meet our volunteers
Kathy Christy served 23 years in higher education at OTC (1997-2020), 20 years of that as Director of Career Services, with the first 5 years as a School-to-Work regional and federal grant administrator. During this time Kathy organized annual career fairs with local and regional industry and healthcare organizations, coordinated advisory committee meetings, and oversaw the department budget.
She made numerous community and classroom presentations, taught a technical education course in preparing individuals for employment, co-created a college and careers course, and implemented a campus-wide Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment for students and employees.
In November of 2019 Kathy engaged Missouri State University, Drury University, and Evangel University in her efforts to work with the city and Mayor Ken McClure to proclaim November 8 as First-Generation College Student Celebration Day, in recognition and honor of their success.
Past notable achievements include Junior League of Springfield (1989-1995), President of Missouri Association of Career Services (2005-2006), Leadership OTC Class of 2009, Leadership Springfield Class XV (2000), and Leadership Springfield President (2007-2008).
Kathy holds a Bachelor’s degree with honors in Foreign Language-French, and a Master’s degree in Administrative Studies with an emphasis in Applied Communications.
Currently, Kathy lives in Springfield, has two children and two grandchildren, and is truly enjoying retirement!
Dave Coonrod served 22 years in elected office as Greene County Commissioner(1988-2010), 16 years of that service as Presiding Commissioner. He was founding director of the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks. He holds bachelor and masters degrees from MSU.
Dave was employed as Operations Manager/Hydrologist with the Ozark Underground Laboratory (OUL). He has served as Executive Director of the Ozark Regional Land Trust. Dave is Board Member of the James River Basin Partnership, the Ozark Society (Schoolcraft Chapter), and the Greene County Historic Sites Board.
Dave serves as a member of the Greene County Planning & Zoning Board.
He worked for Greene County in 1980 as a land use planner and wrote a master’s thesis addressing carcinogenic runoff from the now inactive Webster County Sanitary Landfill.
Dave lives near Bois D’Arc in western Greene County where he resides with his wife Elisa. Their daughter is Lexi and their property overlooks the beautiful Sac River.
Dan Chiles served on the Springfield Missouri City Council and was elected Mayor Pro Tem. He served on the Springfield Board of Public Utilities for six years and is a former Chairman of the Board for the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks. He also serves on the Board of the James River Basin Partnership and is the Board President of Renew Missouri.
Dan was a building contractor specializing in timber frame and light bridge construction for six years. He was a manufacturer of heat exchange devices and mechanical systems for 30 years and holds 10 United States Patents.
Currently Dan and his brother, Mike own and operate a 250 acre family farm that has raised cattle for 43 years and is currently uses a rotational grazing system for Black Angus cow/calves. They are a certified Missouri Tree Farm for native trees, tree crops and Timber Stand Improvement.
Dan belongs to the Schoolcraft Chapter of the Ozarks Society and is a Life Member of the Sierra Club. He holds a Bachelor degree with honors from Harvard University. He is married to Margy and has four children and seven grandchildren.
Corey Robb is a 45-year graphic design veteran with equal parts passion for art and nature. His experiences on water precedes his artistic discovery by another couple decades. From the early 60s waterskiing, sailboarding, canoeing and kayaking have been mainstays. “I may not be barefoot skiing any longer but certainly hope to be paddling and sailing on Missouri’s rivers and lakes for my remaining days”.
Corey is responsible for the cool Missouri Guardrails logo and for website graphics, banners and all public outreach.
What we believe
The Missouri Guardrails project was started by Dan Chiles, Dave Coonrod and Kathy Christy. Between us, we’ve sat through a zillion public Planning & Zoning meetings. People here love their land and they hate it when outsiders mess with their property rights and drinking water.
So we were amazed when the Missouri Legislature sold the rights to spread animal waste without limit and with very little oversight in every county in Missouri.
CAFO meat factories make mountains of waste and unless you are VERY CAREFUL, that waste ruins property values, water wells, lakes and rivers. “Fertilizer” lagoons with toxic waste from industries and cities are even worse.
Water supplies for cities across Missouri are at terrible risk.
We’re not against CAFOs or animal waste processing, but they don’t have the right to ruin our lives. This is what has happened in Iowa and other places where there are thousands and thousands of lightly regulated animal waste operations.
So, we’re asking organizations to endorse the Missouri Guardrails process. Do your own research about our animal waste crisis. Then decide what Guardrails fit your members needs. What you endorse may not be the same as a different organization, but that’s OK. Once we’ve heard from you, we’ll take your ideas back to the Legislature and get some protections in place.
Missouri Guardrails is a project by Missouri Guardrails, LLC
Original artwork by Robin Cantrell, professional painter from Providence, RI. Paintings and commissions are available. You can reach her at rchogg@gmail.com
