7/6/2009 10:08:00 PM D'Amico wins open records suit against Jefferson County for Commissioner Sullivan's phone calls
By Allison Arthur of The Leader
Joe D'Amico gets to see Jefferson County Commissioner David Sullivan's telephone records after all. Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Sally Olsen ruled July 1 in favor of D'Amico, president of Security Services Northwest Inc., who sued Jefferson County because Sullivan redacted his phone records last summer when he was running for a second term on the board of commissioners.
Jefferson County Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Alvarez said in an email Monday afternoon that the records, without any redactions, would be made immediately available to D'Amico's attorney, Greg Overstreet.
Both Alvarez and Overstreet were made aware of the July 1 decision on July 6.
"The court ruled in our favor," Overstreet announced in an email Monday. In the case, Overstreet wrote, "The phone records of a public employee for calls made during work hours on a publicly funded phone are without question 'writings' and are public records."
D'Amico was not available immediately Monday for comment.
Alvarez call the decision "cryptic" and said it seemed that the law the county cited to exempt some of Sullivan's calls is "procedural rather than substantive in nature, meaning it does not provide a stand-alone privacy exemption, but instead describes how to redact limited information from an otherwise discloseable document pursuit to another substantive exemption found in state law."
Alvarez said the county is not planning an appeal, but technically has 30 days from July 1 to do that.
Jefferson County Administrator Philip Morley said Monday the judge has yet to award fees or penalties and the county would need to consult with its insurance company to see how much it might have to pay. Morley said Sullivan would not be required to pay for the costs personally.
In a very brief order, Judge Olsen wrote that she had reviewed the unredacted records of Commissioner Sullivan and that she granted D'Amico's motion for partial summary judgment.
"The amount of attorney's fees and litigation costs that is attributable to this violation of the Public Records Act is a question of fact to be determined by a fact-finder," she wrote.
D'Amico sued the county over 49 phone calls that Sullivan blacked out when D'Amico filed an Open Public Records Act request to see whom Sullivan and other commissioners were talking to from the courthouse over 90 days last summer.
D'Amico questioned whether county officials have had inappropriate conversations with a hearings examiner who first reviewed his land-use issue several years ago.
Commissioner John Austin, D-Port Ludlow, didn't black out any of his phone calls made on his office phone at the County Courthouse. Commissioner Phil Johnson, D-Port Townsend, blacked out 15 calls.
Sullivan claimed his calls were private. Sullivan has said he's an advocate of open government but feels D'Amico has gone on a fishing expedition and has in the past hired private investigators to look at "public employees just for doing their job."
D'Amico is embroiled in a protracted land-use battle with Jefferson County regarding his Fort Discovery training center and firearms range. Security personnel, law enforcement and military were using the property along Discovery Bay's western shore. Noise complaints from bay neighbors led to code enforcement and hearings examiners, lawsuits, appeals, etc. D'Amico's Fort Discovery is essentially silent.
The phone calls are separate. D'Amico hired Allied Law Group. The group recently won a records lawsuit against Mason County, which was ordered to pay $145,000.
Because the suit sought monetary damages from the county for every day the county refused to provide the documents, the county referred the suit to its insurance provider, which assigned the case to attorney John E. Justice of Olympia.
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Article comment by:
Keith Conover
"D'Amico hired Allied Law Group. The group recently won a records lawsuit against Mason County, which was ordered to pay $145,000."
Good to hear you have some decent legal representation. Hopefully the county will learn a lesson from this about tampering with property rights and the livelyhoods of people who support their tax base.
I find it very disturbing that as citizens, we purchase (or lease, in this case) property, then have to jump thru hoops for permission to use it.
Joe has run a reputable business in this county for many years. Imagine how much tax money has been paid to the county over the last 25 years by SSNW - and this is how they are represented by the elected officials. Terrible.
I hope Joe gets victory in this suit and hope this sets a presedence for future land use cases.
Posted: Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Article comment by:
Larry Grover
All respect to the good people at the training center, but we seem to have plenty of military bases in the Puget Sound area.
