Birthday cards at the expense of taxpayers is what one Gladstone man is claiming in a lawsuit against two Clay County commissioners.
Days after Gary Markenson turned 71, he received a piece of mail from Clay County Commissioner Gene Owen. As a resident he didn't think much of it the birthday card. But as the man who made a career training local governments how to operate, he felt something wasn't right.
“If one of my public officials wants to send me a birthday, that's great, but they should pay for it and not the county government,” Markenson said.
Working with his attorney, Steven Wolcott, Markenson obtained records that show three years ago Commissioners Luann Ridgeway and Gene Owen received a list of voters in the county who were 62 years old and older and had voted in at least one general election. They decided to send birthday cards to them.
In the lawsuit Markenson recently filed, it alleges the commissioners used public funds to pay for them. Commissioners approved $9,000 to pay for the birthday cards and $1,000 for postage.
“On my birthday I got a number of cards, from my dentist, from my doctor, from Panera, but they all come on email, it doesn't cost anything,” Markenson said.
Along with the birthday card, each envelope came with a coupon for free admission for two to the Jesse James farm and museum. However admission fees from the museum are a source of revenue for the county.
“It's not millions of dollars, but there's principle involved and they shouldn't be squandering county money this way,” Markenson said.
Furthermore, Markenson said two different county attorneys told the commissioners not go ahead with the plan.
“It's very difficult to get in trouble when you follow advise of your legal council,” Markenson said.
Now he wants the commissioners to pay back the money, issue a public apology and for other municipalities to learn from this.
41 Action News reached out to Clay County for comment on the lawsuit. A representative for Owen sent us the commissioners' following statement:
You wonder why it is hard to get good qualified people to run for office. Someone does not like what you are doing. The next thing to do is SUE. Sadly this is election year politics in Clay County. To promote the County, the County sends out small amounts of informational packets to residents each month. Included in this packet are emergency phone numbers, a ticket to the James Museum with a paper birthday card with the County’s seal. I am looking forward to getting this issue resolved. I get mailers from both State and Federal representatives. THEY ARE NOT SUING ONE ANOTHER. Politics as usual for Clay County. I am committed to fighting these frivolous lawsuits and putting the citizens of Clay County first.
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Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com
