The day after an election that saw a double-digit margin of victory for new Springfield Mayor-elect Jeff Schrag, the City of Springfield announced three finalists for the role of city manager.
They include:
- David Cameron, current city administrator of Republic
- Bob Cowell, former Roanoke, Virginia city manager
- Brian Weiler, current Springfield director of aviation
City manager is the top employee of the Springfield city government. The city manager reports directly to City Council and the mayor, who are elected by city voters.
It wasn't immediately clear when City Council voted to choose the city manager finalists, or what such vote outcomes were. Council meeting records onlie show at least one special closed meeting to discuss hiring, firing, discipline and promotion of personnel, on March 26.
Secrecy for that type of meeting is permitted under Missouri's open-government statute, also known as the Sunshine Law. On Wednesday, KSMU requested vote tallies for the three finalists.
Candidate town halls offered online April 15
The city says each finalist will participate in several events next week before Council makes its choice for a new city manager.
These include meetings and interview
s with "citizen stakeholder groups." KSMU has asked a city spokesperson how these groups are being selected; a response is included lower down in this article.
The finalist meetings and interviews include ones with Mayor-elect Jeff Schrag and Zone 4 Councilmember-elect Bruce Adib-Yazdi, city leadership team members, city employees and local news reporters.
For the public, the city is offering livestreamed virtual town halls online, set to run 30 minutes per candidate.
Those online town halls take place the evening of Tuesday, April 15. Cameron's town hall begins at 6:30 p.m., followed by Cowell at 7 p.m. and Weiler at 7:30 p.m.
The town halls will be livestreamed over the Springfield Cityview web page, cityview.springfieldmo.gov, and over the City of Springfield Facebook.
Residents are being allowed to submit questions for candidates in advance. This link on the city website has a form available to fill out: https://www.springfieldmo.gov/FormCenter/City-Managers-Office-17/City-Manager-Virtual-Town-Hall-Questions-541
Commenters on Cityview and the City Facebook page may also ask questions in real time during the town hall meetings, the city says.
'Community stakeholder breakfast' on April 16
Next Wednesday, the city is inviting "a wide variety" of group members to a breakfast meeting from 7:15 to 9 a.m. at The Old Glass Place, 521 E. St. Louis St.
The city says the stakeholder groups are "including, but not limited to" Missouri lawmakers, the Greene County Commission, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors, the Springfield school board, the City of Springfield's boards and commissions, the Neighborhood Advistory Council, the Have Faith Initiative and Rosie.
KSMU asked the city how the citizens stakeholder groups are being selected.
The city's chief spokesperson, Cora Scott, said in a written statement Wednesday afternoon that "the list of citizen stakeholder groups is a diverse list that we use for most public engagement, making sure to include a wide variety. If someone from the general public is interested in coming to the in-person stakeholder breakfast (it is not a sit-down event) they are certainly welcome. We are limited by space and will video record the breakfast statements and Q & A and make it available online as well. That, of course, is in addition to the virtual town hall which is open to everyone."
News conferences on April 16
The city says news media may ask questions of the three finalists at the Busch Municipal Building on April 16 following the stakeholder breakfast.
- 9:30 a.m. – Media availability with David Cameron
- 10:15 a.m. – Media availability with Bob Cowell
- 11 a.m. – Media availability with Brian Weiler
Meetings with city employees and final interviews with City Council will follow the news conferences, the city says.
About the candidates
A city news release shared the following information about the candidates. KSMU has quoted it in full below:
"David Cameron has served as City Administrator for the City of Republic since July 2016. He is a native of Miller, having returned to the area after spending 16 years with the City of Siloam Springs, Arkansas where he served in the same capacity. He earned his bachelor’s degree in organizational management from John Brown University in Siloam Springs.
"He has devoted his working career to local government, addressing process improvements, bridging relationships between government and the development community, infrastructure deployment, economic development, and environmental compliance. Under his leadership, Republic has delivered $1.4 billion in capital investments, created 3,000 new jobs and led the development of significant projects.
"The City of Republic has 170 employees and a population of 18,750 as of the 2020 census. The annual budget is $48 million.
"Bob Cowell has spent 30 years in public service, most recently serving as the City Manager of Roanoke, Virginia from 2017-2024. He previously served as Deputy City Manager in Amarillo, Texas. Born and raised in Missouri, Cowell began his career as a planner and served in numerous communities such as Jefferson County Missouri, Kalamazoo, Michigan and Bloomington, Indiana.
"While director of planning and development in College Station Texas, Cowell planned the city’s “Biocorridor” with Texas A&M University, a research and development hub for vaccines similar to but much larger than Roanoke’s joint innovation district project with Carilion Clinic and Virginia Tech.
"Cowell has a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Tennessee and bachelor’s degree in aeronautics from St. Louis University.
"The City of Roanoke has about 1,800 employees and an annual budget of about $282 million, serving a city of 97,000.
"Brian Weiler, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, has served as the Director of Aviation at the Springfield-Branson National Airport since 2011. Previously, he worked for the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) for 15 years. Before MoDOT, Weiler managed airports in Johnson County, Kansas, St. Joseph and Martin County, Florida.
"Weiler has held progressively higher professional leadership roles in state, county and city governments for more than 30 years and is a member of the City of Springfield’s Leadership Team. Accomplishments include negotiating with American Airlines to finance and construct a new maintenance base at Springfield’s airport, partnering with Ozarks Tech to start a flight school that tripled in its first five years and transforming an unprofitable 100,000-square-foot former airline terminal into a significant non-aeronautical revenue source and regional economic asset with 100% occupancy and over 1,000 employees.
"Weiler has a master of science degree in aviation safety from the University of Central Missouri and a bachelor of science in professional aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
"The Springfield-Branson National Airport serves over 1.4 million annual passengers with four airlines to 14 destinations, with 2,000 employees. The annual budget is $22.15 million."
Editor's note: This report was updated at 2:40 p.m. April 9 to reflect new comment received by the city's chief spokesperson on how citizen stakeholder groups were selected.
