Councilman condemns colleague’s f-bomb toward staffer during public meeting

By Shain Bergan

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — A Kansas City councilmember grew frustrated during a committee meeting Wednesday, profanely berating a staff attorney while city leaders voted on an ordinance about incentives on a housing project.

The Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee had just finished discussion on Ordinance 211077, concerning taxes used to support affordable housing in Midtown.

Councilwoman Kathryn Shields was trying to call a vote on the issue, when the vote was interrupted by those offering clarification. When Shields went back to calling the roll for a vote and tried to declare it passed, she was urged to start the vote over since it had been interrupted.

Visibly frustrated, Shields responded, “I think we just lost one of our fu**ing votes thanks to you all!”

Shields then acquiesced to the request and started the vote over, with the proposal passing 3-2.

On Wednesday night, Councilman Kevin O’Neill went to Twitter to react, saying Shields should apologize to the staff attorney and that Mayor Quinton Lucas should look into the situation.

“In a tense moment in Finance, a Councilperson berated one of our staff attorneys,” O’Neill’s Tweet said. “I can not tell you how disappointed I was. Our staff work their tales (sic) off and do not deserve to be berated in public by any of the elected officials. Mayor should take a hard look at this.”

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