Former Lane County Commissioner Bill Fleenor filed a lawsuit against the county Monday to force the release of un-redacted public records. The records pertain to the investigation and firing of former County Administrator Liane Richardson.
Richardson was fired last year for converting earned leave into take home pay. Former Commissioner Fleenor filed a public records request last fall and received 27 heavily redacted pages. Fleenor's appeal was denied, so now he's filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to get all records related to the Richardson investigation.
Fleenor: "There were obviously people involved at all levels and hopefully during this court process we will find out information, take this as deep as possible. We need to get to the bottom of this, find the rot, root it out and let's try to have a government that works for the people for a change."
Fleenor is represented by Corvallis attorney Daniel Stotter.
Stotter: "There may be political repercussions and there may be hiring and firing repercussions for Lane County and that's what I think will result when the light of day comes to pass on these records, we think that there will be consequences for anyone who's involved in the scheme of stealing funds from the public."
Stotter says under the public records law, the county will have to pay Fleenor's legal fees, unless they settle and release the information. Lane County has not yet commented.