March 16, 2010

Springfield, Missouri

	The City Council met in special session at noon on March 16, 2010 in the 4^th floor conference room of the Busch Municipal Building.  The meeting was called to order by Mayor James O’Neal.
Roll Call	Present: Robert Stephens, Scott Bailes, Jerome Compton, Nicholas Ibarra, Cindy Rushefsky, John Rush, Doug Burlison, and James O’Neal.  Absent:  Dan Chiles.
Any & All Matters	Mayor O’Neal indicated that City Manager Greg Burris had presented Council with a copy of a report on his and Councilman Stephens’ recent trip to Isesaki, Japan.  The Mayor indicated he would not take the time to go through it at this meeting, however, if anyone has any questions, they should contact Mr. Burris.
	The next item was a discussion of a draft of a letter that Mayor O’Neal is going to send to the News Leader regarding their editorial on Sunday.  Mayor O’Neal indicated he was not asking Council to edit the letter, but to indicate if they wished to sign it.
	Mayor O’Neal stated that he had talked with David Iseman, Editor of the News Leader, for several minutes regarding the editorial before it was published.  The Mayor indicated that despite his conversation with Mr. Iseman, there was information contained in the editorial that was not correct and Mr. Iseman was told it was not correct.  Mayor O’Neal indicated that he believed the editorial wrongly attacked Nancy Yendes, Assistant City Attorney, who has worked tirelessly for years to ensure that the City of Springfield received the monies owed to them.  The Mayor noted that her efforts had brought in $25 million more than would have been brought to the community had we listed to the News Leader the first time.
	Following some discussion it was the consensus of City Council that the letter be slightly modified and sent to the News Leader with the signatures of the Mayor, the City Manager, and the City Attorney, as these were the individuals that were directly impacted by the editorial.  Louise Whall, Director of Public Information noted that she would have the final version of the letter for Council’s review following the Closed Session.
	The final item to be discussed was the Manager’s memo regarding the sales tax revenues for March.  Due to the month of February having fewer days than most months, the Department of Revenue has indicated they did not have sufficient time to process all the tax submissions processed in time to include them in the March check.  The April check should have the additional revenues from February, and will give a much clearer picture of the City’s financial state and whether or not additional cuts to the budget will need to be made.
Closed Session	Councilman Rush moved that City Council hold a closed meeting to discuss a personnel matter pursuant to Section 610.021(3), RSMo. 2006; to discuss legal actions, causes of action, litigation, privileged and confidential communications, pursuant to Section 610.021 (1), RSMo. 2006: and this meeting, record, and vote be closed and the City Council shall stand adjourned at the end of the closed session.  Councilman Stephens seconded the motion and it was approved by the following vote:
	Ayes: Stephens, Bailes, Compton, Rushefsky, Rush, Burlison, and O’Neal. Nays: None. Abstain: None. Absent:  Chiles & Ibarra (left at 1:10 pm).