> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.citizenjournal.us/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Council dropped closed briefing on Hutch Rec investigation after Goss declined to step aside, minutes show - URL: https://www.citizenjournal.us/council-dropped-closed-briefing-on-hutch-rec-investigation-after-goss-declined-to-step-aside-minutes-show/ - Published: 2026-09-02T14:11:17.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-02T14:11:17.000Z - Description: Prior reporting by the Hutchinson Tribune and Hutch Post identifies the inquiry as a Kansas Attorney General's Office investigation of the recreation commission and its two affiliated foundations. - Author: Rica Simpson - Tags: hutch, dnn, #news Sign up for our free newsletter and never miss a story. [Sign up free](https://subscribe.citizenjournal.us/?ref=citizenjournal.us) Hutchinson's City Council canceled a closed briefing on the Hutchinson Recreation Commission investigation and got no legal advice on it Thursday, Aug. 27, after Councilmember Stacy Goss declined the city attorney's request that she recuse herself. The council itself notified the recreation board of the state investigation earlier in August, before the closed sessions began. The council had voted unanimously at the 4 p.m. special meeting to recess into executive session under K.S.A. 75-4319(b)(2), the provision that lets a governing body meet privately with its attorney on matters covered by attorney-client privilege. The open meeting was set to resume at 4:16 p.m. Before the recess, according to the minutes, Assistant City Attorney Cody Smith asked Goss on the record whether she was recusing herself from the session, and she said she was not. Smith then told the council that Goss's husband serves as a trustee of the Hutch Rec Foundation, one of the entities under investigation, that the circumstance presents a conflict of interest, and that he could not provide the governing body privileged legal advice in the presence of a person not entitled to receive it. He asked that the session be canceled rather than held with Goss present. On a motion by Mayor Scott Meggers and a second by Vice Mayor Greg Fast, the council unanimously canceled it. After that vote, the minutes say, Goss said Councilmember Darrin Truan should also be required to recuse himself, and that she had consulted an attorney who advised her she did not need to recuse because no conflict of interest exists. Asked to identify that attorney, she declined, and the minutes record no reason for her contention that Truan should step aside. Truan said that at the Recreation Commission's most recent executive session he had recused himself from all matters concerning the investigation and had left the meeting before that session began. Nine days earlier, at the council's Aug. 18 regular meeting, Goss had recused herself from both the vote and the closed session on the investigations concerning the Recreation Commission, the Hutch Rec Foundation and the Dillon Nature Center Foundation, stating that her husband serves on the Hutch Rec Foundation board. That same night, the council held a separate closed session for legal advice on "the duties of office, including conflicts of interest and recusal," which Goss seconded and attended. A second Aug. 27 closed session did proceed: the council recessed at 4:10 p.m. under K.S.A. 75-4319(b)(1) to discuss personnel matters relating to the City Manager, with City Manager Enrico Villegas, Smith and Human Resources Director Harris present, and reconvened at 4:50 p.m. with no binding action taken. The minutes describe that session's subject no further. They do not say whether the canceled briefing on the investigation has been rescheduled. The Aug. 27 minutes reached the public as item 6b on the consent agenda for the council's Sept. 1 meeting, where they were listed for approval without separate discussion and the agenda showed no executive session. Whether the council approved them as presented is not reflected in the records available. The council's next regular meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, in council chambers at City Hall, 125 E. Avenue B. *This article was written using our proprietary AI system, Cronkite. The final decision to publish this article was made by a human. For more info, read our* [*AI policy*](https://www.citizenjournal.us/ai-policy/)*.* --- --- Found a mistake? Have a news tip or feedback to share? Contact our newsroom using the button below: [Contact Us](https://www.citizenjournal.us/contact/) ---