At the March 13 Sparks City Council meeting, councilmembers voted to pay former Sparks Fire Chief Mark Lawson a $100,000 settlement for a wrongful termination claim after his brief stint as acting fire chief last fall. However, in Lawson’s “Final Offer” to the City (sent February 15 after the City rejected the $441,218.83 original demand), Lawson asked for $170,000 which the council denied. Two days later (March 15, 2023), Lawson filed a formal complaint and his attorneys, Hutchinson & Steffen, issued a press release. It says:
“On March 13, 2023, the City of Sparks rejected Mark Lawson’s last, best, and final settlement offer. Mr. Lawson was hopeful that he could reach a reasonable compromise with the City of Sparks based on his Employment Agreement, as well as the egregious and defamatory conduct of City Manager Neil C. Krutz. This settlement offer—for $170,000—was a good faith proposal that offered a fair and just resolution to Mr. Lawson, the City of Sparks, and all Sparks taxpayers. It would have spared everyone—especially the City of Sparks—the acrimony, time, expense, and uncertainties of litigation. Unfortunately, it appears the Sparks City Council was not interested in a fair resolution of Mr. Lawson’s case. Thus, Mr. Lawson filed a civil action in the Second Judicial District Court on March 14, 2023. His complaint seeks relief for breach of his employment contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, defamation, and false light.”
The Complaint filed against the City held with the Second Judicial District Court asserts that City of Sparks Manager Neil Krutz unlawfully and maliciously fired Mark Lawson from the Sparks Fire Chief position due to criminal allegations related to steroids that he had not been charged with yet.
“On December 5, 2022, Mr. Krutz- without advance written or oral notice- called Mr. Lawson into his office for an impromptu meeting. During the impromptu meeting, Mr. Krutz informed Mr. Lawson that he was being terminated because of pending criminal charges that had not been filed. Mr. Lawson asserted his innocence, and Mr. Krutz told him that his purported innocence was irrelevant to his continued employment,” the Complaint states. It goes on to mention that Mr. Lawson did not have a chance to defend himself against his employer’s allegations. That same day, Krutz released a YouTube video saying that he asked for Mr. Lawson’s resignation and he in turn gave it. The video has since been removed and Lawson says he never resigned. His attorneys feel that what Krutz said in the video portrayed Lawson in a negative light and severely damaged his reputation.
At the March 13 Sparks City Council meeting, the City’s attorney office reminded the council that just back in February it had voted down former chief Lawson’s settlement demand of $441k. Two days later (on Feb. 15), the City attorney’s office received a second demand letter that proposed the matter be settled for $170k. “Again, given that this amount exceeds the City Manager’s approval, it’s being presented here for your consideration,” said Senior Assistant City Attorney Brandon Sendall.
In the council’s discussion, Councilmember Dian VanderWell asked whether HR or the city attorney’s office was consulted prior to the YouTube video being released. City Attorney Wes Duncan said that since this matter was pending litigation that it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on something that is still outstanding at this time.
Councilmember Charlene Bybee commented, “As fiscal conservative it’s really hard for me to spend taxpayer dollars on any litigation settlement through the eight years I’ve been here. It’s always a tough decision but I also recognize the responsibility for the fiscal wellbeing of the City and not looking towards greater risk, greater exposure for the City, should we deny this, and it went to trial. The potential for what the cost could be concerns me. And at the end of the day, I feel because of the mismanagement of the HR on this issue that we do face exposure to the City, and I would be in support to move forward and settle this for the $170k today.”
Councilman Kristopher Dahir added that they are listening to the City’s constituents and said, “One of our responsibilities is to continue to look at what is best for our city and any time you do business you’re at risk all the time. Some details of this are still being worked through and talked about and things so I won’t go into depth there, but I would say that I’m more in favor to find a number [closer to] a hundred thousand. I appreciate our constituents but want to look at the risk of moving forward. Looking at this I would encourage us to settle but settle for a lesser amount.”
Bybee made a motion to accept the $170k from the Feb. 15 final offer from Lawson’s legal team and VanderWell voted on it as well, but it did not pass in the 2-3 vote. To reach a resolution, Councilmember Dahir made a motion to consider paying out a settlement for $100k that passed in a 4-1 vote.
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