City commissioners broke the state's open meetings law by holding a closed-door meeting to discuss granting more than million in incentives to a local company, the Kansas attorney general has found. But Attorney General Paul Morrison is willing to forgo prosecution if city commissioners agree to admit their wrongdoing and personally pay for two hours of professional training on the open meetings law.

City leaders want an opportunity to explain a controversial package of economic development incentives given to Deciphera Pharmaceuticals.

City Manager David Corliss said Monday that the Nov. 13 City Commission agenda will include a regular agenda item designed to answer questions about the recently approved package of economic development incentives.

The package has been criticized as being approved without receiving input from the public and for using a never-before-used tax rebate program that allows Deciphera to receive the equivalent of a tax abatement without going through the normal review process.

“We need to honestly admit our mistakes in handling the process,” Corliss said. “We want to explain to the public why we think this is an excellent investment of public funds. We’re going to do that, and we will be there to answer questions about it.”

But Corliss said it is unlikely that city commissioners will take any action to renege on the agreement. Corliss said the agreement already was signed.

“No commissioners have asked to have a motion for reconsideration,” Corliss said.

The agreement, approved at the commission’s Oct. 23 meeting, includes a unique tax rebate program that essentially caps for 10 years the amount of property taxes Deciphera would pay on its East Hills Business Park headquarters and laboratory building. The tax rebate was never publicly discussed by city commissioners before they approved it at the meeting.

Commissioners, however, did discuss the tax rebate during a closed-door executive session Oct. 2. That private session has been the subject of three formal complaints filed with Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson alleging the commission violated the state’s open meetings law. Grassroots Action, one of the city’s larger political activism groups, announced it filed one of the complaints.

Branson has agreed to investigate those allegations. He’s directed the city to provide a written response to the allegations to his office by Wednesday.

Deciphera is a start-up pharmaceuticals company working to develop drugs to fight cancer. City leaders have been eager to keep the company in Lawrence because it is seen as the type of company that can provide the city a prominent place in the biosciences industry.