J-W Staff Reports
A Douglas County sheriff's captain on Wednesday expressed doubt that Lawrence schools Supt. Kathleen Williams was breaking any laws by not licensing the car she's driving in Kansas.
"If the vehicle is in her husband's name, I'm not sure there's anything illegal there," Capt. Bill Shepherd said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, a complaint was filed with Douglas County Treasurer Pat Wells that Williams, a former school administrator in Schaumburg, Ill., still was driving vehicles registered in Illinois even though she moved to Lawrence in 1998.
The complaint was lodged by Mark Chaney, a Lawrence insurance agent, who questioned why a public official who makes a $122,000 taxpayer-paid salary doesn't have Kansas license tags.
Wells referred the complaint to the Douglas County Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff's officials will try to determine whether Williams meets a state law that requires Kansas residents to have in-state license plates on their vehicles within 90 days of assuming Kansas residency.
Williams doesn't dispute that she drives a car with Illinois license tags. But she said the car is titled in the name of her husband, who continues to live in Illinois. Williams said that she has been planning to sell her car, and that it was returned to Illinois in August.
Shepherd said the department still is awaiting the complaint from Wells' office.
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