The former police chief of Medina, Jeffrey Chen, and a member of the Medina City Council have filed lawsuits to obtain public records related to the chief’s termination earlier this year.

Councilmember Shawn Whitney last week filed a complaint with the King County Superior Court over an investigative report she says the city has denied her.

“It’s sad that a councilmember has to hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit to get records about how the city is being  run,” said Whitney’s attorney Greg Overstreet, a former open government expert for the Attorney General’s office.

Chen’s suit alleges that Medina has not worked to meet a broad sweeping public records request made in March. According to the complaint, Chen’s attorneys received a nearly identical return on their request to that of a citizen, despite the assertion that Chen’s request goes back six more years and asks for a broader array of documents.

“They failed to act in good faith” by not answering the individual request, said Marianne Jones, attorney for Chen.

Jones is also representing Chen in a discrimination complaint in which the city is accused of racial discrimination, retaliation, due process violations and defamation.

Both public records complaints specifically mention a report that set in motion the events of the last eight months, culminating in Chen’s firing April 27. Chen originally announced his resignation last December, but retracted it quickly.

The report, prepared by attorney Michael Bolasina, allegedly uncovered Chen’s unauthorized usage of the city email system, according to court documents. This report was a significant piece of the public reasoning used by City Manager Donna Hanson to fire the chief. Hanson could not be reached for comment.

According to Whitney’s complaint, councilmembers received copies of the report for review at an executive session during the Feb. 2 meeting, but they were made to return them to the administration.

Whitney subsequently requested a copy of the report, but she was told by city administration that Medina was not in possession of the document, according to court records. Furthermore, Medina argued in response to Whitney, the records would likely be exempt from public disclosure as they were reviewed during Executive Session and may be subject to attorney client privilege as well.

Whitney’s attorneys cited a previous case in which Federal Way was forced to give up records compiled by a lawyer acting as an investigator.

“If the city were right, that would mean all a government agency would have to do is hire someone with a law license, and anything that person with a law license found would become secret,” Overstreet said.

Chen mentioned Bolasina in a letter to the City Manager that the Reporter was able to obtain last year. In the letter he said he spoke with the attorney in an attempt to give information on someone who had accessed the email accounts without authorization. As the interview went on, he felt he was the target. Two days later, Hanson allegedly told Chen he was going to be put on administrative leave, at which point he hand wrote a short letter of resignation.

Whitney has played a role in the controversy as well. At the City Council meeting in January following Chen’s rescinded resignation, she made a motion to terminate the city manager. Whitney withdrew from her reelection bid this summer.