Lawrence Mayor Jeremy Farmer resigns after tax problems are revealed

Jeremy Farmer has resigned as mayor of Lawrence, two days after he resigned from his job as executive director at a food pantry.

Farmer resigned his seat on the City Commission Wednesday, effective immediately. He had resigned Monday from Just Food, a nonprofit food pantry, after it was revealed that he had not paid about $50,000 in federal payroll taxes.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the remaining four city commissioners will meet Friday to accept the resignation and begin the search for a replacement.

The Lawrence mayor has no administrative duties but is chairman of commission meetings and signs certain documents that require a mayor’s signature.

Just Food officials say there’s no indication money was misappropriated from the nonprofit group. Farmer says it was an oversight that the taxes weren’t paid.

This story was originally published August 13, 2015 at 9:45 AM with the headline "Lawrence Mayor Jeremy Farmer resigns after tax problems are revealed."