BPU customers clash with board members

By JUSTIN KENDALL

Last night, the elected board of the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities met for the first time since the embattled power company’s second-in-command was indicted on charges of stealing $400,000 from the utility. Wyandotte County residents packed the normally empty boardroom, some calling for the BPU to fire Chief Administrative Officer Marc Conklin (that’s him in the mug shot).

Tempers flared between board members and citizens. Board member Mark Jones spoke condescendingly to T.J. Reardon, the WyCo citizen-agitator who had petitioned to convene the grand jury whose work resulted in the indictments against Conklin.