Correction: This article now includes a link to an active website for Preserve Prairie Village.
A Prairie Village resident has refiled in federal court his lawsuit challenging the city’s plans to issue bonds to finance a new city hall project.
Originally filed last month in Johnson County District Court, Marc Vianello’s petition seeks to block the city from issuing $27 million worth of bonds for the municipal complex project without taking the matter to a public vote.
Late last week, Vianello withdrew that lawsuit and refiled it in the U.S. District Court of Kansas.
Fritz Edmunds, Vianello’s attorney, told the Post on Thursday that he and his client believe that the case should be heard at the federal level, saying that they refiled the lawsuit “in federal court because we have identified federal questions” that give the U.S. district court jurisdiction.
The city, in a Friday statement to the Post, said the move is likely to delay both the issuance of bonds and the project timeline, which could ultimately increase the overall cost of the $30 million project by an estimated $125,000 or more each month the lawsuit goes on.
Last month, the Prairie Village City Council cleared the way for the project to move forward. Prior to the lawsuit, the city council was expected to take another key vote in August to issue the $27 million in bonds so the city could get cash on hand to begin building.
The municipal complex project comprises building a new city hall to the south of the current campus and repurposing the current city hall into an expanded police department headquarters and municipal court facility.
The project has become a subject of opposition in recent months, as some residents and at least two city councilmembers have pushed for a public vote on issuing the bonds.
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About a month ago, Vianello asked a district court judge to declare Charter Ordinance 28, which gives Prairie Village the authority to issue bonds without a public vote, invalid.
Vianello’s June 19 lawsuit in district court argued that the charter ordinance the city is using as authority to issue bonds for the municipal complex project is illegal because it exempts the city from a state law that would require taking it to a public vote.
The city filed a motion to dismiss and a motion for an expedited hearing shortly after Vianello’s original June 19 lawsuit.
Aside from Vianello’s lawsuits, the city’s municipal complex project has become the subject of concentrated opposition among some residents.
Similar to heated debates over housing and zoning that played out in Prairie Village in 2022 and 2023, there have been yard signs across Prairie Village calling for a public vote on the city hall project and mailers being sent directly to residents, decrying the move to advance the project without a vote.
A look at Vianello’s federal lawsuit
Vianello argues in the federal lawsuit that the city’s charter ordinance was originally adopted in 2016 to purchase $3 million worth of streetlights and is now being used “to bypass the statutory requirement for a bond election.”
A similar argument is made on fliers dispersed by Preserve Prairie Village, a dark money group that, this spring, started mailing fliers to residents urging them to demand a vote on the city hall project.
It is unclear who exactly leads the group and how it’s funded, though on its website the group described itself as “a dedicated coalition of local residents committed to preserving the financial stability and integrity of Prairie Village.”
Vianello is seeking several outcomes in his federal lawsuit, including stopping the issuance of bonds for the city hall project and requiring that future bond issuances of greater than $100,000 be taken to a public vote.
Additionally, Vianello’s lawsuit seeks to nullify the city’s authority, vested in Charter Ordinance 28, to issue bonds on big city projects without a public vote.
The city of Prairie Village adopted Charter Ordinance 28 in July 2016.
Read the entirety of Vianello’s federal lawsuit below.
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Open in new tab City says delays to cost estimated $125K+ per month
In a Friday afternoon statement to the Post, the city’s Public Information Officer Ashley Freburg said Prairie Village anticipated a Johnson County judge would hold a hearing for the city’s motion to dismiss as early as July 31.
Vianello’s move to dismiss his district court lawsuit and refile at the federal level “is likely to further delay the issuance of bonds” for the municipal complex project, Freburg said.
“Delays to the project resulting from this additional lawsuit are estimated to increase the project cost by $125,000 or more per month it is delayed,” she said.
Prairie Village plans to refile its motion to dismiss at the federal level.
In a request for comment, Mayor Eric Mikkelson said the federal lawsuit comes “at taxpayer expense.”
“We will continue to vigorously defend Prairie Village and the integrity of good government,” Mikkelson said. “These are lawful, time-tested, accountable processes used by cities all across Kansas every day to invest efficiently in critical infrastructure and public safety.”
$30M project is for city hall, police and court
A bulk of the project’s cost are $23 million dedicated to a new city hall; $4.5 million of that has already been set aside to purchase Mission Road Bible Church so the city can demolish it and build a new city hall on top of that property.
The remaining $7 million is to renovate and expand the existing police department, as well as to formally turn the current council chambers and part of city hall into a bigger municipal court.
City staff anticipates paying the bonds back through existing revenue streams, namely the Meadowbrook Park tax increment financing revenues that are expected to roll off beginning in 2028.
The police department renovation features expanded property room and clerk space, office space for staff who currently work out of storage closets and a combined fitness room for police officers.
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