Carthage Council member: Constituents say Dagnan firing, Rife impeachment 'needed to happen for quite some time'

It didn't take long after a string of Carthage city employees spoke in favor of the possibly fired City Administrator Greg Dagnan (it depends on your definition of the word "and") and Mayor Dan Rife for council member Tiffany Cossey to move full speed ahead on Rife's impeachment.

After Rife noted that a bill to approve the contract of St. Louis area attorney Paul Martin to handle his impeachment needed to go through the budget committee since it would require a budget amendment and then would need to be voted on twice by the council, Cossey had a different idea.

All the council had to do is "suspend the rules," she said, noting that it is allowed under Rosenberg's Rules of Order.

"Why not throw out all the rules?" a man shouted from the audience, apparently a victim of the phenomenon known as Cossey and effect. 

Moments later, a Carthage police officer tapped on the man's shoulder and politely let him know there were a few rules that weren't going to be suspended.

Eventually, the decision was made to have both readings of the bill at the regular council meeting Tuesday night, with Rife making a promise that "I'm not going to slow anything down."

Despite the outpouring from an audience that clearly favored Rife and Dagnan and consisted mostly of city employees, Cossey and council member Alan Snow made it clear their constituents heavily favored the actions the council took last week when it voted 7-2 to remove Dagnan and moved forward with impeachment plans.

Snow said he talked with six people who were not happy with the way the council was handling things. After pausing for dramatic effect, he added that he had spoken to 50 people who were backing the council.

Cossey hadn't talked to as many people. She said only one person opposed her actions, while 20 "said this needed to happen for quite some time."

The meeting began with the reading of a letter signed by 69 city employees. A copy of the letter can be found at the link below:

The Turner Report: Carthage employee letters back Rife, Dagnan, accuse council of personal agenda involving former parks director (rturner229.blogspot.com)

In addition to a number of city employees speaking to support Dagnan, Bill Putnam, head of Carthage Citizens United, which backed the election of the new council members who provided the votes to fire the city administrator, addressed the council to note his organization did not make its endorsements with the idea of removing anyone.

The organization's only purpose, Putnam said, was to support "qualified candidates." He promised it will do so again in 2025.

 For more information, check out these previous Turner Report posts:

The Turner Report: Carthage City Council fires City Administrator Greg Dagnan, prepares to impeach mayor (rturner229.blogspot.com)

The Turner Report: What the hell has happened to city council meetings? (Are you listening, Carthage?) (rturner229.blogspot.com)