Peabody meets new chief, hires clerk
Staff writer
Nearly every seat was full Monday night for a Peabody City Council meeting that included introduction of new Police Chief Matthew Neal, as well as an audit presentation by Loyd Group.
The next night, at a special meeting, the council voted to hire Paul Leeker, a Sedgwick County budget analyst, as city clerk, filling a vacancy that has existed for more than a year.
Neal, who worked as chief of the USD 394 police department in Rose Hill from 2019 to 2024, struck an upbeat tone in his remarks.
“I went by the Hub [youth center] Friday night and really enjoyed that,” he said. “I’m going to the businesses this week and introducing myself, so people know my face. I met with the school last week and had a really good meeting with the superintendent. We’re trying to get officers hired, get everything organized, and ready to build a strong police department.”
Hub board member Beth Peter thanked Neal for visiting the youth center.
Peabody’s previous two police officers, Philip Krom and Eric Watts, resigned earlier this year, Krom because he thought certain residents were slandering him and Watts after allegations that he purchased painkillers and solicited sexual favors from a former inmate in 2021 while working in Nevada.
Mayor Catherine Weems said she conducted a thorough check of Neal’s employment history, checked for criminal records, and asked for psychiatric evaluations from each department where he had worked.
In other business Monday, the city paid two months worth of water bills from Hillsboro, which supplies Peabody’s water. One was for July and one for May.
Weems took responsibility for having overlooked the May bill.
While the city clerk position has been vacant, she has performed most of the duties of a clerk.
“I don’t have everything going to my email,” Weems said. “I’ve got it going to a city clerk email, so whoever takes over, we don’t have to switch them all around. The billings, I do my best to catch them all. I didn’t catch that one.”
During public comment Monday, Linsey Foth spoke as a representative of Peabody Dreamers Club, which organizes Peabody Cruise, a monthly event from May through October.
Foth expressed concern that vendors and attendees at cruises might be affected by scheduled sidewalk construction on Walnut St.
“If the sidewalk’s not going to be torn up in the next three months, it won’t affect us,” Foth said. “But we’re just trying to be proactive.”
Foth came with two proposals that she said would provide safer street access during the events.The council did not take action because EBH consulting engineer Darin Neufeld was not present to speak about the project as the council had hoped.
Foth said afterward she was confident the situation would be resolved.
“The city has always been supportive of our group and events,” she said.
Christina Henson, a manager at Loyd Group, presented the city’s 2024 audit. The city switched to the Galva-based accounting firm this year.
Peabody ended 2024 with a higher cash balance ($1,555,503) than it had when the year began ($1,521,260). Weems said savings were mainly because of vacancies on city staff.
The audit found a few deficiencies, including not enough segregation of duties when employees spent money.
“If one person executes a sale/transaction, that person should not record the transaction, handle the cash receipt, have authority for or access to cash receipts records, and reconcile the bank account,” the report says. “Due to resource constraints, these conflicting phases of transactions potentially occur throughout your entity at various times.”
The audit also found that the city’s annual treasurer’s report had not been submitted for publication, as required by law, in this newspaper in January 2025.
Weems said the annual report had not been published in 2024, either. She cited unbalanced books and lack of city staff as reasons for the issue.
After the meeting, Weems said Peabody would 'take those auditors’ recommendations and work on those.”