The city of Colorado Springs on Friday released the $1.15 million separation agreement of former Memorial Health System CEO Dr. Larry McEvoy.

But the vast majority of the 10-page document was redacted.

“We are unable to release Dr. McEvoy’s severance agreement as it is part of his ‘personnel file,’” Cindy Aubrey, the mayor’s chief communications officer, said in an email.

“Under CORA, personnel files cannot be released,” she wrote, referring to the Colorado Open Records Act.

“However, CORA requires that ‘amounts paid and benefits provided’ incident to termination be released. Therefore, the City is willing to release the severance agreement as it relates to ‘amounts paid and benefits provided.’ As you will see, the vast majority of the agreement is redacted. The provisions dealing with payment, payment schedule, vacation payout, payment of COBRA benefits, etc. have not been redacted as they deal with ‘amounts paid and benefits provided,’” Aubrey wrote.

The Gazette has challenged the city’s assertions that the separation agreement isn’t public.

“The document is undoubtedly a ‘public record,’” Steve Zansberg, an attorney for The Gazette, wrote in an email to City Attorney Chris Melcher on May 25.

Zansberg cited a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling that “the severance agreement does not fit within the CORA exemption for ‘personnel files.’”

Zansberg wrote that the appeals court ruling made clear that the ‘personnel files’ exemption is statutorily limited to such infomation as home addresses, telephone numbers, and personal financial information. 

Most of the information the city released has already been made public, including 18 months severance pay and transfer of a car that McEvoy used on the job.

However, the document did shed light on a few new details that explain why McEvoy still hasn’t collected all the money. According to the agreement, the payments will be made in monthly installments in 2012. In 2013, he will receive two lump-sum payments for the remainder of what he’s owed.

The document released by the city also shows that the part of the agreement calling for McEvoy to receive outplacement services was “changed slightly” after it was signed. Because the document was redacted, it’s unclear what was in the original agreement.

The agreement released by the city states that McEvoy will receive $20,000 “for outplacement consulting services to be paid to Employee only upon and after his submission to Memorial of receipts reflecting his payment for such services … or no longer than three full weeks after Employee has delivered these receipts to Memorial.”