Accountability in the Ozarks: How citizen groups are keeping local government in check

In small towns around Springfield, residents have been demanding more accountability from elected officials. Organizing online groups, filing petitions and documenting meetings, these citizen advocates have become increasingly significant players in the local government scene.

While the way townspeople organize and the actions they take vary, one thing remains the same — dissatisfaction with local leaders and how their cities are run. When things go awry at city hall, residents' collective action is often what forces a new direction.

"Maybe it's easier in a small town, because it's not like you can look around and say somebody else will do it for very long before you realize nobody else is going to do it and that that somebody has to be you," said Dayna Ault, who spearheaded the reorganization of a citizens group in Fair Grove. "You're the one that's got to step up. You can't wait for somebody else to do it."

Willard aims for trust, accountability

Willard made headlines in the fall as city government spiraled: One former mayor, Corey Hendrickson, pleaded guilty to felony charges as the Board of Aldermen moved to impeach the then-current mayor, Sam Snider, who announced his resignation hours before the hearing.

As the drama unfolded, residents Angie Wilson and Megan Applegate recognized the need for a forum where residents could learn about the situation and discuss what was happening. Met at times with dismissive attitudes from local leaders, the two were further motivated to keep attending meetings and dig into how the city was run, with the shared goal of making Willard more transparent, consistent and trustworthy.

Even before Willard's boardroom conflicts boiled over, Brad Mowell, known online as Man of Missouri (MoM), had been documenting the happenings within city hall and questioning local leaders and their motives on his MoM blog. Mowell, who now lives in Strafford but still has property in Willard, grew up in the Willard area and said the city remains close to his heart.

When started to write about Willard’s local politics in the summer of 2022, he planned to focus on how financial systems beyond local municipalities shape policy decisions that people tend to take for granted. But local government soon took up more and more of Mowell's time and eventually he became known as the de facto community reporter and self-proclaimed "rabbit hole explorer," submitting open records requests and informing residents of what was happening at the city.

"It really wasn't a decision," he said. "It was just kind of like, people really ought to know about this, nobody else is telling them so you know, I guess I should tell them."

Although he considered leaving the reporting world behind at times, as Willard's leadership struggles persisted Mowell decided he needed to continue, despite the criticism he received from some residents.

With the new year, Mowell did finally step away from documenting city hall and government happenings, passing the baton to Wilson and Applegate, whose citizens Facebook group acts as a forum for discussion and disseminating information. Both women credit Mowell's reporting for giving them a deeper understanding of city government; Mowell, for his part, believes the pair has had a larger impact on the city than his articles.

Since creating the Facebook group, Wilson and Applegate have started posting citizen minutes of the board meetings, informing local residents of upcoming agenda items of interest and spearheading an effort to audit the city.

"There was such a necessity, you know, for information to citizens to get out," Applegate said. "People are starved for information and they want to know what's going on. It's a place where you can be honest and find out information that's going on."

The two women have been collecting signatures for a state audit for more than a month, after the Willard Board of Aldermen did not vote to request an audit yet budgeted roughly $100,000 in anticipation of a petition from the citizens. Community members calling for an audit have pointed to Hendrickson pleading guilty to fraud and embezzlement at Prime Inc., where he worked at the same time he served as Willard's mayor. Hendrickson is scheduled to be sentenced June 24.

Beyond their efforts to audit the city, the pair spread the word about water rate increase discussions that the city had not adequately posted ahead of time. As a result of Applegate's complaints regarding the Sunshine Law violation, Willard's board is required to undergo open records training. Interest in government service has spiked, as well — 11 candidates expressed interest in filling two vacancies on the board in November.

The duo said their work has likely contributed to the city moving more swiftly to record meetings and establish an official city Facebook page. A community page on the social media platform that Mowell established a decade ago had acted as a city information page until it was passed on to Hendrickson and is now managed by the wife of a current alderman. Multiple residents have said they have previously been blocked from the page either for posting something negative about the city, sharing one of Mowell’s articles, or other reasons.

Mowell said he started the group in the early 2010s as a way to let people know what was happening and had hoped it would continue to be a place for people to have questions answered and foster more government transparency.

