Palm Springs councilmembers request new investigation into Mayor’s office recordings

UPDATE: Two Palm Springs City Councilmembers are requesting an internal investigation into Mayor Robert Moon’s alleged office surveillance recordings. Councilmembers Christy Holstege and Geoff Kors want the discussion to be placed on agenda for the nextmeeting, July 11th.

The pair has released the following statement to KESQ News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 on Saturday.

As the members of the City Council who serve on the ad hoc employment subcommittee, we have requested that a discussion item be placed on the July 11th City Council meeting relating to surveillance equipment that Mayor Moon placed in his office and the office of an employee.

We have received multiple requests for information from Palm Springs residents and from the media. We firmly believe this process should happen in an open public meeting and in a transparent process that is available to the public.

In response, the Subcommittee will be requesting that an independent investigation be undertaken to ascertain and report on the facts so that Council can take any necessary steps to protect the City and ensure the public has accurate information about what occurred.

We are concerned about false information that is being shared. However due to this matter involving City employees, and because of Attorney Client privileged communications, it is inappropriate for any member of council to be sharing information publicly at this time. The attorney client privilege can be legally waived but only by a vote of the Council which has not yet occurred. In addition, in order to ensure the integrity of an independent investigation, we will not be further commenting until the Council meeting on July 11th.

The City of Palm Springs and the City Council remains committed to the highest level of ethics and transparency and we will continue to protect and promote those values.

ORIGINAL STORY: A law enforcement investigation into the Mayor of Palm Springs recording people in his office has been dismissed. Last week the Mayor made a public announcement about the allegations during a city council meeting. Other city councilmembers were the people who made the allegations.

According to the city attorney the complaints were brought to his attention back in April. Mayor Moon says he didn’t learn of the complaints or even that there was an investigation underway until last Wednesday.

“You can criticize what I do, or what I think or what I say, but to criticize my integrity, really, really hurts a lot,” Moon said.

Moon was accused of secretly recording people in his office and potentially eavesdropping on conversations using a Blink security camera and an amazon intercom system.

“The technology wasn’t there. The system in the office is a simple Blink system. If someone enters my office at night, when it’s turned on, it will alert me on my Iphone and take a ten second video,” Moon said.

Moon says he bought the device because there are no security systems at City Hall and believed items in his office may have been moved. He says it’s an issue he brought to the city attorney’s attention, but could not be resolved. As for the intercom device, Moon says it would be impossible to hear the person on the other end unless the user pressed the button to activate access to a conversation.

City attorney, Edward Kotkin, and the city manager brought the allegations to Moon’s attention last Wednesday before a city council meeting.

“The city manager and I, without getting into the details, made it clear the items had to be removed, the Mayor was agreeable to that,” Kotkin said.

Moon made a public statement during a city council meeting that night.

“There was no time that I ever recorded a meeting in my office. At no time did I ever eavesdrop on anything going on in the executive assistant’s office,” Moon said during the Wednesday night meeting.

Before that meeting, an investigation had been conducted.

“We conferred extensively with outside council who recommended that we refer the matter to law enforcement. We did so. And law enforcement, about three weeks after the referral, and i think we made the referral on about the 18th if memory serves, law enforcement decided around May 10, that law enforcement had no interest in pursuing the matter,” Kotkin said.

Kotkin says a new policy is being developed prohibiting these kinds of devices.

“We don’t feel like these types of devices have a place in a governing facility where we’re doing the people’s business.”

There was no policy put in place when Moon had those devices in his office. According to the city attorney, there were no videos found on the mayor’s devices.