Provo, family resume talks

PROVO — Talks resumed Wednesday between Provo and the family of Scott Aston, who died in October after a Provo dispatcher mishandled his 911 call.

The family has asked the city to respond by Friday to a settlement proposal made last month. Otherwise, the Astons plan to move forward with a lawsuit.

The development came one day after Mayor Lewis Billings allowed the City Council to review reports and other documents related to the incident nine months to the day after Aston died of unknown causes. The mayor shared the reports during a marathon closed session that totaled four hours. The meeting began in the afternoon and stretched for three hours, then adjourned so the council could hold its regularly scheduled public meeting.

The council returned to the closed session shortly after 10 p.m. and met for another hour. Afterward, the mayor and council released a terse joint statement:

"After further opportunity to review the facts and documents related to this matter, it is the unanimous position of the municipal council and the mayor that the legal matters relating to the Aston 911 issue involving the city are being prudently handled. All substantive facts and information relating to this case have been released to the public through the media."

The statement surprised the Aston family's attorney, Justin Heideman, because the family hoped new information was available in the reports and because it was signed by Councilman Steve Turley, who previously expressed frustration that he had not been able to review two key reports prior to Tuesday's meeting. Turley lobbied several council members before the meeting in an attempt to get them to vote for his proposal for an independent investigation by the council.

No investigation was announced, and the only thing Turley would say Wednesday about the closed session was that the council was able to review the reports.

Councilwoman Midge Johnson said the council would allow the statement to speak for itself.

"We were able to go through all the documents," she said. "It's in the court's hands now. I feel the city staff has handled it well."

Heideman still wants access to the two reports, one prepared by the city and another by Ogden dispatch experts, but city spokeswoman Raylene Ireland has said that much of the information has been released previously.

City officials have refused to release the reports because they were prepared in anticipation of litigation. Documents prepared in anticipation of litigation, they believe, are exempt from disclosure under the Government Records Access Management Act, which the Deseret Morning News has used to request the reports.