DAVENPORT, Iowa — More details have emerged in the $1.6 million settlement agreement between the City of Davenport and former Davenport City Administrator Corri Spiegel.
Back in November, the City revealed the agreement, citing lost wages and "emotional pain and suffering" stemming from allegations of harassment made against former Seventh Ward Alderman Derek Cornette and others who have not been named as the reason for the $1.6 million payout.
It had been believed that Spiegel sent a letter to the City detailing those allegations, but documents obtained by News 8 show that Spiegel allegedly never wrote a request to the City for the payout. Media outlets and Davenport residents have sent FOIA requests to obtain Spiegel's demand letter to the City. But according to an email thread dating back to Dec. 15, that letter never existed.
In the email thread between the City's outside legal counsel and Spiegel, Spiegel is asked if she has any documents relating to her request for the settlement.
"I note that the City cannot locate a copy of your written settlement request," Brett Marshall with Lane and Waterman LLP said in the thread. Marshall initially sent the email to Spiegel due to an open records requests made for the document.
Spiegel responded that she possessed "no texts responsive to this request, nor did any ever exist."
Dr. David Ezra Sidran is one of the Davenport residents who sent in a FOIA request for this document. The City has since filed suit against Sidran and is seeking a declaratory judgment on the matter, or in other words, it wants the court to determine whether the City is required to release the letter under Iowa's open records laws or if it is classified as a confidential record. The City says Sidran is listed as a defendant in this case due to his records request for the documentation.
Sidran said he is filing a motion for sanctions against the City as he believes they are suing him over a document that allegedly doesn't exist.
News 8 has reached out to the City of Davenport for comment. A spokesperson said the City would be releasing a statement Monday but News 8 has yet to receive one.
Email thread between Spiegel and the City's legal counsel
Spiegel settlement background
On Nov. 16, the City announced that Spiegel was leaving her position with the City. Just days later on Nov. 22, 2023, the City sent out a news release disclosing that Spiegel and the City had come to a $1.6 million settlement agreement for lost wages and "emotional pain and suffering" back on Oct. 6.
Though the agreement was settled on Oct. 6, the City did not disclose the settlement agreement until after the November municipal elections. Ever since the agreement was disclosed, several government officials and community members have expressed concern that the City may have violated Iowa's open records law by keeping the settlement process a secret.
In January, News 8 learned that Spiegel's settlement agreement and settlement agreements with two other former City employees were being investigated by Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand. The City of Davenport filed a motion to block the auditor from listening to recordings of the closed meetings.
Iowa state legislators held a government oversight hearing in Des Moines on Wednesday, March 27 to determine whether city leaders violated Iowa's open records law. Michael Meloy, the attorney for a resident suing the City over the matter, Dr. Allen Diercks, requested that the committee investigate the matter.
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