At a special closed session last Thursday, April 3, the Platte City Board of Aldermen voted to fire the longtime city clerk.
Minutes of the executive session obtained by The Landmark show the employment of Amy Edwards was terminated immediately on a unanimous 6-0 vote by aldermen.
No specific reason has been given by city officials, nor is one required.
Edwards had been employed with the city for more than 28 years, starting in 1996 as a customer service clerk on the front line at City Hall. Edwards, then known as Amy Hubbard, worked her way up through other positions, including utility billing clerk and deputy city clerk. In January of 2008 she was named city clerk.
In addition to city clerk, Edwards took on other roles, such as human resources coordinator. In 2023 when Marji Gehr was city administrator, Edwards took on an added title of administrative services manager.
The firing comes after Edwards had not been seen at City Hall for more than a week. The Landmark can confirm she was working on Monday, March 24, but Edwards was not present at a board of aldermen meeting on Tuesday, March 25.
The aldermen held an executive session during their regular meeting the night of March 25 to discuss personnel. No action was announced after that executive session, and minutes from that closed session say, in part: “Discussion held. No votes taken during the meeting.”
Melissa Bazert, deputy city clerk, performed clerk duties at the March 25 meeting and has done so at subsequent meetings since that date. Bazert’s email signature as of this week now lists her title as “administrative services, acting city clerk/HR coordinator.”
All aldermen–Vickie Atkins, Debbie Kirkpatrick, Scott Pogue, Dan Laxson, Jesse Bennett and John Higgins–were present for the April 3 closed session in which Edwards’ employment was immediately terminated.
Also invited into the closed session were city attorney Jennifer Snider, acting city administrator DJ Gehrt, and assistant city administrator Joe Wellington.
The motion to “immediately terminate the employment” of Edwards was made by Higgins, with a second by Kirkpatrick, and a roll call vote resulted in the unanimous decision.
City officials are not saying anything specific behind the reasoning for the personnel move.
DJ Gehrt, the interim city administrator, said only: “The board doesn’t take action like that lightly–that’s not a decision they made lightly.”
Platte City Mayor Steve Hoeger didn’t directly comment on the reason for the termination. In a text exchange with The Landmark on Tuesday, Hoeger said:
“Amy served Platte City in a number of progressively increasing job capacities for 28 years, and we recognize and appreciate her many years of service. We thank Amy for her long-standing commitment to the city and wish her the very best in her future endeavors.”
Hoeger added: “As we move forward, the city administrator has appointed our deputy city clerk as the interim replacement and has begun the process of identifying a permanent successor to ensure continuity in our operations and service to the community.”
Gehrt on Tuesday said Bazert will fill the acting city clerk role “until we collectively make a decision on a permanent successor. The most significant decision will be whether or not to make the acting appointment a permanent appointment or to conduct an outside recruitment. That decision will likely be made within the next 30-60 days.”
Gehrt added that the city clerk is a statutory appointed position in a fourth class city, however, “when the city has adopted the city administrator form, the city administrator normally hires the city clerk with the concurrence of the mayor and board. The city’s longtime practice is that the city clerk is a member of the senior staff reporting to the city administrator for day-to-day operations but is separately responsible to the mayor and board as the official custodian of city records.”
