West Hollywood City Councilman John Duran’s deputy, Ian Owens, has been put on paid administrative leave while investigators look into allegations of misconduct at city hall.

“This is not a disciplinary action,” West Hollywood City Attorney Michael Jenkins said. “I want to be very clear on that. There are allegations he was in some manner eavesdropping on a neighboring city council office. Those allegations are being investigated by an independent investigator. Once that is completed, we will evaluate the investigation and decide what action is appropriate at that time.”

Officials confirmed that Owens is accused of eavesdropping on Mayor Pro Tempore John Heilman’s deputy, Fran Solomon, who is also working on his reelection campaign for the March 3 election.

Earlier this year, an email was distributed to some members of the press, alleging that Solomon was illegally campaigning from city hall. The email’s includes a detailed log of calls and conversations Solomon allegedly had with numerous people — calls that were considered campaign-related. It is not clear who generated the document.

Many of the notes allege Solomon used a city phone to call individuals about a Heilman campaign photo shoot on Jan. 13 and 14.

No city officials, outside of Jenkins, responded for comment, citing that they are personnel matters on which they couldn’t comment.

“It’s not clear that public devices were used,” Jenkins said. “There may have been personal cellphone uses. The question more is whether this was done on city time.”

Jenkins said that city officials didn’t become aware of the allegations until they read a report on local website WEHOville. Then the West Hollywood City Manager’s Office started an investigation and notified the city attorney, along with placing Owens on administrative leave.

“Generally speaking, the rule is when you are supposed to be working, you have to be working,” Jenkins said. “You can no more engage in political campaigning on city time than you can pick up your dry cleaning, but city resources cannot be used for political campaign resources.”

Jenkins said the timeframe for the investigation is uncertain, but “we don’t find it helps to be in a state of uncertainty for a long time.”

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has also opened a case in regards to the allegations.

“We’re conducting an inquiry into how the information released to the press was obtained, if it was obtained illegally or through inappropriate means,” said Lt. Martin Rodriguez, with LASD’s Major Crimes Bureau. “Eavesdropping in and of itself is not illegal, but if the means were enhanced through technical means, that might be illegal.”

If a crime occurred, it might be categorized as a misdemeanor or a felony, Rodriguez said, but he would not speculate.

“Our scope is very narrow and it is regarding the acquisition of the information purportedly stated by Fran Solomon in that document,” he added.