City Beat: McClure passes gavel to Schrag

The gavel was passed from outgoing Mayor Ken McClure to newly elected Mayor Jeff Schrag at the April 21 meeting of Springfield City Council.

Schrag defeated Mary Collette in the April 8 election to take the mayor’s seat from McClure, who was term-limited after four two-year terms in office. Schrag begins a four-year term, following a change in city code to extend the mayoral term, and he will be eligible to run for reelection one time, as the eight-year cap remains in place.

Council also said goodbye to Zone 4 Councilmember Matt Simpson and welcomed Bruce Adib-Yazdi, who was elected to replace him.

Schrag and Adib-Yazdi were sworn in, along with General Seat A Councilmember Heather Hardinger, who defeated challenger Eric Pauly in the April 8 election, and General Seat B Councilmember Craig Hosmer and Zone 1 Councilmember Monica Horton, who were reelected without opposition.

McClure’s departure follows a 51-year career in public service that includes state-level positions as chief of staff and transition director for Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and service on the Missouri Public Service Commission. Locally, he also held executive roles with City Utilities of Springfield and Missouri State University.

In remarks before his departure, McClure said public service is a privilege and a calling.

“You don’t do this for the money; you do this because it’s the right thing to do and you want to serve the community,” he said. “So, in just a few moments, I will reclaim the best title I’ve ever had, and that is private citizen.”

He thanked the voters for electing him five times in the last 10 years, once as council member and four times as mayor.

“There can be no greater honor than to have the trust of the citizens and the voters in this community,” he said.

McClure said there have been dark times, including the COVID-19 pandemic, which council members navigated together.

To his colleagues, he said, “The best thing is that we don’t always agree, but we are able to talk through even some heated discussions – but we also had that mutual respect, admiration and that goes with the commitment to serve our community,” he said.

Following his swearing-in, Schrag presented McClure with a plaque.

“Thank you so much for your incredibly honorable service,” Schrag said, citing McClure’s service as mayor, mayor pro tem and council member.

The two posed for photographs as McClure handed off the gavel, and McClure’s term ended with an embrace of his successor.

Simpson leaves council after leading the committee to distribute American Rescue Plan Act funds.

He told his fellow council members that he was excited for his next steps.

“After having gotten to spend so much of my life over the past several years working with you on the future of our community and on the next generation, I am very excited to get to spend some time in the present with my next generation – my two sons and family,” he said.

Business partners
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Matt Morrow, president and CEO of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber and council share a century-long partnership.

“The city has many stakeholders, but true partners stand with you, and they also stand accountable – that’s how you know somebody’s really in it with you,” he said.

“The voice of business is not just another voice. It creates opportunity, funds public services and sustains community progress in a way that no one else can.”

If somebody comes to council or staff wanting something but they aren’t offering support or an interest in being held mutually accountable, then they aren’t partners, he said.

“There may be a stakeholder or constituent, interest group, and all of their voices are very important, but they aren’t all partners,” he said. “Not many stakeholders met that standard, but you can count on the chamber of commerce to meet that standard.”

Morrow said the business community is optimistic about the city’s future.

“This is a moment for our community that’s rare – the combination of new resources, new opportunity, new leadership: All of it comes together at a key moment,” he said. “Springfield has limitless potential for progress, for prosperity, for healthy, robust and sustainable growth.”

Megan Herzog, executive director of the Springfield Contractors Association and chair of the chamber’s Voice of Business Committee, also addressed the new council.

“We look forward to working alongside you as partners. This includes ensuring a healthy level of expected accountability – going both ways – and ensuring the business community is viewed as a partner and a support system for your work,” she said.

“We want to help provide perspectives throughout your decision-making process, so please utilize us in whatever way is needed.”

Cemetery issue unresolved
A family’s access to a cemetery and the replacement of a torn-down fence that once surrounded it remain up in the air after council gave developers two weeks to resolve the issues.

The issue was raised during a second reading of a rezoning measure for a recently annexed 25-acre tract at 6116 S. Farm Road 175, proposed for single-family residential designation from a Greene County designation of suburban residence. The planned gated subdivision would encompass the family’s ancestral burial site.

At the April 7 council meeting, Councilmember Derek Lee urged developers to pursue dialogue with representatives of the Doran family, which homesteaded in Springfield in 1831 and which has the cemetery included in plans for the 25-acre gated subdivision Hidden Gem Estates, proposed by Tag Property Development LLC at 6116 S. Farm Road 175.

