Fountain Hills resident Gene Mikolajczyk has sent cease and desist letters to Town Councilwoman Brenda Kalivianakis and former Councilman Cecil Yates related to statements they made accusing Mikolajczyk of surveillance, harassing and stalking Yates in a 2019 incident.

“The charges emanate from false statements by Cecil Yates dating back to 2019,” Mikolajczyk said in an email to The Times Independent. “Surveillance was conducted on (Yates) to gather information in a civil litigation matter, not because he was a ‘political opponent’ (as alleged in a statement by Kalivianakis).

“There was absolutely no ‘stalking.’ Yet (a Times article July 26) implies that I did both because Kalivianakis falsely said so and (The Times) repeated that falsity in (the) article without additional information.”

Mikolajczyk said the letters were sent to Kalivianakis and Yates to warn them their claims were false. He alleges the statements were made to Town staff in relation to a request by Mikolajczyk to speak to the council at a January meeting this year. He was denied the opportunity to speak after his time was placed on the agenda. Mikolajczyk later filed an ethics complaint against Kalivianakis, in which she was cleared.

MCSO investigated a complaint by Yates in 2019 but found Mikolajczyk had not engaged in criminal activity. Yates was advised by MCSO he could request an injunction against harassment, but that was never done.