Jackson County taxpayers spent $28,444 sending two legislators and two staff members to Hawaii for a week, including a conference, resort stays and a side trip to Pearl Harbor. The official explanation is networking, disaster preparedness and historical remembrance, but the receipts leave a tougher question hanging over the trip: what, exactly, came home to Missouri?
Documents obtained through Missouri’s open-records law show that then-chairman Manny Abarca brought communications director Jesse Reyes and chief of staff Jenni Mann to Maui, while legislator Venessa Huskey also attended. The spending and the officials’ explanations were detailed in a KCUR investigation, which found the county received the records after requesting them in May.
The Conference Was Built For Western Counties
The formal purpose was the National Association of Counties Western Interstate Region Conference, held May 5 through May 8 in Maui County. According to the National Association of Counties, the event focused on disaster response, recovery, resilience, federal policy, public-land tourism and county partnerships with the military.
There was one obvious geographic wrinkle: the Western Interstate Region represents 17 western states, and Missouri and Kansas are not among them. That does not make attendance improper, but it does make the trip harder to explain than a standard conference visit within Jackson County’s broader regional orbit.
The expense records show three rooms cost $349 per night, while Abarca’s room cost $429. Abarca stayed seven nights, Huskey six, Reyes seven and Mann eight; airfare averaged about $960 per person, with additional charges for preferred and extra-legroom seats, while registration fees ranged from $585 to $725.
In a separate Stone County case, the Missouri State Auditor's Office said travel costs totaling $6,205 for the Sheriff and a deputy to attend a conference in Fort Lauderdale, FL were not adequately documented. A Missouri State Auditor's Office audit of out-of-state travel found that 359 expense reports accounted for 590 trips and compared airfare policies among seven departments and with statewide contracts.
The Pearl Harbor Detour Added More Than Symbolism
All four travelers also made a 10-hour trip from Maui to Pearl Harbor for the 40th anniversary of the USS Missouri’s 1986 recommissioning. The USS Missouri Memorial confirms that the May 2026 ceremony honored sailors involved in returning the battleship to active service.
That excursion cost $2,634, including $1,195 for inter-island flights, $375 in rideshares, $769 for wreaths honoring the USS Missouri and USS Arizona, and $199 for a Harry S. Truman bust left aboard the ship. Abarca defended the stop as a tribute to service members and a nod to Jackson County’s historical connection to the battleship.
Officials Point To Networking And Disaster Planning
Huskey said she spent $6,200 of the total and used the trip to study the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the 2023 Lahaina wildfires, while also attending sessions on economic development. Abarca said the week offered opportunities to build relationships around disaster preparedness, water policy and tourism, according to the KCUR report.
But Donna Peyton, who replaced Abarca as legislative chair, said she would not have chosen a conference outside the county’s NACo region and was not aware of information presented to the legislature after the trip. Former legislator Crystal Williams called the cost difficult to justify, while current legislator Jalen Anderson said the amount was startling even though he does not consider government conferences inherently wasteful.
The Public Return Is Still Hard To Measure
Jackson County officials did receive access to policy sessions, disaster-response tours and networking with county leaders from around the country. What is less clear from the available record is whether the trip produced a written recommendation, a new grant, a formal partnership or another measurable benefit for residents.
The timing has made the spending especially combustible: KMBC reported that legislators removed Abarca as chair on July 20 and elected Peyton to replace him. Until Jackson County can show what came from the Maui meetings beyond attendance and stated intentions, taxpayers are left with a detailed bill—and a rather incomplete receipt for the public benefit.
