52 Cups of Coffee: 417 Edition - Cup 12/52 - Mayor Ken McClure

After hearing about the book 52 Cups of Coffee on a Podcast, I thought it sounded like a great opportunity to connect to people in my community. Initially, my plan was to just have coffee once a week with someone I know. I was thinking of friends, family members, or colleagues with whom I could spend some quality time. But the opportunity to engage with my community is always in the back of my mind. So I thought it might be interesting to ask the same set of questions to a diverse cast of influential and interesting people in the 417 area and share them here on my LinkedIn page. At the end of the year, who knows what we'll have... at the very least it's 52 interesting conversations. It's a loose plan. I don't have any real intentions and I think that's the beauty of it. Curiosity. Community. And a chance to learn a little bit from each person. A big thanks to the folks at Travellers House Coffee & Tea for being willing to provide a place to chat and several cups of coffee throughout the year!

**I don't like taking notes while having coffee and conversation so I've trusted Otter to do the transcribing. Any editing issues are my own. I'm not a professional. :) I've included a list of books we discuss throughout the conversation at the bottom.

Mayor Ken McClure - 12/52

Mayor McClure met me bright and early at Traveller's Coffee knowing little to nothing about me and having only met me in passing at events here and there. I think it says a lot about his commitment to the community that he got out of the house extra early to grab coffee with a total stranger with a long list of questions! I really enjoyed listening to Mayor McClure discuss his past and current duties. You might notice if you've read previous posts, that I'm a little bit less in conversation and a little bit more of an observer. I've had the opportunity over the last year to spend some time in Washington DC and in Jefferson City, so I'm really interested in those government experiences and the impact that work has on our communities. Mayor McClure has lots of great stories to keep me interested. In fact, I turned the mics off right before he told me a story about his friendship with Jay Rockefeller. Fascinating stuff. Make sure you ask him to tell you the story if you bump into him. Ken McClure is a kind and warm person. Despite years and years of experience and wisdom in important places, he is as down to earth as can be. He remembers events like they happened yesterday, he is a catalog of great information. I hope you find the stories interesting and enjoy getting to know more about the man behind the title. I sure did.

Rhett Roberson?

Well, I'll just kick right into it! The first question is what is the CliffsNotes version of the story of you??

Ken McClure?

The McClure family has been in Springfield since before the Civil War. I'm a fifth generation Springfieldian. My oldest daughter lives here with her family, so she's sixth generation. My grandkids, two of them, are generation seven! So, I have long ties to the area. I went through all of my schooling, from elementary up to my bachelor's degree, here at Rountree, Jarrett, Parkview, then what was then SMS. Then it was college and not university. My diploma says College. There were only like 7500 students at that time.?

Rhett Roberson?

I didn't realize we were fellow Parkview grads!??

Ken McClure?

Yes, I graduated in 1968. I had long family ties here growing up. Music was important. I played trombone, I still play trombone after all these years. I was also very interested in history and government. My aunt, my father's oldest sister, never married, she was a history teacher at several area high schools and then was a social worker at the Salvation Army, she got me interested in history. I remember going to the Wilson's Creek centennial celebration August 10, 1961. 100 years after the battle it was designated as a National Battlefield. She instilled in me that desire for learning history and being a part of things like that. After college, I did my stint in the Army. I had a commission in the Army through ROTC, and that was just as Vietnam was winding down. I had started college at its peak. I earned a master's degree from University of Missouri. Then most of my career was spent in Jefferson City. I was a budget analyst for the very first professional staff hired by the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee. There were three young men about my age, and then a man who was 72 and retired three times. He was brought back out of retirement to train these three young men to be budget analysts. (laughs) That's what we did. I was the staff director in Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee and moved from there to what's now the Department of Economic Development. Before its name changed it was the deputy director that did all the administrative tasks. That taught me the economic development tools that are the basis and I still use those. I went from there to an appointment by Governor Ashcroft to the Missouri Public Service Commission. That's a quasi-judicial body made up of five members that regulates the state's investor-owned electricity, natural gas, water, sewer, and at the time, landline telecommunications. Cell phones were not a thing at that time. I left there at the end of my term and came back home to City Utilities. They reached out and said, "Do you want to come home?" My wife and I did. So, I was there for eight years, and then Matt Blunt reached out. When we were in Jefferson City the Blunts were members of our church. I was Matt Blunt's Sunday school teacher when he was in high school. I'm exactly 20 years older than him.

