Neosho City Manager Jan Blase has acknowledged that the city used a state loan provided to the city solely for the construction of new hangars at the airport a couple years ago to finance its operations.
Blase also acknowledged that the city nonetheless still faces cash-flow situation and at times is “scrambling” to make payroll.
The city received a loan of $895,100 from the Missouri Department of Transportation in 2008 to construct the hangars. The city did not put that loan into its a separate restricted fund, but instead put it into its general fund that it uses to finance its operations.
“I felt morally obligated to make payroll and pay our bills,” he told the Globe this afternoon.
He initially said he thought the move was legal, although when later pressed about how that could be possible when the city’s contract with MoDOT required it to be used for the hangars, he said he was “no lawyer” but that he thought it “was the right thing to do”.
The Neosho City Council is expected to meet in an emergency session Saturday to discuss personnel issues.
Members of the council have declined to give specifics, citing the personnel exemptions.
Blase, though, said he suspected it would center on him. He said he did not plan to attend the meeting.
Local News
<img src=" http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/new.gif" border=0> Neosho city manager says city used loan money to pay bills
- Local News
-
-
Electric bill to drop $6 a month in Joplin
The Missouri Public Service Commission has approved a request filed by The Empire District Electric Company, based in Joplin, to lower the fuel adjustment charge (FAC) on the bills of its electric customers.
-
Mo. Legislature officially ends its 2012 session
Missouri's annual legislative session has officially come to a close.
-
Strong to severe storms forecast for Joplin region
Storms developing across the central and southern plains this afternoon are expected to migrate into the Joplin region this evening.
-
Economic-development strategies posed for Joplin region
More than 30 people shared ideas Wednesday on ways to promote economic development in the seven counties that are participating in the Joplin Regional Prosperity Initiative.
-
Kansas primary filing deadline near
Kansas candidates have until noon Friday for file for county offices in the Aug. 7 primary.
-
Date set to reintroduce rare beetle in Missouri
An endangered species of beetle will be reintroduced in southwest Missouri on June 5.
-
Senators: Missouri River flooding unifying moment
Two U.S. senators who symbolize disagreements between upstream and downstream states over management of the Missouri River say last year’s historic flooding was a unifying moment.
-
First-ever electricity for parts of India
The solar power company SunEdison is launching a program to get electricity for the first time to more than two dozen villages in India.
-
Couple 'scoop out' ice cream business from the past
When 3-year-old Brynlee Rabel tried coconut ice cream for the first time Tuesday, it was love at first taste. “She got the vanilla, but when she tasted my coconut ice cream she had to have it,” said Kayleigh Daugherty, a Joplin resident who wanted Brynlee to share the same experience she had as a little girl when she visited Anderson’s Ice Cream.
-
Missouri National Guard releases records involving soldiers who looted from Wal-Mart
The Missouri National Guard has released records confirming that four soldiers were disciplined for taking merchandise from the ruins of a Wal-Mart store in Joplin one day after the tornado that devastated the city a year ago.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Electric bill to drop $6 a month in Joplin
