<< City of Springfield Home

09MAR2011

Focus On Social Media Brings End to CityConnect Blog

We are placing the CityConnect blog an indefinite hiatus in order to focus more on our official City Facebook and Twitter social media accounts. We believe those channels are a more relevant, more accessible way to communicate with citizens — and they provide better opportunities for creating a conversation between the City and residents of Springfield.

All of our past blog posts will continue to be available on the site.

In addition to the official City of Springfield accounts, you might also want to follow us on Facebook and Twitter in other ways.

Facebook

Twitter

posted by Mike Brothers, Public Information

What do you think? Email us your comments. email icon

22FEB2011

Council Approves Policies on 'Green' Building, Economic Development

Tuesday’s City Council meeting began with debate on the proposed “green building policy,” which requires that future buildings owned by the City meet LEED Silver standards. At issue was a clause that allows the City Manager to make exceptions to this policy when it is not fiscally feasible in certain cases. The original proposal required the City Manager to notify City Council about any exceptions made to the policy, but did not provide any mechanism for Council oversight. In committee, City staff told Councilmembers that they were concerned that construction projects could be held up mid-stream if Council approval was required for all exceptions. An attempt at compromise language was crafted whereby the City Manager would be required to notify Council of planned exceptions and if at least three Councilmembers took issue with the exception they could intervene within five days’ time.

Both bills — the original bill and a substitute bill — appeared on the agenda for Council’s consideration.

Councilman Dan Chiles proposed striking the exception clause (Section 6 of the original bill) altogether, but that motion failed on a 5-4 vote. Two speakers, Matt O’Reilly and James Owen (a member of the Environmental Advisory Board), spoke in favor of the green building policy but against any kind of exception clause. Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky said she did not like the original exception clause but was prepared to accept the new compromise clause as written. Chiles contended that the process laid out in the compromise language was too convoluted and motioned to amend the substitute bill to strike Section 6 altogether. That motion also failed. After amending the bill to require policy review after two years rather than four, the substitute bill passed on a 9-0 vote.

Council’s next major discussion centered on a TIF (tax increment finance) District for a proposed retail development called Springfield Plaza, located near Sunshine and West Bypass. The bill would ask the developer to pay the cost of hiring the consultants to carry out the required TIF plan. In essence, the bill would make the consultant accountable to the City (which would hire the consultants) but paid for by the developers.  The bill will be voted on in two weeks.

A re-zoning of land in the 200 block of South National Avenue drew opposition from a neighboring property owner. The property is located at the intersection of National and McDaniel, near the Dillon’s grocery store. The property owners requesting the zoning change have indicated that a fast food restaurant could be built on the site. A vote will be held in two weeks.

In other action:

• The Council approved a policy on economic development incentives. The lack of a cohesive policy was one of the criticisms of the 2007 state audit report. Councilmembers expressed support of the policy because it sets up defined guidelines for Council and City staff in the use of economic development tools such as CIDs, TIFs and tax abatements. This policy was discussed in-depth at the Feb. 15 Council lunch.

• Council re-authorized urban bow-only deer hunts managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation on property owned by City Utilities. These are limited hunts, tightly managed by MDC, on land that is away from residential areas.

• City Council also approved a settlement of $108,000 with the former vendor of the City's red light camera system.

posted by Mike Brothers, Public Information

What do you think? Email us your comments. email icon

14FEB2011

Report Potholes and Help the City Help Your Tires

Hey there blog readers - it's been a while. It's not that we haven't anything happening here at the City, we've just been a bit snowed under.

But now that the thaw is fully upon us, we've got a new issue at hand: potholes. With warmer temperatures allowing Springfield streets to thaw and snow to melt, potholes will become more prevalent on road surfaces. Potholes are typically caused or made worse by the freeze-thaw cycle that follows snowfall or icy weather.

As always, the City’s Department of Public Works is taking information from the public about the location and severity of potholes within city limits. Public Works employees are always on the lookout for potholes needing filled while they are in the course of their everyday duties. These employees cannot be everywhere, however, and citizens can be of great help by identifying the locations of potholes as they appear.

