Month: June 2021

The Springfield City Council approved a new collective bargaining agreement with the Springfield Police Officers’ Association that will last through 2024.

The union had ratified the agreement last week.

The new agreement increases officer pay above the raise they already received when City employees received a 3.5% pay increase in January 2021. Merit step increases that average 4 percent were given to all eligible SPOA members, and those at the top of their pay scales will receive pay raises at variable levels: Officers at 3 percent; Corporals at 2 percent; and Sergeants 1 percent.

“This contract was a collaborative effort between the City of Springfield and the Springfield Police Officers Association prioritized to address our recruitment and staffing shortage,” Andy Zinke, SPOA President, said in a statement. “Currently, we are understaffed and filling those positions is a priority for the safety of our city and our police officers.  We look forward to ongoing engagement with the City Council and members of the community to find ways to better compensate officers with over 5 years of experience, because retaining professional officers is just as critical as hiring new ones.  We are proud of this City and commit to protecting everyone to the best of our ability.”   

The biggest increase will be in the starting pay of officers. Starting pay will be just over $46,000, up from just under $40,500. Recruits will also be paid $19.90 an hour while attending the police academy.

The Council also approved the SPD recruitment plan. The plan calls for a “retention pay” program that will give each new officer an opportunity to receive up to a $5,000 bonus after five years of service. It will be paid out in $1,000 installments on the anniversary of their hiring. An overall satisfactory performance evaluation is a requirement for the bonus.

“This is an issue affecting law enforcement agencies across the country, and requires a bold and a creative approach to recruit quality candidates,” Chief Williams said in a statement.

The requirements for applications are also going to be adjusted. The SPD had required 60 hours of college credit as a base requirement. However, due to the academic requirements of the police academy, several local universities have developed programs to give college credit for the training. Officers with 60 credit hours prior to the academy found it difficult to use those programs; as a result many interested candidates passed on the SPD.

The SPD will now require only 30 credit hours from an accredited college or university, although all recruits will be encouraged to seek an Associate’s Degree.

Also, military veterans who have served at least two years active duty and received an honorable discharge will continue to be able to use that in lieu of the educational requirement. However, the new plan extends the option to applications with four years of military service in the National Guard or Armed Forces Reserve.

“The new plan has been under development since the beginning of 2021 and I’m pleased with the result,” Chief Williams said in a statement.  “Combined with the pay improvements made as part of the contract with the SPOA, and with the support of City Manager Jason Gage and the members of City Council,  I look for an immediate increase in the pool of applicants for the January 2022 police academy class, as well as future recruit classes.”

The Ozark Board of Education voted to name Dr. Sarah Cooper the new assistant principal for Ozark South Elementary.

Cooper comes to the district with nearly 15 years in education, including the last 13 in the Springfield School District teaching third through fifth grades. Cooper will be taking the position vacated by Dr. Sandra Roy, who will be the school’s principal effective July 1.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve among the great teachers and staff at Ozark South Elementary,” Cooper said. “The Ozark School District is known for great leadership and academic excellence.  I cannot wait to get started.”

Cooper obtained her Masters Degree in Education Administration in 2010 and a Doctorate in Education Leadership and Curriculum and Instruction in 2018, both from Evangel University.

“Dr. Cooper has had ties to the Ozark School District for several years. I am so happy she finally decided to become a part of the Ozark family,” Dr. Kent Sappington, executive director of elementary learning, said in a statement. “She will be an excellent addition to South Elementary.” 

I Pour Life, a Springfield-based youth development program for older foster children and at-risk teens, has announced their founder will be stepping down from leading the group and will be replaced by an award-winning local attorney.

Founder and CEO Julie Higgins announced that she will be turning over the day to day operations and vision & strategy for the group to Ben McBride, 2013 Prosecutor of the Year and one of the 2019 Springfield Business Journal Men of the Year.

“It is now time to transition,” Higgins said in a statement. “We are at a fast-growth place, and I am excited for Ben to champion this process.”

