PORT ANGELES — City Manager Kent Myers’ decision to give Karen Rogers a draft report that involves alleged wrongdoing by the former mayor brought him criticism from two Port Angeles City Council members, but the state Auditor’s Office said he did not act outside his authority.
State Auditor’s Office spokeswoman Mindy Chambers said Wednesday that the state agency, the author of the report, disapproves of Myers’ decision to release the draft document to Rogers, who was mayor in 2006 and 2007.
But Chambers added that there will be no repercussions from the state agency.
“Once we give the report to the city, the city can choose what the city chooses to do with it,” she said.
The issue the agency takes with releasing the document, Chambers said, is that changes may be made before it is intended for public release.
“The danger is we build a lot of due process into our audit,” she said.
City Council members Max Mania and Cherie Kidd criticized the city manager at Tuesday’s council meeting for releasing the document to Rogers without consulting the state Auditor’s Office.
Kidd, saying she was concerned that Myers didn’t follow proper protocol, cited a watermark on the document that said it is not disclosable under state law RCW 42.56.280.
Chambers confirmed Wednesday that the document came with the watermark.
Dan Sytman, spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office, said the state law addresses exemptions under the public records act.
That means public entities are not required to release documents cited under the law, he said. But there’s also nothing stopping them from giving someone a document, Sytman said.
City Attorney Bill Bloor said that’s why the city had the authority to give Rogers a copy.
“If we have a public records request, this is an exemption that can be applied to that situation,” he said.
The state Auditor’s Office conducted the investigation in response to a complaint filed on its citizen hot line in 2009.
As part of its investigation, the Auditor’s Office has requested from the city information on construction projects, such as The Gateway transit center and Eighth Street bridges, and payments from the city to various businesses, as well as travel expenses for Rogers and former City Manager Mark Madsen, who resigned in 2008.
Myers said Rogers is the main subject of the report, which Port Angeles City Hall received March 28.
Myers said he wanted Rogers to participate in an “exit conference” between city staff and a state auditor’s investigator to answer questions and gave her a copy of the report so she could be prepared.
That meeting was to be held last Monday, but Myers canceled it because he felt that Rogers needed more time to answer questions for the investigation.
The meeting is now scheduled to be held with the City Council this coming Wednesday. The final report will be released following the meeting, Chambers said.
Myers said he briefed five of the seven City Council members on the report last week and planned to finish the last of the briefings Wednesday.
He said the report was available to the council members, but not one of them received a copy as of the Tuesday meeting, he added, “because they didn’t ask.”
In response to a request for an interview Wednesday, Rogers sent an email saying she had no comment.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
