OWASSO - A city councilor claims that an investigative report on a then-city manager was collected from councilors at a June executive session to sidestep state Open Records Act inquiries, documents show.
Councilor Patrick D. Ross filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the city, alleging violations of the Open Meeting and Open Records Act, the petition indicates.
Following an executive session at a special meeting June 25, the City Council approved a resignation pact for City Manager Rodney Ray, extending him a severance package worth $185,073. Ross was the only councilor who voted against the agreement.
Ray, 66, was suspended with pay May 24, the same day the City Council ordered an investigation into his office to look into an undisclosed employee 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. Following the meeting, City Attorney Julie Lombardi told the Tulsa World that neither the council nor the city has received a written report from Fortney.
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 of 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..."
The city maintains that neither it nor the City Council has a copy of the report. Linda Jones, the city's finance director, said Wednesday in an email that the city hasn't been billed for Fortney's work.
Ross states in his petition that the investigative report is not subject to the "personnel records" exception in the act because the city doesn't have a copy of it in the personnel file the municipality maintains for Ray.
On June 22, Councilor Jeri Moberly emailed Councilor Charlie 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)," records show.
In his lawsuit, Ross claims that the June 23 email indicates that she had privately met and/or communicated individually with other members of the City Council to obtain a consensus on the decision to designate the results of Fortney's investigation as confidential, in violation of the Open Meetings Act.
In citing what he believes are other violations of the Open Meeting Act, Ross cites such items as "deceptively vague" agendas and discussing items of business that were not listed on, or "easily ascertainable" from, the posted agenda.
Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395
rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Open Meeting Act violation alleged in suit
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