Courthouse safety called into question

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SUN photo/Randi Pierce Tape on a door leading to the western portion of the Archuleta County Courthouse, which was damaged by flooding within the building. SUN photo/Randi Pierce
Tape on a door leading to the western portion of the Archuleta County Courthouse, which was damaged by flooding within the building.

Despite being vacated by county staff until remediation can be done following the April flooding of the facility, emails between the county’s elected officials indicate that personnel from the independent firm auditing the county are being housed in the western portion of the Archuleta County Courthouse.

The SUN sent the county a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request for emails sent between the county’s elected officials, and several emails received showed concern on the part of some of the elected officials that the auditors were working out of the closed portion of the courthouse.

Much of the request, which was sent to the county on the afternoon of Friday, June 5, was returned on Wednesday, about an hour beyond the time limit specified by statute. It also included an email from County Administrator Bentley Henderson that stated, “Please do not respond to the paper’s CORA request until we have had a chance to determine our best course of action.”

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