Told council members he possessed an executive session recording of their private deliberations with city attorney
The Cottonwood City Council appointed Michael Mathews to fill the vacant council seat during a special session on Tuesday, Dec. 12, with a 4-2 vote.
The candidate pool initially consisted of Mathews, James Glascott, Robert Marks, Rose Ortiz-Unruh, Robert Rothrock, Liesa Sarelli-Black and William Wagnon.
Glascott, Mathews and Rothrock had previously been interviewed by the council during the last attempt to fill the seat. Ortiz-Unruh later dropped out of the running and the council interviewed Marks and Sarelli-Black on Dec. 12.
After interviewing both candidates but before their candidacies had been discussed, Councilman Derek Palosaari made a motion to appoint Mathews to the vacant seat. Councilman Stephen DeWillis seconded the motion.
Vice Mayor Debbie Wilden pointed out that the three council members who had served with Mathews before had voted against him during the first attempt to fill the vacant council seat.
“That tells you something,” Wilden said. She added that Mathews is continuing to hurt the city in several ways and is currently representing someone — fired Cottonwood Police Chief Steve Gesell — who has filed a notice of claim to sue the city over his termination in September after months on administrative leave.
Councilwoman Helaine Kurot asked Mathews if he would recuse himself from any decisions involving Gesell, whom Mathews is representing. Mathews said he might be willing to do so but did not make a definite commitment.
Mayor Tim Elinski said that when he had served with Mathews on both City Council and the Historic Preservation Commission, they got a lot done and were good years for the city.
“Given his involvement in controversial issues recently, I agree with the vice mayor,” Elinski said. “We did a lot together and I don’t want to diminish those times, but given what we know now and what the council knows now, I’m surprised he’s made it this far.”
Executive Session Tape
Elinski added that Mathews is in possession of an executive session recording. Gesell was sent the executive session recording by mistake and later instructed by attorneys to destroy it. Recordings of executive session meetings are confidential information between a council and its attorney and may not be disclosed to members of the public per Arizona Revised Statutes §38-431.03.
Mathews’ letter of interest for the council seat stated in regard to the recording, “In anticipation of another call for applications for the vacant seat I wanted an opinion from the Attorney General’s office. In my question to the AG attorney I was very clear that I possessed the executive session audio, that I was asked to delete it and acknowledge that I had and that I ignored that request.”
Matthews added that he in turn gave a copy of the recording to a council member, who would legally have access to it anyway.
“After meeting with the city attorney on Nov. 27, I have honored her request to destroy my copy of the audio … You may take this statement as my sworn affidavit regarding these matters and submit it to any legal entity you desire,” Mathews’ letter concluded.
Council Vote
Elinski said that the council had “a whole host of highly qualified applicants to choose from that aren’t involved in controversy and haven’t put the city in an adverse, vulnerable position.”
He suggested Mathews run for council in the next election and let the voters decide, stressing that they just interviewed two highly qualified applicants and should discuss those.
“He would do a lot of justice for this city,” DeWillis said. “I see no reason why we shouldn’t bring him back.”
“Does it not bother you that he’s in possession of that executive session recording?” Elinski asked. “He’s refusing to do what is right and destroy that. How can you get beyond that and feel like he’ll be a good representative up here?”
Elinski and Wilden then voted against Mathews, while Palosaari, DeWillis, Lisa DuVernay and Kurot voted for him.
During the previous vote to fill the vacant seat on Oct. 3, Palosaari had moved to appoint Mathews, which had failed by 3-3 with Kurot, Elinski and Wilden dissenting.
“At the time of the first vote, there were still some pending concerns from the AG’s office,” Kurot said. “Those issues have been relatively resolved. I served with Mr. Mathews in the past and he has shown he can put his personal feelings aside and make decisions based on what is best for the long-term sustainability of the city. He is also capable of agreeing to disagree and move forward with the next issue at hand. While I respect the concerns both the mayor and vice mayor have, it is time to put the events of this year in the past and move forward with the work that needs to be done, as all of us have made decisions or taken actions this year that in hindsight we could have handled better than we did at the time.”
Mathews is set to be sworn in at the council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at 5:30 p.m.
