To accommodate a bigger crowd than usual, staff from the city clerk’s office started setting up metal folding chairs a few minutes before Tuesday’s special midday city council meeting. On the agenda — approving the contract for Springfield’s soon-to-be city manager, David Cameron. Spoiler alert: Cameron’s hire was quickly approved by a 5-to-4 City Council vote.

Just a handful of Springfield residents turned out for the formal public comment opportunity held May 19 . But with Council poised to vote on Cameron’s contract, more than 60 people — roughly half of them elected officials and city staff; others representing various city neighborhoods — crammed into a fourth-floor city conference room on Tuesday.

There, they heard the objections of some council members about the hiring process for Cameron. The current city administrator for suburban Republic, credited with luring Amazon to the area, will take a similar job overseeing the much larger Springfield government. Starting July 7, he’ll be paid $350,000 dollars per year to oversee it.

"I'd like to know why we're fast-tracking this bill," said Councilmember Craig Hosmer at Tuesday's meeting. "It's not an emergency."

A Springfield councilmember for a dozen years, Hosmer has criticized new Mayor Jeff Schrag for moving quickly on Cameron’s appointment. He’s argued that fast-tracking the city manager vote through an unusual daytime meeting signals to the public that there’s a cloud of secrecy, and even suspicion, over Cameron’s appointment.

On Tuesday Hosmer tried, and failed, on a vote that would have tabled Cameron’s contract to slow down the process until next month. Some have argued that’s necessary to let the public have more understanding of the city manager hiring process, as many folks only started tuning in at the very end, sharing their opinions with the council members.

"What I've heard over the past three days, in terms of just summing up," said Zone 1 Councilmember Monica Horton, "is that number one, they wanted us to table. That failed. And number two, they certainly wanted us to start this search over.”

Horton is a Springfield councilmember representing the northwest part of the city since 2022.

Again, the final vote was 5-to-4 in favor of hiring Cameron as new city manager. Mayor Schrag was joined by Councilmembers Heather Hardinger, Callie Carroll, Derek Lee and Abe McGull in voting for Cameron’s contract.

Voting against the contract were Councilmembers Hosmer and Horton, along with Brandon Jenson and Bruce Adib-Yazdi.

Following the vote, the city issued a written statement by Cameron that said in part, “I understand this decision was not unanimous, and I respect those who voted differently. Their commitment to public service is evident, and I look forward to earning their trust through our shared work ahead.”

The next regular Council meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. June 9 at the Regional Police-Fire Training Center off Battlefield Road.