McDonald files $500k claim against city

The city of Maricopa is facing a possible lawsuit resulting from the alleged “negligent investigation” and “malicious prosecution” of former Maricopa community services director Marty McDonald.

In his notice of claim, sent to the city this past Wednesday, McDonald asks for $500,000 in damages, $10,000 in attorney fees, a $25,000 check to the Friends of the Library organization and a letter of apology.

“We have conducted sample juries that have resulted in a decision in upwards of $2.5 million, and that number could end up being higher,” McDonald’s attorney Clair Lane said.

McDonald was placed on administrative leave by the city May 6, one day after being indicted on two felony charges stemming for the alleged misuse of a city FedEx shipping discount used to mail goods.

However, those charges were dropped when McDonald produced an e-mail showing he requested his personal FedEx account be removed from that of the city prior to doing any shipping.

“When (Kevin) Evans (Maricopa city manager) first came on in 2008, Marty drafted a letter telling him about the FedEx issue, describing copies of e-mails he had and snapshots of computer screens taken,” Lane said. “However, these e-mails or letter were never provided to the investigator by the city.”

The city has maintained a stance that McDonald was not let go because of the indictment, but Lane said he feels assistant city manager Roger Kolman had it out for his client.

“Against internal advice from the Maricopa Police Department, Kolman called upon the Phoenix Police department to further investigate the situation,” Lane said.

Evans countered that it is commonplace to have outside organizations investigate internal issues. “Our last three investigations into city officials have all been handled by outside organizations,” he said.

While Lane questions the city’s decision to hand over the investigation to the Phoenix Police Department, he also said he wonders who requested prosecution.

“In the detective’s report it stated that the city of Maricopa and FedEx both asked charges be brought against McDonald, but FedEx tells us they never said this,” Lane said. “We want to know who made this statement; if it was Roger Kolman or Kevin Evans, the city is going to be in a world of trouble.”

In addition to the mishandling of information, Lane alleges after his client was found innocent of all charges Kolman launched a second investigation into the misappropriate distribution of funds from Pinal County to the Friends of the Library account by his client.

“My focus jurors said they believe someone was out to get Marty,” Lane said. “If Evans wanted to get rid of McDonald, all he had to do was say he didn’t like him.”

Evans responded to accusations against the city through an e-mail sent out after the Aug. 24 hearing during which the charges against McDonald were dropped.

“The City strongly disagrees that it has done anything improper concerning the investigation conducted by the Phoenix Police Department,” Evans said. “The City initially tried to negotiate a severance agreement with Mr. McDonald. However, while he was on administrative leave, the City, through an internal audit, discovered additional serious issues concerning Mr. McDonald’s employment; therefore, the City terminated Mr. McDonald on August 7, 2009.”

Lane is asking for a meeting in the coming weeks with city council and staff, minus Evans and Kolman, to discuss the claim.

If a settlement cannot be reached, the claim will turn into a lawsuit.

“This indictment will stay on McDonald’s record forever, and when people see that charges were dropped, they will assume it was because he had a good lawyer and not that he was innocent,” Lane said.

File photo