A Newport patrol officer and a custodian were caught on surveillance video entering City Administrator Deb Hill’s locked office after hours, and separate surveillance footage shows another police officer having sex in a public works office while on duty, according to a recently released arbitration report.

Concealed cameras were installed last year in Hill’s office at City Hall after she believed someone was tampering with her desk outside regular work hours, and in Public Works Director Bruce Hansen’s office when he suspected money had been stolen from his office.

A report issued Nov. 9 by Bureau of Mediation Services arbitrator John O’Donnell says patrol officer Joel Muellner admitted to an investigator that he and a custodian went into Hill’s locked office June 1, 2014. Muellner also admitted to going into Hansen’s office three times earlier that year, but said it was unlocked, he was only in there to look out windows at turkeys in woods and he did not look at anything on Hansen’s desk. The arbitrator upheld Hill’s decision to suspend Muellner without pay for entering her office but reduced it from 10 days to five.

The two cops were among the department’s five patrol officers who were the subject of an internal investigation last year. The investigation was conducted by a Dakota County Sheriff’s Office captain, who reviewed the videotapes and interviewed Muellner, Hansen and the custodian.

The custodian told the investigator he unlocked Hill’s office and went in with Muellner, but said only he looked through files on her desk and he was not directed by Muellner to do so. The custodian quit in lieu of being fired, the report said.

Hill proposed the suspension against Muellner, who then filed a grievance claiming it was in violation of the police union contract with the city.

Muellner and Law Enforcement Labor Services argued that the use of video surveillance violated statute and may have violated the officer’s constitutional rights. O’Donnell concluded the statute argument did not apply in Muellner’s case and that there is no expectation of privacy when an employee enters a locked office containing confidential information after hours.

Only Muellner sought arbitration for his discipline, but the report includes information about video captured in Hansen’s office that shows another officer “having a sexual liaison” while he was on duty.

The report does not name the officer, but the city previously disclosed that officer David Crist was suspended for two days for “improper use of break time.”

Hill said Thursday that general description was used at the time given the reason for the discipline, but the union “outed him” by mentioning the sexual liaison in the arbitration proceedings.

Contacted Thursday, Crist said he would not comment.

A union attorney did not return a call seeking comment.

According to the arbitrator’s report, Hill said she was going to suspend Crist for five days but reduced it to two days after negotiation and because he had a clean disciplinary record.

Hill said in an interview that any suspension is serious.

“The next step is firing,” she said.

Muellner has been a Newport police officer for over 16 years. According to the arbitration report, he has had three written reprimands - in 2005 for failure to follow an order; in 2008 for failure to follow a bill payment procedure; and in 2014 for failure to provide a citizen his name and badge number. Hill said that factored into her decision on his suspension for entering her office.

Hill said a motion-triggered trail camera was used in Hansen’s office after he believed that $200 cash was taken. He had been collecting it for a city employee retirement gift, Hill said.

Then she suspected someone had tampered with her desk.

“It’s just like, wait a minute, this has been moved around,” she recalled Thursday.

An accountant whose desk is in the main office area of City Hall reported that files had been moved in her desk area. Hill said she mentioned that during the arbitration, but it was not included in the arbitrator’s report.

Hill said after consulting with City Attorney Fritz Knaak she purchased a camera for a couple hundred dollars and had it installed in her office. She said she has the authority to make purchases up to a certain dollar amount without full City Council approval.

The arbitrator’s report was released about two weeks after Washington County Sheriff Bill Hutton wrote to Hill in late October to detail problems with the police department’s property storage room ranging from missing guns, drugs and cash to improperly handled sexual assault evidence. Hutton’s report also noted that criminal cases, including reported criminal sexual conduct and pornography involving a child, had not been investigated in recent months.

Hutton’s office made those findings after agreeing to provide law enforcement assistance to Newport police, who were short-staffed and without a chief following Curt Montgomery’s retirement in September.

The city’s temporary contract with the sheriff’s office runs through the end of the year, but it may extend the contract into 2016 while the council debates the future of policing in Newport - whether to keep a police department, contract long term with the sheriff’s office or pursue a contract with either Cottage Grove or St. Paul Park.

Mayor Tim Geraghty has said he believes the officers need more supervision and leadership. Geraghty has said he supports a long-term contract with the sheriff’s office, but the council remains divided.