But he reached out and wanted help to form his policy positions. We worked for over a year just developing policy positions on all the major topics. Then he won the election, and I was his transition director. I was usually in Jefferson City two or three days a week and City Utilities was kind enough to let me work from there. I became Chief of Staff for him for about two years, but my wife was severely diabetic. Her health issues were not good, so we came home. I worked at Missouri State and then retired from there in 2015 and ran for City Council and then for mayor. I never could have scripted it. I met my wife through a gospel quartet. She was from Minneapolis. We sang together for over a year before we both figured out we probably loved each other. (laughs) We were married, and we traveled with two other couples for eight years. We had a bus.?

Rhett Roberson?

That's so cool!?

Ken McClure?

We averaged about 45 weekends a year on the road.?

Rhett Roberson?

Wow.?

Ken McClure?

All over the Midwest. Our line of reasoning was, we will go anywhere we can still get back late on a Sunday night to work the next day! We were married 36 years. She was severely diabetic and died of brain tumor in 2011 So she's been gone 13 years this April. We had two girls, four grandkids. I've been very blessed.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, absolutely, I'd say so. Well, first, I'm sorry to hear that about your wife. There's a lot of interesting stuff in your story, Mr. McClure. I guess as a fellow musician, I'll start there first. Do you still sing and play around here??

Ken McClure?

I still play trombone. I play in the University Community Band, which is sponsored by Missouri State. I started doing that when I came back here from Jefferson City. It's a group of about 60-65 pieces and it's made up of people from all walks of life. A lot of area band directors play in it. It gives them a chance to play. There are people like me that probably could have been a music major but did not. Practice is every Monday night, but I only go every other Monday night because of City Council meetings. We usually do...?

Rhett Roberson?

They let you get away with missing rehearsals so the city stays on the rails? (laughs)?

Ken McClure?

(laughs) Well, the former director Ron Brammer, who was director for years, he retired a few years ago, he said, "Well, half of you is better than full time with most." (laughs) But it's so different from what I do during the day, so I still play regularly. I'll be playing in a quintet on Easter, I usually do that. I've played the national anthem as a trombone solo four times at Springfield Cardinals games. Usually once a year, I do that.?

Rhett Roberson

I'm going to have to keep an eye out this year. Make sure I catch it.?

Ken McClure

(laughs) So, I do that. I love playing. That's one of my relaxations. I play piano by ear, I can read four clefs, but playing trombone you only read one line at a time. So, it's hard for me to take the full piano page and translate that. I can if I plunk around with it, but I play by ear and usually if I can hear it, I can play it.?

Rhett Roberson?

How old were you and your wife when you were singing together??

Ken McClure?

24 or 25. We traveled for eight years. She was a French teacher in the Parkway School system in St. Louis County. When we got married, she moved to Jefferson City with me, and she worked with the revenue department for five years and then taught French at Jefferson City High School and when we came here, she was at Central in the IB program. She retired from Central.?

Rhett Roberson?

Very cool. What brings you joy??

Ken McClure?

Joy changes as you get older, and as you have different circumstances. I recall when I was growing up, we lived over on Fremont and incidentally my daughter, son in law, and two grandkids live in the house where I grew up.?

Rhett Roberson?

That's cool!?

Ken McClure?

