WEEK OF MAY 11, 2023
VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 24
FREE
School board rejects settlement in open meetings lawsuit Trial in June BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Isla Verde Puerto Rican Cocina & Bar opened in the former home of Havana Bakery & Cafe in downtown Parker.
PHOTOS BY RACHEL LORENZ
Puerto Rican cuisine makes its way to downtown Parker BY RACHEL LORENZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Puerto Rican cuisine is now part of the culinary scene in downtown Parker as the former Havana Bakery & Cafe on Pikes Peak Avenue transforms into Isla Verde Cocina & Bar. “Hopefully by the end of May, first part of June, all these changes will be complete, and we’ll be a full-service, sitdown restaurant with a full bar,” Grant Burch, co-owner of the new restaurant, told Colorado Community Media. Burch, along with chef Jose Rivera and general manager Karen Reyes, purchased the restaurant at the beginning of the year. The trio have been making adjustments ever since — starting with the meu. Rivera, who spent his childhood in Ponce, Puerto Rico, said Cuban and Puerto Rican cuisine are very similar. So he kept the Cuban sandwich, the empanadas, the lechon asado and many SEE ISLA VERDE, P10
Chef and co-owner Jose Rivera lifts the lid on a pot of ropa vieja empanada filling at Isla Verde.
VOICES: 12 | LIFE: 14 | CALENDAR: 17 | SPORTS: 20
The Douglas County school board rejected a settlement that would have admitted some board members violated Colorado Open Meetings Laws when deciding to fire former superintendent Corey Wise last year. During a special meeting on May 8, the board voted 4-3 to turn down a settlement in the lawsuit brought by Rep. Bob Marshall (D-Highlands Ranch) in February 2022, alleging board members Becky Myers, President Mike Peterson, Christy Williams and Kaylee Winegar used a series of one-on-one conversations to discuss Wise’s termination outside of public meetings. The settlement laid out three terms for the board, including an acknowledgement that Myers, Peterson, Williams and Wineger broke the law when they had non-public discussions about public business. The other terms were to prevent the board from taking formal action or discussing public business outside of public meetings, except when legally allowed, such as executive sessions or one-on-one conversations not relayed to a third party, and to pay Marshall’s $66,000 legal fees. After a brief executive session, Williams said she maintains her innocence and doesn’t believe she violated open meetings law, moving to reject the settlement. “I have maintained for over a year now that I do not believe I did anything illegal,” she said. Myers, Peterson and Winegar said they didn’t believe they were guilty either. Winegar repeated the argument that since the vote to terminate Wise was public, the group didn’t violate open meetings law. “I believe there was a vote in public on the decision … and I believe the plaintiff can remove this (term) from the settlement and perhaps then we can get this thing behind us,” Winegar said. Board members Elizabeth Hanson, Susan Meek and David Ray adamantly opposed rejecting the settlement, arguing the district has sunk enough money into the lawsuit and that going to trial would further divide the community. SEE SCHOOLS, P28
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