New Bloomfield chief petitioner raises 102 signatures for city to be audited
New Bloomfield residents raised 102 signatures to petition an audit for their city.
According to the press secretary for the Office of the Missouri State Auditor, Steph Deidrick, chief petitioner Cheri Wilson arrived at the State Auditor’s Office on Tuesday and met with State Auditor Nicole Galloway.
Wilson, a resident of New Bloomfield for more than three decades, said the city means a lot to her.
“The main reason we went for an audit was the lack of, you know, they were saying we didn’t have enough money to fund a police department,” Wilson said.
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Wilson said she and other residents of New Bloomfield started a group called Concerned Citizens of the City of New Bloomfield.
Earlier this year, New Bloomfield’s former Chief of Police Greg Mooney said he had to resign because he spoke with ABC 17 News without permission.
When ABC 17 News asked the City Council about it, the City Council said the reason for resignation was personal.
Before the city lost its only police officer, Mayor Greg Rehagen said the police department had to make cuts in police officials’ pay because of the city’s budgetary issues.
The concerned residents of New Bloomfield have expressed their frustrations regarding how the City Council is governing the city.
ABC 17 News was at the last two City Hall meetings and, at both of them, residents said they did not believe Rehagen was running the city well.
Deidrick said Galloway will now send a copy of the petition to the local election authority to verify the signatures are those of registered voters.
Wilson said she is happy with how everything is turning out.
“She (Galloway) sat and spoke with all of us and let us know what our next steps are going to be and how long can we expect to wait to have the audit actually done … I was surprised at how fast the turnaround was. We actually got approved to gather the signatures in less than a week,” Wilson said.
Her husband, Bill Wilson, said he plans to run for mayor.
One thing Bill Wilson said he plans to do is fix the drainage in the city’s ditches.
He claims the ditches are corroding the ground but nothing can be done until the audit is complete.
The monthly meeting at City Hall is scheduled for Thursday and Cheri Wilson said residents will continue to ask for answers until something is done.
