What you need to know:

• The Palmer City Council will investigate the actions of former City Manager Stephen Jellie, focusing first on about 120 emails that officials say Jellie deleted in the hours surrounding his resignation. The scope of the full investigation will be discussed at a council meeting next month.
• Palmer Mayor Steve Carrington is facing a recall effort for drafting Jellie's severance agreement without full council input and for allegedly violating open meeting rules by not presenting the agreement to the public.
• Jellie resigned this month amid a series of controversies, including allegations of labor law violations. He held the position for 53 days and will receive a $75,000 payout as part of his resignation agreement.

PALMER — Palmer officials will investigate former City Manager Stephen Jellie’s actions during his brief employment, even as the city’s mayor faces a recall effort over his handling of Jellie’s severance agreement, which included a large payout.

The Palmer City Council voted Tuesday to begin their investigation by reviewing about 120 emails that city technology officials said Jellie deleted in his final hours on the job.

Jellie resigned earlier this month after a tumultuous 53-day tenure marked by allegations of labor law violations and rumors of planned cuts to the city’s public safety budget. He received a $75,000 payout as part of his separation agreement.

The agreement prevents Jellie and the city from suing each other and bars officials from sharing details of his resignation with Jellie’s potential future employers. Jellie and city officials signed the agreement Oct. 10, the day after he resigned during a closed session with the City Council.

It was Jellie’s third such exit from a city in less than two years, with previous payouts totaling $200,000 following resignations in Ogdensburg, New York, and Jackson, Wyoming.

[Related: The city of Palmer has a new interim manager]

City officials said they are concerned Jellie deleted the emails to conceal his actions.

“Just the fact they were deleted when they were, that, to me, is a pretty big red flag,” Councilor Tudor said. Tudor worked with city technology officials to recover the emails from the server. “I think that warrants our investigation so we can determine where to go from there.”

In an interview Wednesday, Jellie said he did not delete any emails after his resignation and does not know why the council or technology officials believe he did.

“I have never deleted any email, never, not one time in the city of Palmer,” he said, adding that he periodically deleted messages no longer needed, such as those related to scheduling meetings.

“I use my inbox as a true inbox. When I complete a task, I either put it in a folder or delete it,” he said.

The council will receive the deleted emails after a credentialed public safety official reviews them to ensure they are free of sensitive police investigation information or protected employee data. The laptop Jellie used during his employment is sealed in a state trooper evidence locker in case its contents are needed later, City Attorney Sarah Heath said at the meeting.

Jellie said the new email review is part of a smear campaign aimed at preventing him from securing a new job.

“Councilor Tudor, unfortunately, I believe is participating in an effort to just create headlines that will smear my reputation and keep me from getting employment,” he said.

The council voted to postpone discussion on the investigation’s next steps and its full scope and focus. The decision followed a heated debate over how to handle the deleted emails, who can legally read them, and what specific issues should be investigated. The council also discussed whether to include the actions of current employees in the investigation and whether to hire an outside attorney. The vote on the investigation is scheduled for Nov. 12.

Jellie said he welcomes a review.

“I would fully participate in any investigation,” he said. “I told the council I would do that when we agreed to part ways, that I have absolutely nothing to hide.”

Council members Victoria Hudson and Carolina Anzilotti questioned the value of spending city money on an investigation that cannot result in a lawsuit because of the terms of Jellie’s separation agreement.

“We’ve already spent an absurd amount of money and resources on Stephen Jellie, and now you want to spend more on the same investigation? It’s outrageous,” Hudson said at the meeting.

Hudson said any investigation should focus primarily on Palmer Mayor Steve Carrington, who worked with an outside attorney to draft Jellie’s separation agreement before the closed session, instead of allowing the council to workshop its terms. She said that action was improper.

She also criticized Carrington for returning a city laptop to Jellie after he left during an emotionally charged meeting earlier this month during which members of the public called for his firing. Jellie did not return for the rest of the meeting. His exit was perceived by the public as an attempt to avoid his accusers, they said at the time. 

Carrington said he gave Jellie the laptop because Jellie was still a city employee at the time and had requested it. He said he worked with an attorney to draft the agreement before the closed session so the council could have a template.

Jellie said he left the meeting due to pain from what he later learned was a large kidney stone. He said he requested the laptop so he could watch the meeting from outside the council chambers, not to delete emails.

“I was suffering — I didn’t know at the time — from a horrible kidney stone,” he said. “It felt like somebody was stabbing me in the back with a knife. I got up to walk around during the break, hoping it would get better. It got worse.”

Jellie said he saw a doctor in the emergency room last week.

“I’d be happy to show anyone my doctor’s note that I was in the emergency room, and I’ve got my kidney stone in a little bag if anyone if anyone would really like to see that,” he said.

On Monday, Palmer resident Cindy Hudgins filed an application for a petition to recall Carrington. Hudgins, who helped lead a campaign that successfully recalled three city council members in 2022, said Carrington violated open meeting rules when he presented Jellie’s separation agreement to the council because it wasn’t made public first.

“The one person that needs to be investigated is the mayor and his interactions with the city manager,” Hudgins said during public comment at Tuesday’s meeting. “The people have spoken — we’ve started putting together a recall, and that will be happening.”

Carrington, who served more than a decade on the council before being elected to the mayor’s seat in an uncontested race in 2022, said he has no plans to step down.

“I’m beginning to see why nobody else wanted to be mayor two years ago when I ran,” he said.

Recall applications must be signed by 10 Palmer voters and certified by the city clerk before a recall petition is issued. The petition must then be signed by a number of registered voters equal to 25% of those who voted in the city’s last election, according to Palmer law. After the clerk certifies the petition, a recall election must be held within 90 days. About 230 people voted in Palmer’s October election.

— Contact Amy Bushatz at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.

This story was updated Oct. 24 to clarify the duration of Carrington's previous city council service.