Divided city council approves Cameron hire

By a 5-4 vote, David Cameron was approved by Springfield City Council as the Queen City’s 14th city manager on May 27.

The division reflected reservations expressed by the four dissenting council members – chiefly that Cameron, the city administrator of Republic, does not have experience leading in a larger city.

Voting in favor of Cameron’s hire were Mayor Jeff Schrag and council members Callie Carroll, Heather Hardinger, Derek Lee and Abe McGull. The “no” votes came from Bruce Adib-Yazdi, Craig Hosmer, Brandon Jenson and Monica Horton.

In remarks before the vote, Hosmer said council’s intention in offering a premium salary for the next city manager – $350,000, the highest in Missouri – was a way of drawing top, experienced candidates.

“We also promised ourselves that that $350,000 salary was going to attract someone from a big city that’s dealt with the big-city problems that the city of Springfield faces,” he said. “Instead, we’re going six miles away to a city that’s one-tenth the size of the city of Springfield.”

Though he is a Greene County resident, Cameron was chosen from among 75 candidates in a national search led by the previous council and an outside consulting firm. That search yielded three finalists: Cameron, Springfield Aviation Director Brian Weiler and former Roanoke, Virginia, City Manager Bob Cowell.

At the May 19 public hearing on the hire, members of the business community stepped up in support of Cameron and cited the growth Republic experienced during his tenure and his commitment to regionalism and to public-private partnerships.

Cameron has been credited with streamlining the development process in the city of Republic, but Hosmer pointed to hairier problems facing Springfield.

“To get the issue right on development is a relatively easy solution, but to get the issues right on poverty, on homelessness, on mental health, on drug and alcohol, on crime – those are hard,” he said. “Those are the issues that are going to impact Springfield more than whether or not we’re open for business.”

Cameron was not present at the May 27 meeting, as he was on a plane to Tennessee, the site of a personal retreat he schedules annually and where he forgoes phone and computer access. 

Cameron acknowledged the anticipated division in an interview with Springfield Business Journal a day ahead of the vote, and he spoke about it again in a prepared statement provided by the city after his hire was approved.

“I understand this decision was not unanimous, and I respect those who voted differently,” Cameron said in the statement. “Their commitment to public service is evident, and I look forward to earning their trust through our shared work ahead.”

Motion to postpone
Prior to the vote, Hosmer made a motion to postpone the decision until the regular June 23 meeting of council when all members would be present and the public could be more easily accommodated by after-work hours and a larger meeting space. He maintained his position that the vote was not an emergency, which is typically the case when irregular council voting occurs.

During the meeting, council asked Darla Moore, director of human resources, whether the two weeks between the June 23 meeting and Cameron’s July 7 start date would be sufficient for onboarding. Morrison said it would.

Hosmer’s motion was voted down 5-4, along the same dividing line as the larger vote.

Schrag said the Tuesday luncheon meeting was chosen for the vote to match an error in the news release announcing the selection of Cameron. 

Following the public hearing on May 19, the next regularly scheduled council meeting would have been June 9, but McGull, a critical “yes” vote, planned to be absent. The next meeting date, June 23, was only two weeks prior to Cameron’s start date.

“I do not think there is enough time between the official vote and the start date; therefore, I have deemed the vote to be time sensitive,” Schrag said.

Hosmer, the longest-serving member of the council, said in his 12 years, special council meetings have been used sparingly, and only for truly time-sensitive matters.

“This is probably the most consequential vote that this council and this community will have, and I think it’s important we do it in a public process,” he said.

He said the regular process is built for maximum public transparency and input.

“The manipulation of the normal process for this bill, for this city manager, is a mistake,” he said. “Most importantly, it’s a mistake because it creates unnecessary crisis – it creates an unnecessary cloud of suspicion over this contract and over this city manager.” 

Horton said she received over 70 pieces of feedback from city residents in the three days leading up to the vote. Many constituents told her they wanted the vote to be postponed.

Adib-Yazdi said it was his hope that the search could be restarted; however, he pledged his support to Cameron.

‘I feel really good’
In an interview the day after the vote, Schrag said he appreciates the public process Springfield uses to make important decisions.

“I feel really good,” he said. “This is a momentous thing, and I’m glad to be able to actually start working on onboarding the new manager.”

Asked why the long onboarding process was important to him, Schrag said he has been around a lot of transitions, and they take a while.

“Any number of small things can be done in advance, and that makes those first days much more manageable,” he said. “We want to have a good start for the city manager.”

Schrag said he stands by his earlier statements to Springfield Business Journal that unity is not the ultimate goal.

“Typically in these hires, you come together, and if people aren’t on the same page at the beginning, typically they will move to what the majority wants, since that’s generally seen as what’s best for the organization,” he said. “That was not the opinion of a number of people on council. Maybe we’re in different times.”

Schrag said every member of council, either privately or publicly, has given their word that they will do their best to help Cameron to succeed.

“That’s what’s important,” he said. “I have no reason not to believe them.”

Some members of the public have raised objections, in social media and elsewhere, to the process used to arrive at the decision, including the fast track to get there.

Asked if he cares about that sentiment, Schrag said yes, but added that this doesn’t mean other people will dictate his actions.

“I believe that I was put here in this office to do what I think is right – to be ethical, be transparent – and you never know where a good idea’s going to come from. That’s why you need to listen to everyone,” he said.

He added, “I believe my job is to make a decision and to not be paralyzed by different feedback from different people.”