Although the city now has an official Facebook page to post announcements, without the ability to post comments, Wilson and Applegate said they believe there is still a vital role that their citizen group plays.

"I think a lot of people look at Facebook and don't realize how important it is," Wilson said. "I guess it would be similar to how people maybe used to gather in a coffee shop and discuss things or talk about things at church. In a small town like Willard, we've become a little disconnected physically. So, Facebook is where we gather and we can talk about things, so our group allows that and encourages it."

Not everyone agrees. Current Willard Mayor Sam Baird said he much prefers one-on-one conversations over the phone or in person and thinks social media has not been a positive factor in engaging with the community. Appointed mayor following Snider’s resignation, Baird began posting video updates about the city on his personal Facebook page. In some of the earlier videos, he calls out "keyboard cowboys and malcontents."

Wilson and Applegate said that behavior discourages and intimidates residents who may already feel hesitant to reach out to their elected officials. Baird said that is not his intention and he hopes those with positive and productive feedback would understand what’s meant by his comments.

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"I can see maybe if you didn't listen to everything I said, you could be discouraged," he said. "My guess is the people who are open-minded and listen to what I actually said, are not going to be scared off by the use of the term malcontent, hope not."

While the move to remove Snider prompted an influx of folks at board meetings, Baird said he is glad to see some continue to attend and remain interested in city hall business. He sees a difference between airing frustrations with government and being driven to find solutions.

"For me, civic engagement really means a positive interaction working for the betterment of our community, not just grinding your axe," he said. "Every alderman out there wants input, it doesn't have to be an agreeable opinion, we need to hear from our constituents and it's really hard to get anything ... you almost have to get somebody upset before they'll take the effort to reach out."

Despite Wilson and Applegate’s creation of a community forum, Baird believes that civic engagement will not carry on once the dust settles and government runs smoothly without drama because of the energy and time it takes to remain involved. Mowell, who previously also served as alderman, agreed, but said citizens showing up should not have to be a requirement for work to get done properly.

"I was elected to do this so that all of these people who elected me didn't have to come down there and do it themselves," Mowell said. "And so therefore, it was my responsibility to keep them informed."

Fair Grove's second movement

Ault, who organized the Fair Grove Citizens in Action group, knew how much work would be required after being involved in similar political engagement a decade ago.

"There would have to be somebody who cared enough to keep caring and to keep this in front of everybody," she said. "People are going to have to stay awake and there's going to have to be a group that cares enough about the city, that even when things are going well, they stay alert."

Her organization efforts were revitalized when a Fair Grove school resource officer was decommissioned by the Fair Grove Board of Aldermen. During a closed session appeal hearing, city hall was filled with community members outraged by the decision, which was ultimately upheld. Only a couple months before, the city’s police staff had dwindled to a single full-time officer — the police chief and other officers all resigned, citing the aggressive attitudes of certain aldermen. It was Fair Grove's third police chief to leave the post since 2020, leading many in the city to question what was causing the turnover.

In Ault's view, the city settled and “snoozed away” when things were going well after the group’s efforts in the 2010s. She said this is the reason the city found itself back at square one.

More: Fair Grove community backs former SRO during appeal hearing, but aldermen don't budge

Joan Gentry is the voter registration chair for the League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri, which includes the work of an Observer Corps, whose members attend public meetings to observe, note the issues discussed and pay attention to proceedings to ensure they follow Sunshine Law. Gentry said observers currently attend Springfield Public Schools' board meetings, Nixa and Ozark school board meetings and Christian County Library board meetings.

Gentry said attending meetings and noting what is happening is a necessary part of democracy, and waiting until things go awry could mean it is too late to make an impact.

"People should be there to observe their government in action during good times and bad," she said. "You can't just assume that if everything is quiet that everything is good, you have to be there observing what's happening."

Ahead of a city election on April 2, Ault said many of the Fair Grove group's efforts were focused on campaigning for people to run against board members the citizens found problematic. The group ran a write-in campaign that would have resulted in the write-in candidate, Kelly Petty, winning against incumbent Jeffrey Danderson by nine votes. However, due to erroneously issued ballots on the day of the election, the race is heading back to the polls June 18. This time, Petty will be listed on the ballot.

