The Ozarks
Southwest Missouri, anchored by Springfield. Greene and Christian counties hold most of the people; Branson and Joplin anchor the ends of the region; and roughly 1.5 million people live across the whole of it.
This is a guide to the governments that make decisions here: who they are, when they meet, where to watch them, and how to speak at a meeting.
19 governing bodies tracked so far. Nobody has counted the total for this region, and we are not going to guess at one. What we can say is what is missing: nine of the fourteen Missouri counties in this market, most of its incorporated cities, most of its school districts, every planning and zoning commission, and the long tail of Missouri fire protection, ambulance, library, sewer and 911 districts.
Newton County was added on 2026-08-16, after an audit found we had skipped it. This guide had covered the first, second, third and fifth largest counties in the market and missed the fourth. Newton County had 61,519 residents in the Census Bureau's 2024 estimates against Taney County's 56,744, and it was on our own list of counties in scope the whole time. Its commission and the two Neosho bodies are now tracked. See about for how that happened.
Start here
| Watch meetings | Every government video and audio channel we have found |
| Who governs | The bodies we track, what each one decides, and a page for each |
| When they meet | Schedules as standing rules, not a stale date list |
| Agendas | Where each body posts them, and how far ahead |
| Minutes and records | Where the official record lives, and how to request more |
| How to speak | Public comment rules, deadlines, and time limits |
| About | What this is right now, stated plainly |
What we track today
19 governing bodies.
- 5 county commissions: Greene, Jasper, Christian, Newton, Taney. These are the five most populous counties in the market, in that order.
- 7 city councils and boards of aldermen: Springfield, Joplin, Branson, Nixa, Ozark, Republic, Neosho
- 6 school boards: Springfield, Joplin, Nixa, Ozark, Branson, Neosho R-V
- 1 municipal utility board: the Springfield Board of Public Utilities, which sets electric, gas and water rates for the largest city in the region and is appointed rather than elected
Where this market stops
The Ozark Plateau crosses a state line, and the part of it around Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale is a different economy with different governments. Northwest Arkansas is covered separately and is not in scope here. The north Arkansas towns that look to Springfield rather than to Fayetteville, Harrison and Mountain Home among them, belong with this market, but no Arkansas body is tracked yet.
No tribal governments
Missouri has no federally recognized tribes. That is a consequence of Indian Removal rather than an absence of history, and it is worth stating rather than leaving as a silent gap on a page like this. The nearest sovereign governments, the Cherokee Nation, the United Keetoowah Band and the Osage Nation, sit in Oklahoma, west of this market.
Why this exists
Springfield is the third largest city in Missouri and the news about it is thinning. The Springfield News-Leader is a Gannett daily. The Springfield Daily Citizen is a nonprofit digital newsroom already working this beat, and it is good; we are not pretending otherwise. Outside Greene County the coverage runs thinner fast, and in Jasper County the county government publishes no agenda, no minutes and no video online at all.
Meanwhile every one of these bodies meets in public. Most stream or record it. Almost none of what is said in those rooms is written down anywhere you can search.
Verified 2026-08-15. Everything on these pages was checked against the government's own site on that date, and every page says what it has not confirmed. The government's own page is authoritative.