4 More Lawsuits filed against Overland

On August 18th, 2006 I covered the legal issues concerning the Mayor's less-than-legal actions against our police officers. You can review that article here. As predicted the lawsuits have been filed. I cannot blame our fine police officers, they are merely exercising their rights. Their lawsuits are due to the Mayor's failure to follow the law. We expect our Police Officers to enforce the laws of the City, the only difference this time is that they are also the victims.

One interesting note on the Police Lawsuits. I have covered all the legal options the Mayor had but choose not to us in regard to those promotions (you can read about it all at the page linked above). However, according to Fox 2 News in the morning broadcast on August 30th, 2006 Mayor Purzner admitted to approving those promotions but had to rescind them later. Her admission of originally approving them is important. Since she did not exercise any of the legal avenues available to her to rescind those promotions and she now admits to initially approving them I think even a 1st year law student could look at this and see they cannot win the case filed by the officers.

So what will this cost us? Well the officers have the right to seek twice the wages that were wrongly taken from them and all of their legal fees. So, for the police officers to get the promotions the Mayor said on Fox 2 News that she supported we will like have to pay an additional $10,000.00. Does this make sense to anyone? If so, please tell us why.

Just how much does Mayor Purzner plan on costing the City of Overland by not following the Law? When it comes to the issues with the General Revenue Budget I think we are going to need to set aside $1,000,000.00 or so, to cover these and the likely future legal expenses the City can expect as long as our Mayor chooses to lead through arrogance rather than reason.

The Mayor and Councilman Owensby seem to want to hear from the Residents. They asked for calls of support, but I imagine they would take calls of concern as well. If you would like to take a moment to contact the Mayor with your concerns you can reach her at:

Overland City Hall: (314) 428-4321

Email: mayorpurzner@overlandmo.org

Or for other contact options: click here.

On another note, the Mayor has added a new post to her website. She once again mentions the Sunshine Law case having "broad legal ramifications for every community in the State of Missouri". There is extensive case law concerning the Sunshine Law already available for review. Though it is not often that citizens have to file these suits (prosecutors and / or the media are the typical filers), the actual case is nothing new at all. Government officials attempting to keep their constituents out of the process has been happening for a long time. Actions like these are the reason the Sunshine Law was passed in the first place. The only "broad legal ramifications for every community in the State of Missouri" will be that those communities will be reminded of what happens when elected officials choose to ignore the law. It is nothing new for anyone in government responsible enough to learn their job.