Joplin Council votes to pay investigator- if they ever get copies of the report

The Joplin City Council voted 5-4 moments ago to pay Osage Beach attorney Tom Loraine the money for his investigation that started as a look into dealings of council members Bill Scearce and Mike Woolston, and ended up with the firing of City Manager Mark Rohr.

The vote was the same vote, with the same council members voting in the same say, as the one to fire Rohr on February 4 after Loraine revealed the results of his investigation during a closed council session.

Voting to pay Loraine once certain concerns were satisfied were Ben Rosenberg, Bill Scearce, Trisha Raney, Jack Golden, and Mayor Melodee Colbert-Kean. Those voting against were Mike Woolston, Morris Glaze, Mike Seibert, and Gary Shaw.

At the moment, Loraine's bill, which was originally supposed to be limited to $40,000, with an additional $5,000 for expenses, stands at $81,819.90.

Loraine was supposed to return to the City Council if he felt he needed more money for the investigation. From the discussion at the council meeting, it appears that Loraine thought he had received the authorization from City Attorney Brian Head.

The vote was on a motion made by Rosenberg to pay Loraine, but only after some questions of double billing have been resolved (Loraine billed the city both for gasoline and for mileage. He also charged his driving time between Osage Beach and Joplin as work time, which council members questioned, but Head said was common practice since lawyers could be working on other billable hours if they were not driving).

Loraine would also not be paid until the council members have actual copies of the investigative report, plus transcripts of interviews with witnesses in their hands.

At the moment, though the Joplin Globe is suing the City Council in Jasper County Circuit Court to have the contents of the investigative report and the interview transcripts, and local television stations have filed Sunshine Law requests for the reports, even if the media outlets win, the Joplin City Council does not the reports, only Tom Loraine does.

This is despite the fact that the city has already paid approximately $38,000 to Loraine.

It was also noted that Loraine was billing the city for questions he had received from City Council members about the report, questions which he would never have had to field if he had turned over the product to them in the first place.

Councilman Bill Scearce was concerned about what would happen when the council members received the report. He noted that Councilman Mike Woolston, in an interview with KZRG, has said that if he gets the report, he intends to make it public.

Scearce said that would be invading Mark Rohr's privacy and could leave the city open in any legal action by Rohr.