Peaceful Village residents may get the chance to decide whether to dissolve the small village in northwest Jefferson County in the April 2 election.
In a preliminary vote on Dec. 21, the Jefferson County Council voted 4-0 with an abstention to put the issue on the ballot.
A final vote may be taken on Jan. 8.
The Dec. 21 vote was a rare instance of the council revisiting an action taken earlier in the meeting.
An initial vote on the bill failed to garner a majority of the council, with Gene Barbagallo (District 2, Imperial), Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) and Bob Tullock (District 7, House Springs) voting yes but Brian Haskins (District 1, House Springs), Scott Seek (District 5, Festus) and Dan Stallman (District 6, De Soto) abstaining.
After discussion in a closed session, the council took a second vote, with Stallman changing his vote to yes and Haskins having left.
Before the initial vote, County Counselor Jalesia F.M. Kuenzel advised the council that it was obligated to place the issue on the ballot because the signatures of 25 percent of the village’s registered voters signed a petition.
“My reason for abstaining had more to do with the procedural aspect of it,” Seek said. “This apparently was called a ministerial act, meaning that the state compels its councils to vote yes for this bill. That is not very democratic, if you ask me. That is a dictatorial state government ruled by dictatorial judges and a Legislature that does not want to hold themselves accountable. If you’re going to make me vote yes, then why even make me vote?”
Haskins later said he abstained because he felt conflicted.
“I helped set up the incorporation (of Peaceful Village) with Jack Walters,” he said. “I really didn’t know what was better, abstaining or not voting.”
Peaceful Village was formed in 2008 under the leadership of Walters, who owned a church and camp on 78 acres on Antire Road near High Ridge. Since it became a village, the population has grown to 95, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
Haskins said regardless of his conflict, he supports the residents’ right to vote.
“I think people voting is always a good thing,” he said. “I’m for the people participating as often as they can on issues that will affect their lives.”
The petitioner
The petition was circulated by Jon Jerome, whose house on Antire Road is just next to the village.
Jerome said he started the petition because of a lack of action by Peaceful Village officials regarding a sober living home under construction next to his home. He said the facility, which is in the village while his home is not, would not meet Jefferson County’s codes.
“My problem started four or five months ago when construction started right next door to me,” Jerome told the County Council. “Foundations were put in and they were only 25 feet from the center line of Antire (Road). According to the county, it’s supposed to be 50 feet and there was supposed to be 10 feet from my property line. There is only 5. Every answer I got from every county department was, ‘It’s Peaceful Village, it’s Peaceful Village, go to them.’
“How do I reach Peaceful Village? Nothing is in the county records, the state records, anything on where City Hall is or how to reach them. I spent months trying to go through and find anything about the village and where to go.”
Daniel Ross III, the village’s elected mayor, said he is a pastor at New Hope Fellowship Church in Peaceful Village and is an investor in BRR Investments, which is building the sober living home. He said BRR Investments is not affiliated with the church.
He said BRR went through all the proper channels to build the sober living center. Jefferson County codes, he said, do not apply in the village.
“The reality is the sober living home has been permitted (under village codes) and inspected,” the mayor said. “It’s also been inspected by the (High Ridge Fire Protection District). It is very close to the property line and it is close to the road, but it follows the codes in Peaceful Village.”
Ross’s father, Dan Ross Jr., also an investor in BRR, is on the Peaceful Village Board of Trustees.
Ross Jr. said at the council meeting that the sober living home will be open to men who have graduated from a yearlong sobriety program. It will offer affordable living arrangements while the residents establish themselves in the workplace.
Ross III said construction on the home began in the summer and he expects it to be open sometime this year.
Jerome said he wasn’t given notice of the construction of the home.
“They get to do whatever they want,” Jerome said. “What if it was your house and your property value? Who has the right to just willy-nilly put up a commercial building right next to a residential community I’ve been in for 25 years?”
The mayor said he has discussed the construction of the home with Jerome on multiple occasions with little resolution. He said the home is not a commercial entity, but a residential one.
Jerome said many residents he spoke with while circulating his petition did not know they lived in Peaceful Village.
“I contacted the (County) Clerk, got the voter rolls and found out that only 13 people voted in the last two elections of all the people in Peaceful Village,” he said at the meeting. “It was the same 13 people who voted for all the officers.”
The mayor said any resident can run for a trustee seat, not just members of the church.
“It wouldn’t be that hard to put yourself on the board,” he said. “It’s not like we’re doing things to keep people off the board.”
Kelly Fagala, a resident of Peaceful Village who lives on the other side of the sober living home with her husband, Matt, told the council that city officials are approachable.
“I oppose the dissolution of Peaceful Village,” she said. “(The sober living home) is extremely close to my property where I’m raising my children and yet I’ve had all of my questions answered very honestly and openly by the pastors and the people who are setting up that program. I think it’s an excellent benefit to our community and I’m happy to see it going in.”
The lights
Ross III said when Jerome realized he would not be able to stop construction of the sober living home, he set up security cameras, flashing lights and projections from his property. He said Jerome projected images of skulls onto the side of the sober living home.
Several Peaceful Village residents told council members that the lights were disturbing.
At the Dec. 21 Jefferson County Council meeting, Dan Ross Jr. holds up an image of two skulls projected onto the side of the sober living home.
“We’re a quiet family. We try to keep to ourselves,” Matt Fagala said. “We’re kind of annoyed that we even have to come out here because we have a harassing neighbor who continues to do things like put the bright lights, the floodlights on his property, that now flash all night long right into the windows of my children’s bedrooms, one of whom has a disability and is afraid of lightning. We had to put up extra curtains in those rooms to block out that light.”
Jerome said he’s not doing anything wrong.
“They are Halloween decorations, Christmas decorations,” he said. “There are no laws being broken. I have security cameras on my fence, which is perfectly legal. I appreciate them because nobody has stolen any of the equipment because it’s all being recorded.”
Ross III said he believes skulls are a symbol of death.
“It’s not illegal by Jefferson County standards, and I’m very much a free-speech advocate,” he said. “Obviously, I’m a pastor and so I want people to be free to speak. But if we’re talking about hate speech, this does seem to border on that, or at least threats.”
The mayor said he hopes that, if the issue is placed on the April 2 ballot, residents will choose against dissolving the village.
“People are going to vote on this,” he said. “If the people want to dissolve the village, that is the will of the people.”