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Steamboat Springs — The town of Oak Creek will not release tapes of a special meeting held last month unless a judge orders the town to do so, town attorney Bob Weiss said Tuesday.

The Steamboat Pilot & Today contends that during the meeting, the Town Board went into a secret session illegally and therefore must turn over the tapes.

Weiss wrote a letter to Pilot & Today attorney Chris Beall outlining the town's stance. The Town Board maintains its special meeting Sept. 25 was about Mayor Kathy "Cargo" Rodeman's role as grant writer for the town, not as her role as mayor. Therefore, the town contends, the Town Board went into secret session to discuss a personnel matter, not an elected official.

"To my knowledge, the employees involved in the executive session believe their discussion with the Town Board to be personnel matters not subject to disclosure," Weiss wrote. "The Town Board received information from certain town employees regarding their working conditions, which such employees desired to communicate to the Town Board privately, and which the Town Board agreed to keep confidential."

Weiss said on Tuesday that the town would not release the tapes unless a judge ordered it to do so.

The Pilot & Today maintains the town violated Colorado Open Meetings law and will pursue the matter. Local bodies are allowed to go into closed session to discuss personnel matters but not if the employee in question has requested an open meeting. But the law specifically states that the personnel matters option does not apply to "any member of the local public body" or "any elected official."

The Sept. 25 meeting was called to discuss recent complaints from town employees regarding working conditions. During the meeting, Rodeman was asked to recuse herself and she sat in a hallway for three hours until the Town Board reconvened. Rodeman said she was not given the option to participate in the session, much less to have the matter discussed in public.

The Steamboat Pilot & Today later filed an open records request with the town seeking to acquire the tapes and alleging the Town Board violated Colorado Open Meetings Law by discussing an elected official.

At a meeting Monday night, the Town Board agreed not to release the tapes and to have a judge hear them before making a determination. "As far as we're concerned it's an employee matter that we'll get solved," said Oak Creek Mayor Pro-Tem J. Elliott.

Rodeman's attorney, Charles Feldmann, said he is glad the town has decided to get a judge involved.

"I guess I'm glad they're sending it to someone for some sort of independent review," he said.

- To reach Alexis DeLaCruz, call 871-4234 or e-mail adelacruz@steamboatpilot.com