KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, Board of Police Commissioners member, who claimed recent KCPD funding reallocation blindsided the commission, has resigned.
Nathan Garrett, who was appointed by then-Gov. Eric Greitens, had most recently served as the commission’s treasurer and tendered his resignation Friday. A spokesperson from Missouri Gov. Mike Parson's office confirmed the resignation Monday afternoon.
In a letter submitted Friday to Parson, Garrett said a "change in residency" prompted him to step down.
"This department now finds itself at perhaps its most critical moment, and I ask for what I know you will give: focused and considered thought to my replacement," Garrett wrote. "May it be one willing to act – informed and thoughtfully – without fear or favor and without regard for political winds or public criticism."
Shortly after the KCMO City Council approved the roughly $42 million reallocation from KCPD to a community services and prevention fund, Garrett told 41 Action News that Mayor Quinton Lucas did not inform the BOPC of his proposal.
"So if this isn’t political pandering, political theater I don’t know what it is, because there was no engagement, no conversation of discussion whatsoever," Garrett previously told 41 Action News.
Garrett also was among those who not only opposed how Lucas announced his plans but the reallocation itself.
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Last September, Garrett said he would fight the BOPC to remain in control of the police department, while naming lack of prosecutions as affected crime.
“We would rue the day we get rid of the Board of Police Commissioners and let politicians take control of the police department camouflaged as efficiencies,” he said at the time.
Garrett also has served as an attorney, an FBI special agent and a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper.
Garrett was sworn into the position in July 2017.
The commissioners serve four-year terms, which Garrett would have reached next month.
Lucas thanked Garrett for his service in a statement provided to 41 Action News.
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This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
