Laguna Beach officials explain Dupuis settlement, vote 3-2 not to share investigation findings
A split Laguna Beach City Council voted 3-2 not to release the findings of an investigation into claims by former City Manager Shohreh Dupuis that Councilman George Weiss had discriminated against her and created a hostile work environment.
Dupuis vacated the position on Sept. 1 in accordance with a settlement agreement executed one week earlier, under which she received $223,077 as well as nine months severance pay and health benefits and $10,000 in legal fees.
The move came after the former city leader threatened to sue the city for $3 million, claiming Weiss had exhibited intimidating behavior toward her at a number of private and public meetings, raising his voice, interrupting her and, at one point, pounding his fist on the dais.
According to an Oct. 30 memo sent to Weiss by an attorney whose firm was hired to investigate the matter, Dupuis further alleged the councilman discriminated against her and attacked her integrity regarding a controversial Nov. 16, 2022, traffic stop and her actions in the wake of altercations at two local hotels in May.
A report compiling the findings of an independent investigation, undertaken by Los Angeles-based law firm Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, was submitted Aug. 31.
While the council publicly released the contents of the memo and several closed session minutes, members Tuesday weighed whether to also release the report and, if so, whether its contents should be redacted or unredacted.
More than a dozen residents speaking in public comments largely defended Weiss against Dupuis’ claims and urged the city to make the full findings of the report public.
“Release the report in full to be transparent,” said Gene Felder. “We all rallied around the city manager [in February] because feces was thrown on her house — I don’t believe that for a second. What is in the report about that? What actually happened?”
Council members who’d taken part in four closed session meetings in July and August, during which the terms of the agreement were hashed out (Weiss was excluded from the discussions), waived the confidentiality of the sessions to explain their rationale for settling.
Mayor Bob Whalen provided a timeline of events, saying Dupuis lodged her complaint in February. In a July 18 letter, her attorney threatened to sue for discrimination to the tune of $3 million but offered to settle in exchange for 33 months of Dupuis’ pay and attorney’s fees.
The city made a counter offer of 18 months salary plus severance and requested an independent firm conduct interviews and make findings as to seven claims alleged by the city manager.
Although a case for discrimination was not supported, Whalen said the city still faced a significant risk of exposure if the matter was put to a jury trial.
“Paying her roughly $450,000 was the least expensive way for us to get out of the situation we found ourselves in,” he said Tuesday.
“The best interest of the public was reaching a settlement, putting it behind us and moving forward to select a new city manager, getting back to conducting the business of the city. I’m still confident we made the best and right decision.”
Weiss defended his actions and treatment of Dupuis, reading from prepared remarks.
“Asking meaningful questions that test the presumption of the city manager and staff is not harassment — it’s called functional representational government,” he said. “Pointing out misrepresentations or omissions of info by the city manager is not bullying, it is accountability that supports informed decision making by council.”
When it came to releasing the findings, Whalen, Mayor Pro Tem Sue Kempf and Councilman Alex Rounaghi supported not releasing the document, in part, to protect the identities of employees who’d testified for investigators.
“There are scenarios where transparency can create chaos in a governing organization and, in this case, have a chilling effect on future investigations,” Rounaghi said. “No one in the city would have any reasonable expectation of privacy.”
He said because the decision to settle was made before the findings were even submitted, releasing the document would do little to enlighten readers as to the reasons for settling. Further, a redacted report would hardly satisfy the many speakers who insisted on the full findings.
“I think I’m fine just closing this and moving on,” he said ahead of a 3-2 vote. “It’s time to move forward, there are so many big issues for us to work on.”
Weiss, who’d insisted on a full disclosure of the investigation, said the decision to withhold the findings provided a political cover for the council majority.
“The desire is to be the least transparent you can be,” he said.
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