This is one in a series of Sunshine Week columns written for SPJ Colorado Pro chapter.

By Lauren Gustus

Lauren Gustus

In February, the Coloradoan asked the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment for the number of lead service lines in Colorado.

The idea: let’s take a look at our water quality in the wake of the crisis in Flint, Michigan.

The state sent us back a bill for $61,200, or the equivalent of 2,040 hours of staff and attorney time it would need to complete the request. The state has accommodated other related requests, and I’m hopeful we’ll find a way to better share with readers across Colorado where potential problem areas are.

We got the tab the same day legislation to modernize Colorado’s open records law was heard at the capitol. The State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee defeated the bill on a 3-2 vote.

So it was a one-two punch of a day.

The open records bill originated in Fort Collins.  Sen. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, proposed the legislation after learning about the Coloradoan’s failed open records request to acquire a digital database of Colorado State University salary information.

We requested the data after learning CSU was systematically awarding female faculty raises at lower rates than their male counterparts.

After multiple related requests were denied, a reporter spent months recreating a digital copy of the data CSU made available to us in printed form in its library.

Sometimes it can be difficult to understand why having access to records – in a format in which the data can be analyzed – is so critically important.

Often, recipients of the request feel understandably put out by the requests. We are creating more work for them. But it is our tax dollars that are partially, if not wholly, funding these entities. It is our data.

In both the lead pipe and salary requests, we saw a need to ask important questions that folks might not have the time or resources to address themselves.

Seven months after the Coloradoan first reported on salary inequity, 25 percent of CSU’s female faculty received raises. In all, more than 150 faculty received raises totaling around $685,000 annually.

We found unhealthy levels of lead in water sources from the top of the state to the bottom, per state data that measures the metric. People living in those areas, or who are regular customers of and visitors to those areas, should know.

There were measurable, important outcomes to both data requests. Just as there are to hundreds of requests filed in Colorado and throughout the country each year.

It’s important we will continue to work on sharing the stories that require access to and analysis of records of which the public is the primary steward. We’ll also continue to work for improved access. Both are equally important.

Lauren Gustus is executive editor of the Coloradoan in Fort Collins. Find her at lgustus@coloradoan.com.