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The City of Maricopa Police Association is preparing to file for summary judgment in a suit it filed in October 2009 against the Maricopa City Council and the city manager. Editor's note: Richard S. Cohen, an attorney representing the city of Maricopa, responded to COMPA's petition for summary judgement.

“We are working on the paperwork and should have the petition for summary judgment filed by early this week,” said COMPA’s lawyer, Martin Bihn.

The suit alleges city council and City Manager Kevin Evans violated the city’s meet-and-confer ordinance by holding unauthorized talks while attempting to structure a labor contract with the union.

The ordinance was established in 2008 by the city of Maricopa to allow an employee or their representative to meet and confer with the city manager regarding wages, hours, benefits and other conditions of employment.

The ordinance prohibits any contract discussion with the city or news media from the time negotiations begin until the date and time set for hearing before council.

“Evans met at least three times with the city council to discuss the contract negotiations,” Bihn said “This is a clear violation of the city’s ordinance.”

The suit cites two e-mails between Evans and COMPA President Aki Stant, including one in which Evans states he needs to prepare a counter to the proposed contract between the city and the police department and take it back to council for an executive-session review.

In addition, the complaint includes a city council agenda that details the group adjourning to executive session with the city manager to discuss the contract.

COMPA originally brought these concerns to the city council’s attention and requested mediation in August, but according to Stant in an October 2009 interview, the city refused, claiming that COMPA “gave permission” for Evans to violate the ordinance.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Stant said. “As police officers, we are trained to uphold the law; COMPA never agreed to allow Evans to violate this ordinance.”

The special-action lawsuit seeks a court order compelling Evans, the city of Maricopa and its council to comply with the provisions of the meet-and-confer ordinance.

“We want the negotiation process to start anew,” Bihn said. “I don’t think this was an intentional move by the city manager, but more along the lines of him not knowing the ordinance.”

Richard S. Cohen, an attorney representing the city, commented on COMPA's action. "We are confident that neither the city manager nor any member of the city council violated the city's meet-and-confer ordinance," Cohen said. 

"It is disappointing and surprising that COMPA's attorney has chosen to raise issues in the media relating to the lawsuit it filed five months ago, after doing nothing to move the case forward since filing the special action," Cohen said. "If, in fact, COMPA's attorney does decide to file a motion, the city will welcome the opportunity to have the issues presented to the court, because it is also confident that it will prevail."

