Mohave Daily News: Local

BULLHEAD CITY - The city of Bullhead City has released three documents to News West Publishing Co., as ordered by the courts, but did so in a redacted form the media company's attorney says doesn't follow the court order.

News West Publishing Company, corporate parent of the Mohave Valley Daily News, has taken the city to court to force release of public records related to last January's sexual harassment/e-mail abuse case involving city employees.

News West's legal representative is demanding the city release three documents in unredacted form as it had originally agreed to do and was so ordered by Superior Court.

During a Nov. 8 hearing, Mohave County Superior Court Division 1 Judge Charles W. Gurtler ordered the city to turn over those undisputed documents within five court days. The city complied on Nov. 13.

Two of the documents describe the actions of Human Resources Risk Manager Kristy Brusso and Information Technology Manager Mark Payne during the initial hours of the investigation. The third document is a memo from Brusso to the investigator, Bullhead City Police Sgt. Scott Gillman, outlining “the allegations and general issues that need to be addressed” in the investigation. Names and departments of those investigated were redacted in the documents.

(See letter from News West attorney Craig A. Morgan, below)

Nine city employees were investigated during a four-month period for either sexual harassment charges brought by two female employees and/or abuse of city-owned computers by sending allegedly pornographic or racist e-mails to other city employees. Six employees were either fired or quit in lieu of being fired.

Two former engineering division employees, Shad Springer and Jeff Pulfer, are suing the city for allegedly violating its own procedures when placing them on unpaid leave.

The city has refused to release the names of those investigated, claiming to do so would impede future investigations. News West contends that the records are public and that it is not interested in the names of the alleged victims in the case.

Gurtler has ordered a Status Hearing for Dec. 11 to determine the length of arguments to be made tentatively in January.

Staff reporter Neil Young covers city and growth issues. Contact him at 928-763-2505, ext. 141, or by e-mail at nyoung@mohavedailynews.com.

Contents of letter to city

News West attorney, Craig A. Morgan, of Perkins Coie Brown & Bain has subsequently written Bullhead City Attorney W. Kent Foree:

I am in receipt of your Notice of Production of Exhibit Nos. 119, 122 and 123 and attached documents. In your Notice, you state that “(a) further review of the documents identified as Exhibit Nos. 122 and 123 disclose that they contain identifying names and departments of certain employees, the release of which the City objects.” In your Index, however, the City asserted that those documents “are not objectionable in any form.”

At a November 8, 2007 hearing, we addressed the disclosure of these very documents. At that hearing, I requested that the Court order the City to disclose these non-objectionable documents and you did not object. As a result, the Court stated that “(t)o the extent that there are documents referenced on the index and there is no objection that ... is listed by the City, it is ordered that those materials be disclosed and that they be disclosed within the next 5 court days.” ... Now, however, you have asserted new objections in an effort to avoid compliance with the Court's order.

Please, produce these documents, unredacted, as directed by the Court within five business days. Your failure to do so will leave us with no choice than to seek the Court's intervention.