Kansas
Nothing to see here: Kansas lawmakers use State Finance Council to spend public money in the dark • Kansas Reflector
Republicans and Democrats in Topeka may not see eye to eye on much.
But Kansas lawmakers seem to agree that the State Finance Council — a public body within the Department of Administration with broad authority to allocate taxpayer funds and that counts among its members the governor and leadership from both parties — should be allowed to avoid deliberating publicly before making decisions.
This status quo persists even though the council is subject to the Kansas Open Meetings Act, which requires its meetings to be open to the public.
As a result, the council effectively makes secret decisions that often have a significant effect on Kansas taxpayers. For example, in recent years, the council’s closed-door discussions have led to large allocations of public funding, such as authorizing $304 million in tax incentives for Integra to build a semiconductor plant last year and brokering an agreement with Panasonic in 2022 that the state touts as “one of the largest electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing facilities of its kind in the United States in Kansas.” Earlier this month, the council emerged from behind closed doors to announce a payment of $4,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit against the state.
These practices deprive the public of its right to be “informed,” as KOMA guarantees. How does the council get away with this?
Public bodies holding a ‘meeting’ may not be required to deliberate in public
For starters, it appears the council believes that a “meeting” under KOMA can still be “open” even though no meaningful discussion takes place in public view.
Such an interpretation flies in the face of KOMA’s intent to allow the public to observe such meetings. Under that law, a “meeting” means “any gathering … for the purpose of discussing the business or affairs of the public body or agency.” Moreover, “all meetings” of public bodies “shall be open to the public.”
This language could easily be interpreted to mean that a “meeting” necessarily involves and includes deliberations, and thus such discussions must take place in public as part of any open meeting subject to KOMA.
But curiously, neither the Kansas appellate courts nor the Attorney General’s Office have ever squarely determined whether the public has a right to observe deliberations. As a result, the council appears to rely on authority such as a 1997 attorney general opinion finding that public bodies can satisfy their obligations under KOMA, and avoid public deliberations, merely by voting in public.
It should go without saying that if all deliberations resulting in those votes are permitted take place in private, KOMA is effectively meaningless because the essence of a “meeting,” discussions about policy, would never need to be public.
So much for the “informed electorate” KORA’s drafters surely imagined when the law was enacted in 1972.
Some nearby states, like Iowa and Missouri, have solved this problem by including the word “deliberation” in their definition of the term “meeting” or by using more precise language for that definition, but others have proved that common sense is all that’s needed.
For example, when confronted with Colorado’s definition of “meeting,” which also does not include the word “deliberation,” that state’s Supreme Court found 50 years ago that the public was permitted to observe deliberations because “one has not participated in a public meeting if one witnesses only the final recorded vote.”
It reasoned that “when the majority of the public body’s work is done outside the public eye, the public is deprived of the discussions, the motivations, the policy arguments and other considerations which led” to the body’s decision.
In other words, the court made clear that “a public meeting is not meant to permit ‘rubber stamping’ previously decided issues.”
Why Kansas authorities have not similarly interpreted our state’s definition of “meeting” remains an open question. But what is clear is that until the council starts following Colorado’s example, there is no reason to believe that it will ever deliberate in open session.
Public bodies are allowed to reach ‘consensus’ during closed session
As foreshadowed above, the second way the council avoids public deliberations is by conducting them behind closed doors since at least 2020. As Kansas Reflector reported that year, the council’s procedure during its meetings is to sort “through details in executive session” before its members “reconvene the public meeting for nothing more than a vote to affirm or reject the deal.”
In fact, according to Rep. Troy Waymaster, a Bunker Hill Republican and longtime member of the council, the body sees no need to deliberate in public because its business is discussed “in closed session.” He says that “when we come back and it’s back to an open meeting, we do not discuss those items. We just have the vote.”
Although it is true that not every part of an otherwise “open meeting” is required to take place in public view, the public body can only recess from open session to executive session to discuss certain enumerated topics. During executive session, discussion is “limited to those subjects stated in the motion,” and “no binding action by such public bodies or agencies shall be by secret ballot.”
