WEEK OF JUNE 22, 2023
VOLUME 134 | ISSUE 48
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Jackass Hill Road closed indefinitely by sinkhole BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Keith Gardner is sworn into his new seat on the South Suburban Board of Directors.
PHOTO BY NINA JOSS
South Suburban releases applications it had claimed were ‘confidential’ BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
In response to a public records request, The Littleton Independent has received the applications of the four individuals who applied to the previously vacant seat on the South Suburban Parks and Recreation District Board of Directors — but by then, the board had already appointed Keith Gardner to the seat one day earlier. The applications were not included in the agenda for the June 14 meeting, where the board selected Gardner with no discussion and no
reasons explaining why they made that decision. South Suburban provided the application question responses to The Littleton Independent but did not provide the requested letters of reference that applicants were also required to submit. South Suburban cited Colorado Revised Statutes Section 24-72204(3)(a)(III), which states that letters of reference may be denied from open records requests. ‘More closely to the text of the law’
The process of selecting Gardner as the new appointee on June 14,
VOICES: 14 | LIFE: 16 | CALENDAR: 19 | SPORTS: 22
minus comments from the agency’s attorney, took less than one minute. At the meeting, Board Chair Susan Pye asked if all board members had read the applications and then called for a nomination. With a motion from Board Member Ken Lucas to appoint Gardner and a second from Board Member Pam Eller, there was no discussion and the motion passed unanimously. Several audience members walked out of the meeting in protest of the way the decision was made, some of them specifically saying they were
The City of Littleton has closed Jackass Hill Road indefinitely as they conduct repairs on the sinkhole that collapsed under a moving car on June 12. The city’s public works department learned that the sinkhole, which is located on Jackass Hill Road north of West Mineral Avenue, was caused by the collapse of a corrugated metal culvert under the roadway, Public Works Director Keith Reester said. A culvert is a tunnel that allows water to pass under a road or railroad. As additional rain fell over the course of June 12, a second culvert in the same area partially collapsed, according to a June 14 press release. “There’s two 48-inch pipes underneath that road and they were installed in 1985,” Reester said. “The joint just failed, and that happens. It’s an unusual amount of water for us, this much moisture … it’s all of us in the Front Range who are dealing with it.” SEE SINKHOLE, P15
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