The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

STARBUCK – The Jan. 26 special meeting of the Starbuck City Council revolved around a subject that has consumed the city’s focus since last June: a public records request and subsequent lawsuit that has already cost the city thousands of dollars.

In early June, Spokane attorney Stephen Kirby, through his business, Tikor Consulting, brought suit against the Town of Starbuck for failure to make public records available for inspection in a timely manner, pursuant to RCW 42.56.520.

The Complaint, filed in Columbia County Superior Court on June 1 last year, includes copies of a letter dated Oct. 29, 2014 and a follow-up letter on Nov. 24, 2014, requesting that the Town of Starbuck “provide electronic copies of all invoices the city has received for legal services by private firms between Dec. 2013 and the present.”

Starbuck City Clerk Candice Harrison said she never received those letters and the city was unaware of their existence until they received notice of the lawsuit. And even if they had, there were no records to provide, she added.

Harrison said the city assumed they would be protected by the city’s liability insurance. But when she contacted their insurance company, she learned that coverage did not include liability for public records requests.

The city then hired Ephrata attorney Dalton Pence, who was recommended by the city’s insurance company. Case court documents include a June 8, 2015 letter from Pence to Kirby’s counsel explaining that, “Starbuck never received the referenced request or letters until they were provided companion to the Complaint for Damages on June 2, 2015.”

Pence’s letter also states that Starbuck did not have any invoices for legal services concerning the time period set out in the request or letter. “With this understanding in mind, please advise concerning your client’s intent to pursue this case,” Pence wrote.

Kirby has moved forward with the case and filed a subpoena on the United States Postal Service to provide forms and information relating to the Town of Starbuck’s Post Office Box, in order to discover who had control of the Post Office box at the time of the request. Columbia County Superior Court Judge Scott Gallina signed the subpoena on Jan. 20.

In his request for relief, Kirby is seeking the requested records, the cost of bringing suit, reasonable attorney fees, penalties of $100/day effective Nov. 17, 2014, and pre- and post-judgments as allowed by law.

Harrison said Starbuck’s city council was adamantly opposed to settling, feeling they had done nothing wrong, even though they have been repeatedly advised that they would be better off financially to do so. But after spending nearly $7,000 in legal fees, they recently offered Kirby a settlement offer which she said was countered with a much higher amount.

“People out here volunteer their time just to keep the city going,” Harrison said. “Then to have something like this happen – it just takes the wind out of your sails.”

At their Jan. 26 meeting, Starbuck’s city council voted to make a second settlement offer. When The Times went to print, the city was unaware of any response from Kirby’s counsel to that offer.