Crucially, “such recesses shall not be used as a subterfuge to defeat the purposes of this act.” However, authority interpreting KOMA from both the state’s Supreme Court and the attorney general indicate that a body is permitted to “reach a consensus as long as they do not take a formal vote outside of an open meeting.”
This interpretation allows the public’s business to be conducted behind closed doors and reduces action the body takes during open session to a rubber stamp. If this is how the law is to be interpreted, KOMA’s purpose — to promote a “representative government” — cannot be achieved.
Does the council violate KOMA when it fails to deliberate publicly?
As it turns out, when the State Finance Council voted to allocate $829.2 million in tax incentives on July 13, 2022, its failure to deliberate in public before it voted was lawful.
But not because that sequence of events necessarily complied with KOMA.
Rather, APEX, the law the Legislature passed with bipartisan support a few months before announcing the deal with Panasonic, provided that a deal could not be struck until it was “reviewed and approved” by the council. The law, endorsed by members of both parties, includes this attack on transparency: “Notwithstanding the provisions of the Kansas Open Meetings Act, any review, testimony or discussion of a proposed agreement (by the council) shall not be open to the public.”
The mere existence of that provision highlights the Legislature’s complicity with the council’s secrecy agenda. With the blessing of lawmakers from both parties, the council can claim that it followed the law when it failed to deliberate in public before voting to authorize the Panasonic deal.
But APEX only applied to Panasonic and wasn’t in play when the council recently paid a $4,000 settlement in a discrimination case. The law that did apply, the Kansas Tort Claims Act, doesn’t contain APEX’s confidentiality provision. Still, there was no public deliberation. Presumably, any discussion took place during executive session, which was immediately followed by a unanimous roll call vote.
Was the purpose of executive session to avoid KOMA by holding discussions in private that should have been public?
And if KOMA somehow doesn’t require deliberation to be in public view, why would it have been necessary for APEX to exempt the council from KOMA in 2022?
A troubling future
The foregoing strongly suggests that Kansas leaders are willing to keep the public in the dark whether they have specific authority to circumvent KOMA or not.
This is particularly worrisome given the possibility that the state is poised to offer expansive tax incentives to certain nearby professional sports franchises. Will the Legislature again allow a cornucopia of taxpayer money to be spent without giving the public the courtesy of observing even the final stage of negotiations?
As these and other future high-dollar projects unfold, the Kansas Coalition for Open Government calls on our state’s leaders to be mindful of the public’s right, guaranteed under KOMA, to observe at least some deliberations going forward.
Max Kautsch is an attorney whose practice focuses on First Amendment rights and open government law. Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
HUTCHINSON — Throughout their formative years, they grew up playing side-by-side, on rival teams or simply admired each other’s success from afar.
Now that their high school football careers are over, Salina Central’s Cooper Reves and Jesus Delgado, Salina South’s Jaxon Myers and Brody Chambers from Southeast of Saline, share the honor of playing for the West team in this weekend’s Kansas Shrine Bowl.
Perhaps just as important in their minds, they get to represent Salina for either the first or the last time wearing identical uniforms.
Jesus Delgado
“Us Salina guys are kind of sticking together, I like to say,” Delgado, an all-state linebacker on Central’s 2025 Class 5A state championship team, said Tuesday during the West training camp Tuesday at Hutchinson Community.
On Thursday, the East and West teams convened in Emporia, site of the 53rd annual Shrine Bowl, set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Emporia State’s Welch Stadium. But not before four days of intense practice at their respective camps in Hutch and Ottawa.
For the Salina contingent, the free time between workouts and meetings was an opportunity to connect, reconnect and reminisce.
Jaxon Myers
“We’re all from near each other, so we kind of know each other, or we’ve heard of each other,” said Myers, a standout wide receiver at South. “We’ve got some pretty good dudes in Salina.
“It’s not just us, but there’s a lot more that could have been here.”
While Reves, an all-state running back, and Delgado helped lead Central to a 12-1 record and its first state title since 2005, Myers was part of a struggling South team that suddenly caught fire in the playoffs after a 1-7 regular season. Road victories in the first two rounds led to the Cougars’ first postseason showdown with their crosstown rivals since 2004.
