The City of Council Grove, Kansas, has admitted to violations of the Kansas Open Meetings Act according to documents obtained by The Sentinel.
On Dec. 13, 2024, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office sent a letter questioning the city’s executive session policies in response to a complaint from Council Grove resident Deidre Knight.
The letter alleges that the city failed to give proper justification for entering into executive session in the Oct. 1, 2024 meeting.
“Ms. Knight goes on to allege that no justification was given for closing the regular meeting and entering into executive session; there was no subject given; and the time and place for returning to regular session was not stated,” the AG letter reads. “Finally, Ms. Knight alleged that the approved minutes do not match the video recording that is posted online of the council meeting.”
Among the questions the AG asked were for a copy of the complete motion for the executive session including “who made and seconded the motion for executive session, how the city council members voted, the subjects to be discussed and justification, as well as the place and time that the open meeting would resume.”
In its response, the city admitted that the minutes and the recording were different.
The minutes stated “Councilperson Sharon Haun made a motion to go into Executive Session for Attorney Client Privilege with Pat Riodan regarding the City Lake to include the Mayor, City Council, City Administrator and City Attorneys for 20 minutes. The motion was seconded by Councilperson Mark Berner. Motion carried 5 – 0. No action was taken.”
However, the recording shows the statement was “‘I move that we go into executive session for 20 minutes including the City Council present, the mayor, our city attorneys, Nick and attorney Mr. Riordan’ from Coucilperson Haun with a second by Councilperson Berner. The vote was 5-0.”
The city said in its response that the justification and subject of the executive session — which are required by law — were “mistakenly left out of the motion made for executive session on this occasion.”
The city said there was a powerpoint presentation displayed during the meeting which listed the justification and that the agenda reflected it as well, “However, when the motion was made it did not state the subject or justification and it was not caught in the moment by city staff or council members.”
This may be — in part — because city officials also admit in their response Council Grove has no formal written policy regarding KOMA or executive sessions.
In response to questions about policies and training, the city said that Berner, Huan, and Councilman Jason Booker have all undergone training through the Kansas League of Municipalities, and the Governing Body Handbook from LKM is given to each council member upon taking office.
The response also stated the mayor “generally prepares the motions to go into executive session, at times with the assistance of the city attorney. There are no written policies describing that process. We sometimes utilize the LKM Guide to the Open Meetings Act booklet.”
Controversy is nothing new to Council Grove
Complaints over violations of KOMA are nothing new for Council Grove, which has seen contention over the annexation of properties at the City Lake for years.
As The Sentinel reported in November 2024, resident Don Moler — president of the Council Grove City Lake Association and former president of LKM, complained on Nov. 5, 2024, about failure to follow the act.
“Under the guise of attorney/client privilege, the governing body of the city has gone into executive sessions with Mr. Riordan [Patrick Riordan is an attorney hired by the city to work on the annexation issue] no fewer than 11 times since March 19, 2024,” Moler told the council. “It would appear that the sessions have been used specifically to avoid all public knowledge of the development of a letter by the city governing body which was sent out a few weeks ago to the Lessees at the city lake. After a cursory review of the letter my wife and I received from the city, I found at least seven specific actions which had been taken in executive session by this governing body and which violate the Kansas open meetings act.”
KOMA expert and First Amendment Attorney Max Kautsch agreed.
“Each of the council’s motions recess that fail to include the required information violates the law. Moreover, failing to include such information keeps the public in the dark about matters of public concern,” he said. “Here, the public has a right to be surprised that the annexation plan is so far along, given the vast majority of the progress toward that goal was made behind closed doors.
“The council should review its recess practices and make sure that going forward, it provides information about its recesses to executive session as required by law.”
