By Roger Sims, rsims@linncountyjournal.com
Two Linn County Commissioners appear to have been texting each other outside of their scheduled public meetings.
That is the initial finding of a Kansas Open Records (KORA) request by the Linn County Journal. The records indicate that Commission Chair Danny McCullough, Commissioner Jim Johnson, and District 2 commission candidate Rod Earnest are part of a texting group that discussed county business, including issues about specific employees whose employment they wanted to terminate.
Although the information came from Johnson’s cell phone, most of the conversation contained in the report came from McCullough and Earnest. Johnson’s replies have been deleted either entirely or have been encrypted, however, he has remained a part that group.
Records for Commissioner Jason Hightower had no red flags that would indicate he was making contact with the other commissioners outside the commission chambers.
The KORA request also requested information on several individuals that might be contacting commissioners. Records from Johnson’s phone indicated he was in almost daily contact with Mark Briggs, an organizer against solar farms, and Mike White, a long-established friend of Johnson’s who also is opposed to solar and wind power.
Other solar farm opponents called Johnson, who campaigned for re-election against allowing solar farms in the county.
On May 29, the Linn County Journal filed a request for information from all of the commissioners’ county and private cell phones as well as emails on their county email accounts. The request came after it became apparent from conversation during open meetings that some commissioners had prior knowledge of an issue or action.
Also of concern was McCullough’s discussions that he was receiving messages during open meetings and directing discussion according to those messages, none of which was accessible by the public.
Johnson refused to take a county phone when it was offered at the beginning of his term in January 2023, so his personal phone was the object of the request.
It was not until almost a month later that the slightly modified KORA request was enacted. Johnson and Commissioner Jason Hightower submitted their cell phones within a couple days of the request by the county clerk’s office. Information was extracted from the phones quickly by the sheriff’s office and the phones were returned to the commissioners.
McCullough has refused to hand over his phones – even his county phone – and has consulted with an attorney on the issue. McCullough has been observed with both phones in front of him during meetings.
At one point during a commission meeting, the owner of a feedlot asked Johnson via text if a person who had complained about a feedlot was speaking before the commission. Apparently waiting outside the courthouse annex where the meeting was held, the feedlot owner said if a complaint was lodged, the owner would come into the meeting to charge the feedlot opponent with defamation of character.
Johnson sent a text back that the feedlot critic had not spoken.
The messages that appear on the KORA records on Johnson’s is an indication that McCullough and Johnson continuously and knowingly violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA) over a period that spans weeks. It could go further back, however, the earliest text thread that was pulled off of Johnson's phone was in early May.
KOMA prohibits the majority of a quorum of any local government entity from meeting to discuss business outside of a public meeting. The local entities covered by that act include county commissions, city councils, and school boards. It can apply to any other committee appointed by the commission as well, including the county’s planning and zoning commission.
Because the Linn County Commission is comprised of three commissioners, the majority of a quorum is two commissioners. Johnson has broached the subject of expanding the Linn County Commission to five commissioners so that two commissioners could discuss business,
However, KOMA also forbids “serial” meetings where one commissioner can talk with the other commissioner who can talk with a third commissioner and so on.
There is also the issue of discussing matters of specific county employees. As a matter of course, elected boards discuss personnel issue in closed-door executive sessions to protect the rights of the employee. Discussing personnel with Earnest, who was not entitled to that information, may have been a breach of the privilege of executive session under KOMA.
The copy of the texts, phone numbers calling or receiving calls, and text messages was substantially redacted by County Clerk David Lamb to remove personal conversations and information.
In July, the Journal filed a complaint with the Kansas Attorney General’s office about McCullough’s failure to turn over his private and county cell phones, and the sheriff’s office has been contacted about the issue.
The Journal has also submitted an additional KORA request for the deleted files, but the sheriff’s office has indicated its equipment may not be sophisticated enough to retrieve those deleted files.
County Clerk David Lamb said that the KORA report paid for by the Journal has been sent to the Linn County Attorney's office.
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