sent an email March 27 to acting city attorney Vince Junglas asking whether the council had authority to create a permanent special counsel to hear allegations against the council from its members, from staff or from the public. 

The city charter provides the council with three direct reports: the city manager, city attorney and municipal judge. This would be a fourth, although, as Krenning noted, the special counsel would not necessarily be a full time position.

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