CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Carthage City Council approves hiring two attorneys to replace former City Attorney, Nate Dally — both on an interim basis. It happened at Tuesday night’s city council meeting (6/11).
Councilmembers approved a contract to hire Jon Gold as interim city attorney. He’s an attorney from Springfield.
Councilmembers also approved a contract with Joplin attorney, Nathan Gurley, who will serve as interim municipal court attorney, handling things like traffic tickets and other city citations.
These are both temporary positions the city will pay at an hourly rate. Carthage Mayor, Dan Rife said applications are still being accepted for the city attorney’s position on a full-time basis.
At the beginning of the meeting, during public comments, Jack Crusa — a member of Carthage Citizens United — told councilmembers that he has an interest in how the city is run.
Jack Crusa’s wife is friends with the wife of Barton County Judge, John Nichols. Nichols was the fourth judge appointed to preside over the lawsuit filed by Mayor Rife to stop impeachment proceedings against him. The court approved Rife’s motion for a new judge after the conflict was revealed.
Crusa told the council he approved of the firing of City Administrator, Greg Dagnan, and their efforts to impeach Rife.
“I go back to what I said seven or eight months ago, that I thought they needed to address those issues. Now that they have, from my standpoint, I think they deserve to hear positive reinforcement. I think they did the right thing,” said Crusa.
Council was also addressed by Carthage resident, Bill Scheerer, who said a recall petition against Councilmember, Tiffany Cossey was moving forward.
“I just wanted to let everybody know that our recall effort against Ms. Cossey is going great. In ten days, we have over half of what we need. And there’s been several that were reluctant to sign, because they say, ‘we don’t do petitions,’ and I say, ‘well let me show you something,’ and I show them a video, and they say, ‘where’s the pen,” said Scheerer.
Scheerer is one of two Carthage residents to join Rife in filing the lawsuit to stop the impeachment proceedings.
| The Latest From Carthage City Council:
(Story Date: April 1, 2024 – April 30, 2024)
(Story Date: May 1, 2024 — May 31, 2024)
(Story Date: June 1, 2024 — Present)
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