My grandson's bedroom was mine. No air conditioning, two story house, and in the summertime it was so hot. The windows were open, the attic fan was going, and I would sleep under a fan. I remember that, that was joy. Sleeping there with a fan blowing on you like I don't have anything to worry about. But as you mature and as you get older it changes. Your first job gives you joy. The successful completion of whatever tasks you have. And then as you get a family that brings you joy. I cannot ever remember a time that my wife and I had an argument. If we disagreed, we usually both got quiet, we just didn't say much. (laughs) It worked its way through. I have two girls, they've been very successful, and married very good men. I have two grandkids, from each of them, four grandkids total. So that is joy. Then successfully being able to do some things you wish to accomplish. As I look back, one of my joys is that I've been able to pretty well do everything I wanted to do years ago. One of my goals, I had several goals, but I wanted to be a professional musician. I probably could have, but I did not pursue that route. But still, I’ve played in the Springfield Symphony in the past and that has given me that kind of joy. I thought I wanted to be a bass singer in a gospel quartet full-time. Well, I did that part time for eight years. My wife was a good soloist. I'm good quartet bass, but no soloist. So, I was able to achieve that. As for my career goals, I never could have scripted the opportunities that I've had. Looking back at this stage of my life, there's been a lot of joy, but much of it now, it all comes back to family. My girls are both successful. One is a teacher. My youngest is a DNA criminal investigator. CSI type stuff. She works for the Johnson County Kansas crime lab. She does a lot of DNA work and testifies a lot. She was on the witness stand a couple of weeks ago in a homicide trial in Johnson County. She does that a lot. And of course, the four grandkids--two boys and two girls--I live my life vicariously through them.?

Rhett Roberson?

You got the good spread, you know? A couple on either side. You get to experience the whole deal.?

Ken McClure?

Yeah, but family brings me joy. Since my wife has been gone my girls are very protective of me.?

Rhett Roberson?

I can see that! I understand that. I'm sure that being the mayor of a decent size city comes with a degree of stress and strange hours and strange phone calls and strange meetings... like this one. (laughs) When those things build up, when you feel that that stress building up what do you do to recharge??

Ken McClure?

I love baseball. My wife loved baseball. When the Cardinals came here, I was still in Jefferson City with the governor, but we got season tickets. That was our date. We didn't make every game, but we made a lot. She was a Minnesota Twins fan, she was from Minneapolis, but converted to being a Cardinal. Since she's been gone, I've cut tickets down, but I still make several games in the summertime. I love to go and sit. That's the way to unwind. My grandson has picked up baseball, he plays for the Glendale varsity team, but he's also a bat boy for the Cardinals.?

Rhett Roberson?

Nice! That's a nice way to be at a game!?

Ken McClure?

I love watching him and seeing him wear the uniform of the Birds. My trombone playing is relaxing. I read a lot. I've got eight or nine books I'm reading, that's how I unwind.?

Rhett Roberson?

Did Clif get you into reading the…?

Ken McClure?

Team of Rivals??

Rhett Roberson?

He did mention Team of Rivals. What was the other one? Wait Till Next Year! A baseball book also by… I’m blanking in her name.?

Ken McClure?

Doris Kearns Goodwin.?

Rhett Roberson?

There we go!?

Ken McClure?

I've not read that.?

Rhett Roberson?

He said it's really good. Her father was a big Brooklyn Dodgers fan. I've got it on the list. I've actually got it downloaded into the Kindle, I just haven't moved to it.?

Ken McClure?

I've got eight or nine books stacked up, but it takes me a while to read them.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, it's not like you don't have enough on your plate!?

Ken McClure?

Yeah. (laughs)?

Rhett Roberson?

How would your colleagues describe you??

Ken McClure?

