photo by: City of Lawrence

Lawrence resident Dan Dannenberg, left, and Lawrence City Commissioner Stuart Boley engage in heated conversation during the public comment portion of the commission's meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, at City Hall.

A Lawrence city commissioner took the unusual step of calling out a member of the public at Tuesday night’s City Commission meeting after that person insulted commissioners and city staff and made unfounded accusations of criminal wrongdoing.

At the meeting, Lawrence resident Dan Dannenberg spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. He touched on several topics related to the city’s affordable housing efforts, lacing his commentary with various insults and criticizing the “smarmy” city bureaucracy that oversees rental properties. As the commission’s three-minute limit on public comment expired, Dannenberg, a frequent commenter at commission meetings, was prompted to wrap up his comments. Before leaving the lectern, he said the commission did not want to hear from the public and instead wanted “omerta,” which is a code of silence regarding criminal activity associated with the mafia.

As Dannenberg was taking his seat in the audience, Commissioner Stuart Boley said he wanted to address him. Boley asked Dannenberg if he was indeed referring to the mafia, and Dannenberg assented by saying he thought it was the same thing.

Boley responded that it was part of the commission’s job to endure Dannenberg’s “invective” but that allegations of criminal activity crossed the line. Boley, visibly angry, asked Dannenberg if he had any evidence of criminal activity, to which Dannenberg answered that a former mayor had served time in prison. The comment was an apparent reference to Jeremy Farmer, a former Lawrence mayor who served time for embezzling money from the food bank he led — not for anything he did while on the City Commission years ago. Boley asked Dannenberg if he had any evidence of criminal wrongdoing against the current commission, and Dannenberg conceded that he did not. The exchange ended with Dannenberg calling for all commissioners to resign and Boley inviting Dannenberg to run for office, to which Dannenberg said he did not have “the temperament.”

Any member of the public is allowed to address the commission regarding any topic, whether on the agenda or not, and are provided three minutes to speak.

City Commission Work Session 02/12/19