“They are founded — completely founded in fact,” Steele said. “The only unfounded things in this entire matter were the conclusions regrettably reached by this board without these facts at hand and some very unnecessary unkind comments made about me personally to two newspapers by you, Mr. mayor.”
Steele also said she was owed apologies from Piggot, her attorney and the Daily Press.
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The Daily Press has reported Piggot’s attorney, Jim Delman, said Piggot was “blindsided” by the accusation and ethically, the letter left her with little choice but to step down. Piggot resigned after less than three months working for the town; Mayor Don Perkins said it was because of Steele’s letter.
Monday, Steele presented packets to the board that included printouts of e-mails she said are between herself and Piggot — with cc to Mayor Pro-Tem Dan Kelso and interim administrator Pam Woods — regarding the issue.
Steele alleges in an attached letter that Piggot didn’t disclose possible conflicts of interest regarding another client, Valdez, a party in negotiations with the town the past few years regarding a subdivision development. The letter alleges Piggot had the Valdez issue removed from the town board’s agenda four times, and did not disclose the possible conflict of interest before obtaining specific information regarding the issues.
No board members commented following Steele’s presentation; Mayor Don Perkins continued the meeting.
“It’s not that they don’t deserve comment. It’s that if you asked anybody in town hall, the info that Ms. Piggot looked at was all public information,” Perkins said in a phone interview after the meeting.
“The town doesn’t keep any secret files on the Valdez annexation.”
In other Olathe news, Union Pacific Railroad representative Kelly Abaray made a presentation regarding options for closing and consolidating town railroad crossings. Town roads intersect with the railroad at about five crossings. The presentation suggested the town close a couple of crossings in return for UP assistance with improvements.
The town scheduled a June 16 public hearing regarding the issue.
Locomotive engineer Steve Worham made another presentation on behalf of Operation Lifesaver. He said that in the United States someone is injured or dies every two hours in an incident involving a train. He also said it takes a mile or more for a train to stop, and that the victims make eye contact with the train crew in 80 percent to 90 percent of mishaps.
The board later approved offering the organization a booth for education at the Olathe Sweet Corn Festival.
Contact Robert Allen at roberta@montrosepress.com
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