Wouldn't it be appropriate for military firearms training to take place on a military base?
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Lou Krauch
Ms. Iverson, I can see you don't let facts(Mr. D'Amico does not own the land,it is leased and SSNW is a Grandfathered business) get in the way of your bitterness toward SSNW and its employees. Nor do you let the fact, that the County Commissioners have failed to promote and protect jobs and businesses in Jeff. Co.,keep you from supporting them. At least you are consistent. Good neighbors can disagree but wishing someone failure is just mean spirited.
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Steve Anderson
Ms. Iverson, as an employees of SSNW I would just like to point out that the freedom we are using is protected by some of the men and woman that we trained at SSNW. So remember, some of that "noise and activity" that you hate so much because we were men and women in the Armed Forces, so that they might come home safe and ALIVE. The next time you want to complain about the noise and activity, think to yourself....IS A LITTLE NOISE THAT BAD IF IT BRINGS OUR FRIEND/DAUGHTER/SON/HUSBAND OR WIFE HOME SAFELY. Yes we provide a paid service, but we don't do it for profit, we do it because we believe the services we provide help people stay alive.
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Marilou Sullivan
In regards to the comments by Rebecca Iverson, I am one of those employees that can no longer work at SSNW as the HR Manager. Many great and talented employees lost their jobs and were forced to leave the area. Voicing such bitter comments tells others that you do not have a good heart. I hope that the saying "what goes around comes around" does not happen to you on account of your horrible statement. And only close friends and family may call Mr. D'Amico "Joey"
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Joe D'Amico
Ms. Iverson, I find your comments most disturbing and full of half truths, which stand to be corrected. First, I don't own the land, I lease it. Secondly, noise has never been an issue or Jefferson County would have enforced such action and would have taken sound measurements to prove so. Also, shooting ranges are exempt from noise ordinances, even if Jefferson County had one! Thirdly, SSNW was here first. Before Jefferson County (possibly) adopted it's first emergency zoning code in 1992, which rezoned the property from "Commercial Forest" to "General Use" not residential. This allowed the growth of businesses, which have become legal non-conforming "Grandfathered". So, you're directed hate towards SSNW, our employees and my family should be redirected at the County, which has allowed you the false impression that Discovery Bay solely belongs to you.
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Nancy Robinson
I wonder if Ms. Iverson also wishes that SSNW employees: accountants, technicians, alarm monitors, drivers, etc. who depend on their jobs also go broke? Would she prefer that Mr. D'Amico and his family go on public assistance? Adressing the issues instead of a personal attack would be more productive.
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Jamie D'Amico
The comments by Rebecca Iverson are the most spiteful I have yet heard regarding SSNW's on going battle with the County. I think Rebecca needs to find out the true facts of this case, not just what she reads in the paper, before she spouts of such hateful wishes.
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Allen Frank
Congrats Joe! I would think Scott Wilson, as an Open Government advocate of Sunshine Laws, would be cheering this decision. How in the world would David Sullivan believe calls made on County Phones would not be subject to the Open Records Act?? Citizens have already paid thousands & thousands of County Staff time dollars and what other expenses devoted to hiding Public Information. Sullivan should reimburse the County not only for out of pocket costs...but for whatever penalty is levied for his failure to turn over the complete phone records.
This is a travesty and waste of tax dollars perpetrated by Sullivan. The buck stops with David Sullivan...not the citizens of Jefferson County. Pay up David!
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Rebecca Iverson
Hopefully Mr. D'Amico will go broke fighting the county before he's allowed to use the land he owns in Disco bay as a shooting range and law enforcement training facility. Sorry Joey--the noise and activity at security nw is awful and unwanted. As a 25+ year resident of disco bay, I hope you continue to fail in your endeavors. The land out here is not zoned for commercial use and the residents out here don't care much for your activities or extended business plans. Maybe you should move to Kitsap county--perhaps they'd rule in your favor. I will continue to support any and all of the commissioners blocking your attempts to wave current zoning regs.
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