Carthage council passes ordinance to oust mayor

May 22—CARTHAGE, Mo. — The lack of a city attorney to help officials and council members with day-to-day legal questions as well as the upcoming impeachment of Mayor Dan Rife was a topic of concern Tuesday night at a special City Council meeting in Carthage.

It was the seventh special meeting of the council since April 9; Tuesday's meeting also was the third meeting held since Friday.

On Tuesday, the council passed an ordinance that's identical to a resolution with the bill of impeachment that it had passed Monday, at the suggestion of Paul Martin, the attorney hired to prosecute the impeachment.

The ordinance also now includes an amendment adding another charge related to the mayor vetoing the resolution Friday. That brings to 12 the number of charges Rife faces.

The council also set dates for the impeachment hearing — 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 5, and 4 p.m. Thursday, June 6, if a second day is needed.

During discussion of the ordinance, council member Lori Leece made a motion to table the whole process until all council members have gone through council training offered by the city and the state of Missouri, and until the city hires an official city attorney to replace Nate Dally, who resigned effective May 10.

The council voted 7-2 last month to hire Martin, of St. Louis, to represent it and serve as the prosecution in the impeachment process. Rife has hired, at his personal expense, St. Louis attorney Christopher A. Thornton to defend him.

City Administrator Greg Dagnan, who is is suing the city and the council, alleging retaliation for being a whistleblower, also has hired an attorney. The council also has voted to remove Dagnan, but that effort has so far been blocked by the mayor.

Council members had discussed how to search for a new city attorney at a special meeting April 29. They talked about whether they wanted to hire a full-time attorney, as Dally had been, or hire a firm and use it part time.

A committee had been named to interview people who had responded to the city's advertising for a city attorney, and that committee was set to meet this week.

Council members pushing to impeach the mayor have indicated they would like to hold the impeachment hearing before the middle of June when Martin said on Friday he would be unavailable for about three weeks.

In her motion to table, Leece said she's only been through two training sessions and that neither provided information to guide her on whether the city is following the correct process.

"I know we're trying to get this done before Mr. Martin is gone, but all the new council members have not had their training yet," Leece said. "And we don't have a city attorney, so if we're going to go to a hearing or like a trial and we have to speak and things, I do not feel confident in knowing exactly what to do, but if we had a city attorney in place, then I would have someone I could go to that was unbiased."

Council member Tiffany Cossey, who has voted to impeach Rife and fire Dagnan, blamed the lack of a city attorney on Rife on Tuesday night, saying he's blocked the council's efforts to hire someone.

The council also voted May 10 to hire Joplin attorney Karl Blanchard after council member Terri Heckmaster said she had talked to him and he told her that he was willing to serve on a short-term basis.

But Blanchard withdrew himself from consideration in a letter to the city dated May 13.

Blanchard's letter said he had told Heckmaster he was willing to "help on a temporary basis."

"I then left town and over that period of time I had the occasion to discuss the prospect of representation with the members of my firm and consider everything," Blanchard wrote. "I reached a decision that under all of the circumstances I felt it would not be best to move forward even on a temporary basis as legal counsel to the city. I was unaware of last Friday's council meeting and I apologize for not having advised Ms. Heckmaster prior to that meeting of my decision to withdraw my name."

Rife, on May 15, signed a contract with the Lauber Law Firm, in Jefferson City, and attorney Nathan Nickolaus, to serve as short-term legal counsel for the city. Nickolaus has served as backup counsel to the city when Dally was city attorney since the middle of 2023.

The council, which was seated April 9 after the April 2 election, voted to fire the firm, and Rife's decision to move forward with a contract is one of the 12 items listed on the bill of impeachment.

Leece's motion to table the process failed by a 6-3 vote with Leece, Chris Taylor and Dustin Edge voting "yes," and Cossey, Heckmaster, Jana Schramm, Alan Snow, Tom Barlow and Derek Peterson voting "no."

The council approved the ordinance to impeach Rife on a 7-2 vote with Edge joining the majority.