Oh, being in this line of work, without a doubt you have people who support you and people who criticize you. Most would describe me as thoughtful and quiet. I tend to not say much until I have a situation figured out or think I have something to add. They might say strategic and with a vision. Critics would say I procrastinate. I learned a long time ago, especially in the governor's office, many of the problems will take care of themselves. You have to learn when to act and when not to act. Those who criticize say I don't act quickly enough. My response is, sometimes that's true, but many times for a reason. I've been in leadership positions all my life and I've tried to always lead in the manner in which I would want to be led. The army was the best leadership training I've ever had. I went through ROTC here and military training. Leadership can be taught. Some of it is innate, but it can be taught. So, I've tried to always lead the way I would want to be lead. I think most people would say that's a good trait.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, I've always thought when it comes to my employees, and I can't remember who said this, I'm not taking credit for the quote, but it's something like "be the leader that you wish that you'd had for yourself." That's always an aspirational goal for me as a leader.?

Ken McClure?

I've always tried to model what I would want my employees to do. You don't hesitate to do even the most menial task when you've got to get the job done. Step up.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah. I'm not even sure that I have a full grasp of what the job of mayor totally entails. How would you describe the work that you do??

Ken McClure?

No two days are the same. The history of the mayor in the city is interesting. We had an elected mayor up to the early 50s and then when the charter was written in 1953 it went away. There were eight members of council. Being mayor was rotated amongst the council. If you served long enough you would take that role. It came back in the mid-80s. It was put back in as an elected position but not given much authority. When it was abolished in the early 50s, my guess is that one of my predecessors somewhere along the line did something they shouldn't have. So, they removed it! When it came back in the 80s, it was given a two year term. Council members have four year terms. The mayor was given a term limit of four, two year terms. So, the most you could serve would be eight years. Council members can serve as long as they wish and as long as they can be elected. The mayor was given very limited power. You are a member of council. So, I have a vote and I preside over the meetings. I have all the rights of a presiding officer. Some cities have a mayor who presides, but does not vote, but does have a veto. I would rather have a veto than a vote, but that's how it's set up. So, I tell people that I'm a council member, I vote just like any other council member. I issue proclamations and I can proclaim about whatever I want. And I do that a lot. A lot of people like that.

And then I sign cemetery deeds. If you buy a plot at Hazelwood Cemetery I sign your deed. But beyond that you have the bully pulpit. I'm the official head of the city. So, if a catastrophe happened along the lines of the tornado a few years ago, I would be the one to reach out to the governor or president. In an emergency situation, once a state of emergency is declared, all of the authority and responsibility rests on the mayor. I found that out during the pandemic. All of the orders were issued under my authority. You have a lot of power in those instances. You go from being fairly weak, in terms of the power that you have, to very powerful. Every day is different. Council meeting days are Mondays. I'll end up spending much of the day meeting with the city clerk and with staff getting ready for the council meeting. Other days, I start with speaking engagements. I speak two or three times a week on a variety of things. I issue a lot of proclamations, for example it might be Engineers Week or something like that. Other people will get one when they turn 100 years old. I go to a lot of meetings. I go to a lot of ribbon cuttings. What I have learned over my time as mayor is that it's important to people that the mayor be there. If I'm invited to something, if I can make it work from a calendar standpoint, I do. But generally speaking, there's a lot of reading. I get up early every morning. That's my quiet time. That's my faith time. And that's also when I read my documents. So, every day is different.?

Rhett Roberson?

Interesting!? I can only imagine.?

Ken McClure?

This week's not bad for evening obligations, but sometimes you're out three, maybe four nights a week.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, that's a whole different aspect. I was going to say that I'm sure the in office hours are enough!?

Ken McClure?

Let me stress too, I say it frequently, we're a community of volunteers. Everything that gets done in this community is really about people giving their time and their experience. Council members put in a lot of hours, and they get paid nothing. I get paid $200 a month. So, when you do this, it's not for the public pension, it's because you want to give back to the community. So that surprises a lot of people. I do have a nice office in the Busch Building. They gave me a nice office, but that's about the only perk you get.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah. As someone who is a huge believer in this community, and someone who has spent my entire life here, despite plenty of opportunity to leave after school, I decided this was the place for me. So, it's that type of sacrifice you're describing, from everybody, but specifically you, because you're sitting across from me this morning, I greatly appreciate it. I wouldn't be getting myself into trying to record one of these a week, and type it up, and send it out if I didn't really believe there was something special here in this community.?

