Parkville delays plan to destroy public records

The Parkville Board of Aldermen voted Tuesday night to postpone plans to destroy files that are “past their required retention schedule.” The unanimous vote followed a brief discussion in which Alderman Marc Sportsman, leading the meeting in the absence of Mayor Nan Johnston, offered his rendition of a tumultuous year in which lawmakers are being investigated for violations of the state’s open meetings law and Johnston’s campaign committee is being investigated by the Missouri Ethics Commission for campaign violations. “In light of the constant harassment of the city, we know how it’s going to be spun…by the local newspaper,” Sportsman said, agreeing with Alderman Brian Whittley’s suggestion to postpone deleting city records. “If we have to go out and spend more money to store records (referring to the city clerk’s comments that the city’s storage is full), the taxpayers will bear that burden, even though the attorney general has authorized us to do this,” he said. City Attorney Chris Williams said he had received correspondence from the attorney general’s office asking him to confirm that the records slated for destruction are not the same as being investigated by the state department for open meetings law violations. Jason Maki is head of a citizens’ group which, since learning about the city’s role in authorizing the construction of a large development at I-435 and Hwy. 45, has disagreed with the city’s handling of the process. In the last few months, Maki and his attorneys have filed complaints with the attorney general’s office about what they consider violations of the state’s Sunshine Law and have alerted the Missouri Ethics Commission about what they deem to be Johnston’s violations of campaign finance laws. Maki said his group is relieved the board of aldermen has decided to scrap plans to destroy the documents. “It’s the right decision,” Maki said during a telephone interview after the meeting. He added that he would “challenge the city to find a method so they never have to destroy records.” Maki addressed Sportsman’s comments: “It’s too bad Sportsman thinks citizens exercising their rights to view public records amounts to harassment.” During the meeting, Sportsman, in announcing his plan to preside over the meeting, did not address Johnston’s absence except to say the mayor was “unable to attend.” The documents were slated to be shredded Saturday, Oct. 5, according to the earlier city report. The date corresponds with the city’s periodic paper shredding event for use by the public, City Administrator Joe Parente said during a telephone interview. Members of Citizens for a Better Parkville, which Maki leads, have opposed the city’s handling of a more-than-350-acre development currently under construction near the intersection of Hwy. 45 and I-435. The group was worried about officials’ intentions to destroy documents, from the 1990s through 2017-’18, which were listed in a four-page report. Items considered for destruction included those described as “payroll check stubs,” “liquor license” “public notices,” “timecards,” and “action taken.” Parente earlier had said that the city, like other municipalities, routinely destroys paper documents “once audited and closed out.” Otherwise, the city would “run out of room” to store such documents, he said. The practice is a “custodial matter” and does not include electronic communications, such as those already supplied and subpoenaed for under the Sunshine Law, Parente said. He added that the city never destroys electronic communications, such as emails, which he said were the ones Maki and his attorney had requested. Maki asked in an emailed statement prior to the meeting, “Why wouldn’t the city consider converting the paper documents into electronic format? That’s good policy, perhaps Parkville will adopt it versus destroying the records and their credibility,” he wrote. Maki said that before the board’s decision members of his group were concerned about such items as “general correspondence,” which could have included communications regarding Creekside, the residential, retail and light industrial development currently under construction. Before the meeting, Maki said it was inappropriate for officials even to consider destroying documents because of the Missouri Attorney General investigation in addition to the ethics commission investigation of the mayor. While city officials are accused of violating Sunshine Laws governing open records and meetings, the mayor is accused of campaign violations, including allegedly accepting numerous illegal corporate donations. Maki and his group said city officials have demonstrated during the past year a reluctance to share some communications about the development. He added that the city continues to hold some electronic communications hostage in lieu of several thousand dollars in fees. State law allows governmental entities to charge “nominal fees” for records. Maki has said the charges are above “nominal” and, therefore, constitute a violation of Missouri law. In response to an inquiry from The Landmark, Chris Nuelle, a spokesman for the Missouri Attorney General’s office, issued this emailed statement about the office’s rules regarding records prior to the board’s decision to abandon the idea to destroy the records: “It is the attorney general’s position that the City of Parkville cannot destroy any records that are subject to the Sunshine complaint or required to be retained under their retention policy.” Andrew Alexander, an attorney with the Graves Garrett law firm of Kansas City, who represents Maki, sent a letter to the city Tuesday afternoon that asked city officials to avoid destroying city records out of “concern for documents or information that might be responsive to Mr. Maki’s request or relevant to litigation related thereto.” Maki said, “The clected officials of Parkville often hide behind municipal process and procedure. They have a habit of claiming their actions are routine and/ or previously agreed upon. Regardless of process and procedure, destruction of public records is just bad policy.”