Those voting to fire Dagnan were Tiffany Cossey, Terri Heckmaster, Alan Snow, and newly elected council members Derek Peterson, Dustin Edge, Tom Barlow and Jana Schramm.
Council members Chris Taylor and Lori Leece cast the dissenting votes.
Mayor Dan Rife, who earlier in the evening listened to council members planning his impeachment, said Dagnan wasn't fired because the city charter says it has to be done by the council AND the mayor and he wasn't going to have anything to do with it.
And then the lawyers jumped in.
City Attorney Nate Dally, also a target of the seven council members who fired Dagnan and quite possibly also unemployed by now since the council is still meeting in closed session as this is written, backed the mayor's interpretation and said the word "AND" meant the city administrator could only be fired jointly by the mayor "AND" council.
Councilwoman Tiffany Cossey, who is also a lawyer, insisted the word "AND" referred to the mayor "AND" council during the hiring process, but that "AND" meant either one during the firing process, indicating municipal regulations are written by people whose dictionaries do not include the word "OR." Though several lawyers were present at the meeting, apparently there were no English teachers to consult.
With two lawyers disagreeing over the definition (or changing definitions) of the word "AND" the solution naturally was to call on another lawyer.
The council voted by the same 7-2 margin to rely on the judgment of St. Louis area attorney Paul Martin, an expert in municipal law and by sheer coincidence the same lawyer it hired earlier in the evening to prosecute the mayor during his impeachment hearing, and also by sheer coincidence, the lawyer who Cossey, the chief proponent of Rife's impeachment, contacted earlier.
It was just another typical Carthage City Council meeting.
Dagnan, who was already either unemployed or still gainfully employed (depending on your definition of the word "AND") attempted to speak in his defense but was quickly shot down by Cossey.
"We've had enough discussion and you've been terminated."
At that point, a member of the audience sarcastically shouted at Dagnan, "File your lawsuit!" (English teachers would call this "foreshadowing.")
Cossey attempted to save the council the trouble of impeachment by telling Rife he should resign and telling him the voters sent a clear message by the people who were elected to the council earlier this month.
"I would encourage you to save this city the time and the expense and resign."
Rife said, "I'm not going to resign. I'm not going to allow this kind of illegal activity to continue.
"I'm not going to quit."
Rife noted he had been elected mayor twice.
Councilwoman Lori Leece recommended trying to get along.
It won't be in the official minutes, but apparently the suggestion was silently voted down by a 7-2 margin.
31 comments:
Thanks, Randy, for your reporting on this.
Yes, We need this to be Publicized.
When City/State/Federal Governments, start mandating closed door meetings and you cannot talk to the press then we are all in trouble, and it creates a clear separation of information from the public, which is who these so-called elected officials are there to represent. No more back-room deals - let's keep it open and out front for all eyes and ears.
What about the - The Sunshine Law, which has been on the books since 1973, declares Missouri's commitment to openness in government in § 610.011, RSMo: “It is the public policy of this state that meetings, records, votes, actions, and deliberations of public governmental bodies be open to the public unless otherwise provided by law.
CCU and their candidates have made Carthage a joke. All in an effort to protect a criminal.
The mayor and his henchmen have finally met their match. They clearly have no honor or respect for Carthage or they would resign and save us the trouble of running them out of town. The mayor, Dagnan an Dally the axis of corruption and intimidation your days are numbered.
Hopefully someone changes the locks on Dagnan's office today.
Guess again... You're "Axis of corruption" is being exposed and it doesn't include the names mentioned by you. The axis of corruption sits in the audience and orchestrates the actions of the CCU mouthpiece (Cossey). I think it was obvious on the faces of the puppet masters that they wagered on the wrong horses last night. The net is spreading wider and when their conspiracy is fully exposed to the public, they will turn on each other like hyenas 🤣🤣🤣
All of them such small, insignificant, pathetic people leading a small, insignificant, pathetic town. Ants and sloths on power trips.
A council member whose father was criminally charged should abstain from voting on this issue. It appears to be retaliation for the criminal case.
