City Council hears proposals for charter revisions 

Springfield residents can anticipate four future ballot issues as officials work to revise and clean up the city’s charter, first adopted in 1953. 

In a presentation at a City Council workshop meeting yesterday, City Attorney Jordan Paul presented a redlined document with suggested changes to the charter, along with four sample ballot issues that would present a shorter-form description of changes and ask voters to approve them. 

The ballot questions would deal with the following areas, according to Paul’s presentation: 

• Question 1 – Delegation: City manager and department director authority to delegate charter-assigned duties 
• Question 2 – Personnel board: Streamlined merit rule adoption process
• Question 3 – Purchasing: Flexible purchasing frameworkestablished by ordinance 
• Question 4 – Gender-neutral language: Replace gendered references throughout the charter

On the delegation item, changes would give the city manager the authority to delegate certain charter-assigned duties to assistant city managers. The city manager would be the final authority on all appointments and removals from city service and may delegate appointment and removal authority to assistant city managers or department directors under terms the city manager prescribes, the revision states. 

The redlined document shows that the change would also allow the city manager to execute contracts related to the purchase of goods and services and to delegate that authority to subordinates. 

The personnel board change would revise a current process for adopting or changing merit system rules, with council having final approval. Paul’s presentation outlined a change from a current three-step process, with the city’s director of human resources recommending changes, the personnel board having a hearing and an approval vote and final council approval; a proposed two-step process would have the city manager making those recommendations with council having a hearing and approval, with no personnel board involvement.  

The revision would also authorize the human resources director to approve application forms in lieu of the personnel board, according to Paul’s sample ballot language. 

Paul characterized the changes as “not huge,” but he said they would likely speed up processes by a few weeks. 

The purchasing revision would apply the existing competitive bidding requirement to additional purchasing methods, according to Paul. It would be governed by council ordinance with the city manager as default signatory within council-prescribed limits. Paul said the current policy calls for all centralized purchasing, but decentralizing the process would streamline the process for departments. The core requirement of competitive procurement would remain in place, Paul said.  

The gender-neutral language change would replace gendered pronouns – typically a default to male pronouns – throughout the charter. 

Paul offered three potential dates for the four ballot items to appear before voters: the primary election on Aug. 4, the general election on Nov. 3 or the general municipal election on April 6, 2027. 

Paul said at the outset of his remarks that the revisions are in keeping with the city manager’s request for processes to achieve efficiency gains amid administrative and operational processes. The proposed changes reduce redundancy and increase efficiency, he said. 

“This is purely how we do the people’s business here at the city,” Paul said. 

He said the charter should establish authority, assign accountability and require transparency while leaving operational details to either ordinance or administrative policy. 

Paul added that the charter is the city’s constitution, and as an early charter within the state, it is long and specific. 

“If you look at more modern charters, for instance the city of Lee’s Summit, that charter is very, very short compared to our own,” he said. 

He said the goal is to assign the authority that council and residents want while not handcuffing processes within an overly prescriptive system. 

He said a charter review committee worked to come up with revisions to two sections of the charter that deal with people and with money. The committee will continue its work beyond the first four suggested revision areas, according to Paul. 

For the four measures to be placed on a ballot, council would have to choose a date and vote to move forward. A vote has not yet been placed on a council agenda.