City manager requests apology from developer’s rep

Kansas City-based BC Development is one of the firms in the running to develop the 1.7-acre plot next to the Springfield Exposition Center. City officials have said the firm was unresponsive to inquiries about its proposal for the land.

At the meeting, Spence alleged that BC Development partner Rick Baier had spoken to unnamed city employees who indicated that the development deal would go to John Q. Hammons, and that was the reason for the firm’s unresponsiveness. However, in an Oct. 10 letter, Baier said he did hear that the city had chosen Hammons – but from sources outside of city government.

Cumley is asking for Spence’s retraction and apology because her allegations “impugn the integrity of all city employees,” he said in a city news release. “Our employees and elected officials fully understand that they are held to a higher level of accountability than private citizens, but they do not deserve to have their integrity and reputations subjected to these baseless allegations of professional impropriety,” he said.

Calls to BC Development’s office were unanswered.

The city has not yet chosen a firm to develop the land.