Ault said her previous experience has allowed her to be smarter and more organized in getting the group up and running. She's also been able to delegate the work — the Citizens in Action group consists of volunteers divided into three committees each with their own focus: legal, media and campaign. Since revitalizing the group, Ault has passed on the leadership to others in the community.

While she has seen firsthand how interest and involvement fade as city leaders align more with the wants and needs of their constituents, this time around, she said the group is motivated to work on issues beyond the board following elections.

More: Fair Grove to hold special election for alderman following mix-up at polls

Power of grassroots organization

In small towns, it is not uncommon for "everyone to know everyone." While small business owners have reported unease about speaking out on certain city issues for fear of losing customers, Ault said in her experience this insider knowledge has been an asset, especially when it comes to recruiting board candidates for elections.

Across these towns, the value in disseminating information is at the core of successful rallying. In Willard, Mowell’s reporting and Applegate and Wilson’s citizen minutes and Facebook group all focused on getting news out. In Fair Grove, a newsletter informed residents about what local government was doing and made the case that change was needed.

"Making them aware that there was a problem, making them aware that that there was a group trying to do something about the problem — those two things I think are huge," Ault said.

Many of the community organizers said they've been asked to run for the boards they seek to hold accountable. Mowell and Ault both have served as aldermen in their respective communities, though Ault said she was hesitant to run.

"One of the reasons I didn't is because I had more power being in charge of ... Citizens in Action than I did being on the board," she said. "There's so much you can't do and you can't say once you're on the board, your hands are tied, your lips are sealed."

Applegate said she felt similarly, especially when calls to run for a seat came from aldermen, that sitting on the board would limit her ability to speak up. While Mowell was outspoken and lead the way in informing citizens during his tenure as alderman in 2014, he said transparency must be a commitment for municipalities.

"Municipalities as a whole, in my experience, have a momentum to only report the good and to cover the bad up, and I would like to see that change," Mowell said. "I was all about, 'let's put it all out there.' I always had an idea, I was all about keeping a book of mistakes ... Sometimes you got to look at your mistakes and learn from them, that way you don't repeat them."

At the core of their continued engagement with local government is a love for the communities they live in. Ault said those who helped her run the citizens group the first time around had all left town, the dissonance at city hall playing a part in their flight.

"I love living in Willard. I think Willard has a lot of potential," Wilson said. "My feeling is a city like Willard will not remain the same, it will either improve or it will decline. And if these problems are not addressed, it's going to decline, and I don't want that."

Keeping up community pressure

Community members have been at work in elsewhere in the Ozarks. In Christian County, a Clever Concerned Citizens group on Facebook formed in September after Clever's director of public works resigned, citing harassment from two aldermen. Linda Eutsler, founder of the group, said in an emailed statement that citizens were motivated to look into the two aldermen and eventually uncovered personal history that they believed made them unsuitable as representatives of the city.

The group spoke at meetings and collected more 300 signatures for a petition to remove the two aldermen. The city attorney launched an investigation into whether grounds for impeachment existed, but there was no formal censure.

"Although we failed to remove these aldermen, the community is more involved in what is happening in Clever and the importance of who we elect," Eutsler noted in the statement.

Eutsler continues to use the group as a way to keep citizens informed about what is happening in city hall.

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Gentry, of the League of Women Voters, emphasized that citizen input — and their attention — can have real impact on the decisions made by local elected bodies both at the polls and in meeting rooms. She pointed to the Springfield school board's decision to find a new spot for Pipkin Middle School as one example and noted that, even when community members don't comment directly at meetings, their presence and observations inform future outcomes.

"As voters, they need to be not only, obviously registered, but they also need to be educated," she said. "One way to be educated is to participate in or observe, attend, serve on ... boards."

Marta Mieze covers local government at the News-Leader. Contact her with tips at mmieze@news-leader.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Grassroots small town citizen groups keep government accountable