(From the Newton County Prosecuting Attorney's Office)Today, Newton County Prosecuting Attorney William Lynch announced that he has settled the case against the Newton County Commission for failure to abide by the Missouri Sunshine Law.
The violation alleged by the Prosecuting Attorney pertained to amending the agenda during a posted meeting.
“As a public servant, I care deeply about the tenets of governmental transparency and fiscal conservatism. As such, I take seriously my statutory obligation to enforce the Sunshine Law,” said William Lynch. “I am thankful the Newton County Commission agreed to the settlement terms and specifically the compliance plan, which will ensure the Commission complies with Sunshine Law in the future and does so in a way that will be at no cost to our hardworking taxpayers.”
As a part of the agreement, the Newton County Commission admits that the Sunshine Law was violated purposefully in its meeting on December 12, 2024. The Commission agrees to attend a class on the Sunshine Law as presented by the Prosecuting Attorney or other approved source and to seek legal advice prior to amending an agenda at any future meeting.
Chapter 610 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri provides the framework for what is known as Missouri’s Sunshine Law. Jurisdiction to file a lawsuit is shared specifically with the Prosecuting Attorney, Attorney General, or to an aggrieved person, taxpayer, or citizen.
***
(Note: The settlement was reached after Judge Kevin Selby issued a temporary restraining order against the Commission preventing actions that were taken during the December 12 meeting from going into effect. The prosecuting attorney's petition for enforcement of the Sunshine Law is printed below.)
After the meeting was called to order at 10:30 am on December 12, 2024 and roll taken, a motion was made to approve the agenda, before that motion was seconded, District 1 Commissioner Alan Cook made an amendment to the agenda to “reclassify ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) entries.
The motion to amend the agenda was seconded by District 2 Commissioner David Osborn. Presiding Commissioner Daniel Swem asked for a list of the reclassifications, to which Cook stated that he had them. Swem asked if the entire commission could look at them, at which point Cook appears to have provided a copy of the amendment to Swem.
During the meeting, Cook stated that he had been in communication with FORVIS, a firm hired to help Defendant navigate use of ARPA funds. Cook stated that there had been things allocated to ARPA previously, that he wished to allocate back to general funds, namely 12 items reallocated from ARPA to “Road and Bridge” totaling $58,911.20. There were three items reallocated from ARPA funds to “Capital Expenditures” totaling $79,481.24.
Cook stated this would total $138,392.44 to “free up” ARPA funds. Cook stated he had the list of the individual items and Swem asked for copies of that list. Cook responded that he would provide copies, ostensibly after the vote.
Cook then made the motion to reallocate the funds, Osborn seconded the motion. Swem asked Osborn if he wished to physically look at the list or vote on it without looking. Osborn responded that he didn’t need to look at it because Cook read it off.
Swem then asked for a roll call vote which resulted in Swem voting “no,” and Cook and Osborn voting “yes."
The Commission then went into closed session. Notably, the deadline for obligating ARPA funds is December 31, 2024. By reallocating $138,392.44 away from ARPA, Defendants obligated the county’s general funds by the same amount and opened $138,392.44 for other potential pet projects of the commission. Should this reallocation stand as of December 31, 2024, Plaintiff acting on behalf of taxpayers, will suffer immediate and irreparable loss in the absence of relief requested below.
6 comments:
Both Newton and Jasper Counties have issues with Understanding the Sunshine Laws - and the Commissionaires think they can just do whatever they want - It has caused both Counties - Legal Issues -
We are lucky to live away from this area but if the situation reads right all journal entries made by a county must be part of a meeting and made known to the public.
They should have a refresher course every year, every six months if you have violated it
sounds like we are the ones that are lucky that you don't live in the area
4:32PM - Needs to take a refresher course on being neighborly or keep their snide comments to themselves - since it is obvious you know nothing and have little to add to the conversation.
Will the perpetual shitrshow of the newton county commissioners ever end? How do these miscreant reprobate scoundrels ever get elected? The populace of newton county, missouri sure aren't looking very intelligent right now.
Post a Comment