Special Carthage council meeting set for Friday regarding mayor's impeachment

May 16—Online The agenda and full text of the resolution and the charges against Mayor Dan Rife is at https://www.carthagemo.gov/page/agendas-minutes. Look for the May 17 special meeting of the Carthage City Council. The site also has a button to direct users to a YouTube page to watch the meeting as it is streamed live. The site also offers a way for users to watch many of the previous meetings for the past year.

CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Carthage City Council could start the process of impeaching Mayor Dan Rife with a special meeting at 4 p.m. Friday in the Carthage City Council chambers, 326 Grant St.

On the agenda are two items — discussion regarding the hiring of a hearing officer to preside over the proceeding involving the possible removal of Rife and a resolution concerning the removal of Rife from the mayor's office.

The council has hired St. Louis attorney Paul Martin to handle the impeachment.

The agenda also calls for the appointment of Chesterfield attorney Timothy Engelmeyer to serve as hearing officer for the impeachment proceedings at a cost of $125 per hour in travel time and $250 an hour for his services.

ResolutionThe resolution to be considered Friday states that Rife "is alleged to have committed certain acts which may constitute his removal from office."

It also says the council "desires to consider such allegations and if determined to be true further consider and determine whether Mayor Rife should be removed from office."

Martin said it takes a majority of council members to start the process and that it will take seven votes in favor to remove Rife from office. Rife has the option to appeal the ruling to the Jasper County Circuit Court within 30 days if the council votes to remove him.

"I wouldn't have prepared what I prepared if I didn't believe there was a case to be made," Martin said. "Whether the council determines that they agree with me or that they determine that the mayor should be removed, that's up to them."

Rife said the charges were expected and he'll have his own attorney present at Friday's meeting.

"I don't feel like I did anything illegal, so I'm not worried about myself," he said. "But it's a terrible thing for the city of Carthage to go through."

The resolution spells out the process to be followed for impeachment and includes a clause saying Rife will be suspended from office upon adoption of the resolution, possibly Friday.

In that case, Mayor Pro Tem Alan Snow would become mayor for the duration of the process.

Rife said he doesn't believe the law calls for his suspension while the impeachment process continues and that will be a topic of discussion at Friday's meeting.

Ward 5 council member Tiffany Cossey, a leader in the effort to impeach Rife, did not return a call seeking comment.

ChargesA bill of impeachment outlines 10 violations of the city charter, city code or state laws going back to April 1, 2022, and the process of hiring former Carthage police Chief Greg Dagnan as the city administrator. They are:

—"On or about April 7, 2022 Mayor Rife, without the authority of the Carthage City Council, 'confirmed' that Mr. Dagnan was given a ten-year employment term, a 'for cause' removal standard, and a severance payment."

It says the appointment violated several sections of the city code and charter.

Rife said he didn't want to address specific charges on the advice of his personal attorney.

—The second stems from a June 15, 2023, special meeting held immediately before a vote by the council at that time to remove members of the Carthage Water & Electric Plant board of directors after a dispute over whether the board had properly approved raises for the employees of the utility.

The charges say the meeting was called with less than 24 hours' notice and "without the consent of all the members of the council" in violation the city charter and Missouri law.

"The meeting was closed pursuant to Section 610.021(3) of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, but the subject matter of the meeting did not involve employees of the city," the charges state. "The meeting thus violated Section 610.011of the Revised Statutes of Missouri."

The charges also say that Rife called the meeting to "discuss and effect the removal of the members of the CW&EP board, which such removal was accomplished without notice of charges against the CW&EP board members or an opportunity for them to be heard."

At the time of that meeting Rife and then-City Attorney Nate Dally said the meeting was held to discuss threats to city employees and the status of the CW&EP board was not discussed in closed session. The vote to remove the board happened in open session after the closed part of the meeting.

—The third charge says that in the regular meeting April 9, 2024, when five new members of the council were sworn into office, Rife "failed to enforce the Carthage City Council's right to receive a forensic audit of the city's golf course operations, commissioned by the council in accord with its investigatory and audit authorities as conferred by the Carthage City Charter."

City Administrator Greg Dagnan said the results of that audit were evidence in a criminal trial and that it was up to the prosecutor to release that audit. Former parks Director Mark Peterson has been charged with several counts of felony stealing and money laundering. The Missouri attorney general's office is prosecuting that case.

—The fourth charge also pertains to the April 9 meeting and says Rife refused to permit an investigation by the Carthage City Council of an arrest by Carthage police of a person for allegedly "leaving the scene of an accident."

—The fifth charge alleges Rife "refused to permit the Carthage City Council's consideration of a motion to terminate City Administrator Dagnan."

The council voted 7-2 on April 9 to fire Dagnan at the meeting, and Rife ruled the motion out of order.

Dally said at the time the decision to fire the city administrator required both the council and mayor to agree and wasn't legal if one side disagreed. Rife has not supported Dagnan's firing. Dally resigned effective May 10.

—The sixth charge says Rife refused at a special meeting April 11 to permit the council's termination of Dagnan's employment, ruling the motion "inappropriate."

Cossey, who made the motion, appealed Rife's decision to the council and the appeal succeeded but Rife said the motion was "not binding." The charge alleges that Rife's actions violate several sections of the city code and charter.

—The seventh charge says that on April 23, Dally refused to approve four council bills that the council wanted to consider changing city ordinances on the way city officers are fired and other things "thus interfering with the legislative authority of the council." Rife made the final decision to keep the items off the agenda.

—The eighth charge alleges that council members called a special meeting on May 10 for consideration of the council bills that Rife had blocked them from considering on April 23. Rife refused to enforce the council's motion to consider the items, again interfering with "the legislative authority of the Carthage City Council."

—The ninth charge says Rife failed to add those four council bills to the agenda of the May 14 regular meeting.

—The 10th charge states that Rife "violated the duties and oath of office of mayor of the city of Carthage."

BackgroundThe dispute began when the council's budget committee, on June 10, 2023, decided to withhold regular annual raises to CW&EP staff because the mayor and council members at the time said the utility's board had not provided a salary study to determine how raises are set.

Dally said at the time that he could not find in the CW&EP board minutes where the board had voted on raises for utility employees in the three years prior to 2023.

The council reversed course at its regular meeting June, 11, 2023, and voted to restore the raises while also conducting a salary study for the utility. Dozens of utility employees attended the council meeting, and 10 of them spoke at the meeting against withholding the raises.

In October 2023, a number of Carthage residents called Carthage Citizens United and a number of residents attended City Council meetings and repeatedly accused the mayor and Dagnan of causing division in the city and other problems.

Carthage Citizens United endorsed four candidates for council in the April 2 municipal election. All four won and were sworn into office April 9.