The pair resigned in late March 2021, following the Dispatch report and amid ongoing zoo investigations, and, earlier this year, agreed to pay back more than $530,000 to the zoo in settlement agreements. The lawsuit comes more than a year after a Dispatch investigation revealed improper business practices and use of zoo resources by Stalf and former Chief Financial Officer Greg Bell. The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction to issue such writs that order a public official to perform a required act. Meade's suit comes in the form of a complaint for a writ of mandamus. The suit also points to a section of Ohio law that defines the operation of a zoo or zoological park as a "government function." Therefore, Meade’s complaint said, the court should “order zoo leaders to stop hiding its actions from the public.” The zoo receives nearly $20 million in public tax dollars each year, its employees participate in the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, its board is comprised of many government appointees, and it operates on property owned by the city of Columbus. Meade says Columbus Zoo records are public She did share that the zoo's record retention schedule was being updated but that the zoo generally keeps documents for seven years. The next day, a zoo spokeswoman replied to the email, denying the request and stating the zoo “is not a public entity for purposes of the Ohio Public Records Act,” according to the court documents. This time, Meade’s team made the request under an anonymous email account, because of the zoo’s “lack of transparency and apparent animosity toward me,” Meade wrote. Meade then made a written public records request to the zoo in March for its public records retention schedule and the contract between the zoo and its new CEO Tom Schmid. The zoo would not provide the records, the lawsuit said. They asked for copies of board meeting minutes, including one special meeting where Meade was told the board discussed approval of the cabin construction. Meade’s team also asked for documents from the zoo during these discussions “to fill in some gaps,” the affidavit said. Meade and his team shared information with the zoo and freely gave an interview to their lawyers about the project, he said. Columbus Zoo, Meade Construction had ongoing discussionsĪs part of the zoo’s investigations last year, attorneys for the zoo reached out to the construction company, asking for documents and an interview with Meade about the cabin project, Meade's affidavit said. "We respectfully ask this company to operate with integrity and see to it that resources are appropriately restored to the Columbus Zoo," the statement said. "This company is using this tactic in order to distract from the fact that the Columbus Zoo believes the company overcharged the Zoo for services under this contract and that the Zoo is seeking to recover funds on behalf of our members, our guests and our community." "This issue is being raised by a company that was handed a $2 million unbid contract by the former CEO of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium," the statement from spokeswoman Nicolle Gomez Racey said. Zoo: Former Columbus Zoo CEO Tom Stalf to pay back $400,000 attorney says he was 'scapegoat' The company also billed the zoo a "substantial cost overrun" for the project. Specifically, the company requested the contract for new zoo CEO Tom Schmid, but said the suit, if successful, would clear the way for all kinds of zoo records to be made public.įormer zoo CEO Tom Stalf personally selected Meade as the vendor for the $2 million Straker Lake cabins project at The Wilds without seeking competitive bidding or going through the customary "design-build" process, an outside investigation and forensic audit concluded last year. The Tuesday morning filing by Meade Construction seeks an order that the zoo produce records that the construction company requested under the state’s public records law. A construction company whose no-bid selection by former Columbus Zoo and Aquarium officials drew investigators’ scrutiny has filed a public-records lawsuit against the zoo in the Ohio Supreme Court, the latest move in what court documents describe as an ongoing, back-and-forth between the two parties since last year.
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