ANN ARBOR, MI — A Washtenaw County judge is slated to hear arguments this week in a lawsuit brought against the city of Ann Arbor by former City Attorney Bruce Laidlaw.
At the center of the dispute is the city’s denial of Laidlaw’s Freedom of Information Act request for an unredacted copy of a June 2021 city investigation report involving accusations against former City Administrator Tom Crawford, with whom City Council voted to part ways after the report last year.
Despite the city refusing to release the document without redactions under FOIA, Laidlaw said he has obtained an unredacted copy and his purpose in still pursuing the lawsuit is to get sanctions imposed against the city.
His lawsuit asks the court to rule that the city violated FOIA law and order the city to pay $8,500 in penalties.
A hearing on the city’s motion to dismiss the case is scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14, before Judge Carol Kuhnke in Washtenaw County Circuit Court.
City Attorney R. Bruce Laidlaw, a 22-year veteran of the city legal staff, pauses outside Ann Arbor's city hall in September 1991 ahead of leaving Ann Arbor's top legal post following a negotiated settlement with the city.Ann Arbor News archives courtesy of OldNews.AADL.org
Laidlaw was a member of the city’s legal staff for over 20 years and was the chief city attorney before being pushed out when Mayor Liz Brater and Democrats took control of City Council in 1991. He never worked with Crawford at city hall, but he has criticized how council handled his departure, accusing the council and Jennifer Salvatore, the city’s hired investigator, of assassinating Crawford’s character and ruining his career with a laundry list of accusations.
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Among the accusations was that Crawford made insensitive remarks regarding race, gender and sexual orientation. Crawford last year denied making some remarks and offered explanations for others, but he ultimately acknowledged he made comments that were unacceptable and regrettable and resigned after council voted to part ways with him.
The redactions the city made to Salvatore’s report before publicly releasing it were unjustified, Laidlaw argues. The city maintains it properly blacked out personally identifying information about people who either complained about Crawford or were the subject of remarks he allegedly made.
Information was redacted pursuant to privacy exemptions allowed under Michigan’s FOIA law, including personal information that would be an unwarranted invasion of privacy to disclose, the city told Laidlaw in a FOIA denial in February.
From left, Mayor Christopher Taylor and Tom Crawford, the city's interim city administrator, at the Ann Arbor City Council meeting March 2, 2020.Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News
Laidlaw filed his lawsuit in March and the city filed its motion for dismissal in April.
In his complaint, Laidlaw noted Crawford enjoyed a long career as the city’s chief financial officer and then administrator.
“I was happy to see that he was a longterm resident committed to living in the city,” Laidlaw wrote, arguing the process for removing Crawford was “clouded by a veil of secrecy” and the city failed to document major misconduct.
Laidlaw said he received from the Attorney Grievance Commission two reports Salvatore said she provided to the city attorney and one appears to be almost entirely duplicative of the report he wanted to see unredacted.
Comparing it to the redacted report, it seems there’s nothing that provides any information about the witnesses against Crawford, he argued, adding he has learned eight references to the city’s police oversight commission were blacked out.
“Without redactions, one can make sense out of a statement regarding diversity in the police department,” he wrote in a court filing.
Laidlaw’s lawsuit asks the court to order the city to release the full unredacted report and pay punitive damages of $1,000 and an extra civil fine of $7,500.
The city maintains disclosing the personally identifying information that was redacted would not reveal any additional information regarding how government functions because it is irrelevant to the conclusions of the report and any actions the city took.
The city’s court filing also notes what led up to the report, saying several city employees met with Mayor Christopher Taylor in May 2021 about concerns regarding a number of comments Crawford allegedly made demonstrating insensitivity to issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Crawford then authorized the outside investigation into his own conduct, the city’s filing states. Council later voted in July 2021 to make a redacted version of the investigation report public.
Releasing the full report could make certain individuals the target of retaliation and release facts that could be considered embarrassing, private or confidential, the city argues.
“Plaintiff cannot establish that he is entitled to the information requested under FOIA,” states the city’s filing signed by Assistant City Attorney Jennifer Richards. “Thus, the city’s motion for summary disposition should be granted.”
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