At their Feb. 24 meeting, the Medford City Council unanimously passed a resolution to request a comprehensive litigation report from Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn and her administration of all lawsuits the city has been served since 2019. With the city facing one of its most high-profile legal challenges in the form of a federal lawsuit over the Values-Aligned Local Investments Ordinance, the resolution has caused a clash between councilors and the mayor.
Sponsored by Council President Zac Bears and Councilors Justin Tseng and George Scarpelli, the resolution notes that the City Council does not receive regular updates about Medford’s litigation. The resolution’s wording argues that the lack of litigation information prevents the council from performing its duties as an authority over where funds are allocated.
“It’s my responsibility as City Council president and the responsibility of the City Council to understand what’s going on with the legal and contract liability and exposure from the administration so that we can fix it, preserve the trust of residents and ensure that we aren’t losing out on much-needed revenue for city services,” Bears told the Daily.
The resolution also raises concerns about a spike in unfair labor practice charges filed against the city between 2020 and 2024, which increased by 573% compared to the period between 2011 and 2019.
The resolution asks the mayor’s office to present a comprehensive report of all lawsuits and other legal actions, along with the financial costs of each process, by the end of April. As resolutions are non-binding proposals, Lungo-Koehn is not required to follow the council’s request and she has not yet moved to create the report.
However, Bears did not rule out the possibility of more restrictive legal action, such as an ordinance, to acquire the report from the mayor’s office.
While Lungo-Koehn did not comment on the specific language of the resolution, she expressed that the mayor’s office had been transparent with litigation history during her tenure. She also primarily attributed the increased number of unfair labor practices to Scarpelli and Steve South, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 25 and the union’s former representative to the city. She accused South of filing over 50 labor grievances in her first term.
South did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily.
The mayor argued that new conversations with unions have also led to more labor practice lawsuits. “We’ve never had a professional, experienced HR director until the last three years,” Lungo-Koehn said. “It’s been something that our unions are not used to and gradually they are getting used to it. … With that comes grievances.”
Council Vice President Emily Lazzaro claimed that Medford’s lack of a city solicitor in recent years has hindered transparent conversations between the City Council and the mayor’s office, in particular because the city structure grants most departmental oversight to the mayor.
Bears alleged that Lungo-Koehn sought to fire the city solicitor with Bears’ assistance without explanation after November’s local elections. KP Law, an independent law firm that works with the city, has been offering the mayor legal advice on city actions.
Bears argued that leaving only the private firm in charge of legal considerations has left Medford with an unsustainable solution for resolving the city’s legal issues.
“We’re deeply concerned about the mayor’s recent actions regarding legal contract matters and the exposure it creates for the City of Medford,” Bears said. “On election night, the Mayor came to me and asked me to help her fire the city solicitor. I immediately declined, and days later, the City Council received an email that he had been terminated without explanation. In the months before and after, we’ve seen more issues piling up.”
At their April 7 meeting, the City Council approved settlement amounts for eight pending lawsuits against Medford. The amounts range from $3,000 to $235,000 on various issues, including insurance claims and collective bargaining complaints.
Lungo-Koehn also accused Bears and Scarpelli of working together to make a resolution that could boost Bears’ political ambitions.
“It’s been six plus years that I’ve been mayor and I think they’re looking to make it an issue against me specifically,” Lungo-Koehn said. “I think that the president of the council and Councilor Scarpelli have joined forces and it’s going to be part of a political campaign for when the president runs for mayor in 2027.”
Bears has not publicly announced plans to launch a mayoral campaign. In February, he announced he would not seek the open state senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Pat Jehlen.
“I think it’s a disservice that the mayor is treating this as some sort of vendetta and letting her fears about the next election get in the way of doing what’s right for Medford,” Bears said of Lungo-Koehn’s claims.
Scarpelli did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily.
The resolution has exacerbated tensions between the mayor and City Council over a lawsuit filed against the city for its Values-Based Ordinance. The ordinance was signed into law in November, overriding Lungo-Koehn’s initial veto after she and KP Law cited legal and financial concerns.
The city council is planning to hear a resolution next week requesting $75,000 from the mayor to fund the legal defense of the lawsuit against the city for the Values-Based Ordinance.
While the lawsuit names both the City Council and the mayor’s administration as defendants, Lungo-Koehn blamed the council for choosing to move ahead with the ordinance even after the veto.
“I vetoed the ordinance based on legal and financial reasons, not moral. They overrode my veto, so you have to ask them why they are choosing to disregard my veto and, more importantly, disregard the legal memo to them identifying all the legal issues that came with passing the most broad values-based ordinance in the country,” she said.
Bears and Lazzaro defended the City Council’s decision to override the mayor’s veto on the ordinance, citing the need to take potentially risky actions on issues important to Medford residents. Lazzaro also highlighted the difference between unfair labor practice litigation and the lawsuit over the ordinance.
“We have to calculate that risk and decide whether or not it’s worth doing, and I think that making those choices was very different from arguments with unions and unfair labor practice lawsuits,” Lazzaro said.
While there has not yet been a legal outcome in the Values-Based Ordinance lawsuit, Lungo-Koehn noted that similar federal lawsuits have cost neighboring townships millions of dollars in settlements.
