Citizens in Charge

At their regular meeting this week, the city council for Arnold, MO took up and passed a resolution rebuking the Missouri Municipal League for their obstruction of an eminent domain ballot initiative.

The resolution was sponsored by Councilman Matt Hay, a long standing critic of eminent domain abuse. Hay was elected after Arnold dentist, Homer Tourkakis, took the city all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court in a high profile eminent domain case decided last year. Mr. Hay was one of a number of pro-property rights candidates swept into office by frustrated voters who were dissatisfied with state and local officials’ lack of response to calls for eminent domain reform

The resolution reads:

RESOLUTION NO. 09-36
RESOLUTION REBUKING CERTAIN ACTIONS TAKEN BY
THE MISSOURI MUNICIPAL LEAGUE
WHEREAS, The Missouri Municipal League (MML) is funded through the contribution of member cities and other interested vendors and partners, and;
WHEREAS, the City of Arnold is a member of the MML, and;
WHEREAS, the MML has filed a lawsuit seeking to modify certain ballot language approved by the Office of the Secretary of State, and;
WHEREAS, said lawsuit may have the effect of stymieing citizen initiative petitions, and;
WHEREAS, citizen initiative petitions provide direct citizen participation in the democratic process ensuring that the voice of Missouri citizens is heard by government, and;
WHEREAS, the City of Arnold seeks to support efforts that ensure direct citizen participation in government;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Arnold, Missouri, that it does hereby reject any efforts by the MML in the aforementioned legal matter or in any other actions that might have the effect of stymieing citizen participation in the governance of the State of Missouri or its political subdivisions.

The ballot initiatives in question were submitted by Missouri Citizens for Property Rights (MO-CPR). They seek to limit the use of eminent domain to projects that will be owned and used by the public, thus restricting its use for private developments, like those approved by former Arnold city councils.

MML, which also fought against MO-CPR’s last petition effort, was not happy with a Cole County circuit court ruling, so they have appealed the decision. The court challenge has tied up the petition for over seven months and the appeal has the potential to tie it up past the May 2, 2010 deadline to turn in the signatures.

A motion for expedited procedures is pending before the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District. The CaseNet numbers for the cases are WD71224, WD71230.

— Ron Calzone is the Citizens in Charge Foundation Missouri Citizen State Coordinator. Find out more information at http://www.citizensincharge.org/states/missouri