“That was one of the craziest football games I’ve been a part of in my entire life, just from the fan bases to everything building up to it,” Delgado said of Central’s 49-24 victory after trailing 17-14 at halftime. “But as of right now, it’s really just trying to soak everything in, going to college, and we’re all going on to different opportunities.”
“Some people are playing ball, some people are doing other things, but we’re really all just trying to get to know each other, build some connections and embrace it.”
While Myers’ memories of the playoff game aren’t as fond as those of his rivals, he said it spoke to the mutual respect the teams shared amid all the hoopla.
“It was fun, but not fun at the same time,” said Myers, who did catch a touchdown pass in the game. “You want to win those types of games and you want to keep the Cinderella story going, but they’re a tough team and they won state, so it’s not much you can do about that.”
“You’ve got to eat it from time to time, but this is a part of the game, and it’s all respect. We all respect each other.”
Myers, a Class 5A all-state selection by KSHSAA Covered, caught 45 passes for 871 yards and 10 touchdowns in just nine games for South as a senior. He will play at Garden City Community College this fall.
“Jaxon’s been killing it,” Reves said of Myers’ early West camp practices.
Cooper Reves
Reves, a KSHSAA Covered Top 11 selection and first team 5A pick, knows a little about killing it. As a senior, he rushed for 2,814 yards and 32 touchdowns, including 243 with four scores in the Mustangs’ 51-34 state championship victory over Basehor-Linwood.
Reves also caught 28 passes for 256 yards and another touchdown to finish with 3,070 total yards for the season.
Reves is not the only KSHSAA Covered Top 11 pick representing Salina. Chambers, a 6-foot-1, 285-pound lineman, helped Southeast of Saline to a Class 2A runner-up finish, one game shy of a second straight state championship. While also starting on the offensive line, he had 85 tackles, including 17 for loss, for the 12-1 Trojans.
And then there’s Delgado, the heart of Central’s defense, a first team 5A all-state selection, who had 145 tackles, 21.5 for loss, a sack and an interception in the Mustangs’ championship run.
Among the Salina players, there are several unique connections.
Cooper Reves and Jesus Delgado: One last game together
Delgado, who has signed with Butler Community College in El Dorado, will play his final game alongside Reves, who is headed to Northern Iowa on a wrestling scholarship after winning two state titles at Central.
“Having that state championship, there’s not really much like it,” Reves said. “I feel like me and Jesus were leaders, and we kind of felt like we’d take that role on this year.”
“Just having someone like that next to you the whole way and being able to bring each other up and be there for each other has been great.”
Good memories, indeed, Delgado agreed.
“Early on, when we got (to camp), we were kind of chatting about what it’s going to be like in a different environment,” he said. “We’ve been looking back on old memories, videos and things like that with the guys.
Jesus Delgado and Jaxon Myers: Teammates for just one game
For Delgado and Myers, their history as rivals also represents the future. After teaming up in the Shrine Bowl, they are headed back to rival camps in the Jayhawk Conference.
“He’s like, ‘Some things just never change.’ But right now, for one week, we’ll just let it slide,” Delgado said with a smile. “What some of the guys are doing is putting some of the other team’s decals on their helmets. It might be the only time I agree to put some of the other guys’ decals on.”
Myers, for his part, isn’t too worried about future rivalries.
“It’s fun not having to go against them just because of how good they are and seeing how hard they work,” he said. “It’s a lot different, but it’s fun watching them play.”
Appreciating success at different levels
While South and Central were doing their thing, including the historic playoff clash, they were not too busy to appreciate what Chambers, all-state running back Grady Gebhardt and Southeast of Saline were accomplishing just 15 miles away near Gypsum.
“They’ve been successful, and I think Brody’s been a big part of that,” Reves said. “He’s a good dude and amazing athlete.”
Chambers has something else in common with Reves as a two-time state wrestling champion, and he played both football and baseball with Delgado growing up.
