Governance Issues

Preserving the Integrity of a Quasi-Judicial Hearing (Round One)

A primary duty of a city attorney in a council hearing is to guard against improper encroachments on a city council’s collective decision-making process, sometimes at the risk of retaliation. Preventing procedural defects helps guard municipal decisions from being overturned by a court. City attorneys must be permitted to fulfill such a duty even in high-stakes hearings, like the one that occurred in Thornton on November 17, 2020, as I was finishing my fourth (and last) year as the Thornton City Attorney.

Elected Officials often need to navigate through a public hearing called a “quasi-judicial” hearing. A land developer’s re-zoning request is usually such a hearing. Quasi-judicial hearings are like a court trial in at least three very important ways. Like court decisions, Elected Officials’ decisions must be:

1. Based on the evidence in the hearing record;

2. Based on legal criteria in the city or town code; and

3. Made by impartial decision-makers.