Campaign ads for candidates vying to replace Roy Blunt as Missouri’s next U.S. Senator are dominating the election space for the upcoming vote Nov. 8. But there's more to this election than that seat.
Voters in Greene County may find a busier ballot than they expected, and that’s because seven county offices are up for grabs in the November general election.
However, only one of those elections — the race for recorder of deeds — has more than one candidate.
Greene County voters have six uncontested races where Republicans run unopposed.
Circuit Court Clerk candidate Bryan Feemster is the only non-incumbent of the six unopposed Republican candidates seeking election in Greene County.
The new guy: Bryan Feemster
While he’s careful not to declare victory until after the election, the unopposed Republican is planning for what his early days in public office will be like. Feemster has never run for office before.
“I do not have an agenda walking in the door,” he said. “I’m going to be getting to know the folks who are working there, and the folks that I’ll be working with in law enforcement, judges, commissioners, the prosecutors, the defendants and the people who walk in the door and need help, and learning everything I can over the first couple of three months just to see how things work.”
Feemster worked for Springfield City Utilities from 1976-2020. He was the director of the John Twitty Energy Center coal-fired power plant from 2006-2013. He then became City Utilities’ director of electrical supply for four years, and finished out his career as CU’s director of strategic operations. For much of his career, he helped City Utilities make power from coal, natural gas, landfill gas, solar, wind and hydroelectric power sources.
“I was responsible for fuel acquisition, in other words, getting the coal to the power plant,” Feemster said. “I also worked with our transmission group there at City Utilities.”
Feemster was instrumental in helping CU write an integrated resource plan of how to supply electricity 20 years into the future.
“I’ve always had an eye on adding value wherever I am,” Feemster said. “I want to be sure that I’m doing whatever I can over my career with the people of Springfield that we were providing electricity to, and after I retired a couple of years ago, this came up.”
Feemster did not know Circuit Clerk Tom Barr before he became a candidate for office. Barr was elected in 2014 and reelected in 2018.
“(Barr) has been really good about sharing with me, ‘Okay, here are the things you might face,’ how things work, and I am going to be continuing — particularly after the election — to get in there as much as I can and get to know him and the staff that he’s working with,” Feemster said.
Feemster has a master of business administration (MBA) from Drury University.
“This is an area that I could continue — in a different way to add value and benefit the folks in my community,” Feemster said.
Five unchallenged incumbent officeholders
at the Relics Antique Mall, Event Center. (Photo by Jym Wilson)
Bob Dixon
Presiding Commissioner Bob Dixon was elected in 2018. He is going for a second term.
Dixon spent the first 16 years of his career in public service as a state legislator. He was in the Missouri House of Representatives from 2002 to 2010, with four years as the Republican Caucus chairman, and in the Missouri Senate from 2010 to 2018. In the private sector, Dixon works in financial services and holds a real estate license.
Cindy Stein
Cindy Stein has been the Greene County auditor since her first election in 1994. Her efforts drew Dixon’s praises during his “State of the County Address” to the Springfield Chamber of Commerce membership.
“They have assisted with the return of our weekly county-wide gatherings known as huddles — based on Jack Stack’s “Great Game of Business” model — where employees, office holders and even the public can participate in the day-to-day financial literacy and success of the county,” Dixon said.
Dan Patterson
Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson started with the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office as an assistant prosecutor in 1996, three years after he finished his law degree at the University of Missouri. Patterson was first elected to be Greene County’s lead criminal prosecutor in 2010, and is seeking a fourth term in office. He is a retired lieutenant colonel from the Missouri Army National Guard.
Shane Schoeller
Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller was elected in 2014, and seeks a third term in office. He previously served for six years representing northern Greene County in the Missouri House of Representatives, including a stint as the acting speaker of the House.
After an unsuccessful run for Missouri secretary of state in 2012, Schoeller ran to become Greene County’s top election authority in 2014. In 2022, the Missouri Sunshine Coalition honored Schoeller with the Missouri Sunshine Hero Award in “recognition of his efforts to promote government transparency and trust.”
Schoeller reported more than 8,000 newly-registered voters in Greene County in 2022.
Allen Icet
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson appointed Allen Icet Greene County Collector of Revenue March 1, 2021. Icet is making his first run at a full, four-year term. Icet and his family moved to Springfield in the late 2010s. He is originally from Texas and served in the Missouri House of Representatives representing western St. Louis County from 2003-2011.
The Collector’s Office oversees collection of personal property and real estate taxes for Greene County and all of its 40 taxing districts. It helps to distribute about $300 million in revenue per year.
According to the clerk's office, Greene County has 75 polling locations that will be open Nov. 8. Each location has curbside voting options for voters who are unable to exit their vehicle to go inside the polling place. You can access general information on voting and polling places here, and information on absentee voting in Greene County here.
