An appointed judge to the civil division of the District 11-West Circuit Court on Monday dismissed two counts to a lawsuit Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr. has filed against County Judge Gerald Robinson and all 13 justices of the peace arguing the sheriff's office received inadequate funding for operations from the 2022 budget.
Gary Arnold, a retired judge from Saline County assigned to hear the case because the local judges have all recused themselves, ruled there is no basis to declare unconstitutional an ordinance requiring Jefferson County officials to complete a job requisition/pre-offer form. A county ordinance that went into effect in March 2021 requires all elected officials to complete such forms before hiring employees. Arnold also granted Robinson and the Jefferson County Quorum Court a motion to dismiss the second amendment to the lawsuit, which was originally filed last March.
The second amendment asked the court to order Robinson to approve pending claims for payment by Woods regarding the juvenile detention center. Casey Castleberry, a lawyer for Robinson and the Quorum Court, said the claims were being processed Jan. 20, one day after Woods filed for an injunction for immediate relief.
At issue was whether the sheriff's office would have enough food for the juvenile detainees through the weekend without payment from Robinson. Kimberly Dale, a lawyer for Woods, argued Sysco food systems was owed $184,429.73 and had cut off further credit to Jefferson County. A spokeswoman for Sysco declined comment.
The defendants have argued Robinson cannot approve payment for a claim out of a line item if it's not properly coded under state law.
Robinson appeared in court Monday with justices Glenda Daniels, Ted Harden and Jimmy Lee Fisher sitting in the gallery. Woods was absent.
Arnold further ruled the claim of unconstitutionality was moot because the 2022 budget has expired and the judge and Quorum Court have fulfilled "required ministerial duties."
That leaves two counts of the lawsuit still pending: one, that the defendants "arbitrarily and capriciously failed to do their statutory duty," and the other, that Robinson wrongfully denied claims for payment.
"We intend to continue to defend against those and develop our position and show the court why those should be dismissed as well," Castleberry said after the hearing. "Probably at this point, we'll have to go through some discovery before this case is going to be prepared to go further much more."
Dale said Arnold felt adequate funding for the sheriff's office is available and making those funds available is discretionary.
"While we respect his decision, we disagree with it," she said. "I believe there were mandated services that were not followed through. We feel that the overall purview that was put forth by the legislative body is that they failed in their duties because there was no engagement at that point."
A third amended complaint has been filed, but the defendants have yet to issue a response.
"This is a fluid situation regarding other budget needs and other appropriation needs," Dale said. "It's one of these things, unfortunately without circuit court involvement, we might have to be back here multiple times for multiple issues that keep getting raised. That was a small part of the case that was initially filed, but we still have matters going forward."