Citizen Staff Writer
A.J. FLICK
ajflick@tucsoncitizen.com
A former South Tucson grants administrator who accused the city and former Mayor Dan Eckstrom of stealing grant money has agreed to settle an anti-racketeering lawsuit.
Steven John Kreamer will accept $7,500 in lawyer fees from the city to dismiss the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed a year ago in U.S. District Court. Eckstrom was dismissed as a defendant in March.
The City Council and Mayor Jennifer Eckstrom, Eckstrom’s daughter, agreed to the settlement terms June 11.
Kreamer accused the city of over-reporting his salary to the Internal Revenue Service when he administered grants and coordinated the annual Norteño Festival.
Grants that Kreamer obtained included one from the federal Weed and Seed program to supplement law enforcement efforts, Tucson Arts Council funding for an oral history of the city and grants for the Pima Council on Aging and the University of Arizona’s Mexican American studies department.
The lawsuit didn’t specify amounts of the alleged overpayments.
Kreamer worked for the city from 1999 to 2005.
Dan Eckstrom served 17 years on the South Tucson council and 15 years on the Pima County Board of Supervisors, from which he resigned in 2003.
Under the settlement, Kreamer promised not to sue the city or current, past and future council members over the issues he raised in the lawsuit.
Kreamer also agreed not to hold Dan Eckstrom liable for any claims from Kreamer’s employment with the city, the end of his employment with the city and from issues raised in the lawsuit.
Kreamer and the city agreed that the settlement doesn’t imply improper conduct on either side.
The settlement was released Tuesday through the city’s contracted attorney, Todd Hale.
City pays $7,500 in legal fees of its former grants administrator