City manager contract renewed as former critic offers plaudits

Last edited 12:39 p.m., July 15, 2026 [Editor's note: This story has been updated with information about city plans for public input sessions.]

Springfield City Council unanimously voted to renew the contract of City Manager David Cameron at its meeting July 13.

The contract grants the state’s highest-paid city manager a 3% cost-of-living increase for fiscal 2027 for a base salary of $360,500.

The 8-0 vote, with Councilmember Derek Lee absenwt, was preceded by comments from Councilmember Brandon Jenson, who was vocal in his opposition to Cameron’s selection in the May 2025 council meeting prior to his hire.

Jenson said at the time that when he agreed to a then-$350,000 salary for the next city manager, he had expected to attract a more experienced candidate from out of the Springfield market. The salary being offered was 31% above that of Cameron’s predecessor, Jason Gage.

At the July 13 meeting, Jenson said he was wrong about Cameron.

“About a year ago whenever we were considering first approving your contract, I was probably one of the staunchest critics, and I launched a very long diatribe about the concerns that I had,” Jenson said. “Since that time, I’ve been really, incredibly impressed by the work that you’re doing.”

He said there is still work to do internally and externally, but his opinion has changed.

“I feel it’s important for both the folks that I represented in that past vote and for folks today to say that I was unequivocally wrong in my vote whenever I voted against your contract,” he said.

At the start of the meeting, Cameron offered his regular city manager’s report, describing goals for the city’s 120-day delay in data center consideration, with two public input sessions tentatively planned for August, and giving a progress report on the rental inspection pilot program underway in the West Central neighborhood, along with other updates.

Jenson responded to the report by thanking Cameron for his biweekly reports, including multipage written reports that are available to the public.

“It’s all really good information,” he said. “I refer to it to answer questions that residents share with me. There’s information in there that can answer a lot of council’s questions that we oftentimes ask, and so I would just encourage every single person to read those documents.”