To report a pothole, call the pothole “hotline” at 864-1966 between the hours of 7 a.m.-3 p.m. on weekdays, or the City’s general service request line at 864-1010 between the hours of 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on weekdays. Voicemail messages can be left after hours or on weekends. You can also fill out a service request form at any time online. There's a direct link to that form via the “Pothole?” graphic on the left column of the City’s homepage.

posted by Mike Brothers, Public Information

What do you think? Email us your comments. email icon

24JAN2011

Bill to Amend 60/65 Development for Park Land is Tabled

City Council began its second meeting of 2011 by tabling a bill to amend the large development plan at U.S. 60 and U.S. 65. The amendment would allow the property owner to donate a portion of the land to the Springfield-Greene County Parks Department. At its meeting two weeks ago, Council had several questions for the Parks Department and the developer about a possible roadway, stormwater runoff and development plans for the space. The developer requested the bill be tabled for two more weeks in order to allow time to discuss the details of the bill with Greene County officials. Council voted to table the bill for two weeks.

Council also:

Council heard first reading of a bill allowing the Police Department to share its firing range with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office for training purposes. The Safety & Justice Roundtable Report recommended greater cooperation and communication between these two agencies in 2009, and this is just one of the latest examples of such cooperation.

posted by Mike Brothers, Public Information

What do you think? Email us your comments. email icon

21JAN2011

Fire Alarms: A Simple Step That Saves Lives

The following article by Springfield Fire Chief David Hall appeared in today's Springfield News-Leader:

A while back, I received a call from one of my crews.

"Chief, we just went to a fire at your daughter's house. It turned out to be nothing, but we had to put a battery in her smoke alarm."

Imagine what goes through your mind when you hear that -- and you are the fire chief.

I have advocated for having working smoke alarms throughout my career. I have personally witnessed lives saved by these inexpensive devices.

Nationally, six percent of all homes do not have a smoke alarm, yet they account for 40 percent of all fires. We know it is not the smoke alarms causing the fires, so I suspect it is more likely the people's behaviors, which correlates with not having and maintaining a smoke alarm. To learn more about this, the Springfield Fire Department is hosting a two-day course sponsored by the National Fire Academy to discuss the effects of socioeconomics on fire risk, and how to mitigate these issues.

Second, and most importantly, in 90 percent of the fires in Springfield where a fire fatality occurred, there was not a working smoke alarm. In about 25 percent of those, the battery was missing. This was the point that so concerned me about my daughter possibly having a smoke alarm where the battery wasn't working. How could my daughter and grandchildren have been sleeping without the protection of a working smoke alarm when I know a working smoke alarm significantly reduces the chance of them dying in a fire by 50 percent? I had asked her often to make sure she was checking it and she always said it was working.

So how could a $4.50 smoke alarm and an 89-cent battery not be in every home? Times are hard and for many, and 89 cents may be the difference between their child having lunch or not. As a fire department, our entire mission is to save lives and property. We spend millions of dollars extinguishing fires. We also know that the best chance of surviving and reducing property damage is for the occupants to get out before we can get there. Because of our commitment to our mission, and the generosity of local donors and businesses, we will install free smoke alarms or batteries for those that live inside the city limits that need them. Please call 864-1515 for more information.

There really isn't a good excuse to not have one. To end on a positive note, I immediately called my daughter after the crews left. I told her of my concern about her not having a working smoke alarm. She immediately began to laugh and let me know that the firefighters had pulled one over on me, since the smoke alarm was what alerted her to call 911.

I felt much better not only as the fire chief, but as her dad.

-David Hall, Fire Chief

posted by Mike Brothers, Public Information

What do you think? Email us your comments. email icon

14JAN2011

Citizens Sales Tax Oversight Committee: First Six Months

This week the Citizens Sales Tax Oversight Committee submitted its bi-annual report to City Council. The group was formed last year at the suggestion of a citizen following the passage of the dedicated sales tax for the Police-Fire Pension Fund. That citizen, Dr. Richard Thompson, is the chair of the group.

Acting as chair, Thompson presented a written report to Council and briefly summarized it at this week's Council meeting.

Thompson told Council that the group is settling into a routine and has defined a role for itself. Broadly speaking, that role is to be "a focus group with an accountability function and an educational component." The group has also decided what is will not be, and some of those thing include: rubber stamp, gripe session, and political action group among others.

The group examines the allocation of three of the City's sales tax revenue sources on a quarterly basis. These include the pension fund sales tax, the 1/4-cent Sales Tax for Capital Improvements, and the 1/8-cent Transportation Sales Tax. Thompson said the "yes" vote that voters gave these taxes were based on certain expectations about what payers of the tax would get for their money. The CSTOC exists to answer the question: Is that voter expectation being met or not?

More information can be found in the full CSTOC report, and in the FAQ the group has prepared based on what it has learned to this point. Have a question for the members? Want to know more about the group? E-mail the committee directly at: cstoc@springfieldmo.gov.

posted by Mike Brothers, Public Information

What do you think? Email us your comments. email icon