(The Center Square) – Entrenched in a lawsuit against one of its own, the Spokane Valley City Council plans to subpoena a sitting elected official’s personal communications, the defendant said Friday.
The officials voted to sue Councilmember Al Merkel in February after an investigation found he “more likely than not” violated state law. A hearing examiner later agreed, noting that Merkel likely violated the Public Records Act over his alleged use of personal social media accounts to discuss city business.
City Manager John Hohman and City Attorney Kelly Konkright have repeatedly requested that Merkel hand over records potentially related to city business, to no avail. While the defendant has turned over several records, Merkel argues that they keep pushing the goalpost whenever he attempts to comply.
The Spokane County Superior Court recently denied Merkel’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, but it granted, in part, a protection order to limit discovery. That means the city’s legal team can only seek narrowed, relevant records from Merkel, but it could also ask outside parties for their records as well.
“The city’s lawyers plan to subpoena every single person who has ever communicated with me,” Merkel claimed on Friday. “This is harassment, intimidation and a direct attack on your constitutional rights.”
Merkel told The Center Square that he learned about the plan from his legal team after it recently met with the city’s attorneys. Communications Manager Jill Smith declined to confirm whether the city will send subpoenas to outside parties for their communications with Merkel, citing the ongoing litigation.
However, the Valley does have authority through Superior Court Rule 45 to request records relevant to the PRA claims from outside parties. Those individuals can serve a written objection within two weeks if they don’t want to turn over their messages, but a judge could still order them to turn them over.
Merkel claims the plan is part of an ongoing effort to silence him; however, the council insists it merely wants to hold him accountable, as violations could ultimately cost local taxpayers. He argued that the city is weaponizing local tax dollars to cut him off from his voters, calling it a “terrifying” precedent.
The defendant and his legal team hope to get another day in court by mid-October, as Merkel claims the city may issue the subpoenas by the beginning of that month. He wants to try to quash the effort or get another protective order in place before the two-week period runs out for people to submit objections.
“This week alone, I heard from residents in areas of our city that are worried about developments, but unfortunately, they felt that they could not publicly express some of these opinions because they fear direct retaliation from the city,” Merkel wrote in a news release. “Other residents who have expressed negative opinions about bad city policies have been the subject of harassment by code enforcement.”
