MARANA, AZ — Judge Leslie Miller of Pima County Superior Court has ordered the town of Marana, AZ to release records that reportedly detail a former head of the town’s Parks and Recreation Department use of his work computer to view pornographic websites.The judge’s order comes in response to a lawsuit filed against the town of Marana by The Explorer, a community newspaper that serves Tucson’s northwest side and Catalina Foothills area.
Marana has now released documents to both the Explorer and the Tucson-based Arizona Daily Star.
The legal wrangling over the records got started last spring, following the resignation of Ron Smith, the former director of the Parks and Recreation Department, on March 29th, 2006.
The Explorer began requesting records related to Smith’s resignation after being tipped that Smith had used his work computer to view pornography. The Daily Star followed suit, subsequently requesting the same records.
Todd E. Hale, the attorney representing the Town of Marana, argued to the court that the report detailing Smith’s internet usage was not a public record, as it was not related to his work as director of the Parks Department and Web usage had nothing to do with Smith’s resignation.
Dan Barr, an attorney representing the Explorer, countered that when the town created the report it became a public record as a matter of law, noting that under the Arizona Public Records Law, any person is permitted to inspect government public records and “other matters in the custody of any officer” during office hours.
Judge Miller concurred with Barr’s interpretation of the Public Records Law and ordered Marana officials to release the report detailing Smith’s internet usage history, but allowed the town to redact the names of the Web sites in the report. Judge Miller gave Barr the option of returning to Court if the redacted copies of the report weren’t satisfactory to his client, according to the Daily Star.
Prior to last week, Marana officials had refused to acknowledge Smith’s alleged pornography viewing and refused to release any details to confirm an investigation of Smith’s department.
According to court documents filed prior to last week’s hearing, town officials acknowledged they had evidence Smith used his work computer to view pornography, but claimed that the revelation of his porn surfing had nothing to do with his resignation.
According to the documents, Smith was given a choice to resign or be fired following a month-long investigation led by Town Attorney Frank Cassidy.
Prior to last week’s hearing, Marana had released records stating that Smith had resigned for “family reasons.”
Following the hearing last week, Cassidy reiterated that Smith had been asked to resign over his poor management record and that the discovery of his porn use was merely coincidental.
That Smith would be fired was a “foregone conclusion,” Cassidy said, according to the Daily Star.
“We were already there.” Cassidy said. “This [the porn viewing] just happens to pop up at the last minute.”
According to the Daily Star, Cassidy’s investigation of the Parks Dept came after Smith was disciplined for a variety of reasons, including failure to ensure that there were food vendors operating at Marana’s December 2005 Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
Cassidy’s investigation reportedly began in February 2006, and he continued to conduct interviews of town personnel through March 28, the day before Smith resigned. The report detailing Smith’s internet usage was created on March 24, according to the Daily Star.
According to Cassidy, Smith’s porn viewing was discovered by an IT worker employed by the town. Marana monitors its employees’ Web use via software that tracks and displays what sites workers are viewing from their work machines.
On March 24, the town IT employee, who is not identified in media reports, saw a site name that was clearly pornographic and tracked the site to Smith’s computer. A report was generated showing 20 sites that Smith visited most, and the list contained pornographic sites, Cassidy told the Daily Star.
Marana has rules prohibiting employees from using their work computers or other devices for “any unauthorized, improper or illegal purposes.”
