City cancels address

The state of the city was insecure Friday.

The Kirksville State of the City address, scheduled for 8 a.m. last Friday in the Adair County Annex Building, was cancelled late Thursday evening by city representatives because of security concerns, City Manager Mari Macomber said.

She said Heidi Templeton, chair of the Kirksville Area Chamber of Commerce governmental affairs committee, called city representatives to determine if Kirksville Police Chief Jim Hughes would be present at the address. Macomber said both a letter to the editor in the Index from Mark Spitzer, assistant professor of English, and a student column raised questions of security.

"I think there was a letter to the editor, there was a student article, those were contributing factors," Macomber said. "I know there were just some concerns raised about, you know, what the intent was at the meeting."

She said that when Templeton called and asked about the presence of the police chief, it raised some other questions.

"I think [Templeton] just called and made an inquiry," Macomber said. "And then as a result of the inquiry, it was like, 'Oh, wait. What is that?'"

Macomber said having the police chief present at council events is normal.

"We always have the chief of police at City Council meetings," she said. "It's a procedure that we do. You just never know. So I think the Chamber said it's something that they requested previously."

Mayor Debbie Masten said no other measures were taken in response to the security concerns.

"I just don't think it's a security question," she said. "I'm not concerned at all. We were just informed. We didn't have the question."

She said the council made the decision to cancel after they were told of the inquiry.

"Three of the council members were contacted, the only three in town, and that's what they decided," Masten said.

Macomber said the three City Council members in town were Masten, Mayor Pro-Tem Tim Crist and Councilmember Ron Stewart.

Stewart said he was asked whether to continue with the address.

"The city manager called and asked my opinion, and I said I would hope we would go [to the address]..." he said. "And I haven't changed my opinion."

Stewart said Masten informed him of the cancellation later that night.

"I wasn't worried about security, personally speaking, but I wasn't the one going to be presenting," he said. "I like that personal contact, and if the majority of the council doesn't feel that way, I guess it's the democratic way."

Council member Martha Rowe said she was out of town at the time the decision was made to cancel.

"I really didn't have anything to do with the decision ... ," Rowe said. "The only thing I would know is perhaps the mayor didn't want to take questions ... I can see where she would be concerned."

Police Chief Hughes was not consulted Thursday on matters of security.

Hughes said he discovered the address had been cancelled when he came to work Friday morning with the intent to attend.

"My only involvement with the State of the City address was an informal conversation with another city staff member over something totally unrelated," Hughes said. "It was at that time that they asked whether I was going to attend."

He said he often attends governmental events as a representative of the police department.

"No one asked for me to be at the state of the city address for security reasons," Hughes said. "Nobody made an official request that I or any police officers be present at the state of the city address."

He said it is not unheard of for groups to ask for police presence during high-profile events.

"But nobody asked us," Hughes said. "We were not asked to be present in that capacity. And my intent to attend was just to represent the police department at a city-sponsored address."

The police department issued a statement in response to the event.

"The Kirksville Police Department has been made aware of a handful of potentially alarming statements/actions, directed at individual members of City Council. As of today, based on the totality of the circumstances, no formal investigations have been initiated," according to the statement.

Alisa Kigar, executive director of the Kirksville Area Chamber of Commerce, said it often informs the police chief of public events.

"In my absence, I had asked [Templeton], because she's the chair of the governmental affairs committee ..., to be taking care of the preparations," Kigar said.

She said Templeton's call about the presence of the police chief was procedural.

"We actually have called on the police chief for other [The Government In Focus] programs and other governmental affair programs, so it was not out of protocol by any stretch," Kigar said.

The state of the city address is the final forum in a series of four TGIF events sponsored by the Chamber. The previous three events, the State of Education, State of the County and State of the District, concluded without incident, she said.

Spitzer, author of a Letter to the Editor in the April 21 Index, said he had not planned to attend the State of the City address.

"I mean, what do they think?" he said. "Do they think I'm going to, like, throw tomatoes or something?"

Spitzer said his intent in writing letters to the editor is to inform the public.

"I have been writing the mayor and the city manager and asking them if they are going to honor the 300-foot buffer they promised us, the citizens, at Hazel Creek," he said. "And I told them in the letters that if they didn't respond, I would take this as a sign of their indifference, and I would start a public awareness campaign."

Spitzer said he found out about the cancellation of the State of the City address by reading the Kirksville Daily Express on Friday.