Three top Fort Myers city officials have been summoned to sit for depositions under oath in a suit filed by former Fort Myers Police Inspector General Donald Oswald against the city.
Mayor Kevin Anderson, City Manager Marty Lawing and City Attorney Grant Alley have all been subpoenaed to give depositions. Anderson and Lawing have testified; Alley is to give his testimony later this month.
Depositions are oral testimony taken from a person who is called as a witness in a pending legal case. Statements made in the depositions can be read back to the trier of fact, which can be either the jury or the judge, depending on whether the case goes to a jury trial.
The lawsuit claims that during a meeting of high-level police officials, some senior members of the department attempted to cover up cost overruns of up to $36 million for the since-abandoned plan to renovate the former News-Press property at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Fowler Street for use as police headquarters.
The notices to appear for the depositions were served on behalf of Oswald. In the depositions, his attorneys question the local officials, and counsel to the city also has the opportunity to cross examine the city leaders called to testify.