Prosser votes to pay $175K to settle public records suit

By Drew Foster, Herald staff writer

PROSSER -- City officials and Larry Loges may have settled his 2007 public records lawsuit, but Loges hinted Wednesday that he might file future legal challenges.

The Prosser City Council voted 6-0 Tuesday to pay Loges $175,000 to settle the self-proclaimed city watchdog's January 2007 lawsuit that claimed the city delayed, ignored or improperly filed 41 public records requests he made in 2006. The requests included e-mails exchanged between city officials, property and building permit information and police department reports.

The $175,000 will be paid from the city's general fund.

"It would have cost the city significantly more to go to trial in this case," Mayor Paul Warden said in a statement Wednesday. "There likely was going to be no clear winner, and with appeals we may have ended up in court for many years at a cost of substantially more than $500,000 to the taxpayers. We felt it was best to reach an agreement with Mr. Loges now to put this matter behind us and to move forward."

A trial was scheduled to begin Aug. 10.

In previous court hearings, Loges' attorney, Timothy Carlson, argued the city did not respond to many of his client's requests within the five days required by state law. Prosser City Attorney Howard Saxton agreed at the time, saying some of Loges' requests were too vague to process or that multiple requests were made for essentially the same information.

Benton County Superior Court Judge Cameron Mitchell previously ruled that the city improperly handled 11 requests, but properly handled another 11. In March, he ordered the city to pay a portion of Loges' legal fees.

Still, Loges said the $175,000 settlement will not cover his legal fees, which he said total more than $200,000.

Asked Wednesday if he was satisfied with the settlement, Loges said, "Absolutely not." He said he agreed to it because of "a personal situation."

"The settlement I'm getting is a settlement to drop the suit," he said.

Loges said he no longer wants "to have a prolonged battle" with the city over his 2006 public records requests.

However, Loges said he has filed several other claims with the city, and said he doesn't believe the city is any more responsive to public records requests now than it was in 2006 or 2007. Since 2006, Loges has filed more than 200 public records requests with the city.

Other claims filed by Loges include wrongfully held property in 2006, personal injury and damage in 2008, property damage in 2008 and defamation and personal injury in 2009. The wrongfully held property claim has since been closed, while the city has denied the other three, according to City Administrator Charlie Bush.

"Maybe something else is coming in the wind," Loges said, alluding to future lawsuits.

He added, "They've got to be fully prepared to go the next round."

Although Loges maintains the city's attitude toward public records requests hasn't changed since 2006 -- "They haven't changed their methods," he said -- Bush said additional staff has been hired to process records requests, and he believes the added bodies have increased the city's responsiveness.

"I would have to disagree with Mr. Loges," said Bush, who became city administrator in June 2008.

He said a city clerk also was hired in June 2008 and a deputy city clerk was added in May. Previously, the city clerk also was the finance director and the deputy city clerk was the deputy finance director. By splitting the positions, Bush said, more time is dedicated to processing public records requests.

Bush added that the city now has ordinances and resolutions from 2000 to the present on its website and has cross-trained many city hall employees to handle public records requests in addition to their usual duties.

In a February 2008 memo, then-City Administrator Fred Stouder said 20 percent of the city clerk's office's time each year was dedicated to responding to Loges' public records requests. That time, plus additional time spent by other city employees, was the equivalent of about 100-plus working days, Stouder wrote.

-- Drew Foster: 585-7207; dfoster@tricityherald.com

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Thursday, Jul. 16, 2009

Prosser votes to pay $175K to settle public records suit

By Drew Foster, Herald staff writer