BAXTER SPRINGS, Kan. —
Baxter Springs City Clerk Donna Wixon remained on paid leave from her job late last week, more than a week after Mayor Jenifer Bingham placed her on suspension.
Bingham’s action came the morning after the April 10 City Council meeting, at which a majority of council members voted against the mayor’s appointments of a new city clerk and police chief.
Bingham had appointed city Court Clerk Rodney Edmondson to replace Wixon and police officer Rex Qualls to replace police Chief David Edmondson. Since then, Rodney Edmondson has said he would not accept the city clerk position. The vote against the appointments was 5-2, with only new council members Randall Trease and Gretta Day voting in favor.
David Edmondson and Wixon have been in their positions for 13 years.
Sandy Jacquot, general counsel for the League of Kansas Municipalities, explained options available to city officials.
Jacquot said that if the City Council doesn’t agree with the mayor’s appointments, the council within 45 days of the appointments must approve a resolution declaring the mayor’s appointees as unfit or unqualified. She said that if the council didn’t approve the resolution, the appointments would become automatic in 45 days. Since one of the appointees has withdrawn his name, Jacquot said, the mayor would have to make a new appointment.
“They don’t have to make specific findings; they just have to jump through that hoop,” Jacquot said of the required resolution.
That resolution will be taken up at Tuesday’s council meeting, said Councilman Robert St. Clair.
Jacquot said that in towns like Baxter Springs, without an administrator, the mayor oversees day-to-day operations, but the council sets policy and has ultimate approval of hiring and firing.
She said the mayor does have the authority to suspend an employee, but it typically happens when the employee is suspected of some serious wrongdoing.
Bingham has not offered any explanation for her appointments or her suspension of Wixon. She didn’t return a message left at City Hall late last week.
Jacquot said the council has the power to vote to undo the suspension. She said she would think the mayor would abide by that decision. She said that theoretically, the mayor could place the city clerk back on suspension after the vote.
“That would probably not be a good policy choice unless there was a good reason for doing it,” Jacquot said.
A vote to restore Wixon to her City Hall office also is expected take place at Tuesday night’s council meeting, St. Clair said. He said that would have been done at a special council meeting, had the mayor agreed to it. Jacquot said the mayor must agree to call a special meeting of the City Council.
City Hall keys
SANDY JACQUOT, general counsel for the League of Kansas Municipalities, said Baxter Springs Mayor Jenifer Bingham has the authority to change the locks at City Hall, as she did on April 11, but she wouldn’t be allowed to keep all the copies of the keys. It wasn’t immediately known who has copies of the keys, but police Chief David Edmondson said he didn’t have a copy.
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