Ken McClure?

I hear that a lot and I'm grateful for that. You know, I drive the city a lot. Just drive and watch. You see all the good things and you see all the bad things. Whenever I find I'm feeling bad, then I drive the city and I say, "You know, there's a lot of good that's here."?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah. I completely agree. You touched on it before, so the progression makes sense. The question is how did you get into your line of work? What made you decide, when you came back, that mayor was something worth getting into??

Ken McClure?

I never ever intended to run for office. I've worked with and for a lot of elected officials, including a governor, but I never thought I had the skill set to run for office. Being a candidate is much different than being in office. I just never saw myself doing that. I came back from the governor's office, and I was employed by Missouri State and retired there as a vice president. My wife died in 2011 and in 2015 I retired. Our original plan, not to digress, but she had retired from teaching, and I was going to retire at age 62. We were going to do what retired people do but that never materialized. When I was approached to run for council I thought, "I don't want to do this. I can't do this." But I did in 2015. I ran unopposed, surprisingly. So, I didn't have to raise much money. I did one radio ad. Then Mayor Stevens did not run again in 2017. So, I was pressured to run. My opponent was very controversial, and a lot of people were urging me to run. She had raised a lot of money even before I announced. I thought "I can't do any of this", but a lot of people helped raise a lot of money. I do not like asking people for money. I just despise it.?

Rhett Roberson?

I'm very similar there!?

Ken McClure?

Everyone I've asked has been supportive. I had to raise a lot of money. I outraised her, but she outspent me. What I learned from that race in 2017, and this is one thing that I've learned throughout my life, I can do whatever it is I need to do, as unpleasant as it might be, and I did. I enjoy the job. I don't enjoy the campaigning, but I can do it.?

Rhett Roberson?

I think that is the drawback. I've considered for myself what would be the best way for me to have an impact on the world around me, on the community around me. Would I consider running for some sort of office? It's definitely the campaigning that's got me off of the idea.?

Ken McClure?

Yeah and anymore, it's much larger issue, but it's so vitriolic. There are vicious social media attacks, I stay totally off social media. One, I don't have time. And second, no need to be getting mad every time I read something. (laughs)?

Rhett Roberson?

(laughs) Yeah, it's easy to do!?

Ken McClure?

I depend on others to tell me what I need to know. Had Joey, my wife, still been with me I never would have run for office. I would never put her through that.?

Rhett Roberson?

Sure. Totally understand that.?

Ken McClure?

Her passing made me consider something that I wouldn't have otherwise done. I use a line frequently that she's in heaven looking down to see what happens when she's not here to keep me from doing stupid things like that. (laughs)?

Rhett Roberson?

(Laughs) Probably not far off on that one.?

Ken McClure?

It gets to the point where, okay, I've had a good career, I've had neat experiences. I can give some of those back in the community to help them and do you have an obligation to do that? Ultimately, it's that sense of service where we give back. The community has raised me and my family for years and years. What can you do to make it better? My experiences have given me the skill sets that are helpful. There is a sense of obligation. And ultimately, that's what drives me.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, that definitely resonates deeply with me. Thank you. Who's the best boss or leader that you've had the chance to work with, and what made them so good??

Ken McClure?

