Seifried leaves council for Branson CVB

Last edited 9:38 a.m., Feb. 18, 2015

After three years serving as Zone I councilman, Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Seifried tendered his resignation, effective Feb. 13, at the end of the Feb. 9 Springfield City Council meeting.

Seifried leaves council – and his position as manager of regional development with the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce – to serve as CEO of the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The councilman succeeds 12-year executive Ross Summers, who retired abruptly in October – about a week after announcing his resignation. Branson officials hired national recruiting firm SearchWide, and the organization received over 200 resumes and conducted around 45 interviews.

“Turned out, after a national search, the best person for Branson happened to be just 40 minutes up the road in Springfield,” said Steve Critchfield, search committee member and previous Branson chamber board chairman, in a news release.

Seifried is scheduled to take the helm in Branson on March 2, and his last day working at the Springfield chamber is Feb. 27. He joined the chamber in July 2007 and currently manages its regional economic development program for a 10-county region that includes Branson.

“My focus all along has been clear. It’s about job creation and economic development,” Seifried said at the Feb. 9 council meeting.

He pointed to the creation of the Moon City Creative District, growth on Commercial Street and the development of the Heer’s building as some of the projects he’s supported.

“Having a strong, fully developed center city makes not only Springfield strong, but our region strong,” Seifried said.

Mayor Bob Stephens expressed best wishes from the entire council before Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky shared a few words about Seifried’s service. Rushefsky and Seifried often have stood on opposite sides of issues, such as the rezoning of 90 acres just east of the Quail Creek neighborhood or the redevelopment plan for the East Cherry Flats apartment project.  

“I want to congratulate Branson on a really excellent catch. Mr. Seifried has been a very independent, intelligent and thoughtful member of this council,” Rushefsky said, adding she appreciated his willingness to research issues and offer innovative solutions. “I particularly appreciate Jeff’s wonderful sense of humor. He has given and taken a lot of ribbing over the years, and I very much appreciate that he’s a good sport about it.”

City Manager Greg Burris will set a timeline to fill the council vacancy, and the city will then accept applications. Following council interviews of top candidates, the governing body will select Seifried’s replacement. City charter states vacancies are filled by majority council vote, and the appointee will serve in the position until the next regular city election in April. Chamber members also will need to select a new mayor pro tem.

Seifried filled the chamber post vacated by Councilman Nick Ibarra in February 2012. That seat became available after Ibarra was charged with a Class D felony following a domestic disturbance at his home. Seifried was formally elected to the Zone I seat in 2013.

Now, five seats will be up for a vote on the April ballot: mayor, two zone seats and two general seats.

Sky Eleven amendment
Council voted 8-1 to approve an amended tax-abatement plan for Woodruff building renovations. Councilman Craig Hosmer, a frequent critic of development abatements, cast the lone dissenting vote.

Building owner Vecino Group now is using traditional financing for the roughly $13 million project, dubbed Sky Eleven at 331 Park Central East, after a U.S. Housing and Urban Development loan fell through last year. Springfield Director of Planning and Development Mary Lilly Smith introduced Vecino Group’s new plan at the Jan. 26 meeting. The developers had been approved for Chapter 353 tax abatements in May 2013.

With financing through Bank of Missouri and Metropolitan National Bank, Vecino Group is creating 90 apartments with a pay-per-bed lease model instead of 96 market-rate apartments with first-floor commercial space.

The redevelopment of the 100-year-old building is projected to net an estimated $2.17 million in tax abatements, Smith said. With the new business model, she said improvements would increase property taxes to $839,000 over 25 years from $396,000 in the original plan.

Homeless Court
In the city manager’s report, Burris recognized the recent launch of the city’s Homeless Court program, a project led by Becky Borthwick, a municipal judge, and Annie Busch, former executive director of the Springfield-Greene County Library District. Homeless Court is a monthly municipal court session to resolve nonviolent misdemeanor offenses, fines and warrants.

Borthwick, who oversees the court, spoke to its need and purpose during the meeting, and said it operates similarly to a drug court or mental health court. She said a key difference is that defendants would have the chance to work off their fines by showing evidence of maintaining their housing, obtaining life-skills training or attending Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

“If jail is something that doesn’t motivate you, and you actually like to be in jail, you don’t care to get fines because you know you are not going to pay them,” Borthwick said, noting she approached the idea with the intent to change behavior.

City of Springfield spokeswoman Cora Scott said there were no hard costs associated with the effort, because Borthwick and others are volunteering their time to establish the pilot program. Borthwick said initial participation will be capped at eight participants at a time, but new participants would be screened to keep the docket load steady. She said if demand is high, a second day per month would be considered.

Busch identified a need for a homeless court a few years ago while serving as a chairwoman for a city homeless task force.

“When Annie talked to me about homeless court, I had already taken the drug court training and knew that was something I wanted to do,’ Borthwick added. “We took that drug court model and brought it to the homeless defendants we were seeing.”[[In-content Ad]]