A public entity with a contractual right to access documents from a private third party, such as a developer, must disclose those records to a requester if they are used for a public purpose, a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals held Thursday.

The appellate judges reversed a 2020 El Paso County District Court ruling against Tim Leonard, a former state representative whose Deepwater Point Co. sought construction contracts and payment records about public improvements from the Interquest North Business Improvement District in Colorado Springs.

The district court judge ruled that Leonard wasn’t entitled to any records kept by developers or other private contractors associated with the public improvement projects.

But the Court of Appeals, in a published opinion written by Judge Michael Berger, determined the documents are “public records” under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) because they are used for a public purpose and the business improvement district has a contractual right to access them.

“When, as here, the requested documents are so intimately related to public funds, CORA’s purpose is at its zenith,” Berger wrote. Noting that Interquest North Business Improvement District has reimbursed the developer about $15 million, he added: “The construction contracts and payment records obviously shed light on both the propriety and reasonableness of those payments.”