WAPELLA — Despite the Wapella Village board meeting being cancelled due to the lack of a quorum on Tuesday night, a heated verbal exchange took place between Mayor Bryan Atwood and resident Ed Fleck.

Shortly after Atwood announced the meeting’s cancellation, Fleck asked, “What about the missing checks?”

An undisclosed amount of cash and checks were recently reported missing from the Wapella Village Hall. 

“What about them?” Atwood asked from across the room. 

 “I was kind of wondering what’s being done,” said Fleck who added that he had been contacted by the DeWitt County Sheriff’s office.

“It’s a waste of time, Ed,” said Atwood. To which Fleck responded, “In other words, it’s another cover-up.”

The issue is being investigated, said Atwood, “and not just by us.”

“I have three checks out there,” said Fleck. “And I can’t read this month’s water bill and I’m not paying it until I get one I can read. And I don’t expect to pay any late fees because of your incompetence.”

“We have a few issues we’re working on,” said Atwood. “That’s all I want to say.”

Fleck replied: “I’d say you’ve got a few issues.”

Water billing has been a source of ongoing difficulty for the village for several years.

A visually upset Atwood let out a loud sigh and said: “You’ve got nothing to (expletive) about, so you come in here and think of (expletive) to (expletive) about.”

“This meeting is over,” Atwood shouted.

Atwood later said he couldn’t comment on the matter until he heard back from the sheriff’s department, but said, “there is an issue with money missing.”

Sheriff Mike Walker said the issue appeared to be a bookkeeping error, but was not available for further comment.