BELLE —Former Belle aldermen, city employee, and a sheriff’s deputy recall their versions of the proceedings of previous city meetings, which directly contradict statements made by the mayor in a July 18 letter to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office (AGO).

Mayor Daryl White Jr.’s 11-point letter to the AGO in response to allegations of Sunshine Law violations made by the Maries County Sheriff includes introductory statements that contradict previously reported information by a former local newspaper.

White said in the letter that, “I was mayor 20 years ago, the cause of my resignation was I had purchased property outside of the city limits.”

However, a Feb. 14, 2007, edition of the Belle Banner —-a former newspaper — published that White cleared out his mayoral office the following morning after he was presented with proof of misappropriating city funds for cell phone and internet bills.

The article was written by Managing Editor Nichoel Snodgrass and reported that former city alderman Tony Gieck confronted White, then mayor, for misappropriating funds, charging personal cell phone and internet bills to a city credit card. Gieck alleged two different charges were made and the card numbers were changed four different times. Former alderman Richard Huse alleged the charges were debited for at least two months. White first denied the second credit card charge, but when asked if those were the only two charges he was quoted to say, “Uh huh.” White also claimed the “mistake had been rectified.”

According to the 2007 article, Gieck read from a prepared statement with allegations and a solution.

“Misappropriation of city funds or however you want to look at it,” said Gieck. Later in  the article he asked White to resign. “I am asking that you resign from the Office of Mayor effective immediately.”

White said he planned to step down the Wednesday after the meeting.

The 2007 Belle Banner article read, “Due to some personal circumstances and some residency issues, (White) was going to move his family ‘to a better place in the country’ but contends he is still a resident of Belle. He asked for one day to clean out his office. The board accepted his resignation.”

White addressed 11 points in Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman’s 21 bullet points of Sunshine Law violations. Conversations with former appointed representatives and city employees directly refute 16 points the mayor made in his response to the AGO.

In the first point, White said two former aldermen neglected to give him access to Facebook pages designed to allow the city to share meeting information and news.

Former alderman Kayla Bray countered that the page was created at White’s request.

“He was created in there as an admin and had full access to that page,” said Bray, who resigned Nov. 1, 2022.”

Sundi Jo Graham, a former alderman, made a similar statement.

“Several different people have had access before I ever left, the new mayor being one of them,” said Graham. “I left in June 2022. Daryl was posting before I left. It was only a few months ago that I took myself off as an admin.”

In his second and third points, White said a former clerk was the issue behind the city’s poor record keeping and inconsistent posting. He alleged the clerk was fired and a new clerk hired so the problem had been resolved. However, City Clerk Frankie Horstman confirmed she was hired under former mayor Josh Seaver, prior to the allegations of Sunshine Law violations that began after White took office. Graham also confirmed the information.

“Frankie was hired within a couple of weeks around (before Graham left the city in June 2022),” Graham said.

White took office July 21, 2022.

White further alleged since Horstman came back, all meetings were posted properly. However, Bray disagreed that meetings were posted accurately or that agendas were adhered, at no fault of Horstman’s.

“I know there was several occasions where we got the meeting started where he would add things after the fact to discuss in public session after the time had passed to add to the agenda,” Bray said.

The city’s police services contract was not listed on any agenda, but was brought up and voted on during a budget meeting.

White alleged in his fourth point that, “We thought (an announced budget meeting) was a proper time to discuss (the Maries County police services contract) since we would have to establish a budget.”

Bray disagreed.

“The discussion on the sheriff’s department contract was not on the agenda,” Bray said. “They didn’t discuss it. They just got rid of it. There should have been proper meetings with the sheriff and Scott John, but they didn’t.”

White alleged to the AGO in item five that the completed purchase of a side-by-side following the Sept.21, 2022, meeting was a forgone conclusion prior to the cancellation of the sheriff department’s police contract. However, multiple previous city officials disagree with the statement, including Bray and Tony Baretich, former public works director.

“(White) was throwing a fit and wanting (the board) to re-vote (on the side-by-side,” Baretich said. “He didn’t agree with (the purchase) and didn’t think it was needed. Me and Jeanette (Struemph, former alderman) said it was a done deal and the check just needed to be signed. (White) said the only way to do it would be to cancel Maries County’s contract and start up the police department. His angle was to have the police services contract canceled to purchase the side-by-side.”

Bray concurred with both White and Baretich’s statements regarding the side-by-side. However, White’s statement about the side-by-side didn’t answer the sheriff’s Sunshine Law violation allegation.

“That is true, but (White) was trying to cancel that (side-by-side purchase),” Bray said. “In the meeting, he said if we wanted to continue to purchase the side-by-side then we had to agree to get rid of the sheriff’s office. He was dead set against the side-by-side.”

White said in item seven that the board “does occasionally amend the agenda...at the beginning of council meetings, and normally for time-sensitive or emergency situations.”

Bray disagreed.

“I know there were several occasions where we got the meeting started where (White) would add things after the fact to discuss in public session after the time had passed to add it to the agenda,” Bray said.

Furthermore, White contends in his letter to the AGO that neither he nor the board has ever turned off The Maries County Advocate’s recorder.

“We have never turned off a recorder and turned it back on unless we went into closed session,” White contended. “We have never hidden anything from the public.”

“Everyone knows he is the one that turned it off,” Bray said contended about The Advocate’s recorder.

Baretich said he remembers the recorder sitting in front of White and knows it was turned off, but isn’t 100 percent sure by who.

“I am 92 percent certain (Daryl White, Jr.) turned off the newspaper’s recorder,” said Baretich. “The recorder was sitting in front of Daryl on the table.”

White alleged in item 10 that resignations of a former alderman and marshal were not provided to The Advocate on Nov. 1, 2022, because they had not been approved by the board and one person had asked to rescind. Both parties deny they requested to take back their resignations.

“I never tried to take my resignation back,” said Joe Turnbough, former marshal.

“I never asked for my resignation to be rescinded,” Bray said.

In his response to allegation 11, White said, “The newspaper has never been uninvited to a meeting.” Both Bray and Chief Deputy Scott John with the Maries County Sheriff’s Department said they heard White say otherwise.

“That was wrong because when (Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman) was here (White) uninvited the newspaper,” Bray said. “He was the one that told us that we shouldn’t be talking to the newspaper.”

“Sheriff Heitman was invited to an official meeting with Mayor Daryl White to discuss the termination of police services,” John said. “Sheriff Heitman felt it would be prudent to have a local reporter, Roxie Murphy, there to cover the discussion. When we showed up, the mayor refused to have the meeting if Roxie was going to be present and that they would only have the meeting if she left.”

John added that the mayor’s comment in the conclusion of the letter regarding a reporter being present at the meetings “to ensure there isn’t confusion or misconstrued information” is irrelevant for any representative of any agency.

“If the city is not trying to hide anything and a representative needs to be there in person — a representative from the sheriff’s department was there for 45 minutes (during the Sept. 21, 2022, budget meeting) and they did not discuss any details with the sheriff’s department regarding the budget or the contract,” John said.

All five of these former city officials and employees agreed to go on the record in objection to White’s statement that, “any violations that the city may have committed were done with lack of knowledge or misunderstanding, never with ill intent and we have taken steps to correct those errors.”

The AGO would also like to clarify a statement made by White in the July 12 edition of The Advocate regarding in-person and telephone interaction he said he had with Jay Turner, the AGO’s director of Sunshine Compliance.

“Mr. Turner has never met with the mayor of Belle in person,” said Madeline Sieren, communications director for Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s Office. “We did not meet with the mayor in person. We have not met with him at all.”