Grand Junction mulls opening govt. e-mail to public

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City councilors in Grand Junction are considering making it easier for the public to read government e-mail.

They’re exploring the possibility of setting up a computer terminal at city hall that would allow citizens to search e-mails by keywords and read them.

The Daily Sentinel reports that councilman Gregg Palmer has been pressing the issue since a woman seeking nine months of government e-mail messages was initially told it would cost $1,300.

Carroll Zehner requested e-mails from council members, staffers and planning commissioners regarding a gravel mining operation in her neighborhood. She requested messages with certain key words but after she broadened the request, the documents ended up costing about $400.