Mesa County addresses inadvertent disclosure in CORA response

Mesa County recently identified that confidential information was inadvertently included in records released in response to a Colorado Open Records Act request related to Department of Human Services mileage and other financial records.

The records were provided as part of a CORA request and were not publicly published. The Daily Sentinel confirmed it would not publish or further share identifying information connected to affected individuals.

Once the issue was identified, the Mesa County Attorney’s Office immediately reviewed the disclosure, examined the records release process that produced it and began implementing additional safeguards to help prevent this from happening again.

“Mesa County’s responsibility to protect sensitive client information, particularly for those served by our Department of Human Services, is one we take seriously,” Mesa County Attorney Todd Starr said. “As soon as this came to our attention, we began reviewing how the information moved through the records process and implementing additional safeguards to help reduce the risk of this happening again. I appreciate the Daily Sentinel’s cooperation in responsibly handling what they received.”

Additional safeguards currently being implemented include modifications to records handling procedures, additional departmental review measures before records are released and refresher training for staff involved in assembling CORA responses.

Protecting confidential information is an important responsibility. Mesa County is committed to continuing process improvements that strengthen confidentiality protections and records review procedures across the organization.