Documents filed last week in Mesa County District Court by David Griffith, acting as attorney for the town of Collbran, reveal that the tape that was used to record the executive session in which controversial severance package agreements were discussed for former employees Bruce Smith, Erik Lloyd and Shirley Nichols is blank.
Griffith had asked to hear the tapes of the July 2005 meeting and according to a sworn affidavit from current town manager and clerk Edith Ann Power, “I located the tapes in a plastic box in the Town fireproof vault. Mr. Griffith and I listened to the tapes to verify their content. The tape recordings of the public meeting were correctly marked and audible. The cover of a tape marked on the outside as “EX Sess 7-13-05,” however, was blank on both sides.”
According to an affidavit filed by Mayor John Blady, who was present during the closed door meeting, “The recording for the executive session was blank and was either erased or not recorded.” Blady also states that “Shirley Nichols was operating the recording device that kept a record of the Executive Session. Once during that session it was necessary for me to stop the argument for the tape to be turned over. It appeared that the recording machine was operating”.
The tape would have provided critical information for the town in its countersuit against the three prior employees.
State statute requires that records of executive sessions be kept in the same manner that the open meetings records are kept.

At their regular July meeting, the Collbran town council approved a motion to hire Jim Neu of Leavenworth and Carp as their official town attorney. Neu replaces David Griffith of Collbran who had agreed to fill the position on an interim basis. Griffith, who had previously retired as an attorney, had informed the town that he did not wish to continue in what had become a very time consuming position. Griffith will continue to represent the town in the pending court actions involving previous town employees Bruce, Nichols and Lloyd since he already has the background in the action.
Neu’s other clientele base comes primarily from the Rifle to Basalt corridor.