Phoenix attorney Troy P. Foster has filed a lawsuit on behalf of former Sedona Deputy Police Chief Ryan Kwitkin against the city of Sedona, former Sedona City Manager Karen Osburn and current Sedona City Manager Anette Spickard, Sedona Police Chief Stephanie Foley and Sedona Human Resources Director Russ Martin.
Kwitkin was terminated on July 10 and Foster filed a notice of claim on Aug. 15. The city had 60 days to respond, after which Kwitkin would be allowed to sue.
Kwitkin-Notice-of-Claim“We’re aware of it, but have not been served. No comment at this time,” Sedona City Attorney Kurt Christianson wrote on Nov. 7, the day the suit was filed.
The lawsuit makes claims of “corruption, nepotism, incompetence, fear and retaliation” within the Sedona Police Department, then repeats the text of the notice of claim almost verbatim, including many of its headlines and some of the same grammatical errors. Foster’s lawsuit also adds new allegations that were not addressed in the complaints of an alleged hostile workplace that Kwitkin made about Foley in March, nor during the two investigations, one into Foley, then one into Kwitkin, that ended with Kwitkin’s termination.
In addition to making allegations of retaliation, Kwitkin now alleges that unarmed police volunteers drive suspects from the Sedona Police Station to county jails, that the station has safety issues with jail locks, that there was possible theft from the evidence room — although neither a suspect nor what evidence was taken is specifically mentioned — and other “concerns” “expressed via email and in person with defendant Foley.”
No documentation, evidence, email records or appendices were provided in Foster’s filings to support these new allegations.
Kwitkin is demanding a jury trial and asking for back pay and reinstatement, or front pay if reinstatement is not possible, compensatory and punitive damages for violations of the Arizona Employment Protection Act, First and 14th Amendments and attorney’s fees.
No trial date has been set.
Job Performance
The lawsuit claims that “prior to raising concerns, plaintiff had no performance issues. In fact, plaintiff’s written evaluation — prior to raising concerns — indicated no concerns.” However, during the year of Kwitkin’s probationary period, starting in April 2023, public records show Kwitkin often did not take notes when being trained; “wasn’t retaining things from the last time” he was instructed; interjected and interrupted other officers during their personal or professional conversations with the chief and city staff; had a “need for constant/ continual reassurance” that he was fitting in; didn’t update his calendar so officers would know where or when he was working; often didn’t follow up with officers or staff; failed to send or respond to emails; and often failed to perform certain duties as instructed.
There were also numerous complaints made to human resources by city staff inside and outside the SPD about Kwitkin’s behavior, the tone and loudness of his voice during meetings and his comments to other staffers.
For instance, several dispatchers reported in January that they didn’t want to participate in interviews if Kwitkin was present because “they feel he dominates, his opinion is ‘most valuable’ and he doesn’t listen.”
In October, Kwitkin signed a performance review report indicating he received a score of 3.5 out of 5, between a 3.0 “Average” and 4.0 “Above Average,” with comments indicating he was “still learning the ropes” and lacked “attention to detail.”
Attachment-K-KwitkinRyan_SixMonthEvaluationForm_03262024Kwitkin signed a notice on Feb. 22 “to memorize the conversation” he had with Foley about extending his one-year probation until June 3 due to these failings, and agreed that he would take three coaching classes with a third-party consultant “to help assist you with communication and leadership skills.”
Attachment-O-Signed-Copy-of-ExtensionFoley Investigation
On March 14, three weeks after his probation period was extended, Kwitkin, Sedona Police Sgt. Laura Leon and Executive Assistant to the Chief of Police Charlene “Sherri” O’Connor filed a complaint against Foley alleging she was creating a hostile workplace, retaliated against employees, failed to provide sufficient training and orientation to new employees, failed to place Kwitkin’s probation extension of in his personnel file, failed to provide feedback about Kwitkin’s unsatisfactory performance while on probation, allowed personal feelings to influence decisions, made false statements regarding employees’ execution of their duties, made repeated references to O’Connor’s age and failed to provide performance feedback.
