Lou Magdits leaves Rolla City Council after 32 years of service
By Jonathan Ahl0%
4/24/2026, 10:00:00 AM
Topics: Rolla Region Coverage
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Lou Magdits was first elected to the Rolla City Council in 1995, the same year 3rd Ward Alderman Aaron Pace was born.
After 32 years on the council — the first 20 as the 4th Ward alderman and the last 12 as mayor — Magdits decided to not seek reelection.
Looking back at his time in public life, Magdits said he is proud of many things, but he is most proud of being part of the council that built the Centre.
“A town our size and we have a 60,000-square-foot recreation center that's paid for.
It's in as good a shape as it was when we built it.
And not many towns can say that,” Magdits said.
When the Centre was built in 2002, the promise was that it would be self-sustaining.
Over the years the city has had to inject money into the facility to keep it afloat.
Magdits brokered a deal for Phelps Health to take over the operations of part of the Centre last year.
The city is investigating what to do with the pool area of the facility, including the possibility of a new sales tax to fund improvements and operations.
Magdits said that doesn’t diminish the legacy or the importance of the project.
“There is not, to our knowledge, a recreation center in the state of Missouri and probably the border states that is run self-sufficiently,” Magdits said.
The three-term mayor said he left office with some concerns over the state of politics in the city, specifically people running for city council influenced by national politics and agendas.
“(Candidates) get annoyed at the federal government.
You can't fix homelessness.
The price of gas is too high.
So people have this unrealistic expectation as to what the local government could really do,” Magdits said.
“That has led to much more activism.”
Rolla has experienced steady growth over the past 30 years, nearly doubling in population.
It also saw the expansion of high-tech employers Brewer Science and Mo-Sci as well as the growth of Phelps Health and Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Magdits said that diversity in the local economy has made Rolla a regional hub for south-central Missouri.
“Pick a topic, education, health care, retail — all the topics.
We are a draw for a pretty big geographic area, and growth gets more growth,” he said.
Magdits said he doesn’t have one favorite thing about Rolla, but his family’s story explains what is special about the city he served for more than three decades.
“I moved here with the intent of staying five years, and five years became 30 years.
We thought the taxes are very good, services are very good, the school system is good, it’s safe — so we stayed,” he said.
Those same factors led to his decision to stay in Rolla even after he retires.
“Why would we leave?”
Magdits said.
Lister Florence is the new mayor of Rolla.
Voters chose the former council member and mayor pro tem in this spring’s election, and he was sworn in on Monday, with Lou Magdits handing him the gavel.
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