An interesting exercise occurred last Tuesday following the Cassville City Council meeting and Southwest Missouri Council of Government’s leading of three public hearings for proposed grant-funded projects.

The city is seeking Community Block Grant funding for three projects: a new bridge on 7th Street to replace the structure that was destroyed in 2017, leaving only one entrance to the Cassville City Park since that flood; a new pedestrian bridge adjacent to the Highway 112 bridge and connecting to the Greenway Trail; and a 500kW generator at the wastewater treatment plant, which lost power for 3-4 days in May 2024 following the worst windstorm, tantamount to a small tornado, in recent memory.

The need for all these projects is great, and kudos to the city for seeking out grant funding for $1.7 million in projects and only having to pay $44,000 out of pocket. Assuming they are awarded, these grants will be a huge benefit to the city and its residents going forward.

As the regular council meeting neared its conclusion and the hearings neared their beginning, three Cassville residents arrived to offer input.

Joining were Lynn Hilburn, Caleb Buntin and Phil Hutchens. Already present were the city council and mayor, city administrator, city clerk, police chief, city finance officer and public works director, as well as economic development contractor Rachael Freeman and Cassville Volunteer Fire Protection District Chief Derek Acheson. Also attending was Jo Powell, the Barry County Advertiser’s new staff writer.

I covered the hearings like I would any other news story, collecting quotes in my notepad and preparing for a follow-up in this week’s edition.

Then, something unexpected happened.

Kelsi Burton, SMCOG grants and environmental manager, announced the group gathered would complete a “Needs Assessment” — rating by a show of hands 42 aspects of the city in six categories as good, fair, poor or non-existent. Categories included public works infrastructure, public services, community facilities, housing, education profiles and economic development.

While Burton jumped right into requesting ratings for public works infrastructure, like the water system, streets and bridges, there was an air of apprehension among the 17 people in the room, or at least there was for me.

I typically do not participate in such exercises, choosing instead to cover issues as unbiased as possible and without any opportunity any conflict of interest claims.

Yet, I am also a resident of Cassville, so I felt I should have a say in what could help move the city forward — even if it made me uncomfortable.

All of us put on the spot, it seemed early in the exercise that there was apprehension in rating needs honestly. After all, the movers and shakers in the city were seated literally all around.

A moment of levity broke the tension a few minutes in. Moving to the public services category, Burton asked us to rate the Fire Protection District. Before Burton finished saying the word “protection,” Police Chief Donnie Privett’s hand shot in the air like a cannonball for a “good” vote.

“The fire chief is right there!” he exclaimed. Acheson was seated right behind me. He gave a chuckle and thanked Privett for his vote of confidence.

I whispered to him, “I’m sure you’ll get to return the favor in a moment.” And, sure enough, police services was the next to be rated. The room agreed both services were good, my vote among them.

After that instance, the exercise took a turn for the best. We openly and honestly discussed many of the needs in each category, listing nine of the 42 factors as poor. From that nine, we determined a top five in order of importance: job creation, single-family housing, affordable rental housing, bridges and parking.

Those top three speak for themselves. Jobs bring people, and people need housing. Bridges was selected as No. 4, as two of the three projects for which the city is seeking grant money relate to bridges.

The final priority need, parking, saw less enthusiasm as a choice. In my opinion, it’s not as dire a need as many of the others, and the feasibility of adding significant parking in town is low.

The remaining four “poor” ratings were for residential rehabilitation housing, housing for the disabled, energy-efficient improvements for current housing, and other economic development needs.

The most interesting mini-conversation we had was when it came to a community center. We have the Family Life Center and the Cassville Area YMCA, yet we rated that category as “does not exist.”

It would be an interesting prospect for the city to pursue a more traditional community center, encompassing community meeting spaces, basketball courts, pickleball courts, a gym, scheduled activities geared toward youth or seniors, or more.

I by no means think a project like this should be a priority, but I wonder what a facility like that would do in regard to attracting families to move to the city? It certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Ultimately, I think completing the needs assessment got us thinking about the city in a broader context. I also think it would be a good idea for the city to mimic that assessment process with more residents. In a city of 3,000, only 17 of us offered opinions.

I want to hear what others have to say. What are the best parts of Cassville? What needs improvement? What would you like to see change in the next 5 years, or 10 years?

These are questions worth asking, and it would be great to see more public input on the future of “America’s Real Hometown.”

Kyle Troutman has served as editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014 and owner/publisher since 2023. He was named William E. James/Missouri Outstanding Young Journalist for daily newspapers in 2017, and he is a twotime ISWNE Golden Dozen award winner. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or ktroutman@cassville-democrat. com.