Help BW investigate Boulder’s franchise with Xcel

*UPDATE*

Thank you to everyone who has donated. We have met our goal and will proceed with the records request. Check back with us at boulderweekly.com in a few weeks to read the documents along with our investigation. ~Boulder Weekly editorial

In the 2020 election, Boulder voters approved a ballot measure (2C) that enters the City into a 20-year franchise agreement with Xcel Energy. The measure's approval effectively ends the City's 10-year pursuit of a public energy option (municipalization, or the muni), though there are off-ramps built into the measure if Xcel does not meet its carbon reduction obligations.

The 2C ballot measure is the result of a year's worth of negotiations between City officials and Xcel, instigated, last year, by Council members Bob Yates and Sam Weaver and Xcel representatives. The talks involved settling a lawsuit the City filed to ascertain how much it would cost to assume Xcel's assets in order to push forward on the muni.

Once a settlement agreement was reached, City Council elected to put the franchise agreement to voters, and they approved it.

However, community members and advocacy groups have reached out to Boulder Weekly with concerns about the transparency of the  process. As such, BW filed a Colorado Open Records Act request (found here) that sought the emails and correspondences between Yates, Weaver, City Attorney Tom Carr and Xcel representatives.

But, as is often the case in Colorado, the price-tag associated with accessing these documents is high: $1,050 (estimate found here ). Like other small businesses, BW has had to become exceptionally frugal in order to employ the journalists, production team, delivery drivers and other staff that ensure you get quality, local, in-depth news every week.

So, we're asking the community to help us pay the City's fee to collect the documents. To be clear: We have no idea what the documents will uncover, how many of them there are, and what will and won't be redacted. We do know, based on conversations with the community, that accessing these records would serve a public good. No money collected in this drive will go toward anything other than the records request fee. If we don't raise the required amount, all donations will be returned in full. 

If we meet our goal, we will immediately notify the City to begin collecting the records. (They've let us know they can have them by Dec. 7.) Once we have them, our editors will review the documents and publish them in full, in concert with a story that provides context for what they mean.

We realize this is an unconventional way to report the news, but we also think this provides an opportunity to engage with our community of readers in a novel way, and may offer a blueprint for our news organization and others for future investigations.

If you want to know what conversations were happening behind the scenes of the City's settlement agreement with Xcel, and you value BW's commitment to reporting the truth, please consider donating. Anything helps.