City Attorney Cody Smith: Hutchinson City not subject to Attorney General investigation

City Attorney Cody Smith told the Hutchinson City Council on Aug. 11 that the Kansas Attorney General's office has issued investigative subpoenas to the Hutchinson Recreation Commission, the Hutch Rec Foundation and the Dillon Nature Center Foundation. "The City is not a subject of any investigation by the Attorney General's office," Smith said.

Smith told the council the city has been in direct contact with the Attorney General's office, which confirmed the subpoenas were issued and received. He said the Recreation Commission's subpoena was served several weeks earlier and that the Recreation Commission board of commissioners did not appear to have been informed by the subpoena recipient. To address both the subpoenas and circulating misinformation, Smith described a proposed letter the city would send to the Recreation Commission board explaining which entities received subpoenas, clarifying the city's institutional role under Kansas law, and outlining fiduciary considerations the board should take into account.

Smith summarized what the draft correspondence does: it formally notifies the Recreation Commission board of the investigation and identifies the affected entities; describes the statutory functions the city performs with respect to the commission; addresses a historical arrangement in which a council member served ex officio on the board rather than the city treasurer and states the city's intent to move to the statutory structure going forward; articulates the fiduciary framework applicable to the board's responsibilities; corrects inaccurate community information suggesting the city itself was under investigation; and states the city does not seek operational control of the commission or its services. "The city merely wishes to follow the statute and to fulfill what is required of it under Kansas law," Smith said.

Smith told the council the letter would be signed by the mayor on behalf of the council and transmitted immediately to the six recorded members of the Recreation Commission board; he also said the city would issue a press release to make clear what is true and what is not. The council approved the proposed correspondence and authorized the mayor to sign and the city attorney to transmit it "substantially in the form presented." The council did not take additional policy actions during this special meeting.

The matter centers on subpoenas to the three named nonprofit entities; the city emphasized that its role is statutory and administrative, not investigatory. The council's next steps, as stated at the meeting, were to transmit the letter and publish the press release to correct public misunderstanding.