11:45 a.m.Nearly two months after the Napa Valley Register first requested release of an American Canyon report on bonus payments to firefighters — and four weeks after the city agreed to release it — the American Canyon City Council has not made public the report.

The report is the second study the city sought on the payments of bonuses to firefighters for degrees they earned from Almeda University, an unaccredited online school whose degrees have stirred controversy in agencies across the country.

The first study, released earlier this year, showed that the bonus program had benefited seven firefighters and cost the city about $36,000.

Keith Caldwell, the American Canyon Fire Chief at the time of the awards and now Napa County Supervisor-elect for District 5, did not personally benefit from the program, according to the report. However, the report stated the bonuses had been improper and recommended that the city immediately suspend the program.

Subsequently, conflicting assertions about the role that Caldwell — then it a hotly-contested race for supervisor against former Napa County Sheriff Gary Simpson — played in creating the incentives and alerting the city to controversy about them spurred the city to launch the second study.

On Sept. 16, the city council — which also serves as the American Fire District Board of Directors — announced that the results of the second probe would remain under wraps, protected by attorney-client privilege.

The Register, in a Sept. 22 letter citing California’s Public Records Act and another open records law called the Brown Act, sought release of the report within 10 days.

On Oct. 2, the city responded to the Register’s demand letter. City Attorney Bill Ross stated that the report was privileged and would not be released, asserting the Register’s analysis of the report and whether it should be made public was “misinformed and misplaced.”

Register attorney Roger Myers sent the city a second letter on Oct. 7, demanding release of the letter by Oct. 17. The letter countered the city’s contention that the report could be withheld from the public, and pointed out the city had not responded to specific concerns in the first letter.

On Oct. 23, American Canyon City Attorney Bill Ross sent a letter to the American Canyon City Council, describing events during an Oct. 21 meeting of the board.

The letter states that “district staff and counsel were instructed to release the second independent review of the educational incentive issue for the fire district, subject to the preservation of applicable privileges, upon conclusion of the discussions of the matter with district firefighters.”

That was four weeks ago.

Asked again about the report this week, City Attorney Bill Ross offered no further comment on when or whether the city would release the report, saying it remained in the hands of the firefighters.

Roger Myers, attorney for the Register, asserted that the firefighters have no legal claim to be able to withhold or release the report, and that the responsibility remains with the fire district board.

In the Register’s Oct. 7 letter to the district, Myers pointed out that a judicial finding of failure on the city’s part to follow the Public Records Act could result in a decision to turn over the report and an award of attorney’s fees.

The city has not responded directly to the Register’s Oct. 7 letter.

Register Staff Writer Kerana Todorov contributed to this report.