BYRNES MILL, Mo. — The long-time city attorney who abruptly resigned from the City of Byrnes Mill left behind more than 180 pages of records documenting how she said the city’s police chief directed officers to void tickets, including DWI citations, directed an employee to sign the attorney’s name to documents without the attorney’s permission and signed contracts for police equipment without approval from the Board of Aldermen.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office confirmed it is now conducting an investigation following what former city attorney Allison Sweeney reported to its department earlier this month.
Mayor Rob Kiczenski told the I-Team he was “not at liberty to talk about Sweeney’s resignation packet.”
“That’s something we’re going to have our new attorneys look at,” he said.
As for the criminal investigation, Kiczenski said he has not heard back from the sheriff’s department.
“These are just allegations at this point, so at this point, we have no comment on this, but once we do have the investigation back from Jefferson County, we will be happy to give a comment, but not when it’s an active investigation,” he said.
Chief Frank Selvaggio did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.
The I-Team filed a records request for all of the documentation associated with Sweeney’s resignation, which was sent to the Board of Aldermen that oversees the town of about 3,000 people in northern Jefferson County.
“I recognize that all of this very technical,” Sweeney wrote. “There is no simple way to explain this complex, information technology system.
“In a nutshell, there has been improper (likely illegal) activity by City officials, which the staff and I have meticulously documented.”
Sweeney alleged the impropriety started coming to light after someone repeatedly called the clerk’s office saying Selvaggio was going to have the prosecuting attorney amend a speeding ticket. Selvaggio then told the clerk to amend the ticket and use Sweeney’s signature stamp to do so, according to the documents.
Sweeney also served as the city’s municipal prosecutor and is the only person with the authority to make a recommendation on a ticket, such as amending it from a speeding violation to a lesser charge.
Sweeney then said she found her signature stamp had been used to make recommendations on other tickets without her knowledge or permission, some of which dated to a time when she was on medical leave.
The documents also show Selvaggio bought Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs for the police department as well as surveillance cameras without authorization from the board.
He signed an agreement with the FLOCK Camera company for $50,000 a year for five years. That amount, in addition to what the chief authorized for the Tahoes, equals about $350,000 which is not part of the city’s budget or part of authorized spending for the city, according to the documents.
