DAVENPORT, Iowa — A judge has ruled that the demand letter leading to a $1.6 million settlement agreement with former Davenport City Administrator Corri Spiegel is a public record.
The City made the agreement public last November. This was after it had already been agreed upon on Oct. 6. According to the agreement between the City and Spiegel, lump sum payments of $600,000 would be given for lost wages and another $1 million would be provided for "emotional pain and suffering."
Numerous media outlets and Davenport residents sent FOIA requests to obtain Spiegel's demand letter that led to the agreement. However, those requests remained open for months. In February, the City filed a request for declaratory judgment from an Iowa District Court. One of the Davenport residents who had requested the letter, Dr. David Ezra Sidran, was named the defendant in that case. The Iowa Freedom of Information Council intervened in the case as well.
Judge Mark Lawson ruled earlier this month that the demand letter is a public record. In his ruling, Lawson said the City did not take a position on whether or not the letter is confidential. Both the FOIC and Sidran claimed it was not a confidential record, according to court documents.
"In fact, at oral argument, the City’s attorney declined to argue that it is confidential. Instead, the City wants the court to determine whether it is confidential or not," the ruling states. "This seems to the Court to be an abdication of the City’s responsibility to make an initial determination of whether the record is confidential. The City can utilize the resources of its city attorney to make this determination and may even seek an opinion of the attorney general when the issue is in doubt. A declaratory judgment action would seem more appropriate where a governmental entity makes an initial decision that a document may be confidential but, in an abundance of caution, asks a court to make a determination. Here, the City seeks to substitute this Court’s determination for its own. It does not even point to code provision that arguably renders the letter confidential."
Lawson declined to define whether or not the document was confidential. He cites that since no party in the case claimed the record was confidential, the Court found it to be a public record. The Court could not determine whether or not the City's delay in providing the document was unreasonable and this matter has been reserved for a later hearing.
Spiegel's letter was made public in May after Attorney Mike Meloy sent it to local media outlets. Meloy represents Dr. Allen Diercks, a Davenport resident suing the City over its handling of the settlement agreements with Spiegel and two other former City employees. Meloy had received the letter through a subpoena.
The letter — dated Sept. 15, 2023 — is addressed to Mayor Mike Matson and the members of the Davenport City Council. In it, Spiegel lays out accusations of workplace harassment and demands $2.5 million for damages to physical health, emotional well-being and professional reputation.
Spiegel, who served as City Administrator for eight years, starts the letter by stating that her eight years were "continuously riddled with violations of my contract rights, employee rights, reputational rights, and constitutionally protected rights." She states that she decided sometime at the end of 2022 that she was no longer willing to tolerate the alleged workplace hostilities.
In the demand letter, Spiegel accuses the following individuals of harassment:
- Former Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba
- Former Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch
- Former Davenport City Councilwoman Judith Lee
- Former Davenport City Councilman Derek Cornette
- Davenport City Councilman Tim Kelly
News 8 reached out to the parties named in the letter but has only heard back from Lee. You can find her entire response here.
Spiegel settlement background
On Nov. 16, 2023, the City announced that Spiegel was leaving her position with the City. Just days later on Nov. 22, 2023, the City sent out a news release disclosing that Spiegel and the City had come to a $1.6 million settlement agreement back on Oct. 6 for lost wages and "emotional pain and suffering."
Though the agreement was settled on Oct. 6, the City did not disclose the settlement agreement until after the November municipal elections. Ever since the agreement was disclosed, several government officials and community members have expressed concern that the City may have violated Iowa's open records law by keeping the settlement process a secret.
In January, News 8 learned that Spiegel's settlement agreement and the settlement agreements with two other former City employees — totaling nearly two million in public dollars altogether — were being investigated by Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand. The City of Davenport filed a motion to block the auditor from listening to recordings of some closed meetings. However, that motion was blocked by a judge in late May, meaning the City has to release the closed-session recordings for a judge to review.
Iowa state legislators are also looking into the settlement agreements. A state House Oversight Committee recently inquired about the City's handling of the settlement agreements. The City made its responses public late last month and those can be read in their entirety here.