Independence mayor says OT investigation report was ‘illegally’ leaked to the media
A leaked report detailing the findings of an Independence investigation into police overtime has raised even more controversy about the inquiry.
After Monday night’s City Council study session, Independence Mayor Rory Rowland raised his voice several times during a three-minute speech lambasting the person who released the report.
Kansas City attorney Dan Nelson was hired by the city to examine how a police officer earned some $160,000 in overtime payments last year for completing construction work. Nelson reported some of his findings last week to reporters, but refrained from naming individuals.
A full report of his findings was made available to the council, but not released to the public.
On Monday, just before the council gathered, Fox4 aired a story with some details from the full report. The Kansas City television station said it had obtained a full copy of the 57-page report.
Rowland claimed the report had been “illegally shared” with the outlet and said it was only given to a “very limited” number of people within the city.
It’s unclear what law could have been broken by releasing the report. Rowland could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. A city spokeswoman who publicized his comments did not respond to an inquiry from The Star.
The Missouri Sunshine Law, which governs open meetings and records in the state, provides some exemptions from pubic disclosure but almost never requires that documents or meetings be closed.
Rowland said the document contained “attorney-client privileged information and confidential personnel files.”
He said the release of the report would drive up legal costs for the city, which he said would need to “defend this action.”
“This will not stand,” Rowland said. “This is not the city I know. Nor is it the city I want us to be.”
Rowland’s rebuke is the latest wrinkle in a scandal that first emerged in February, when City Manager Zach Walker said a whistle blower raised concerns about a police officer’s seemingly excessive overtime payments.
Officer Kevin Nightingale racked up 2,800 hours of overtime last year for performing construction work at the police department. In February, Walker said the police department was unauthorized to perform the work and said there may have been “fraudulent activity.”
The city manager hired Nelson’s law firm to investigate the matter. Nelson is a former deputy chief prosecutor in the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office and previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of Missouri’s Kansas City office.
The city spent $100,000 on Nelson’s review and approved spending up to $16,000 on an outside public relations firm to consult on matter.
In a press conference last week, Nelson shared a summary of his findings, which included “significant miscommunication” between police and city officials.
He said City Hall verbally agreed to some renovations at the police department, but police officials did not have express permission to use in-house staff and overtime pay to complete the work.
The investigation found that city leaders never followed up with police staff, who work across the street from City Hall. Instead, police command tapped internal employees for complex construction work without soliciting any bids as city policies require. Those unlicensed, uninsured and unbonded police department employees create liability concerns for the city, Nelson concluded.
Still, he found a significant amount of complicated work was completed at a “good value” for taxpayers. The renovations at the police department headquarters totaled roughly $398,000, about half of which went toward labor.
While he gave a summary of his findings, Nelson did not provide details on Nightingale, the police chief or the city manager. Those details are reportedly included in the full report.
The Star has sought a copy of the full report, but was denied by the city. The city said all records from the overtime inquiry were closed aside from Nelson’s slideshow presentation and a document outlining proposed policy changes.
“At this point since somebody’s apparently already released it I think we should just make it public,” Brice Stewart, a council member representing the city’s second district, told The Star on Tuesday.
Stewart said he was “torn” about the issue. He understands there may be some privacy concerns regarding individual employees.
“But when you’re talking about high-level management positions like the city manager and the chief of police, you know they’re the face of the city,” Stewart said. “The citizens pay their salary and they should probably know what happened.”
Stewart said council members had brief access to Nelson’s report during an executive session last week. The city also made the document available to council members through an electronic portal, he said.
Councilman Dan Hobart, who represents the city’s fourth district, wouldn’t say why the report couldn’t be released to the public. But he said it’s disclosure will interfere with city officials’ plans for changing overtime policies.
“Someone released the report on their own a week after it was made available to a very limited number of people,” Hobart said. “This action interferes with the work of the council and the city manager’s office processing the findings of the investigation and making changes going forward.”
Council member Mike Steinmeyer, who represents the city’s third district, said he was unaware the information was released until the mayor’s comments Monday evening.
“I had no idea that had happened,” he said. “Like everybody else, I was shocked this came out.”
Steinmeyer said he pushed city leaders last week to release at least a redacted version of the report. Last week, the mayor was asked by reporters whether the city would release a redacted version of the report but would not answer.
Rowland, who was elected mayor in April, centered his campaign on ethics reforms. He has said he wanted to change the culture at the city and reduce scandals.
And he frequently talks about transparency. He ends most council meetings with a common refrain: “We can’t manage a secret. “
But on Monday, the message he yelled from the dais was the opposite.
“When information is leaked, our employees can’t trust us. Our employees cannot trust us to come forward to fix problems,” Rowland said before angrily banging a gavel.
This story was originally published July 26, 2022 at 2:14 PM.
