Marion ordered to pay $76,000 for hiding incriminating text
City must pay out of its own pocket
Staff writer
In a dispute stemming from Marion withholding incriminating open records, a judge awarded more than $75,000 Thursday to the Marion County Record’s lawyer.
District Judge Ben Sexton had ruled April 4 that the city acted in “bad faith” and ordered it to pay the legal fees of Bernie Rhodes, who represents the Record.
Among the documents the city concealed was a text message from then-Mayor David Mayfield saying he had met with Sheriff Jeff Soyez and then-Police Chief Gideon Cody three days before police raided the paper’s newsroom and told Cody he “was behind him and his investigation 100%.”
Rhodes requested $125,992.32 for his fees and expenses in suing to obtain that and other records. The city objected.
In oral arguments Thursday, Wichita lawyer Scott Ufford, representing the city, contended that lawyers in the Marion area charged less than Rhodes and that fees should be based on what a local lawyer would be paid for an open records suit.
Ufford also contended that the city could not afford to pay Rhodes’ fees this year.
Rhodes contended that local attorneys lacked expertise to take the case. He specializes in media law, and there are not enough newspapers in Marion for him to open an office here.
He noted that the city had accepted that it was appropriate for the Record to hire him because he already was the Record’s attorney in a related federal lawsuit pending from the now-disavowed raid Aug. 11, 2023 on the Record’s newsroom.
Ruling that the open records case was not as complex as the federal case, Sexton ordered the city to pay Rhodes $75,748.22 — $50,244.10 less than he requested — but agreed to allow the city to wait until 2026 to make payment, provided it pays interest on the amount owed.
Mayor Mike Powers said during Monday’s city council meeting that the city itself, not EMC Insurance, which hired Hill, must pay the $75,748.22 Sexton ordered.
Powers said that within days of the raid, the city “was inundated” with open records requests, and Hill took over responding to requests.
He noted that some requests involved phones not in the city’s custody. However, the text is question was on a city-owned pone issued to then-City Administrator Brogan Jones.
The city did not turn the text over until Jones was summoned to testify under oath in the Record’s case in December, 2024.
Ufford and Hill have an office in Wichita.
“The judge seemed to think it was perfectly fine for the city to bring in expensive lawyers from out of town rather than city attorney Brian Bina, who has an office here, but it was less important for the Record to hire one,” Meyer said. “It’s an unfair burden on the common man to expect him to have lesser representation than government does.”
Meyer was happy, however, that Sexton ruled that the city must pay.
“The city hid the truth, and it will cost taxpayers more than $75,000,” he said. “If they had told the truth from the beginning, it would have cost them nothing.”
Rhodes echoed that sentiment.
“It is a sad day for the taxpayers of Marion that they have to pay $76,000 because they hid text messages that are clearly public records,” Rhodes said.
Meyer pointed out that the money will go straight to Rhodes’ firm, not to the Record.
“We get not one cent of this,” he said.
Meyer conceded that the judge might have done all he could. Although the legislature requires government records and meetings must be open, it specifies no punitive damages when officials defy the law.
“Our legislature needs to address that,” Meyer said. “Otherwise we are headed down a very deep, dark road of government breaking the law.
“Bernie Rhodes is a great guy, and he’s probably not going to bill us for the rest of his fees. If he did, we would not remain open. The city would have accomplished what it set out to do when it raided us.”
Rhodes said he would not charge the difference to the Record.
Powers, who preceded Sexton as chief judge in the Eighth Judicial District, sat with Ufford and Hill at the defendant’s table in Sexton’s Marion courtroom.
Observers were required to electronically sign in before entering the courtroom.
A security guard said it was a new rule so it would be known who was in the courtroom.
Court administrator Nikki Davenport refuted the guard’s statement.
“Those on the docket for Judge Coppola use a sign in system so that she knows who is there for court and who is appearing via zoom,” Davenport said. “That is all it is and, yes, the courtrooms are open to the public. The sign in is only for those on the docket, not the general public, and again, it is to let her know they are present. It keeps the courtroom management flowing, especially on heavy docket days. It is not for the raid, not specific to Marion County, as I have judges using that same system in Geary.”
Davenport said Sexton would not have required anyone to sign in as it was an open courtroom and he doesn’t do that even for people on his dockets.
“It may be that security was telling them to sign in and didn’t understand that really, there are only a few judges that require that and it is for those actually on the docket, not for the general public, and didn’t understand that Judge Sexton is not one of the judges that requires this,” Davenport said.