Like his South and Central counterparts, Chambers kept an eye on their postseason successes.
Brody Chambers
“It was definitely fun to watch Central’s run to the state championship and winning it,” said Chambers, who will continue his football career at Grand View University, a high-level NAIA school. “We kind of came up short, unfortunately, but it was really cool that we had two Salina teams I the state championship.”
“We didn’t watch any of the games because we were still focused on us, but I did see a whole bunch of Facebook stuff about (the South-Central playoff game), and we were excited for them. We root for each other since we’re not in the same division.”
Proud to represent Salina in Shrine Bowl
When the final whistle blows at the Shrine Bowl on Saturday, Delgado, Reves, Myers and Chambers all will go their separate ways.
But not before proudly representing their hometown.
“It’s awesome to say that we have four guys from Salina be on this team when there’s only 40 guys from around the state,” Reves said. “So, that’s 10% of the team just from Salina.
“It says we have the right people doing the right things, and I think that’s pretty special.”
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Colorado-based chicken restaurant Birdcall is expanding into Kansas.
The company announced Friday its plans to expand into Kansas and five other Midwestern states over the next five years. Birdcall plans to add six to eight fast-casual restaurants in Wichita and Topeka.
“The Midwest represents a tremendous opportunity for Birdcall,” CEO Mark Lohmann said. “From our award-winning chicken sandwiches and other handcrafted menu offerings to our commitment to innovation and community, we believe Birdcall offers an experience that resonates with today’s guests and is a natural fit for the region.”
Other locations announced are:
- Indiana – 10 to 15 restaurants across Indianapolis, Bloomington, Evansville and Fort Wayne
- Missouri – Up to 18 restaurants across St. Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City
- Nebraska – Seven to 10 restaurants across Omaha and Lincoln
- Ohio – Up to 20 restaurants across Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo
- Wisconsin – 10 to 15 restaurants across Milwaukee, Madison and Appleton
Birdcall’s menu features a variety of chicken sandwiches, chicken fingers and nuggets, salads, tater tots, fries, and more. The restaurant also makes its own in-house sauces and serves up draft beer and house-made margaritas, with happy hour specials.
The company said each restaurant will use self-service kiosks and occupy about 2,300 square feet, with indoor and outdoor seating that can serve up to 150 people.
Birdcall currently operates 17 restaurants across Colorado, Arizona and Texas.
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KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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A video shared by a viewer, shows a resident speaking at the Osawatomie, Kansas City Council meeting being escorted out by police on Thursday evening.
The video shows a man holding a “Hell No Alcove” sign, while commenting about a blighted property, which according to public records is owned by Pacific Apartments, LLC, operating out of the same address as Alcove Development in Lawrence, Kansas.
KSHB 41
Alcove Development is behind the effort to build a $1 billion, 283-acre data center development in Osawatomie’s northland property.
The video, shared by a viewer, goes on the show two law enforcement officers approaching the individual, who is Lee Brewer, at the podium, after he begins to yell, while the crowd joins in behind him. Lee Brewer reached out to KSHB 41 late Thursday night, identifying himself as the person who was escorted out.
Osawatomie, Kansas Police Chief Dave Stutteville is seen in the video also approaching the man.
Fabian Rosales/KSHB
KSHB 41 Miami County Reporter Ryan Gamboa reached out to the Police Chief, City Manager, and Mayor Nick Hampson for comment late on Thursday night and is waiting on a response.
Residents in contact with Gamboa attending the meeting shared the meeting was still in session after 9:30 p.m.
Thursday night’s meeting was the city and Alcove Development’s attempt at sharing potential benefits of a data center for the community.
Gamboa has long covered the data center project in Osawatomie, Kansas — and neighbors to the project have voiced their opposition to the proposed development.
Brian Luton/KSHB
This is the first time Alcove Development has approached the public, but not the first time it has worked with the city of Osawatomie.
In late 2025, Alcove Development approached the city with the project and weeks later, a pre-development agreement was signed giving Alcove exclusive rights to the development for three years.
But city council meeting records from 2023 show, the city of Osawatomie entered into a pre-development agreement with Alcove Development to redevelop a property known as Old Swenson School.
