OWASSO — The City Council voted Tuesday night to hire outside legal counsel to defend itself against a councilor who sued the municipality last month.
Passing a resolution by a 3-1 vote, the council said it plans to hire attorney David Weatherford to file counterclaims against Councilor Patrick Ross that include the “violation of his oath of office by disclosing privileged information obtained during confidential discussions of the City Council.”
The resolution further states that the city will file counterclaims against Ross for “damages, costs and attorneys’ fees for false allegations, an abuse of process and use of the court system for political gain, rather than for legitimate, lawful purposes.”
Weatherford, of the Tulsa law firm Birmingham, Morley, Weatherford & Priore, is a veteran attorney who has represented many cities in the area, including the city of Coweta for 25 years. He told the council that he has attended more than 1,200 city council meetings.
Councilor Charlie Brown, who said he was not sure he agreed with all elements of the resolution, voted against the move, and Ross abstained.
In a lawsuit filed Aug. 6, Ross claims that an investigative report on then-City Manager Rodney Ray was collected from councilors at a June executive session to sidestep state Open Records Act inquiries, documents show.
Ross’ petition alleges violations of the Open Meeting Act and Open Records Act.
Following an executive session at a special meeting June 25, the City Council approved a resignation pact for Ray, extending him a severance package worth $185,073. Ross was the only councilor who voted against the agreement.
Ray was suspended with pay May 24, the same day the City Council ordered an investigation into his office to look into an undisclosed employee ethics complaint.
Tulsa attorney Guy Fortney, who conducted the investigation of Ray, sat in on about half of a three-hour City Council executive session on June 21.
In his lawsuit filed through attorney, Christopher Camp, Ross alleges that findings of Fortney’s investigation into Ray were distributed to the council at the June 21 executive session, then collected before its conclusion. Ross claims that Mayor Doug Bonebrake told councilors that was the only time the panel would get to see the report, according to the petition.
“The copies of the report were gathered, in whole or in part, to permit the City of Owasso in response to any request (for) the report under the Open Records Act, to respond ‘truthfully’ that no member of its staff or city council possessed a copy of the report,” the lawsuit states.
The Tulsa World, along with Ross, was among those who sought a copy of the report through the Open Records Act. But the requests were denied by the city, which cited a section of the act that says a public body may keep personnel records confidential that “relate to internal personnel investigations, including examination and selection material for employment, hiring, promotion, demotion, discipline or resignation.”
Neither the city nor the City Council has a copy of the report, for which the municipality has been billed $22,634.24.
On June 22, Councilor Jeri Moberly emailed Brown, stating that “we’ve started signing confidentiality agreements” regarding the investigative report, the petition states.
On June 23, Moberly emailed Ross, indicating that “Doug (Bonebrake) and the rest of us (on the City Council)” had already decided “to do all in our powers to keep (Ross) from disclosing (the results of Fortney’s investigation),” the petition states.
Through its resolution, the city also plans to seek a determination that personnel records of the city are to be maintained as confidential pursuant to the Open Records Act. The municipality also wants a determination that there have been no Open Meeting Act violations by the city.
The city was served the lawsuit Aug. 28, and an answer to the petition is due to be filed 20 days from that date, the resolution states.
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