Monett government change flares up again

The push to change Monett’s form of government from a commission form to something else saw revitalization on Feb. 26 as Monett Mayor Randy Burke raised the issue in a public meeting, prompting a confrontation with Commissioner Ken Gaspar over the process. 
Burke posted a video on social media urging public attendance on the matter. At the meeting, he suggested placing the issue on the November ballot to trigger the process short-circuited by the April election deadline, when not enough candidates qualified or signed up to fill the 13 positions needed on a commission to write a charter. 
 
Council clashes on matter
Gaspar, who has clashed with Burke before, said Burke misrepresented him in the video. Gaspar disputed the claim that he was promoting a special election to change the government format and canceling the election for a mayor in April 2027. He noted his White Paper on the government change, available on the city’s website, proposes a way to advance the process under Missouri law as an option that could be taken by council vote without a public referendum. 
“I am not opposed to a change of government,” Gaspar said. “I’ve held that position since 2021.” 
Moreover, he said Burke suggested Gaspar was promoting changing the government twice. “I’m not opposed to writing a charter. A charter is not the form of government,” Gaspar said. The council could vote to switch to a city manager form, as the White Paper outlined, as an “easier, quicker process” of moving away from the three-person commission format presently in place. “This should not have been politicized,” Gaspar declared. 
Burke responded that changing from the present system has “plenty of momentum.” He blamed the year-end six-week timetable over two holidays for thwarting the effort to get candidates to write a charter. He suggested trying again, putting out petitions in August for candidates to gather signatures for petitions to get their names on the ballot. Burke again tried to characterize Gaspar’s White Paper as a proposal, prompting Gaspar to interrupt with, “Please stop making the false statements.” 
Commissioner Darren Indovina weighed in for continuing the process, advocating a vote in August. 
Gaspar responded, “I don’t like the idea that this council is dictating what this community will do. Every person I’ve talked to doesn’t know what a charter is or means. I’ve felt the original process [pushing for an April election] was too aggressive.” 
Burke pointed to two documents in the meeting packet, available from the city’s website, each outlining five options for the city government, documents that the candidates for the charter commission had to read to serve. “The charter is hands-down the way to go,” Burke declared. Burke said he wanted to produce an ordinance to advance the charter process. 
 
April vote a possibility
Holly Dodge, attorney for Lauber Municipal Law, said the ordinance last used to trigger the election could be passed again for another April vote. Going for any other regularly scheduled election would change the number of signatures needed on the candidate petitions and would incur additional ballot printing costs, since April alone represented a regularly scheduled city election. A ballot for 13 positions, she noted, would be “big.” The process would fall under rules for third class cities. Burke noted the charter was the only government form that the city council could place on the ballot by ordinance. All others would require a public petition. 
While Dodge suggested people could look at Aurora and see a city-manager example, Gaspar said it wasn’t that simple. “It all involved state statutes telling us what we can do and what we can’t do,” he said. Dodge underlined that point, noting newer cities that have installed a charter form have charters that say how the government is formed, then put all the particulars into ordinances. Gaspar saw ordinances as flexibility, noting West Plains has a 22-page charter, and Neosho’s is also “very large,” including items that could otherwise be ordinances, easily changed by council action, whereas a charter change is only available by public vote once a year. Dodge agreed that complex charters “make your city less nimble.” 
Burke, who called a charter a way to get “a step ahead,” whereas a city-manager format like Aurora’s was “a lateral step,” finally proposed putting the matter back on the ballot for April 2027, calling for the same issues: should the city change its form of government, and who should serve on the commission to write a charter? The process could begin in August, giving candidates until December to gather the needed signatures. 
City Administrator Mickey Ary asked, then, if he should prepare an ordinance for first reading at the council’s April monthly meeting, for final passage in May, placing the issue on the April 2027 ballot. “I can support that,” Gaspar said, leading Burke to make that directive. 
Despite Burke’s online appeal for comment from citizens on the process, no public comment was ultimately offered.