The retiree who sued the Edgar Springs mayor and police chief for violations of the state's open records laws has landed a legal victory.
Rebecca Varney filed a lawsuit two years ago in the Circuit Court of Phelps County 25th Judicial Circuit against Mayor Terry Austin and Sheriff Joseph Hohner after she was prohibited from entering the Edgar Springs City Hall other than to attend City Council meetings.
“The ruling is what we expected,” said David Roland, litigation director with the Freedom Center of Missouri, which represented Varney. “The city's actions were absolutely egregious and unjustifiable but it is always nice to have the judge sign on the dotted line agreeing with the position that we staked out.”
The court ordered payment to plaintiff Rebecca Varney of a $600 fine plus legal costs as well as access to city records found in city hall as long as the building is open to the public.
“Rebecca only asked for a hundred dollars per violation,” Roland told the St. Louis Record. “The judge tripled that and noted that in light of the severity of the violations of the Sunshine Law, he was on his own initiative tripling the amount of the civil penalties. So, that was a nice surprise.”
However, the case is not entirely over. Roland fully expects to return to court because Edgar Springs city officials allegedly continue to create obstacles for Varney.
“Under the Sunshine Law, a governmental body is required to act on a request for records as soon as possible, and no later than three business days after the request is made," he said. "They are basically ignoring the part about responding as quickly as possible, and are stretching it out as long as they think they can get away with.”
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, Varney’s interest in the local government was piqued when she was ticketed by police while driving.
“All Rebecca is asking for at this point are simple things like meeting minutes for the most recent city council meeting or the town financials,” Roland added. “This should take just a few minutes to locate and provide to her and yet every day that she goes in there and asks to review these records, she's told they're just too busy to help her and that, 'You'll have to come back some other time'."