A former attorney for the City of Davenport says the city spends hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars defending and settling lawsuits filed against them.
Davenport faced 24 pending lawsuits in November 2014, and a total of 81 lawsuits were filed against the city in the past five years.
"Davenport has a reputation for not always following the rules and procedures, the rules of the road that everyone has to follow," said former city attorney Mike Meloy.
Meloy was Davenport's city attorney for 19 years before he went into private practice. Since then, he has represented dozens of plaintiffs who have filed suit against the city. His clients include the Chorus Line gentlemen's club, in the biggest blockbuster suit Davenport faced in decades.
"It was the largest settlement the city ever reached with a private property owner in the past 30 years," said Meloy.
After Chorus Line's new owner applied for an adult entertainment license to reopen the club, the application was stalled when city officials said the police, fire and zoning and land use departments must sign off together on adult entertainment licenses. After Chorus Line cleared that hurdle, the city still denied the application, claiming a neighboring lingerie business also qualified as an adult entertainment venue, and that city code did not allow two such businesses to operate within 500 feet of each other.
After four years of legal wrangling, a federal judge ruled in Chorus Line's favor, in part because the lingerie store held a retail license, not an adult entertainment license. The city - meaning the taxpayers - footed the bill for the $270,000 settlement paid through the city's risk fund.
But others say the city officials were, simply, doing their job.
"The city council heard from everyone about the businesses in that corridor, and they were begging that this not be allowed to move forward because of the impact it was going to have to the neighborhood and to the businesses," said Alderman Ray Ambrose.
"I think the city was well with its right to try to enforce its rules and regulations. You're dealing with a company that had multiple layers, corporations upon corporations, a lot of legal power to try to keep it out of court so its hard to say. Were mistakes made in that case? Possibly. But, you know, that's - again - Monday morning quarterbacking," said Alderman Bill Boom.
City leaders said the Chorus Line lawsuit has been the exception, not the rule, and that the 24 cases the city's faced in November 2014 - including 11 tied to sewer backup issues - were in line with other big cities in Iowa.
"Des Moines has 24 cases, Cedar Rapids has 21. So, I think the number of cases is about the same. If you look at the size of our legal department, we have three people - three lawyers - plus an administrative assistant. Des Moines has like 17 and Cedar Rapids has six," said Alderman Boom.
Davenport's city attorney Tom Warner said the number of lawsuits might even be lower without a heavy concentration of Meloy's clients filing complaints against the city.
Meloy says he's just doing his job, and that the city makes itself a target.
"People that have been wronged by the city have contacted me, and want to seek justice and compensation for what the city did to them," said Meloy, "And this all starts with the City of Davenport, not me. The city's actions that are the issue here."
The City of Davenport has spent nearly $1 million to settle and defend legal action in the past five years: In 2012 the city spent $34,445.38, in 2013 $81,818.58 and so far in 2014 $113,913.04. If you add up the last five years, the city has spent $969,851.12.
"The City of Des Moines had $1,827,382, the City of Cedar Rapids was like $830,000, so we're right in line," Alderman Boom said. "I'm not saying that's a good line to be in but, you know, the stuff the city does is very complex. Our cost is the lowest of any of those three cities."
"Sometimes, mistakes are made and that's what some of these lawsuits are for," Boom said. "We work and strive to be the best, and be transparent, but sometimes we come up short."
Davenport has also taken steps to mitigate some potential legal expenses. Those measures included a sewer reimbursement program to help cover the cost in case of a backup. The city also launched a news website aimed at making city information more transparent to taxpayers.