Charter form of government to go on April 2027 ballot

By Jessica Breger Special to the Monett Monthly

The Monett city council began its March monthly meeting with discussions on the city budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. 

Officials said the major infrastructure project for the year will be updating internet infrastructure for the city. 

In new business, the council discussed multiple re-zoning issues approving the progress to rezone an industrial area known as Callan’s Addition to reflect its current commercial use. 

The area is currently zoned for industrial use, so council members said the rezoning is simply to reflect the area’s actual current use. 

The council also held a second reading to move forward with phase two of the rezoning of North Hill subdivision located between 17th Street and H Highway on the Lawrence County line.

The first reading for this item was held in January of 2026, noting that the project will be placing duplex style housing in the area.

Council approved the final plat for both phase one and phase two of the North Hills Subdivision allowing the project to move forward. 

The council also made a motion on the ongoing attempt to restructure the city government. 

Council members once again approved an ordinance of the city directing that the question “Shall a Commission be Chosen to Frame a Charter?” and the list of candidates for that commission be submitted to the voters to provide for the initiation of the process to explore whether Monett should become a constitutional charter city, and directing that the question “shall a commission be chosen to frame a charter?” and the list of candidates for that commission be placed on the ballot for the local election in April of 2027.

This initiative was brought forward during the city council meeting in September 2025 and approved in the November 2025 meeting, during which the council proposed a list of candidates for that commission be placed on the ballot for the local election in April of 2026. 

The original proposal was canceled during the February 2026 meeting after failing to meet needed criteria. 

The goal is to place a 13 member charter commission. During the first attempt, 25 applications were taken, only 14 were submitted. Of the 14 submitted, 2 applicants withdrew and one was denied due to insufficient signatures. 

The matter was discussed during the January 22 city work session where options were discussed to move forward.

Ultimately, it was determined that the issue should be placed before voters in 2027 with the belief of council members that time restraints were the largest issue that caused the initial failure. 

Mayor Randy Burke noted that the timing of the proposal may have had an impact on the results. 

He explained that he believed the timing of the request for participation may have been a hindrance as the initial attempt was held in a short period of time of the holiday season when people were already overwhelmed. 

The new hope is that given a year for citizens to research and consider the issue, enough qualified candidates can be found to form the charter commission and move forward with the restructure. 

As this was a first reading of the updated motion and the city attorney was not in attendance during the March meeting, the issue will be discussed further during upcoming council meetings. 

Regular City Council Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Monett City Annex located at 100 South Maple St., with video available on the city’s website the following day.