Jury sides with Houston in lawsuit

PALMER — A jury in a civil lawsuit unanimously ruled Tuesday afternoon that the city of Houston did not act improperly when it fired its senior police officer.

The ruling brings to an end the saga of the Valley’s smallest police department, which ended operations in a cloud of acrimony in April 2012 and has not reopened since. Former Capt. Charley McAnally had accused the city of wrongful termination, and claimed whistleblower and punitive damages in association with the termination, which effectively closed the department.

The lawsuit had named Mayor Virgie Thompson, and then deputy mayor Jim Johansen, as well as then-treasurer Carolyn Grabowski and former Alaska State Trooper Dallas Massie. Grabowski was dropped from the suit last week after a judge ruled she had no supervisory capacity at the time of McAnally’s termination, though that change had not yet been reflected in online court records.

Thompson’s comments were upbeat, but measured.

“We’re just happy to be able to move on from this,” she said.

Johansen was a little more exuberant.

“Justice has prevailed,” he said, when asked for a reaction to the ruling.

Johansen’s involvement might be considered more intimate than some. McAnally had charged Johansen with assault after a heated city council meeting, a charge which authorities dismissed. Johansen was among the city’s witnesses at trial.

“I got to say some things I’d waited a long time to say,” he said. “Like explaining the entire process of the false police charge and how it was thrown out. I was happy the jury got to hear that entire thing. I was happy to explain our budgetary process.”

McAnally had been asking for approximately $16,000 in lost wages, plus punitive damages. City officials said the potential amount of punitive damages was unknowable, since juries typically determine that amount.

While city officials were happy, no lawsuit is resolved for free. City officials said they had accumulated about $118,000 in attorney’s fees. That amount doesn’t include trial fees, which the city hasn’t yet been billed, according to Thompson.

In coming days, city officials will attempt to determine whether they can recover all or a portion of the fees through insurance or other means, Thompson said.

“Our goal is to try, but we have to follow whatever guidelines are set for municipalities,” she said.

City officials don’t have any plans for the police department, which is currently beyond the city’s means, Johansen said.

“Right now, we simply can’t afford it,” he said.

The potential restoration of the department was an all-or-nothing proposition, and the resolution of the lawsuit didn’t affect plans for the department at all, Thompson said.

“Until the city’s infrastructure really grows, we won’t be able to have a successful police department,” she said. “A proper police department in my definition would be to provide 24-7, 365 coverage to our residents.”

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.