A First Amendment case filed by Wilkins Police Chief Keith Guthrie may have received an unexpected boost thanks to a memo written by a township commissioner.

Mr. Guthrie filed a motion May 7 to add the memo to an appendix of documents included in a motion for a partial summary judgment filed in January.

Mr. Guthrie is suing the township, township Manager Rebecca Bradley, Assistant Manager Paul Vargo and Commissioner William Wilson for "a policy prohibiting employee speech that violated his First Amendment rights," according to the motion.

The memo, written by Commissioner Sharyn Fialla, notes that Mr. Guthrie was threatened with suspension by Mr. Vargo if he provided John Frank, a citizen who was suing the township, with a police report.

She said Mr. Vargo's actions put the township in a position in which it could have faced further liability.

The memo reads, in part: "[Mr.] Vargo has provided the Chief with three additional witnesses in his suit against the township and the individual commissioners, as well as providing [Mr. Frank] with additional ammunition" in his suit.

The memo also questions whether it is appropriate for Ms. Bradley or Mr. Vargo, who are involved in a romantic relationship, to supervise the actions of the chief, particularly in light of the pending lawsuit.

"Given the personal relationship of the Manager and the Assistant Manager, we need to remove [Ms.] Bradley from the disciplinary process," it reads. "I recommend that Mr. Vargo be relieved of his supervisory duties immediately, as he has demonstrated that leaving him in a position where he can impact policy is detrimental to the township's and the individual commissioner's positions in these lawsuits."

Mr. Guthrie's attorney, Pat Sostek, did not say how he came across the memo, which was presented to commissioners during a closed executive session meeting. But he did say the memo underlined many of the points the suit has made all along.

"The memo tends to show the township is not faithful to its obligations to make information public that is supposed to be public," he said. "And when employees properly disclose information to the public, they're punished for it."

Ms. Bradley said the memo was "one person's perception of events that occurred," but, citing pending litigation, declined to comment further.

She said the township had 15 days to file a motion responding to Mr. Guthrie's, but anticipated it would be filed by Wednesday. Township lawyer Erica Clarke was unavailable for comment.