A third-party outside investigation firm, Revolutionary HR Consulting, interviewed 23 SPD and city employees and on May 23 cleared Foley of eight allegations, determining all eight were “not substantiated.”
Report-of-Findings_CityofSedona_May-2024-Final-ReleaseSome of the claims were directly refutable by facts, such as Kwitkin’s probation extension, which was on file with the city in February with his signature, or that O’Conner referred to herself as “Mama Sherri” or “PD Mom” — both of which were terms no officers reported ever hearing Foley say — while other of the claims had arisen due to Kwitkin’s apparent misunderstanding of police department and city policies, software and recordkeeping procedures.
O’Connor has since left the department to work for another agency.
Kwitkin Investigation
Given some of the information that emerged during interviews with officers about Foley, Revolutionary HR suggested the city investigate allegations of misconduct by Kwitkin reported by his fellow officers and police staffers.
Kwitkin was subsequently placed on paid suspension on May 24 pending an internal investigation by Martin, who interviewed 14 staffers regarding 13 allegations, 10 of which were substantiated, another of which was partially sustained and two of which were unsubstantiated.
Kwitkin-Internal-Investigation-Report-June-2024-FINAL-REPORTOne of the allegations about Kwitkin that was not substantiated by Martin suggested that Kwitkin had recruited Leon to join his complaint “and attempted to leverage Leon’s 2022” internal affairs investigation to support his allegations against Foley.
Leon’s IA investigation involved an incident on Jan. 2, 2022, when Leon had refused to respond to a call concerning a hiker who had reportedly fallen off the Sugarloaf Trail, instead suggesting that Yavapai County Search and Rescue handle the call.
Leon later reported she had the wrong coordinates, although she could not demonstrate where those coordinates had originated, while at the time dispatchers had informed her of the location, which was clearly within city limits, and requested that she respond to meet with a witness at the scene.
IA-22-001-Leon_RedactedSedona Fire District crews ultimately located the hiker, who had died, an hour later. Then-Chief Charles Husted recommended Leon for demotion from sergeant, although SPD later determined Leon was being truthful and disciplinary action against Leon was reduced to a two-day suspension and training.
Kwitkin referred to Leon’s IA in text messages to Foley in November when he recommended Foley promote Leon to lieutenant: “She passed the poly[graph]. I think she was telling the truth, but where did the coordinates come from,” Kwitkin wrote. “My thoughts are really, can I take Laura and mentor her and shape her into a good lieutenant.”
Leon was ultimately not promoted.
Grounds for Termination On June 12, Kwitkin was notified that the allegations against him included unprofessional conduct while in uniform, aggressive conduct toward staff and volunteers, violation of the notice of investigation and admonishments given prior to and during the Foley investigation, personal use of department assets — specifically trying to order the SPD’s K-9 officer, who was Kwitkin’s subordinate, to use the city’s K-9 to search his daughter’s bedroom for suspected drugs — disclosing confidential information and violating departmental and city policies governing the position of deputy chief.
The new lawsuit makes no reference to these allegations by his fellow officers and staffers.
Kwitkin was notified of the city’s intent to terminate him on July 1 and was offered a predetermination hearing. Kwitkin requested a hearing on July 3, but did not show up to either meeting offered on July 9 or 10. He was terminated on July 10.
The final assessment of the investigation, issued July 31, also added allegations of harassment, uncooperative and insubordinate actions during the investigation and failure to improve on unacceptable employee performance.
When asked about the investigations and his refusal to be interviewed, Kwitkin wrote, “What those reports contain are opinions of two investigators who wrote the summary to alter the facts. If you choose to listen to the audio statements from both investigations, you will see the summary is not consistent with the facts witnesses provided. Ultimately there is a lack of clear evidence for the investigator to have sustained the allegations against me. As for why I chose to not interview, I would refer you to my employment attorney.”
