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Leaders' offense benefits nonprofit

New Port Richey sends the First Amendment Foundation $1,500, but it is no charity - the city was required to do so in a lawsuit settlement.

By PHIL DAVIS
Published May 29, 2005

For a decade, lawyer Barbara Petersen has waged a constant battle to keep Florida's Government-in-the-Sunshine Law from being riddled with loopholes. She gets yelled at a lot, especially during the busy spring legislative session in Tallahassee.

"I was absolutely delighted that someone recognized the value of the work we do," said Petersen, executive director of the nonprofit First Amendment Foundation. "They recognize it verbally all the time, but for somebody to take that extra step makes me extremely grateful because we work very hard."

It is the first significant donation from a nonmedia source to the foundation since Petersen took charge in 1994. Most people donate $25 to $50.

The donation wasn't a spontaneous act of charity from a city seeking to honor a defender of open government. It was punishment.

Arnold Uttley, a former city police officer, forced the city to send the check to the First Amendment Foundation as part of the settlement of his public records lawsuit against New Port Richey officials.

"I thought they did some pretty blatant violations of both the public records and the Sunshine laws," Uttley said. "I wanted to send a message to the city that this was serious and so they wouldn't do it again. I knew they wouldn't want to do it, and I knew it would get people's attention."

Uttley resigned from the New Port Richey Police Department in 1997 after pleading no contest to driving under the influence. He sued the city because it refused to rehire him even though another officer charged with DUI was allowed to return to work.

He settled that case in 2003.

While the first lawsuit was pending, Uttley, acting as a private citizen, submitted four public records requests to the city in late 2002. The city waited until March 2003 to produce some records and failed to turn over others. So Uttley sued again.

New Port Richey agreed to settle that case, too. The City Council approved the settlement in March.

The city paid Uttley $45,893.90 and also agreed to send $1,500 to the First Amendment Foundation as a noncriminal penalty against former City Manager Gerald Seeber, former police Chief Aage Madsen and Personnel Director Jeffrey Sutton, said Uttley's attorney, Patricia Pucci.

Uttley now runs his own private investigation business in Hudson.

"I'm glad I helped," he said of the donation to the First Amendment Foundation. "If you just complain about something, you're part of the problem, not the solution."

[Last modified May 29, 2005, 01:05:19]