Ferrelview trustees Russell and Theresa Wilson returned to meetings of the board in July after several months of absence.
The regular meeting was held Saturday, July 7 and marks three months since the village changed its monthly meetings from Tuesday nights to Saturday afternoons. In May, an impeachment hearing levied against former chair Theresa Wilson was tabled. According to current chairman, Phil Gilliam, the village will let the courts handle Wilson’s possible impeachment.
The Wilsons are facing several criminal charges between them, with Theresa Wilson facing a bench trial in October in the alleged assault of a pregnant woman last November in Ferrelview city hall. Russell Wilson has been charged with two counts of stealing and acceding to the corruption by a public servant in an incident where he allegedly rigged the bidding process for the sale of two old police cars, then undercut the bids to purchase the cars. A hearing in that case is scheduled for this week.
In the July meeting, however, the village addressed routine business and heard a presentation by Dr. Richard Gist of the Kansas City Fire Department. Previously, the board has questioned fire and ambulance response times in the village, complaining of slow responses.
Gist said while the village receives fire suppression services from KCPD, its ambulance services are through the Southern Platte County Ambulance District, which uses American Medical Response for its services. The jurisdictional boundaries of these ambulance districts are set by statute. While KCFD response times to Ferrelview are within 10 minutes, SPCAD response times are slower, as AMR ambulances must be dispatched from Parkville.
Aldermen said they were still working to contact AMR representatives to discuss response times.
Also at the meeting, chief of police Daniel Clayton said he was pursuing grant funding to purchase a more updated police vehicle. After an audience member complained that Clayton should be writing tickets for speeding vehicles on Garrison, Clayton responded that he would if he could.
Gilliam is working to move the municipal court functions to the Platte County Circuit Court, following the dissolution of the municipal court last year.