Trustee Serbu’s Circumvention of Open Records Laws
Prepared by Sean Maday, a Superior resident.
Town of Superior Trustee Jason Serbu has improperly withheld public records related to Town of Superior business. His conduct in this matter shows a brazen disregard for the responsibilities associated with holding public office in Colorado. Superior needs leaders with integrity, the kind who do what is right even when no one is looking.
Overview
- Through an open records request I found an email where Trustee Jason Serbu deliberately moved a conversation from his official email account to Facebook Messenger. I contend that these Facebook messages related to Town of Superior business are public records under Colorado law.
- The Town Clerk and Deputy Town Clerk claim that they do not have possession of these messages and therefore can not provide them in response to my open records requests.
- I believe this means that Trustee Serbu is the legal custodian of these records in accordance with Colorado law. My attempts to request the records directly from Trustee Serbu have not elicited a response.
- If allowed to proceed unchallenged, these circumstances would effectively provide elected officials in Superior with a blueprint for evading transparency and public accountability.
Chronology of Events
December 20, 2023
I filed a records request with the Town of Superior for all official emails sent and received by Trustee Jason Serbu during the month of November 2023.
February 8, 2024
I received a response to my records request. In the response I found an email where Trustee Serbu tells a resident that he has moved the conversation to a Facebook direct message (DM).
March 20, 2024
I filed a records request with the Town of Superior for all Facebook messages pertaining to town business that Trustee Serbu sent or received during the month of November 2023.
March 26, 2024
The Deputy Town Clerk responded to my request and stated that the town is not in possession of these records.
March 27, 2024
Since it would appear that Trustee Serbu has sole control over these messages and is therefore the custodian of these official records, I sent a records request directly to Trustee Serbu via email. I copied the Town Clerk and Deputy Town Clerk on my email.
April 1, 2024
The Deputy Town Clerk responded via email and again stated that the town is not in possession of these records. I copied the Town Clerk and Deputy Town Clerk on my email.
April 5, 2024
Having not heard back from Trustee Serbu, I sent a follow-up message via email.
April 15, 2024
Having still not heard back from Trustee Serbu, I sent an email to Town Manager Matt Magely and asked to schedule a conversation about this issue. I copied Trustee Serbu on this email.
