City Beat: Council OK’s engineer hire for city manager’s office

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 the June 9 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’s amendment to divert some of the funds to the Planning and Development Department – a position unsuccessfully requested in the budget by Planning Director Steve Childers – would have helped in the development of neighborhood plans, assisted in Neighborhood Works Plus project coordination and provided ongoing support for land bank programming and policies, according to the original proposal.

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.”

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.

Arterial OK’d
Council unanimously approved a five-year extension to the mapping of an east-west arterial route just south of the city, despite objections registered by neighbors at a previous council and Planning & Zoning Commission meetings.

The mapping, first approved in 2001 and updated every five years, anticipates a five-mile roadway between U.S. Highway 65 and Farm Road 169 in an area marked by medical development and connecting to Lake Springfield.

Greene County Highway Administrator Adam Humphrey told council that the mapping protects connectivity as part of the county’s long-range transportation plan. He said the county has engaged in preliminary engineering design, environmental study and right-of-way purchase for the arterial. Similar work was done to preserve connectivity to make way for the Kansas Expressway extension, Humphrey said.

“That’s what we would hope to do certainly as it pertains to the east-west arterial, understanding that that’s really a planning partnership between Greene County and the city as we work from both of our jurisdictions towards that future connectivity of the corridor,” he said.

At previous meetings, property owners who addressed council had objected to having a road cross their land, suggesting better location options exist, and they also objected to having to speak at a Springfield City Council meeting as their properties are located in Ozark.

Other action items
• Council passed a resolution establishing a new nine-member Citizens’ Advisory Board to require residency within the city for members. The board must also elect its own chair, rather than having council appoint a chair. The measure also repealed a 2024 resolution establishing the board, which advises council on expenditures from a portion of the 3/4-cent Spring Forward SGF sales tax. The funds are dedicated to capital improvements, community and neighborhood improvements, and park projects. The changes to the board structure and leadership came after a legal review determined the previous structure to be out of compliance with city code.

• A beefed-up animal control portion of city code was approved in an effort to address the problem of loose dogs in neighborhoods. The revisions clarify the authority of animal control offers while increasing minimum fines for loose, vicious or dangerous dogs, for noncompliance or obstruction of officers and for cruelty to animals.

• Council held the first reading a bill to reinstate sign standards from the city’s previous land development code, correcting changes that were made in 2025. Childers said the city would have a larger conversation about sign policy in the future. A vote is anticipated June 22.

• The first reading was held on an ordinance approving a contract for the purchase of the Hotel of Terror at 334 N. Main Ave. from owners Sterling and Melissa Mathis and repealing an election on the issue of acquiring the property through eminent domain. A vote is anticipated June 22.

• A 27-acre tract at 2707 N. Farm Road 123 with an acre of right of way were annexed into the city to expand existing manufacturing use for applicant SRC Development Group Inc. SBJ previously reported on construction of a 137,000-square-foot building being added to connect to an existing 257,000-square-foot building at the site of CNH Reman, a tenant of SRC Holdings Corp.

• A sewer extension cost reimbursement agreement was approved with Sunshine Developer LLC for construction of a force main sewer to serve the future Turner’s Ranch Subdivision at the intersection of Sunshine Street and South Farm Road 199 – outside the city limits but within the urban service area boundary. A roughly 6-cent-per-square-foot recovery fee on nearly 26 million square feet of area served will reimburse the developer for some of the infrastructure costs on the $1.4 million development.

• Approximately $119,000 was allocated for new body-worn cameras for the Springfield Police Department, with $99,000 allocated for a police recruitment plan. The money is available because of vacant budgeted positions in the department.

• Council set the city’s tax levy for real and personal property – an annual move – at approximately 56 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

• Council also re-upped a 25-year-plus agreement for the Springfield Police Department to provide law enforcement services on the Missouri State University campus. SPD provides 10 officers, with MSU funding 80% of personnel costs.

• A Surface Transportation Block Grant agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission will reimburse base salaries of eight city employees at the city’s Transportation Management Center.