Paso Robles councilman agrees to search his devices for public records, amid legal threats
The Paso Robles councilmember at the center of city manager Ty Lewis’ $2.275 million complaint against the city agreed Wednesday night to search his personal phone for public records.
Wednesday night’s closed session meeting — the second in two days — was held to discuss public records concerns and a threat of litigation from The Tribune.
The concerns stem from a partial recording leaked by Cal Coast News of a meeting held among Lewis, Councilmember Chris Bausch and Mayor John Hamon at a bakery on March 8.
The city manager filed his claim against the city in August, alleging that Bausch harassed and spread lies about him. During the March 8 meeting at Angela’s Pastries, the three city officials discussed Bausch’s treatment of city staff, the leaked recording shows.
Both Hamon and Lewis told The Tribune that Bausch recorded the March 8 conversation. If Bausch did record the meeting, the recording would qualify as a public record, according to David Loy, attorney for the First Amendment Coalition.
The Tribune first requested the recording from the city in October, but no responsive records had been found as of Wednesday. The Tribune also requested records of texts and emails from Bausch’s personal phone and email address, which also were not disclosed.
Cal Coast News published a partial recording of the meeting on Dec. 18. It was unclear where reporter Karen Velie acquired the recording, but city officials told The Tribune she did not acquire it through a Public Records Act request.
The City Council met Tuesday night to discuss The Tribune’s requests, but the conversation was pushed to Wednesday after a two-hour discussion. The majority of Wednesday’s hour-long discussion also occurred behind closed doors.
At the end of the meeting, city attorney Elizabeth Hull informed the public that an agreement was reached.
“The city has made every effort to comply with the requirements of the Public Records Act, including the requirement to provide responsive records that are held on the personal devices of a public official,” Hull said. “The city has conducted a search of the city’s servers for responsive records and will continue to search for responsive records. The city has or will be releasing any responsive non-exempt records.”
She went on to outline records exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act.
“At this time, the city will be withholding certain records related to city manager Lewis’ claim against the city and the related personnel investigation that are attorney-client privileged, attorney-work-product privileged or that the city believes are exempt pursuant to the Public Records Act,” Hull reported.
Hull then reported out Bausch’s agreement to review his personal phone for records.
“As to any public records that may be on Councilmember Bausch’s personal devices, Councilmember Bausch has agreed to review his personal devices and will commence providing responsive documents to the city attorney’s office within two weeks of today,” Hull reported.
Hull said council did not discuss the second item on the agenda: initiation of litigation.
Bausch will now begin the search for responsive records on his personal devices.
The process is largely honor-based, according to city officials. However, the councilmember will be asked to sign an affidavit testifying to his compliance with the law after his search is complete.
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