City budget request would add engineer to city manager’s office

Monica Horton: Engineering and development expertise already exists at city.

David Cameron: City needs a person with expertise to offer development solutions.

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Within a $560 million budget that is set for a vote on June 1, Springfield City Council is being asked to set aside $184,000 for a new position in the city manager’s office. 

The city manager’s engineering liaison is envisioned as a role that can perform site visits and offer solutions on myriad development issues, thus advancing the council priority of improving development processes, according to City Manager David Cameron. 

At council’s May 18 regular meeting, Councilwoman Monica Horton asked for justification of the position, which was presented in the budget but was not introduced in council committees. She doubled down on her questions at a May 26 special meeting. 

Cameron said the need became clear after a spring listening session with the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce Growth and Development Advisory Council and a subsequent meeting in March with other development community members. 

“It was very well vocalized again the challenges that are facing the development community and the delays that are taking place that are causing developers to leave the operation,” Cameron said. 

He said he has council’s directive to improve development processes as one of its priorities for the year. 

“Do we receive more concerns repeatedly regarding that? Absolutely – which I believe would be the reason you all listed it as a council priority,” he said. 

Horton noted there are engineers in other departments, specifically Public Works and Environmental Services, and . Sshe questioned whether a full-time equivalent position is warranted in the city manager’s office. 

“It’s a valid question,” Cameron replied. “You need someone that can speak from behalf of the development community but also someone who can understand the engineering of it.” 

 Early solutions 
An engineer on the city manager’s staff can work with neighborhoods and developers to come up with solutions in early stages of a project, Cameron said. 

“I’d love to have four or five engineers that are deployed, writing public-private partnerships all the time,” he said. “I think it’s a fundamental thing that we need to be operating on as a city.” 

Cameron said the Kearney Street Corridor Redevelopment Plan – restarted this year after a five-year plan that yielded only seven projects – would benefit from the engineer position, which could leverage infrastructure and off-site improvements to get projects going. 

He added that he has a history of fulfilling that role as the former city administrator of the city of Republic. 

At the May 25 meeting, Cameron said his office lacks a person who can have discussions with developers and neighborhood residents to find consensus. That is something desperately needed in the city, he said.  

He added that his own job description said a priority for his role was to work with the development processes and the development community. 

The city manager’s office employs a development project facilitator, Samantha Payne, and the department’s website describes the role as identifying and resolving challenges related to development. Horton said the expertise being sought in the new role already exists, but Cameron countered that such expertise does not currently exist in his office. 

“What’s missing is the ability to figure out things in the field,” he said. “I’m out of my office literally looking for those things myself.” 

He indicated that the current structure does not satisfy the need he is trying to address. 

“I didn’t create those positions, but I don’t know why they were created or why they were established,” he said. 

During the meeting, he said he declined to comment further on personnel matters. 

Horton said that the position being sought was not previously on council’s radar. 

“I believe this particular role can be delayed for an extra year so that we can incorporate some efforts that are already in place or that the train has already left the station on,” she said. 

She said that in a year’s time, council will have a better idea of the justification for the position. 

Efficiencies envisioned 
Councilmember Heather Hardinger said there are likely several positions within the city’s organization that have overlap, and she said the liaison position would be different. 

“Through my conversations with the community, this was something that came up not just as a benefit to the development community but so that neighbors and citizens can understand the process that happens when we have new developments that are coming into the community,” Hardinger said. 

Hardinger said the engineering liaison could decrease the need to employ outside consultants. 

“I just see that there’s a pretty significant need for additional support in this area,” she said. 

Councilmember Callie Carroll asked if the position would help with encouraging redevelopment and helping with processes. 

Cameron said it would. 

“For myself, coming from a background in public works, I can look on a site, tell you there’s off-site detention problems on it – I just can’t go to 100 sites in the city,” he said. 

Someone who lacks that kind of background is limited to a discussion of policies. 

“Having a liaison that talks about how to have relationships together is one thing, but it’s a middle person who can’t answer the question, and there’s where the frustration is,” he said. 

Cameron said someone needs to help find solutions through field decisions about what is doable for city crews – not just a mediator to bring together the parties involved. 

Horton asked how that could be done on the spot with funds from the capital improvement program and city departments. 

Cameron said there has to be a paradigm shift about funding. 

“You should be asking how are we going to put capital funds to do these off-site improvements,” he said. “Do you even want to do off-site improvements to help the development advance? That’s a priority that would come from the council.” 

Horton asked for clarification about why engineers in the Public Works department can’t do the work the city manager’s engineer liaison would do, but Cameron said they are assigned to other projects. 

“This is a paradigm shift to the way the city works and functions is to go out and work on off-site improvements,” he said. “That’s a mindset that has to shift if you want to reactivate properties in these areas.” 

Lee’s experience
Councilmember Derek Lee said he sees the role as important, as he has experienced in his work as a professional engineer. 

“When you submit a set of plans … there’s just a list of nos – you’ve got to do this and you have to do this,” he said. “If somebody in the city manager’s office can say, ‘When I read this, I interpret it this way.’”  

A low-level reviewer may see things differently or may fail to see possible solutions, Lee said. 

He added that in a redevelopment situation, if someone is not in the highest office, a low-level person is limited to citing written regulations. 

“So it’s just enforcing the code?” Horton asked. 

“It’s interpreting the code,” Lee said. 

He added that he suggested a similar position many times previously, long before he was elected to City Council in April 2023. 

“This is something that I hear in the development community over and over again,” he said.