KANSAS CITY (AP) — The state-controlled board that oversees Kansas City's police department has voted to initiate legal action over city leaders' decision to change how some of the department's budget gets spent.
The Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners voted in a closed meeting on Monday to initiate legal action to enforce its authority over the department's budget. Two commission members who are attorneys, Nathan Garrett and Cathy Dean, will work with outside lawyers to discuss the board's legal options.
The vote comes after Mayor Quinton Lucas and eight city council members voted on Thursday to reallocate about $42 million of the department's budget to a new fund that would emphasize social services such as community engagement and mental health programs. The department's budget was about $238 million in the last fiscal year.
Those votes came only hours after Lucas publicly announced the proposals, and infuriated the board of commissioners and council members from suburban Kansas City who said they were not notified ahead of time.
The ordinances would require the city manager to negotiate with the police board over how the money in the new fund is spent. The department also would receive about $3 million more to fund a police recruit class.
Opponents charge the change is a roundabout way to “defund” the police department. Lucas has rejected that characterization, saying the ordinances will actually increase the department's budget when the $3 million is added for the recruiting class.
Under state law, only the board of commissioners has authority over the police department. Other than the mayor, board members are appointed by the Missouri governor. The arrangement began in 1939 when state officials were trying to uproot corruption in Kansas City from the Tom Pendergast political machine.
The state's control of the city's police department has caused tension for years. The tension has grown since local protests following the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd last year and since local activists' calls for Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith to resign or be fired that stemmed in part from his handling of the protests.
Seven civil rights organizations held a news conference Tuesday to support Lucas and the proposed changes, and to repeat calls that Smith leave the police department.
The Rev. Rodney Williams, president of the Kansas City branch of the NAACP, said the mayor's “bold” action would help ensure minority voices are heard.
“Not only is this a radical move in the right direction. It is also a smart one,” Williams said. “It is smart because it is not defunding the police department. Rather, it raises the level of accountability for the police department to operate, because as it stands in the present moment, our police department is operating without any accountability to the citizens that pay taxes, or to any other entity."
Lucas was the only member of the police board to vote against litigation, but he has said he would welcome a lawsuit over the proposed budget changes.
He argued the current arrangement might violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which requires that people be treated equally under the law, The Kansas City Star reported.
“Diminishing voices of people of Kansas City, diminishing the ability for the people of Kansas City to actually have some role in how budgetary decisions are made...is fundamentally unfair,” Lucas said. “I think it’s fundamentally unconstitutional and I am perfectly willing to argue that in a state or federal court. I think Kansas Citians have grown frustrated enough to argue that.”
Garrett told KCUR that the commission would have preferred to discuss the matter before Lucas surprised members with the announcement.
“But once those ordinances passed, the fuse was lit and we are in a time-crunch to address swiftly lest we are unable to fund Department operations,” Garrett said.
Two Kansas City-area state lawmakers, Rep. Doug Richey, an Excelsior Springs Republican, and Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican, said they will consider filing legislation during the next session to stop such police budget changes in the future.
Luetkemeyer also has said Gov. Mike Parson should consider calling a special session to address the issue.
Parson has not committed to a special session but criticized the proposed changes during an interview Monday on a Kansas City radio station.
“I think that if you’re trying in a round about way to say, ‘OK, I’m going to try and be a little bit clever on how I’m defunding police,’ you gotta be careful with that,” Parson said. “I think people are smart enough to see through that.”