This is the sixth part in an ongoing series on Peaceful Village, a small municipality in northwest Jefferson County with about 90 residents. The Village was incorporated in 2008 under the leadership of Jack Walters, who owned and operated a church and camp on 78 acres of land on Antire Road near High Ridge.
Michael Ochse, who signed off on the design plans for two sober living homes near Peaceful Village, has lost his engineering license.
The Missouri Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors and Professional Landscape Architects revoked the license because of his actions related to the construction of the sober homes at 5920 Antire Road.
In a settlement agreement signed by APEPLSPLA executive director Rhonda Bullock on June 2, the board found Ochse in violation of state law, stating he “displayed incompetency, misconduct and/or gross negligence in the performance … of a professional engineer.”
Ochse said on July 11 he had no comment about the settlement.
Jon Jerome, a High Ridge resident who lives next door to the homes, which are called Cedar Oak, petitioned the licensing board for a review of the home’s engineering designs in January 2024.
Jerome said the builder of the homes, Wausau Homes in High Ridge, completed shoddy work and did not comply with the International Building Code and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
History
A year before the sober homes were constructed in 2023, the property where they sit was annexed into Peaceful Village, which has never adopted building codes.
According to a report compiled by former and current village trustees, Dan Ross Jr. and Daniel Ross III were “organizers of the company” that operated Cedar Oak while simultaneously acting as trustees on the village board that approved the annexation.
Because of that apparent conflict of interest, the village board overturned the Cedar Oak annexation on April 16, reverting the property to the unincorporated portion of High Ridge in Jefferson County.
Jerome, who is the president of H.E.R.O.E.S. Care, a nonprofit that provides support for veterans and their families, said he fought to halt the construction of the homes for years.
He also helped circulate a petition in late 2023 to disincorporate Peaceful Village, citing a lack of action from village officials regarding the construction of the homes. The petition garnered enough signatures to be placed on the April 2, 2024, ballot, but it failed to pass by 47-9 votes.
Ross Jr. filed a lawsuit against Jerome on March 5, claiming Jerome “made several attempts through false published defamatory slander with malicious intent to dissolve the village due to his dissatisfaction with the construction of the sober living facility being constructed near his residence.”
Ross Jr. also claimed that Jerome caused a 54-week delay in the completion of the sober living homes, resulting in a loss of $127,500.
At a Jefferson County Council meeting on Dec. 21, 2023, before the vote to dissolve the village, Ross Jr. said Cedar Oak was one of the first sober living houses in the county and was badly needed.
“In this process (of constructing the sober living homes), Jon Jerome, who lives next door, has projected out of his window onto our building a skull and crossbones larger than life,” Ross Jr. said. “He also placed four Ring doorbell cameras on his fence with bright lights. He then dug a trench in his yard, put an electric line in and electrified the fence. I would think someone who cares about veterans … would understand a veteran’s need for help and structure. Some veterans who struggle with PTSD may also have struggled with addiction. There will be some veterans there (at Cedar Oak).”
Ross Jr. said on July 11 that he had no comment about the recent settlement agreement resulting in Ochse losing his engineering license.
Jerome’s legal representative, Caitlyn A. Vanover of the Thurman Law Firm in Hillsboro, planned to call for a motion to dismiss Ross’ lawsuit at a hearing on July 16, after the Leader deadline.
Jerome said at the July 8 Peaceful Village trustees meeting that the findings from the licensing board prove the homes were not built up to code.
“For me, this is a culmination of two years seeking the truth,” he said. “I have been slandered, humiliated and have had my charity’s name dragged through the sludge of rumors.”
Revoked license
According to the settlement agreement, Ochse approved architectural drawings for the two homes, each with 16 living quarters, without an architecture license; approved engineering drawings not prepared under his supervision; approved architectural, structural and electrical drawings prepared by non-licensees he does not know; approved structural drawings without relevant knowledge on building codes; sealed fire protection drawings he was unqualified for; and created risk to the safety of the homes’ occupants.
Ochse was issued a Missouri engineering license on Feb. 27, 1984, according to licensing board documents.
He was a part-time employee with Fire Tech LLC at the time he approved designs for the Cedar Oak homes. At Fire Tech, he was responsible for reviewing and approving drawings prepared by the company.
According to licensing board documents, Peaceful Village officials issued a building permit for Wausau Homes on July 6, 2023, to construct the homes.
The High Ridge Fire Protection District issued a stop-work order on the project on Aug. 29, 2023, because the Wausau Homes drawings lacked a Missouri architect or engineer seal of approval, according to the settlement agreement.
On Sept. 12, 2023, Ochse stamped and sealed sprinkler drawings for the Cedar Oak homes on behalf of Fire Tech, never having met the person who prepared the Wausau Homes designs, the settlement said.
Ochse told the licensing board he did not know what the buildings were going to be used for and “never went into the buildings to confirm if they were built in accordance with the drawings he sealed.”
He also told the licensing board he did not know whether the building was ADA-compliant.
“He could not explain how someone in a wheelchair would get from the second floor to the kitchen on the lower floor without leaving the building,” the report said. “(Ochse) stated that he has not reviewed the ADA in a while.”
The licensing board said the drawings don’t indicate whether there is any reinforcing in the concrete foundation walls or floor slabs in the homes, and as part of the settlement, Ochse agreed there should have been.
“The drawings do not show, and (Ochse) does not recall, how he braced the walls for wind and seismic loads,” according to the settlement. “(Ochse) believes the buildings are safe for the occupants and understands that by placing his seal on the document, he indicated that they are safe and IBC-compliant.”
Wausau Homes
Peaceful Village resident Ann Gabel said she lives in a home designed and built by Wausau Homes. At the July 8 Peaceful Village trustees meeting, she said she and her husband, Lester, have had many problems with the home since they moved there in 2021.
Gabel said Wausau Homes’s architectural plans for her home were not signed or stamped by an architect, similar to the plans for the Cedar Oak homes. She said her home has major drainage issues, which forced the couple to put in a $9,000 retaining wall because Wausau Homes refused to build it.
Dwain Eoff, owner of Wausau Homes, could not be reached for comment by the Leader’s deadline on Monday.
Gabel claims Ross Jr. acted as the building inspector for the village at the time, signing off on the final inspection of her home.
“(Ross Jr.) signed the final (inspection) on (a) Friday, we closed, and then we moved in over (that) weekend,” Gabel said. “On (the following) Monday, there was a big truck out front, coming to put insulation in the ceiling. Now, if (Ross Jr.) signed that final inspection, he should have known there was no insulation in the house.”
Ross Jr. said he had no comment regarding Gabel’s accusations.
State Rep. Renee Reuter of District 112 also attended the meeting and spoke with village residents afterward. She handed out papers with information on how to file a consumer complaint with the Attorney General’s office.
“I’m here to talk about integrity,” she said. “I know there’s a lot of distrust, and you feel that there’s a lot of unhappiness in the room. The way to get through this to the other side is for each person, each homeowner, to stand up for themselves. If you want something done, you have to do it yourself, and you have the tools to do it.”
Click here to read more of the Peaceful Village story series.