A man known for a years-long feud with the City of Parkville over Missouri Sunshine Law requests has turned his attention to Platte County government.
According to the Platte County Commission, county resident Jason Maki has recently filed what the county calls a “very extensive open records Sunshine request that deals with the county’s jail expansion educational campaign.”
The county has started work gathering materials for the request, which includes emails and electronic communications among officeholders and department heads including official public communications and private internal communications.
Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker said while the county is working to fulfill the requests, they are extensive and require individual review as some requested documents are protected under attorney-client privilege and others, such as blueprints of the jail and courthouse, cannot be provided due to safety concerns.
Fricker said the county has engaged a North Kansas City law firm specializing in reviewing and redacting documents, at a cost of $38,000, to help speed the process.
According to the county, the county administrator, county clerk, the IT department and county attorney are working to gather the requested information and have been providing updates on the delivery of those requests.
The county is creating a line item in its annual budget for Sunshine requests and will move $100,000 from the reserve to cover potential costs of Sunshine requests.
From 2018 to 2021, Maki filed 43 requests in 142 categories of open records, regarding Parkville public projects and city decisions involving the Creekside development on the western edge of the city, among other matters.
According to city officials, the city responded to the requests and produced more than 110,000 public records during that time. Maki filed suit in 2020 over alleged violations of the Missouri Sunshine Law. That lawsuit was settled in 2021 for $195,000.