A small group of people have taken over the council. Nothing good will come of this..
Agreed. It’s the good old boys using people to get what they want.
Anyone figure out why the Carthage Cronies United is doing this. Did a money deal get broken up by the arrest of Peterson?
Bingo. He was also trying to get the city to pay $6 million for a plot of land valued at $3 million.
Hmmmmmmmm, that’s a mystery…
Is it the same land cw&e is building its “industrial park”?
This is hilarious, Randy. Great writing.
Cossey and her cronies are a joke. I'm not even from Carthage or live there but the whole ordeal is totally unprofessional, ugly, and embarrassing to the City of Carthage, Jasper County, and SWMO. If this is who is representing and running the city it's a complete joke hahaha but entertaining nonetheless.
The Carthage Citizens United are Not Timid!
Large legal bills probably are in the citie's future!
Yup, leaving the city open to litigation because you are so bent on firing people that you refuse to follow the policies and procedures set by ordinance and the charter seems to run counter to the “Fiscal Responsibility” that these candidates ran on.
How long before CWEP internet management blocks websites that xpose the Carthage Cronies United and friends and articles that paint them in a bad light.
I watched the entire meeting. It was like a bunch of little kids fighting about the rules to a game on a playground. Our city government has turned into a playground for people who think they are more important than they really are. Not much other than personal attacks and bickering happening last night.
No honor or respect? Lol. Alan Snow deliberately relayed false information from City Hall to CWEP as the liaison. It was stated in an open meeting and he didn’t deny it. Only henchmen here are CCUs puppets.
CCU was led by Mark Peterson who has been charged with stealing money from the city. His son is a new council member. Most, if not all, of the newly elected council members are friends of his or ones that he actively campaigned for. On the first things Cossey did was try and force the PD to come answer questions about the investigation. Trying to intimidate witnesses perhaps to protect your friend? Another newly elected member is wanting press releases to be OK'd by the council. This is a prime example of corrupt small government. They want to fire Dagnan, the police chief, and will then try to impeach the mayor for some make believe stuff. This is the good ole boy network on steroids. The dignity of Carthage is lost because of this. Shocking that they are trying to proudly protect a man charged with basically robbing the people.
If Cossey and the other members reached out to the STL attorney wouldn't that be violation of the law if they were acting on behalf of the city? They were oddly quick to hire the man without any public comment. They claim they want transparency and integrity and then do the opposite of that. Cossey is the Carthage version of AOC.
And this snow guy is running for presiding commissioner. Later he will cost the county taxpayers more money
So Cossey dressed down ms leece for running unopposed. However she was appointed and didn’t run opposed. Kettle meet pot
Is Carthage eating itself?
Does anyone see a similar comparison of things that had gone on in the Joplin City Council and its band of Cronies, especially during the time after the tornado hit Joplin and the millions of dollars that was mismanaged, secretive land deals, and all the favors that were played out with the Wallace Bajjali Development Partners.
Thank god Carthage has people fighting to make it better. I believe in the coming weeks there will be a lot revealed about how the city administrator has manipulated a lot of good Christian people into make very bad decisions. Same operation has been repeated for years at various agencies. I bet the recent resignation of city attorney will ultimately show he never had a contract and never had approval of part time work for full time pay. The truth will take months if not years to be revealed, don’t be surprised if a lot of other people who the city administrator surrounded himself with take all the blame and he remains unscathed.
The number of anonymous comments made over and over again by the same person is funny
Thanks bro
AGREE 100%!
Police Chief skill set moving to City Administrator responsibility was a mistake to begin with. Very similar to Neosho.
No. The land Peterson wanted to buy is where the lake is located.
Alan Snow is the one who recommended her in the first place. Think they had a plan in mind back then? Chuck Bryant is controlling them all. Remember that. He and Peterson are besties. They were overheard in Roscoe’s last summer planning their takedown.
You are a moron LOL with a moron's brain.
But both properties were owned by the same owner and both properties were grossly overpriced.
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