I’ve gotten word this morning that Lawrence City Hall will be releasing some information about some travel expenses from former Mayor Jeremy Farmer.

Commissioner Leslie Soden, who is serving as acting mayor for the city following Farmer’s resignation yesterday, told me she is directing City Hall to release information about some travel expenses of Farmer that have been called into question. I had received a tip that there may be some questions related to some travel expenses, and I was in the process of preparing an open records request to City Hall. Soden said after Farmer’s resignation and the mounting questions related to finances at Just Food — see our article about its 2014 tax return — she decided that the city needed to be proactive in addressing the travel expenses with the public.

I don’t yet have the full details related to the travel expenses, but Soden confirmed that Farmer has repaid the city for some travel expenses that previously were paid for through city funds. I don’t know what type of amounts we are talking about. Soden said City Hall staff members had been working on resolving the travel expense issues with Farmer for the last month or so. She said commissioners were just recently notified of the issue.

I put a call into Farmer this morning, but had no luck in contacting him.

I think it is important that we recognize where we are at with this story at the moment: Details are few, and we don’t yet understand the extent of what questions the expenses have created. But these are very unusual times at City Hall right now, and I felt it is important that you know that City Hall officials, in addition to Just Food leaders, are looking into financial matters related to Farmer.

Soden expects the city will release information at some point today, but she’s just now begun working with city staff on crafting a release.

I also had a chance to talk with Soden about her thoughts on the selection process of a new commissioner to fill the vacant term of Farmer. She said she very much favors a process that can be wrapped up in a relatively short period of time. We had an article yesterday where Commissioner Matthew Herbert speculated that it could take 60 to 90 days to fill the position. Soden said she thought that time period was too long.

“I think the sooner the better,” Soden said. “I don’t think drawing this out is going to help the situation. We just need to find someone who we all can like.”

Soden said it is important for the commission to find a candidate who can receive unanimous support from the remaining four commissioners.

“We don’t need a split vote on this,” Soden said. “That would put the new person in a terrible position.”

Soden offered no names for consideration during our conversation, but she said finding someone with experience would be important. That could be a past city commissioner, a past county commissioner, or maybe even someone who has served on key city boards, such as the Planning Commission.

Soden, however, said she doesn’t think it is feasible to consider anyone from the previous City Commission that left office in April.

“I’m not looking for anyone who had served on the most recent commission,” Soden said.

Mike Dever, Terry Riordan and Bob Schumm all left that commission following the April elections. Riordan and Schumm both sought re-election but lost. Dever did not seek a new term, which would have been his third.

It is not surprising that Soden has concerns about tapping someone from that commission. Those three commissioners all were supporters of the Rock Chalk Park project, while the three newly-elected commissioners — Soden, Herbert and Stuart Boley — all campaigned on a platform that change was needed following that controversial public-private partnership.

We’ll let you know what other details develop today.