A citizens’ group says the City of Cody is slow-walking its request for a slew of records related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ planned temple.

Members of Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods (POCN) sued the city in Park County District Court last month, saying city officials have yet to provide any of the documents that the group requested in late February.

“The city has knowingly failed and otherwise intentionally refused to provide POCN with access to public records … without cause and in open ongoing violation of the Wyoming Public Records Act,” says a portion of the June 27 complaint. It was filed by Sheridan attorney Tony Wendtland on behalf of 11 couples and individuals who live near the site of the proposed temple, west of the Cody golf course.

The City of Cody won’t file a formal response to the complaint until next month, but City Attorney Scott Kolpitcke said Wednesday that the city “has been diligently working on gathering the records.” That work has included hiring an outside law firm for assistance.

“Given the volume of emails and documents they requested, it has taken a great deal of time to review the records to determine what can and cannot be released under the Wyoming Public Records Act,” Kolpitcke said in an email. “The City continues to work on the records request [and] will release the records to the POCN as soon as possible.”

The group is seeking months of emails, texts, documents and other communications from the city relating to the proposed temple and the pending litigation. Its Feb. 29 public records request spans six pages and nearly two dozen different areas.

It’s the second substantial request that the neighbors have filed with the city. In September, they received 4.4 gigabytes worth of materials. That included some 3,900 emails, plus various documents, phone records, text messages and social media communications from city staff and planning board members.

The group is now seeking additional records — including any communications related to the ongoing legal challenges and former City Planner Todd Stowell — as part of its ongoing efforts to get the church to build the temple at another location. 

Following a series of charged public meetings last summer, Cody’s planning and zoning board approved the LDS church’s plans to build the 9,950 square foot structure off Skyline Drive. However, construction has yet to begin, as the members of the Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods have challenged the city’s approval in District Court. The group contends the planning board was wrong to approve the project, arguing the temple and its 101-foot-high tower don’t fit within the generally residential neighborhood and that Stowell, who’s a member of the LDS church, tainted the process with bias.

Retired District Court Judge John Perry heard arguments on May 23 from attorneys representing the neighbors, the church and the city. He has yet to issue a ruling.

The neighbor group had wanted the documents ahead of the May hearing and, in a June 1 letter, Wendtland charged that the city “appears to be intentionally holding up any production of requested public records to make sure that POCN and the public will not see the records produced until sometime after the … appeal hearing for the LDS Temple and during the lead up to the primary election.”

Wendtland contended the city had shown “flagrant” disregard for the Wyoming Public Records Act.

According to the law, public records must be provided within 30 days of the request “unless good cause exists preventing release.” In that case, the records are supposed to be released on “a specified date mutually agreed to by the applicant and the governmental entity.”

Wendtland demanded that the city provide the materials by June 10, but that deadline apparently came and went with no records.

The neighbor group is seeking records that include any city communications about the pending appeals and about the issuance of a building permit for the temple; Cody Mayor Matt Hall held up the permit for weeks in hopes a compromise could be struck before allowing it to be issued in September. 

Several other requests focus on any communications from or related to Stowell and Planning and Zoning Board Member Matt Moss, who is also a member of the church.

City staff have generally been in charge of handling the request, and Hall said he’s been told that a large amount of materials are involved.

In early May, the city council agreed to hire outside counsel — the firm of Williams, Porter, Day & Neville (WPDN) — to help respond to the public records request. The firm said in a letter to city officials that it would be consulting with IT experts “in an attempt to minimize the costs associated with responding to the [neighbors’] request.” Any expert services will be on top of WPDN’s work, which is being billed at rates ranging from $95 to $300 an hour.

The lead attorney on the matter is Tom Rumpke, a former district court judge from Cheyenne. He and WPDN are also representing the City of Cody in the pending appeals.

Hall said his understanding is that city personnel have “been trying to do what they can to give them [POCN] that information” from the February request, but the neighbor group charges that the city also unreasonably delayed the production of last year’s trove of records.

“The City’s repeated refusals to take its statutory responsibilities pursuant to the Wyoming Public Records Act seriously is a part of a pattern that the City has knowingly engaged in,” says a portion of the new complaint.

The neighbors are asking a judge to order the city to immediately provide the records and to pay penalties and damages to the POCN group. The members include Terry and Diana Skinner, Dan and Konnie Haman, Patrick and Lynn Pitet, Sheila and Doug Peterson, Becky Stern, Siri and Tom Blake, Carla Egelhoff, Peggy Rohrback, Brandi and Ty Nelson, Sarah McClure and Chuck and Celeste Radtke.

The city’s response is due Aug. 5.