Darline Mabins, the Secretary for the Board of Directors for the Greater Missouri Leadership Foundation, has informed the board that she is going to pursue candidacy to be on the Springfield City Council planning to run for an available seat as a General Councilmember A. She has picked up a candidate information packet to learn the steps to success in anticipation of the April 6, 2021 election.
In Springfield, petitions must be turned in to the Office of the City Clerk between December 7, 2020 and January 19, 2021. Valid petitions must meet the following criteria:
- Zone – 100 registered voters, who reside in the particular zone
- General – 200 registered voters, who reside within the city limits
To run for City Council, you must:
- Be a qualified and registered voter of the city
- Be a resident of the city for at least two years immediately prior to election
- If filing for one of the zone seats, must be a resident of your respective zone for at least one year immediately prior to election
- Not be a candidate or nominee for any other paid public office (exceptions: National Guard, Naval or Military Reserve, or Notary Public)
- Not be employed by the City of Springfield or any of its departments (except for Public Safety), boards, or agencies during or for 1 year after serving on the Council. Public Safety employees should contact the City Attorney’s Office for clarification of their ability to run.
Darline works as the Regional Branch Sales Manager for ARVEST Bank in Springfield. She has been in the Banking and Financial sector for 18 years. She began her banking career as a teller and worked her way up to management within four years. She and her husband are also small business owners. They purchased Drain Pro Plumbing in 2019.
Darline was born in Haiti. When she was 3, her entire family took a taxi truck from the city to the country to celebrate her younger brother’s birthday. On the way back, the truck slipped off the bumpy, curvy road and rolled down the mountain.
Darline, her father and her younger brother survived the crash. Her mother and older brother did not.
“The hard part is I only remember bits and pieces,” she says. “I didn’t see a picture of my mother until I was in my 20s. That’s a long time not to know if your face is on your mother’s face.”
Darline’s father put a premium on education as a way to a better life. He put her and her brother in school from the time they were 3, and he expected good grades.
“You didn’t want to disappoint him ’cause we knew how hard he worked,” she says.
Back in Haiti, Darline’s father worked as a waiter aboard Royal Caribbean Cruises. He married an American woman when Darline was 7, and the family moved to her home in Kansas City. Her father continued to work aboard cruise ships for the next year, then settled in Kansas City, where he worked on the line canning meat for Armour Packing Co.
After her mother’s death, Darline helped raise her younger brother and learned to take care of herself early on. She knew that if she wanted something, she’d have to work for it. And that a key to being successful was going to college. Darline’s dad didn’t finish school in Haiti, but her stepmother had a college degree.
Darline studied sculpture and mixed media, graduating from Missouri State University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. But she never planned on making art her career because it wasn’t a good way to earn a living.
“I love art. It’s something that’s always come naturally to me,” she says. “But I didn’t want to be a starving artist.”
Instead, she found a job after college working for a Chase bank. She has worked her way up in banking jobs ever since.
Darline has been active in the Springfield community, including previous service as the Chair for the Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s young professionals group, The Network. She sat on Missouri State University’s volunteer group for the Diversity and Inclusion Department early in her career. She currently sits on the Board for the Springfield Library Foundation and is an active leader for our Greater Missouri Leadership Foundation Board.
Darline is married to Sean Mabins and they have four children. Her hobbies include reading, art, and traveling with her family.
To contact Darline, you can reach her at dmmabins@gmail.com