(KNZA)--An extensive investigation by the Brown County Attorney’s Office, through the independent assistance of the Atchison Police Department, finds that members of the Hiawatha City Commission violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act.

The investigation, launched by Brown County Attorney Kevin Hill, followed what the Notice of Violation calls "two separate requests for an investigation into alleged violations of the Kansas Open Meetings Act by one or more Hiawatha City Commissioners in the month of December 2021."

The complaints, received January 3 and January 4 of this year, "specifically voiced concerns over potential violation by three commission members who voted in favor of terminating the Hiawatha Police Chief, John Defore, at the December 27, 2021, Hiawatha City Commission Meeting.”

Noted in the document's Conclusion of Law is that the three, Mayor Bill Collins, Commissioner Evans Woehlecke, and Commissioner Brian Shefferd, excluded fellow commissioners Becky Shamburg and Dave Middendorf from their phone calls, text messages, and third-party communications regarding the fate of Defore.

The document outlines a thorough investigation, aided by Atchison Police Detective Austin Surritt, which utilized records and discovery subpoenas, testimony under oath, and procurement of AT&T cell phone records, which revealed that the Commissioners, using phone calls, text messages, and shared discussions with Brown County Sheriff John Merchant, violated the open meetings act. The violating communications led up to last year’s motion, made by Mayor Collins to fire Defore, as seconded by Shefferd, which left, as the document puts it, Commissioners Shamburg and Middendorf “shocked and dumbfounded.”

The focus of the discussions between Collins, Shefferd and Woehlecke  pertained to a juvenile case they perceived to be incorrectly handled by Defore and his department.

Hill said the Police Department fully investigated the case and his office filed formal charges the week following the incident.

Hill, Tuesday, submitted a consent agreement to the Hiawatha City Commission for the review and approval of four conditions, including an agreement to cease and desist from further violations of the Kansas Open Meetings Act; execute a resolution as a public meeting indicating "its intent and desire to comply with all provisions of the Kansas Open Meetings Act; each City Commissioner, within the next three months, will complete a training approved by the Brown County Attorney's Office concerning the requirements of the open meetings act; and that the City of Hiawatha pay a civil penalty in the amount of $500 within 45 days of Tuesday's receipt of the notice.

Failure to agree with the four terms, "will result in the Brown County Attorney's office applying to the District Court of Brown County" for enforcement. Should that happen, the document states, the Brown County Attorney's office "will have the discretion of requesting that the District Court enter an additional order requiring the City of Hiawatha to pay all costs incurred" in the violation investigation, "impose a civil penalty against any and all commissioners who knowingly violated the act, as well as other remedies authorized by Kansas Statute."