Former Cottonwood Police Chief Steve Gesell filed a notice of claim against the city for wrongful termination on Nov. 2. Gesell is claiming $625,000 for three years’ lost salary and benefits.
After being placed on administrative leave in May, Gesell was terminated by the city on Thursday, Sept. 14, following an independent investigation by the law firm Osborn Maledon, P.A. into his conduct after a city council meeting on May 9, 2023.
The investigators concluded that Gesell’s conduct violated city policies as set out in Section 8 of the city of Cottonwood’s employee manual, including insubordination. The subject of the meeting was a discrimination complaint that had been filed by Cottonwood police officer Kiedi Dever the previous May.
Dever’s complaint alleged sex-based discrimination in employment, which she later amended to include allegations of disability based discrimination and retaliation.
Following an investigation, the Civil Rights Division of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office determined that there was reasonable cause to believe that Cottonwood discriminated against Dever based on her sex and disability and had retaliated against her for filing a complaint. The ACRD investigation found that Dever was subjected to hostility and unwarranted disciplinary actions by male supervisors at CPD. The city then entered into a settlement with Dever, who received compensation of $67,142.92 and was reassigned as a detective, and guaranteed the detective’s position for a minimum of two years unless she voluntarily agreed to transfer to a different position or assignment.
The City Council had agendized Dever’s settlement and the ACRD’s determination for discussion on May 9. According to the city’s investigation, Gesell believed he should have been present at the executive session portion of the meeting to answer council members’ questions and tell his side of the story.
In a July 12 statement, Gesell claimed that then-interim City Manager Rudy Rodriguez had not informed him of the meeting or invited him to attend because Rodriguez was “attempt[ing] to discredit me before the new city manager arrived the following Monday.”
Newly-hired City Manager Scotty Douglass was set to begin May 15.
At 5 p.m. on May 9, Rodriguez sent an email to Gesell and Human Resources Director Amanda Wilber, which stated, “At tonight’s executive session, we will have City Council and lawyers present. Amanda should also be present in the executive meeting. Chief, if you planned to attend, there will be no need at the executive session.”
Executive session meetings are held behind closed doors with members of council and their legal counsel. Council can discuss matters in executive session but cannot vote or take any action.
Rodriguez told Gesell that the session involved a legal matter that did not warrant Gesell’s participation, and that his participation would not have been in the best interests of both the city and council.
When interviewed, Gesell stated that Rodriguez’s email “raised [his] concern significantly that this was a malicious, opportunistic attempt to defame me or discredit me before the new city manager arrived.”
The investigation found no evidence to support Gesell’s speculation regarding the reasons why Rodriguez informed Gesell that he did not need to attend the executive session.
Gesell then sent a text message to Councilwoman Helaine Kurot prior to the executive session alleging that Rodriguez was either incompetent or attempting to harm him by excluding him from the executive session. His text also claimed that former City Attorney Steve Horton had colluded with Rodriguez to prevent him from participating in the executive session. Gesell asked Kurot to get him into the executive session and reportedly threatened to “call out” Rodriguez if he was permitted to participate.
In a letter from Rodriguez to Wilber dated May 10, Rodriguez stated that after the council meeting, Gesell confronted him and yelled, “This is a travesty,” and “This is not over, Rudy.”
Kurot stated in the report that when Rodriguez left the building, “the chief lost his mind” and “came after” Rodriguez “yelling and screaming.”
“Cottonwood Mayor Tim Elinski and then-interim City Manager Jesus ‘Rudy’ Rodriguez attempted to leverage an ACRD findings report to disparage the Cottonwood Police Department and its chief of police by manipulating the City Council,” Gesell’s claim stated. “Two days later, Chief Gesell was placed on administrative leave by Mr. Rodriguez at the request of Mayor Elinski. No reason was listed. Mr. Rodriguez was only an interim city manager and the new city manager, Scotty Douglass, was a few days away from beginning his position. It was well known that Mr. Rodriguez and Chief Gesell had a long history of not agreeing on issues impacting the city and it appears to have been a parting shot for past professional conflicts involving Chief Gesell, Mr. Rodriguez and his staff.
“When the new City Manager Scotty Douglass and new City Attorney Jennifer Winkler began working, the evidence will show that they both chose to support the mayor’s malicious direction amplifying the retaliatory efforts … The preclusion of the chief from this session eliminated the ability to challenge the false claims and correct misperceptions cast during the meeting. The executive session resulted in numerous statutory violations that most likely will end up with numerous lawsuits due to the unlawful content of that session.”
Gesell further claimed that as early as June 9, 2022, the attorneys had been fully aware of Gesell’s intent to transfer Officer Dever to patrol months prior to the ACRD report.
“Council member Kurot defamed Mr. Gesell when she told council member [Lisa] Duvernay that Mr. Gesell ‘threatened’ Mr. Rodriguez and the mayor he had ‘crossed the line,’” the claim alleged.
Gesell’s claim also stated that the city’s investigation of his conduct “appears to have been manipulated to be some basis for Mr. Gesell’s termination … Chief Gesell was unlawfully terminated and publicly cast as a rogue administrator who discriminates against female employees with disabilities. This false narrative has destroyed Chief Gesell’s reputation and character such that his future career path is forever damaged … Mr. Sturr’s ‘investigation’ will be shown to have been intentionally biased to conform to the city’s false narrative.”
The claim made further allegations of wrongful termination pursuant to Arizona Revised Statute §23-1501, a failure to conduct Gesell’s appeal, wrongful termination based on retaliation, tampering with public records, violation of executive session and defamation.
Gesell alleged that Douglass “tampered” with public records by “altering” a complaint Gesell wrote about Winkler to council without including the attachments Gesell had provided. His notice is not clear about the “tampering” claim.
The claim stated that the reasons given by the city for Gesell’s termination were behavior and conduct at the May 9 meeting and the discriminatory treatment of a female detective and that “given these two articulated reasons, there was no just cause for the termination … even if the listed allegations and findings were legitimate, which is denied, they are not cause for terminating any employee, much less a chief of police with a sterling record of public service.”
Gesell left his previous post as police chief in San Luis Obispo, Calif., after being placed on leave and investigated by that city.
A Sept. 20, 2023 article by Chloe Jones in the San Luis Obispo Tribune, “Controversial former SLO police chief fired from Arizona job,” pointed out that “Gesell left the San Luis Obispo Police Department following several controversies that ended with him being placed on administrative leave. He was paid a $120,000 severance settlement.”
The article noted that Gesell was the subject of several controversies during his three-year tenure as San Luis Obispo’s police chief. In 2014, the paper reporter Gesell attended three times as many conferences, meetings and workshops as any other police chief in San Luis Obispo County, which prompted city officials to make changes to their travel policy to have more oversight.
“Following several CalCoastNews investigations that showed Gesell used public funds to pay for a family trip to Florida and also conducted an unlawful ticket quota scheme, then San Luis Obispo City Manager Katie Lichtig put Gesell on paid leave,” Karen Velie wrote in the CalCoast News on Sept. 16, 2023. “In an odd twist, Gesell resigned with a six-figure settlement before taking a job as police chief in Cottonwood, Arizona in 2016 … Cottonwood officially fired Gesell … In a similar manner to the way Gesell reacted to allegations of misconduct in SLO, he denied any wrongdoing.”
Velie and Josh Friedman had earlier written in May 2015 that after being placed on administrative leave, “City sources claim Gesell threatened to disclose information about city management if he was not provided a six-figure settlement.”
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