Boulder City Council OKs $1.7M settlement with 2 former officials

The Boulder City Council fulfills on March 14, 2023. (Mark Credico/Las Vegas Review-Journal).
The Boulder City Council authorized a settlement of $1.7 million for 2 former city executives on Tuesday, ending among the more contentious periods in the neighborhood's current history.

That duration seemed for many city residents to be all fireworks, all the time, and it ended with a bang as the council authorized a settlement with former City Attorney Steve Morris and former City Manager Al Noyola.

" The settlement contracts put in the past this open meeting by the City Council resolve a number of claims versus the City," Mayor Joe Hardy said in a declaration. "These claims were pending a decision by the State's Supreme Court, likewise, claims for breach of employment agreement and wrongful termination were pending against the City in the Eighth Judicial District Court. These claims are now fully resolved with the action handled April 25, 2023.

" Any and all claims that were declared or could be declared by the parties are also resolved. The decision arised from personal litigation settlement procedures as allowed in Nevada Statutes.

Hardy included: "I think that it is in the best interest of all celebrations included to put this behind us.".

Ending the conflict was not cheap. In between the quantities being paid to the 2 previous city executives and the amount invested in outside legal counsel, the total is more than $2 million.

Morris will get $995,000. Noyola will receive $715,000. Law practice Bailey Kennedy has actually been paid $338,695. Grand overall: $2,048,695.

Morris and Noyola were both terminated by the City Council in a conference on Oct. 13, 2020. The termination was defined as being "for cause" with the majority of then-members of the council questioning their professionalism amid stress about issues including fuel at the Boulder City Airport - - which some members of the council stated represented the set overstepping their authority - - as well as disagreements about suggestions relating to open conference laws.

Neither of the former executives was provided discontinuance wage. According to the regards to their work contracts, Morris was due $259,458.15 and Noyola's agreement called for severance of $234,613.97.

A suit was submitted nearly right away after the termination with Morris and Noyola declaring that their shootings remained in retaliation for them affirming against previous Mayor Kiernan McManus throughout an internal examination regarding accusations of harassment, retaliation, producing and promoting a hostile work environment, and discrimination. In addition, they declared they were the topics of harassment and discrimination, and that their employment agreement were breached when they were fired.

The suit was withdrawn in November 2020 when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission considered that possible "administrative solutions" to a claim had not yet been tired.

In June 2021, the city provided to settle the case for more than the contracted severance - -$ 270,000 to Morris and $290,000 to Noyola - - however far less than the amount looked for in the claim, which Morris reported to be "in excess of $2.5 million." That deal ended without an action from Morris or Noyola.

Morris has actually declared that a settlement conference scheduled for Sept. 10, 2021, was unilaterally canceled by McManus without understanding or input from three council members (Matt Fox, Sherri Jorgensen and former member Claudia Bridges).

A year later, in September 2022, the EEOC discovered that administrative treatments had actually been exhausted and released a "ideal to sue" notice, enabling the discrimination claims to move forward.

A brand-new claim was submitted in December and, at that time, current City Attorney Brittany Walker mentioned the possibility of a settlement saying, "Since Mr. Morris has now gotten the right-to-sue notice he is re-alleging these claims. The city is confident to have these matters resolved in the future.".

According to a staff report, the city's insurer has received a claim for the quantity of the settlement, not the legal costs. If the insurance provider rejects the claim, then the settlement would originate from an existing Risk Management Fund. Per the report, the fund has enough in it to cover the settlement needs to the claim be denied.

Between in-person, email and phone calls, 10 Boulder City homeowners commented, with all but one focusing on the settlement.

McManus concerned to podium and said, "We live in odd times, when truths are no longer truths.".

He declared that the employment contracts between the city and both Morris and Noyola defied the city charter, without stating how, and declared that the city's insurer had told him that they would deny the pending claim.

Last month, the city accepted a $165,000 settlement with previous City Clerk Lorene Krumm, who was terminated around the same time.