When an emergency response organization operates with public trust and community funding, transparency isn’t optional — it’s the foundation. Yet in Keokuk, KVEC has repeatedly failed to make their operations visible or accountable to the very people they serve.
Concerned citizens, former volunteers, and civic watchdogs have made repeated efforts to obtain records from the Keokuk Volunteer Emergency Corps — simple, routine documentation like:
- Meeting agendas
- Minutes from board or leadership meetings
- Policy decisions and training procedures
- Personnel changes and hiring decisions
- Vehicle use, equipment purchases, or response logs
But time and again, those records have either been “unavailable,” “not recorded,” or ignored altogether. There is no paper trail, no accountability, and no public record of decisions that affect public safety.
This is not a private club. This is an emergency response organization whose decisions can mean life or death. The public has the right to know:
Who is deciding what happens at KVEC?
How are funds being spent?
Why are there no records of those decisions?
When transparency is absent, suspicion grows — and for good reason. The refusal to provide documentation is not just lazy management — it is an intentional strategy of avoidance.
Whether it’s the deletion of the Facebook page, the blocking of citizens, or the silence that follows public requests for information — the pattern is clear: KVEC leadership does not want to be held accountable.
What are they hiding?
It’s time we stop asking politely. The people of Keokuk deserve answers, and this community will keep demanding them until they come.