Ex-Emporia city engineer facing charges
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
A former city department head will have a first appearance in court this month on charges related to misuse of public funds.
Keith Beatty, who resigned as city engineer in March 2008, will appear in Lyon County District Court on June 30 on charges of official misconduct, permitting a false claim and misuse of public funds, according to Assistant Lyon County Attorney Amy Aranda.
The funds involved are less than $25,000, she said.
Beatty went to work for the city of Emporia in 2000 and was promoted to city engineer in June 2002, according to Gazette files. He resigned, effective immediately, in March 2008.
He said at the time that he was leaving to resume a professional career in the private sector.
“I’ve got a couple of options still open, and it was just best that I resign then so I can pursue those,” he said in an article in the March 10, 2008, Gazette. “I haven’t made my final decision, and I have a few weeks to do that.”
Beatty said in the article that he did not give notice because he and City Manager Matt Zimmerman had talked before about his imminent departure.
“This has been something that we’ve been working on,” he said. “It wasn’t a notice issue for Matt.”
In May of this year, Kaw Valley Engineering announced in a press release that Beatty had rejoined the firm as manager of civil design services for the Junction City office, which provides civil and geotechnical engineering services.
Beatty worked for Kaw Valley during college and immediately after graduation, the company’s press release said.
Beatty has more than 11 years of experience with public works and site development projects and was working for the Wichita office of TranSystems before rejoining Kaw Valley Engineering.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Kansas State University, is a licensed professional engineer and is a member of the national and Kansas societies of professional engineers.
Beatty’s case file currently is sealed in the district court clerk’s office.
Comments
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Posted by create (anonymous) on June 24, 2009 at 12:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sounds like we need a better control system to prevent this sort of thing. We're so deeply in debt to begin with, then this. I'm not saying he's guilty because we have to prove that, but if he is indeed convicted, I don't only want to see jail time, WE WANT OUR MONEY RETURNED TO US!!!
Posted by hawks422 (anonymous) on June 24, 2009 at 2:39 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by jcook66801 (anonymous) on June 24, 2009 at 2:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sounds like small town America has small town problems....this kinda stuff happens everywhere. Why would Emporia be immune?
Posted by create (anonymous) on June 24, 2009 at 3:13 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by dale011 (anonymous) on June 24, 2009 at 4:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lots of posts being pulled - interesting. All I remember about Mr. Beatty was his threatened lawsuit against the county commission when they would not rezone an acreage for him. As I recall he withdrew the threat after a couple of weeks, I don't know if the zoning was done or not.
Posted by admireed (anonymous) on June 24, 2009 at 4:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Zoning was not change for the property near Hwy 99 and Hwy 170
Posted by seriouslyfolks (anonymous) on June 24, 2009 at 5:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
(This comment was removed by Seriously R. Folks)
Posted by neighbor (anonymous) on June 25, 2009 at 1:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'd be willing to bet it had nothing to do with his work with the City of Emporia, but instead with his property mentioned above.
Posted by under_score (anonymous) on June 25, 2009 at 7:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'd love to know what comments were pulled. I've never heard either create or seriouslyfolks say anything remotely close to deserving that! Scandalous!
Posted by seriouslyfolks (anonymous) on June 25, 2009 at 8:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
under_score
Read the comment removed message on my post again. Read it all. It's too funny! I crack me up!
Posted by glarson (Gwen Larson) on June 25, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The two comments removed were simply off the topic of Mr. Beatty and the allegations against him.
Gwen Larson
Posted by dougmarshall (anonymous) on June 25, 2009 at 11:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Everyone needs to realize "misuse of public funds" doesn't always mean cash going out. In an engineer's case, it could be buying or building something that was for the city but not in the best interest of the city. I have a hard time believing Mr. Beatty would embezzle money from the city. The county property is mentioned, I'd be willing to bet it had nothing to do with that and mostly to do with someone who didn't like Beatty when he was at the city. I'd bet it was an honest mistake that could be seen as misconduct if that is how you wanted to view it.
Posted by create (anonymous) on June 25, 2009 at 11:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Gwen is correct. I did introduce ... another name of recent considerations into the soup. (Made you look, Gwen).
Posted by justthinkin (anonymous) on June 28, 2009 at 11:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Interesting, because that name was probably that of another City employee who was recently terminated, and insiders seem to know that he was a key player in Mr. Beatty's sudden "resignation". What goes round, comes round, my granddaddy used to say. As for Mr. Beatty, my hope is that justice will be dealt, based on true facts and a fair procedure. And I hope that everyone will hold judgement until the process can be completed.
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