Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher wants to promote the city’s operations coordinator for state and federal grants to head the Office of Planning and Economic Development.
Buscher told Illinois Times on Dec. 10 that she will ask the City Council to approve Amy Rasing to succeed the retiring Val Yazell as director of the office.
The proposed appointment will be on the council’s agenda Dec. 17 on first reading, then discussed at the council’s Dec. 23 committee-of-the-whole meeting, with a final vote by the 10 alderpersons on Jan. 7.
Yazell, 73, plans to retire on Dec. 31.
If approved, Buscher said Rasing, 58, who is currently paid about $75,000 per year, would earn $113,000 – the same as Yazell. “I think she’s very much worth it,” the mayor said of Rasing.
Rasing joined OPED in November 2023 and has worked more than 30 years in nonprofit agency leadership on the local, state and national levels.
The nonprofits included the Illinois Presbyterian Home Communities, Central Illinois Arthritis Foundation and the national Children’s Organ Transplant Association.
Rasing, who was raised on a cattle and sheep farm near Freeport, said she and her husband of 35 years have lived in Springfield since 2000 and have two adult sons. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Northern Iowa and was development director for Illinois Presbyterian Home before coming to work for the city.
Buscher said she hired Rasing as the city’s grants manager because she wanted to improve the way the city was administering grants and reporting back to granting agencies compared with the way grants were handled during the previous mayor’s administration.
According to Buscher, Rasing “really cleaned all of that up. It’s amazing what she’s done.”
Directors of the other city departments “really have a lot of faith in her,” Buscher said, adding that Rasing “has her finger on the pulse” of the community.
“I need someone who can be forthcoming with ideas,” the mayor said.
Rasing said she was honored that the mayor wants her to lead OPED. Rasing said she works with “an amazing team of professionals” and has been able, as grants administrator, to learn about every department in the city.
If approved by the council to head OPED, she said she would “look at the things we’re doing and what we’re leaning in on.”
OPED has an annual budget of about $25 million, more than 90% of which represents funding from local, state and federal sources for grants and other allocations to address community needs. The remainder pays operating costs of the office, including salaries.
If Rasing is appointed director, she would need to fill the grants administrator job and another recent vacancy. Rasing said someone will be named soon to serve as the operations coordinator for economic development, replacing Kayla Graven, who resigned in October to become domestic marketing manager at the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
Rasing works well with other staff members in the OPED office, including newly hired professional planner Sean Pritchard, Buscher said.
Rasing’s experience with requesting and administering state and federal grants will be helpful as OPED director, Buscher said.
“Grants are a big deal for us,” the mayor said. “Money is very tight anywhere you look anymore. Grants are very, very important for us at the city to get things done.”
Running OPED is a “balancing act” of working with staff, promoting economic development and “making sure our struggling businesses know that we’re there for them.
“I think Amy will do a very good job juggling all of those plates,” Buscher said. “It’s something she does very well in her life. And she’s very communicative, very likable, and those are all going to be good things.”
Buscher said she was grateful for Yazell’s service.
“Val’s leadership has been instrumental in preparing Springfield for future success,” the mayor said. “Her dedication to economic growth and community development has made a lasting impression on our city. On behalf of the city of Springfield, I thank her for her invaluable service and wish her the best in her retirement.”
Yazell was first appointed interim OPED director by then-Mayor Jim Langfelder in 2017. She was initially hired as a contract employee but later became a full-time employee.
Langfelder terminated Yazell’s employment in March 2021. He didn’t specify why, but Illinois Times reported at the time of the termination that she had recently clashed with Langfelder when it came to funding for repairs to a building for the Springfield NAACP at 801 S. 11th St.
Buscher defeated Langfelder in April 2023, then rehired Yazell as interim director of OPED. The appointment later became permanent.
Yazell said in a written statement Dec. 2, “Serving the city of Springfield has been one of the greatest honors of my career. I believe the city is well-positioned for ongoing growth. I look forward to watching Springfield flourish in the years ahead.”
Yazell has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and taught kindergarten at one point. She owned a bridal shop in the 1980s and 1990s and more recently operated her own consulting company, working with small, independent businesses.
