Candidates set for Springfield City Council races

Nine Springfield City Council candidates have been certified for appearance on the April 8 election ballot.

Candidates had until Jan. 21 to pick up packets, gather petition signatures – 100 for zone seats and 200 for general – and be certified for the election, which will decide a mayor and council representation for General seats A and B and Zones 1 and 4. City Clerk Anita Cotter provided the list of certified candidates by email at the end of day Tuesday.

Running for mayor are Mary Collette and Jeff Schrag. Both candidates are businesspeople, with Collette operating Commercial Street event venue Historic Firehouse No. 2 and serving as president of the Commercial Club, a civic group centered on preserving Historic C-Street. Schrag is founder and part-owner of Mother’s Brewing Co. and owner of the Springfield Daily Events newspaper.

Incumbent Mayor Ken McClure is in the last year of eight years of eligibility, composed of four two-year terms. April’s balloting will be the first mayoral election after voters approved lengthening the term to four years, like the other council seats. All officeholders are limited to eight years total.

There are also contested races for General A and Zone 4.

General A candidates are Eric Pauly and incumbent Heather Hardinger. Hardinger is the chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at CoxHealth, and Pauly is a member of the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission.

Tim A. Havens, a local activist and frequent speaker at council meetings, picked up a packet to run for General A but did not return the required signatures for certification.

The Zone 4 seat has three certified candidates: Ray Lampert, Bruce Adib-Yazdi and incumbent Matthew Simpson.

Lampert is a lawyer who runs his own practice, Lampert Law Office. Adib-Yazdi is an architect and vice president of development for The Vecino Group. Simpson serves as chief research and governmental affairs officer at Ozarks Technical Community College.

Two people picked up candidacy packets for Zone 4 but did not return petitions for certification. They were Havens, who was interested in two council seats, and Amy L. Poe, an attorney with Poe Law.

Incumbents Craig Hosmer of General B and Monica Horton of Zone 1 were both certified for the ballot and do not have challengers.