EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to include a lawsuit filed in April by former BLP general manager Dave Walters against the utility and other elected officials.

GRAND HAVEN — A Grand Haven Board of Light & Power whistleblower is now suing the entity, claiming he was wrongfully fired in April after reporting his concerns of illegal activity by the utility’s former manager.

Matthew Sterling, who served as an IT specialist for the BLP since 2013, said former BLP General Manager Dave Walters asked in September 2022 to be shown “how to delete and purge emails so that they are not recoverable” in order to circumvent producing relevant documents as part of a Freedom of Information Act request from BLP Board member Andrea Hendrick.

Read more: Political woes in Ottawa County sink to local level as Grand Haven considers energy future

“Walters was concerned that an email he sent to another BLP employee, Renee Molyneux, would have to be produced in response to Board Member Hendrick's request, and that he did not want to produce it,” Sterling’s attorney, Sarah Riley-Howard wrote in the lawsuit filed Monday, July 15, in Ottawa County’s 20th Circuit Court.

The suit names the Grand Haven BLP and Robert Shelley, currently serving as the interim general manager after Walters was fired in January after rescinding his planned January resignation.

Sterling said Walters instructed him to delete and purge emails belonging to other BLP executives and to change the utility's email retention policy to purge after a day or two automatically. Howard said her client “understood that the purpose of the change was to remove emails from the BLP's server to evade future FOIA requests.”

Read more: Grand Haven utility fires general manager amid ongoing whistleblower investigation

Sterling said he was concerned that Walters' instructions were an illegal attempt to avoid FOIA, so he brought his concerns to his direct supervisor, Shelley, who allegedly told Sterling he no longer needed to delete emails but did need to alter the email retention policy.

Sterling lawsuit654KB ∙ PDF fileDownloadRead the lawsuit filed Monday, July 15, 2024, in Ottawa County's 20th Circuit Court.Download

Shelley did not suggest that Sterling contact the city’s attorney or the BLP Board and, instead, “implied the exact opposite — that he should not report the wrongdoing, and that he should move on and ensure that emails would be deleted before FOIA requests were received in the future,” according to the lawsuit.

Sterling opted to consult with Howard, who then assisted him in contacting city attorney Ron Bultje. Bultje then notified Grand Haven City Council in closed session and the city ultimately approved to pay for an independent investigation that addressed several allegations, including that the BLP:

• Conducted a coordinated attempt to destroy documents to circumvent a Freedom of Information Act request.
• Repeated false and misleading statements to employees regarding a proposed charter amendment to dissolve the BLP.
• Attempted to avoid compliance with the requirements of the Open Meetings Act.
• Pressured employees to sign a letter to contribute funds and distribute door signs, all opposed to the charter amendment — potentially in violation of state law.

At the time, Sterling remained anonymous, turning over approximately 200,000 emails for outside legal firm Foster Swift to review.

Read more: Grand Haven secures law firm to investigate whistleblower complaint

In its resolution to fire Walters four months later, the board said if the whistleblower accusations against him provided evidence that the BLP had cause to fire him under the terms of his contract, the GHBLP reserved the right to not pay him the benefits he was set to receive — all subject to a vote of the board.

Walters told board members in January there were no allegations against him in the whistleblower complaint, although Monday’s lawsuit seemingly challenges that claim.

The board then appointed Shelley to manage the utility. As the Foster Swift investigation got underway, Shelley initiated an investigation into Sterling “in an effort to create a record to use as pretextual justification” to fire him, the lawsuit claims.

Shelley told Sterling he was being investigated by outside IT contractors for “causing an alleged data breach” by turning over the emails to Howard, Bultje and Foster Swift investigators when reporting his concerns.

Shelley also allegedly told Sterling the BLP would sue him to recoup the costs to cover the investigation and falsely accused Sterling of being uncooperative, according to the lawsuit.

The Foster Swift report concluded in March that Sterling’s claims could not be supported by the available evidence but cautioned the BLP against taking any retaliatory action against him because his reports were based on suspected violations of the law.

Investigation Report 20242.25MB ∙ PDF fileDownloadRead the Foster Swift investigation report that was released in March 2024.Download

In Monday’s filing, Howard wrote that, although the report stated that witnesses did not substantiate Sterling’s claims that senior staff pressured employees to contribute to the campaign or that any OMA violation had occurred, “witnesses did not report what they had witnessed because they were concerned about retaliation from the BLP.”

Howard also pointed out what she perceived as flaws in the investigation, including that some BLP board members were not interviewed and that investigators conducted interviews with staff remotely, “with the employees participating at the BLP offices on a BLP laptop, and the witnesses believed that the BLP may have listened in or recorded the interviews.”

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Sterling is seeking damages for lost wages and benefits, compensatory damages for emotional and mental stress as well as punitive damages and attorney’s fees.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Court Judge Karen Miedema.

Meanwhile, Walters filed a lawsuit of his own in April against the BLP claiming he was wrongfully fired and for breach of contract as well as claims that the board violated the Open Meetings Act.

Walters lawsuit 9.45MB ∙ PDF fileDownloadRead the lawsuit filed in April against the Grand Haven BLP, Hendrick and Cummins.Download

He also sued Hendrick and former Grand Haven City Councilman Ryan Cummins as individuals for “tortious interference,” claiming they interfered with his contract with the BLP. Cummins and Hendrick have denied the allegations.

— Contact Sarah Leach at SentinelLeach@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @SentinelLeach. Subscribe to her content at sentinelleach.substack.com.