• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Pickem Terms and Conditions
Monday, September 25, 2023
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem!
    • Weekly Pickem Updates
    • Login / Sign-up
    • Results by Week
    • The Leaderboard
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem!
    • Weekly Pickem Updates
    • Login / Sign-up
    • Results by Week
    • The Leaderboard
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish
No Result
View All Result
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
No Result
View All Result

Maki says he can prove Parkville not supplying documents

Debbie Coleman-Topi by Debbie Coleman-Topi
November 24, 2020
in Headlines
Maki says he can prove Parkville not supplying documents
30
SHARES
739
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

Latest arguments heard in Parkville case

A Platte County judge heard more arguments on Friday in a case in which a Parkville area man is suing the City of Parkville for unfilled records requests under the Sunshine Law.

Jason Maki filed a civil suit this past February in an ongoing dispute between he and Parkville officials about Sunshine requests for public records. The law is designed to safeguard government transparency. The overall suit centers on dozens of requests for correspondence between city officials aimed at disclosing the city’s decision-making practices. Friday’s hearing was held to hear oral arguments from both sides involving Maki’s search for information during a portion of the suit known as “discovery,” which Maki summarized.”

RelatedNews

Char Bar coming to Parkville

Future of the courthouse

City proposes 3% tax on marijuana

The city is not participating in discovery in good faith,” Maki told the judge during Friday’s hearing. “They may claim they have, but they have not.”

On Friday, Judge James Van Amburg took under advisement the arguments of Maki, who is representing himself, and Jacob Bielenberg, one of five attorneys the city has hired to defend itself. Maki recently filed a motion to find city elected officials and the city administrator in contempt of court for not producing documents requested through subpoena. A hearing on that matter has been scheduled for Friday, Dec. 11.

In Maki’s lawsuit he has claimed that the city has charged him excessive and illegal fees, withheld documents paid for in full, improperly “closed” records as not being available to the public, and only provided altered documents before delivering them to Maki. Under the law, governments are allowed to charge nominal fees for searching for and producing materials.

During Friday’s hearing Maki asked the judge to “order the city to produce the documents (he) requested in discovery so he can rely on the court’s order and not the city’s word.” Maki went on to provide the judge multiple examples of the city’s previous failures to produce documents requested under Sunshine in a timely manner or at all.

However, Bielenberg said, “to the extent that my office has these documents, we have produced them.”Maki responded to Bielenberg’s comments by stating “your honor, Mr. Bielenberg’s comment is very telling and confirms my concerns that Parkville is only producing what they want to produce,” suggesting that the city’s attorneys may be distancing themselves from the city’s conduct of not producing documents.

Bilenberg stated the city has demonstrated nothing but “willingness to provide documents. We’ve conducted this review in good faith,” he told the judge. “If we were being evasive, we never would have turned those documents over,” Bielenberg said, adding that the city needs further “guidance and clarification to get to the merits of the case.”

Maki, who is an information technology specialist, held up several documents he obtained through other means and began asking, “Why do I have hundreds of documents they’re not producing? Where are the IT invoices? Where are the IT communications? Why do I have these documents? Not just one or two missing documents. Why do I have hundreds of documents that are responsive to my discovery requests that the city has not produced?”

Maki also stated “It should lead the court to ask, ‘what is going on?'” he said.

Some of the information originally requested under Sunshine reaches back to the city’s first dealings, more than two years ago, with a local developer, Brian Mertz, whom city officials are contracting with to build a more-than-350-acre development, currently under construction, known as Creekside.

Maki joined other residents in forming Citizens for a Better Parkville, which has used social media platforms to accuse the city of hiding information about the city’s processes. The group claims the city negotiated out of public light with Mertz, and only held public hearings to get the public’s viewpoint after key decisions were reached. Citizens have claimed they were not allowed input during the process and their viewpoints were not considered. However, city officials have argued they acted according to the law, hosting public forums to allow citizens to speak their minds.

Tags: Lawsuitsparkvilleplatte countySunshine Laws
Debbie Coleman-Topi

Debbie Coleman-Topi

Debbie’s journalism career officially began at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where she was trained. Her works have appeared in the Kansas City Star and its former Sunday Magazine, the Independence Examiner and TWINS Magazine. Since 2016, Debbie has written for The Landmark, where she has reported on a wide range of Platte County area issues and people.

Related Posts

Char Bar

Char Bar coming to Parkville

by Valerie Verkamp
September 17, 2023
0

BARBECUE AND PICKLEBALL Anyone who's ever visited the Char Bar in Westport to taste their smoked meats, play a round of lawn games, or sip a wood-smoked-infused cocktail quickly notices originality and flavor. Now, a new Char Bar Smoked Meats...

Doing battle with the assessor’s office

Office space, lead and assessors

by Guy Speckman
September 17, 2023
0

The mailman delivered my Landmark last week and turns out Foley sold my office space in Platte City without telling me. So far in three years I had never used it, but what if an emergency came up and I...

Platte County Courthouse

New courthouse idea still getting an lol

by Ivan Foley
September 17, 2023
0

Pretty big development in local politics, don’t miss this story on our front page. The Platte County Republican Central Committee has announced it will start vetting all potential Republican candidates for county office. Who knew this was a legal thing?...

Platte County Courthouse

Future of the courthouse

by Ivan Foley
September 17, 2023
0

JUDGES WANT A NEW ONE, ENGINEERS SAY STRUCTURE IS SOUND What does the future hold for the historic Platte County Courthouse in Downtown Platte City? It’s a topic that really wasn’t at the forefront for most Platte Countians. For the...

Next Post
Eric Zahnd

Felony crimes drop by 9% in Platte County

Popular News

  • Char Bar

    Char Bar coming to Parkville

    121 shares
    Share 48 Tweet 30
  • Future of the courthouse

    15 shares
    Share 6 Tweet 4
  • Lawsuit claims toxic heavy metals in herbs and spices

    84 shares
    Share 34 Tweet 21
  • The Foley Breaks a Five-Way Tie

    6 shares
    Share 2 Tweet 2
  • Landmark building sold

    12 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Pickem Terms and Conditions
Call us at 816-858-0363

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe Online
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem
    • Login / Sign-up
    • Results by Week
    • The Leaderboard
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved