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JOPLIN, Mo. —
The attorney for Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn says the Jasper County Prosecutor’s office should not be allowed to defend the County Commissioners in the sheriff’s suit against them over the Law Enforcement Sales Tax.
In a court hearing on Tuesday in Joplin before Vernon County Circuit Judge Neal Quinto, Bill Fleischaker, representing Dunn, argued that Prosecutor Dean Dankelson’s office has either a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest and should be disqualified from representing the commissioners.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Norman Rouse argued that the Prosecuting Attorney’s office was representing the best interests of the county and not the commissioners and is obligated by state statute to remain on the case.
Judge Quinto did not rule on the motion on Tuesday, saying he needed time to read the written arguments, but he said he would rule sometime this week.
Sheriff Dunn filed suit against the commissioners in July after the commissioners voted to disband the sheriff’s Law Enforcement Sales Tax grant committee and create one of its own.
The committee accepts applications from Jasper County police departments for grants from the 4.7 percent of the quarter-cent sales tax that is set aside for a fund to provide grants to those departments.
The commissioners said at the time that they had received complaints from local departments that the sheriff was placing improper limits on how the grant money could be spent and he was allocating grant money to groups directly connected to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff says the county ordinance approved by voters in 2005 creating the tax specifically said that the sheriff would control of the grant money and the board that recommends how to allocate that money
The attorney for Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn says the Jasper County Prosecutor’s office should not be allowed to defend the County Commissioners in the sheriff’s suit against them over the Law Enforcement Sales Tax.
In a court hearing on Tuesday in Joplin before Vernon County Circuit Judge Neal Quinto, Bill Fleischaker, representing Dunn, argued that Prosecutor Dean Dankelson’s office has either a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest and should be disqualified from representing the commissioners.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Norman Rouse argued that the Prosecuting Attorney’s office was representing the best interests of the county and not the commissioners and is obligated by state statute to remain on the case.
Judge Quinto did not rule on the motion on Tuesday, saying he needed time to read the written arguments, but he said he would rule sometime this week.
Sheriff Dunn filed suit against the commissioners in July after the commissioners voted to disband the sheriff’s Law Enforcement Sales Tax grant committee and create one of its own.
The committee accepts applications from Jasper County police departments for grants from the 4.7 percent of the quarter-cent sales tax that is set aside for a fund to provide grants to those departments.
The commissioners said at the time that they had received complaints from local departments that the sheriff was placing improper limits on how the grant money could be spent and he was allocating grant money to groups directly connected to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff says the county ordinance approved by voters in 2005 creating the tax specifically said that the sheriff would control of the grant money and the board that recommends how to allocate that money
