Tensions remain high in Parkville, with the most recent meeting of the board of aldermen last week dominated by nearly a half hour of public comment consisting of arguments between audience members and elected officials.

Parkville resident Brett Krause spoke during the public input portion of the meeting, stating he wanted to address issues that had come to “our attention” recently. Mayor Nan Johnston questioned who “our” was.

“I would say ‘our’ is the general populace of Parkville that are paying attention,” Krause said, before restating his concerns about what he believes is a lack of detailed information provided in minutes from recent meetings.

Krause previously ran for the board of aldermen and has attended several recent meetings, concerned about the ongoing ethics complaint filed against Johnston as well as a possible criminal investigation under way by the Platte County Sheriff’s Office. No criminal charges have been filed against either Johnston, the board of aldermen or the city.

He called out aldermen Brian Whitley and Greg Plumb, asking if they supported use of city funds to pay for legal defense of criminal investigations against Johnston. Krause and Johnston had an exchange at a recent meeting regarding legal fees racked up due to the ethics complaint filed by Elaine Kellerman and lawsuit filed by Jason Maki.

Johnston asked Krause if he or his ‘cohorts’ would reimburse the city for those fees after he questioned the use of public funds to defend Johnston and the city in the lawsuit – which was settled for nearly $200,000 dollars last year - and ethics complaints.

Kellerman was present at the meeting and Johnston called her out, asking if she would reimburse the city for costs incurred. Kellerman did not respond.

Krause denied Maki and Kellerman were his cohorts, merely fellow concerned citizens. Johnston and Krause had another terse exchange regarding the nature of those filings and their relationship to the criminal investigation.

Johnston suggested Krause wait for the results of that investigation, but Krause said he had posed questions to members of the board which had gone unanswered.

Whitley questioned the basis for Krause’s comments about the criminal investigation and asked city attorney Chris Williams to check into the matter, and whether it was Johnston or the entire board under investigation, as Krause implied.

Alderman Marc Sportsman asked for a man who had came up to Krause during his comments and whispered to him to speak to the board.

Resident John Carter then came forward and said the city had the opportunity to settle Maki’s suit for less money if it agreed to not use private email servers for public business. Sportsman questioned where that information had come from. Carter said it was “his understanding” based on statements made by Maki.

Sportsman and Carter bickered about the source of the information and where the burden of proof in that statement lies. Johnston flatly said the statement was not true and that such information had never been released.

“You need to go back to Mr. Maki, as one of his lackeys, and explain to him that’s not truthful and that you made a fool out of yourself by coming in front of everybody and saying that,” Sportsman said.

Carter also questioned why Sportsman wasn’t running for re-election “if this is such a great job you’ve been doing.”

“Well I have been doing a great job, and for 21 years it was outstanding, until 2018 when Maki and his lackeys decided they wanted nothing to do with that Creekside development and took it upon themselves to make life miserable for as many residents of the city of Parkville as well as the elected aldermen,” Sportsman said.

The argument strayed into the city’s recent move to hire a criminal defense attorney and the construction of park amenities in a flood zone until Johnston called an end to public comment.

“You should have released the records and none of this would have happened, period,” Carter said.

Carter continued to argue from the audience until Plumb called for order.

Both Johnston and Sportsman are up for re-election in April and chose not to file.