BY GREG WALTERS

School Board Member

Alleges Administration

Violated District Policy

School Board member Rick Thode has released his “Notes on Collins Matter”.

Mr. Thode’s notes address how the Raytown School District Administration has handled certain policy matters in the wake of the resignation of former School Board President Dr. Christie Collins.

Dr. Collins resigned her position after she was charged by Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters for felony stealing.

According to Mr. Thode, “The School District is seeking restitution of $37,000 from Collins which includes fraud losses, professional fees and internal costs”.

Thode continued . . . “in my opinion, District policy was repeatedly violated by the Administration. The policy contains a standard stating that the “letter and intent” of these policies must be obeyed. There must be reasons why the Administration repeatedly and willfully failed to enforce policy and pull the card.”

y violated

Mr. Thode’s reference is to PCards (credit cards).  PC cards are provided school board members for use in their duties as members of the Raytown School Board. Use of the cards is voluntary. Thode said not all members of the school board use the cards.

On October 14th the School Board is scheduled to discussion Thode's motion in open session.

Mr. Thode’s notes on the "Collins Matter" follow:

Notes on Collins Matter

August 30, 2019

Mr. President, before explaining my support for the motion, I

would like to spend a few minutes to briefly read a memo which

contains six points from my personal notes that were taken

during two open meetings with Dr. Markley on August 19 and

August 26. On those dates, Dr. Markley and I reviewed and

discussed District public financial information pertaining to the

alleged criminal activities of Dr. Kristie Collins.

1. Dr. Markley stated that his Administration was aware that

Dr. Collins used her Pcard as early as 2014 for personal

expenditures. He showed me a binder containing her credit

card activity from 2014-19 and drew my attention to a

personal expenditure by Dr. Collins of $97.00. Dr. Markley

stated that the expenditure was not related to educational

purposes for the District. He stated that in 2014 the District

knew the transaction violated policy, demanded and

received full payment for the personal expenditure, and the

matter was closed. He stated that other similar transactions

were contained in the binder. Dr. Markley then confirmed

again that the Administration was aware that Dr. Collins

had used her Pcard for personal expenditures as early as

2014 and made no attempt to cancel her Pcard.

2. I then provided Dr. Markley a schedule that I prepared from

the Districts’ books and records showing that Dr. Collins

was repeatedly past due on her District Pcard account

during the period from January 2018 through April 2019 in

monthly amounts sometimes greater than $2000. Dr.

Markley stated that the administration was aware of these

past due balances. During that period of past due balances,

the Administration did not cancel her Pcard.

3. Dr. Markley listened to my concern that the

Administrations’ decision to not cancel Dr. Collins Pcard as

early as 2014 could have contributed to Dr. Collins

continuation of her alleged activities. Moreover, her

repeated past due balances were a series of red flags that

could have led to her cancellation. Those past due balances

were essentially an interest free loan provided by the

Administration with no penalties for delinquencies. Dr.

Markley did not object to my assertions.

4. I reminded Dr. Markley that the Auditors issued a

management letter in 2018 and told the Administration and

Board that Board members should review individual Board

member transactions on a monthly basis. I stated to Dr.

Markley that such an unusual request from the Auditors

could have been a wakeup call to the Board. Dr. Markley

did not object.

5. I reminded Dr. Markley that the Administration paid

$10,000 in investigation fees to the Auditors in May 2019

for an investigation of Dr. Collins’ transactions in 2018-

2019. Those fees were spent after Dr. Collins made a minor

charge in May 2019 of roughly $300. Additionally, her past

due amounts had been cleared up. I asked Dr. Markley why

the Administration was willing to spend $10,000 after such

a minor charge had been incurred and she was not past due.

I explained that an expenditure of such a minor amount

could lead one to a conclusion that the Administration was

willing to spend $10,000 because they had a good idea

what they would find. He agreed that the amount was large

in relationship to the bill of $300 but did not elaborate.

However, the Pcard was finally cancelled. I suggested to

Dr. Markley that the expenditure of $10,000 may not have

been necessary to cancel her card because she had violated

policy as early as 2014. He offered no explanation.

