Council OK’s $186K engineer position for city manager’s office

Last edited 10:27 a.m., June 16, 2026 [Editor's note: A name has been corrected.]

Among the allocations in the newly adopted $560.5 million budget for the city of Springfield is a new position within the city manager’s office: an engineer to serve as a liaison for developers and neighborhoods working with the city.

Although the fiscal year 2027 funding measure passed at last night’s council meeting, Councilmember Monica Horton remained unconvinced that the $185,900 position was warranted. She offered a motion to amend the budget to put $84,264 of those funds toward an associate city planner in the Planning and Development Department with the remaining $101,636 going toward renovations at the Busch Municipal Building that were previously deferred by council.

Horton was the sole supporter of her amendment, which failed 7-1, and the budget passed unanimously among those present. Councilmember Callie Carroll was absent from the meeting.

Horton urged council to wait at least a year before approving the full-time equivalency position in the city manager’s office to understand the scope of the role beyond speculation.

“We are postulating that north-side properties will be reactivated with the addition of this FTE; however, past and recent patterns show public resources are often diverted or spread thin in multiple directions,” she said. “It is true that developers take the path of least resistance in most cases in favor of developing on the edges of town and in locations other than in the older neighborhoods and corridors.”

Because the new engineer is envisioned as someone who can suggest improvements to potential development sites through public-private partnerships, Horton said council should want to know how general revenues could be reconfigured to pay for costly improvements the engineer might suggest.

Additionally, she said council should want to learn why the role would supersede the function of any other engineer in the city or existing development-serving staff already in the city manager’s office.

“This is why the council, I believe, should delay considering this position, at least until we have more clarity on the role of this position in the city manager’s office,” she said. “We’ve kind of been making it up as we’ve been talking about it in public meetings in terms of what we think the role would be without knowing what it actually will be.”

Horton suggested just over $84,000 be put toward a city planner role in the Planning and Development Department where it would help in the development of neighborhood plans, assist in Neighborhood Works Plus project coordination and provide ongoing support for land bank programming and policies, among other roles.

City Manager David Cameron said improving the development process is one of council’s identified priorities for the year.

He said the role he requested would be a person who could use an engineering perspective to make adjustments and recommendations in the field while cutting out the need to go through a middle person in another city office.

“Historically, getting answers from a city is very difficult – this city, specifically,” he said.

Cameron also suggested that next year’s budget cycle have an allocation for public-private partnerships.

“People are excited about the opportunity of partnering with the city, versus saying, ‘Here’s all that’s wrong with the site – now go make it happen,’ and they can’t pencil out,” he said.

Horton said the engineer’s liaison was not included in 10 recommendations offered to the city by the Growth and Development Advisory Committee of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

Cameron said GDAC was only one source of feedback he received from the business community. He cited another listening session he conducted with an investment group at the request of Councilmembers Derek Lee and Carroll.

“Our building starts with no – Springfield starts with no,” he said. “It’s important that we have someone that can help facilitate that discussion that we are open for business to try to work things out with the neighborhoods but also with the development communities.”

As previously reported in Springfield Business Journal, the 2027 budget, now approved by council, anticipates a 4.8% increase, or roughly $5.6 million, in general fund revenues. It includes 2.5 new positions.