The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Top Stories

Discussion

November 20, 2012

Baxter Springs mayor resigns; Bingham presided over period of controversy

By Roger McKinney news@joplinglobe.com

BAXTER SPRINGS, Kan. — Controversial Baxter Springs Mayor Jenifer Bingham unexpectedly resigned on Tuesday, said the new mayor, Mike Kaufmann.

Kaufmann, who was mayor pro tem, said he received a cellphone call about 1:15 p.m. Tuesday from City Attorney Robert Myers. Myers had called to inform him that Bingham had resigned and that he needed to go to City Hall to sign payroll checks so that city employees could be paid.

“I was unexpectedly promoted,” Kaufmann said.

Bingham didn’t return repeated phone messages left on her cellphone and at her City Hall office.

Myers didn’t return phone messages left at his office.

Controversy started in April, when Bingham named replacements for longtime City Clerk Donna Wixon and longtime police Chief David Edmondson. The City Council, on a 6-2 vote, rejected the appointments. Bingham placed Wixon on paid suspension and changed the locks at City Hall. Wixon has been back on the job after the council took action to restore her to her position.

Kevin Cure, an attorney hired by Bingham’s opponents on the council to represent their interests, had sought misdemeanor criminal defamation charges against Bingham based on her comments at meetings, including a statement that she had a photo proving that her opponents were conducting a meeting contrary to the Kansas open-meetings law. A special prosecutor declined to prosecute.

Cure couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday.

The resignation follows the Nov. 6 election, in which three of Bingham’s opponents on the council faced a recall vote, forced by a petition. Ron Costlow was the only one of the three councilmen recalled in the election. Voters retained Gary Allen and Ed McAfee.

“That’s probably the best thing that could have happened for the city,” Costlow said Tuesday of Bingham’s resignation. “Now the city can go forward in a unified way.”

He said he hasn’t decided if he will seek election to the City Council in April.

Kaufmann said he looks forward to returning some stability to city government.

“I was hoping things would kind of get back to normal” after the recall election, Kaufmann said. “But I wasn’t expecting this.”





Still hanging



ANOTHER ISSUE still hanging over the city is an investigation of Jenifer Bingham’s six opponents on the City Council by the Kansas attorney general’s office, based on allegations of open-meetings violations. Mike Kaufmann, who was among Bingham’s opponents, said he’s not aware of the status of the investigation. He said he and the other council members look forward to the results, because the allegations have no merit.

Text Only
Top Stories
  • 052213 Jop tor an4_72.jpg Federal, state leaders salute Joplin’s recovery

    A deadly May twister may have punched a hole in Joplin and Duquesne two years ago, but the resolve to repair it will help other communities stand strong when they face similar disasters. That was the message of state and national diginitaries to a crowd of about 2,500 who observed the second anniversary of Joplin’s devastating May 22, 2011, storm during a ceremony Wednesday in Cunningham Park.

    May 22, 2013 4 Photos

  • Rick Rescorla.jpg Rick Rescorla award named for hero of Vietnam War, 9-11 terror attacks

    The Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience is named for a 62-year-old vice president of security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. who directed an evacuation of the company’s 2,700-person workforce in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2011.

    May 22, 2013 1 Photo

  • 052213 Jop tor an1_72.jpg Banner from Joplin to be sent to Moore residents

    A giant vinyl banner adorned with heartfelt messages from Joplin tornado survivors to the residents of Moore, Okla., became a centerpiece of Wednesday’s observance of the two-year anniversary of the May 22, 2011, tornado.

    May 22, 2013 1 Photo

  • r052213moorejoplin.jpg Families in Moore, Joplin linked by disasters

    Zach Woodcock knew the storms were going to be bad on May 22, 2011, so turning on the Weather Channel was a natural. What he saw filled him with fear. The Moore resident’s family lived in Joplin, Mo.

    May 22, 2013 2 Photos

  • Nixon: Joplin offers 'a beacon of hope'

    Two days ago, after seeing the devastating destruction in Oklahoma, Nixon said, "I believe that you are something else too, something the people of Moore need right now. A word we all remember seeing, in front of the old high school, made from duct tape: Hope.

    May 22, 2013

  • Grant enables 20th Street Project to move forward

    A $20 million grant from the Economic Development Administration, announced at Joplin's tornado anniversary event today, will enable the 20th Street Project and the building of a new Joplin Public Library to move forward.

    May 22, 2013

  • 052213 park prep.jpg Community gearing up for two-year anniversary ceremony this afternoon

    With the playground full of children, it could be any other day at Joplin’s Cunningham Park, but the white tents popping up and neat rows of white chairs lined up nearby indicate something more is happening today.

    May 22, 2013 1 Photo

  • Awards mark Joplin observance of tornado anniversary

    Joplin will serve as the beacon for resilient recovery from a disaster to communities across the United States, including recently hit Moore, Okla., said the nation’s secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano.

    May 22, 2013

  • VIDEO: Restore Joplin designer stepping up to help Moore tornado victims

    The designer of the Restore Joplin T-shirts who helped raise nearly a quarter-million dollars for Joplin in the wake of the 2011 tornado has put together a similar design to raise money for residents of Moore, Okla.

    May 22, 2013

  • SMB sets up fund for Moore, Okla., storm victims

    Southwest Missouri Bank has set up an account so area residents can donate to storm victims in Moore, Okla., which was hit by an EF-5 tornado on May 20.

    May 22, 2013