District Court Judge Kristin Bays has ordered the city of Shenandoah to produce a wide range of documents originally requested by attorney Frank Powell in March 2022. The city argued the documents did not have to be produced because they were related to pending litigation.
During a bench trial held August 11, the city claimed it asked for an opinion regarding these document requests from the Attorney General. The city is required to provide copies of these requests for AG opinions to Powell. However, Powell said he did not receive those copies and filed the lawsuit to compel production. At the trial, the city’s attorney acknowledged that Powell was never given a copy of the AG opinion requests.
The court ruled the city must pay court costs and produce the documents by August 26, 2022. Some of the types of documents Powell requested involve certain city personnel, a council member’s use of a city credit card and the city’s insurance contract with former councilman, Ken Smith.
No mention of this case was made during the “attorney update” section of the August 10 city council meeting.
