The town of Spruce has agreed to pay $57,000 to the attorney who filed an open records lawsuit to obtain documents regarding use of Holt Park, according to Town Clerk Barb Baugnet.
After winning his lawsuit against the town, attorney James Webster originally sought $72,548.11 for his legal costs. The town offered $47,215. Webster sought $57,000 in a counter-offer, which the town accepted, according to Baugnet.
The settlement became final Feb. 21 at a hearing before Oconto County Circuit Judge Michael Judge.
The town also has paid, as of Dec. 31, its attorney, Vance Waggoner, $15,395 for his work in the case. Baugnet said Waggoner has not yet presented his final bill.
The fees stemmed from a lawsuit Webster began in 2011 after becoming concerned about the town’s operation of a 48-site campground on land the Holt Lumber Company deeded to town residents in 1923 for use as a park.
According to court documents, Webster, a Chicago attorney with a summer residence on Kelly Lake, called the campground a gated community, not a public park, as campers parked their trailers year round and permanently landscaped the sites on which the town collects fees.
Webster’s representatives twice met with Baugnet to view records Webster requested. However, Baugnet halted the review on advice of Waggoner.
During 2011 Baugnet and Webster communicated about the park records and the cost to provide them. In October 2011, Webster filed a writ of mandamus with Circuit Judge Jay Conley requesting the town produce the requested records or state why it would not.
In response, Baugnet met with Webster to make all requested records available for review. Afterward, Webster requested records, including the general ledger, which he believed still had not been produced, and the dispute went back to Conley.
Conley said that Webster’s requests were ambiguous and some requested records might not exist. Conley found, however, that Baugnet could not deny his request because she had not previously objected to providing the records.
Conley eventually dismissed the case, finding that Baugnet acted in “good faith in a complex record request.”
He denied Webster’s petition, saying Waggoner could have provided the information Webster sought.
Webster appealed, and, in June, the District III Court of Appeals reversed Conley, ordered the town to give Webster access to the general ledger, and returned the case to the county to determine costs owed Webster.
Calls to Webster and his attorney for comment on how the requested information would be used were not returned before deadline.
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