Harold Bengsch recognized for lifetime achievement

City Council passed a resolution at its Oct. 25 meeting recognizing Harold Bengsch, Springfield-Greene County Health Department director of public health and welfare, for his lifetime achievement award, presented by his alma mater, Southwest Missouri State University.

Bengsch received a bachelor's degree in agriculture from SMSU in 1958 before going on to receive a master's degree in public health from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1983, the same year he began his current position with the health department.

In other business, council heard a first reading of a special ordinance approving the disposition of excess city-owned property by sale at a negotiated price and authorizing an agreement to allow the purchaser to make use of unimproved city right of way for a driveway on conditions set forth in the agreement.

Council also heard a first reading of a general ordinance to allow surviving spouses of deceased members to vote in the election of retiree members for the Police and Fire Department's Pension Plan Board of Trustees. City Manager Tom Finnie called the ordinance a "housekeeping measure."

A resolution passed 8-1, with Councilman Bob Vanaman opposed, to grant a variance from the requirement of a fee in lieu of constructing a sidewalk along Patterson Avenue in the Queen City Warehouse Preliminary Plat property.

In a related item, a second-reading bill to approve the plat of Queen City Warehouse as an addition to the city was approved unanimously.

A resolution authorizing the closing of Lone Pine Avenue between Galloway Road and Barton Street Dec. 4 for the Springfield Marathon was tabled, as was a resolution adopting the official name of Civic Park.

Councilman Bob Chancellor spoke in favor of naming the park Jordan Creek Crossing, while Councilwoman Teri Hacker said the citizens she has spoken with about naming the project want "park" as part of the name, and suggested Jordan Creek Park.

Councilman Russell Rhodes spoke in favor of continuing to use Civic Park because the project has been referred to as such for two years. Rhodes said giving the area a different name would only cause confusion, especially for those not living in Springfield.

Council tabled a second-reading bill to rezone about 27 1/2 acres of land at the southeast corner of Grand and Scenic from a general manufacturing district and general retail district to a residential townhouse district.

A planned development by Hospice of Southwest Missouri Foundation Inc. on five acres of land on the east side of South National between Lark and Holiday was unanimously amended by council by deleting certain regulations pertaining to a tract of the property.

A second-reading bill to rezone about 5 3/4 acres of land north of the 3700 block of West Chestnut Expressway, west of Dexter, from a general manufacturing district to a manufactured home community was approved 8-1, with Vanaman opposed.

Three other second-reading rezoning bills were passed unanimously by council.

Less than two acres of land on the southwest corner of Sunshine and Mayfair was rezoned from a general retail district and single-family residential district to a planned development district.

About 12 1/2 acres of land on the east side of Haseltine Road, also known as Farm Road 115, north of West Mt. Vernon was rezoned from a Greene County R-1 district to a single-family residential district.

Approximately 1 1/4 acres of land on the north side of East Dale between Glenstone and Barnes was rezoned from a single-family residential district to a heavy manufacturing district.

An ordinance was approved 7-2, with Hacker and Rhodes opposed, to amend Section 2-29.2(d) a.5 of the Springfield City Code by repealing the section pertaining to the work period for Fire Department employees.

The new ordinance enacted in lieu thereof a new section pertaining to the same subject matter.

Before the vote, Hacker told other members of council she would vote against the ordinance and said the issue "is not a minor matter to the employees."