Schrag accepts the gavel to begin term as Springfield’s mayor 

RELATED

McClure preps for end of term

The gavel was passed from outgoing Mayor Ken McClure to newly elected Mayor Jeff Schrag at last night’s meeting of Springfield City Council. 

Schrag defeated Mary Collette in the April 8 election to take the mayor’s seat from McClure, who was term-limited after four two-year terms in office. Schrag begins a four-year term, following a change in city code to extend the mayoral term, and he will be eligible to run for reelection one time, as the eight-year cap remains in place. 

Council also said goodbye to Zone 4 Councilmember Matt Simpson and welcomed Bruce Adib-Yazdi, who was elected to replace him. 

Schrag and Adib-Yazdi were sworn in, along with General Seat A Councilmember Heather Hardinger, who defeated challenger Eric Pauly in the April 8 election, and General Seat B Councilmember Craig Hosmer and Zone 1 Councilmember Monica Horton, who were reelected without opposition. 

McClure’s departure follows a 51-year career in public service that includes state-level positions as chief of staff and transition director for Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and service on the Missouri Public Service Commission. Locally, he also held executive roles with City Utilities of Springfield and Missouri State University. 

In remarks before his departure, McClure called public service a privilege and a calling. 

“You don’t do this for the money; you do this because it’s the right thing to do and you want to serve the community,” he said. “So, in just a few moments, I will reclaim the best title I’ve ever had, and that is private citizen.” 

He thanked the voters for electing him five times in the last 10 years, once as council member and four times as mayor. 

“There can be no greater honor than to have the trust of the citizens and the voters in this community,” he said. 

McClure said there have been dark times, including the COVID-19 pandemic, which council members navigated together. 

To his colleagues, he said, “The best thing is that we don’t always agree, but we are able to talk through even some heated discussions – but we also had that mutual respect, admiration and that goes with the commitment to serve our community,” he said. 

Following his swearing-in, Schrag presented McClure with a plaque. 

“Thank you so much for your incredibly honorable service,” Schrag said, citing McClure’s service as mayor, mayor pro tem and council member. 

The two posed for photographs as McClure handed off the gavel, and McClure’s term ended with an embrace of his successor. 

Simpson leaves council after leading the committee to distribute American Rescue Plan Act funds. 

He told his fellow council members that he was excited for his next steps. 

“After having gotten to spend so much of my life over the past several years working with you on the future of our community and on the next generation, I am very excited to get to spend some time in the present with my next generation – my two sons and family,” he said. 

Cemetery issue unresolved 
A family’s access to a cemetery and a fence to be erected around it remains up in the air after council gave developers two weeks to resolve the issues. 

At the April 7 council meeting, Councilmember Derek Lee urged developers to pursue dialogue with representatives of the Doran family, which homesteaded in Springfield in 1831 and which has a cemetery included in plans for the 25-acre gated subdivision Hidden Gem Estates, proposed by Tag Property Development LLC at 6116 S. Farm Road 175. 

The Doran family spoke up at the meeting with concerns about their future ability to access the family cemetery and about a chain-link fence torn down by developers. 

At that meeting, Lee suggested postponing a vote on rezoning for the subdivision, telling the developer’s representative, Lyndel Link of Global Link Land Surveying, “If you tore their fence down, you should probably put their fence back up. … From my viewpoint, for my vote, I think you should take care of things.” 

Council opted not to vote on postponement, since doing so would delay the project, but instead urged the parties to work things out in the two weeks between meetings. 

Family representative Lee Doran said the family left the last council meeting feeling good, but then they didn’t hear anything from the developerand response to an email from city staff had received no further replies. 

Council voted 9-0 to refer the matter to the Planning & Zoning Commission for further review, a move Councilmember Brandon Jenson said he strongly supported. 

Jenson criticized developers that garner ill will between residents and those developers that do a lot of good work in the city. 

“I would strongly recommend that when this comes before us again that … the owner is actually here to help answer questions and work through these issues,” he said. 

Organization demands action 
Members of Springfield Tenants Unite, a housing rights advocacy organization for renters in the Queen City, implored council to move on its healthy homes initiative, currently stalled in the Community Involvement Committee that hasn’t met in three months. 

Alice Barber, a STUN organizer, told council during the public comment portion of the meeting that she was very concerned about the repeated cancellations of Community Involvement Committee meetings. 

The committee is chaired by Heather Hardinger with members Hosmer, Callie Carroll and Lee. Its areas of focus are environmental issues, legislative priorities and neighborhood issues, according to the city’s website. 

Barber said the committee has been developing a proposal for a healthy homes guarantee, which would ensure rental licensing and inspections, that would start with a pilot program. 

“The new fiscal year starts in July, but July is just four council meetings away,” she said. “The people of Springfield can’t wait forever for a healthy homes guarantee.” 

She said 60% of Springfieldians are tenants, and three-quarters of people who were surveyed for the city’s 2023 housing study said they want to see Springfield regulate rental housing. 

Barber said the program’s inspections would keep homes safe and healthy instead of letting them fall into decay and eventually demolition that can cost the city $300,000 per year or more. 

One routine item of business at the close of the previous council’s term was the passage of a resolution to forward pending committee items to the next council. 

City Attorney Jordan Paul said there are now three pending items before the Community Involvement Committee, one before the Finance Administration Committee and four before the Plans and Policies Committee. 

One of those Plans and Policies Committee items is a proposed ordinance by Hosmer and McClure to require proof of payment of personal property taxes as a prerequisite for obtaining an occupational license. 

At the March 24 meeting, Hosmer objected to the committee referral for the measure, noting, “I don’t think it should be sent to committee, because the last time my bills get sent to committee, they never seem to come back.”