Columbia’s City Council will be holding a special meeting this week to elect an acting mayor, following the indictment and resignation of Kevin Hutchinson.
Hutchinson, who was serving as the mayor of Columbia, was indicted in federal court on Wednesday, Feb. 24 on charges related to his insurance dealings with the city.
According to the charging documents (obtained by the Republic-Timesand shared with the North County News), Hutchinson is also a licensed insurance agent “who owned a closely held Illinois corporation called B.M.C. Associates.”
The indictment document continued, “The City of Columbia provides health insurance coverage for its employees and separately maintains property/casualty loss insurance. Unbeknownst to the city council or the city manager, Hutchinson, and his corporation B.M.C. Associates, Inc., received referral commissions from the insurance contract that the City of Columbia placed with MRCT and ICRMT.”
For more on this story, please see this week’s print edition.