Former Peoria attorney alleges top officials plotted to defame her to save airport plan

An alleged scheme by top Peoria officials to keep the former city attorney away from overseeing their plans to purchase state trust land and develop an airport is at the heart of a countersuit she filed against the city this month.

Vanessa Hickman, Peoria’s former city attorney, accuses Mayor Jason Beck, City Manager Henry Darwin and Assistant City Manager Rick Buss of plotting to discredit her to her new employer, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

In her new role, Hickman is responsible for oversight of several agencies, including the Arizona State Land Department.

The city officials, Hickman claimed, sought to get her fired as they saw her as a potential impediment on the runway to bringing a municipal airport to Peoria — one of Beck’s chief campaign commitments.

Hickman alleges that all three, or people they know, likely would benefit financially from an airpark at a new airport.

Her countersuit comes after the city sued her and Cathy Carlat , Peoria’s former mayor, to recoup roughly $139,000 in severance money Hickman received when leaving the city in January 2023.

The city argues that Hickman voluntarily resigned and wasn’t entitled to a full payout. It alleges she breached her employment contract by accepting the $218,715 lump sum payment.

Hickman and Carlat have denied any wrongdoing.

Peoria’s claims that Hickman unlawfully accepted taxpayer money was at the center of its effort to slander her, she contends.

In her countersuit filed Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court, Hickman alleged the city tried to defame her and intentionally interfered with her current employment.

The city officials, the counterclaim stated, “acted improperly with malice, specific intent to harm, and vindictiveness.”

She’s seeking compensatory and punitive damages against the three officials, as well as attorney’s fees.

Responding to the countersuit in an emailed statement, the city called Hickman’s allegations “unfounded” and “are merely intended to distract the court from the merits of our claim.”

Why does the city want its money back?

Peoria’s complaint filed in March hinges on the interpretation of language in Hickman’s employment agreement with the city.

Under the agreement, Hickman would receive half of her earned and unused sick leave and all unused personal leave if she resigned “in good standing.” If the City Council voted to fire her or if she separated “in lieu of termination,” she would be eligible for severance pay.

The city argues Hickman’s resignation letter didn’t state she was leaving or resigning to avoid termination, and that she should have received about $79,920.

Hickman, however, argues that the “separation in lieu of termination” clause isn’t defined in her employee contract. The agreement also doesn’t outline specific events that need to occur before invoking the clause.

With Beck winning Peoria’s mayoral election, Hickman believed his new administration would clean house: “sweep out the old and bring in the new.”

That started with tapping Darwin to replace outgoing City Manager Jeff Tyne, who announced his retirement in November 2022 . Two of his deputies followed him out the door.

The third, Katie Gregory, was fired in March 2023.

She was one of a handful of women Hickman’s counterclaim points to who either were removed, terminated or demoted since Beck was sworn in. Many of those women, Hickman says in her lawsuit, were 50 or older.

Hearing from others that her job would be in jeopardy under Beck, Hickman resigned, invoking the separation in lieu of termination clause, before the new administration took over.

The anticipation that Beck would be making management changes represented the type of scenario the clause is meant to cover, she argues.

“It allowed the City Attorney to separate from employment without any ‘stain’ on her record,” the countersuit stated, adding, “There was no attempt by Vanessa Hickman to hide that she was separating in lieu of termination.”

What’s the airport's role in the alleged scheme?

After leaving Peoria, Hickman went to work for Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.

As the state government division chief, Hickman oversees agencies including the Arizona State Land Department.

The city has been working with the department to unlock 8,300 acres of state trust land in Peoria, making parcels available for auction to prospective commercial and residential developers.

Peoria has its eyes on a 500-acre portion for Beck’s long-desired airport.

With that goal in mind, the city has set aside roughly $87.3 million toward the land’s purchase, feasibility studies and capital improvements.

There was a potential snag in the plan, though, according to the countersuit. It was Hickman herself.

Believing Hickman in her new role “might put impediments” in their campaign to use state trust land for the airport Beck, Darwin and Buss planned to use the severance pay issue to discredit her at the Attorney General’s Office, the countersuit alleges.

Buss and a city lobbyist contacted Mayes and one of her chief deputies, advising them that Hickman had taken public funds unlawfully, she alleges in the countersuit.

Their “intent in discussing these matters with Ms. Hickman’s employers was to get her fired from her position with the Arizona Attorney General, and/or to prevent her from having any oversight over the City of Peoria's request to use State Trust Lands,” the filing states.

That call prompted Hickman to file a $1 million defamation claim against the city last summer.

Peoria leaders will get their first briefing Tuesday night on the series of city-sanctioned studies to evaluate the feasibility of developing the municipal airport.

How does the assistant city manager fit into this?

For Buss, the attempt to get Hickman fired was a retaliatory move, Hickman alleged.

Around the time Gregory was fired, the city rehired Buss, the former economic development director. This time he would serve directly under Darwin as assistant city manager.

During his first stint working for Peoria, he also worked as an outside consultant and adviser for public and private sector groups, court documents show.

In her countersuit, Hickman explains that she was involved in Buss’ termination from the city.

Buss was fired in May 2021, she said, “for using his position, resources and knowledge of development prospects in Peoria to serve his personal consulting clients.”

Buss went on to work at Beck’s company, Tyr Tactical, as its director of government relations.

Hickman claims that Buss was actively involved in Beck’s election campaign and that she knew he would be returning to Peoria under Beck.

When Buss was rehired, it was done so without any formal process, such as a job posting or candidate interviews, according to Hickman’s filing.

“Ms. Hickman reasonably anticipated that he would act vindictively to her,” the counterclaim stated.

Darwin told The Arizona Republic last year that Buss never was employed by the campaign and that Buss was never promised a position with the city if Beck won.

“Any claim or innuendo to the contrary is false," Darwin said at the time.

No court hearings have been scheduled for the case as of Monday.

Shawn Raymundo covers the West Valley cities of Glendale, Peoria and Surprise. Reach him at sraymundo@gannett.com or follow him on X @ShawnzyTsunami.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Former Peoria attorney alleges top officials plotted to defame her to save airport plan