This is the third installment in an ongoing series about 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 Peaceful Village Board of Trustees had some important business to take care of at its last meeting, but no decisions were made because the trustees didn’t approve an agenda.
At most city and town meetings, the first order of business is to approve the agenda, typically a routine item approved by unanimous vote.
That wasn’t the case at the most recent Peaceful Village meeting, held March 11 at New Hope Fellowship Church, though. Trustees and husband and wife Rachel and Daniel Ross III voted against approving the agenda, and the other half of the board – chairwoman Kelly Fagala and clerk Danielle Shannon – voted to approve it.
Since it was a split vote, the motion to approve the agenda failed, and no further votes could be taken.
The proposed agenda included a resolution authorizing the purchase of village insurance and a resolution for a cease-and-desist order for unauthorized building permits and inspections, among other items. Instead of taking up the issues, however, the meeting was adjourned due to the split vote on the agenda, and the Rosses left the church, and Fagala and Shannon stayed to hold an informal town hall with the 30 or so village residents and others in attendance.
During the meeting, Shannon discovered that while she was at the church someone stopped by her home to serve her with a cease and desist order from the builder of sober living homes in the village, demanding she stop making statements about the company.
In January, Shannon and Fagala presented a report on the village’s alleged illegal annexation of 5920 Antire Road in 2022 so that sober homes could be built there. At the time of annexation, village board trustees Dan Ross Jr. and Daniel Ross III were “organizers of the company” that would operate the sober living homes on the property, and they should not have voted to approve the annexation because it was a conflict of interest, the report said.
Daniel Ross Jr. is no longer a member of the board.
After the meeting, Fagala learned she was also served a similar cease and desist order at her home.
Also at the meeting, Fagala reported that board member Steven Duncan resigned from his seat on Feb. 18, leaving just four trustees on the five-member board. Shannon said Duncan was appointed to the board on Feb. 6, 2024, to fill a vacant seat.
Duncan did not return calls for comment about his resignation.
Before the March 11 meeting adjourned, Daniel Ross III read from a statement, claiming the board “is not operating in a way that fosters effective governance” due to infighting and personal attacks.
“The decision not to pass the agenda is not about delaying – it is about acknowledging the reality of our current situation and ensuring we are acting responsibly,” he said. “Both Rachel and I are up for reelection (on April 8). With such uncertainty, it is irresponsible to push forward major decisions without considering how these shifts will impact the future governance of this board. Additionally, our past meetings have exposed serious procedural missteps and governance concerns. Rather than taking the opportunity to address these issues constructively, the response has been defensive, dismissive, and – at times – personal. This is not how a board should function.”
Shannon refuted his claim that the board has personally attacked the Ross family.
“Kelly and I have done everything in our power to work with (the Rosses),” she said. “They take any questioning of them as an attack. I don’t see how questions can be an attack, especially when you work for the public.”
The town hall meeting concluded when New Hope Pastor Dan Ross Jr., who was watching the meeting from the back of the church, signaled to Fagala to wrap up the meeting. Other church members said they needed to lock up the church for the night and that the meeting needed to end.
Shannon and Fagala said they’re looking into holding future board meetings at the Jefferson County Library’s High Ridge Branch, but nothing had been confirmed as of Monday.
“I think it’s (Ross Jr’s) right to do that (shut down the meeting) because it’s his building, but I think it just shows his character more than anything,” Shannon said. “A lot of people didn’t agree with that, but he’s allowed to do what he wants, and I think that’s part of the problem. (The Rosses) don’t want their actions out there to the public because the public is now scrutinizing their actions, and then they’re putting that on us (the board), as if we’re doing something wrong.”
Ross Jr. did not return multiple phone calls for comment before the Leader deadline on Monday.
Cease and desist
Shannon said at the meeting that Madison Michael Homes, doing business as Wausau Homes, sent her the cease and desist order for “willful acts and dissemination of false, defamatory and misleading statements” about the company and Dwain Eoff, who said he is a member of Wausau Homes of High Ridge.
“I think it’s a scare tactic,” Shannon said. “(Eoff) thinks that anything and everything that I’ve ever said about this business is defaming him and causing him to lose a lot of money, and then if I don’t stop doing that, he’s going to sue for a lot more money. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ve said anything about him and his building company in a public meeting. I’ve always tried to keep it very neutral.”
Eoff said he couldn’t comment about the order because of pending litigation.
Shannon said since she is a member of the Peaceful Village board, she believes she is afforded certain immunity from being sued.
Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute states that governmental immunity, sometimes known as sovereign immunity, provides certain protection for federal and state governments, along with city municipalities, when it comes to lawsuits.
“If you’re a municipal trustee, you have immunity to be able to make decisions as long as they’re not done in malice,” she said. “None of this stuff is done in malice. We’re trying to follow the law.”
Related lawsuit
Dan Ross Jr. filed a lawsuit on March 5 against Jon Jerome, a High Ridge resident who lives next to Peaceful Village, that claims 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.”
In January 2024, Jerome helped circulate a petition to dissolve the village because of a lack of action from the former board regarding the sober living home. He said the facility, which was built about 10 feet from his property line, would not meet Jefferson County’s building codes because it should have been built at least 50 feet away from the line, according to the county’s codes, he said.
The dissolution measure failed 47-9 at the April 2, 2024, municipal election, and the village maintained its status.
Jerome said March 14 he was unable to comment about the lawsuit because he had not been officially served.
According to the suit, Jerome put signs “surrounding the village” featuring false allegations that said the sober living facility violated village ordinances regarding population per square feet. It also alleges that Jerome put up signs claiming the facility is not ADA compliant and does not meet fire code.
Jerome said he contacted High Ridge Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Ron Tisius to share his concerns about the first home when building began. High Ridge Fire issued a stop work order for Wausau Homes on Aug. 29, 2023.
According to the order, the builders needed to provide a fire sprinkler plan and apply for a permit. The building plans also needed to be resubmitted with an architectural stamp that meets IFC and IBC codes.
In the suit, Ross claims Jerome’s actions caused a 29-week delay in the completion of the first sober living home on the property, resulting in a loss of $69,900. Ross also claims in the suit that Jerome caused a 25-week delay in the completion of a second sober living home, still under construction, costing him an extra $57,600.
Jerome said the second home does not adhere to ADA guidelines because the ramp leading from the front door ends on a rocky surface.
Ross also alleges that Jerome put up signs claiming Ross kept more than $4 million in “food grants” for his personal use during the construction of the sober living facility, $395,331 to purchase trucks, $98,143 to use existing equipment and $79,682 for salaries.
“Defendants’ malicious and intentional conduct has caused damage to the plaintiff’s reputation and has made members of the village question his integrity and motives,” the lawsuit states.
Jerome said at an informal village meeting in February that the charity he operates, called H.E.R.O.E.S. Care, could have used a facility like the sober living home if the situation was different. The nonprofit provides financial assistance and mental health support for military service members and their families, according to its website.
“None of this would have been a problem if the village had a rule book and if that rule book was followed because it was according to building code,” Jerome said in February. “When I talked to (Dan Ross Jr.), he informed me (the sober home) was going to be a duplex, and it was going to be transitional housing. And I said, ‘Great, my charity will rent it. I will rent it for my transitioning military.’ Who better than me to watch my (veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder) if they live right next door to me?”
Click here to read more of the Peaceful Village story series.