Watchdog lambastes Peabody
Staff writer
Tension surfaced Monday at a Peabody City Council meeting as criticism from a returning watchdog collided with the city’s plan to rebuild its police department.
“The city’s being mismanaged, and community concerns are clearly taking a backseat,” said Michael Eravi, director of Lawrence Accountability.
Eravi, who criticized Peabody’s police department at a contentious council meeting earlier this year, returned Monday with renewed criticism of city leadership.
Eravi urged council members to consider whether they were receiving complete and timely information from city administrator Paul Leeker and whether too much authority over city direction had been concentrated in one office.
“Community priorities are taking a backseat to the goals of one single person in this room,” Eravi said.
Eravi questioned the absence of the city attorney as council prepared to take up police department restructuring.
The council let Eravi know his time to speak was up.
The rest of the meeting proceeded as usual until discussion turned to Leeker’s police reform and hiring plan.
The plan aims to stabilize a department that has seen repeated turnover, including departure of four police chiefs in four years, and periods without consistent local coverage.
Leeker said the proposal was the result of weeks of work and was designed to create structure after multiple breakdowns in leadership and staffing.
The plan calls for forming a police chief search committee with council and community input to guide hiring.
It also proposes setting a minimum staffing level of two officers, with additional coverage potentially supplemented through the Marion County sheriff’s office.
Other components include updating the police chief job description, reviewing officer training and certification records, and clarifying administrative policies separating council oversight from day-to-day law enforcement operations.
Leeker also outlined possible community-facing steps, including public meetings focused on policing concerns and creation of a civilian advisory group.
Before council members acted on the plan, Eravi interrupted proceedings, saying it failed to address a key issue.
“There is nothing in here about conducting background checks,” Eravi said.
Eravi continued pressing the point after being ruled out of order and ultimately was removed from the meeting by Peabody’s lone remaining police officer, a part-timer.
After Ervasi’s removal, Leeker said the presentation was exhaustive and that background checks would be included as the process moves forward.
Council members voted to receive and file the plan and proceed with forming a police chief search committee.
“Your city administrator is charged with executing the will of this body, and I believe he has taken a disproportionate view of his control over that process,” Eravi esaid arlier in the meeting.
After the meeting, Leeker declined to respond directly to the criticism.
“My record stands for what it is,” he said. “I’m working for the best interest of the city of Peabody.”
Charles Walker, Peabody’s part-time officer, said background checks should be part of the hiring process moving forward.
“I think something needs to happen sooner than later,” Walker said. “I also think that background checks on these people as they come in have to be. That’s a priority.”
Tornado sirens
Separate from the police discussion, Fire Chief Colton Glenn warned council members that the city’s tornado siren system was unreliable.
“There’s no bigger problem in the town right now than that,” Glenn said, “the fact that we can’t reliably say if the tornado siren’s going to go off when I need it to go off.”
The system is difficult to activate remotely, can lock up if errors are made, and is located in the police station rather than the fire station. He asked council members to approve relocating the system and exploring upgrades.
Leeker said he had begun reviewing the issue and agreed the system should be more accessible to fire personnel.
Water grant
Council members approved a Kansas Water Office grant agreement totaling $1.23 million to address aging water infrastructure, including century-old cast iron mains, frequent line breaks, and inoperable valves.
Hometown Grants to manage compliance and reporting tied to the project, titled “Peabody: Every Drop Counts,”
Other business
A request for a zoning change connected to a Peabody Land Bank housing project was sent to the city’s planning and zoning commission for further review.
Court Clerk Pandea Smith told council the city needed a more consistent approach to court security, noting that with only one part-time officer, Peabody lacked a reliable bailiff.
Council members asked her to gather cost and availability information from nearby departments.
The council also approved up to $2,100 for improvements to Santa Fe Park, supported by donations and discounted labor that reduce the cost to the city.
After an executive session, council members voted to extend a job offer to Aaron Waddell for public works superintendent, pending pre-employment screening, and to promote Jesse Talkington to field operations supervisor.
Mayor Kevin Burke said he was compiling a list of streets most in need of repair and encouraged residents to report additional concerns as the city prioritized infrastructure improvements.