I'll answer that in the leader form and that's a man by the name of Dan Palen, of Palen Music. The interesting story on him is that he was a band and orchestra director with the Springfield Public Schools. I started playing trombone in the fourth grade at Rountree. At that time the band and orchestra director from the area junior high schools, in this case, Jarrett. The director would go to the feeder elementary schools to teach. My first band director was a man by the name of Bud Thurman. He has a son, Bob, who is a retired physics professor at Missouri State, who still plays trumpet. But his father, Bud Thurman, was our band and orchestra director for my fourth and fifth grade years. In sixth grade, he moved to Parkview and Dan Palen was hired to be the director at Jarrett and because of that he was also director at Rountree. I go to Jarrett and he's the band and orchestra director through eighth grade. Then Mr. Thurman at Parkview passes away from a heart attack after the homecoming game. In my eighth grade year Dan Palen moved to Parkview. So, when I went to Parkview in the ninth grade, we had a very, very good band and orchestra. We got some national acclaim, and he was there all four years at Parkview.?

Rhett Roberson?

So, in total you got nine years with Dan Palen, huh??

Ken McClure?

Yes, and it gets better. He resigns and he and his brother bought the old Will James Music company and eventually became the Palen Music Company. His brother Bill was a trombone player. Bill quit teaching first and went to work full time at Palen Music, and then Dan went after he resigned from Parkview. After high school, I go play here at SMS. I didn't did not major in music, but I played in the band for several reasons. One is an easy A, and second was that you got paid for it. So, I paid my tuition, which by the way was $110 a semester. (laughs) I could pay my tuition by marching in the band.?

Rhett Roberson?

I bought books at Missouri State that cost more than that! (laughs)?

Ken McClure?

The books are different story! (Laughs) I did my first three years in the band, and that band was no Parkview band. It was mediocre at best. Not being critical of anybody. After my junior year, the band director left, and they hired Dan Palen. So, I had him again my senior year in college. That's where you started hearing the term the Pride Band. He named it the Pride of Southwest Missouri, and it totally turned around. I had him all the way from sixth grade through college. I learned a lot from him. He had a good sense of humor, but he was a disciplinarian. He made you do your best. Among his players he knew what he could get from each person. He could get little more out of this person, but this person has given him everything they've got. He's the one that taught me you can do whatever it is you need to do. So, I've held him up all these years. He had a lot of his students at Parkview that went on to be good professional musicians. I chose not to pursue that, but I went to his 50th wedding anniversary a few years ago and he said, "You were the best!" Considering all the other people that he had, that was something. He's always been my role model.?

Rhett Roberson?

That's very cool. I have respect for the family myself, but they have separated me from lots of money over the years. (laughs)?

Ken McClure?

This is the 60th anniversary of Palen Music. I went over a few months ago and we did a proclamation and actually did a video for them celebrating 60 years.?

Rhett Roberson?

That's cool.?

Ken McClure?

Bill Palen, his older brother, is 90 this year. We'll do a proclamation later in May to recognize him.?

Rhett Roberson?

I think the first guitar I ever purchased I bought there. I've purchased a couple more and a bass guitar there over the years and I took guitar lessons there for a bit. I've spent a lot of time in that building. So, I also look favorably at the Palen family, but I don't share quite as much history as you have with them. As a child, and you grew up here, you said. To put a little more direction on the question, you went to Roundtree. Which means we are currently about a block and a half from where you went to school growing up! So, we're back in the neighborhood. What did you want to be when you grew up??

Ken McClure?

I talked a lot about being a musician, but I wanted to be a politician, believe it or not. Let me frame it in a different way. I remember very clearly the inauguration of John Kennedy in 1961. It was first election that I really followed. It was snowing in Washington, bright sunshine, and a lot of snow. That's when he made that comment, "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country." That resonated. I always had that strong desire to learn about history and government and I wanted to be involved in some way. Ultimately, when it came down to make a choice where I could have gone and majored in music, I chose not to and instead focused on history and political science and I've been able to do both.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, and it's gone well! What book has had the most significant impact in your life??

Ken McClure?

