KINLOCH, Mo. – Two recently elected Kinloch alderwomen say they’re being stonewalled by their own city.

“How is this city operating? We have no idea,” Alderwomen Maya Washington and Martha Peebles said.

Both say they were surprised by our recent FOX Files investigation revealing the City of Kinloch reportedly owes MSD more than $400,000.

“For that information to come out, and it is something we’ve been asking for quite some time, it was embarrassing,” Washington said.

They both say they’ve been denied basic budget answers for months.

“City Hall is working with impunity in a silo unilaterally,” Peebles said.

They say a heated June city council meeting led to future meetings cancelled indefinitely, with no input from the residents.

Washington tearfully recounted those residents’ woes.

“They love Kinloch, like it’s literally – now I’m getting emotional. It’s literally a family here,” she said. “The residents maintain this park. They cut the grass; they clean it up.”

“I’ve been taking care of this park for years—the last three years—just out of my pocket,” resident Marvin Brown said.

FOX 2 caught up with Kinloch City Manager Dr. Justine Blue as she was leaving City Hall.

“It’s a lie,” Blue said. “I don’t know what angle (Washington and Peebles) are working, but it’s not the one they’re telling you.”

Blue said she’s not ignoring the alderwomen’s records requests.

“Understand, I’m not the custodian of records,” she said. “It doesn’t come to me.”

Blue said there could be a virtual public meeting to discuss the matter but said that’s contingent on the mayor calling for one.

She said there’s another side to the story regarding Kinloch’s alleged MSD’s delinquency.

“Those bills go back 20 years in some cases. Those bills even cover a complex that has been closed for years, so if we have no water service, how can we have sewer service?” Blue said.

As that dispute continues in court, the alderwomen say they’ll continue pushing for answers at City Hall.