Lawmakers express outrage over City of Davenport’s ‘disgraceful’ actions

The Iowa House Committee on Government Oversight held a rare meeting Wednesday to discuss the City of Davenport’s refusal to disclose information tied to $1.9 million in settlements paid to former city employees.

The city is opposing a subpoena that Iowa Auditor of State Rob Sand has issued for records related to settlements with the former city administrator, Corri Spiegel, and two city assistants, Samantha Torres and Tiffany Thorndike.

Sand’s subpoena calls for the city to produce closed-session minutes and recordings of five city council or committee-of-the-whole meetings, as well as copies of all emails and memos discussing the settlements.

A key document that the city has refused to turn over in response to Open Records Law requests from journalists and city residents is Spiegel’s “demand letter,” in which she reportedly outlined the basis for seeking the $1.6 million that city officials ultimately agreed to pay her.

At Wednesday’s committee hearing, Iowa Freedom of Information Council Executive Director Randy Evans told legislators that the state’s Open Records Law and Open Meetings Law have been on the books for roughly 50 years.

“And in that time,” he said, “I can’t recall a more egregious example of blatant disregard for the requirements of the public-meetings law as that which has occurred in the City of Davenport starting last fall and continuing to the present. It should trouble every taxpaying citizen of Iowa, and the members of this General Assembly, that the city council and top administrators in Davenport worked out (an arrangement) to pay nearly $2 million in taxpayer money to three high-ranking city employees prior to the city election last November and yet never thought to bring those settlement agreements before the city council for a public vote.”

Evans said the city’s own attorney has argued that a public vote of the council on approval of the settlements wasn’t needed because the council had in some way consented to the payouts.

“How, when and where did the city council give its consent to those settlements?” Evans asked, noting that Iowa’s public disclosure laws require governmental bodies to ensure that the basis and rationale for decisions, as well as the decisions themselves, are easily accessible to the public.

He said the city’s refusal to make public Spiegel’s demand letter makes it impossible for the public to understand, even after the fact, why city leaders agreed to pay Spiegel $1.6 million.

Former city attorney alleges violations

Also speaking at Wednesday’s committee meeting was Mike Meloy, a former Davenport city attorney who now represents individuals suing the city for access to information. Meloy told lawmakers he believes the city has acted illegally, and he noted that the city has initiated litigation against citizens who have filed public-records requests for documents.

Meloy asked the committee to formally investigate the matter and to also contact the Iowa Attorney General’s Office about launching a separate investigation of the situation.

The committee chairwoman, Rep. Brooke Boden, a Republican from Indianola, called the situation “disgraceful” and indicated she was troubled by the fact that the city is now spending taxpayer dollars on litigation intended to keep those same taxpayers in the dark. She called the city’s decision to take citizens and the auditor to court over their public-records requests an “intimidation” tactic that represents a “waste of taxpayer dollars.”

Boden didn’t comment on Meloy’s request for state investigations of the matter but said the committee “now has much to ponder.”

The city’s payouts to Spiegel, Thorndike and Torres are reportedly tied to allegations of prolonged harassment. Since the settlements were announced, concerns have been raised that some council members may have supported the use of taxpayer money to dispose of legal claims that stem from their own behavior or the behavior of their fellow council members.

In response to the state auditor’s demand for access to records, the city has gone to court and asked a judge to modify the subpoena to exclude all of the recordings and minutes of the closed-session council and committee discussions, arguing they are “absolutely” covered by attorney-client privilege since they involve discussions of settlements with the city’s attorneys, one of whom formally approved the payouts.

The auditor, in turn, has told the court that Iowa law specifically provides that the office when, conducting any audit or review, “shall at all times have access to all information, records, instrumentalities, and properties used in the performance of the audited or reviewed entities’ statutory duties or contractual responsibilities.”

On Monday, Sand issued a written statement that said his office believes the city council violated Iowa’s Open Meetings Law. “How tax dollars are spent shouldn’t be a secretive process,” Sand said. “That only creates mistrust in elected officials. The people of Davenport deserve transparency and are legally entitled to know how and why city leaders agreed to these payouts.”