This is the fourth 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.
The future of Cedar Oak sober living homes is in question after the Peaceful Village Board of Trustees voted this month to deannex the property on which the homes were built.
Board chair Kelly Fagala and Peaceful Village clerk Danielle Shannon called into question the validity of the voluntary annexation of the property at 5920 Antire Road in January. The board placed a six-month moratorium on annexing other properties until the village could review and revise its policies.
However, the board stopped short of declaring the annexation of the property illegal until the most recent meeting on April 16.
Fagala, Shannon and newly elected board trustee John Kindermann voted in favor of rescinding the annexation. Board Trustees Daniel Ross III and Rachel Ross recused themselves from the discussion of and vote on that matter, returning to the meeting after the vote.
The Rosses were reelected to the board in the April 8 election, with Rachel receiving 30 votes and Daniel receiving 29 votes. Kindermann was elected to the board for the first time with 25 votes.
Fagala said April 16 that the Board of Trustees voted for the deannexation of the property due to board members’ transgressions related to the voluntary annexation proceedings.
The Rosses, as well as Daniel’s father, Dan Ross Jr., were on the board during the annexation in 2022, along with Shannon, although she said she had no knowledge of the proceedings at the time.
“The previous (Peaceful Village) board has reported multiple times that they were not aware of the (proper annexation procedures),” Fagala said at the April 16 meeting.
“Which is not an excuse,” Kindermann added.
Daniel said he recused himself from the vote to avoid the appearance of having a conflict of interest.
BRR Investments LLC reportedly petitioned the board for a voluntary annexation of its property to build Cedar Oak , a faith-based, residential facility for those enrolled in a sobriety program.
At the time of the annexation, both Dan Ross Jr., the lead pastor at New Hope Fellowship in Peaceful Village, and Daniel were board trustees and “organizers of the company,” according to Fagala and Shannon’s January report.
“We don’t have a conflict-of-interest policy, still, and we’re working on it, but I don’t want any appearance of that,” Daniel said. “I do think we have more information about (conflict of interests) than we had before, about those annexations.”
“Same thing,” Rachel said, who is married to Daniel. “I feel it would be appropriate to recuse myself.”
Because the Peaceful Village board has voted for the deannexation of the sober living homes, the property should return to Jefferson County jurisdiction, Fagala said at the meeting.
However, County Counselor Jalesia F. M. Kuenzel said this is uncharted territory for the county, adding that it’s uncommon for a municipality to call for the deannexation of property within its jurisdiction. Most of the time, she said, deannexation is initiated by the property owners themselves.
“We will wait and see,” Kuenzel said.
Annexation proceedings
Shannon and Fagala alleged in the January report that Peaceful Village board members illegally annexed property that the Ross family owns, alleging the following:
Only three of the five board members were present at an Aug. 30, 2022, meeting to approve BRR Investments’ petition for annexation: Rachel Ross, Ross III and Ross Jr.
No evidence was found of a public notice posted for the meeting, nor were all five board members notified of the meeting.
A public hearing on the annexation was not held, and no roll call vote was recorded.
The report says Ross Jr. was an illegitimate voting member of the board because he was not a Peaceful Village resident. Fagala said Ross Jr. served on the board for about six or seven years while living at a Byrnes Mill address.
Next steps
Fagala said BRR Investments will be allowed to apply for the annexation of Cedar Oak again, this time following the rules.
“It’s important to mention that the property owners are welcome to go through the annexation again properly this time, in accordance with the law, and we would be happy to process that as soon as they provide a petition,” she said. “This is not a ‘never again.’ This is a ‘We need to do it properly in order to stay within the guardrails of the state law.’”
Click here to read more of the Peaceful Village story series.