Okay. We talked about Doris Kearns Goodwin and Team of Rivals (https://a.co/d/2zGCiir), but she's a renowned presidential historian. She worked at one time for Lyndon Johnson. She's written a lot of good books. We talked about Team of Rivals, she's written a book on both Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft (The Bully Pulpit - https://a.co/d/1ymodbE), and I'm about halfway through that. She wrote No Ordinary Time (https://a.co/d/dKnpP44) about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during World War II. The book that she wrote that had the most impact on me, I still reference in speeches. It was written in 2018 and is called Leadership in Turbulent Times (https://a.co/d/gnaR5Bm). She took the lives of four presidents Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and tracks them all the way from their youth, their growing up period, to the time of their presidency, and in the case of both Theodore Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, their post presidential lives. The question that she asks is "Can leadership be taught or are leaders born?" I think it's a little bit of both, but the theme of her book is that all of your life's experiences train you for what you ultimately have to do. And that's certainly true in my case. That's been what I've experienced. That was my takeaway from the book and her examples. She wrote it in 2018 and I read it then. I read it again during the pandemic and read it a third time since the pandemic. In Leadership in Turbulent Times there is a lot to be gained. Another author of whom I've read several of his books, is David McCullough. He recently passed away, but he was a historian who wrote a big biography on John Adams (https://a.co/d/gZPlCYj). He wrote a 1000 page biography on Harry Truman (https://a.co/d/aqzlVrR) that I just finished four weeks ago. He wrote 1776 (https://a.co/d/e5GmDWj) as well. I've read a lot of his books. Those are two authors that I enjoyed reading.?

Rhett Roberson?

I'm going to put Leadership in Turbulent Times on the top of the stack of books. That sounds like a winner.?

Ken McClure?

I reference that a lot because I give a lot of leadership speeches. I always reference that one and I've given away a couple copies of that book to different folks. Again, she says it’s the culmination of all of your life experiences and I certainly can relate to that. There are things that I do as mayor where I go back to experiences I've had in the past. For example, I was at City Utilities for eight years and I was on the Public Service Commission for seven years. After 15 years in the utility industry, I can understand the challenges that City Utilities faces. I can relate to them. I understand the economic development tools. I worked for that department for eight years. I worked with the state budget for eight years. Because of all of those experiences, I've dealt with that before, and I can relate.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yes, absolutely. What's the most important lesson you've learned in life so far??

Ken McClure?

You can do whatever you need to do. I've said that many times.?

Rhett Roberson?

I like that. What else do we need, right? What advice would you offer young professionals entering the workforce??

Ken McClure?

What I tell folks is approach every job you have, as if it is the one for which you will retire. Given how mobile we are as a society now, most people are going to change jobs several times, but you will be a better employee if you approach it as if that's the one thing from which you will retire. And I'm a firm believer in the concept of servant leadership. That's biblically based, but it applies anywhere, and it gets down to the notion that the best leader is the one that seeks to serve others.?

Rhett Roberson?

What are you most proud of??

Ken McClure?

Well, I'll tell you, ultimately, it's your family and if you've passed on your values. I think my wife would be very proud of both of our girls and our four grandkids. So, I'm very proud of my family. I'm also proud of the opportunities that I've had to be a part of some key decisions. One of my first tasks that was given to me as a Senate budget analyst was by Springfield senator, Paul Bradshaw, and that was to catalogue all the administrative rules. There was no central repository, so I spent a year going to every department and they would have them in filing cabinets. The result of that was what's now been set up as the Code of State Regulations under Bradshaw. He took that and passed it. If you want to put a rule in place as an administrative agency, you've got a process you have to go through. I put that together. There were some very interesting decisions on Public Service Commission, for example, we had to deal with a numbering issue with phone numbers. I became an expert on telephone numbering as part of the North American Numbering Council. We set up the area code 573 and the area code 636.?

Rhett Roberson?

That's cool. I had no idea!??

Ken McClure?

We did that. And the first caller ID in 1993. Again, landlines were prevalent. Caller ID was very controversial. It would pop up on your phone what the number was and maybe a name. Things that we take for granted today but was very controversial at the time. I was chairman of the Public Service Commission, and we approved it on a 3-2 vote in 1993.?