I Pour Life was founded in 2011 to help those with social and economic disadvantages become self-sufficient. They began in El Salvador, and after five years had grown to where they launched other programs. They have helped over 400 youth in Southwest Missouri in the last six years.

McBride, who has been managing attorney with McBride Law Firm and municipal judge for Republic, Missouri, has been slowly transitioning to the new role since May. He will fully take over the new position on July 5, 2021. Higgins will be given the title of Emeritus Founder & CEO.

“My experiences have allowed me to see that foster youth have often not had access to the opportunities or resources necessary to succeed or better themselves,” McBride said in a statement. “They are not able to acquire what is known as ‘social capital.’”

Teens in the foster system age out at 18, finding themselves completely on their own. Only 58% of those kids graduate from high school, and 20% end up in jail by their 24th birthday.

“I realized that I could have a lot more impact leading I Pour Life, than as a self-employed business owner.” McBride said. “My goal is to reach as many youths in the foster care system as possible. I will do that by leading I Pour Life into any doors that God opens for it — as a team, we will work towards meeting its mission and values.”

Three area Girl Scouts have earned their organization’s highest honor: The Gold Award.

Gold Award recipients are described by the Girl Scouts organization as “the mark of the truly remarkable—proof that not only can she make a difference, but that she already has.”

The three Gold Award earners are:

Rebekah Platz. She worked to clean up and refresh Lincoln Memorial Cemetery for her Gold Award project. Rebekah noticed that many of the trees in the cemetery were dead, as were many of the flowers. She plated ten new shade trees and multiple flowering shrubs.

“This cemetery is on the historic register for being a place where African Americans could be buried, so I wanted to honor this site in the best way I could,” Platz said in a statement.

Alyssa Love. Alyssa restored the Elm Springs Cemetery. She noticed that many of the tombstones were covered in moss, lichens, and molds that made the words unreadable to visitors. She used a special cleaning solution to remove the growth and allow people to see the text on the stones.

“Elms Springs Cemetery holds many generations of family history and heritage. This Green County historical site has been left to weather in the many different seasons of Missouri, so cleaning it up would pay respect to those buried there and their families as well,” Love said in a statement.

Sara Schmidt created a project to educate elementary school youth about butterflies. She taught the children about monarch butterflies while also creating a butterfly garden that could be enjoyed by future groups of students at Willard North Elementary.

“I enjoyed bringing in the newly hatched Monarch Butterflies and seeing how fascinated the children were when they were interacting with a butterfly on their fingers. As I was working on the project, I learned the importance of teamwork,” Schmidt said in a statement.

If you need to do business with the Personal Property Department of the Greene County Assessor’s office, you’ll find some hoops to jump through until July 6, as the office has been closed to walk-in traffic because of an outbreak of COVID-19.

The Assessor’s office said there will be limited service offered during the closure.

Citizens with questions related to personal property taxes will need to contact the office via e-mail at assessoronline@greenecountymo.gov and include the following information:

• Full legal name
• Physical address
• Mailing address, if different
• Phone number
• Preferred email address
• Any previous names in the last five years
• How long you have been a resident of Greene County (If less than five years, list your last five-year residence history (city and state))
• Provide the date you became a Missouri resident
• Is this the first vehicle titled in your name
• List the previous vehicles owned in the last five years.

Beginning Wednesday, if you fail to yield to a pedestrian at a crosswalk in Springfield, you may be issued a citation by the Springfield Police Department.

It’s the next phase of the city’s “Crosswalk Yield Check” safety program.

Tickets will be written for “blatant” driver and pedestrian violations during weekly “yield check” events.

The checks are funded through a grant from MoDOT, and they’ve been conducted at well-marked crosswalk locations throughout Springfield since March with the goal of increasing the driver yielding rate, making Springfield more pedestrian friendly.

The yield checks have already been conducted at nine locations throughout the city, with an average driver yield rate of 46%. On average, officers have been pulling over and issuing warnings to about 20 drivers per event.

The June 30th Yield Check event will be conducted at the intersection of Sunset and Grant.

