A lawsuit has been filed against the City of Parkville by critic of the city Jason Maki.
The civil suit was filed in Platte County Circuit Court on Thursday, Feb. 27 by Maki, who is representing himself. A summons has been issued to the City of Parkville, with the city’s response due by Saturday, March 28.
City administrator Joe Parente issued a statement acknowledging the city has been served with the suit.
“The lawsuit has been referred to the city’s legal counsel to defend,” Parente said. “While we cannot comment on pending litigation, the city has acted in good faith since September 2018 when Mr. Maki submitted his first of 33 requests asking for different categories of public records. Since this time, city staff has made available in excess of 50,000 documents. The City of Parkville operates openly and transparently. We look forward to defending our actions and proving compliance with the Missouri Sunshine Law.”
Beginning in September 2018, Maki — who founded the Citizens for a Better Parkville political action group (PAC) — began making Missouri Sunshine Law requests with the City of Parkville for public records. Since, he has submitted 33 Sunshine requests.
In the 13-page petition, Maki alleges the city has knowingly and purposely violated the Sunshine law eight times.
“Some of Parkville’s public officials have expressed animus toward Mr. Maki because of his efforts to provide the public with information about the way the Parkville city government works, including in relation to controversial commercial development,” the suit states. “On information and belief, certain Parkville official’s animus toward Mr. Maki and desire to keep the records he seeks from the public view have motivated the city to purposefully refuse to permit Mr. Maki access to those records at issue in the substantive counts below in violation of the Sunshine Law.”
The suit paperwork outlines each alleged violation. In general, the suit states incomplete information was provided in response to several requests. Fees requested for the completion of some requests were also questioned. The suit also states communications with members of the media in contact with city officials between January 2018 and January 2020 have been excluded from the released records.
Maki asks the court to rule in his favor on all counts and order the city to release all public records asked for within eight of his 33 Sunshine requests. In the suit, Maki also asks the city be fined $5,000 per Sunshine violation, totaling $40,000, and award Maki legal fees, costs and expenses related to his Sunshine requests and the suit.