Mary Collette to vie for Springfield mayor role

Former eight-year member of Springfield City Council and current Commercial Club President Mary Collette has announced her intention to run for mayor of Springfield.

“I’ve been a public servant all my life,” Collette said in a phone interview this morning, adding, “I feel like there’s still work that can be done.”

Collette is most notably a champion of Commercial Street, where she has advocated for a thoughtful approach to development that considers quality of place and historic preservation. She said she also supports the city’s neighborhoods, as well as arts, culture and housing efforts.

“I could just go down the list of all the wonderful work that’s been done by so many,” she said. “I’d really like to build on that so that all of Springfield is benefitting from the developments and investments.”

Collette said she would bring to the table a deep knowledge of how government works and how all departments work together – or sometimes don’t.

“I think I have an opportunity to make our government more accessible and more transparent,” she said. “That would be my overarching theme: accessibility and transparency.”

Collette served on council 2001-09. A businessperson, Collette operates the event venue Historic Firehouse No. 2 on Commercial Street.

“Good business is all about having a good community,” she said. “It’s up to our businesses to make our community a better place, and in order for our residents to support their businesses, they need to feel good about them.”

Jeff Schrag, owner of The Daily Events legal publication and real estate holdings and founder of Mother’s Brewing Co., announced his intention to run for mayor on Sept. 18.

Schrag and Collette are vying for the seat currently held by Mayor Ken McClure, who is nearing the end of his eighth year and fourth and final term in office. Whoever is voted in will have a four-year term instead of a two-year, and that is a change in city code that was approved by voters in the April 2 election. The next mayor will be limited to serving two terms, meaning eight years is still the maximum allowed under code.

As of today, Collette and Schrag are the only people to pick up packets for the mayoral position. Oct. 1 was the first day packets were available to potential candidates.

Also picking up packets so far, according to City Clerk Anita Cotter, are two candidates for the General A seat, incumbent Heather Hardinger and Tim A. Havens; and one candidate each – all incumbents – for General B, Craig Hosmer; Zone 1, Monica Horton; and Zone 4, Matthew Simpson.