Eight months after resigning and rescinding that action within 24 hours, Councilman Justin Burnett has stepped down again.
In an email sent to other Springfield City Council members and city staff yesterday, Burnett said he had to resign following his move from Zone 2. He was elected to the seat in April 2015 with 39 percent of the vote, defeating Buck Van Hooser and Josh Mareschal.
“It has been an honor to serve the people of northeast Springfield,” Burnett wrote in his
resignation letter. “This past year has especially been a highlight, as I have sought to bring unity between different groups of people in our community.”
Calling his tenure on council a “once-in-a-lifetime journey,” Burnett said he’s changed his focus after rescinding his first resignation.
“Over the months that followed, I put my education and career on hold and spent every spare minute meeting with atheists, people of faith, members of the LGBT community and activists in the Free the Nipple movement,” he wrote. “These groups have been involved in contentious social issues over the past few years and every one of them is important to me.”
When he first resigned, Burnett cited health reasons after working a combined 80-100 hours of work per week between council, taking college classes and serving as department head for Mardel Christian & Educational Supply Inc.
Burnett’s term was scheduled to expire in 2019.
The timeline on finding his successor has not been established. City charter dictates when a member resigns, a new one must be picked by a majority council vote after accepting applications, according to a news release.
