A former city of Aztec employee has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city in the 10th U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.
Wallace Begay, a 23-year employee, names the city, former city manager Jeff Blackburn, former employees Denver DeWees and Charles Dobey, current employee Edward Kotyk and former city commissioner Colby Lane King in the lawsuit.
Begay is seeking economic, compensatory and declaratory relief, along with a jury trial.
The 90-page complaint filed June 8 alleges defamation, civil rights violations, whistleblower retaliation and a rigged procurement process of which Begay said he suffered from race and age discrimination, retaliation and a coordinated effort to oust him.
The city of Aztec through an attorney, Thomas Isaacson, of Mason and Isaacson in Gallup, on July 16 filed a motion to dismiss the case asserting that Begay failed “to state a claim against it for which relief can be granted.”
However, Begay’s lawsuit clearly states what he is seeking and why.
Begay worked as Aztec’s director of information technology for 23 years before being terminated in August 2024. He also managed the city airport.
Begay filed the case on a pro-se basis, meaning he is representing himself.
“I did this without a lawyer. I contacted more than 30 attorneys and law firms. Some couldn’t take new cases. Some didn’t handle this kind of matter,” Begay said, adding at the same time his wife’s health began to decline.
“The situation became more and more challenging. I did not let it go. I used every resource I could find, learned what I had to learn, and met every deadline on my own,” Begay said.
Begay said he built the city’s information technology “from the ground up,” protecting its network “so effectively that when every surrounding municipality – including Farmington and Bloomfield – had their networks hacked and held for ransom,” Aztec was safe.
The complaint states that Begay, as the only Native American department head, simultaneously managed two departments – IT and the airport – and received satisfactory or above performance ratings for the first 10 years of his career.
However, under Blackburn’s leadership, KOSH Solutions was contacted and hired to take over the IT department without consultation from Begay, the complaint states.
It alleges Blackburn “made false written statements about” Begay and the IT department to KOSH Solutions.
“Fifteen days later, Blackburn emailed the city attorney stating he was convinced we have more than enough documentation to let Wallace go,” the complaint said.
“What followed was nine months of manufactured discipline, a rigged procurement process, a corrupted grievance investigation, deliberate post-termination personnel file falsification, and the systematic destruction of a 23-year career – all of it documented, much of it in the defendants’ own words,” the lawsuits states.
The city of Aztec in a July 16 memorandum in support of its motion to dismiss writes, “that the Procurement Code, privacy, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and tortious interference with prospective employment claims all fail as a matter of law and should be dismissed” and “may not be brought against public entities.”
The memorandum also states that Begay’s lawsuit should be dismissed because of his failure to file a tort claim notice.
DeWees, Dobey, Kotyk and King have not filed responses to the federal lawsuit, according to court records.
Begay was the only Native American department head to be dismissed by Blackburn, and Begay says his allegations are supported by emails, notes and internal documents.
His complaint states that Blackburn, DeWees, Dobey, Kotyk and King “each played documented roles in the campaign against him” and “it was coordinated, deliberate and in several instances documented in their own emails and handwritten notes.”
Begay told the Tri-City Record that when he learned all of this he felt “disbelief and confusion, for sure.”
If he is successful with his claim, he hopes to receive back pay from Aug. 12, 2024, through the date of judgment, including salary suppression, denied cost of living adjustments, unpaid airport management compensation, and three-day suspension wages, in an amount to be proven at trial.
Begay also seeks liquidated damages, front pay, which would include his future earnings from the date of judgment through his planned retirement in 2038, as well as PERA retirement loss, compensatory damages and injunctive relief.
Finally, Begay is seeking “crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege, referral to state authorities, attorney fees and costs and he demands a trial by jury on all issues so triable,” the lawsuit states.
Begay, who earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Fort Lewis College in Durango, said he briefly worked in the private sector and worked at San Juan College before taking the job as IT director with Aztec.
He said he still would like an attorney to take his case, adding “honestly, I do not know how (things) will go for me,” but he feels positive about it.
“I will see this case through to the end, God willing. At the same time, my search for a lawyer continues,” Begay said.