Kansas City News Blog

By JUSTIN KENDALL

Last night, the elected board of the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities met for the first time since the embattled power company's second-in-command was indicted on charges of stealing $400,000 from the utility. Wyandotte County residents packed the normally empty boardroom, some calling for the BPU to fire Chief Administrative Officer Marc Conklin (that's him in the mug shot).

Tempers flared between board members and citizens. Board member Mark Jones spoke condescendingly to T.J. Reardon, the WyCo citizen-agitator who had petitioned to convene the grand jury whose work resulted in the indictments against Conklin.

Mark Jones, left, and Bob Milan

"You look familiar, and I've seen your face before," Jones said to Reardon. "Did you ever run for office at the BPU?"

"Yeah, I ran against you," Reardon rebutted, "and I spent $135 to your $135,000 that the good old boys put into your campaign."

Board President Loretta Colombel gaveled down Jones and called for order.

"We're going to conduct this as business like we always do," Colombel said. She said the board wanted to answer people's questions. But the board couldn't answer the question on most people's minds: Why were they still paying Conklin's salary? How could the BPU not know that $400,000 was missing?

Board member Bob Milan's replies were terse and short. A hum in the room conveyed that the people weren't going to stand for it.

"We've heard nothing from the BPU about what we read about in the newspaper," Quincie Colding said.

Milan ranted about the American justice system, about Conklin being innocent until proven guilty. He praised the utility as one of the best in the nation. Milan also chastised people for not coming to board meetings before the indictments.

"We're here on the first and third Wednesday of every month, and nobody out there I'm looking at, I've ever seen before," Milan said.

"Before all of this happened, nobody had a reason to question what the BPU does," Colding replied. "When something happens that people need to attend the commission meeting, they do it, whether they would regularly or not. We're attending because we have something to say about what's going on."

Shedreese Scott, who organized the rally, apologized to the people for the hostile treatment they were receiving.

"I am absolutely shocked and appalled at the animosity I feel from members of the board," Scott said. "Mr. Milan, I spoke with you just today to make sure that everything was going to be OK when we got here, and you assured me that it would be. So I am absolutely taken aback at the shortness of answers and the tone that is given to the citizens who have taken the time to come here today."

Milan apologized, saying he is "a human being." But he tried to justify his tone, saying he had received 40 phone calls during the day.

"If I seem to be a little upset, I have justification for it," Milan said.

Not really, though. Even if Milan's phone had been ringing off the hook, it's his job to answer it. He's an elected official. He and the other board members represent the people, and at the moment, they were upset.

Milan eventually calmed down.

Meanwhile, the big revelation of the meeting came when Scott asked if the BPU had ever conducted an internal investigation.

"Yes, we do have an internal investigation going on by an outside party," General Manager Don Gray said. "We have brought third parties in to take a hard look at all of our policies and procedures and processes and we're continuing to take a hard look at ourselves."

We'll be watching.