TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Corporation Commission will not ask an independent consultant to investigate the executive director’s complaints about the agency’s staff.
On Wednesday, commissioner Tom Wright proposed a review of director Patti Petersen-Klein’s remarks to an auditor that the agency was overstaffed, inefficient and had no accountability.
The motion died after another commissioner declined to support it. The third commissioner was not at the meeting.
The Topeka Capital-Journal last week reported that Patti Petersen-Klein told the consultant the agency’s employees were lazy and the agency was dysfunctional.
The agency’s employees complained to the auditor that Petersen-Klein’s management style was ruining staff morale and prompting many employees to leave.
The consultants concluded in the report that it was unlikely that Petersen-Klein could mend her relationship with the KCC staff.