Brad Pitts asks Perry County court to override clerk, certify him as candidate

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Brad Pitts isn't on the ballot for city marshal yet, but that could change if a judge sides with him on a petition filed last week in Perry County Circuit Court.

Russell Oliver filed a petition for writ of mandamus Friday on behalf of Pitts, seeking to have his name placed on the ballot for the April 8 election after he missed the deadline to pay the city about $32 he owed in personal property taxes.

Section 115.346 of the Missouri Revised Statutes prohibits anyone from being certified as a candidate for municipal office or appearing on the ballot who is in arrears for city taxes or user fees on the last day to file a declaration of candidacy.

The filing period for the April 8 election ended Jan. 21.

In preparing candidates' certification to send to the county clerk's office, Perryville City Clerk Tracy Prost discovered Pitts owed the city about $32 in personal property taxes.

At the time Pitts filed Dec. 17, his taxes were not delinquent, Prost has said.

The taxes, which court documents show totaled $31.93, were due Dec. 31.

Prost acted beyond her authority and denied Pitts due process, Oliver contends in his petition, citing discrepancies between city ordinances and state law.

Perryville's city code gives the board of aldermen sole discretion for determining candidate eligibility and provides for candidates to have a hearing before the board if questions arise concerning their eligibility, Oliver said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Prost "didn't have authority to do what she did, and he's entitled to be put back on the ballot," Oliver said.

In a response filed Wednesday afternoon, Perryville city attorney Thomas Ludwig argued that, in essence, Prost did the only thing she had authority to do.

Prost "was prohibited from certifying the relator (Pitts) as a candidate in accordance with Sect. 115.346, RSMo, and ... said statute pre-empted all city ordinances," the response stated.

Under RSMo 115.305, any statute that falls between 115.305 and 115.405 applies to municipal candidates only if the city has elected by ordinance to follow those provisions, Oliver said.

"They can opt in to those provisions, and they can opt out," he said.

Perryville adopted as part of its city code the 1977 act that included 115.305 and related provisions, but the law requiring candidates to pay overdue taxes before the end of the filing period was added in 1999, and Perryville never adopted it, Oliver said.

The city's response dismissed that interpretation as "absurd," arguing that 115.305 refers specifically to primary elections and does not apply to the situation at hand.

Prost declined to comment on Pitts' petition Wednesday, referring questions to Ludwig.

Pitts' petition is set for a hearing at 9 a.m. Friday before Perry County Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis.

A criminal case involving Perryville's previous city marshal, Keith Tarrillion, originally was set for the same docket, but online court records show Lewis recused himself from that case Monday and sent it to Missouri's Office of State Courts Administrator for assignment to a judge from outside the circuit.

Tarrillion resigned last spring amid allegations of misconduct.

An investigation into those allegations eventually led to criminal charges involving a 2010 police report concerning property damage at Tarrillion's home.

He now faces charges of forgery and making a false report.

Pitts was one of three candidates who filed to run for Tarrillion's old job.

Also filing were city code enforcement officer Joe Martin and police Lt. Direk Hunt, who was appointed interim police chief after Tarrillion's departure.

In December, Tarrillion's wife, Shannon, filed to run for Ward 2 alderman against incumbent Curt Buerck and fellow challenger Randy J. Leible.

epriddy@semissourian.com

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Perryville, MO