Telegraphing why he makes the decisions he does is important, Schrag said. As for his choice of Cameron, he said the new city manager has shown himself to be a builder of people on his staff and that he empowers people at lower levels of the hierarchy to make decisions.

“He looks at processes differently and likes to disrupt them for the sake of efficiency,” he said. “I think we can use a dose of that in the city.”

Schrag acknowledged there is a balance to disrupting inefficiency and to maintaining processes that protect fairness and transparency.

“It’s a balance, and our job on council is to make sure that balance is met,” he said.

While this vote was divided, Schrag’s philosophy is to look ahead.

“I want to focus ahead and to focus on what we can do together,” he said. “That’s my goal. We’ll see how I do.”

He said conversations with and about candidates centered on topics like staffing, organization and collaboration with other communities, and he does not remember if the issues listed by Hosmer – such as homelessness and poverty – came up.

“The city manager’s job is not to be a subject-matter expert on everything,” Schrag said. “A city manager’s job is to get things done and to move projects forward. That’s the skill set David Cameron brings to the table.”

Consensus important
Former Mayor Ken McClure, who led the city throughout most of the screening process that resulted in the selection of three finalists, expressed his congratulations and said he wished Cameron every success.

But McClure said a lack of consensus is a concern.

“A 5-4 vote is very troubling,” he said. “In a city of our size, for a city manager not to have unanimous or near-unanimous support of City Council is going to be a challenge. His No. 1 priority is going to have to be addressing that disconnect with at least four council members.”

He added, “Not every issue has to be a unanimous vote, and split votes many times are quite appropriate – but when hiring a chief executive for the city, there has to be consensus.”

Unlike the vote over Cameron, the last two hires for Springfield city manager were nearly unanimous. Greg Burris was hired after an 8-1 vote by council in 2008, and Gage received an 8-0 vote, with one member absent, in 2018, according to past SBJ reporting and information from city spokesperson Cora Scott.

McClure said Cameron will have to work on connecting with the larger community.

“From what I read from council member comments, even those that voted against him expressed a willingness to do everything they could to make him succeed, and that has to happen,” he said.

McClure added that many factors went into the decision to offer a $350,000 salary for the new city manager, and hiring a candidate with large city experience was not the sole factor. Missouri State University had just hired Biff Williams as its president with an annual salary of $475,000, and City Utilities of Springfield had just hired Dwayne Fulk as its president and CEO at $400,000 per year.

“We were looking at what those salary levels were and what was appropriate in our community, as well as wanting to attract the best possible pool of candidates,” McClure said.

Public process 
In an interview with Springfield Business Journal on May 26, Cameron was asked whether the city’s rollout of his hire had made things difficult for him. 

“No doubt it’s been a challenge, but you know that going into it,” he said. “It’s a public job, and you have to be aware that transparency matters.” 

Cameron has heard some of the objections to his selection from members of the public and council members alike, but he said he admires people who stand up and make public statements of belief. 

“It’s nothing personal,” Cameron said. “There have been some legitimate concerns people have recognized.” 

One critique levied by Councilmember Jenson is about Cameron’s embrace of the disruptive leadership style – something Jenson said can either create transformative, efficient and effective change or it can demoralize staff and result in poor outcomes. 

Cameron said he understands the reaction. 

“When you hear the term on its face value, it makes it sound like tearing stuff apart,” he said. “My issue is disrupting norms that no longer work.” 

For Cameron, disruptive leadership comes down to three words: processes, relationships and trust. A process that keeps people on the phone until 7:30 p.m. or responding to emails until midnight is a broken one, he said. 

“We need to identify those areas,” he said. “When someone says to me, ‘That’s the way we’ve always done it,’ I say, ‘Put disruptive leadership in the filter.’” 

Cameron said he values setting expectations for people and holding them accountable, and he said the results he achieved in Republic are undeniable. 

Under his nine years of leadership, according to the city’s news release, the city of Republic has delivered $1.4 billion in capital investments and created 3,000 new jobs. 

Perhaps the most notable economic development win during Cameron’s tenure was the 1.3 million square foot Amazon distribution and fulfillment center at 3200 E. Sawyer Road in Garton Business Park, just south of James River Freeway.  

Back in 2021, Cameron told SBJ that the project was approved by the city of Republic in six days, an example of streamlining processes. 

Cameron said that the problems Springfield is seeing are happening nationwide, and they require the collective work of the leadership team and staff – through processes, relationships and trust. 

“I’m going to use the same tools I’ve used throughout my entire career for every problem I’ve ever addressed,” he said. “There’s not one person who’s going to address all of those needs, but I’m a leader of leaders, and I believe that.” 

Neighborhood focus
Cameron said a priority for him will be to get to know people from neighborhoods. 

“That’s not a mountain for me; I love to hear what’s going on,” he said, noting that the 24 registered neighborhoods in the city are like 24 communities – similar to his hometown of Miller. That, he added, is something he understands very well. 

Becky Volz, chair of the city’s Neighborhood Advisory Council and president of the Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association, met with Cameron on May 23. She said she took a binder of information about neighborhoods, and Cameron was eager to receive it.

“He said, ‘I want to learn – I want to learn,’” Volz said. “He said he wanted to hear from all of them to know how they feel and what they’re thinking.”

Volz said she feels optimistic about Cameron as city manager. She plans to invite him to a NAC meeting.

At first, Volz said, she was concerned about the possibility of a local hire, and particularly one from a small town. Then she flipped the coin, she said, noting that at least local people understand what the Ozarks and its people are all about – and that they’re different from the rest of the country.

“If our council and staff are willing to help him learn what our city needs, I think it could go in a positive way,” she said.