May 16, 2024
Jeana Woods Recipient of Jay T. Bell Award
Woods Honored for Professionalism, High Standards of Accomplishment and Ethical Conduct
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Jeana Woods, city administrator for the city of Osage Beach, was chosen as the 2024 Jay T. Bell Professional Management Award recipient by the Missouri City/County Management Association (MCMA.) The award recognizes his outstanding commitment to the profession of local government management and is the association’s highest honor for members.
MCMA established the Jay T. Bell Professional Management Award in honor of Jay T. Bell, who served as executive director of the Missouri Municipal League from 1965 until 1981. The award recognizes public service that displays the same high standards of accomplishment, professionalism, and ethical conduct. Bell felt strongly that the professionalism exemplified by city managers and administrators was an essential part of good governance.
Jeana Woods is one of the rare people to have the privilege of serving one community for the duration of a decades-long career in public service. She is as close to a “home-grown” city administrator as they come, beginning her career in Osage Beach as a staff accountant, working her way up to assistant city administrator, and eventually city administrator for the past ten years.
A Miller County, Missouri, native, Woods grew up around her family’s business, the Cree-Mee Drive-In in Eldon, Missouri, where she started working at the age of 10 and still today manages the accounting and bookkeeping. A graduate of Columbia College and Lincoln University, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, a Master of Business Administration, and a CPA license. For the past several years, in addition to her role with the city of Osage Beach, she has managed a modest business as a CPA, which she plans to greatly expand after her retirement from the City of Osage Beach this September, concluding 22 years of service to a community she’s impacted greatly.
Over the course of her career, Woods has applied a keen financial sense and common-sense approach to management to Osage Beach, bringing forth strategic management, expansion of parks, safety, and community development services, unprecedented retail and residential growth, and built out a management team that credits her leadership, expertise, and character largely with their success as a community.
During her time with Osage Beach, she has been greatly involved in the Lake of the Ozarks Regional Economic Development Council, serving as president for several years, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Missouri Municipal League and MCMA.
When not working at City Hall, she and her husband Joe enjoy riding everything from Harleys to horses, attending concerts with her kids and friends, and of course taking advantage of her favorite title, “Gramma J.”
The Missouri City/County Management Association is the professional association of appointed local government administrators in the cities and counties. Learn more at www.momanagers.org.
The Missouri Municipal League provides a united voice for municipalities across Missouri. Founded in 1934, MML now serves more than 650 municipalities with training, resources and legislative advocacy for local government success. Learn more at www.mocities.com.