Rhett Roberson?

That's pretty cool to have a hand in that.?

Ken McClure?

And then very proud of the work on changing the name from Southwest Missouri State to Missouri State University. I was Chief of Staff for Governor Blunt. His direction to the staff was get it done so I worked hard on that. I spent the night that we passed it in the Senate in the rear Senate gallery trying to break a filibuster. I got the final deal with the senator from Columbia, then Senator Graham.?

Rhett Roberson?

And so, what reason that he had to stand against it? (laughs)?

Ken McClure?

Well, yes, he organized a filibuster, but we had the votes in the Senate. They only got seven votes, but we had to break the filibuster. I'm very, very, very proud of that. If you look at the time since then as mayor, dealing with a pandemic, I'm so proud of the community. I'm proud of the way we've worked together. Our education community worked, the public schools worked, we had great contact and input from Mercy and Cox. I could not be more proud of the way we handled that. When people ask if I would change anything or do anything differently? The answer is no. I can look back and say, yes, we did the right thing. And then, this last year, the city did what it needed to do and purchased Hammons Field. We saved the Cardinals. They're here for the long term! Had we not done that the Cardinals would not be here. There are a lot of things, but ultimately it gets down to what your legacy is going to be, and my family is my legacy.?

Rhett Roberson?

Well, I'd say you got some pretty interesting professional legacy items there too.?

Ken McClure

Yeah. (laughs)?

Rhett Roberson

That's really cool. And as a baseball fan to get to be connected to keeping the Cardinals in the city, and I know that was a team effort, but you got to be the...?

Ken McClure?

(laughs) I was the coach.?

Rhett Roberson?

(laughs) Yeah, you got to be the man in charge there. So that's really neat.?

Ken McClure?

I've been able to throw out the first pitch four times and you don't want to embarrass yourself.?

Rhett Roberson?

I got to do it once. I was last summer. It was an auction item at a charity event for the Foundation for Springfield Public Schools. I got it over the plate. That's all that mattered to me!?

Ken McClure?

I got it there, but it takes me three days to warm up! My grandson and I get out in the front yard of their house and throw for three days.?

Rhett Roberson?

That was the first time in probably 10 years that my dad and I had tossed the baseball in the backyard. But he came over and we threw the baseball around to get ready.?

Ken McClure?

Again, that goes back to that Leadership in Turbulent Times. It's a culmination of all your life's experiences. You rely on skills that you've learned years and years ago, your knowledge base that you learned years and years ago.?

Rhett Roberson?

Very true. Well, we've come to the final question. After talking about legacy, how do you hope the world is better for having you??

Ken McClure?

Things that would not have been done got done because of me or a part that I played. If that's the legacy, I'll be happy with that.?

Rhett Roberson?

Fantastic. Is there anything that you wish I would have asked that I didn't ask or anything I missed? Anything you'd like to tack on at the end of this thing??

Ken McClure?

Oh goodness... I think it's covered!?

Rhett Roberson?

We got through a lot.?

Ken McClure?

(Laughs) We did.?

Rhett Roberson?

Well, I really do appreciate it.?

Ken McClure?

No, I'm grateful. This is a neat, neat project.

Rhett Roberson?

I'm looking forward to more. This is only number 12, officially. Only 10 have been released. There's a long ways to go! Thanks again.

?

Books:

Leadership in Turbulent Times – Doris Kearns Goodwin (https://a.co/d/gnaR5Bm)

Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin (https://a.co/d/2zGCiir)

The Bully Pulpit – Doris Kearns Goodwin (https://a.co/d/1ymodbE)

No Ordinary Time – Doris Kearns Goodwin (https://a.co/d/dKnpP44)

John Adams – David McCullough (https://a.co/d/gZPlCYj)

Harry Truman – David McCullough (https://a.co/d/aqzlVrR)

1776 – David McCullough (https://a.co/d/e5GmDWj)