Ash Grove BOA debates ICE partnership, administrative warrants, Mau parts ways with city

Following a dramatic hat-drawing to determine the new member of the Ash Grove Board of Aldermen on April 21, the regular session meeting took place. The meeting had its share of drama as well, as a new alderman was sworn in following extensive debate over two potential ordinances.

Later in regular session, the board was presented with two ordinances on the agenda; the first of these was an ordinance officializing the Ash Grove Police Department’s partnership with ICE under the 287(g) program.

The Ash Grove Police Department had already joined the program, signing a memorandum of agreement earlier in the year. According to City Clerk Melissa Mau, city attorney Holly Dodge suggested to the council that they make the move official with an ordinance.

The issue was hotly contested, especially by departing Ward 1 Alderman Casey Benson, who would give up her chair to newcomer Courtney Leader later in the meeting. Benson said that the agenda for the meeting was distributed less than 24 hours beforehand, not giving enough time for proper study. She then raised issues with the ordinance itself.

“Regarding the 287(g) Task Force Model agreement, I opposed adoption of the measure in its presented form,” said Benson in a later statement to the Commonwealth. “This agreement would authorize local law enforcement officers to perform federal immigration enforcement functions during routine policing activities. While interagency cooperation can be appropriate in limited circumstances, this model represents a significant expansion of local law enforcement responsibilities into federal immigration enforcement. My concern is not with lawful enforcement generally, but with the structural implications of assigning federal immigration duties to local officers during day-to-day policing. Such a shift raises legitimate concerns regarding community trust, the willingness of residents to engage with law enforcement, and the potential diversion of limited local resources away from core public safety responsibilities.”

Benson also took issue with the second ordinance brought before the board. This time, the ordinance centered around administrative warrants. The warrants, according to Police Chief John Davis, are primarily used to combat public nuisances, allowing the police and public works to go in and clean out the property. They are rarely used, however, said Davis.

The ordinance, according to Mau and Davis, was a long overdue rewording of the previous language in an already instituted ordinance. This new ordinance would change every instance referring to a municipal judge to instead state “an Associate Circuit Judge of the Ash Grove Municipal Division of the Circuit Court of Greene County, Missouri.” Benson said that this ordinance may look like an update to the outdated language left over from a time when Ash Grove possessed a municipal court, but it could do more than that.

“While some provisions may be characterized individually as procedural updates, collectively they alter the framework governing issuance standards and enforcement authority for administrative entry onto private property,” said Benson in a statement to the Commonwealth.

The ordinance formalizing the city’s partnership with ICE was tabled for further discussion, while the ordinance dealing with administrative warrants was passed 3-2 via mayoral tiebreaker with Benson and Alderman Kyle Feasel voting no.

In other business

The board took time to swear in the only new member of the board after adjourning the previous iteration of the governing body. Courtney Leader, who took home 55.6 percent of 36 total votes, took Benson’s seat after taking the oath of office. Leader has participated in the meetings for some time as a citizen, often making her opinions known during the public participation section of meetings.

The board was also set to hear from Tim Smith, the former deputy manager of the city of Springfield and Greene County Administrator, but he did not arrive for his scheduled time slot. According to Caleb Smith, Tim Smith planned to meet with the board to help them navigate the necessary changes that come with a growing city, assist them in planning for the future and accommodating such growth.

Following this, the board heard updates from its various departments.

- Chief John Davis informed the board of his recent purchase of a new storm siren for the city. This new model will be going in on the 300 block of East Prairie Lane. The storm siren will be about 80 feet higher than the previous and cover the entire city, or about 6,500 feet whereas the old storm siren covers about 4,500 feet. The new storm siren can be tested without making a sound according to Davis. It was approved for purchase in a previous meeting, but the final buying price came in at about $5,000 below the budgeted allotment. 

- Chris Boyd, director of public works, also delivered an update to the board, first detailing the ongoing work on the park. Boyd said that the equipment necessary to patch the cracks in the current basketball courts has been purchased and that the work will have started on Wednesday, April 22. He is currently in talks to buy the paint needed to restripe the court. Also slated for the park is a new court for Gaga ball, a family-friendly activity that is easy to play and can also be easily moved or removed for maintenance or groundskeeping. Boyd also stated that the park now added holes for the park’s disc golf circuit, now numbering 18. He also detailed plans to move the volleyball court, planning to turn it and fence it in, preventing unwanted feline attention in the sand pit.

Boyd and Davis also discussed the possibility of instituting a curfew on the park following recent vandalism in the bathrooms. Caleb Smith said that there would be further discussion on this issue.