The Circuit Court for Harford County has ruled that county government officials violated state law regarding a public information request from Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler and must provide him with the emails he has requested.

The sheriff had asked the county to release communications which he believes will outline a conflict of interest between the county executive’s office and an architectural firm that was critical of plans for a new central police precinct and training facility.

County Executive Bob Cassilly said the county did not fulfill Gahler’s request because it is his policy not to search electronic servers unless ordered to do so.

“We got referred to the Office of Special [Counsel] last time we reviewed emails so we don’t search email servers unless someone tells us we are not going to get indicted for it,” Cassilly said. He was referring to an open criminal investigation into allegations from County Council member Aaron Penman that Cassilly had been illegally wiretapping county employees.

The Maryland Public Information Act Compliance Board ruled in March that Cassilly’s administration had full legal right to search their servers and that by neglecting to do so, they violated state law. The board ordered Cassilly’s administration to disclose all records in Gahler’s request.

Cassilly appealed that ruling to the Harford County Circuit Court. The court ruled last week that the county was in violation of state law and is obligated to provide records to Gahler.

“Last time we searched the servers, Gahler sent out two senior investigators to interrogate my people in their homes on a Sunday night,” Cassilly said. “Now the judge is telling me to search them so I am going to do it because I can’t be indicted for doing what a judge tells me to do.”

Gahler’s request stems from an ongoing feud with Cassilly about the construction of a central precinct and training facility off Technology Drive in Aberdeen that was approved under former County Executive Barry Glassman’s administration.

The project was initially overseen by the county-approved vendor, Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates, which also oversaw expansion of the county jail, construction of the southern precinct and expansion of the Bel Air Police Department.

Cassilly hired an outside consultant to do a feasibility report on the project. Completed by the architectural firm, Manns Woodward Studios, the report said, among other things, that the location of the project was not feasible and that it should not be carried out. Cassilly then shelved the project and cut the $2 million Glassman had reserved for project renovations.

Gahler’s first public information request called the feasibility report into question and the county responded to it, Gahler said. In part of the MPIA response from the county, Gahler found proposed plans for a 17-building public safety campus off Shucks Road with the logo for Manns Woodward Studios stamped at the bottom. He speculated that, based on similar projects completed by the firm, the proposed campus project would cost upwards of $200 million.

“He wants to build a $200 million project off of Shucks Road while saying he can’t afford a $25 million project that was already approved by the county,” Gahler said.

But the cost was not Gahler’s main concern. Gahler questioned if there is a potential conflict of interest since the same firm that essentially killed plans for the central precinct had apparently proposed new plans to the county.

Based on his suspicions, Gahler submitted a second MPIA request that sought documents since December 2022 that included archived letters and emails from county employees, that mentioned “MW Studios Architecture Master Planning,” as well as any emails sent or received by an address ending with “@mwsarch.com.”

Gahler said the focus of his second request was to gain “more transparency concerning the actions of the Cassilly administration and their relationship with MW Studios.”

The second request — sent in September 2023 — was refused by the county on Nov. 15.

“If you’re doing the public’s business, these are documents the public has a right to see to ensure that things that are nefarious in nature haven’t taken place,” Gahler said. “They don’t want to give the documents to me which, as a police officer, raises my suspicion that there is something there they don’t want me to see.”

Cassilly said Manns Woodward Studios was not hired to kill the plans for the central precinct and that their report was independent.

“Manns and Woodward is a highly respected engineering firm that specializes in things like building police precincts up and down the East Coast,” Cassilly said. “They weren’t hired to come to that conclusion. I think it is outrageous that Jeff Gahler would insinuate that Manns Woodward was giving a false report.”

Cassilly explained that once his staff returns from holiday break, they will begin searching the email servers to fill the remainder of Gahler’s request.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.