Three police officers will station themselves at a designated crosswalk location for about four hours to monitor for compliance. One officer in plain clothes will act as a pedestrian, a second will function as a spotter, with a third in a patrol car, ready to stop people who failed to properly yield.

Signs will be posted to alert drivers they’re approaching a yield check location.

Severe thunderstorms have pushed through areas south and east of Springfield Sunday afternoon, with heavy rain and wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour.

An amateur radio operator reported traffic along Highway 65 at the Forsyth exit near Walnut Shade came to a stop around 1:00 p.m. because of thunderstorm winds, with one car blown off the highway into the grass. No one was injured.

The National Weather Service has issued severe thunderstorm warnings for parts of Christian, Stone, Taney, Douglas, Laclede, Webster, Wright and Ozark Counties.

In addition, a Flash Flood Warning is in effect until 4:30 p.m. Sunday for southeastern Barry and southwestern Stone Counties.

For a second straight night, we had reports of flash flooding in the Seneca area in Newton County early Sunday morning.

The Seneca area has had a 3.9 inch rain total in the last 24 hours, with a 48 hour rain total of 10.16 inches.

Heavy rain early Saturday morning caused the National Weather Service to declare a flash flood emergency for Seneca as water made its way into homes and businesses.

A Flash Flood Watch is in effect until 12:00 a.m. Monday for areas generally west of Highway 65.

Police in Nixa are investigating a stabbing that happened Saturday night in the 800 block of east Country Ridge Street.

Officers say they were called to the scene at 10:41 p.m. and when they arrived, found a juvenile teenage girl in the street with multiple stab wounds.

The girl was taken to the hospital with critical injuries.

The latest update police are receiving is that the girl is in stable condition.

Two suspects retreated into a home and initially refused to surrender to police. The Nixa Emergency Tactical Team was dispatched to the scene and both suspects surrendered around 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

Police believe the victim and suspects know each other, and there’s no ongoing threat to the public.

Because the case involves juveniles, Nixa police will not release the names of those involved.

Heavy rains have sent water rushing across roadways and into homes in parts of the Ozarks Saturday morning.

The National Weather Service says areas along and north of Interstate 44 are under a Flash Flood Watch until Sunday morning.

Police in Seneca are reporting flash flooding Saturday morning, with water in five businesses and several homes in the Newton County town. Ongoing evacuations were occurring along Lost Creek inside the city limits.

MoDOT has shut down Highway 43 at the intersection of Highway U due to flooding in Newton County.

The Seneca Christian Church has opened up as a shelter for displaced residents.

We also had reports Highway CC was under water at Racine.

Rapid rises along Lost Creek prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Flash Flood Emergency for the Seneca area, with a Flash Flood Warning until 9:30 a.m. for central Newton County.

By 7 a.m. Saturday, between three and five inches of rain had fallen in this area, with an additional one to two inches possible.

In Joplin, more than three inches of rain have been reported since 3 a.m., with flooding of several law water crossings.

A Flash Flood Warning is in effect for Jasper County until 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Western Barton County and northwest Jasper County also had a Flash Flood Warning issued through 8:45 a.m.

Nearly 3.7 inches of rain were reported near Elkton in Polk County within the last 24 hours.

Check to see where roads are closed due to flooding in southwest Missouri with the MoDOT Traveler Information Map here.

The National Weather Service did issue a brief Severe Thunderstorm Warning for northeastern Newton and southwestern Lawrence Counties Saturday morning, but by 8 a.m., the storm had weakened below severe limits.

Forecasters say an isolated strong to severe thunderstorm will still be possible across the Ozarks during the day Saturday, with strong wind gusts or small hail in addition to flooding.

Emilee Kuschel, KOLR

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- The Springfield Cardinals will donate 1,000 pairs of tickets to a COVID-19 vaccination program to encourage people to vaccinate.

Starting Monday, June 28th, the next 1,000 people vaccinated at a Springfield-Greene County Health Department Clinic will receive two tickets to a 2021 Cardinals game at Hammons Field.

As KOLR-10 reports, the Cardinals will also donate a pair of tickets to a local healthcare worker for each person vaccinated through the program.