Springfield City Council lunch workshops moving to every-two-week schedule, new day

The city of Springfield plans to halve its number of City Council lunch workshops in 2026, with those meetings to be held every two weeks, generally, instead of weekly.

Additionally, the informational meetings that typically feature topical reports for council by city staff or consultants will move to Mondays instead of Tuesdays, except in cases of holidays. The lunch meetings would coincide with regular City Council meetings, which are held every other Monday at 6:30 p.m.

The first lunch workshop of 2026 is planned for Jan. 5. Its agenda is not yet posted.

City Manager David Cameron said he made the call to cut down the number of lunch workshops in the interest of operational efficiency.

“If you look around, there’s a lot of staff in the room,” he said in an interview with Springfield Business Journal today. “I like to consider the hourly rate of people that are there and if we’re utilizing their time wisely.”

Meals are provided at the meetings for council and staff, adding to the expense, he said

“I’m not having meetings to have meetings,” he said. “That’s how I look at the calendars of my staff. It’s all about being efficient and operational excellence.”

Cameron added that council has established priorities it wants to work on, and other issues also arise that need to be addressed, like the audit of the city, covered in the last lunch of the year on Dec. 16.

“It may not seem like a lot to the general public, but it is from the perspective of efficiency and effectiveness,” he said. “The complexity of what we’re trying to get done is huge.”

Cameron said he has had a seat behind the curtain, and sometimes there is a last-minute scramble to get a speaker who will mount a presentation for council. At other times, departments have to wait to get on the calendar for a topic that aligns with council priorities.

“The mayor wants to be succinct, on time, well thought out and planned,” Cameron said. “From my perspective, it’s all about how we can best utilize our time and taxpayer money with the employees they’re paying.”

Cameron said lunch meetings may last longer under the new model, possibly up to two hours.

The city’s announcement about the schedule changes also described changes to the schedule for council standing committees.

The City Clerk’s Office has scheduled those meetings for Mondays or Tuesdays starting in 2026 to reduce council members’ travel time and their time away from their regular employment, according to the city press release.

Although those changes are being made with an eye on improving efficiency for the all-volunteer members of City Council, Cameron said that was not a consideration in his decision to streamline the lunch workshop schedule.

“None of it was about council volunteers – it was about the utilization of who all has to be in the room and what it’s costing,” he said.

As an additional change in 2026, the city’s Public Information & Civic Engagement Department plans to begin livestreaming and recording meetings by three council committees: Community Involvement, Finance & Administration and Plans & Policies. That office already livestreams and records all council, Planning & Zoning Commission, Park Board, City Utilities Board, Citizens’ Advisory Board, Airport Board and ARPA Review Committee. Meetings are available live on Facebook and at CityView.SpringfieldMo.gov.