Photo by Michael K. Rich

• Let me guess the City Manager will say he was ignorant of the Ordinance? The City Council and City Manager knew what they could and couldn't do. Time to get rid of all of them. (Duke Nukem)
• They probably had an email saying it was OK. (clintsandy)
• Get rid of all unions they are useless.... (JasonY)
• Tell me ClintSandy, I mean Roger, why do you keep getting your bosses in hot water? (Duke Nukem)
• Another bit of BS for our town. I said Maricopa is a mess and somebody asked me ,how so? All a person has to do is read the InMaricopa Every day to find out. (ladyNcopa)
• And every day it is something new, about who did what to who. (ladyNcopa)
• So the city refuses to respond to a potential lawsuit by saying that COMPA agree to allow a violation to occur? What kind of stupid is our leadership? All it takes for this to be ok is that both sides agree to violate the law? I guess that means I can just steal money directly from the city, as all I have to do is get Evans to agree to split the proceeds with me. (gilbertglcn)
• The Council is just as guilty, they approved their own ordinance and they are meeting on it? gilbertglcn-If it's ok for a Police Sergeant at MPD can steal so can you. (8523crime)
• When the approved their half million budget for finance do you think they figured in all the law suits comeing? Ok Anthony Smith maybe if you hold hands with Kevin Evans and Patrick Melvin, click your heels together, close your eyes, and wish the law suits are going to go away maybe that might work. (8523crime)
• Summary judgment usually occurs when the city fails to respond in a timely manner. (Carlos.Benito)
• Educate yourself about the litigation process before responding. Had the City not responded in a timely manner, COMPA would have taken a default judgment against the City. The vast majority of motions for summary judgment are denied by the courts. So when COMPA’s attorney says something it must be taken as the gospel truth, because he MUST know more than the City’s attorney? (josephestes)
• It remains clear that people will judge before they have all the facts and they will believe anything they read in the news. The fact that this announcement was made one day before the primary election speaks volumes. (josephestes)
• Thank you for stopping by Councilman. We appreciate any clarification you can offer. You are correct about a default judgment potentially occurring. However, when I did some research to learn about this legal move, I did discover.... (Carlos.Benito)
• that a "motion for summary judgment" asks the court to decide that the available evidence, even if taken in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, supports a ruling in favor of the moving party. This motion is usually only made when sufficient time for discovering all evidence has expired. (Carlos.Benito)
• So, did the city fail to produce evidence in a timely manner which lead to this motion request? Can you use your background to help educate all of us instead of belittling people who do not understand the legal process? (Carlos.Benito)
• As for the timing, could the announcement of a hotel coming by the mayor before an election be perceived in the same manner especially when various people, including a councilman's wife, have said the deal is not final? (Carlos.Benito)
• It remains clear that people will judge before they have all the facts and they will believe anything they read in the news. The fact that this announcement was made one day before the primary election speaks volumes. (josephestes)
• Funny how a Council guy is finally responding a day before the the primary election. I totally agree with Carlos.Benito. (8523crime)
• Mr. Estes you might as well keep it to yourself. It's not like your actually going to make a difference anyway. Kinda too late to be say something now don't you think? Before it even hit the attorneys I'm pretty sure you could have prevented any kind of legal action. Now the city is paying for an attorney because you don't know how to negotiate, talk about educate yourself. (8523crime)
• If research had been done you would know that requesting a Summary judgement is a frequently used legal tactic, that usually is denied. It is common in cases for the defense to request one prior to proceeding with their portion of the trial. To infer anything from this request would be silly. (MaytagMan)
• Mr. Estes why know??? You haven't even been to the majority of council meetings in the past six months. As for the perception of judgment you of all people on council should know that in a small town perception is more than 75% in the public eye. Glad to see you go now the city has a shot at some integrity!!! (mpd85139accountable)
• Why know or why now??? I see you are still hiding behind an anonymous screen name; that is really accountable isn’t it? As for the council meetings, I am swamped at work and thus one of the many reasons I am not running for reelection as I feel that the candidates must be able to focus their time and energy on the Council. (josephestes)
• The facts, not perception should be what the public relies upon to make judgments. Integrity? Really? Try posting your name and be held accountable for your statements. Put your life under the microscope for all to criticize. You have no accountability or integrity!! (josephestes)
• Some info on COMPA’s attorney, Mr. Bihn – Suspended from the practice of law July 29th to October 3rd, 2005!! Case Number: 03-2158 - http://www.azbar.org/LegalResources/findlawyer.cfm. According to the summary of the disciplinary action, “Three aggravating factors were found: dishonest or selfish motive, pattern of misconduct, and multiple offenses.” Is this the “integrity” you talk about? (josephestes)
• That's what happens when you have clients other than Steve Northrup!! (mpd85139accountable)
• Mr. Estes, help me understand this... why is the city attorney, Denis Fitzgibbons, representing the city and AZCOPS when they are both in a legal fight against each other? I am assuming our current council does not see this as a conflict of interest and why dont they? (Schweigen)
• That's what happens when you have clients other than Steve Northrup!! (mpd85139accountable)
• Schwiegen - Martin Bihn is the counsel for AZCOPS, not Denis Fitzgibbons. Denis Fitzgibbons is the City Attorney, but is not representing the city in this case, either. Our counsel for this issue is Richard S. Cohen. (CarlDiedrich)
• In using the link that Mr. Estes provided, I decided to read the entire background unlike the stuff that Estes omitted from his post. Bihn goes through a rough spell in his personal life, makes an honest (albeit bad) mistake, resigns to recollect himself, is completely up front and honest, and gets reinstated. (erikahef)
• The board found 6 mitigating factors in this case which Estes conveniently left out: absence of prior disciplinary record; personal or emotional problems; timely good-faith effort to make restitution or to rectify consequences of misconduct; full and free disclosure to the disciplinary board or cooperative attitude toward proceedings; character or reputation; and remorse. (erikahef)
• Councilman Diedrich, why isn't the City Attorney representing us? How much do we pay Mr. Fitzgibbons to be our attorney? How much are we paying this new attorney, Mr. Cohen? (erikahef)
• City Attorneys generally don't represent a municipality in litigation. We carry insurance for litigation. The insurance company provides for legal counsel in lawsuits filed against the city. Litigation is not included in the City Attorney contract. You should contact the city finance department for an accurate cost of our attorney expenses. All city contact info is available at maricopa-az.gov (CarlDiedrich)
• Diedrich/Estes, I understand the city has to pay for insurance to cover their a$$ when they screw up, but when the council goes into executive session to discuss a contract proposed by COMPA/AZCOPS, they consulted with Fitzgibbons. Unless he left the room and the insurance provided lawyer came in his place. According to WWW.AZCOPS.ORG, "Casa Grande Police Association President Chris Western said (Schweigen)
• he received a call from the officer about 20 minutes after the shooting and while he was en route to the scene, he called local AZCOPS Attorney Denis Fitzgibbons." So you have a labor contract proposal from COMPA/AZCOPS to the city/Evans and then that proposal is illegally discussed in executive session with an attorney paid by both the city and AZCOPS. How is there not an issue with that?? Fit (Schweigen)
• Fitzgibbons is paid by both AZCOPS and the City of Maricopa!!! (Schweigen)
• That would conflicth AZXOPS own webpage that identifies their legal team. http://azcops.com/Legal.aspx (MaytagMan)
• Thank you Councilman Diedrich for the response and tip. I just think that Estes' efforts to gloss over the other side of Bihn's background was very telling of his ethics, which from reports in the past, was already under serious question. (erikahef)
• Look Marty, erikahef or Duke Nukem or one of the many anonymous personalities you’ve created, Bihn was suspended from the practice of law!! This is a serious sanction for an attorney, something you clearly don’t understand. You cry integrity, integrity, integrity, but you blindly defend this type of behavior. (josephestes)
• The Bar could have sanctioned Bihn with a much lesser punishment, like a private letter of reprimand or public censure, but they felt the offense rose to the level of suspension from the practice of law. The mitigating factors probably kept him from being permanently disbarred. (josephestes)
• Sure he quit his job; he was probably going to be fired if he didn’t. Sure he gave “full disclosure to the disciplinary board or had a cooperative attitude toward the proceedings”; he probably would have been permanently disbarred if he didn’t. You don’t get suspended for “honest (albeit bad) mistakes.” (josephestes)
• You claim you want integrity, yet you gloss over the aggravating factors without any concern. You want integrity? Then stop hiding behind anonymous screen names! Why are you so afraid that people will know your name? Integrity and accountability suffer greatly when people can hide their identity and spew what ever garbage they want calling it facts. Stand up and be a man, stop this hiding. (josephestes)