The San Jose Mercury News last week filed a lawsuit against the city of Sunnyvale seeking records of closed meetings held by City Council to address staff complaints about the conduct of former Councilmember Frances Rowe.
The lawsuit, filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court on
Nov. 30, asks the court to declare that the meetings were closed illegally and to order the records opened to the public, said Edward Davis Jr., attorney for the Mercury News.
Davis said closing the meetings and refusing to turn over records is a violation of the state's open meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act and the Public Records Act because Rowe is an elected official.
Linda Tripoli, an attorney representing the city in the lawsuit, maintained that because the documents include complaints lodged by city employees they are personnel records and not subject to public scrutiny.
She said the employees' right to privacy supersedes the public's right to know.
The City Council voted in September to banish Rowe from City Hall for all but official business for behaving inappropriately toward city employees. Rowe, who was removed as mayor last December, lost her bid for a second council term last month.
As reported Nov. 29 by The Sun, confidential city documents indicate that the City Council censured Rowe because Tripoli concluded that the former councilmember's comments about City Attorney Valerie Armento could constitute sexual harassment in the eyes of a jury.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, Wed., December 6, 1995.
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