A Clark County Superior Court judge has dismissed a defamation suit filed against the Washington State Auditor’s Office on behalf of the town of Yacolt.
Judge Barbara Johnson concluded that the town failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove defamation. The case was dismissed late last month without any damages or statutory penalties issued to anyone involved.
Town officials, along with former Mayor Joe Warren and former public works employee Pete Roberts, filed the suit last year claiming that their professional reputations were damaged in a 2011 performance audit. The audit zeroed in on the purchase of an excavator in 2009, saying the transaction violated the state’s competitive bidding law.
The town bought the equipment from Roberts for about $14,000 without first going through a competitive bidding process, according to the audit. Town officials said in the suit that Roberts had the excavator appraised and then offered to sell it to the town for $2,000 less than its market value.
Roberts also donated a refrigerator, tools, oil and a microwave oven to the town. Yacolt’s former public works director estimated the donations amounted to about $30,000 worth of equipment, though the town paid only about $14,000 in all.
Town officials argued that the auditors involved failed to verify the accuracy of their conclusions. In response, they sought an undetermined amount of monetary damages from the state while demanding a retraction of the audit report.
A year before purchasing the excavator, the town bought a Ford F-250 pickup truck for about $12,000 also without going through a competitive bidding process. The auditor’s office seemed to have no problem with that transaction, so town officials were surprised to see the results of the 2011 audit.
A week after the audit was released, Warren resigned from office on a recommendation from his doctor. In court documents, Warren stated that he suffered from depression and sleep problems as a consequence of the negative attention he received after the audit.
David Ridenour, the town’s attorney, said his clients decided not to appeal the dismissal because they wanted to avoid the cost of further litigation. If the town of fewer than 2,000 residents were larger, Ridenour said, he suspects the officials would have the means to continue their fight against the audit.
Thomas Shapely, a spokesman for the auditor’s office, issued this statement after the town agreed to accept the dismissal: “The Superior Court earlier ruled that there was no basis in law for the suit and the town has agreed not to appeal. We are pleased that Yacolt elected officials have decided to end this action, and the further expenditure of taxpayer’s resources that their pursuing the litigation would have required.”
