Lawrence Mayor Jeremy Farmer resigns
On the 12th of August Lawrence Mayor Jeremy Farmer announced his resignation. This was two days after he stepped down as executive director of Just Food, a nonprofit food bank.
Just Food is conducting a full financial review, audit and working closely with legal counsel. The findings of these reviews will be crucial in updating our internal controls to avoid this situation in the future. — Elizabeth Keever
Elizabeth Keever has replaced Farmer as interim executive director of the program and former City Commission member Mike Amyx, who has served six terms as mayor of Lawrence, has temporarily taken Farmer’s City Commission seat.
Fifty thousand dollars in tax liabilities were discovered by Just Food’s leaders. This being one of Farmer’s responsibilities as executive director, he came to a decision with the board that he should step down and put more time into his duties as mayor.
“Just Food is conducting a full financial review, audit and working closely with legal counsel,” Keever said. “The findings of these reviews will be crucial in updating our internal controls to avoid this situation in the future.”
Farmer told the Lawrence Journal World that this mishap was probably due to difficulty combining his responsibilities as mayor, and his responsibilities as executive director of the largest food bank in the county.
Applications are now open to replace Farmer permanently. Whoever is chosen could be serving before the end of the month.
Just Food is currently conducting a review, so no more details about the resignation can be shared at this time.