6. After asking Dr. Markley these questions, I asked for his

thoughts. He expressed and displayed significant and

genuine regret and remorse. I asked him if he would be

willing to publicly apologize for the Administration’s

failure to cancel Collins’ Pcard. He agreed that the apology

might warrant calls for his resignation, but he agreed to do

it.

That concludes my personal notes. After two weeks of

deep reflection, I have offered the motion that the Board of

Education must continue its assessment of the Collins

matter by immediately engaging a forensic attorney and

auditor. The goals will be to determine why District

policies were violated, to assess responsibility, to make

improvements in policies and internal controls governing

Pcard transactions, and to provide appropriate safeguards

over taxpayers’ money.

I urge that the motion be approved without delay.

BY PAUL LIVIUS

Heard on the Street

RAYTOWN NEWS AT A GLANCE

The Raytown Park Board was given some more bad news at its last meeting. Park Board Director Dave Turner reported that a number of pre-teens and young teenagers were hanging out at the basketball court waiting for a chance to shoot some hoops.

A dispute between some of the adults caused so much commotion that it disrupted the softball league game being played on the other end of the park.

A young male, thought to be in his early 20’s, pulled a gun from his back pack and started pointing at everyone in the crowd, including the children of minor age.

This caused everyone to flee the court, leaving the gunman by himself. According to witnesses, he returned to his car, lit up a small cigar, smoked it and then calmly drove away. The police showed up shortly after the event. Anyone with information should contact the Raytown Police Department at 737-6020.

• The Raytown Board of Aldermen approved a 7% increase in the sanitary sewer tax. The tax increase will go into effect November 1^st. The vote on the sanitary sewer tax was 8 yes / 1 no / 1 absent. Alderman Greg Walters cast the "no" vote. Alderman Ryan Myers was absent. The Mayor said Myers was "excused". The remainder of the Board voted to increase the tax.  

• The Board of Aldermen lowered the levy rate on personal and real property tax at its last meeting. Raytown tax payers can thank the Hancock Amendment, a Missouri law that mandates governments that tax based on property values roll back the tax if property values are increased. Raytown, which is entirely within the Jackson County, has seen historic increases in property taxes this year.

• Raytown School District refuses to roll back taxes. This story is developing. Last April, Raytown voters approved a large renewal property tax renewal of school bonds. The School Board voted to NOT lower its tax levy rate at its last meeting. More on this to come in future editions of the Raytown Report.

• The Board of Aldermen approved the refinancing of what are commonly known as the Walmart Bonds at its last meeting. The move is expected to save the city 3.1 million dollars over the life of the bonds. The interest payment on the debt was lowered from 5.06% to 3.23%.

• An interesting footnote . . . a spokesman for Columbia Capital Management, the firm hired by the city to manage the transaction, gave credit to drop in interest rates to a well known politician who frequently tweets his opinion to the public. He was referring to a tweet by President Trump that drove the stock market into a brief downturn. Columbia Capital advised the city to make the transaction when the interest rate on bonds bottomed out. Apparently, the timing was perfect.

• Former Mayoral candidate Tony Jacob took the City of Raytown to Court over what he claimed was a violation of State Law. He had been in attendance at a Park Board meeting and was forced to leave when they went into executive session. State law requires the governing body hold an executive session to provide a place for those not involved with the executive session a place to wait while the session is in process.
  
  
  Jacob took his complaint to Small Claims Court. The judge agreed with Jacob’s complaint but ruled against it because he had not been monetarily affected by the act.
  
  
  Small Claims Court is set up to handle monetary disputes. The judge was correct in the logic used.
  
  
  Still, the finding does not settle the question over the closed session in question. We have probably not heard the last of this case. Jacob has appealed the ruling to the Circuit Court for consideration.

To leave a comment use this link
POST A COMMENT

A healthy contingent of well-wishers were on hand to honor

 Vicki Turnbow, Executive Director of the Raytown Area Chamber of

Commerce for her award as Raytown Citizen of the Year last

Friday night at the annual Truman Heartland Foundation Gala.