Michael Fleetwood appointed to 5th Ward seat on Hannibal City Council

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Michael Fleetwood was appointed to represent the Fifth Ward on the Hannibal City Council at its meeting Tuesday night. He succeeds Colin Welch, who resigned in January.

Following open forum interviews with the council, Fleetwood was selected by the council from a pool of three others, including:

• Bill Dixon
• Paul Anderson
• Jeffrey Van Hoose.

Having moved to Hannibal in Oct. 2022, Fleetwood was the newest city resident vying for the position — a characteristic that nearly cost him his nomination. 

“If you’ve been in your specific ward for a long period of time, I think that carries weight… As we know, each part of this community is vastly different,” Hannibal Mayor Barry Louderman said after the candidates had been dismissed from the room. 

“To me, even though Mr. Fleetwood’s experience is very, very good — very, very, very well rounded — he’s been here for three years.”

Van Hoose was the only lifelong resident of Hannibal in the running. Van Hoose attended Hannibal High School, Moberly Area Community College and is nearly finished with his coursework to receive his bachelor’s degree with the support of his longtime employer, General Mills. Van Hoose has worked for the company for the last 12 years. 

He shared concerns for the city’s decreasing population and hoped to increase the availability of safe housing, stating that many of the recruits he’s worked with at General Mills have opted to live in Quincy due to lack of housing options.

Bill Dixon is a 20-year resident of the city, having moved here following his retirement from the U.S. Navy in 2005.  He’s a member of the American Legion and was a former Legion Rider. Fixing potholes, supporting the fire department and addressing the city’s housing issues were among his top concerns.

Anderson, a native of New Mexico, moved to Hannibal following his retirement from the U.S. Air Force in 2021. Throughout his time in the military, Anderson gained experience in construction and maintenance, served three deployments in the Middle East and volunteered in each of the ten communities he’d been stationed at across the globe. 

He said his experience in handling instances of fraud, waste and abuse during his time in the Air Force would be useful to the council. He hoped to give attention to the issues of mental health and crime and increase opportunities to engage in physical fitness activities outdoors, such as with outdoor gyms, with the Hannibal Parks and Recreation.

Fleetwood, a Quincy native, began his career as a clinical therapist at St. Mary’s Hospital. He lived in Mendon for three decades before being recruited to South Carolina for a job in the I.T. industry, where he spent ten years as a keynote speaker. Upon moving to Hannibal after his retirement in April 2022, he and his wife opened a real estate office, where she works as a broker. 

“I’ve always been a manager, a leader in my business. I train people on business. I know my way around budgets, I know my way around rules of order for organizations and I think I could bring a lot of that experience,” he said. “I’m retired, so I have time to spend and focus on some things. It’s a good time in life. I’ve chosen Hannibal to be my home; I could have gone pretty much anywhere, but we really liked Hannibal.”

Since moving to town, Fleetwood has become an ambassador of the Hannibal Area Chamber of Commerce and has worked to bring investors and “outside money to town to help with some of the properties.” 

He shared he’d managed teams of 45 people when asked what experience he’d had in making difficult decisions that proved unpopular with large groups of people, stating that oftentimes the “big picture didn’t align with their individual life plans.”

“People are going to handle it in a different way. You tell them the truth, you let them digest it and deal with it,” he shared. “If it’s a problem for them, you try to help them through it. If it’s not, then you move on.”

He also stated during his interview with the council that he’d worked with large tech companies like Google, Microsoft and HP, once managing $150 million in sales for the companies during a six-month period.

“I don’t think we’re going to make a wrong decision tonight,” said Nathan Munger, who represents the Sixth Ward on the council.

The council ultimately concluded that Fleetwood’s extensive background in business would best fit the council’s needs, and all members — with the exception of Fourth Ward Councilmember and mayoral candidate Charles Phillips — voted in favor of his appointment.

Fleetwood will serve the remainder of Welch’s term through April 2026.

Following Fleetwood’s appointment, Louderman issued a proclamation recognizing March 9 through 15 as AmeriCorps week in Hannibal. Those who volunteer with the organization to mentor children, fight food insecurity and support Christmas benevolence programs, among other community initiatives.

The organization was established by Congress more than 30 years ago to “unite national service programs under one agency, create service opportunities that strengthen communities and expand pathways to education, careers, and civic participation.”

“Hannibal is so lucky to have these groups to help serve our community,” Louderman said.

Hannibal residents are encouraged to thank those who volunteer with the organization throughout the week next week.

The council voted unanimously to amend the payroll for fiscal year 2025 to reflect the recently approved salary increases for the police and fire departments — their first ordinance vote of the year with a full council.

A resolution was approved to amend a lease agreement with General Mills for a city-owned warehouse located at 3752 Warren Barrett Drive. The company is investing roughly $1.1 million into the property and was originally deducting 100% of building improvement costs from the cost of rent, but the amended agreement will only permit 50% of improvement costs to be deducted and will remain in effect until Dec. of 2034.

The council approved a $224,986 aviation project consultant agreement with Woolpert Inc. for the engineering design, bidding and construction administration services for the Airport Fuel Farm Replacement Project. The city will only be responsible for roughly $11k of the costs; a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grant will cover the remaining 95%.

Andy Dorian, the director of central services, said the existing fuel farm contains an underground tank that is several decades old, and the one above ground is “nowhere near big enough.” 

An easement order was approved pertaining to an issue that occurred when the Hannibal Board of Public Works (HBPW) was attempting to install a storm sewer box at 116 North Street. The issue required the temporary solution of a 1,000-gallon septic tank to be placed in the middle of the street, which HBPW has had to pump three times per week since. The order will grant the HBPW the authority to install the more permanent solution of a sanitary sewer service system on private property, which the owner has already agreed to. Estimated costs of installing both the temporary and permanent solutions total roughly $25k.

The council also approved a one-year service agreement between the city and the Hannibal Nutrition Center in the amount of $18,357 for senior meals and related services. 

The center serves approximately 600 to 700 meals per day, amounting to more than 120,000 meals throughout fiscal year 2024. Roughly two-thirds of those meals were delivered, with drivers logging up to 250 miles daily. In addition to serving seniors, the center also provides meals to several adult day programs.

In other news, the council:

• approved a revised lease agreement with the Mark Twain Home Foundation which included property ownership corrections and excluded the portion of land that the Molly Brown House currently sits on and the Tom and Huck statue;
• heard a recommendation from Louderman for the re-appointment of Chad Collier to the Hannibal Housing Authority through April 2028 and Michael Holliday to the Hannibal Municipal Assistance Corporation through June 2027;
• heard a recommendation from city manager Lisa Peck for the appointment of Hunter Haynes to the Planning and Zoning Commission through June 2027;
• and approved a request from Blake Kramer to purchase a three-by-six-foot piece of city property located in a parking lot next to 305 N. Main Street to build an external staircase that will serve as an entry point to a second floor apartment that Kramer has recently renovated.