LIBERTY – If the new Clay County commissioners believed good reason existed, they could have continued the lawsuit blocking a state audit. And continued blocking The Kansas City Star’s request for financial records. They did neither. Tuesday, they announced dropping opposition to The Star’s records request and earlier dropped the suit blocking Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway’s audit. “(The Star) was trying to get information regarding some of the personnel and other things,” Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte said Tuesday. Galloway sought commission records after the public petition successfully – over 9,000 signatures submitted in June 2018 – for a state audit. Nolte opposed the lawsuits designed to keep Galloway and The Star from getting the records but got outvoted 2-1 by former Commissioners Gene Owen and Luann Ridgeway. Mired in controversy regarding unpopular decisions – including the suits, a plan...