The American Canyon Fire District has rejected a Napa Valley Register demand that the agency release to the public a legal report about the payment of questionable bonuses to firefighters. As a result, the newspaper’s attorney has sent a second demand letter requesting the release of the report by Oct. 27.

The letter states that if the district, whose governing body includes the five members of the American Canyon City Council, does not release the report, then the paper may proceed with a lawsuit and a determination of whether the district has failed to comply with California open records laws.

If the district is found to have violated those laws, it may be required to turn over any improperly withheld documents, tape closed-session meetings for further judicial review and be subject to fines for misdemeanor violations of California law, according to the letter from Register attorney Roger Myers to the city of American Canyon.

The dispute arises from revelations earlier this year that the district paid at least seven firefighters bonuses for educational degrees obtained from Almeda University, an unaccredited online school that has been criticized elsewhere in the country for offering degrees while demanding little or nothing of students.

The controversy has a political tint to it because the contract granting firefighters the degrees was negotiated and approved while the American Canyon Fire District chief was Keith Caldwell, now a contestant in a heated race for Napa County supervisor in District 5, which includes American Canyon, Coombsville and part of the city of Napa.

Caldwell has acknowledged that the educational incentive was made available on his watch, but has said that at that time Almeda had not come under fire and that the contract was OK’d by other local authorities and fire agencies.

An American Canyon Fire District report released to the public earlier this year criticized the incentives, and the district has since discontinued them. The report found that Caldwell did not gain financially from the incentive program.

After that report was released, Fire Fighters Local 1186 President Kurt Henke wrote in a letter to the fire district that Caldwell encouraged  firefighters to obtain a degree from Almeda. Caldwell has said Henke’s claim is untrue.

According to American Canyon Fire District officials, this dispute spurred the district to seek a new legal report.

That board members saw the findings of the report Sept. 16. In a closed session meeting that day, the fire district board voted 3-2 not to release the report, citing attorney-client confidentiality. The confidentiality extends to which members voted to keep the report from public view.

Contending this report should be made public, the Register has pursued legal remedies under the state Public Records Act to compel the district to release the report.

A first letter from Register attorney Roger Myers, a First Amendment and media specialist in San Francisco, was delivered Sept. 22, seeking public release of the report.

In response, William Ross, the city attorney for the city of American Canyon, stated that the report is not subject to public review. “The investigative report which is requested is subject to attorney-client privilege and the investigation is ongoing at this time. Therefore, the investigative report is not subject to production under the Public Records Act,” the letter states.

The letter states that the Register is “misinformed” about the nature of the report the agency has declined to release.

The Oct. 7 letter from the Register’s attorney states the city “ignores the threshold issue” in the dispute and that “none of the exemptions cited in your Oct. 2 response to our letter allow the city to withhold the entire report.”