Medina Councilwoman Whitney Responds to Council's Censure After Lawsuit

The Medina City Council voted to censure councilwoman Shawn Whitney, strip her of her title of Deputy Mayor, and to abolish the council’s finance committee, on which Whitney and councilwoman Janie Lee have served along with Mayor Bret Jordan at a special meeting Aug. 16 , with council members saying that Whitney violated council ground rules and acted inappropriately.

Councilwoman Katie Phelps made the motion to remove the title of Deputy Mayor from Whitney, saying at the meeting the action stemmed in part from the fact that Whitney has sued the city for release of an investigative document related to the firing of former police chief Jeffrey Chen. Councilman Pat Boyd seconded the motion.

Chen was fired earlier this year after City Manager Donna Hanson said that he had violated the code of conduct in several ways, including voiding some tickets, making improper purchases and improperly accessing the city’s email archives. Chen refuted the accusations and said the city manager pressured him into resigning.

Whitney sued to get a copy of the investigative report used to justify the firing of Chen.

Lee said during discussion of the motion that she was troubled by the council’s desire to remove Whitney’s title and abolish the committee for exercising her rights as a citizen.

“This feels like retaliation,” Lee said at the meeting.

Phelps replied: “I would like to clarify that this is not retaliation, this is exactly why we are doing this; a council person is suing the city.”

Whitney said in an interview with Bellevue Patch on Friday she believes she was within her rights as a private citizen to file a suit after the city failed to produce the investigative report by Michael Bolasina and claimed the report may not even exist. Whitney said that the council was presented with that report, but not given the opportunity to read it thoroughly.

She also said that a later investigation that resulted in Hanson's dismissal of Chen relied in part on the earlier Bolasina investigation for some of its conclusions.

Furthermore, Whitney said her lawsuit is not about money, but about a citizen’s rights to view the document, though if a judge rules in her favor, the city could be held responsible for her legal fees and subject to daily penalties for withholding the document.

The city has until Aug. 23 to respond to the lawsuit, Whitney said. The city’s attorney was not available for comment Friday.

“I’m asking a judge to weigh on a dispute of if it does exist and if so, is it privileged,” Whitney said Friday. “The public records act says I am entitled to have that.”

A motion to censure Whitney was made by Boyd and seconded by councilman Mark Nelson. In making the motion, Boyd said it was for “repeatedly disregarding council rules.” Another council member cited ground rules agreed to by the council to support any action that was taken, and said she had repeatedly violated rules, but that he couldn’t name one at the time. He then noted that at that meeting she had been texting on her cell phone.

Whitney said she has supported council actions, and that the council has taken no action regarding Chen. About the cell phone, Whitney said she was merely letting her attorney know that she had just been censured.

Whitney said she understands the sharply divided council’s decision to “politically punish” her by removing her title and voting for the censure, which will likely be confirmed by a council resolution at its Sept. 12 regular council meeting.

“It’s a political hand slapping. It will forever be in the archives of the city of Medina,” she said.

Whitney added that she takes offense at its members calling her integrity into question.

“I was offended by words like integrity and trust and when Pat Boyd called that into question,” Whitney said.

Mayor Bret Jordan declined to talk to Bellevue Patch about the meeting, saying in an e-mail that the council agreed some months ago that all communications are to go through the city manager.

Whitney said that the council did agree that any communications directly related to the Chen issue would be routed through the city manager’s office, since the police chief position is an at-will position that is under the auspices of the city manager’s office, and the council can neither hire or fire the chief.

Robert Grumbach, who is acting city manager while Donna Hanson is away until the end of August, said a motion to abolish the finance committee was made by Nelson and seconded by Boyd.

At the meeting several council members alluded to Whitney and Lee improperly using the finance committee to look into part of the Chen investigation by reviewing gasoline receipts, which they said went beyond the committee’s directive to advise the council on financial policy issues.

“I imagine that is the genesis for abolishing the committee,” Whitney said in the interview with Patch. She said she started the committee in 2008 and spent a great deal of her own time writing the budget booklet for 2009 and filing the city’s annual report. In 2010, when Lee, who is also a CPA, joined the council, she joined the committee as well.

Whitney said, however, that she conferred with the city’s attorney before requesting public records regarding the police department gas receipts, and requested the records as a private citizen, outside of her work on the council. However, when the records were released, instead of being delivered to her, copies were given to all of the council members, she said. 

In the face of what Whitney calls humiliation by her peers on the council, she said she withdrew her earlier candidacy for re-election, but will serve out the rest of her term on the council.

“I believe in open government and democracy, and what’s happened here really saddens me,” she said. “This is a volunteer position, and as much as I love the city of Medina, it’s not worth the cost to my family (to run again), but I won’t quit.”