The City of Edgar Springs continues to refuse to pay for their public records and constitutional violations against Rebecca Varney. In 2024, Varney won her case because of clear violations of law. Afterwards, the City paid $1,000 towards the over $79,000 in attorney fees. Her attorney filed to force the City to pay, to which they fought and initially lost, but they subsequently appealed. During this time, the judgement continues to increase in fees and interest at a rate of 9% per year.
The appeal argued that the Missouri Supreme Court does not require parties to take actions that will be futile, or unsuccessful. The City has argued that Varney cannot take funds or property from the city, thus Varney opted to skip the step and ask the court to direct the City to pay to which the court agreed. The City subsequently appealed and The Southern Direct Court of Appeals of Missouri agreed with the City, forcing Varney to attempt to collect property from the City's bank through garnishment.
Recent court filings show the City is now arguing Varney cannot collect through garnishment despite previously arguing that Varney MUST attempt to collect through garnishment. This continues while the amount to collect has exceeded over $95,000.
While it may seem this amount could be reversed in court, eliminating the need for the City to pay the amount to Varney, the City has already lost the case and is beyond the point of appealing the verdict. The City is purely delaying the inevitable.
It seems there are big changes ahead for the City of Mountain Grove. An eventful Board of Alderman meeting occurred last night with the swearing in of a new mayor, two new alderman, and two re-elected aldermen and the resignation of five city hall employees, including the city administrator.
David Todd was elected to replace Fred VanBibber. Some of you may remember David Todd was terminated from his position as a full-time lieutenant with the fire department after he announced the retiring fire chiefs replacement prior to the formal announcement by City Hall. There were accusations of threats and retaliation made involving Todd and then city clerk Becky Davis. Davis was later promoted to city administrator until her resignation last night.
An interesting note regarding the makeup of the members- three of the nine members are former firefighters. Mark Bushong retired as the Fire Chief for the City of Mountain Grove, David Todd was terminated as Lieutenant for the City of Mountain ...
Since our last update on the City of Edgar Springs, the City asked the court to reconsider the judgement and the matter has been taken under advisement. So far no decision has been made. The City has also filed a notice of appeal in the Southern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals and we are awaiting more information on that case.
The original case number is 20PH-CV01430 and the appeal case number is SD38838.
This is a little outside of our normal area, but is an important case regarding Missouri public records and involves our friends at the Freedom Center of Missouri.
A brief background, Aaron Malin requested public records from the Cole County Prosecuting Attorney's office on April 1, 2015. The office failed to provide those records upon claiming an exemption. The courts directed them to provide the records. They continued to fail to provide the records claiming they were not required to search for the records. The courts directed them to provide the records. They continued to delay. The courts directed them to provide monthly status updates regarding the status of providing the records. They failed to provide the monthly updates and provided minimal periodic updates. This case has been up and down from district court to the state supreme court multiple times without success.
Aaron Malin and the Freedom Center of Missouri has filed civil contempt against the Cole County Prosecuting ...
