The mayor received a warning about this infraction, and subsequently chose to donate $135 to the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund.
Kevin Straub, the former council member, reported the infraction to the authorities. The mayor should have been thankful to Straub for doing this. Why? Because a donation like this one is tax deductible, whereas a traffic fine is not. Instead the mayor is reported in the Shawnee Dispatch as being upset with Straub: Though Straub no longer resides in Shawnee, Meyers said, “he’s looking for anything and everything (to criticize the city for)." ttp://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2012/nov/15/mayor-not-ticketed-disabled-parking-violation/
Straub also questioned the mayor's explanation, as reported by KCTV 5:
In a statement, Meyers claimed that he knew "a full house was waiting on him because the parking lot was completely filled."
"The disabled spots were the only ones available and I made the decision that I would park there and accept whatever consequences occurred in order to get the meeting started. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best decision. It won't happen again," Meyers said in his statement posted on the city's website.
Hogwash, according to Straub.
He said he entered the U-shaped parking lot just ahead of Meyers. Straub said Meyers failed to circle around the entire parking lot so it's impossible for him to know that all the parking spots were taken.
"If you don't go all the way around, you don't know if it's full or not," he said. "But he was running late and grabbed the first spot that was available."
The mayor also has access to any number of doors at City Hall and could have parked in the back of the building where ample spaces were available, Straub said.
Straub said City Hall insiders have told him that Meyers actually forgot that the meeting had been moved to Tuesday night because of the Veterans Day holiday. Straub said someone called Meyer to ask where he was and the mayor had to dash to City Hall. http://www.kctv5.com/story/20111562/tardy-shawnee-mayor-illegally-parks-in-handicapped-spot
