JEFFERSON CITY — An investigation by the state auditor into a controversial road project in Arnold could be headed to a courtroom.

City officials in the Jefferson County community sued Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s office Wednesday, claiming he is overstepping his bounds in requesting records from closed city council meetings.

They are asking a Jefferson County judge to issue a temporary restraining order barring the release of the records because the move could disclose confidential information about employees, real estate acquisition, labor negotiations and other sensitive topics.

The lawsuit says the auditor “is not entitled to unlimited access to otherwise closed/confidential records of the city.”

“The city has a clear, unequivocal, specific right to protect certain information from dissemination that could potentially have a negative impact on protected classes, proprietary information or which could allow the perpetration of fraud upon the taxpayers,” the lawsuit notes.

On Monday, Fitzpatrick pledged to countersue the city if officials don’t comply with a new subpoena seeking records about two transportation development districts by May 1.

“The people of Arnold should be outraged by the efforts of city officials to prevent our auditors from accessing records detailing how millions of taxpayer dollars have been used by these TDDs. The fact the city is wasting taxpayer money on this type of baseless litigation is absolutely absurd. Missouri’s constitution, laws, and even well-established caselaw make it clear that city officials can’t hide behind redactions in an attempt to obfuscate the truth,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement.

“This behavior is indicative of an out-of-touch bureaucracy that has something to hide from the people,” Fitzpatrick added.

Arnold city attorney Bob Sweeney said the city has supplied thousands of pages of documents and spent hours responding to information requests from Fitzpatrick’s office.

“What the taxpayers of all Missouri should be ‘outraged’ about is how the auditor and his staff are wasting time and money doing the political pandering of a few local elected officials,” Sweeney said Monday. 

At issue is a probe by the auditor stemming from the city’s attempt last year to build the Arnold Parkway, a planned $75 million 2-mile, two-lane outer road along Interstate 55 from Richardson Road north to Highway 141 that would have required the demolition of several businesses and about 38 homes.

The project, which was scuttled in August amid backlash from residents, generated a now-cancelled attempt to recall the mayor and the city council.

Among items that drew concern was the use of the city’s Triangle Transportation Development District and the Arnold Retail Corridor Transportation Development District, or ARC TDD, whose 1-cent sales tax would have funded the project.

Business owners affected by the project, as well as residents, alleged the city used the ARC TDD to push the road project without a council vote, because the district’s board is comprised of Mayor Ron Counts, Ward 4 Councilman Gary Plunk and two city administrators.

The city has insisted the ARC TDD is a separate entity. Counts told the Post-Dispatch in October he doesn’t think the district should be dissolved because it can be used to pay off bonds issued by tax increment finance districts in the Arnold Crossroads and Arnold Commons for other projects.

In November, Fitzpatrick announced the audit after receiving multiple complaints about oversight of the transportation district.

Fitzpatrick deemed the complaints credible, raising issues about the district’s ownership of property outside the boundaries of the district, as well as questioning why high-level city officials are serving as officers and whether the district has paid off its debts and should be terminated.

City officials have pushed back against the auditor’s staff, triggering Fitzpatrick to begin issuing subpoenas in March seeking information in order to proceed with the audit.

“Their lawsuit is a futile effort to delay our work and prevent the public from having access to information about how their tax dollars have been spent,” Fitzpatrick said. “After we decisively win this legal challenge, I will expect full compliance from the city so we can complete our audit and shine the light of transparency on the actions of the city and their TDDs.”

Sweeney said there is no fraud or mismanagement by the city or the transportation districts.

“In fact, the TDD operation was so efficient and effective that bonds were paid off years ahead of schedule,” Sweeney said.