The battle between Huntington Beach City Council members and their elected city attorney heated up again this week, with the release of two separate reports that paint different pictures.
The city commissioned report says Huntington Beach’s city attorney may have violated the city’s conflict of interest ethics in an employee lawsuit that ultimately cost taxpayers $1.5 million according to a new report from an outside investigator.
But a report commissioned by City Attorney Michael Gates says differently, finding no conflict of interest issues in the lawsuit.
The case started when Neal Moore and Scott Field, both former employees of the city attorney’s office, claimed they were forced out by age discrimination from Gates, a suit that ultimately ended with a $2.5 million settlement between the two and no independent investigation as to whether the claims were true.
In addition to the settlement costs, which were paid for by the city’s insurer, the city spent over $1.5 million fighting the case in court over nearly two years.
Gates denied accusations of age discrimination and said he recused himself from the case.
But Huntington Beach City Council members disagreed with his characterization of the recusal in a report analyzing how the case was handled that was released this week.
“Councilmembers recalled that he participated actively in every closed session, and none remembered him making a distinction between his City Attorney role and his individual defendant role,” the...
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