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Sheila Wisdom, former Ward 2 alderwoman, resigned Monday after closed session.
The Leadwood Board of Aldermen covered a variety of topics Monday night. Members discussed a resident’s request to retire late Police Chief Jerry Hicks’ call number, reviewed the number of officers currently serving the city, and heard an update on the massive water project the city has been working on for more than a decade.
But it was the closed session afterward that caused one member of the board to tender their resignation on Tuesday.
“I hated to do it, but I just I can’t handle the stress anymore with all my health conditions I have,” Ward 2 Alderwoman Sheila Wisdom said.
The closed session, she indicated, concerned personnel issues and included quite a bit of conflict between board members. She had been added to the board in March to replace former alderman Randy Howard, who she would have run against in the April election.
Another alderman, John Vickers, confirmed a city worker had been suspended pending an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, which was decided by a vote during Monday night’s closed session.
During the open session of the meeting, Water and Sewer Supervisor Kevin Brooks was unavailable, so Mayor Ed Austin reported that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources sent a letter to the city, indicating it has approved the plan to overhaul the city’s crumbling, aged water and sewer system. It’s now up to be reviewed by USDA Rural Development.
“(The plans) are in the USDA engineers’ office as we speak,” Austin said. “He said he doesn’t know what is going to come of the plans and when they’re going to come out of USDA, but he hopes the project can go out for bid by January. So that’s what he told me for at this time. He said it’s not definite. I want to make sure I make that clear.”
“But we jumped through a major hurdle,” said Alderman Charlie Lewis.
Later in the meeting, a resident asked how many police officers were on the Leadwood force. Currently, Chief Emily Portell is the only full-time officer, with two reserve officers patrolling most of the other areas of the small town of about 1,600.
The resident asked if the board voted as to who was given the title of “deputy chief,” and Austin said currently, the chief decides that position, but the board could look into it. The resident questioned what she indicated was consistent police presence at Roy’s Convenience Store near Highway 8, and shifts that seemed clustered during the day. She said it appeared that midnight-4 a.m. was largely uncovered by Leadwood police and wondered if the board reviewed the shifts. The council agreed to look into the matter. Portell was not present at the meeting.
Earlier in the board meeting, the aldermen turned down a request to retire former Police Chief Jerry Hicks’ number, 701. Hicks died from injuries sustained in a car accident in November 2011. A resident asked, if Leadwood is allotted numbers 700-799, why couldn’t 701 be retired?
Lewis, who is also the city’s fire chief, explained that Central Dispatch uses -01 numbers for all police chiefs, and it would be potentially confusing and time-delaying during emergency situations to have to make an exception for one city. When the resident continued to push the issue, Alderman Aaron Penberthy said the board could continue to look into the possibility of retiring the number.
In other news, the board:
Sarah Haas is the assistant editor for the Daily Journal. She can be reached at 573-518-3617 or shaas@dailyjournalonline.com.
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Sheila Wisdom, former Ward 2 alderwoman, resigned Monday after closed session.
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