The Doran family spoke up at that meeting with concerns about their future ability to access the family cemetery once it is within the planned gated community. They also objected to a chain-link fence they had erected being torn down by developers.

At the April 7 meeting, Lee suggested postponing a vote on rezoning for the subdivision, telling the developer’s representative, Lyndel Link of Global Link Land Surveying, “If you tore their fence down, you should probably put their fence back up. … From my viewpoint, for my vote, I think you should take care of things.”

Council opted at the time not to vote on postponement, since doing so would delay the project, but instead urged the parties to work things out in the two weeks between meetings.

Family representative Lee Doran told council on April 21 that the family left the previous council meeting feeling good, but then they didn’t hear anything from the developer, and their response to an email from city staff had received no further replies.

Council passed the rezoning measure but voted 9-0 to refer the dedication of public streets and easements for the subdivision to the Planning & Zoning Commission for further review, a move Councilmember Brandon Jenson said he strongly supported.

Jenson criticized developers that garner ill will among residents.

“I would strongly recommend that when this comes before us again that … the owner is actually here to help answer questions and work through these issues,” he said.

Organization demands action
Members of Springfield Tenants Unite, a housing rights advocacy organization for renters in the Queen City, implored council to move on its healthy homes initiative, currently stalled in the Community Involvement Committee that hasn’t met in three months.

Alice Barber, a STUN organizer, told council during the public comment portion of the meeting that she was very concerned about the repeated cancellations of Community Involvement Committee meetings.

The committee is chaired by Heather Hardinger with members Hosmer, Callie Carroll and Lee. Hardinger, who was present, did not comment on the cancellations during the meeting. The committee’s areas of focus are environmental issues, legislative priorities and neighborhood issues, according to the city’s website.

A look at the city’s online meeting calendar since the beginning of 2025 shows the last meeting of the Community Involvement Committee was held Jan. 29, with canceled meetings on Feb. 19, March 19 and April 16.

Barber said the committee has been developing a proposal for a healthy homes guarantee, which would ensure rental licensing and inspections, that would start with a pilot program.

“The new fiscal year starts in July, but July is just four council meetings away,” she said. “The people of Springfield can’t wait forever for a healthy homes guarantee.”

She said 60% of Springfieldians are tenants, and three-quarters of people who were surveyed for the city’s 2023 housing study said they want to see Springfield regulate rental housing.

Barber said the program’s inspections would keep homes safe and healthy instead of letting them fall into decay and eventually demolition that can cost the city $300,000 per year or more.

One routine item of business at the close of the previous council’s term was the passage of a resolution to forward pending committee items to the next council.

City Attorney Jordan Paul said there are now three pending items before the Community Involvement Committee, one before the Finance Administration Committee and four before the Plans and Policies Committee.

Other action items
• Council passed an ordinance to issue $35 million in special obligation bonds to expand and improve the Noble Hill Sanitary Landfill and accepted a $23.8 million bid from Emery Sapp & Sons Inc. to construct three new cells to accept waste there. The company submitted the lowest of four bids, all of which came in under the city engineer’s estimate of $30.5 million.

• Council accepted a $219,600 grant on behalf of the Springfield-Branson National Airport from the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. The money will fund air service marketing and promotion in the airport’s catchment area, described by Aviation Director Brian Weiler as being within a two-hour driving distance from the airport and encompassing 1.6 million people. Weiler said the airport is experiencing an 8% increase in travelers compared to last year at this time.

• A grant of $30,000 was accepted from the Missouri Department of Economic Development, Division of Tourism, to replace some of the city’s wayfinding signs.

• The city’s purchasing policy was approved, replacing a manual last overhauled in 1996.

• A half-acre of property in the 1300 block of East Division Street was rezoned to residential townhouse with a conditional overlay from general retail at the request of Rosales Holdings LLC, which plans to build duplexes there.

• The $44,000 sale of real property at 2307 E. Division St. to The Overland Group LLC was pulled from the consent agenda for individual consideration. It is scheduled to be voted upon at the next meeting of council on May 5. The property was cleaned and its structure demolished after it was acquired through the city’s dangerous building program, and a Dollar General Store is proposed.