GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Former Grand Rapids City Clerk Lauri Parks has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the city alleging discrimination, according to paperwork filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.
Parks is the granddaughter of the late Rev. Lyman Parks, the city’s first African American mayor. She was fired by the city in 2013. The nine-page complaint was available Tuesday morning, however city staff and commissioners had not seen it yet prior to their committee of the whole meeting, and the city issued the following statement:
“The City of Grand Rapids has not yet received a reported lawsuit filed by former City Clerk Lauri Parks. If it does, however, the City will have no comment on this matter of pending litigation. The City of Grand Rapids firmly believes that it did everything possible to ensure that Ms. Parks would succeed as the city clerk prior to the decision last year not to reappoint her to a new term of office. The City will review the suit when received and respond appropriately.”
