The Cottonwood City Council discussed its remaining options for legal services following the resignation of City Attorney Jenny Winkler during its Jan. 9 work session. Prior to the public meeting, a special session took place for the council to consider Winkler’s resignation and that of City Manager Scotty Douglass.
As a result of the discussions that took place during the meeting, the city’s outside legal counsel, Pierce Coleman PLLC, has terminated its agreement to provide legal services to Cottonwood.
Resignations of city attorney and city manager
While both the attorney and manager had been planning to stay on for the remainder of the 90-day notice periods required by their contracts, they both resigned effective immediately on Jan. 9, with Douglass alleging harassment, bullying and threats from city council members.
“As you know, on Dec. 15, 2023, I tendered my resignation effective March 15, 2024,” Winkler wrote in a Jan. 9 email to council. “Although it was my intention to serve in my position until that date, recent developments have made it untenable for me to do so. Therefore, I am tendering my resignation effective immediately.”
“As you are all aware, I tendered my resignation by email on Jan. 4, 2024, providing 90-day notice as per my agreement, effectively ending my employment with the city of Cottonwood on April 4, 2024,” Douglass emailed the council on the same day. “At the time, I cited ‘personal and family reasons,’ but we are all aware that the council forced me to resign. I thought it might be possible to function in my role for 90 days if my resignation caused the council to stop its harassment and bullying of me, but it is clear that is not going to happen. Recent events have shown full well that the council is going to continue to harass, bully and intimidate me as long as I am here. No one can reasonably be expected to endure this type of abuse and threatening conduct, and I am done doing so. I will leave my employment with the city effective Jan. 9, 2024.
“At a meeting with two council members on Jan. 3, 2024, they called for my immediate resignation by noon on Jan. 4, 2024. These council members, through bullying, intimidation and harassment, made it clear that if I did not resign, that they would pursue my termination, threatening public disparagement. In a state of shock, I tendered my resignation the morning of Jan. 4 as had been demanded. I even gave the council 90 days notice per the written terms of my employment agreement. However, what happened on Jan. 3, [2024], was a termination of my employment, and not a resignation. Not only was it a termination, but it was one that was done in the most threatening and stressful manner conceivable. Therefore, I will not be in attendance at the Jan. 9 meeting for this reason.”
The special session also included an agenda item submitted by Councilwoman Lisa DuVernay and Councilman Michael Mathews to discuss in executive session the allegations in the notice of claim submitted by fired Police Chief Steve Gesell.
The request referred to the “Alledged [sic] actions called out in Gesell claim by the following: Scotty Douglas [sic], Jenny Winkler, Tim Elinski and Rudy Rodreguiz [sic]. The request also indicated that at “e seesion [sic] might be needed for legal advise [sic].”
“We’ve had two principals take flight right before they’d have to answer these questions and that only leaves two more,” Mathews said. “I think what we’re going to do is we’re going to go ahead and pull this request. Not table it, we’re going to cancel it, and we will circle around later and we’ll restructure and refocus that at a later time and make a request for a meeting.”
DuVernay had no comment.
Pierce Coleman PLLC law firm
During the subsequent work session, the council discussed the city’s plan moving forward without legal counsel.
Human Resources Director Amanda Wilber asked the council if they desired to continue their basic agreement for legal services with Pierce Coleman, its outside legal counsel. The Phoenix-based firm is the legal counsel for 15 municipalities in Arizona.
“For the near future, I think we’re pretty well represented with this firm,” Mayor Tim Elinski said.
Vice Mayor Debbie Wilden said that she was fine with keeping them, as they know the city’s background and the cases coming up. Councilwoman Helaine Kurot agreed for the short term.
“I’m not so sure the city has been that greatly served by them recently,” Mathews said. “They are named as a defendant in a large claim against the city which may turn into a lawsuit before long. I’m not really comfortable having them represent us and trust that they’re going to guide us properly in that … Maybe the way to go is that we can put names in a hat.”
Pierce Coleman is not named as a defendant in any claim against the city.
Mathews added that he wanted to hire someone to represent the council, then have them help the council find a temporary legal counsel in the interim before having them also help find a permanent solution.
“They [Pierce Coleman] are named in a claim which, like council member Mathews said, could turn into a lawsuit,” DuVernay said, repeating the false statement by Mathews.
Councilman Stephen DeWillis said that he was fine with using Pierce Coleman because the council needs representation right now, but added that he was not comfortable continuing to use them in the long term.
Councilman Derek Palosaari, who attended the meeting virtually, said that he wanted to put names in a hat.
Wilber then asked if the council wanted to continue to have a single contracted city attorney or have a firm represent them as a whole on a permanent basis.
“I feel strongly that we really should wait until after the election to let the new council decide on what course of action they want to take,” Elinski said. “I think we need to figure out who we’re going to use in the interim and let the new council decide what they want to do on a permanent basis.” “
We need somebody to come in and help represent us and help us vet anyone that’s going to be long-term, temporary and anybody that’s going to be permanent,” Mathews said, adding that he wanted to explore a firm rather than an attorney.
“I’m fairly concerned about picking our favorites and putting them in a hat, so to speak,” Elinski said. “I think we need … some sort of process that vets out the best firm to represent us through this period till after the election. I’m not really comfortable with this council, HR or any other city employee just wanting to throw out names of attorneys or firms. I think there needs to be more of a process that vets them as actually qualified firms.”
Wilber suggested doing a request for proposal or request for qualifications in partnership with a procurement team.
“We want to find somebody to help us vet somebody to come in and help us,” Mathews said.
“My concern with that is, do you have somebody in mind?” Wilden asked. “We need to make sure that it’s a complete council approval.”
“I don’t feel comfortable with Pierce Coleman,” DuVernay said.
Wilber clarified that Pierce Coleman did not assist the city with selecting the previous attorney, which was done through Raftelis, a professional recruitment company.
Kurot wanted to know if the other council members were thinking of bringing in an attorney or a firm instead of a recruiter, and Mathews said that their major job would be to represent the council immediately, then help them recruit either temporary or permanent representation.
“I don’t know that we need to hire an attorney or an advisor to help us through the process of hiring an attorney,” Elinski said.
Council directed staff to use a RFQ or RFP process to collect qualifications for a consultant to help find an attorney or firm.The city will advertise the position for four weeks and the process typically takes six to eight weeks.
Pierce Coleman PLLC law firm terminates contract with city
Following the meeting, Pierce Coleman terminated its agreement for general municipal law services with the city of Cottonwood.
“We were disappointed to learn that during the Jan. 9, 2024 City Council work session, two council members made misrepresentations regarding our firm by incorrectly stating that we are a defendant in a pending legal claim,” the firm stated in its letter to the city. “Based on this misperception, they expressed discomfort in continuing to use our firm for general municipal law services.
“To set the record straight, Pierce Coleman PLLC is not a defendant in any pending legal claim — nor would our firm logically be a defendant in an employment claim by a former employee where our firm represents the employer, which is presumably the ‘claim’ that the councilmembers were referring to. Based on the totality of the discussion, it appears to us that these council members — and perhaps others — are bent on creating a narrative to sully the good name of our firm to satisfy their personal agendas …
“With that backdrop, we are unfortunately compelled, effective immediately, to terminate our agreement for general municipal law services with the city of Cottonwood …
“We appreciated the opportunity to serve the city. However, we pride ourselves on providing the highest quality representation in the area of municipal law and we do not feel that we can continue under the current circumstances in which false allegations about our firm have been made in public.”
