Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
DAVENPORT — Four allegations of misconduct made by a local man against city administrator Steve Goemmel and mayor Brad Sweet couldn’t be substantiated with evidence, according to an investigation completed by an Ephrata-based insurance company March 23 and released to The Record-Times last week.
Gary Stuckle of Davenport, who leases a hangar at the Municipal Airport, filed four complaints against Goemmel and Sweet. In response, city councilman Jonathan Chapman lobbied Clear Risk Solutions of Ephrata, the city’s insurance company, to perform an independent investigation against the accused.
Stuckle alleged the following four statements in his complaints:
Goemmel intentionally misrepresented his authority as city administrator by unliterally refusing to accept Stuckle’s notice of intention to renew his hangar lease with the city.
Goemmel entered Stuckle’s hangar on Nov. 29, 2022, to inspect the property without providing Stuckle a reasonable amount of time to prepare for the inspection or arrange to be present during the inspection.
Goemmel improperly disclosed information to Sweet regarding the inspection of Stuckle’s hangar.
Sweet refused to accept Stuckle’s trespassing complaint against Goemmel while working as a dispatcher for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigator Scott A. Neustel responded to each allegation with the following after his 29-age findings: “The preponderance of evidence did not substantiate this allegation.”
Neustel reviewed several documents in his investigation and conducted witness interviews with Stuckle, Sweet and Goemmel, according to investigation documentation.
Documents investigated and included in the findings included Stuckle’s letter of intention to renew the lease with the city in Nov. 2022, lease renewal request letters from Stuckle to the city in Dec. 2022 and Jan. 9 and complaint letters and associated attachments from Stuckle to the city Jan. 5.
Neustel also reviewed a 2018 airport hangar lease, the airport operations manual, letters from Sweet to Stuckle, city council minutes, emails between Goemmel and Stuckle, a city administrator job description, photographs of Stuckle’s hangar provided by Goemmel, the FAA Hangar Use policy and FAA and Washington State RCWs associated with registering aircraft.
“The complaint, in my opinion…is Gary’s way to redirect the actual issue at hand and that being a request a year ago for Mr. Stuckle to come in compliance with his lease terms and the policy of the FAA on hangar use,” Goemmel said. “By making complaints against staff, and the mayor for dubious reasons, further distracted from the issue at hand and seems to be an attempt to continue to buy time and keep his cheap mini storage.”
Sweet declined to comment on the findings, stating he hadn’t had a chance to read through documents. Stuckle couldn’t be reached for comment by press time.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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