City Council General Seats

Springfield, Mo City Council is made up of 9 elected officials 4 are zone seats and the other 4 are General seats and the 9th is the Mayor. General seat candidates don’t need to live in a specific zone but they need to reside in the city limits of Springfield.

General Seat A- Heather Hardinger

General Seat B- Craig Hosmer

General Seat C- Andrew Lear

General Seat D- Richard Ollis

Heather Hardinger

Heather is originally from Alaska and relocated to Springfield in 2005. She was elected to the City Council in 2021 beating out Justin Burnett, Randy Allen, and Alexander Aton. Heather attended Evangel University and received her Bachelor’s in International- Multi- Cultural Studies, Psychology, and Criminal Justice. She also received a masters in Politic Science, Public Policy Analysis from the American Public University System.

Heather sits on multiple boards and committees

- Financial and Administration Committee

- Community Involvement Committee

- Bread for the world- Vice Chair

- BIZ 417 Advisory Board

- CoxHealth Young Professional Council

- Chamber of Commerce- The Network, Leadership Council Member

- NAACP Member

Heather is a DEI Strategy Consultant for Empower Consulting and in December 2021 announced that she will be joining the CoxHealth team as their Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer.

Heather Hardinger has been on the quiet side of most bills but on her social media accounts has been very outspoken against what she calls ‘anti-vaxxers’ because they don’t share the same opinions as her.

William Craig Hosmer

Craig has held the General Seat B since 2013. Craig was raised in Marshfield, Mo where he graduated high school. He also attended the University of Missouri- Columbia where he received a Bachelor’s in Political Science. Craig received his law degree from the George Washington University of Law and is still practicing law at Hosmer King & Royce LLC.

Before joining the City Council Craig was a Democrat Representative for the Missouri House of Representatives representing District 138 from 1990 to 2002. Some legislation that he worked on was Stalking Legislation, Juvenile Crime Reform, and Sexual Predator Legislation.

Committees and Boards

- Community Involvement Committee

- Plans & Policies Committee

- Missouri Veterans Cemetery Board

Since becoming a City Council Member Craig Hosmer has become very outspoken about the Chamber of Commerce and their influence that they have within the city’s everyday business. He had a big role in pushing the 2014 SOGI bill that was voted out by the people. He stated in recent years that he would like to revisit this bill again.

A Conversation With ... Craig Hosmer | Springfield Business Journal (sbj.net)

Andrew Lear

Andrew Lear was raised in Springfield, Mo and graduated from Glendale High School. He then went on to graduate from the University of Kansas with his Bachelors of Science in Business, Majoring in Accounting and Business Administration. He worked for BKD until his retirement.

Andrew was appointed to the City Council in October of 2018 which was his 2nd attempt to get on the council via appointment. The first attempt was for the Zone 4 seat which was given to Matthew Simpson. He ran officially in 2019 against Amy Champlin and Jaye Owens.

Committees and Boards

- Finance & administration Committee

- Plans & Policies Committee

Andrew volunteers for the Brentwood Christian Church where he helps with their cold shelters for the homeless. He was the council member who proposed using the city’s emergency funds instead of ARPA funds for the Fieldhouse Sports Center.

Springfield on verge of buying Fieldhouse Sports Center, may use ARPA (news-leader.com)

Richard Ollis

Richard Ollis who is a U.S Navy Veteran who attended Missouri State University and received a Bachelors in Finance. He is a 4th generation Springfieldian who is the CEO of Ollis/Akers/Arney which was founded in 1885.

Richard was appointed to the City Council in May 2017 and ran an uncontested race in 2019.

Boards and Committees

- Plans & Policies Committee

- Community Involvement Committee

- MSU College of Business- Advisory Board Member

- Healthy Living Alliance- Advisory Board Member

Richard Ollis was a Cofounder of the Springfield Good Government Committee to which he was apart of from January 2009 to April 2017 just a month before he was appointed to the city council. The good Government Committee recruits, trains, endorses, and supports candidates for both School Board and City Council. The year that Richard Ollis was appointed the Good Government Committee supported 6 candidates for City Council.

Richard Ollis appointed to join Springfield City Council (news-leader.com)