Petition signatures certified

A group calling for a state audit of the Liberty Public Schools’ bookkeeping practices has enough signatures to summon Missouri Auditor Susan Montee to investigate.

According to Patty Evans, a director at the Clay County Election Board, the office verified 2,531 signatures of registered voters within the school district boundaries. Approximately 2,000 signatures were needed to trigger a state audit.

Less than 10 percent, or 242 signatures, were invalid for a variety of reasons including that the person lived in the wrong school district or was not registered to vote, Evans said.

“I think they did pretty good,” Evans said.

Evans said the information had been turned over to Thomas Kremer, director of local government audits in Montee’s office in Jefferson City.

Jim Moores, one of the organizers of the petition drive, said he was pleased enough signatures were certified but had not been notified of when state auditors might arrive to begin their work.

The petition drive stemmed from efforts by patron William Carlin Walker and Moores that uncovered potential misappropriation of funds among top district administrators.

— Angie Anaya Borgedalen