Hannibal councilman’s impeachment hearing delayed to April

HANNIBAL, Mo. — The impeachment hearing for a Hannibal City Council member is now expected to take place next month.

Hannibal Mayor James Hark has alleged 3rd Ward council member Stephan Franke violated his oath of office while acting in his capacity as a City Council member by physically assaulting two female city employees. The Articles of Impeachment say Franke grabbed the arms of both women “in a non-consensual manner”, causing pain to one of the women.

The articles also state that in his actions as councilman, “Franke has made statements to female employees of the city which constitute sexual harassment, and which created a hostile workplace” for those female workers.

At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Special Prosecutor Nicole Volkert suggested the dates of April 18 or 21 for the hearing. She will now work with Franke and his legal representative to see if either of those dates work. Once the date is set, Hark said the hearing will likely begin late that afternoon and will run for several hours.

The city hired Volkert after City Attorney James Lemon said it would have been a conflict of interest for him to be involved in the process.

Since he wrote the Articles of Impeachment, Mayor Hark will not be able to vote. That leaves five council members eligible to vote and conviction requires a 2/3 majority. Three of five would only be 60 percent, so four of the five must vote to impeach.

Hark said in cases like this it’s not uncommon for there to be continuances for cause and said they have to “look at gathering a number of people and giving the respondent and his legal council time to make arrangements.”

In other action, Hannibal City Council members addressed the proposed route for the YMCA Shamrock Shuffle 5k Run/Walk. The previous route would have closed a stretch of Palmyra Road/Harrison HIll from Central Avenue to the entrance of Riverview Park. During the February 15th meeting of the city council, organizers were asked to meet with city officials to plan a route that would make the street closure smaller.

A new plan was reached and approved on Tuesday night. The new route will close a short section of the road near Country Club Drive which will allow vehicle traffic to make a short detour. During the race on Saturday, March 19th.

Also during the meeting council discussed solutions to a problem they hope to avoid. With the opening of Huck’s fuel and convenience store at the junction of U S Highway 61 and Pleasant Street, large trucks have been turning on to St. Mary’s Avenue to get to Pleasant and back on to 61. Mayor Hark is looking for solutions that will prevent trucks from using that route as it is causing traffic problems and the street is not built to withstand the weight of large trucks.

Hark said that to his recollection when the project was approved truck traffic was not supposed to be directed onto St. Mary’s. He said it is not a big problem yet, but he wants to prevent it from becoming one. He said meetings have been scheduled to discuss the issue. Those meetings will include representatives from the Missouri Department of Transportation and Huck’s.

The mayor also gave the oath of office to four new police officers.