City appoints interim Building Development Services director

The city of Springfield named an interim Building Development Services director after Dwayne Shmel’s sudden exit from the department last month.

Brock Rowe, the BDS assistant director the past year, will lead the department on an interim basis, according to a news release.

“In the time I have spent at the city of Springfield, the staff has become my family. I value each staff member and I am very excited to lead this team,” Rowe said in the release. “I will continue to value their input and continue to support them as we navigate through day-to-day activities and into the future.”

Shmel directed the department for about a year before his Feb. 22 exit, according to past reporting. City officials have not said why he vacated the post. The municipality previously indicated it was working on a recruitment process for a permanent replacement.

Rowe has worked as assistant director of BDS since May 2021, after five years with the city of Branson as senior building inspector, according to his LinkedIn profile. The release indicates he has 18 years of experience working as a carpenter and foreman for construction projects in southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas.

The BDS department at the city implements and monitors city, state and federal codes, and it works with developers and property owners on essential information, according to the city's website.

BDS also oversees blight cases, a subject Shmel recently discussed with Springfield City Council.

Last month, Shmel addressed council on the BDS department's plans to strengthen policies addressing blighted and nuisance properties this year. Shmel said the city received 570 service requests regarding blighted buildings in 2020 and 536 in 2021. Of these, 35% turned out to fit the city’s definition of blight in 2020, but 71% were found to meet the blight definition in 2021, according to past reporting.