Council member questions CID board makeup

A tax incentive was approved by Springfield City Council last night, though one member objected to the makeup of its community improvement district board of directors.

Council approved a community improvement district for Sunshine Towne Center, the future home of the city’s second Target store (excluded from the CID) and other businesses, including a second Olive Garden location for the city.

The vote was not unanimous. Councilmember Brandon Jenson objected to the composition of the CID board, resulting in an 8-1 tally.

Jenson praised the project at a corner that has long needed to be developed, and he said the proposed board did meet technical requirements. However, he singled out one member, whom he didn’t name, as having had to enter two separate consent orders with the Missouri Ethics Commission for what Jenson said were for failure to report revenues and expenditures and failure to file timely reports.

The MEC fined Truth in Politics for violations of campaign finance laws, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

Jenson cited MEC case numbers – 22-0039 and 24-0016 – revealing that his concern was with the inclusion of Curtis Jared, president of Truth in Politics, a political nonprofit that weighs in on local races.

“While these may not have been intentional violations of state law, I do have concern about placing additional public dollars under the stewardship of such an individual, regardless of their role in the project,” Jenson said.

Jared is one of the developers of Sunshine Towne Center through Springfield West Partners LLC. His company, Jared Enterprises Inc., develops commercial properties throughout the region, including a number of properties in Springfield.

The other people named to the Sunshine Towne Center CID board in the council bill are David Havens, Andrew John Chavez and Kerry Rovig.

The CID agreement imposes a 1% sales and use tax on retail sales in the 11-acre district. A previous CID agreement would reimburse the developer up to $2.2 million for the cost of public improvements in the project, and the newly passed agreement adds $780,000 for additional improvements that were beyond the project’s initial scope.