BPU handed out 21 no-bid contracts

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The black eyes keep coming for the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities. Yesterday, a legislative audit was released showing that the utility company failed to seek competitive bids for 21 of 25 contracts valued at more than $50,000.

I’d heard for a couple of years that the BPU wasn’t bidding contracts. Finally, a legislative audit report from Tom Wiss and a special master’s report proved it. The reports were commissioned after the indictments of the BPU’s Chief Administrative Officer Marc Conklin and long-time attorney Rod Turner. Wyandotte County prosecutors allege that Turner knowingly submitted

phony bills, which Conklin approved. They say Conklin knew the bills were fake.

Even though the reports were commissioned because of the indictments, the

reports don’t examine the culture that caused the alleged thefts.

So what did Wiss find? A whole lot.