Mayor Sue Hack and her fellow Lawrence city commissioners say they didn’t object to proposed incentives for Deciphera Pharmaceuticals when the package was discussed during a closed-door meeting in September, according to documents released Monday.

Commissioners – including Hack, who has an ownership interest in the company – say they merely received an update on negotiations with Deciphera from Lavern Squier, president of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, according to affidavits filed by the city in response to investigations conducted by the Kansas Attorney General’s Office.

And Barry Disney, an assistant attorney general who looked into whether Hack violated the state’s conflict-of-interest law in the matter, conceded Monday that the documents provided by the city represented the only evidence he considered in the case.

The disclosures come after his decision last month not to prosecute Hack on whether she had run afoul of the state’s conflict-of-interest rules. The attorney general’s office at that time also chastised Hack for her admitted failure to fill out a required “Statement of Substantial Financial Interest” outlining her ownership in Deciphera.

Whether Hack willfully participated in a Sept. 20 executive session discussion regarding the Deciphera pact – a meeting from which “a (commission) consensus seemed to favor” the agreement, according to a summary of the city’s actions compiled by city attorney Gerald Cooley – cannot be definitively answered, Disney said.

“In the meeting, they didn’t record it,” Disney said Monday. “That’s not disputed. There are no records kept. That’s not disputed. The only people there were commissioners, and they all say they were updated.

“There’s no evidence. Whether it occurred or not, there’s no evidence it occurred. I’ve got to prove there was participation in order to go any further in the case. And there’s nothing there showing participation. : I wasn’t making a judgment on whether or not there was. I was making a judgment on what can be proved.”

Attempts to contact Hack on Monday were unsuccessful.

The attorney general’s office conducted two investigations regarding the city’s actions regarding Deciphera: whether commissioners violated the state’s open meetings law, and whether Hack acted inappropriately in participating in city proceedings regarding a company in which she had a substantial financial interest.

Commissioners eventually voted to approve the incentives package for Deciphera during an open, public meeting Oct. 23. The vote was 4-0, with Hack recusing herself because of what she considered a potential conflict of interest.

But the city’s documents, released Monday, do not mention any discussions that commissioners might have had during the Sept. 20 executive session. During that closed-door meeting, Squier updated commissioners about the Deciphera negotiations and how the company was seeking a revolutionary tax rebate package in connection with a building in the East Hills Business Park.

Each of the five commissioners, in their written affidavits, told investigators only that “neither I, nor any other commissioner, objected to the proposal” after hearing Squier’s update.

Disney said he did not question commissioners about their involvement in the executive session, opting instead to rely on the affidavits.

“All I can do is call it based on what’s presented to us,” he said.