FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The 2015 Springfield City Council will interview the five applicants for the Zone 1 seat at its Council Lunch meeting at noon, April 21 at the Busch Municipal Building. Zone 1 is located in the northwest quadrant of the City of Springfield. The seat was previously occupied by Jeff Seifried. The Zone 1 candidates are:
Brett Esch
Esch, of 2514 N. Clifton, is a stay-at-home dad/foster dad and previously served as a quality analyst at JP Morgan Chase. He has lived in the Springfield city limits for 13 and a half years, and has a bachelor of science degree from Pittsburgh State University in Pittsburgh, Kansas. “As a quality analyst, my department was charged with keeping the bank compliant with bank and financial regulation. As a foster parent, I am active in rehabilitating broken families in our community,” Esch said in his application. He is an active member of North Point Church. Phyllis Ferguson
Ferguson, of 1920 N. Robberson, is chief operating officer and treasurer for Mexican Villa Food Products, Inc. She has previously worked for Mercy and Heer’s department store and has lived in the Springfield city limits for 38 years. Ferguson has a bachelor of arts degree from Missouri State University, and is currently a member of the Springfield-Greene County Park Board. She has also served on the Planning & Zoning Commission, the Commercial Street Task Force and the Sign Ordinance Review Task Force. Other community activities and offices held include the Neighborhood Advisory Council as the chair of its Positive Action Committee; the Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association as a board member and president; Moon City Creative District developer; Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteer, board member and co-director; and Missouri Preservation southwest Missouri representative. Brittany Hopp
Hopp, of 225 E. Commerical Street, is a shareholder in York & Hopp CPAs, LLC. She previously worked as a staff accountant at KPMG. She has a bachelor of arts in business administration and a bachelor of business administration degree in accounting from Drury University. She has lived in the Springfield city limits for four and a half years. “I have a financial background and understanding of budgets, leadership experience through business ownership and involvement in community activities,” Hopp said in her application. Hopp has served on the executive board of Ozark Counseling Center’s board of directors since 2011. Joseph Hoffman
Hoffman, of 2516 W. Atlantic, is a former U.S. Army officer emergency operations commander at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He also served as a security and infrastructure reconstruction officer in Iraq, as division command staff for logistics and finance policies and as a training officer at Fort Leonard Wood. Hoffman has a bachelor of arts in history and is a police academy graduate. Hoffman has lived in the city limits of Springfield for two years. His community involvement includes coaching youth sports. Eric Wood
Wood, of 400 W. Atlantic, is a retired U.S. Army senior maintenance supervisor. He has a bachelor’s degree in urban planning and technical writing from Missouri State University and plans to attend graduate school in the fall. Wood served as president of the Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association in 2013 and continues to serve as a board member for the association. He also serves on the Neighborhood Advisory Council and served as vice president of the Missouri Association of Planning Students in 2012. He has lived in the Springfield city limits since 2010. # # # For more information, contact Cora Scott, Director of Public Information & Civic Engagement, at 417-380-3352.