City Council committee favors residents only on tax board

Consensus reached yesterday by members of the Springfield City Council Plans and Policies Committee is that nonresidents of the city should be barred from serving on the Citizens’ Advisory Board, which advises City Council spending of a city sales tax.

A citizen complaint leveled against the CAB on Feb. 23 pointed out that two members of the eight-member board, Chair Erin Danastasio and member Christina Angle, did not reside in the city limits, a fact that made them ineligible under city charter to serve on a committee. A third member, Andy Peebles, was later disclosed to have moved outside of the city after his board appointment.

Mayor Jeff Schrag referred the issue of CAB membership to the Plans and Policies Committee at a council meeting on March 9. He suggested the three nonresidents remain on the board as nonvoting members and that four voting members be added to the committee to be complaint with city code, which has established a board membership number of nine.

The consensus voiced by the board does not equate to fixed policy; for that, the revised ordinance regarding the CAB composition must be drafted, the committee must vote to recommend it to council and council must approve it. However, the committee – a body that makes recommendations to council about how to spend the half-cent, 10-year portion of the Spring Forward SGF sales tax – stands to get four new members and lose its three nonresident ones if the ordinance is passed.

After a discussion, those agreeing on the changes were Chair Abe McGull and Councilmembers Heather Hardinger and Craig Hosmer. Absent was Councilmember Callie Carroll.

McGull directed City Attorney Jordan Paul to draft an ordinance making three changes to the CAB. They are that only people living within the city limits can serve on the committee, that there must be nine members and that the members, rather than council, will select the committee chair.

Agreement was not reached instantaneously, with McGull noting that a lot of people come into the city every day to work and to spend their money. He said with a regional mindset, the idea starts to make sense.

McGull said nonvoting members from outside of the city could provide a useful perspective as the city continues to grow.

Hardinger, too, offered some arguments for keeping nonresident members on the CAB, particularly those who have Springfield addresses but live outside the city limits.

“I talk to a lot of those people who want to get involved in the community and don’t really see an avenue to do that within the city of Springfield except for a couple of unique situations,” she said.

Hosmer was solidly opposed to allowing nonresidents to serve on the committee.

“It seems like for the taxes paid for by the citizens of the city of Springfield, citizens of the city of Springfield should be deciding where that money goes and not nonresidents,” he said.

Hosmer said Schrag wants to keep the three members on the committee by allowing them to continue their service as nonvoting members. He added that the three people who would be eliminated from the board are specifically named in the legislation being considered, along with the other members.

“I think we want to try to correct the problem that was identified, but we want to try to keep the same board on that we appointed – that was impermissibly appointed,” he said. “This is the kind of stuff that I think makes voters upset.”

Hardinger said the fact that people don’t live within the city limits is a technicality.

“I still don’t think it’s wrong to have people that have a Springfield address to serve on a board like this, but I understand that that’s not something that this body feels is fair,” she said.

The committee plans to examine a revised ordinance at its next meeting, set for May 19.