Alcove Development had six months to asses the condition of the property and determine a course of action for redevelopment, and the overall agreement would last 18 months, according to public records.
Will Shaw/KSHB
The pre-development agreements states, Alcove would consider asking for tax breaks on the project, including utilizing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.
At the time, the property had sat in disrepair since 2016, according to the records, and was frequently found in violation of city code.
If the re-development were to fall through, the city would be on the hook to purchase the property from the developer for $25,000, with unclear total costs for infrastructure improvements.
KSHB 41
KSHB 41 will follow up on the status on this project at a later date.
Earlier this week, Miami County Reporter Ryan Gamboa, sat down with Donna Ingram who doesn’t live far from the data center site.
Ingram expressed her concerns about the amount of infrastructure that would be built to operate a data center, and how it might overtake the land around her home.
Ryan Gamboa/KSHB
She expressed concerns because the City of Osawtomie changed the public comment guidelines of a promise town hall with the developer.
“Watching this process play out is disheartening,” Ingram said in an interview on Monday. “A town hall was promised that didn’t come to fruition… I don’t believe it’s the definition. This is a city council meeting. We’re the ones that are gonna live next to it. We’re the ones that live in the path of the infrastructure.”
The city told KSHB 41 on Monday in a statement, they changed the format to prioritize the voices of city taxpayers, as county taxpayers have dominated the public comment periods over the past couple of months.
Brian Luton/KSHB
Mayor Nick Hampson also told Gamboa in an earlier interview he was hoping to have a productive “town hall” — instead, the first meeting with the public and the developer of the project was during a formal and regularly scheduled city council meeting.
The city also required residents to submit questions ahead of time, and the city would filter questions to the developer, while limiting public comment to three minutes.
“We have been and will continue to hear from the residents that are in the county and closest to this project,” Hampson told KSHB 41 in an email on Monday.
Miami County, Kansas
Residents shared a record to KSHB 41, submitted to the city for a formal investigation into 1009 Pacific Avenue in Osawatomie, which is owned by a company operating out of Alcove Development’s address.
The dilapidated property is the a former school house, that sits with broken windows, and other parts of the building breaking down.
The Miami County Republic reporting on Thursday, the city launched an investigation into the building.
Ryan Gamboa/KSHB
Residents cite the buildings deteriorating condition and potential danger to the public, and lack of property maintenance.
Lee Brewer issued a comment regarding the incident at Thursday night’s meeting, stating he was escorted out after the Mayor closed public comment, and he was not on the list.
Brewer told KSHB 41, he has a time -stamped email of pre-submitted questions ahead of the meeting. KSHB 41 asked Brewer to review the email, and is waiting for an answer.
I am severely disappointed in our Mayor and the city council. They told us we were required to send in an email with our questions and our address to prove we were citizens of the town by Wednesday the 24th at noon. I have my email which is timestamped at 10:26 a.m. Wednesday the 24th. They shut me down and first told me I didn’t put the email in and then once I was kicked out of there I was told by people coming out that they were told I turned in my email too late. I’m not a math teacher but last time I looked at my clock 10:26 a.m. falls just over an hour and a half before noon. I mean correct me if I’m wrong. I thought because the mayor and I were having decent conversations on Facebook Messenger, whereas I would ask him questions and he would answer to the best of his ability. And I would thank him I thought we were pretty cordial. So to basically call me a liar in front of the entire town on video recording, take away my freedom of speech My first amendment right, and have me removed from a public building was completely wrong I am very disappointed in our city council and mayor. When I approached the podium all I was trying to do was point out that resolution number 1169 in Osawatomie Kansas refers to Alcove development LLC being the owner of the old Swenson School at 1009 Pacific. As I pointed out in these earlier messages to you Alcove has left this building dilapidated in ruins and a danger to our community. Our great city council and mayor seem to have other plans for me being able to speak though.
Lee Brew, via Facebook to KSHB 41 News
KSHB 41 reached out to Alcove Development late on Thursday night, and is waiting on a response.
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