Am I in an alternate reality? I asked that question to another reporter last night as BPU board member Mark Jones (pictured at far left) called for a wage freeze for management and nonunion employees. The other five board members and General Manager Don Gray looked like they were choking on their tongues as Jones talked about freezing wages to avoid layoffs. Jones said a couple of
customer service employees told him they'd never heard so many
complaints from people unable to pay their bil
The black eyes keep coming for the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities. Yesterday, a legislative audit was released showing that the utility company failed to seek competitive bids for 21 of 25 contracts valued at more than $50,000. I'd heard for a couple of years that the BPU wasn't bidding contracts. Finally, a legislative audit report from Tom Wiss and a special master's report proved it. The reports were commissioned after the indictments of the BPU's Chief Administrative Officer
This photo of Marc Conklin was taken when he was booked in Wyandotte County. Marc Conklin, the former chief administrative officer for the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities, committed suicide at his home last night. The Kansas City Kansan reported the story first early this morning. A BPU spokesman confirmed the story to me this morning. In October, a Wyandotte County grand jury indicted Conklin and Rodney L. Turner, a 68-year-old lawyer who contracted with the utility, on charges o
Marc ConklinYesterday, the Wyandotte County coroner confirmed that BPU official Marc Conklin committed suicide. An autopsy revealed that the 44-year-old former chief administrative officer of the utility had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Wednesday. In the last couple of years, I've written quite a bit about Conklin. Every story a negative one, starting with an expose on credit card abuses ("Lunch Money," November 30, 2006) by high-ranking
officials at the utility -- namely, Conklin.
Rodney L. TurnerThe ghost of Chuck Thompson is still haunting Wyandotte County 21 years after the Democratic Party Chairman's murder. Questions about Thompson's murder has led a Kansas judge to dismiss the case against an attorney accused of stealing $400,000 from the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities. Kansas Senior Judge Jack Lively told The Kansas City Star that he threw out the case against Rodney L. Turner because Wyandotte County prosecutors let KBI Special Agent William
The Kansas City Kansan reports that Board of Public Utilities General Manager Don Gray gets to keep his $170,000-a-year job for at least the next 18 months.BPUDon GrayPitch staff writer Justin Kendall has written extensively about the BPU, which provides water and electricity services. His stories -- and the eventual indictments against BPU officials -- depict a place where functionaries live like kings and accountability is virtually nonexistent. Sort of like the athletic department at Kansas S
