An open letter to Mayor Yazzie and members of the Durango City Council:
I write to formally request that the City Council issue a written reprimand of City Attorney Mark Morgan for conduct that undermines transparency, public confidence and the civic ethos of the city of Durango.
The public record, including recent reporting, “‘Documented pattern of harassment’ detailed in ethics report to Durango City Council” (Herald, Jan. 27), reflects the city attorney’s repeated public characterization of citizens in adversarial, dismissive and inflammatory terms. While robust legal defense of the city is appropriate, selective disclosure of information combined with hyper-belligerent rhetoric serves only to intensify suspicion of wrongdoing and erode public trust.
Transparency is not achieved through numerical recitations of email counts, motion filings or aggregated legal fees. It is achieved through clear, timely and complete disclosure of public records as required by law. When public communications emphasize metrics while omitting substantive context, the result is opacity – not accountability. Spending taxpayer resources to produce dense numeric summaries and adversarial commentary does not strengthen governance.
Further, selective disclosure of public records – whether by delay, fragmentation, redaction beyond statutory necessity or adversarial framing – creates the appearance of concealment.
The city attorney’s role requires:
- Good-faith compliance with open-records laws in both substance and spirit;
- Professional civility toward citizens;
- Avoidance of rhetoric that inflames rather than resolves disputes; and
- Prudent stewardship of taxpayer funds, particularly in protracted conflicts with residents.
Durango deserves governance grounded in constitutional integrity, transparency and mutual respect.
Ruth Weinfeld
Durango
