Convention center discussion dominates council members’ Q&A

Springfield City Council members Abe McGull and Craig Hosmer devoted the lion’s share of a Jan. 29 town hall meeting to discussion of a planned downtown convention and events center. 

McGull and Hosmer represent Zone 2 and General Seat B, respectively. 

The two began the meeting, held at Alice Pittman Elementary, with introductions and a slide presentation about council priorities and issues. 

McGull said he is frequently asked why the city wants to venture into building a convention center. 

“Like many of you, I don’t want to pay any more taxes,” he said. “If we can soften the blow of being able to provide the services that you need by having visitors come to our city, spend money and experience the cashew chicken that we have here and spend money staying in our hotels, that will soften the blow for all of us.” 

Mark Hecquet, president and CEO of Visit Springfield, Missouri, was invited to the front of the room to speak. 

Hecquet emphasized the importance of tourism. 

“Tourism is massive for our whole economy,” he said. 

More than 22,000 people work in the city’s tourism industry, he said, and more than 66 hotels represent 7,000 available rooms. 

“Those are filled 60% of the time,” he said. “Every night, we probably have at least 5,000 visitors in our city – every night of the year, staying in our hotels, going to our restaurants and such.” 

Hecquet asked if anyone had been to the Expo Center recently and he noted two or three hands raised in response. 

“OK, so it is terrible – I’m just going to be very blunt,” he said. “Our Expo Center is failing. It was never built the way it should have been built; it doesn’t have basic amenities.” 

He added that architects from Populous Inc., contracted for design work on the planned convention center, toured the Expo Center and said it was the most outdated facility they had seen in a long time. 

“It is hurting us,” he said. “We are losing every day because our facility is not competitive with other cities around the country.” 

Hecquet described a project to expand the existing Expo Center footprint to drive new visitation while creating a community-minded space, paid for mostly through a proposed 3% lodging tax with an edict from council not to use local taxpayer money on it. 

Hosmer said he supports the project and added that the city’s hotel and motel tax will still be below those of St. Louis and Kansas City. 

“I think it does make sense for Springfield to have a convention center to serve those needs,” he said. 

A member of the audience suggested a better location for the convention center would be near the airport. 

Hecquet, whose office abuts the convention center site, responded at the invitation of the hosts by saying that traffic is not a problem. 

He added that the downtown location offers walkability to restaurants, theaters and the Springfield Cardinals ballpark. 

“Location is actually the fundamental, most important thing, and downtown is actually from a visitor experience – the people that will use this space – the best location that Springfield has to offer,” he said. 

Another audience member, who did not identify himself, was skeptical of the timing of the town hall meeting in the lead-up to an April election on a 3% lodging tax to fund the center. 

“I hate to say, I just kind of find it really interesting that you guys have never, ever had a town hall, but all of a sudden, we’re going to have a town hall, and oh, yeah, we’re going to talk about the convention center,” he said. 

The audience member added the issue was already voted on. 

“We all said no,” he said. “Apparently, we don’t know what we’re talking about.” 

McGull said it was good to hear both sides of the issue. 

“I’m a lawyer – that’s what I do,” he said. “You ask me to find somebody innocent, I’ll find them innocent; you ask me to find them guilty, I’ll do that, too.” 

He said the city has been kicking the idea down the road for a long time and is finally in position to take action, with $30 million allocated from the city’s half-cent Spring Forward SGF sales tax and $30 million allocated by the legislature, though withheld by Gov. Mike Kehoe. 

“We have to continue to grow – we have to,” McGull said. “If we don’t grow, we will die as a city.” 

The event came on the heels of a November 2025 town hall meeting by Zone 3 Councilmember Brandon Jenson.  

Three more members have town hall meetings scheduled, with Zone 1 Councilmember Monica Horton’s solo meeting upcoming on Feb. 12, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at The Library Station, and with Zone 4 Councilmember Bruce Adib-Yazdi and General Seat A Councilmember Heather Hardinger teaming up on Jan. 24, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Cowden Elementary. 

No town hall meetings have been announced for Derek Lee, General Seat C; Callie Carroll, General Seat D; or Jeff Schrag, mayor.